AN: Before you read this story, you should know that Regal/Raine relationship will be a semi-big part of this story and if you're not entire convinced of that coupling, I would implore you to read "One of Us" by MixedBreedMaiya who is an expert in all things Regal/Raine and writes awesome stories on this site.


Chapter 1: A Lovely Maiden

She stood alone in the twilight, the reflecting rays of the sun striking her lovely form. She wore one of her trademark dresses, a mix between a simple sundress and a far more elaborate ballroom dress. Her sunflower yellow dress was made almost completely of a comely variation of silk threads, charmeuse, a lightweight silk satin with a more subdued luster. White silken cloth bundled at her shoulders and then draped loosely upon arms covered in flowery-shaped patterned sleeves of Chambray, a lightweight cotton. Some of her milk-white skin could be seen between the spaces of each small flower threaded loosely to the next.

A rectangle shaped collar showed her well-defined collarbone, a long graceful neck, and a whisper of cleavage that hinted at her blooming breasts. It clung to her flat stomach and small waist in the way a corset might. A tightly threaded green silk design decorated the front of her dress stretching from the point where the collar met her breast until the cusp of her waist. They were akin to vines twisting upon itself in an impossibly complex fashion. A thicker white thread set against the green and the yellow outlined her waist and then the dress flowed downward and outward like an upside down rose stopping just above her ankles. The ends of the dress copied the same intricate flowery design of her sleeves. Below there, one could see white stockings. On her petite feet she wore yellow suede short boots that had no heels whatsoever on account of her already 5 feet height.

She was a girl of twelve, not quite a teen, but not a small child either. She wore her long, silken hair long and unabated. Periwinkle colored hair fell down to her waist. Shorter pieces of her hair near the front fell down upon her rosy cheeks and stopped just below her jawline—instead of bangs these protruded from her ample hair near her forehead. Her eyes were a striking, cool blue and her features well-proportioned upon a small face. Her slightly, pointed ears naturally divided the shorter front part of her hair from the longer rear part. She didn't smile often not because she was constantly unhappy, but because she never could find a compelling reason to do so, but when she did, it was said that she could brighten an entire room of depressed people.

She'd just then been watching the sunset out on her room's balcony located on the third floor of the modest manor she resided in. There was a light tap on the door. She could hear her mother's voice on the other side calling her name. "Leona?" She turned to it expectantly knowing already who it was.

"Come in," she said politely out of practiced habit.

A half-elven woman opened the door, her mother, better known as Raine Sage. She smiled pleasantly at the reclusive child.

"Food's ready, honey. I think your father's really outdone himself this time," she said with a grin.

"Alright, I'll be down in a few," Leona answered in a cool tone.

"Don't take too long," Raine warned her and then took her leave of the room.

Leona was actually looking forward to this dinner not because her father would treat them to his excellent cooking, but something entirely different. Her birthday was fast approaching…and she wanted to let them know that she had no interest in having a "party". There would always be a party when it came to her birthday and there would always be people there that she had no clue as to who they were. It was at these parties that she was introduced to others that it was obvious her father knew well. They were nice people, sure, but she felt no connection to them. They were her father's and mother's friends not hers and their children were…of no interest to her. They behaved far too immature for her tastes. She hadn't even bothered to remember their names—she simply remembered that there had been the two obnoxious red-headed twin boys who would never leave her alone…

Now was her time to formerly express her nonexistent interest in such things. She had a sneaking suspicion, however, that her parents used her birthday as an excuse for a get-together with old friends. Leona had no friends and she was perfectly fine with it remaining that way.

She made her way down to the dining room after washing her hands upstairs and was immediately presented with a table filled with quite a bit of food—it was quite a spread filled with food of almost all variety. Leona shook her head in irritation. Why did her father have to make such overly extravagant food? They would never get through all of it. Her mother certainly didn't have the biggest appetite and hers was lesser still. Not that food was ever wasted around the house, but they would certainly have leftovers for days…There was no particular reason for such a feast, she suspected. Her father could simply just be in the mood.

