Princess Secundus Lysentia, who has little regard for her father's loyal subjects, is forced by her older sister, Nobilis, to dress up in disguise as a peasant and go out into the city to mingle with and get to know her people. The linear measurement term "pedi" is the Adaman foot. One pedi = 9.93 Earth inches. Iridium is the metal used to make coins.

"Go now, sweetums," Nobilis had said, opening Lysentia's bedchamber passageway door. "Go into the world and see how the common people live. I'll tell mother and father you were sorry for your bad behavior at supper and cried yourself to sleep. That should keep them from coming by to check on you. Hurry and go now."

     "Thank you, Nobilis." Her sister had smiled and nodded as Lysentia dashed to her, engulfed her in a big hug, and then darted through the open door without glancing back.

     Arriving at the tiny vault by the exit, Lysentia opened its door, reached in, and grabbed the clothing. Removing her gown and slips, she stuffed them into the vault and slipped into a long-sleeved blouse, a pair of knee-length pants, and a skirt. She jammed the round, pointed hat with the wide downward-turned rim running all the way around it over her pinned up hair.

     While closing the vault, Lysentia shuddered at the strange feeling the commoner's clothing gave her. All the heavy wool-like fabric of patchy design and earthy colors scratched against a skin more accustomed to a silken touch.

     Opening the door to the outside, Lysentia slipped out from behind the stubby trees shielding the secret entrance. She looked up and gazed at Alatus and Skelestus illuminating the night sky, while the landscape shimmered with their bright, reflected light.

     Taking a deep breath, Lysentia's mouth sprang alive with hunger as it watered over the fishy odor of the nearby Pristina River. The smell always reminded her of the delightful fragrance of fried narsi flowers.

     Lysentia hurried down the grassy knolls to the paved footpath along the Pristina River. Following it to the wooden footbridge, she crossed over into Fortunado Park and merged with hundreds of people celebrating in a food festival.

     Meandering among their brightly lit lanterns suspended from six-pedi, arced poles, Lysentia let her thoughts wander.

     It's weird that, for the first time ever, I must hide my ceruleus kasari quality. Now, I must blend in to study the people as Nobilis wants me to; but I don't like the idea of hiding something as beautiful as my blue hair.

     All the food displays lay spread on pendari stones, because they had the ability to defy gravity-within limits. On their own, they could float about three pedi off the ground. If the need existed for them to float lower, they had to be weighted down.

     Most people in the Kingdom of Metus walked, but some rode in style on giant scoreus pellis beasts. The huge animals towered over six pedi tall and galloped on four long legs. The tame animals also grew thick, leathery skin, whipped around a short snake-thin tail, and wore a face with a long snout ending in a three-pedi horn.

     Scoreus pelli also had the disgusting habit of vomiting when under stress. Metan scientists theorized it served as a defense against ancient predators. However, the beasts had none anymore, because they had been domesticated for over two thousand years.

     "Here now, little girl." Lysentia turned to discover an old lady standing behind her long pendari stone table. "Buy a dulcis roll off a poor, old woman … or some iuglan nuts?"

     Lysentia examined the old woman's pendari stone. Many varieties of foods lay spread on it to include narsi flowers smothered in faban bean paste, volar nodules in pyzulum noodles, giant grabo melons, and many other delights as well.

     The old woman thrust out a dulcis roll. "It's yours for a single tupdraha coin."

     "Two drahas? Elsewhere in the city I've seen them for a single draha." And she had-when being driven through Pristia in the regal carriage. Vendors posted signs and she always saw dulcis rolls for one draha.

     "It's a special celebration."

     Remembering how she had been forced away from the dinner table with no nourishment, she licked her lips. "I'd love a dulcis roll, but I don't have any iridium coins."

     "Are you a fool?"

     Lysentia offered a quick pout. "What do you mean by that?"

     "As the saying goes, 'A fool's iridium is soon spent on foolish things'." The old woman scrutinized Lysentia. "You don't look like a fool … more like a poor child." She handed the dulcis roll to her. "Here. Grow up good and strong. Maybe you can make Metus a better place one day."

     Lysentia snatched the roll. "You'd give this to me when you're in need?"

