• Aurelia Arden had her mother's blue eyes. Her father's brown hair. Her mother's chin. Her father's nose. And a heart as big as both combined. And she no longer lived with either. War had struck her kingdom two years before, and had yet to seize. She was 17 when she left home. 19 now. And it was a dreary, cloudy day as she sat outside the large house she now lived in. Her parents would not allow her a shack of any sort, but couldn't risk her being in anything bigger that a two-story house. Still large, in it's likeness. She heaved a sigh, her breath whitening the air slightly, and leaned on her elbow. The tails of her ribbon in her hair, something her guardian, Helen, had insisted on, blew by her face gently and she fell backwards onto her back in the grass, heaving again. It was dreadfully boring living alone with Helen, nothing to do every day but knit, or cook, or things of that likeness. Had she'd back in her castle though, she wouldn't be doing much more than she already was, she'd admit. She closed her eyes and pictured herself on a ship, sailing off somewhere with no one but herself, off to face the dangers of the sea. She smiled. It sounded wonderful. She read books constantly about pirates, swordfights, villains in disguise, and she'd give everything to have at least one tiny adventure. Aurelia laid there another ten minutes, doing absolutely nothing but dreaming off fighting off a brigade of pirates in a mermaid lagoon.