As was her father's habit, he pulled out a chair for her when she entered the room and Leona graciously took a seat there. She suspected she was quite lightweight to her muscular father when she felt her chair practically float closer to the table. They didn't always eat together as a family, but it was something that happened at least once a week, her father was the President of the Lezarano company and her mother was a teacher at a nearby school which demanded equal if not more time than her father. They both worked diligently and treated their jobs with the utmost earnestness—it was a trait they both shared.

They never began conversation about what they'd been doing all day. Instead, their focus would be exclusively on her. She sat next to her father and her mother sat on the other side.

"How was your day, honey?" Raine asked the child with a smile.

She seemed genuinely interested in her day, but Leona could not figure out why. It was the weekend anyway, she hardly did anything that day besides tending to the garden and she told her mother this.

"I haven't been out to the garden in quite some time. How are the tulips faring?" her father asked in his ever pleasant tone.

"Well, it's spring, isn't it? They're all starting to bloom."

"I'm sure yesterday's rain wasn't exactly appreciated by the flowers."

"I added some sand and dry pine bark to hasten the drying of the soil—just like you taught me before."

There had been a disastrous year with the garden when Leona had forgotten about the plants which did not favor overly moist soil and she'd cried piteously when she found many of the flowers dying and wilting away. She'd run to her father who was always sympathetic when it came to her tears and she had hoped that he could magically fix everything. He instead taught her a very important lesson about paying attention to details. Still to sate her despondency he bought her a garden's worth of new blooming flowers of the ones that had died—a decision that her mother had frowned upon.

"It was quite a sunny day today," Raine added, "I think they'll be fine."

"Sunny?" Regal said to the woman sitting across from him, "More like sweltering."

"A nice day to go to the beach," Raine said with a mischievous grin. "You would think you'd like such weather for owning a summertime resort. Speaking of which, I bet it was quite busy for you today. Yet you seem in a good mood."

"That's the thing, it was busy, but before I knew it time had gone by so quickly and then I was no longer needed. I'd say that's a good day."

"Indeed," she agreed. "It's always busy for me, but, Regal, I really think my students learned something quite valuable yesterday. Remember that history class that caused so much controversy years ago?—we've come a long way from that."

"I'm glad to hear it. It always starts with the children."

"Yes, they were quite receptive to it. It was beautiful."

Her mother could go on and on about "her children" at the nearby school she taught at and that Leona herself attended. She'd heard many tales of the controversy that had plagued the school in its early days. It had taken ten whole years to secure its reputation for a good, wholesome education and Leona knew it was in no small part due to her father's influence. The school was their crowning glory and they would speak of it often. Sometimes it bored her near to death. But before they could go down that road again…

"Mother, father, I have a birthday coming up soon and I would like to say that I do not want a party. I would much rather spend it quietly."

She watched as her parents looked at each other with a glance that only they could read—an action that always annoyed Leona who was yet to be able to interpret them sufficiently.

"If that's what you desire," her father began, but then Raine interrupted him.

"You always give in so easily," her mother said and this made Leona frown. She could get her father to do anything, but her mother was a different story altogether. "This birthday is even more special for you. You're turning thirteen."

"Yes," Leona said not fully understanding what her mother was getting at.

"You're old enough to marry in the eyes of the government."

Leona found that she was no longer looking at her mother, her eyes seemed to have glazed over in shock. "Are you…are you going to marry me off?"

"Will you stop scaring the girl, Raine?" her father said sympathetically. "She is right, though," he said looking at Leona's blank stare. "You would be old enough to marry, but that does not that mean you have to and I, of course, would object to doing something so drastic so young. Nonetheless, it would be a very important birthday for you. It is for tradition's sake."

"So…did you have to do the same thing?" Leona asked to her father.

"Yes, I did, but nothing ever came of it. It is simply the remnants of the days before when marrying off daughters and sons carried far more importance."

"Then why do we have to do it at all if it's of no consequence?" Leona pressed.

