Sharp fluorescent lights lit a surgically clean hallway in a deliberately artificial manner. There were only two people striding past the bare metal walls and corridors: a visitor and his guide. The guide wore a simple black uniform, but unbeknownst to the average person, an arsenal of deadly weapons were hidden on her body. Her leather boots clicked purposefully on the floor, gleaming under the harsh light. 

The visitor was the exact opposite in physical description. Instead of the simple black regalia the guide was outfitted in, a lavishly diamond studded navy cape hung meticulously from his shoulders, thin golden chains linking across his chest. Matching shoulder pads with delicate hand-sewn tassels swayed to his footsteps, accenting his ash-colored eyes. Underneath the fur lined cape, a black tunic was buttoned together with crystals set in gold, setting off the intricate silver hemmings and designs wrapping around the sides. Simple black trousers with gold lining were tucked into tall onyx boots. His right hand displays a ring with the family coat-of-arms: a monarch butterfly. To complete the entire look, a twisted crown of flowers and thorns made of iron sat on top of his thick nutbrown hair. The only jewel that adorned this accessory was a blood red garnet, coyly imitating a burning rose.

Though his outer demeanor gave off an air of confidence and superiority, on the inside, uncertainty and apprehension danced at the edge of a pit of dread. The last time he saw his visitee was when she was led away in chains, with a clamp around her face to insure her inability to speak, for she was considered a master with her words and manipulation. Now, he was going to intentionally see and speak with her, for reasons he almost can’t discern himself. 

His guard noticed his unease, as they are trained to do in a way that bothers him. “Are you quite sure of this, Your Majesty?” She said, turning her head slightly.

“Yes, I am. Thank you, Lui,” He spoke with no emotion, ignoring the faint shadow of Fear’s hands brushing against his spine.

After an eternity- or perhaps a few seconds -they arrived at a door, so similar to the walls that one couldn’t tell it was a door if the keypad and lock wasn’t there. Lui tapped in a thirteen digit code, then chose an indiscernible key from many on the ring produced when the keypad glowed green. The king held his breath as the door slid away into the wall, only to reveal a second. This continued until the fifth door, in which Lui scanned her eyes, and motioned for him to do the same. As the last door slid away, the king imagined what it would be like to finally see her. To see the enemy he fought against so long, the one that captivated and enraptured so many of his people with her ideas. To see the girl that stood across from him on the battlefield, standing in defiance to his father and his kingdom. To see the power that she emitted with every doorstep as she took his father’s head with a single, triumphant slice of her blade. The image of the blood camouflaging into her cape and uniform while she spoke of corruption and infidelity in the government haunts him to this very day. Her ebony eyes had glowed with victory on that night, enhanced, he thought, disgustingly by the blood.

When the door finally disappeared into the wall, he was shown a white room, furnished with a simple cot. Everything gleamed under the increasingly harsh light, which had begun to give the king a headache. As he blinked away the pain, he noticed a girl- no, woman now -sitting on the metal chair bolted to the ground in front of the desk. Her hair clearly hadn’t been cut in a while, as it nearly reached her waist. The sickenly yellow jailhouse uniform accentuated her pale, waxy skin. She had not seen sunlight for a very long time, he thought to himself as he deliberately cut his eyes across her in examination.

“Up, and bow to your king!” Lui barked.

The girl made no move to acknowledge the people in the room.

“I said-!”

“It’s no problem, Lui,” The king put his arm out to stop her from using a baton to beat the girl into submission. “I can handle this on my own. If you would step outside for a moment?”

“But Your Majesty-”

“She was not known for her strength in battle, only her words; but I’m sure she has nothing left to say now. I thank you for your concern.”

Lui bowed, then strode out the room to the fourth door, half-closing the fifth one behind her to give the king privacy.

“It’s been a while, hasn’t it?” The king threw back his cape as he sat down on the bed, opposite of the girl’s back. She was a small thing, barely reaching his shoulder even if she were to stand at her full height. Her frame was also almost that of a child’s, despite her age of 24. “It certainly has, boy-king,” She said softly, voice rasping a little due to being unused to for so long.

The king frowned. “If I may ask, why do you refer to me as “boy-king”? I remember you clearly calling me that during our fateful duel where you killed my father.” He gritted his teeth slightly. “It’s a strange name, don't you think? Especially since I was still prince then.”

She still didn’t move. “You don’t need to act so formal with me. I’ve seen you at both your worst and best, and this changes nothing.”

“You didn’t answer my question.”

“I did.”

The king didn’t like vague answers, as it gives the questionee an air of authority and condescendance that bothered him. He was the king, he was the ultimate authority, yet to be made feel inferior by a criminal with only a few words… It was aggravating.

