Chapter 10

It had already been a full week since Arya's life as a princess began.

It was a bit unnerving at first to have a maid ready at hand to help you get ready for the day or to suddenly be surrounded by so much luxury and comfort when she literally had nothing more than rags just a few days ago. But she was adjusting to it and it was starting to feel comfortable now for Arya.

Her first lessons in royal training will start today. The tutor her royal uncle picked out wouldn't be here until the late afternoon so she'll be having training first.

Arya washed her face in a water basin provided by Myna. She sat in a chair as Myna brushed out her hair that was messed up and unruly. Her hair didn't require much as it was short and only reached to her shoulders. Myna was taken aback by how soft and pretty the locks of brown waves were as she brushed out her hair; Arya's hair would cause many girls to turn green with envy because of how beautiful it was. 

Her hair was naturally wavy-something that could only be achieved for many noble women through grueling hours of curling, hair treatments and patience. She had the desired and trendy fashionable wavy hair that was popular in the royal capital and Myna had to stifle a laugh when she thought about all the desperate actions-from curling irons to wigs to hair lotions that promised to turn your hair into "luxurious and gorgeous waves overnight"-that other young mistresses of noble households took to achieve such a look and Arya had the desired look and she didn't even seem to care at all about it!!

"Your hair is so pretty, your highness."

Myna was informed about Arya's identity as a long lost princess and she knew right away that her position and status in the royal palace would soon change. But not right now as Arya had not yet debuted as a princess and no one knew about her just yet.

Servants who worked for the royal household were ranked based on their level of authority and position-and who their master or mistress was. Most maids and manservants were at the bottom of the ladder, tolling away with cleaning, cooking, all the washing that needed to be done and other such work that went into maintaining the royal palace and caring for its residents. But there were a few servants who were able to rise to positions of some power and authority such as head maid or head butler or a personal servant to the king, queen or a prince or princess. These servants were considered "higher ranked" than the average place servant and boasted more power and authority due to the amount of favoritism and trust these servants received from their royal masters. 

A head maid had full authority over all the other place maids and a head butler had full authority and control over all the male servants of the palace; A head maid or head butler was in charge of hiring new servants, dismissing servants, etc . Personal servants had a higher social standing than regular servants did and while being a personal servant did not bring as such power or authority as being a head maid or head butler did, it was the prestige of being a personal servant to a royal that was all that mattered-and the amount of payment you got as well. 

Arya thought it was a bit silly and frivolous to be commenting on her hair. Her hair was never really a priority to her than feeding herself was. She was able to sell off her beautiful locks of hair to the wig maker for a handsome price because of how beautiful it was and for the natural waviness it had. She didn't cry as the wig maker sectioned off her hair into 4 equal strands and snipped off her hair. She was compensated well for it and she was able to eat well for the first time in months with the money her hair brought.

Well, feeding herself and trying to survive was taken care of now for her.

Arya never really thought of her hair as "pretty" before. It was just brown, the color of dirt. Nothing special to her. She took a little more pride in her green eyes that captivated and were special to her. Nobody seemed to have eyes quite like hers.

A wide assortment of clothes from nightwear to formal wear to casual wear had been generously granted by the king on his orders for Arya to wear and keep. Piles and piles of clothes were heaped on the bed or still on the racks that they came on when they were delivered and Myna wanted Arya wear one of the more "fancier and nicer" clothes. Arya politely declined her suggestions and picked out some of her own outfit choices.

It took some time and a lot of debating with articles of clothing being rejected by either Arya or Myna but they finally put together a look that suited both of them. 

A pale gray cotton short-sleeved shirt.

A dark gray pair of pants with pockets with a matching belt.

Soft brown leather boots were fashionable and practical. 

Perfect.

It was her first training session with Elijah and Catalina and Arya was a bit nervous about how it was going to go down.

She hadn't used her powers at all since she nearly choked several guards to death on that day. 

The training court was located at the back of the mansion and it consisted simply of a large, rectangular stone courtyard that had some wooden training dummy posts lining the side of the court.

Elijah and Catalina were already waiting for her. The brother and sister bodyguard that looked so different from each other but were very close and affectionate with one another.

They were both dressed in white shirts, brown pants and black leather boots that reached their knees. Elijah had his long white hair tied back into a low ponytail and Catalina's hair was pulled back in a single braid running down her back.

