Smoke and Mirrors (35)

Thirty-Five

Plans

---

We left the next day and traveled for three hours on the backs of dolphins.

—Well, I say they were dolphins, but each of them was as translucent as ice and had horns on the domes of their heads, just over where their brains hovered inside their clear skulls.

When the dolphins had carried us as far as they could, we walked along the beach, dripping and shivering. I inhaled and lifted most of the moisture from my clothes and dumped it on Sterling.

He grunted and glared at me. “Blast it all–what are you doing?!”

I tried to keep a straight face, but probably failed. “Oops! Sorry, I’m still not used to controlling water.”

He mumbled something under his breath and twisted his tunic. Water poured out of it.

I giggled. “Here, I’ll do it.” With a wave of my hand, I sent the water flying.

We continued walking, but I heard him mutter, “Thanks.”

I shrugged. “It’s only fair.”

He said nothing.

“So,” I began, “Where do we go now?”

He paused and scanned the horizon. There was a city of some kind out in the distance. It was hard to see what it looked like exactly, but I could make out skyscrapers and hovering buildings in the shapes of spheres. “I can try getting us to Wystilor through my mirrors.”

“Is that Wystilor?” I asked, pointing to the city in the distance.

He gave a deep, throaty chuckle. “I wish. That city is known for inventors. They’re the ones responsible for things like our Steamers and security systems. They make all kinds of interesting things, but they’re not the Dream realm. To get there, we have to travel to the opposite side of the world.”

I grimaced. “Can you get us there?”

He stared out at the horizon. “It will be easier without Adrian to carry, but I’m still not sure. Holding onto people in a reflection is hard.”

I looked at him with wide eyes. “Can you lose a person in a reflection?”

“Yes.” He turned away and began forming a puddle of mirror in the sand.

Curiosity itched at me. “Have you ever lost s–”

“--Come on, get in. I can’t keep it forever.” He nodded towards the mirror.

I squinted at his obvious change in subject, but shrugged. “You better not lose me, that’s all I can say.”

“Oh, it’s tempting, believe me.” He nodded again. “Get in.”

I sucked in a breath and walked up to the mirror’s edge, then jumped in.

It felt like I was falling into an entirely different world. Threads of mirror stretched out endlessly around me, as if they were columns supporting the doorway. I let out a scream as my stomach flopped.

Suddenly I tumbled out of the tunnel of mirror and fell onto a bed of silver grass.

The land seemed to sway beneath me as I laid on the ground. I tried to gather myself, then slowly stood.

Mirrors. Everywhere. The grass was silver, the trees were silver, everything was silver!

I spun around—almost tripping over my own feet—and sure enough, Sterling’s castle stretched towards the sky, supported by thick beams of mirror and jagged rock.

I spun around again as Sterling fell out of the puddle of mirror at my feet.

“We’re at your kingdom!” I whined.

He opened his eyes and pulled himself to his knees. “Oh, blast. Sorry, just give me a moment to gather myself.”

I folded my arms and stared out at the expanse of mirror plants and ponds around us.

“Your Highness?!” a voice chirped behind us.

Sterling stood and I turned to see a woman with silvery, metallic skin like Sterling’s staring up at us with wide eyes.

“Morning, Matilla,” he replied.

She looked like she was about to drop her armload of folded laundry. “What happened to your hair?! I almost didn’t recognise you!”

“It’s a long story,” he replied.

She raised her eyebrow. “We’ve been searching for you everywhere! Where have you been?!

“Around. Is something wrong?” he asked.

She nodded. “Y-yes. I–there are people here to see you. They’ve been waiting to see you for weeks now!”

“For me?” He seemed surprised, then turned to me. “Do you mind waiting? I might have to stay here a while before I can go to Wystilor.”

I blinked. “Uh–yeah, sure. I guess.” We needed to come up with a plan for rescuing Adrian anyway.

He turned back to the woman. “Thank you, Matilla.”

***

I waited around in the hallways while Sterling talked to the group of people that had been waiting to speak with him.

