.·✧☆Stellarium☆✧·.

Chapter 1

Nova, The Coronation | 4,021 words

I sat and watched as the sun rose in the early spring morning, the moons disappearing to the west. I had woken up earlier than daybreak out of habit, and sat next to the bay window in my bedroom. My lady in waiting, Sybyll, knocked at my door and entered moments later. The sky kept my attention as she spoke to me, “Nova, today is the day we’ve been waiting for." I turned to her, a little groggy. “What?”

“Your initial coronation? You know, the second biggest day of your life.” Oh yeah. I hadn't forgotten fully; I was just distracted. “I need to get you ready as soon as possible. If people are going to take your picture you need to look your best.” “Yes, yes, of course,” I replied, stretching my muscles. Today I am turning 16, marking the legal end of being young and the start of getting some real freedom around here.

As the orange light hits my room, I watch Sybyll rummage around in my closet for the clothes we commissioned for today while I walk over to the vanity mirror to straighten myself up. My curly, dark hair wasn't as messy as usual, which is nice for once. Though maybe it's too long to be practical soon. Until I hit eighteen, anyone can challenge my position for the throne, but it's probably not going to happen. Something about being professionally trained by the guard makes people stay away. It would be kind of nice to get into a fight outside of training, Sybyll gets done rummaging and lays my clothes out on my bed before walking over to where I sit and playing with my hair behind me. I look up at her using the mirror, “Do you have anything in mind for your hair today?” she asks.

I thought for a minute about it, “Could you leave it down?” She pauses. “Of course, if that's what you want, but are you sure?” “I’m very sure,” I say. “I want to do the same thing my mom did, it's like having a bit of her with me." She resigns to just combing out anything I didn't get, making sure to avoid frizzing it up. She's usually more pushy about doing up my hair; outside of it being her job, I suspect that she likes to do it. But, she knows how important today is, and the choices I make are going to carry more weight than normal. “Alright, and we’re done, go get dressed so we can start the day.” I pick up the clothes and lock myself in the closet to get dressed. The room is large and full of dresses, but I'll be wearing something a little different today. It's a mix of the traditional and military clothes of Crystalia, again reminiscent of my mother. She died due to unknown causes when I was young, this left a big power vacuum due to me not being of-age yet. My adoptive aunt Serena took over, being legally a sibling. It was unpopular, but I still have a right to the throne and will get it once I turn eighteen.

That is why today is so important, I need to prove myself capable and ease tensions. I finish clipping up my blazer and put on the finishing touches; tying a black ribbon around the collar of my shirt, the lace on the ends of the fabric now lying straight up. I leave the bow in the front and pin an old, small brooch of my mother’s to the knot. I finish up by putting on my gloves and walked back into the room.

“You look wonderful, Nova,” Sybyll says to me. I watch her pull out a folded piece of parchment from her vest pocket and start reading it. “So first on our itinerary we have breakfast, we greet Serena, do our last run-through of the ceremony, do our final preparations, let people in, and yes, you must greet the guests this time.” I sighed exasperatedly at this. “You are not leaving Serena to the wolves and hiding out this time,” she scolded. I knew she was right though, I just didn't want to talk to the court or press. “Come on, let's get moving, or else we’re wasting time.”

She kept talking as we walked the hall and descended the staircase down to the dining room. “So remember to greet each of the figureheads, smile for the cameras, and don’t say anything without thinking to the press.” It's finally breakfast. I sit down, and the castle workers bring my favorite out to me. “You don't get the luxury of being a bit awkward or anything of the sort like your predecessors. With all the cameras that will be around you need to put on the best performance yet.” Sybyll just kept going. I stuffed my face with food.

Once I was done, I was rushed away to the throne room where the event is going to take place. It was a miracle I didn't get any food on my clothes beforehand. I decided to sit down in one of the chairs meant for the guests while we waited to start our final run through of the coronation. We were slightly earlier than expected, aided by my speed eating abilities and Sybyll’s love for being early. Syb had walked off elsewhere in the room, helping people set up the upper floor. I could still feel her keeping eyes on me though, I think.

I’d been messing with the ends of my hair, thinking about the practiced perfect movements I’d have to do when I spot a familiar face walking up to me. “Hey, how's it going?” It's Arthur, he works here in the castle, and is someone I consider a friend. “Oh you know, it's fine just officially getting in line for the throne, just the regular stuff.” I try not to let any nervousness seep into my voice. We’re about the same age, but have led such different lives. Sometimes I wonder how it’d be to live as him, working in the castle. “You know it's cool to even have a small part in such a historical event, it's all anyone is talking about right now.” He says to me candidly, it really didn't help the slowly growing pit in my stomach. The importance of the event hadn’t really sunk in until now.