Arya was a bit taken aback by how simple Catalina was dressed compared to when she first met her.

But she pushed it aside and mentally prepared herself for whatever training she was going to be subjected to.

Arya was a little malnourished and underfed when she first arrived at the royal mansion but Myna's hard work to fatten her off paid off and she put on weight, her cheeks filled and rounded out, her curves that had been wilted away by a lack of food filled out as well.

Elijah and Catalina waited for Arya to adjust and get comfortable first before they started with her training.

A week passed and Arya was feeling more comfortable in her new environment and she was a bit eager to start with the training.

Arya's mind raced with what she might do.

Elijah and Catalina saw her coming and they quickly greeted her.

"Good morning, your highness."

"Good morning, Mr.Elijah and Miss. Catalina!!!"

Arya was far more comfortable with the two of them now and she liked the two of them. They were down-to-earth, nice and were good people from what Arya could tell.

She raced over to them and saw that Elijah was holding a red apple in one hand.

She looked at the apple in his hand and pointed at it.

"What's the apple for?"

Elijah lifted up the apple and smiled.

"Training."

Arya nodded slowly, staring at the apple.

Elijah patted her on the head and looked her straight in the eyes.

"Just try to lift it up. No touching it. Lift it out of my hand."

Arya just stared at the red apple in focus.

Focus. Focus. A warm feeling started to spread in her body and Arya felt a power surge throughout her entire body as she pictured the apple lifting itself from Elijah's hand and staying floating in the air.

Arya lifted up the apple with ease from Elijah's hand.

It was covered in a dark green glow as it slowly lifted up into the air inch by inch.

Arya focused and concentrated on the object in front of her, levitating it until it hovered almost a foot off of Elijah's hand. 

Arya could feel her strength draining away, her hands trembling slightly as her heart raced from the effort of keeping the apple afloat and it was just one apple!!

How in the world did she manage to lift up multiple people all at once and people were much heavier than apples?!!

Elijah noticed her frustration and grabbed the floating apple and Arya let out a sigh of relief as she could finally take a break.

"I think I finally know what your problem is now. It's not that you are weak or that this is the full extent of your powers. Not at all. In fact, I sense overwhelming and intense power inside of you that's lying dormant inside of you. It just needs to be triggered."

Arya blinked as she processed that bit of information.

"Triggered?"

Elijah nodded.

"You see, an ability user like me or Catalina was just like a normal human being until we underwent their "awakening" and gained their powers. It's a transformation that gives us our powers, makes this more stronger, durable, etc than the average person. Normally, this process occurs naturally but sometimes. This process fails and is left uncompleted and unstable-inhibiting the extent of one's power and leaving them weakened and unable to use their full powers. Cases like this are quite rare but not unheard of so we have invented a way to deal with this. It's called "tiggering"."

"What is it?"

"It's an artificial process where the dormant power of an able user is awakened in cases where someone is having problems awakening naturally or that they're way past their expected awakening age. It's harmless and very effective and you can trust my judgment on that because I got one myself."

People normally awaken their powers around 5 or 6 years old. Elijah was 7 years old when he awakened. Arya was 15.

Arya nodded to show she fully understood. But she couldn't help being a bit nervous.

Elijah sensed her fear and put a hand on her shoulders to comfort her.

"Anytime you feel ready, Adelaide. Just tell me and we can get started."

….

Arya was sitting cross legged and Elijah also sat cross legged behind her. Arya was nervous but also excited at the same time as she wondered what the full extent of her powers would be like.

Catalina stood aside as she didn't not know how to do a triggering and she just watched from the sidelines instead

"Ready?"

"Yes. But I'm a bit nervous as well, Mr.Elijah.". Arya turned her head around to look at him.

"It's okay to be nervous but I promise you, Adelaide, that nothing bad will happen to you, I swear on my honor as a noble. I know what I'm doing. "

"Alright, I trust you, Mr.Elijah.". She turned her head back around.

Cassian placed his open hand onto her back and began to inject his own mana inside of her. His mana rushed into her body and the presence of it triggered something inside of her.

Arya felt a warm feeling inside of her that felt like the warm light of summer. She felt that warm feeling begin to grow and spread throughout her body. Her entire body was responding to Cassian's mana as it stirred the dormant power inside of her to awaken and break free from its prison.