However, a servant soon rushed into the hallway and bowed, then said, “Princess Tanwen, his Highness has requested your presence.”

I nodded. “Thank you. Can you take me, please?”

The girl nodded and led me down a hallway to the left.

When I walked into Sterling’s meeting room, all eyes were on me. The people gathered seemed to be from several kingdoms. There were people I recognised from my kingdom with bright silver eyes, there were people from Seraphina’s kingdom with skin the color of almonds and hair as black as charred wood, there were people from Sterling’s kingdom with metallic skin and pale hair, and one other group of people I didn’t recognise. They sat close together, but every person in the last group looked very different, so maybe they weren’t even a group.

They rose as I walked into the room, then each person bowed.

I smiled and offered a wave. “Hi.”

They straightened and turned to Sterling, who seemed almost. . . fidgety. But he didn’t get fidgety–I did! He was never fidgety.

What was going on?

I took a seat at the opposite side of the table, across from Sterling.

He cleared his throat. “Princess, the Fates have called a meeting with us. It seems our personal decisions are now in the eye of every kingdom on the Inside.” His tone was very dry and annoyed.

I blinked at the strange use of my title. “What do you mean?”

The group I didn’t recognise stood. A tall woman dressed in an orange tie-dye dress began speaking; “Princess Tanwen, we have gathered to discuss the union between you and his Highness, the Prince Regent Sterling.”

I swallowed. I didn’t like the word ‘Union’ when used in that kind of sentence. “What do you mean?”

A man from the same group stood. “We are aware of your situation and the fact that you are ignorant in many of our ways due to your upbringing, so I will phrase this simply; you and Prince Sterling must be married soon. If you do not, many of us have plans for war against the kingdom of Fire. Your marriage will help settle the people with the hope of a beautiful new union that will ensure peace stays in our countries.”

You know how sometimes you read in a book that someone’s skin paled four shades? I used to think it was kind of dramatic to word things like that, but you know what? Once the man’s words hit me, I actually felt the color drain from my skin.

Sterling’s forehead was covered by his hand, almost as if he was trying to hide behind it.

My mouth dropped open. “I–but we–I can’t–we–”

Sterling composed himself quickly. “What she means to say is that we are working on the preparations now. We always aim to do what is best for the kingdoms and we are happy that our betrothal can contribute to peace in the Southern kingdoms during these hard times.”

My mouth continued to stay open. “But–”

He shot me a look that warned me not to say anything.

Any words of protest died in my throat. I closed my mouth and imagined storming dramatically out of the room, but I couldn’t get my paralyzed feet to move.

The groups of people looked pleased. “Wonderful,” replied the man. “Then we’ll leave you to it.” He placed a packet on the table with a golden wax seal on the front. “This contains everything you need to know about having your wedding according to all the ordinances, as well as the date you’ll need to have it done by.”

“Thank you, Kismet Lemmrick,” Sterling replied.

Then it was over. Everyone began to funnel out of the room, leaving Sterling and I alone.

I swallowed and stared down at my hands, which were clasped on the table. The silence was heavy between us like a thick, wet blanket. My breathing seemed abnormally loud.

He cleared his throat. “You want to look at the date or should I?”

I fidgeted with the kelp hem of my shirt. “You can.”

He slid the packet across the table towards himself and peeled up the gold seal. Slowly, he emptied the contents onto the table and picked up a silver card. He glanced at me for a moment, then flipped it open.

Now it was his turn to pale. He looked up at me. “We have two weeks.”

I gripped the edge of the table so hard my fingers turned white. “Two weeks?! But—we don’t even like each other!”

He inhaled. “Look, we don’t have to. . . you know, do anything. Afterwards, I mean. We can just marry and leave it at that. We have a prophecy working against us, don’t forget. As much as we dislike each other now, if we’re around each other enough, we could fall. . . in love.”

I grimaced. “We can’t have that happen.”

“Absolutely not,” he replied.

I groaned. “I hate this! If the Fates are supposed to be so great at picking out what couples would be the best influence on the countries, then why would they pick you and me?!”

“You and I,” he corrected.

