Caleantha

Only a little further... she only had to reach a little further. She stretched her leg as far as she could, but she still couldn't reach it. Oh, why had she gotten so upset last night and thrown out the necklace her grandmother had given her out of the window? Oh, if only she was but a little taller, she could reach it...

Truth be told, she was lucky it had gotten stuck on a branch. If it had fallen in the bushes she probably wouldn't have found it, ever. But this was no good, either. She couldn't exactly go and ask for help, because anyone would ask why that necklace was up there in that tree.
“Oh, for crying out loud...” She muttered as she tried once more. Why did she have to be so small? Both her mother and grandmother were pretty tall.
“Curse you, dad.”

Her orange hair had gotten loose, so she quickly tied it again. She'd cut it short, but her mother wouldn't let her. It was so beautiful, she said. So silky, she said.
“So in the way all the time, I said.”
Okay, once more. Caleantha got up and reached out her front leg as far as she could, while balancing herself on the trunk of the tree.
“Just... a little... further....”

“You'll never reach it, you know.”
Startled, Caleantha turned around too fast and lost her balance, ending up in the bushes. Blinking, she noticed the necklace was still on the branch.
“Frika! Why! I was ALMOST there!”
Even though Frika was only three years older than she was, she was her mother's younger sister, making Frika her aunt. Not that Caleantha ever saw her that way. Frika was more like a sister. They even had the same hair colour, although Frika's coat was a lot darker than hers.

“Yea, right. You weren't even close, shorty.”
“HEY!”
Frika walked up to the tree and stuck out her leg, reaching the necklace with ease. After a few pulls, the branch gave way and the necklace was loose.
“Here you go, Cali.”
Caleantha blushed. “Thanks.”
“Now, what was your necklace doing up there anyway? Isn't that the one my mom gave you last year for your birthday? The one she had specially made in Kin for you?”

“Yea...” Caleantha sighed.
“So...” Frika continued.
“I threw it out of my window.” Caleantha said as she pointed at her window, a little bit above the tree.
“I see.” Frika said.
“Look, I was angry, okay?”
“I know, I know. No need to get all defensive with me. Unless you want to talk about it.”
“No.”
“Okay. Then I'm going again. Bye, little one.” Frika winked and began to walk away.

“Okay, okay!” Caleantha yelled.
She really didn't want to admit Frika was right, but she had to get it off her chest. And her mother wouldn't be back for a while... Frika turned around and sat down in the grass. “So tell me. What on earth was going on last night? I could hear you yell at the other side of the castle!”

“Your mother was just being unfair.” Caleantha said, thinking about the night before. Of course, everything started out quite normal. They'd had dinner with everyone, and her great-grandmother Regina had spend quite a lot of time talking to her about her lessons and classes. After dinner, Caleantha had decided to go visit her friend Crysanta to work on their school work. When she announced this to her grandmother Taira, however, she didn't quite agree.

“How's that?” Frika asked.
“I just wanted to go visit Crysanta to work on school work. But your mom said I couldn't so I got angry and went to my room. She later came to visit me, for some other reason I don't know, but anyway she told me I couldn't just run off without discussing so I said that mom would think it's okay and she said well your mom's not here now and I got all angry.” Just thinking about it made her upset again.

“So... you miss your mom.” Frika concluded.
“Huh?”
“Cali... I know you miss her. So do I. But she's going to be gone for a bit longer, and I'm sorry but you'll have to listen to Taira until she gets back. It's not that bad. Really, I know. I've been there, too.” Frika smiled.
Man, how did that girl always manage to figure out what was wrong? So annoying...
“I just... wanted to go with her to Madash...” Caleantha said.

“I know you did. But Cali, you're here now. And it's not fair to take it out on Taira. I think you should go and apologize. She's only trying to look after you.” Frika smiled.
“I hate it when you're right.” Caleantha muttered as she got up. She picked up the necklace before she followed Frika to the castle.

“Do you wanna go to the woods later? We can visit the outhouse, find some fresh apples.” Caleantha asked as they reached the door.
“Yea, sure. Just come look me up when you're done. I'm probably in the garden somewhere.” Frika had her own vegetables garden in the back of the large castle gardens. She loved to experiment and grow exotic fruits, even if they didn't really want to grow in this colder climate.

“Sure. See you then.” Caleantha said as she entered the castle. The hallway was unusually quiet for this time of the day. Usually it was filled with officials and citizens and other ponies Caleantha should probably know but had no clue who they were. She made her way to her grandmother's study, and softly knocked on the door, hoping that her grandmother would not be there.

Unfortunately for Caleantha, Taira was there.
“Come in.” she yelled from the other side of the door and Caleantha opened it reluctantly.
“Hello...” She whispered softly. Her grandmother sat behind her desk which, as always, was filled with paperwork. Queen Taira wore the queen's crown on her head, almost hidden by her dark yellow mane.

“Caleantha! How can I help you?”
 “I eh... wanted to apologize.”
“Okay. Go ahead.” Taira said as she put away her paperwork.
“Well... I wasn't being completely fair to you I think, last night... I mean, I know I wanted to go to visit Crysanta, and I thought it would be okay as today was not a school day and, well, we just wanted to work on school work... but I should have asked first. And I shouldn't have gotten so angry at you when you said no to me.”