     "What will the world come to if perrens stop helping other perrens in need? Here, you do the same one day. Return the favor tenfold when you grow up. That'd be good enough for me."

     What a kind, old woman she is.

     Lysentia plucked a big bite from the roll and savored the sweetness washing across her tongue. She glanced around at the people, and witnessed their real wealth-simple pleasures like eating good food.

     "Thank you very much, ma'am. May the Regal Family bless you for the rest of your days."

     "Oh, if only they would. However, they're too busy for ordinary people like you and me." She spied another woman examining her treats and stepped away to approach her. "Here now, Miss, a single tupdraha coin will buy you a dulcis roll from this poor, old woman."

     "Two drahas?" the woman said, as Lysentia pulled out of earshot.

     Lysentia sashayed from pendari table to pendari table observing her people. During her wanderings, another woman offered her some volar nodules not wrapped in the pyzulum noodles, and still another handed her a baked narsi flower without so much as asking for a single draha. Pride swelled inside Lysentia to know these worthwhile perrens were her people. She knew she had to thank Nobilis for enabling her to see that.

     "And I'm telling you, the Regal Family can make things better if they so choose!" A distant commanding voice flared, crying out for change but filled with the patience to wait for it.

     Lysentia hurried away to see who criticized her family. She discovered a man in his mid-twenties standing on a tall platform at the other end of what appeared to be a sea of several hundred people.

     Dressed with unusually bright colors for a Metus citizen, the young man made quite an impression on Lysentia. He donned a bright yellow winter vest covering a wrap-around, red body shirt with sleeves to the wrists, which then blossomed into yellow loose, lacey cuffs hanging to the top knuckles. His skin tight pantaloons exploded in bright green and they disappeared into black, high-topped, pointy-toed boots. On his head rested a flat black hat with a large broad rim circling all around. A yellow velvet cloth clung to the high part of the hat, and a short length of it dangled behind him.

     She stopped to listen as the man continued.

     "The Regal Family does not care. As long as we're not starving, they simply don't care. Come join me in the quest to end this lack of concern. The Regal Family has the power to break out of their complacency and better our lives. It is their responsibility to see to it that we, the common citizenry of Metus, improve our lot. Getting by is no longer good enough."

     Lysentia's insides vibrated with excitement as she meandered her way to the front.

     The man's voice continued, "I ask all of you as loyal citizens of Metus, and as supporters of the Regal Family, what have they done for you lately?"

     Lysentia at least knew an answer for that. "They built the new Supine River Reservoir out in the Trinus Superus Peninsula near the town of Fulcrimina."

     The man scowled at her. "Young lady, that was a rhetorical question."

     "A what?"

     "A rhetorical question. A question to be pondered and not directly answered."

     "But you talk as if the Regal Family has done nothing for you. I offered an answer because I know it was King Plaseti's last project."

     "That's fine, young lady, but I was talking about the economy in general. Now, why don't you go home to your mama and help her milk the vaccas?"

     He tipped his hat and attended to the rest of the crowd. "Let me continue by addressing the problem of our animili." He pointed to the sensory organs on his temples. "These gray, oval organs are said to be useless. Well, I'm happy to report they are not. All my followers have developed theirs through simple training. With active animili, we can see the feelings of others. If the Regal Family had that ability they would know our plight and show more sympathy."

     "Come on," someone from the crowd said. "Nobody believes that."

     The man lowered his head for several seconds and then raised it again. "When you have developed the extraordinary powers of the animili, you can read another person's aura … that glow of light forming the outer reaches of our internal life force."

     Great scoreus pelli, he knows about that?

     He pointed to Lysentia. "For instance, this young girl … her aura is beaming with magenta and blue. In spite of the way she dresses, I can easily see she leads a charmed life." Lysentia lowered her head in an attempt to become invisible, but it didn't work.

     "Her life," the man said, "is probably as easy as one of our young Regal Princesses."

     Lysentia backed into the crowd and allowed the man to finish his speech without saying another word.

Houses of Pristia, the capital city of Metus

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The Blue-Haired Princess Series. All rights reserved ©1999-2006 by Dakota Balmore.