"Good girl. You're doing great.". Elijah had never seen anyone so responsive and quick to react to triggering before. It normally took some time to adjust to the strange feeling of mana and for the dormant power to react and awaken as it was the case for many people undergoing triggering.

Arya smiled a bit but felt something was seriously wrong. That warm and gentle feeling inside of her body was turning into a raging wildfire that was burning her up from the inside. She was burning up and it felt like something was building up inside of her and was about to explode.

Her heart beat wildly and her mind was starting to blur up. Her head hurt and her throat felt dry. 

Elijah noticed Arya's discomfort and started to worry. He removed his hand and went to check Arya only to suddenly be thrown back and sent flying until he crashed against the wall of the mansion and slumped against it, limp and dazed, when a massive explosion of aura erupted from Arya's body and more aura just kept pouring out. 

Arya screamed as all of the aura inside of her finally awoke and she fell onto her hands and knees. Beautiful green aura came pouring out of her, circling and covering her, and the ground underneath her began to crack and shatter from her mana and the massive mana explosion that shook and rocked the ground under her as Arya underwent her awakening.

So much aura came pouring out of her and the amount of raw power coming from her both awed and instilled fear

Her newly awakened power wasn't just overpowering-it was a complete flood that threatened to drown all of them and destroy everything surrounding her.

It's burning but it's not painful. Is this the power that was inside of me all along but was locked away for so many years? 15 years of being locked away and now it's rushing out of me like water from a dam. I need to control it before it's too late.

The green aura slowly returned back into Arya and she felt her power calming down until it was more of a tamed beast: still dangerous but more controllable. Arya stood up and looked around at the destruction she caused: the floor of the training court was shattered and cracked, Mr.Elijah had been thrown into a wall and Catalina looked a bit shaken up from where she had been knocked down by the blast. 

Arya rushed over to Elijah and helped him up while apologizing profusely and tearfully.

"Oh, Mr Elijah, I didn't mean to do that!! Please forgive me for throwing you against a wall."

Elijah shrugged and brushed it off: "I expected nothing less of a girl with the potential to become a swordmaster. You don't need to say sorry-I know you didn't mean to do that on purpose. And besides, I'm not some fragile porcelain doll even if I look like one; I can take a beating and I experienced worse than being thrown against a wall in my years training in the art of the sword."

Arya still wasn't reassured at all. She didn't want to hurt people!! She wanted to learn it in order to protect herself and the people she loved and cared about. She didn't want to use her powers to hurt others!!!

Elijah, however, looked fine as if he was never thrown against a wall in the first place. He turned around and smiled at her.

"Congratulations on your awakening, kid. I think it's time for you to actually learn how to use your powers to the full extent now, your highness."

….

Elijah had taught her all the basics of swordsmanship and he had demonstrated each move, swing or technique to her with a wooden sword. It took Arya several tries but she managed to pick up each technique easily. She would slash, cut, slice and block with her own wooden sword as Elijah mock-sparred with her so she could practice these basic moves.

He went easy on her since she was still learning but was still strict with Arya: he corrected her posture, her movements, he told her to be sharper and quicker in her movements and "three inches of a blade will be enough to kill a man once those three inches are in his heart". Arya slashed at the air and Cassian gently corrected her by redirecting her body and moving her arm. He showed her how to slash and swing her sword in a way that would trick the opponent into lowering their guards. He reminded her to be quick and ruthless in battle and that hesitation would mean death or serious injury in real battle. He taught her how to block and parry a blow by using the blade of a sword.

Cassian also demonstrated on a wooden dummy for Arya as well and he was moving with great speed and power which testified his mastery of swordsmanship. He jabbed, stabbed and slashed at the dummy with so much force and power in each attack that he actually left scars and damaged the wooden dummy by leaving cracks or chipping off little pieces of it even though he was also using a wooden sword just like Arya. Every slash, stab or attack he landed on the dummy screamed power. Each move he made was sharp and precise. He was indeed a swordmaster who was an expert in swordsmanship as shown by his skills.

Every slash, stab, swing, left, right, left, right, up, side, change direction. 

Arya now practiced on a wooden training post as Elijah encouraged her and barked out a strong of sword moves. 