“Yeah, but I’m ready for it." It's only sort of a lie, I can't afford to look weak when there are listening ears who could let all sorts of rumors loose. I've been training my entire life for this, of course I’m ready. “Good to hear, I’m sure you’ll do great. While we’re on the topic, I heard we’re having a reception after the ceremony." Somehow, I have a feeling that it's going to be the most difficult part of today. “Would it burden you to let a dear friend into the party, your royal highness?” He does a bow and a dumb gesture with his hands as he says this, I laugh a little. “I, the Crowne Princess, doth bequeath to thou a royal invitation to mine coronation reception.” I stand up from the chair I’m sitting in to extend a gloved hand and do a little bow as if I have something to hand to him. “I do humbly accept the request for my presence, you will see me there." He does another flourish but straightens back up this time, and so do I.

“Oh wow, those are the fanciest gloves I’ve ever seen,” he says. I let my hand go limp as he’s inspecting them. “You really decided to go all out on this, huh?” The gloves are white, with gold threaded embroidery on the cuffs, extending to the palms and tips of the fingers. And I’m not talking about gold metallic colored thread, it actually is (partially at least) real gold. A symbol of power and a magic enhancer. “Yeah, but I’ll outdo myself once my real coronation comes around, just wait.”

“Well, I’ll be sitting in anticipation for however you decide to make your grand display,” he kind of says it in a half joking manner. “Unfortunately, I'm sure however opulent it is I’m afraid it will leave you unimpressed,” I feign distress at him, putting the back of my hand on my forehead. He sighs and does a little eye roll, “You do get used to it when you work here, the whole castle is full of fancy stuff. After a while you just tune it out until something new shows up.” He was right though, I would have to one up myself by a lot and start planning for it. He had made me feel a little better about the whole thing though, talking usually soothes my nerves.

“Nova!” Sybyll calls out to me. “Oh, rehearsal is about to start, I have to go,” I say. “I’ll see you later then, good luck out there!” He says back as I walk over to meet Sybyll. The silver haired girl is slightly annoyed with me “Please tell me you didn’t just give him permission to come to the reception,” she breathes out exasperatedly. “Is there something wrong with that?” I was confused. “You should know this is a very high profile event, and you shouldn’t be inviting your waitstaff to it, no matter how friendly or close you are.” She looks at me, not with upset but concern. “Look, I know it's an important event, and I know Arthur isn’t exactly of noble blood but it's only one person. I’m not handing invites out like candy,” I tried my best to give her an assured look. “I’ll have it under control, I know you two have your differences but it's going to be fine.” She still seems unconvinced to me however.

“I actually wanted you to come with me too. It's a win-win scenario, you get to keep an eye on everything, and I get to have all of my friends with me at the reception.” I watch as she mulls it over, “Fine, only to keep my eyes on both of you.” Despite her words, she says it warmly to me.

“We should start rehearsals already, the queen is going to be here any second to begin,” she spoke, taking a seat in the gallery pretending to be one of the guests. Pretty much all of the workers cleared out one by one. Sybyll shoots me a small thumbs up as my aunt walks in. “You ready kid?” Serena asks me. “As ready as it gets,” I reply. I take my place at the opposite end of the room, the music starts playing and I slowly walk my way down the aisle to Serena. I kneel in front of her, she taps my shoulders with her hand in place of the ceremonial sword. She says some words, a shortened but still long version of the real speech, the whole head bowed on one knee thing can surprisingly hurt if you aren’t on carpeted floors. Once she's done speaking I’m allowed to stand, I have to turn to face the crowd, hold the sword and get crowned. We finish up and Sybyll stands up and gives a little applause, “That was great, you just need to do that all over again with the real speech and sword and we’ll be golden.”

“Nova, I’d like to talk with you” Serena says to me, the pit that was on standby during the rehearsal now returning to sinking. She notices the slight change of my expression “Oh, don’t worry it's nothing bad.” she says to me, making me a little relieved. She might be my Aunt but she practically raised me, I don't need to disappoint today. “I’ll wait in the hall your highness,” Sybyll bows and walks out. “I know you’re nervous, today is important to all of us as Crystalians,” I wish people would stop thinking they need to remind me. “I would just like to say that even though the past eleven years or so have been hard, I’m proud at how far you’ve come despite it.” I’m really touched by this, Serena has really been the only parent I’ve ever known. “I’m really grateful I’ve had you to mentor me through it,” We share a hug, and its nice. “You still have some time before it starts, take it to destress and prepare, alright?”