Caleantha heard her grandmother sigh as she got out of her chair.
“I know, dear. And I'm sorry I was so strict on you. I shouldn't have yelled at you, either. Next time, please ask me in advance, okay? I'm sure we can work things out.”
“I will. Thanks, grandma.” Caleantha smiled.
Caleantha gave her grandmother a hug, hoping that she would manage to think about discussing things beforehand. With her mother, she never had to... but her grandmother was more strict. She would just have to deal with that until her mother got back.

“I'm sorry, hun. It's just so different from how I raised Frika. I know your mother wanted you to go to a normal school, and meet ponies and go out there and enjoy the world... I guess it's just something I'm not used to.” Caleantha smiled. It was true that she was the first child in her family who went to an ordinary school, ever. Princesses used to be raised at the court, receiving private lessons on things important for those meant to rule the country.

Her mother, however, had argued that there would always be time to learn those skills. She wanted Caleantha to go out, and meet ponies, and live a normal life and make friends. So Caleantha attended school, like all ponies in the country. She just received some additional lessons at home, on how to control her powers and matters of state. She didn't care much for the latter one.

“Did you hear anything from mom?” Caleantha asked when she let go of her grandmother.
“I'm sorry hun, I didn't. I'm sure we will receive a letter soon, though. But your mother is busy. The alliance meetings are hard and difficult, and everyone looks at your mother to set things right. She probably doesn't have much time to write. But I'm sure we'll hear from her soon.”

“Yea. I know.” Caleantha couldn't help but be disappointed. She missed her mother... and she had hoped she would know when she would be back by now.
“Well, I won't keep you off your work much longer, mother. I'll go meet Frika.” Caleantha sighed as she nodded slightly before she turned towards the door.

“Oh, Caleantha!” Taira said as Caleantha was about to close the door.
“Yes?” Caleantha said.
“I have some other news! We'll have special visitors early next year.”
“We will?” Caleantha asked, wondering who her grandmother was referring to. Special visitors usually meant some other royalty from another country, meaning Caleantha would have to sit through endless ceremonies and smile a lot and dress up. She didn't particularly care for any of that.

“Yes. The High King of the west will visit us, together with his two children.”
“Oh...”
Caleantha wasn't particularly happy with that. While she didn't know them that well, she had only met them twice so far after all, for some other reason meeting the High King was always combined with a lot of fighting and tension in her family.

“Well, that's nice.” Caleantha managed to smile.
“I hope so. I wasn't really expecting this... but I can't figure out why Takato would want to visit us now. He didn't mention any reason in his letter, but I can't remember him ever contacting us without there being something he wanted. Anyway, when they do, be sure to be kind to his children, all right?”
“Of course grandma. I always am.” Caleantha grinned.
“And none of those pranks.”
 “Of course not.” Caleantha winked as she closed the door.

“The High King? Yay!” Frika exclaimed. The two girls lay in the shadow of the trees, the high grass surrounding them on all sides.
“Yay? Why? I thought you hated royal visits!” Caleantha asked.
“I did. I do! But If the High King comes, with his entire family, his son will come too!” Frika giggled, a rare thing for the otherwise rather serious girl.

“His son? Firian?” Caleantha still didn't get it.
“He's totally hot!”
“He is?” She couldn't exactly remember the young prince, who was a year older than she was.
“Oh, come on! He's totally cute.”
“Okay, stop it. You're freaking me out.” Caleantha poked Frika, suddenly too aware that she was her aunt and was calling boys “hot” and “cute”.

“Okay, okay. You'll see, though.” Frika grinned as she took another bite of the apple she had just taken from a tree. The outhouse was a little wooden house in the forest, close to the castle. Nobody really knew when it was build, but Caleantha's parents had found it here and had fixed it up. Now it was a cute wooden house they sometimes used to have guests sleep in or just to get away from the busy castle life for a night or two.

What Caleantha loved most, however, was the garden surrounding it. There was no fence or anything, just an open space with some apple trees and lots of grass that grew rather tall in summer. It was so peaceful, the only sound the rustling of the trees and the chirping of birds. Sometimes she liked to come here, alone, just to get away from things... but coming here with Frika, or with her friend Crysanta, was also great.

“So how's school?” Frika asked. Unlike Caleantha, Frika had been tutored at the castle and therefore never experienced school life, and she was always curious about what Caleantha had learned and the things she had experienced.
“Oh, fun! We went to visit a farm the other day. The farmer taught us how he planted crops and how he protected them from critters and bad weather and stuff.”

“That sounds nice.” Frika smiled.
“Yea, it was.” Caleantha grinned, remembering how Crysanta had actually gotten spooked by a scarecrow.
“Hmmm... Cali, maybe we should go back.” Frika pointed at the sky.
“It's getting late, and I don't want to be too late for dinner. Mom will freak if we're late for sure.”

“Yea, you're right. Let's go.” Caleantha agreed. She got up, but as she did the entire world turned black.
“Wow...” She stammered as she lost all sense of balance.
“Cali!” Frika yelled as Caleantha was about to fall over. She felt Frika held her up. Slowly her vision came back to her, but that didn't exactly help against the dizziness because now she not only felt her world spin, she also saw it.

“Are you okay?” Frika asked.
“I... I think so...” Caleantha stammered as the world slowly began to balance itself once again.
“What on earth happened? You look pale!”
“I... don't know. I guess I got up too fast?” Caleantha whispered, trying to focus on a single tree in front of her, hoping it would make the dizziness go away faster.
“Well... don't do that again, okay? That just looked really scary!”
“Yea. It felt the same. I'll be careful.” Caleantha smiled, but at the same time wondering if that was all there was to it.