From the Journal of Mirena…
When my father first told me he intended to send me halfway across the world to form an allegiance with a foreign country, I was eager to leave. I had long wanted to travel and see the world, but my duties at the palace prevented it. I wasn’t just a princess…I was heir to the throne. When I was younger, it was my duty to learn everything I could about our kingdom, Temas, and all the other kingdoms in our empire. Customs, languages, trade goods, religious beliefs, and everything else you can imagine. Of course, I also had to learn how it all fit together, how to rule them, and how to keep it all together.
Fortunately, I had a head for such things, and it all came easily to me. I viewed ruling our empire as an intricate puzzle to be solved, one that changed frequently and had to be solved over and over again. It satisfied my intellect, or “fed my head,” as my brother used to say.
But my heart! Oh, my heart yearned to travel, to roam freely, to meet people without the responsibilities of being their ruler…to fall in love with the sort of rakish scalawag that always seemed to steal girls’ hearts in the books I liked to read…Oh, I wanted it all. But, as I said, I had duties, and I would not shirk them no matter how much my heart ached.
So, when father told me I was going to travel, my heart almost jumped out of my chest. But when he told me I was going to marry a stranger I had never met, my heart fell. I argued. I cried. I begged. I bargained. All to no avail. It has often been said that my father was born of the mountain, and the mountain cannot be moved. Never had it been more apparent to me than it was in that moment.
I resigned myself to my fate. I tried to stay focused on the positives. Finally, I would be travelling. Finally, I would know some freedom from the palace and politics, even if it would be short lived. And, I had seen pictures and heard stories about the king of Calymnia. He was handsome, and courageous, and (by all accounts) a kind and just ruler. A girl could do worse in the husband lottery, I decided. And so, I left on my journey across the world, to a fate I never could have imagined.