Nella is what people often refer to as a true Ostaran, born and bred in the front city with a front row seat to the beautiful facade of Enerin Castle, floating above the surface of the water on top of a pitch-black scale, with the long bridges coming to and from it, a symbol of Ostaran power, she longed to one day enter, to roam through the corridors and visit the gardens. It didn’t matter how she got there, and being honest, she was fully aware that for someone of her stature to visit the castle, it would most likely be as a servant.

She could accept that.

"It’s so lively outside today," she said to her coworker Ivi.

"Well yes, the prince is coming back today after all. People are excited, "

"A war veteran coming back home uh"

Rarely does the city of Enerin exude this much of a festive aura. The Ostaran flag with the black snake flies over every home, even more so than usual. Food stalls are open all day and late into the night, and minstrels seem to never run out of work.

You can’t take a few steps without stepping on a flag or spilled drink.

The reason behind this was an official announcement made in the main square around a week ago. Nell hadn’t been there when it occurred, but Ivi had, and as expected of her friend, she dutifully re-laid the information onto her the next day. As Crown prince Nefer Saldan Enerin was returning to the motherland after several years fighting the advances of the barbarians from the war-lands, tales of his exploits were famous and numerous, several of them reaching the ears of everyone occasionally over the years.

Things such as:

"Prince Saldan has conquered a barbarian fort all on his own with just a handful of soldiers!"

"Prince Saldan has taken command of a special unit of black-clad elite soldiers!"

"Prince Saldan defeated a whole Ashen army!"

"Prince Saldan brings honor, renown, and joy to the Ostaran people!"

Once she heard the news, the only thing she could think of was

Rejoice, peasants! Our venerated prince has come back from terrorizing small countries and winning pointless wars on the frontier!

"More like a war-hero, Nell, where is your patriotism?"

"Right here, of course, I just haven't been sleeping well these days; I'm tired, that's all, but look at you, excited about being assigned as his personal maid."

"Excited would be putting it mildly, all the old hags didn’t want the honor, they said," Ivi changed her stance to look more like a hunchback and talked like the decrepit old fossils that were their superiors "His highness would appreciate a more youthful maid with more dashing looks, and I was offered the job in their stead, aren’t you jealous? it’s official confirmation that I’m the hot one, "

Nell looked at Ivi. She was the textbook definition of a beauty, what with her long flowing blond hair that the Ostaran nobility loved so much and those green dashing eyes. Her freckles gave her an aura of innocence, but as Nella and half the young men in Enerin know, she’s anything but innocent.

She could accept that.

"I’m dying of jealousy." She said, in the driest tone she could muster, "But I do want to know the details." Tell me everything later. I want the scoop. "

"Honey… as if I could stop myself from telling you all the dirty secrets of the nobility, you know me life would be dreadfully boring if we couldn’t gossip,"

"Please do then I will be waiting with bated breath,"

"I will honey," Ivi replied as she was leaving through the door, waving as she disappeared into the hallways with a big grin plastered on her face.

Now alone again, Nell wondered about what precise questions needed asking. How would she extract from her best friend the information her employers needed? But no matter how hard she tried or how much she forced herself to focus on the job at hand, the inquiries that kept coming to her head weren’t those she could ask someone else.

Am I doing the right thing? At times like these, when her mind was allowed the time to waver, to ponder the implications of her actions, such thoughts were inevitable. The usual knot appeared in the pit of her stomach, making her want to spill her guts out and leave everything behind her.

But then that sweet nagging voice deep in her mind would make her remember, the sickly pale and slim ghostly figures of the children living no less than a leisure walk away, the rotting, foreboding, smell of those back-alley markets selling living and dehumanized goods, and the sound the stones made, the cheers coming after the loud thud.

just because of the blood that ran through their veins, disgusting.

She couldn’t accept it.

She knew what she had to do: morality, friendship, and even consequences. She could think about all that once the job was done.