A Season of Renewal (III)

After the meal, Princess Zorya gestured to Radka at her side.

"Well then, time for the real reason that we're here. Happy birthday Kamaria."

Radka pulled out a large square wooden box. Kamaria was excited as it was placed on the table in front of her.

Raisa carefully opened the box, and they caught a peek of midnight blue lining on the inside and beautiful folded metallic brocade. She opened it further and revealed that the material was in fact a dress.

It was an astounding silver with an intricate pattern Kamaria did not recognise.

She was no expert, but she knew a few things about material and trends in the patterns and embroidery. Embroidery and sewing classes were one of their childhood classes after all.

"I see you're trying to guess where it's from, let's just say a completely different empire," said her aunt.

"Auntie, this is too much," she said in an awed voice.

"Don't be silly, if this overbearing little father[1] of yours had it his way, we would have come with a cartful of things and even that wouldn't be enough. You'll just have to come home to see the rest."

On top of the dress sat a headdress, a beautiful thing littered with crystals, organza, and silver.

The sides of the headdress reminded her of wings and when she looked closer, she realised they were indeed wings. The delicate, intricate organza wings were decorated with silk flowers all around them.

It even had little feathery antennae covered with small crystals. The wings should have made it a butterfly, but the fuzzy antennae made her guess it was a moth themed headdress appropriate for the Luna festival.

In all, the costume was one step closer to making her fairy-like creature, bringing a smile to her face at the thought.

She never had the chance to be so extravagant. Even living in the palace, her clothes always paled in comparison to her siblings since they always managed to have a first pick of things.

"I'm glad I lived to see the day the little Princess was this amused," commented her uncle as he sat back. Kamaria could only hug her aunt once again.

"Princess Kamaria will have to be leading the Luna festival this year. The Moon goddess approves," she insisted.

"This would be the most beautiful little moth I've ever seen," the commander added with a smile.

They didn't ask about how, why, or when but they knew that Kamaria would somehow be at the festival. They had learned not to question her methods but just trust her instead.

Having been born around this time was the young woman's saving grace. Even if she never got to have a birthday celebration, she could at least enjoy fireworks and good food later when the Luna festival came around.

Besides the adventurous young men, the people in the palace barely ever left the palace even during such an occasion but they still made offerings and cooked once a year foods and desserts to enjoy at a banquet with other invited guests.

"If that boy Urien were to see you, he'd have to get on his knees immediately and propose."

Kamaria became a little shy at her aunt's words as she lightly touched the beautiful headdress.

"Don't ruin my good mood and talk about that little-"

"Uncle, Urien is nice," insisted Kamaria but the commander rolled his eyes.

"Anyway, on that point of gifts, I got the Princess a gift as well."

Radka once again produced another wooden box, this time smaller than the first. It was also simple but was lined with a forest green velvet.

Inside it, were two almost identical daggers. The difference in the daggers was the variation of the intricate silver design on the black sheaths.

The commander was still a military man, so it was safety above all else even for his precious niece. Next to the daggers was a pair of leather archers' gloves and Kamaria was even more delighted.

As if in agreement fragrant white flower petals softly showered the pavilion as she smiled completing the lovely scene.

"Such a boring man to give a young woman something like this for her birthday."

"Your aunt says so, but she gave us another child after I gifted her a new sword for hers," he casually commented to Kamaria.

The commander didn't find this talk inappropriate at all. What could Kamaria not know at her age having spent her time with rough soldiers like them.

Kamaria giggled at the couple; they were one of the few people she knew who got on this well as a couple but even then, they never interacted this way in public.

The view was exclusively for those very close to them. They heard a few voices headed towards them and the bigger box was closed and put away.

Princess Zorya shook her head and stood up, carefully taking out one of the daggers and handing it to her niece. Kamaria hesitated but finally took it in her hands.

The weight was perfect, and the cool handle sat comfortably in her hand. For sure they were custom made making them even more precious to her.

Unsheathing the blade, she studied the two sharp edges, polished finish and the engraved pattern running down the length of the blade matching the sheath.

The voices from before were now much closer as they headed toward the pavilion.

"I think we should test these highly questionable gifts from the commander," whispered Princess Zorya.

Kamaria moved the dagger from one hand to the other trying to get a feel for it.

She turned slightly to look out the corner of her eye as if hesitant about going through with the suggestion and then suddenly turned around, throwing the dagger towards the entrance of the pavilion.

The uninvited guest shrieked and fell back into her attendant's arms at seeing a weapon hurtling their way, but it had embedded itself in the wooden pole pinning a flower petal.

Velia froze in place as she stared at the dagger that had come from nowhere. Had her younger sister just tried to openly kill her in front of so many people?

"Oh, Princess Velia, I'm so- this Princess apologises for her rudeness. There was no injury was there?" asked Kamaria urgently although she was standing in one place and not rushing to help her sister up.

Velia's attendant scowled as she helped the princess straighten up.