“Alright” I say, waving goodbye as I step out to the hall where Sybyll is waiting for me. I let out a breath I didn’t realize I had been holding, “Do you think we could go to the courtyard?” Sybyll checks her pocket watch, “Well, we do have time to spare.” “Let's go then, I want to try out these gloves,” I walk excitedly out of the hallway, and out to the courtyard. Sybyll lags behind trying to keep up. The air is crisp and cool on my face, still kind of chilly. The sun is now high up in the sky shining on us the nice light of day.

Today feels like a great day to practice some magic and blow off some steam. “What do you think I should try first?” I ask, the violet hue of my card color brightening the ends of my hair like a dim light. Magic is one of the things I was most excited to start using once I got older. It's basically the backbone of Crystalian society, and something I've been told I have a lot of potential for. I've never seen Syb use it though. At first I just thought she was from somewhere where they didn't use it very often, but she's never even conjured a card to my knowledge.

Cards are the easiest physical manifestations of magic, they’re unique to every person and are often used as identification. I know she's not got zero magical potential, because her card color definitely came in. You can tell by the eyes, it's the same color as blood, that's where the stored energy is binded to. Her eyes are a bright pink instead of the pale white that's characteristic of being magicless. Syb was always a bit odd though, and I don't want to push it.

“Something fun, you could do one of the illusion spells you learned recently” She replied. “Great idea” I felt the familiar rush of energy flow to my hands and created a small flickering violet flame for practice, I let it grow in the palms of my hands, soaking in the oohs and ahs I got from my audience of one person. Now, I’m not really a show off, but I do love having a captive audience. I amped it up a notch, moving the flame to my left hand and painting the sky with small glowy fireworks. The gloves were bright with energy on the embroidered sections, using the eased flow of magic to make the glimmers of the fireworks glow like little violet stars. As they trickled out and faded from sight the faint glow of my hair lessened to its usual state, but the gloves still looked almost white hot with magic.

“Look, come check this out” I hold out my palms to her, the parts that are more thread than gold fading back to their usual color, the purer parts staying a bright lavender for longer. “It's like a conductor metal,” Sybyll states. “I've never had a chance to look at real gold being used with magic,” from what I’ve gleaned, she’s from the Empire or something adjacent to it. She looks too young to have gone to any university there though. “You know, maybe once I’m done with my general education here you could come with me to study in The Empire on magusology, I think you’d like it.” I really meant it too, she's weirdly fascinated with it for someone who never used it. “I could never afford it though, especially not with you. I mean you’re going to the National University of Forra, they wouldn't even spare a glance my way,” She said dejectedly. “I could always pull the spoiled helpless princess act, ‘Oh, how I need my lady in waiting, if she is not there to tie my bootlaces then I will simply disintegrate on the spot,’” I say putting on a small show of things. “You’d really do that?” She asks, as if this is a real question. “Of course, for whatever would I do without my trusty servant?” I say, accentuating how dumb I look.

“We’ve been friends for like, ever, course I’m gonna take you with me” I flash her a smile and she reciprocates. The day grows brighter as the sun, now almost directly overhead shines down on us. Before I have a chance to say anything though she checks her pocket watch. “It's going to start soon, let's do some touch ups and get ready to greet people.” I nod my head, we go inside and she messes with how my hair frames my face, putting some strands behind my ears, and letting others fall loose.

As carriages roll in I soak in my surroundings. The embellishments on the walls, the knights standing guard of the event, the stained glass windows reflecting their colors all on the floors and walls using the light of the sun. We had the main ballroom and adjoining courtyard used for the reception, and while I like the throne room, you get tired of it when you’ve had to rehearse so often.

The first guests to arrive are those from the house of Cygnus, they are generally agreeable people, more concerned with their family’s industry than who succeeds the throne. I can’t say the same for most of the others though. I greet them and they are shown to their seats. Each of the noble houses gives reports to Serena on the industries they govern and the predominant guilds within them, though because Serena isn't of noble blood they’ve been somewhat disagreeable with her. The houses Pavo, Phoenix, and Lacerta arrive, and then the rest basically flood in. They’re all very cliquey with each other, something that I personally don't understand, but that's probably due to my house being required to be neutral between them all.