Mr. Cassie was right. The awakening did change her: She felt stronger and more energetic. Her senses became sharper and she felt more alert and quicker.

Arya swung her wooden sword at a wooden training dummy as Catalina cheered her on and Elijah barked out commands. Mr.Cassie was calling out various orders: "Slash!", "Stab!", "Swing!", and "Faster!!" and "move your feet, swordsmanship involves your feet as well!!" which made Arya stab, swing and slash harder and more aggressively.

Swing, Swing, Stab, Stab, Stab, Jab. Keep moving. 

Repeat.

Repeat.

Faster.

Faster.

Jab, Slash, Slash, Jab, Stab. Keep moving. 

Slash, Stab, Stab, Slash, Slash. Keep moving.

Arya felt the sweat roll down her face but she also felt alive and free as she attacked the wooden dummy with all her strength. Her arms burned and ached but she was fueled with determination as she slashed and stabbed at the dummy. Her attacks being quick and brutal just like Mr.Cassie taught her. She also didn't stop and continued with a barrage of attacks even though sweat began to bead up her face and she felt tired. It was addicting and thrilling.

Elijah had to rip the sword out of her hands to get her to take a water break before Catalina was up next.

Catalina taught her close range combat. Catalina was skilled with the way of using punches and kicks to defeat an opponent and she was more than willing to pass down her knowledge of close range combat to Arya. Various kicks, punches, fighting techniques that involved grabbing someone and being able to immobilize them without the use of an ability and with only her bare hands-Arya learned them all and she found that she liked learning how to fight. 

Front kick.

Back kick.

A kick that involved kicking while you were tilted at an angle.

Punches of all sorts: straight jab, right hook, left hook, etc.

Catalina also taught her how to block and defend herself from close range attacks and how to fight an armed opponent using little more than her bare hands.

Arya wondered why Catalina's hands were bandaged up when it seemed like she had no injuries but Arya soon learned why when Catalina started to demonstrate the moves on a wooden training post and started attacking it with her bare fists.

Her fists were a blur as she landed punch after punch on it, wooden cracking and splitting off as her punches wrecked devastating damage to the training dummy. A back kick from Catalina caused the wooden training dummy rip out of the ground from where it was planted in and go flying until it made contact with the wall of the house where it shattered into a million pieces of wood splitters.

Arya cringed. First she sent Elijah flying into the house and caused the house to have cracks in the outer walls and now Catalina abused this poor house by sending a wooden training dummy crashing into it. Veiny and huge cracks had now started to form on the side of the mansion now.

Myna is going to freak out when she sees the state of the house, Arya thought.

Catalina motioned for Arya to show her her hands which Arya did.

A roll of white bandages was produced from a pocket in Catalina's pants and she started to gently wrap up each of her hands in the soft, white fabric. Her knuckles and palms were wrapped up in this material and Arya gave an experimental flex after Catalina was done with wrapping them up.

"Why are my hands bandaged up like this when I'm not injured?"

Catalina explained that it was to protect her hands from getting hurt or damaged when she punched away at the wooden training post.

Okay, that makes sense, Arya thought as she positioned herself in front of a wooden training post, ignoring the huge empty gap where a training post once was, and readied herself in the way that Catalina showed her: feet apart, shoulders loose and ready, eyes focused on her opponent. 

 Punch, punch, jab, hook, punch, punch, hook, jab, repeat.

Punch, punch, jab, hook, punch, punch, hook, jab, repeat.

Roundhouse kick, front kick, back kick, knee strike, repeat.

Roundhouse kick, front kick, back kick, knee strike, repeat.

Roundhouse kick, front kick, back kick, knee strike, repeat.

Feet always moving and eyes focused on her opponent, Arya practiced basic punches and kicks. Catalina would occasionally stop her to correct her movements or give feedback on how to improve herself. It went on like this until Catalina told her to stop and that class was over now.

Training came to an end and Catalina and Elijah were impressed and amazed by the amount of potential and talent Arya showed. They both agreed that Arya had surpassed all of their expectations and she was remarkable.

Today, she would be meeting up with her academic tutor, a man that was trusted and well-liked by the king and was a good friend of his, and Arya wondered what kind of man he could be.