Raisa and Lili almost laughed at Kamaria's question while Radka tried not to look defeated at the older teaching the younger extremely bad habits.

"What were you thinking?" Velia started.

She almost went on a tirade but held back due to the presence of their aunt and uncle.

"I'm sorry, I was merely trying to be like Aunt Zorya, I guess it's not for me," said Kamaria sadly as she walked towards the dagger.

She pulled it out as if it had not been deeply embedded in the block of wood.

"Little sister, why would you try to be like a General when you've never even had a day of military training? Be careful you don't hurt yourself or others," retorted Velia as she dusted off her dress.

Although she sounded a little angry, she couldn't help but have a bit of a pampering tone as if she was reprimanding a favourite child.

How could Kamaria possibly try to be anything like their aunt?

Princess Zorya was a famed General even if she was barely on the battlefield anymore.

With Radka as her second in command, she had conquered multiple battlefields for the empire in her family's name and that was how she had met her husband.

After her last child, she decided to not retire from the military but rather focus on the strategy and running of things.

Being a military official and noble at that married to an imperial prince who was the commander of the army, she had her work cut out for her without any of the physical battles.

"Forgive me Princess Velia, I gifted your sister these ornamental daggers. Perhaps she'd give them to her husband one day," commented the commander.

"Uncle, girls like pretty and shiny things," Velia stated as she pointed to her bracelet.

It was a gift he had given her after coming back from one of his Official travels and Kamaria was sure that she hadn't been wearing this bracelet at the breakfast table.

Although behaving while standing next to Lili, Raisa almost vomited blood at Velia's sickly-sweet tone.

"Commander, General, I'll be sure to deliver the message and everything else to Consort Mother," said Kamaria.

Raisa and Lili picked up the two boxes and just like their princess, curtsied before they left the pavilion.

Velia stood thinking for a while. So, Kamaria had only received some ornamental daggers as a gift? Everything else should have been some packages for Consort Johari, likely samples of dried plants.

The daggers were completely useless but then again, the commander had said something gifting them to her husband.

Was the empress consort already working on marriage match? Was it possible for her younger sister to be matched before her?

With the boxes safely put away, the trio could go about the rest of their day.

"I bet she almost peed herself," whispered Raisa after which she giggled.

Her Lady sure knew how to provide never ending entertainment.

Lili merely smiled trying not to fall into the trap of making such base jokes with the unfiltered Raisa.

"Raisa, that's completely improper. How dare you. Princesses don't pee, they tinkle," said Kamaria with the most serious expression and even Lili started giggling.

The giggling attracted the attention of another group walking in the garden. They couldn't see through the bushes, but Khayri could recognise the voices.

He signalled to everyone else to keep silent as he waited for the girls to emerge.

When they were closer, he excitedly jumped out but only managed to thoroughly scare an unknown young maid out of her wits.

The young lord with him started silently laughing as the prince apologised while trying to help her up which seemed to terrify her even more. Khayri's attendant ended up trying to smooth over the situation.

"Your Highness, that wasn't very nice," suddenly said Kamaria as she appeared from a completely unexpected place. The four young men tried to hide their shock at the sudden uncanny appearance.

"What a surprise to see my wise big sister here," said Khayri.

He was supposed to sound surprised but failed completely and sounded suspicious instead. Even his usually serious attendant, Nima couldn't help but smile.

During the fun, one of the young men was slowly observing Kamaria from her feet all the way up to her smiling face.

She looked lovely as always, and that elegant soft air about her just kept him more interested. She felt the studying gaze but tried not to get flustered from it.

"Come on Urien, stop ogling at my sister like a prized possession of yours. I'm having a conversation with her," commented Khayri and other two young women smiled.

"Am I supposed to be looking at you instead?" asked Urien.

"Listen you want to marry my sister, there are fees that need to be paid to me my friend," commented Khayri as he draped his arm on Lord Urien's shoulder.

Urien smiled at Kamaria and bowed his head slightly as they walked past to which she nodded back.

"Now let's discuss my rates and I'll let you look for a bit longer next time," said Khayri said as they continued in their original direction.

They were equipped with hunting gear, making her assume they were headed to the stables to pick horses and go for a hunt. It was better than most of Khayri's other past times.

While making her way to the indoor garden, Kamaria caught herself in a little smile when thinking about Urien.

Although it was nothing official and no marriage talks had been initiated between the families, the people very close to them knew that they had a good relationship.

For an imperial princess, it was nothing grand marrying the son of a Count, but it guaranteed some peace for her compared to marrying another royal family.

Sure, Velia would likely be married off to the best match the empress could find but for Kamaria, she had long learnt that it would do her no good being ambitious.

[1] Little father – referring to her father's younger brother, most would say uncle which can also be used, but some cultures consider those on the paternal side as secondary fathers, mothers, and siblings hence also cousin-sister or cousin-brother since they would have the same surname