“Well then. I assume you haven’t been outside in a while. May I offer you a turn around the royal courtyard?” He changed the topic quickly, to get the interaction over with. The faster he was able to do what he was here to do, the better.

The girl chuckled quietly. “As if you don’t know. High security prisoners like me are not allowed out, and I’m sure you were the one to sign that piece of legislation into law.”

“It was my father, actually.”

“Same thing.”

He took in a deep breath through his teeth, willing himself to remain calm. Her nonchalant manner teased at his negative sentiments, as he had hoped his visit would have induced a reaction of hot anger or suffocating tears. Instead, it was he that seemed the most emotional in this situation.

“I am not my father, nor his pawn.”
“Quite a claim, Your Majesty,” The girl smiled, sarcasm dancing around her words.

“One that I can prove. If you may?” He stood up and offered his hand to her.

For the first time, she moved to look at him. It struck him that even in the white light of fluorescent bulbs, her chocolate eyes still had a hint of red, giving them a deep, rich, quality. She glanced at his hand, then stood up by herself, leaving him in his half-bowed position.

The boy-king, despite being disrespected, flushed slightly in embarrassment. “I assume you have a way to get me outside?” The girl spoke, hands clasped in a formal fashion in front of her.

He strode to the door, opened it, and after explaining the situation to Lui, she, despite her extremely dubious and cautious expression, reluctantly let the both of them out. “If you even touch him, I won’t hesitate-”

“Thank you Lui, I think she understands,” The king said, stopping her threat mid-sentence. “If you would, please, lead us to the royal courtyard?”

Lui looked at him, then nodded and walked away. “That’s our cue to follow,” He said, but not before the girl followed Lui in his lead. 

The boy-king gritted his teeth, furious that she had the audacity to walk in front of him, then immediately followed.

Lui took them through a series of corridors only a few guards had memorized, then entered a glass elevator. It shot them through several levels of the castle, many of which the girl remembered from her siege during the revolution. To see people simply interacting, laughing and crying and living, brought back many memories, some so painful she might rip out her throat to stop the pain, and others so blindingly euphoric that she could cry tears of gold. Graceful spires and artfully painted pyramid buildings cut across the sky in dashes of color, standing out on the background of a cerulean sky. The girl couldn’t help but stare and wonder, her eyes gorging on the colors after having been starved of them for so long. Flying vehicles caught her attention one by one, deepening her awe as she watched.

The boy-king watched her as she slowly turned in a circle to see the entire view, fascinated at how child-like her wonderment appeared. How is it possible that this is the battle-hardened girl who staged coups against one of the most powerful nations in the world? Was she the very same as the one who had spilt his father’s blood?

As they reached the top most level, the doors spun open to a gust of wind. To the king, it was an inconvenience, as it pulled wildly at his cape and hair, but to the girl, it was as if she had been reborn. Spreading her arms, she let the wind toulsel her limp hair, giving it life once more. Closing her eyes, she breathed it in, letting it fill her body and lighten her step, reminding her of her childhood years where she ran through golden fields and laughed under the shade of a great sycamore.

Her amazement and comfort in feeling the wind brush her skin once again nearly took her attention from the view that was now sprawled in front of her. A marble plaza, with uneven wavy columns of a translucent material she could not place were planted at uneven intervals around the center. Emerald vines hung from gracefully carved enamel rafters, and other exotic plants were placed in locations such that the octagonal platform had the aura of a tropical rainforest of glass. As her prison-issued slippers stepped lightly onto the floor, she realized it had an ice-like surface, being nearly as smooth as a newly frozen over pond. Everything was still, as if time itself had frozen for them to view the bizarrity that was the sculptures.

She turned to find that the boy-king had sent his guard down with the elevator. They were the only ones in this surreal courtyard now.

From some distance, the gentle tinkle of crystals and glass could be heard in an ill-fitting harmony orchestrated by the wind. Racking her memory, she could not recall this place from her siege on the castle. She would have certainly noticed such a mystical place when touring the castle to familiarize herself with the layout.

As if hearing her thoughts, the king spoke, “This was newly constructed only a few years ago. You wouldn’t remember it.”

“Mm,” The girl murmured, meeting his eyes. “It’s beautiful.” He was taken aback, for despite her quiet demeanor, her eyes held a strength now that he couldn’t see when they met in her cell. Was the fresh air perhaps… empowering her? No, that couldn’t be it. She might have been an influential and formidable opponent, but she was still human.

“Come. If you would like to enjoy the fresh air a bit more, and perhaps the scenery?” He gestured in front, where a smooth railing stopped them from leaping into the natural painting that is the nearby mountains and valleys.