"We do not have to," her father said to her. Leona saw her mother give him one of her glares. "But your mother and I thought it would be a good chance for you to socialize with others your age."

Socialize? Who did they think she was? She would socialize with whomever she pleased. It wasn't that she didn't want to, it was that she had not found anyone worth her time and effort.

"I go to school every day," she said stolidly.

"Yes, you do," Raine said with a laugh, "And I hear about your day every time, but I never hear about the friends you've made."

"I go to school to learn," she said stubbornly, "not to be distracted by others."

"And that's why a birthday party would be perfect for you," Raine replied.

Leona wondered if her mother had gone completely crazy. If she wasn't mistaken, wasn't this the opposite of what she was saying?

"I suppose there's no way around this," Leona said looking away from her mother.

"Unless you have a compelling reason why not to do this, then no," Raine said with a smile.

"Don't look at this as punishment. It is an opportunity to experience something you haven't before," he added looking at her with emphatic eyes.

It was difficult to stay angry when he looked at her like that. Besides, she was beginning to think there was some merit to what they were saying. When she was in school, she was focused on learning and nothing more at least while she was in class, but at lunch time, the fact that she had no connection to her fellow classmates became painfully obvious. She would sit alone and that would be the end of it. She hated lunch and she hated P.E. She hated anything that would remind her of her lack of friends. If she could have convinced them, she would have preferred being homeschooled.

Leona excused herself from the table when she had her fill and went back upstairs to her room where she could return to her sweet solitude. She took up the book that lay on her bed, curled up under her downy comforter and dived into the world her book so effortlessly created.

Before she knew it, hours had passed and she had finished her book. It was only for that reason that she looked up from it. She probably could have continued all night otherwise and since it was the weekend, no one would tell her it was time to go to bed. She laid down a bit in her bed reminiscing on what she had just finished reading, but growing bored of this, she crept downstairs to see what her parents were doing. When she was quiet for a long time, her parents would always assume she was asleep especially during the weekdays and one of them had come to turn off her lights as she pretended to be asleep. Lithely she would move somewhere near them—most times they'd be in the living room conversing—sit down and simply listen to their voices; her father's deep, but soothing tones, and her mother's lighter, but sharper tongue.

She could stay there forever listening. She'd hear the clink of champagne glasses, the genuine soft laugh of her mother and an air of sweet contentment. They were quite perfect for each other. Leona doubted she'd ever find someone who would make her feel the same way. Sometimes their pleasant conversations would become explicit. Instead of sitting across from one another, they would sit very close together, her mother's head leaned lovingly into her father's broad shoulders. They wouldn't do much more than kiss on such occasions, but they were long, intimate kissing sessions in which Leona was sure she probably should not have been privy to. She didn't see anything, she simply heard and made her own conclusions. But she found it all to be quite beautiful.

This night they simply talked not about her as she had suspected, but about some research that had caught her mother's attention—it was all quite boring, but it made her content all the same. She remembered the time when she was much younger that she had asked them point blank for some siblings of her own. Her parents looked at each other with weary looks, but that did not deter her. She asked them a few more times before her father sat her down and somehow convinced her that she was likely not ever going to have brothers or sisters and that it was perfectly normal that way. If she wanted to have some playmates then he had no problem allowing her friends to come over. But therein lied the problem, she had no one to invite over. She had wanted her very own siblings because then they'd be related to her and they might be similar enough to her for her to tolerate.

It was quite late into the night when her parents deemed it time to go upstairs to their bedroom. Leona moved further away so that they could not see her as they came around the couch. Even if she wasn't nearly as silent as she was then, she doubt they would have noticed. They were far too distracted with each other. She peered around the couch and saw them standing there together. Their arms were wrapped around one another and they kissed quite deeply and passionately. The scene was quite breathtaking and it gave her a very warm feeling. How beautiful…

They exchanged a few words and then she ducked her head back around the corner of the couch and watched as they exited the room and climbed upstairs. She waited until she could no longer hear their footsteps before even attempting to do the same. With a rare smile on her face, she made her way back to her room and dreamed only of love and warmth.