“Shut up, you know what I mean.”

He shook his head. “Yes, I know. I don’t understand it either. It’s literally been prophesied that your death would be my undoing–Why would they force a marriage that’s destined to fail so terribly?!”

I sniffed and looked away. “My mom said that sometimes the Fates can change betrothments under certain circumstances. Can we switch?”

He raised an eyebrow. “That happened one time in all of history where they changed a decision. The only reason they did was because several of the Fates had been ill while making the decision, and once they recovered the majority realised it would have ended terribly for all of the kingdoms. That has never happened again.”

I narrowed my eyes at the table as my last shred of hope disappeared. When I spoke, I had to fight to keep my voice from breaking. “What about Adrian? When can we get him?”

“As soon as the wedding is over. Believe me, I want to get him back as well. I need Seraphina to give us that horn before my kingdom is destroyed by a bunch of toddlers with rogue Talents.”

We stood from the table and I scratched my head. “Alright. Let’s get this over as fast as possible so we can save Adrian and get the horn back.”

He nodded. “You should start working on a dress fitting. That takes the longest out of anything from what I’ve heard.” He started to walk away, but paused and glanced at me over his shoulder. “Uh. . . it’s traditional that the bride stays. . . in the groom’s castle during the month leading up to the wedding.” My eyes widened and I started to protest, but he cut me off. “It’ll be in a separate room, don’t worry about that. And. . . what I said still stands. As long as you are under my roof, I won’t kill you.”

I gave him a look of disbelief and threw my hands in the air. “Wow, that’s so comforting. If I wander outside I’m fair game, but at least I don’t have to worry about being murdered in the shower!”

He rolled his eyes and continued walking away.

***

A week later I was marching down the aisle.

Actually, this was just the rehearsal, but it still made everything feel too real.

Kick, walk. Kick, walk. My dress flowed to the ground in a deep shade of red–the traditional wedding dress color of the Fire nation, or so I was told. The decorations of the wedding were blue and silver, a symbol of the union between the Water, Fire, and Mirror nations.

Kick, walk. Kick, walk. This method of walking was to make sure I didn’t trip, since it was so long and flowy.

Kick, walk. Cake, walk. Cake, walk. Cake–

Wait, cake? Why was I thinking about c–

I stumbled on my dress and fell into a pot of flowers on the side of the aisle. A broken clatter echoed in the room, laughing at me. I groaned, holding my aching head as servants and guards rushed to my side, each clambering over each other to reach me first.

“Princess Tanwen, are you okay?!”

“Your Highness!”

I waved them away. “I’m fine–I just forgot to kick my dress.” I didn’t add that I had been distracted by that tall, lovely cake I’d seen being wheeled into the kitchen earlier. We were going to have a reception dinner after our practice was over. Honestly, that was the only thing I was excited for.

Several of the servants helped me up. Sterling watched with an unimpressed expression at the end of the aisle, but I’d seen him do some pretty embarrassing stuff too! Like the time he. . . well, he. . . Well, we can’t all be elegant and un-embarrassing like him.

We repeated the last three minutes of the wedding ceremony. Once we finished mumbling through our place-holder vows, we quickly backed away from each other.

When the wedding and dinner practice was over, I walked back to my room with my chin held high, my shoulders back, and my eyes studying my door as if I was the most confident princess in the world. That side of me looked good to anyone watching. To them, I was Princess Tanwen, the daughter of Fire and Water and the soon-to-be Queen of Reflections. I looked like I was supposed to.

—But once I made it inside my room, I couldn’t tear the dumb dress off quick enough. Tears threatened to pour down my face and I barely held them back. All I could do was try to get that dress off before I ruined it with my stupid leaky eye water. Why were tears even a thing?! I mean, my body wanted water, I gave it water, and the first time it felt upset about anything it wanted to expel it from my eyeballs like a bratty kid throwing a tantrum!

I tried to wipe away my tears, but they kept coming. Eventually I gave up and let them fall, then laid on my bed in my silk pajamas and cried into my pillow.

My wedding was in one week and I was already falling apart.