Answers

Silk woke me up in the evening, after I had slept a few hours. I had a quick wash just to get rid of the smell of lake and had a small bowl of oatmeal.

"This is where we pull out all of the stops and bring home the victory Sorrel. There is no tomorrow. There is no second chance. This is it." Silk had a determined look on her face.

I was once again taking a bath. Apparently it was necessary as a quick wash wasn't good enough. So instead, I was dunked in a bath and scrubbed and soaped to within an inch of my life. No spot went uncleansed, my hair was washed again, and loaded up with some kind of hair cream that smelled of roses. After that, Silk towelled me off and slathered me in a body cream that also smelled of roses. Then she put me in a robe and she sat me down in front of a mirror and proceeded to get me ready for the finale.

My hair was brushed within an inch of its life and pulled up into a high bun. My face was covered in make-up and Silk wouldn't let me see until my look was complete, turning me away from the mirror as she did her work. Next was my dress. It was a dark red. Silk helped me into it. It was fitted, with long bell like sleeves. It had a high neck with lace detailing. It clung to my curves, but not obscenely. It was fitted until mid thigh, where it puffed out in a riot of red tulle. There was beautiful gold detailing on the dress here and there, and gold threading in the tulle. It was beautiful. Silk gave me heeled gold sandals to wear, and painted my finger and toenails red. As a final touch, Silk put a red rose in my hair.

"Red is the colour of passion, desire, though some foolish romantics often mistake it for the colour of love. Tonight, you must show how passionate you are. You must make the prince desire you, yearn to know you, to have you at his side. You must steal his attention from all else and hold onto it."

There was a lot I wanted to say in response to that but what came out of my mouth was "What if one of the other girls is wearing red?" How pathetic of me. I sounded like a whiny child when really what I wanted to say was how exactly do you make someone desire you? It did not occur to me until Silk had mentioned desire but I was not exactly versed in the ways of seduction. I had not even had a conversation with a male of my own age in years until I came to Central. Now I was supposed to make one desire me? And hold his attention all night?! Suddenly, what had seemed like a deer I could bring down in one shot had turned into a wild-eyed boar ready to gouge me.

Still, Silk assured me, saying "Trust me when I say that no one will be able to compete with you tonight." As I swished in my dress I really hoped she was right. But I didn't need hope. Silk never said anything she didn't mean.

"Can I see my face now?"

"No. I want you to feel confident and know how beautiful you are from the looks on people's faces when you walk into that room. The prince and the members of the court, the nobility, will be in there with you. You will sit down for a meal and then you will retire to a drawing room for some light conversation. This is what you have been training for. Now remember, this is a grand event. All eyes will be on you and the other champions. But only you will make them look again."

I took a deep breath and squared my shoulders. This was it. The last challenge. If I won this then I would put The Village of the Crocasant on the map. We would gain power and recognition. I would bring honour to the Crocasant. I would become a woman. I had to make my people proud.

"Okay, I'm ready. Let's go."

Silk led me down through twisting corridors and stairs until we stopped outside a huge pair of ornate double doors. A footman came up to us and took my arm and Silk gave me a nod of encouragement.

To my left came Rowena, looking surprisingly elegant and confident. Her strawberry blonde curls were pulled back into a bun with some tendrils left down to frame her face. Her dress was exquisite. It was a rich blue colour, and was a column dress, just dusting the floor, with a small train. Her sleeves were short off the shoulder and a large diamond necklace sat in her cleavage. There were diamonds edging all her hems and line of them on the left of her dress, very subtly. Her shoes peeped out from the bottom of her dress, silver closed toe heels. They were incredibly high, as she was much taller than usual. Her make-up was done very beautifully, giving her face a dewy glow. She was all eyes, with a nude lip and light blush. In her hair was a small silver butterfly clip. She was breath-taking. She was a little unsteady, still tired from the swim.

When Rowena saw me she gasped and looked a little shaken. She recovered herself and nodded at me. I nodded back. A footman took her arm.

From the right came Opal. She was wearing a jade green dress, and it was stunning. It was a bardot ball gown. It was off the shoulder, and cinched in at the waist, before flowing out beautifully with an explosion of bronze tulle under the jade silk. There was a bronze ribbon round her waist, and bronze dripped from her ears. Opal's shoes were a dark green, her nails glowed bronze. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail, her hair falling from it in a tumble of curls round her head. Her make-up was amazing. Her face was highlighted with bronze, her lips painted a rich red. She looked mesmerising, and suddenly I was feeling a lot less confident. The last footman took her arm, but instead of walking through the doors in front of us, an old woman came marching down the hall and said "With me!" and the footman dragged us after her.

