Irreplaceable

Princess Nadalia, daughter of King Cattaraugus and Queen Mazalia, was standing on a balcony looking at the sea. She placed her hands on the wrought iron railing; it was damp with the morning’s dew and her hands glided over its surface as if it were made of ice. Nadalia tossed her hair over her shoulder. She took a deep breath and smiled; the morning air was light with the tangy aroma of salt.

After a few minutes, once the light had matured, Nadalia took her final glimpse at the sea. Her eyes traveled from east to west as they followed the thin horizon and the hills of the surrounding countryside. In the distance purple-hued mountains stood like sentinels as fluffy nimbus clouds swiftly drifted towards them. The clouds merged together one by one. Eventually they formed a dark slab that hovered above the kingdom’s northern border with Antar. Nadalia squinted as she focused-she was mystified by a cloud that bore an uncanny resemblance to a face-her mother’s face.

Lightning flashed and the distant sound of thunder swept over Cattaraugus in jagged, undulating waves. The palace trembled and the princess slowly turned her back to angry Mother Nature. She formally placed her hands over her midsection, pushed her shoulders back, and rigidly stood with the confident expression of a future queen. She slowly walked towards the doorway. She had a task to complete.

* * * * *

Reah nearly screamed as a mighty cascade of sunlight burst through a gap in the curtains. Even if she were deaf, she would have been able to hear the massive, hollow sound of spiked heels marching towards her bed. Then consciousness suddenly struck the princess’s mind like a stone plummeting from the sky. She felt her bed sheets ripped away from her body and she was instantly enveloped in a blanket of moist air. Reah’s eyes leapt open, and with a glare unmatched by death itself, she looked up at the person that had awakened her-it was Nadalia, her older sister.

Nadalia was standing at the foot of Reah’s bed with her arms crossed indignantly. Her graceful, blue dress fanned out like the sea and bands of white lace encircled her waist like little, white-capped waves. Nadalia’s eyes traveled across the bed. She noticed how the green sheets were crumpled around her sister like little hills, how near the headboard was a heap of dark, purple pillows, and how they were partially obscured by Reah’s raven hair.

Reah continued to glare at her sister for a few seconds before she shut her eyes, irritably took hold of her sheets, and yanked them back over her body. Nadalia immediately took a step away from the bed and pinched her dress with her left hand. She then smoothly moved her right arm in the motion of an arc and elegantly curtsied.

Nadalia used a formal tone as she spoke, "Reah, dear little sister of mine, come and take my hand. Come forth and allow me to summon you into the birth of a new day. It is not only your duty it is a privilege as well."

Nadalia placed her hands behind her back upon completing the Old Taraugian proverb. She looked down at her sister; Reah didn’t move a muscle. Nadalia slightly raised her voice and added to her discourse, "I insist."

"Go-away," muttered Reah.

Suddenly Nadalia felt her skin tingle; lightning pierced the sky and she was bombarded by countless, infinitesimal vibrations of electromagnetic waves. Her heart nearly skipped a beat as she turned around, and jerked her body towards the north.