Amara Celestine's Arc

Chapter 1 of 2

Amara Celestine slipped past her guards and walked into the swamp alone. Her schedule said prayer hour. Prayer hour meant cameras. She wanted one hour without her name attached to her like a leash. She wanted to find a life that did not come pre-printed on paper. She found the small wooden shrine at the edge of the moss. A bell hung in its doorway. A ring of stones circled the clearing, soft and green, and no guards stood inside it. Her shoulders dropped for the first time in weeks. An old woman sat on the steps, peeling fruit. She looked up and smiled. "You took your time, Amara." No title. Just her name. Amara froze. Her hand went to her pocket, where her list lived. Was this a test sent by her mother? A trick? Or the first honest word ever spoken to her? She studied the woman's face and found no bow waiting, no camera, no plan. "Sit," the woman said. She set a brass ring on the step between them. Diamonds caught the light. "This belongs to you. It always did. You are not only a princess of your family. You are a princess of somewhere else. The ring will take you there when you choose. A different world. Louder. Freer. Yours." Amara picked up the ring. It was warm. She thought of grocery stores and messy food and strangers who would not know her face. She slid the ring onto her finger. The shrine bell rang once, though no wind moved. The moss under her feet began to glow, and Amara Celestine, for the first time, stopped being afraid of who she might become.