"Well this is interesting," said Opal from behind me. I turned around and asked why.

"That woman taking us on this little adventure is none other than the matron. And wherever we are going was not on the itinerary. It wasn't part of the plan."

I replied "Nothing about this entire tournament was part of the plan. It was meant to last months, not days. They accelerated their timetable in a big way, and no one knows why." I knew I shouldn't be talking to her, but Silk wasn't there and things were not going as planned.

"You never do with the royal family," Opal muttered, a dark look briefly flitting across her face. "Anyways, wherever we're going, it's likely another quick short test, before the final big one. And if we're lucky, this big mysterious reason for hurrying things along, maybe they'll reveal it to us."

As the matron came to a stop in front of a pair of large double doors covered in purple velvet, I said "Whatever it is, looks like we're about to find out."

The doors opened and we were led into a chamber with chairs and seating strewn around. It was a parlour, the first stop in a suite of rooms. Matron was walking to the right, to another set of doors when Rowena gasped. On the far wall was a portrait, but not just any portrait. It was of the royal family. And suddenly it became clear whose rooms we were in. The King's. The King who had so far been missing from every single major event for the last two years. The King whom everyone thought was either lazy and incompetent, mad, or secretly dead with advisors running the show behind the scenes. But it would appear that none of this was true. It would seem that the King was alive and well and we were about to meet him before we broke bread with his son.

The matron entered the bedchamber and the footmen ushered the rest of us in, though they did not enter the room themselves, simply closed the door shut with a soft thud.

"Come." The Matron beckoned, "Closer." She lined us up in front of the bed, a large fourposter carved from a dark gleaming wood, with deep purple curtains drawn to the corners. The bed was draped in an array of blankets and pillows. There was a body nestled within them. I dared not raise my eyes to gaze upon the King.

"Look up children. Let me see your faces." His voice was hoarse and weak, but still clearly heard. I lifted my head and laid eyes upon him. He was old, but not as old as I had expected. The King was only in the middle of his life, yet it was clear that he was not well. He was pale and breathing heavily, bolstered up by a mountain of pillows behind him which I could see held all his weight. His eyes were a warm brown, and you could see the handsomeness of his youth around his eyes and mouth.

"I am the reason you did not get all the pomp and ceremony you deserve. As you can see I am unwell. I am dying. And I want to see my son married and crowned before I take my leave. As such, it is imperative that my son marries a good woman who can stand by him through every struggle and love him through life's strains. A Queen who can support him and also make the hard decisions that he hesitates on. He does not need a wife, he needs a ruler by his side." The King took a deep rattling breath after that, and then stared intently at each of us.

"I will ask you each a question. And the one whose answer is weakest will not attend the dinner."

I waited nervously for him to pose his question. To have come this far and be undone by a wrong answer!

"To the girl in blue, what is more important for a ruler, routine, or spontaneity?" Rowena looked startled, and furrowed her brow, before deciding "Routine, your majesty. A ruler needs predictable behaviours to reassure his citizens and bring order to a chaotic duty." She curtsied and then stepped back.

"To the girl in red, what would you do if you could not give my son a boy?" I was blindsided. I had expected a very different question. And in Central, girls were not rulers as they were in other countries. Yes the queens were powerful, but boys were still important and necessary to royal life. Steeling myself, I said "I would tell him to either have a child with a concubine, or train our eldest girl to rule. You hold tournaments for the princesses as well, I do not see why the same cannot be done for a crown princess. It is not the wrapping that matters, but the person beneath it." I curtsied nice and low, and stepped back.

"And finally, to the girl in green, who is the most powerful person in the castle?" Without missing a beat, Opal replied "The person who holds the King's ear." She gracefully sank low and then retreated.

The King gazed upon us for awhile before stating "The red and the green were the most acceptable", and then closing his eyes.

Rowena's mouth opened in a silent oh, and the matron called in her footman, who dragged her away, still in a state of shock.

The matron then took Opal and I back into the parlour where she said

"Tell no one of this." And then she was gone.

The footmen took us back to the original door as Opal and I walked in silence. Rowena had been gone, just like that, and suddenly there were only two of us left. We stood together with the footmen and the doors opened.

"Now entering, Sorrel of the Crocasant, and Opal Clare." The announcer had a nice voice. Just loud enough to be heard over the hubbub but not over the top.

The two of us strode in together and we stood for a moment, in front of the gathered officials and the prince, wearing a veil as per usual, all already sat for dinner.

PRINCES POINT OF VIEW

She's...stunning, just...wow.