The girl stepped slowly past the strange translucent sculptures, letting the wind play with the loose folds of her clothing and the sunlight paint her pale skin a shy gold. The boy-king followed closely behind her, and when they reached the railing, both took a moment to take in the view. For him, it was something he saw everyday; certainly magnificent, but nothing special. But for her, she hadn’t seen the mountains in years, and marveled at how little they have changed, almost as if they were waiting for her return.

“I’ve almost forgotten how it feels like to live,” The girl commented, breathing in the fresh air like each breath was her last.

The boy-king ignored her words. “I have a question that I would like you to answer.”

The girl stayed silent. 

He plowed on.“Do you want anything?”

“What kind of question is that?” The girl laughed. “Do humans ever stop wanting? We are driven by our desires.”

She closed her eyes, grateful for the goosebumps crawling on her skin. Her thin prison jumpsuit was not sufficient in keeping out the cold the wind brought, but it made her feel alive for the first time since… she could not remember the last time she truly enjoyed something like this, and that realization nearly broke her heart.

“Do I want anything? Truly, honestly? Not really. Look at me. I’m a prisoner of the crown. The only thing I perhaps long for is the past. The people I love are either dead or arrested; the places I love are vandalized or torn down.” Her voice was almost emotionless, but when the boy-king listened carefully, he could hear a tone of sad wistfulness thinly threading itself through her words. “There's nothing left of this world that I desire.” 

She paused. “The sky is enchanting, isn’t it?”

The boy king looked at her with a politely bemused face. “Yes.”

She smiled gently, stretching out her arm as if to grasp the great blue and hold it, pausing in a position that gave her the look of a lover watching as their partner walked away. If only I could touch the sky, she thought. Pull it in and let it envelop me, fling me to my fingertips and toes, expanding my being so that I can witness all that has changed at once. “It’s perfect, no matter what condition it or we are in. It has watched generations of mere mortals like us live and die, being the only true god there is. To be equal, or at least exist, with the god at equal measures is the only wish I might have left. To fall into the artistic perfection that it lives in daily, with memories of my happiest days… I want nothing more to do with this world, or the people in it. The things I burned for so long ago seem like the falling embers from ashes of a once great fire.”

She turned to face the boy-king. “This is what you wanted, isn’t it? To break me and take away my fire and willpower. Well then, congratulations, Your Majesty. You’ve won. What a masterful game you have played as well.” She laughed a little, then turned away again, tilting her head back and closing her eyes, mouth slightly open, as if to drink in the sky. She had nothing she wanted anymore. 

“You’re wrong,” He replied slowly, deciding to not react to her silent lament. “Despite it being nearly over a decade, people still preach what you sowed, and much change has been made in accordance with your ideals. Your name is a legend, and your life a legacy.”

She opened her eyes slightly. “Of course my ideas are still alive. Ideas aren’t living, and therefore cannot be killed. I understood that power, and how to use it.” She glanced at him. 

“I am surprised, however, that these people were not quelled in their outspokenness. The Veradun I remember did not at all allow its people to speak their mind.”

The boy-king hesitated. “After the revolution you sparked, many people saw the truth in your words. It would have been fatal for us to ignore their demands.” He glanced at her, then continued. “I admittedly was also one of the people who began to realize the terrible legitimacy of your statements. I think you’ll be pleased to see much of what you wanted is being implemented into our society.”

For the first time, he noticed the ambitious gleam that was present in her eyes so often during the war and negotiations of her revolution. “Is that so?” Her voice was faint. 

“Yes. The buildings you’ve seen are now filled with a diverse community of people working to change our old ways. My guard Lui was able to become a guard simply because you fought for them, though she is rather protective of me, so I hope you’ll forgive her harshness with you.”

“Of course,” The girl whispered. She could hardly believe what the boy-king was saying. “Forgive me, but I’m afraid that though this is wonderful development, I would like to know why you are telling me this. Aren’t you worried that I might try to overthrow you again?” She laughed.

Here it was. The ambiguous yet plain reason he was here, the reason that raised so many complaints and demands of explanations from his advisors and cabinet. “I would like to ask to have your hand in partnership in order to help this kingdom advance as a society,” the boy-king said, letting the sentence fall out in one breath.

The girl stood silently for an excruciating amount of time, then finally let out a loud bark of uncontrollable laughter. Though her voice was raspy and hurt her throat, it felt good to let out her emotions in a loud, explosive way. The boy-king stared, watching as she clung to the railing and smiled and laughed and let her tears keep falling. When she finally stopped, gasping for breath, she looked at him, a faint mischievous glint in her eyes. “Asking a criminal for help? How far has this kingdom truly fallen if you have come to me to lead, when you said yourself many people now believe and think the same way I do?”

He was prepared for this. “Because they still see you as their leader--”

She interrupted him, giggling like a gleeful child. “Because by making it seem like you have united me and the crown, you hope to unite your country too. Yes, I know.”