Arya sighed as she relaxed in an ice cold bath filled to the brim with soapy bubbles that smelled like flowers for some reason. Arya never had a bath before and she would normally just wash up in a river or lake whenever she could. Myna was kneeling down next to the tub and scrubbing her hair with some nice smelling stuff. 

Myna scrubbed and scrubbed away at her with shampoos and hair care products along with body wash products, "luxury" haircare products that rich women used to keep their hair looking silky and beautiful and perfect. Arya smelled all sorts of strange and wonderful things coming from those bottles that Myna was opening up and using on her: mint, lavender, fruity apple, roses and a slight hint of honey that can wafting out of the jars and bottles of lotions and oils that promised, according to their waterproof labels, to "soften hair", "make your hair more silky and beautiful", to "bring life back to your dry and ratty hair!".

Myna plastered some sort of pale pink paste onto Arya's skin that felt smoothing yet scratchy at the same time, chunky and it was grainy like sand, and she scrubbed it into Arya's arm before rinsing it off. 

She applied the same paste onto the rest of Arya's body before washing her off.

Arya was scrubbed clean and she smelled of roses, mint, lavender, fruity apple and a bit of honey by the time she stepped out of that bathroom in a white bathrobe. Arya never felt this clean and refreshed in her entire life before.

Arya slipped herself into a simple pale green dress with wide sleeves and a matching leather belt.

She decided to go barefooted as she wanted to feel the carpeted floors under her feet.

Myna escorted her down the stairs and into the mansion library where a man was sitting at a table, books stacked up neatly around him, waiting for Arya. He looked old enough to be someone's grandfather with his carrot orange hair streaked with gray with a matching bread with olive green eyes. He was dressed formally in a gray suit with a white ascot cravat necktie with black leather shoes. He carried a brown leather briefcase with him that sat next to his feet like an obedient pet dog.

She spotted Arya and he rose to greet her, bowing respectfully.

"I greet her highness. Please, sit down. My name is Baron Cato Pax and I'll be your academic and ability tutor. I heard from your uncle all about you."

Ah, right, the king. Her uncle.

"How is he doing?"

"He's doing well, your highness. He wished to spend more time with you but he's rather…busy at the moment right now."

Arya took a seat directly across from him and fiddled nervously with her hands.

"Don't be nervous, your highness. I know about your unfortunate circumstances and I'll start off small before we work our way up to more advanced stuff."

Arya gave him a small smile as gratitude.

….

Learning to read and write was the first agenda on Baron Pax's list.

He first taught her the entire alphabet of letters she needed to learn in order to learn how to read and write. She learned to pronounce each letter and how to write it. She felt a little bit like an idiot but Baron Pax assured her that this was how all children learned how to read and write.

A.B.C.D.E.F.G

H.I. J.K. L.M.N

Letters started to familiarize themselves to her as she learned how to pronounce them.

Basic small words such as "Cat" or "Apple" were introduced to her so she could practice. Arya struggled with pronunciation and to read the words off of the cards at first, the strange and foreign sounds rolling off of her tongue in a awkward way, she stumbled and sometimes struggled to read the word, but Baron Pax never got upset or angry with her, merely encouraging her and telling her she was doing great and making progress. 

"Boy."

"Good. Good. You're a fast learner, princess. Now, can you do the rest of them?"

"Girl. Flower. Candy. Green. Red. Blue. Dog."

"Good girl!! You're making fast progress. At this rate, you'll be able to read books by the end of this month!!"

Arya blushed at the praise and she savored it.

Next, learning how to write. 

He first showed her how to hold a pen, holding onto her hands in a gentle but firm manner.

He showed her how to trace the letters on the writing practice books so that they matched up with the faint gray words that were on the page.

She traced the letter "A" a few times and then moved on to "B", then "C".

"Mr.Pax, do you have a family?"

Arya felt like the room was too quiet for her own liking and she really wanted to get to know her teacher a whole lot better.

Baron Pax looked up from the book he was reading and smiled.

"Yes, Yes I do. I have a wife and two daughters. Both of my daughters are currently still unmarried but I believe that I'm going to be having a son-in-law at this rate."

Baron Pax frowned as if he smelled something unpleasant.

Arya put down her pen and decided to take a small break.

"Who is it? I mean, which daughter?"