The press hits me like a tidal wave, making me wish I’d practiced my responses more. “Nova, are you nervous about becoming the next queen?” A reporter asks, I can't pick out which one, they all have their pens ready on notepads and cameras photographing me. “I’m more than ready for the responsibility,” I reply. “Your choice of dress is similar to what mother did on her coronation, any comments on that?” Another one shouts above the sea of shutters. “It’s because I plan to continue the era of peace that she started.” Good, okay, I don’t think I’m doing bad. “Do you think you can live up to the legacy of Eve, your mother?” Yeah great, hit me where it hurts, why don't you. “Well, I can’t see the future but I’ll try my best!” I say, trying my hardest to not pick out who said that and punch them in the face for asking that. I do think about it, but that's a horrible idea right now.

I let out a small sigh of relief when I finally escaped the journalist’s grasp. Castle workers guide them into their little quarantined section away from everyone else. I’m forced to stay outside until the event starts, so I just have to wait until I get the signal. The room becomes hushed as I watch Serena walk out onto the raised floor in front of the thrones. “Hello and good day to all my gentlemen and ladies who have shown up today to view the preliminary coronation of my niece, Nova Astralyn of the house Vulpecula.” Even the gods forsaken clicking shutters quiet down finally as she speaks. “Today is a great day for our nation, as one of the last remaining royals step up in line to become our next great queen.” That's my cue, the national anthem starts playing and I enter the room to find all eyes on me. I look straight ahead though, feeling their gazes follow me even from the second floor in the hall.

I kneel on the steps as practiced, and Serena unsheathes the ceremonial sword that practically pulses with magic energy through the gold engravings of the unique royal card forms. Her card color, a similar shade of purple to mine, makes the sword seem almost mystical. She taps it on each of my shoulders and sheathes it again. I do not stand yet though, to the dismay of my knees. “From this day forward let you prove your ability to rule, through any means you wish to go by. Show our kingdom that you are worthy for the crown that fits your head, and that you are willing to step up to this difficult role.” I solemnly take the information in, and fight the urge to get up so that I don't appear disrespectful. Though internally I start zoning out on her words because of the lack of carpeted floor on my knees. I’m regretting not asking the tailor to put knee pads in on this outfit. “When this day comes to an end you will be a servant of the people, you are to keep their best interest in mind before making decisions, you are to protect us. Rise.” I stand up to face the other end of the room and she puts the crown on my head. It is heavier than I expected.

“I give you the now Princess Nova Astralyn, from house Vulpecula,” The crowd claps politely, the cameras take this opportunity to get a good picture of me, still looking straight ahead and not making any eye contact even though it's a struggle. I just try to look at the decorations instead. The crown is removed from my head and I give a short bow, people start moving to the reception. Arthur catches up to me “What did I say? You did great,” this somehow relaxes me a little bit. “Yeah but the hardest part is about to happen,” I pause for suspense “entertaining guests.” We laugh a little, “How long did it go on for?” I ask. “An hour or so, It's only the afternoon.”

I sigh, knowing that my performance wasn’t done yet. “Let's go before someone thinks I’ve disappeared.” We walk out to the courtyard, and even though it’s daytime, the decorations are still beautiful. Flowers were magically enhanced, the fountain was going, and they had lanterns and vines on the decorative columns. Once night fell they were going to suspend lights in the sky like stars until the guests left. Inside the ballroom they changed the curtains to my card color, and the crystal chandelier was carefully polished. Tables with embroidered tablecloth and soft comfortable chairs lined the areas around the dancefloor, and a buffet table was on the far right side of the room. Gold colored ribbons decorated columns, and the room was lively.

My eyes flitted around, happy to be somewhere new. “This place looks awesome,” Arthur nearly breathed out. I couldn't help but to agree. I turn to him, “I’m going to go get something to eat, I haven’t had anything since breakfast.” “I’ll come with you, I need something to eat too,” he replies. I load my plate up with sugar. I know it's not necessarily good for me, but it's a special occasion. Small cakes with unfamiliar fruits took up most of the space, wanting to try them all. We decided to sit down for a moment at a table a medium distance away from the dance floor.

“So, your highness, what's your gameplan from here?” Arthur asks me. “Well,” I say eating in small dainty bites, “I think I’ll just have to wait and see. I doubt anything is going to happen though. Nobody has challenged the throne in a loooong time.” And why would they? All the houses are traditionalists at heart, they'll be more than happy to have royal blood in charge again. Their words, not mine. “Well, whatever happens you’re more than prepared for it,” he says very assuredly. I clean my face up with a napkin and stand up to go entertain guests. Thankfully, the guests came to me to be entertained this time.