The Smile of a Princess, Scene v1

This scene follows "The Silhouette". Comments please, as usual!

============================================================================

Kismet wandered in the moonlight to the pond just east of Levan. She stepped lightly toward the shimmering, blue water until the sound of crunching leaves tickled her ears. Kismet crouched down, melding into the shadows. A small pebble skipped across the pond’s surface, followed by a second. As the second pebble fell into the water, another set of footsteps approached from nearby. Despite Kismet’s keen sense of hearing and subtle night vision, she hadn’t noticed the second person before. She slowly inched behind a tree several meters away and listened intently.

The two footsteps approached each other. The voice of one of the cloaked figures, a young woman, broke the silence. “Kain?”

“Shh, don’t use that name!” whispered Kain, sharply. “Did you make sure you weren’t followed?”

“I-I think so. It’d be impossible to follow someone in this darkness.”

“Good. How much was harvested?”

“The fields were cleared. They just finished delivering their crops.”

“Damn. Same with Yulin,” cursed Kain.

“But, I saw something I didn’t expect.”

“What?”

“You know those rumors about the Catheran living in Rokan Castle? I saw it while I was at Levan,” reported the spy.

“Are you sure?”

“Either that or it was another one. It was with the escort that brought the villagers back, and it was dressed in military colors. It saw me and started chasin’ me.”

Kain tried to suppress his yells. “What? You let it see you? That means it knows we’re in the area. I’ll finish setting things up here. Go back and tell everyone to move to the next location. We can’t risk having everyone there now… Now! Go!”

“R-right!”

The young woman stumbled off into the woods while Kain stormed away in frustration. Kismet attempted to follow Kain but as she trailed him further into the woods it became too dark and dense for her to track him without accidentally making noise herself. She returned to the castle to inform Devin of her encounter.

Kismet knocked on the door. Devin’s voice called out from the other side. “Come in.”

“What do you want?” he asked.

“Sir, regarding the spy—“

“Are you still on that? Even if it was a spy they wouldn’t have gained anything from what they saw,” interrupted Devin.

“But I know, for a fact, that it was a member from the Kival,” insisted Kismet.

“Really, and how’s that?” Devin asked mockingly.

“I was out by the pond near Levan earlier when I saw two people meeting in the woods. I managed to listen in on their conversation and one of them was the spy from Levan delivering her report.”

Devin pondered her words for a bit. “How sure are you of this?”

“I’m positive, Sir. I was less than half a stone’s throw away from them. Every word was clear.”

“Hmm…if this is true, then that means they might have been planning to raid Levan. Luckily they delivered their harvest early, so I doubt it will happen now.” Devin leaned back in his chair. “What did they say?”

“They were also scouting Yulin, and said ‘go back and tell everyone to move to the next location. We can’t risk having everyone there now.’”

“That must mean they were camping out within a half-day’s travel from here. Did you manage to get the names of these people?”

“Only one. Kain.”

“Kain,” echoed Devin. “I remember one of my sources mentioning someone by that name. Said he plays an active role in the Kival efforts.”

“Also, Kain mentioned something about he’ll ‘finish setting up here’,” added Kismet.

“I see. Well, it seems you lucked out of this one. Unfortunately, we don’t know what they’re planning but at least we know to be on our guard. I’ll mention this to General Raze.”

“Yes Sir. Thank you, Sir.”

“Now go, it’s getting late.”

Kismet saluted Devin then left for Delphi’s room. The castle was quiet and peaceful. Only a few people roamed the dimly-lit halls. Kismet knocked on Delphi’s door and slowly opened it. “It’s me.”

“Where were you, Kismet? I was waiting for you,” asked Delphi as she let her hair down.

“Sorry I’m late. It was a long day.”

Delphi walked over to the side of the bed. “For me too. I’m so tired right now. I just want to go to sleep.”

“Yeah, you should get some rest.”

Kismet slipped out of her armor and sat on the bed next to Delphi, who had already slipped underneath the covers. The young princess drifted off to sleep, her head on Kismet’s lap with a small peaceful smile; the smile Kismet has devoted her life to protect.



Day 18, 1st Month of Autumn, Year 1127

It’s always so relaxing to see Delphi rest so peacefully at night. The little smile she makes when she sleeps never fails to make me smile back. Sometimes I still find myself content with simply watching her throughout the night.

Regardless, seeing Delphi now, after hearing that the tensions between Rokan and the Kival are growing, I must do my best to protect her, even if I don’t become a member of the Royal Guard. King Marcus was right, her safety should always come first. I guess I never really understood how dangerous the outside world could be. I don’t know what I would do if I couldn’t see Delphi’s smile anymore. I fear the day when she can leave the castle freely and realizes that her ideas of the outside world are far from the truth, that the outside world isn’t filled with beautiful scenery and kids playing in the fields, but is instead full of struggle and fear.

Today was the first day in demonstrating the result of my nine years of lessons and training. Unfortunately, I have to put up with Sara, but I had a feeling this would happen. I’ll just have to ignore her and show that I can put up with anything. Hopefully I can prove to General Raze that I deserve to become the next member of the Royal Guard, even if I am a Catheran. I can only hope she will consider me objectively, but that’s doubtful since it would harm her credibility if she approved me. At least it’s not looking too well for Sara and Lucas either, even if Sara is the greatest sharpshooter since “Sure shot” Kendel. I’ve no doubt that these two years will be the most difficult, but I’m willing to go through anything— Anything to protect Delphi’s smile.

- Kismet Rokan



First: Kismet vs. Bandits, Scene v1
Previous: The Silhouette, Scene v1
Next: Rabbit Hunting, Scene v1