"My oldest. She's a lovely girl and many boys have tried to get her hand in marriage ever since her coming of age ceremony. But I'm not ready to see my baby girl get married yet!!"

Baron Pax was looking a bit dramatic and unhinged when he said this. 

He continued.

"That…boy!! If he doesn't treat my daughter well, I'll kill him!!"

But isn't murder a crime? You're not actually going to kill him, are you?, Arya thought.

"Well, no. I'm not really going to kill him. It's just an expression, princess."

Arya was shocked when Baron Pax just answered the question she had in her mind.

"You can read minds?". Arya decided to ask. In truth, she didn't know what his power was yet. She found out now though.

Baron Pax cleared his throat before responding.

"I have the power of telepathy. I can communicate with others with my mind, receive and transmit information with one's mind without physical interaction and to read the thoughts of others."

Arya felt a shiver run down her spine. She didn't like the idea of someone being able to read her mind. She felt vulnerable and unsafe.

Baron Pax seemed to have read her thoughts-or maybe he really did read her thoughts-and he put her fears to rest.

"Trust me, I'll never read your thoughts or what's going to in your minds unless I had to. I prefer to use my telepathy for communication purposes only."

Arya nodded. Then her stomach started to rumble loudly.

Arya felt embarrassed and her face turned red.

Baron Pax cracked into a smile.

"Why don't we end our lessons here for today?"

….

Arya never really noticed all of the paintings on the walls but there were many pictures of pretty women lining the walls. Well, she was really overwhelmed with her new life as a princess to really take in all the details around her.

Each lady was different: One had beautiful ringlets of blonde hair and piercing blue eyes, another had brown hair just like her but she had golden eyes, another had pale pink hair with dark purple eyes. Various women that were different from each other but were all beautiful and powerful-looking.

A certain picture caught her eye as she passed by it on the way to the dining hall.

It was much bigger than all the rest and seemed to take up the entire wall. It was framed in gold and looked as if it was painted with love and care.

A beautiful woman stared back at Arya and she had beautiful locks of golden-brown hair that flowed to her waist in soft waves but her pale blue eyes were the most captivating part about her. Those eyes were the color of a sky on a warm summer day.

She looked perfect and forever beautiful in this picture.

Arya's stomach started growling more aggressively and she decided to get moving once again.

Lunch-well, it was more like dinner given how late in the day it was now-was served and Myna really outdone herself with roasted potatoes and carrots, juicy and succulent pork ribs that felled right off the bones, perfectly cooked white grian that was soft and delicious and pan-cooked green vegetables consisting of spanish and broccoli.

They ate well that night and Myna was buried under a mountain of compliments and praise.

Arya's mind kept drifting off to the picture of that beautiful yet sad-looking lady.

"There was a picture of this lady with beautiful locks of golden-brown hair that flowed to her waist in soft waves and pale blue eyes. I'm just wondering who she was because she looks very important compared to all the other ladies."

Elijah put down his fork and knife and took a swig of water.

"She was your uncle's wife, a queen. That was Queen Estelle, mother of the Crown Prince."

Uncle's wife. Arya's aunt. And she also happened to have given birth to a son who was Arya's cousin.

"Was?"

"Yes. The late queen died 15 years ago from a tragic accident."

"How?"

"Hush, kiddo, and eat your dinner and go to bed."

That was the end of their conversation.

…..

Arya changed out of her green dress and into a white nightgown.

She huffed and pouted like a little kid as she climbed into bed. Myna was busy cleaning up her bedroom even though it looked clean and spotless to her. 

"Mr.Elijah is definitely hiding something from me!! But he's not talking!"

"My princess. The reason why her portrait is here and not hanging in the royal palace is because Queen Estelle is a disgraced queen."

Arya's head snapped her head towards Myna's voice.

"She did something bad?"

"Yes, yes she did."

"What was it that she did?"

Myna didn't respond but only changed the topic.

"You had a very tiring day. You worked hard today, my princess. I take my leave now and I bid you goodnight."

"MYNA!!"

Too late. Myna left and shut the doors behind her.

Arya collapsed into her bed and pulled the dark green sheets over her.

Prephas she could work this out tomorrow.

Right now, she was feeling a bit tired.

Arya went to sleep. She dreamed happy dreams for the first time in weeks now.