She stopped smiling, then looked down. “I don’t want to spend the rest of my life in politics, greeting people with a stiff smile and surgically polished words. I'm sorry, but I am selfish. If I were to live out the rest of my life, it would be with the people I love, by ourselves, in the mountains where no one could find us.” Her smile came back, but now with sadness pulling at its sides. “The years I used to start my uprising should have been the years I matured as a person, but someone had to fight the corruption, and I deemed that someone to be me. Now, looking back, even though I definitely don’t regret standing up and fighting, I sometimes wonder what life would have been like if I lived out my life like a normal child. I want to revisit that idea, and maybe even find some childish joy in doing things I should have been doing a long time ago, things I couldn’t do because of the crown.” 

She now turned to the boy-king, locking eye contact and forcing him to look at the face he was directly avoiding. “I chose to fight because I could see the corruption. But why did it have to be me? My childhood was taken from me. You, your father, took everything away from me.” Now, tears started rolling down her face, despite her hard expression. 

“Now you’re asking for my help? Tell me, why do you deserve it? Why should I help you?” She spit the last words out with venom, and it hurt more than he expected.

“I don’t deserve your help, it’s true. But the people do, don’t they? You fought for them once, can’t you do it again? The only difference this time is that the government is supporting you. Isn’t that what you wanted?” The boy-king retorted, accidentally letting some of his carefully hidden anger escape. 

“It is what I wanted. But now, I barely even want to exist. If you were to let me, I would want to live a life of peace and solitude. I’ve seen enough blood and pain for lifetimes,” She choked on the last word, and the boy-king suddenly understood. The night that has haunted him for so long haunts her tenfold, all with different people, friend and foe alike. She was scared, and he understood why.

“Your intent far outweighs the crimes you committed,” He began carefully. “Can anything truly outweigh the loss of lives? I do not know. But I can guess. What you fought for was the improvement of thousands of lives. If you didn’t spill blood, then generations afterward would have spilled a hundred times as much.”

“I know,” she sniffed a little. “I know, and it’s terrible. But it also didn’t have to be me.”

The boy-king stayed silent, conceding the point for he had no response.

The both of them stood silent for a long time. The girl finally broke it and said, to his delight, “I can make a compromise, but can’t guarantee anything else. I can only do so much for a movement that has left me behind.”

“Please.”

“I will help you make laws and such, but I don’t want people to know it was me doing so until after I’m dead. Until then, you can take credit.”

“But-”

She waved her hand. “Don’t talk to me about fair. You have no place to do that.”

He stopped, then nodded at her, letting her continue.

“In return for my services, you will reunite me with my loved ones, and leave us alone. That is all I ask.”

The boy-king immediately accepted the terms. They were hardly a price to pay for his kingdom’s ultimate benefit, after all.

“Also, I will write a letter for you to present as me agreeing with your government or whatever. I cannot guarantee that anyone will believe it, especially if I’m not there to confirm it, but take it or leave it.” She hesitated, then added with a bit of eagerness. “I also want a ride on one of your flying vehicles that I keep seeing.”

The boy king laughed, mood improving at her willingness to help. “Of course.”

She gazed at him with serious eyes. “I’ve always loved the sky, you know. This would be my one and only chance to get close.”

He looked curiously on as the girl traced paths of thin clouds with her eyes, unsure of what to say. He resigned to settling into a comfortable silence, as they both thought pensively about their respective futures.

“Thank you,” the king finally said, knowing he had to properly show his appreciation even if the girl could probably feel it emanating from his soul. “Under your influence the kingdom will forever flourish, and the people will rejoice and sing your name with praises. I will personally release everyone that you know, and find a place for you. For now, you can stay in the palace.”

The girl smiled a little, albeit painfully, then turned to face the mountains again. However, the king continued to stare at her for a little before asking, “Since we are now allies, would you do me the honor of telling me your name? I know they called you the New Dawn, but-”

She laughed. “Name? Why bother? You’ll almost never see me again.”

He blushed faintly. “We’ll still have to communicate. But if it bothers you-”

“Ina.”

He looked at her, startled. “You can call me Ina.” She avoided his eyes, continuing to explore the mountains with her eyes.

“Of course,” he turned to copy her. “And you can call me Evan, if you would like.”

They stood there for a long time, letting the wind whisper its secrets into their ears, and the sky wrap them up in a baby blue hug. At one point, the boy-king offered his cape to the girl, but she declined, replying that the cold was an anchor for her, holding her down to reality. Both were oblivious to a small monarch butterfly emerge from it’s delicate chrysalis and flutter away. It hung on one of the vines above them until the wind took it to keep, a reminder of this quietly momentous day.