The great Rubia fair arrived every summer, and for two weeks every July the whole city was alight with colours and light.
From sunrise to sunset people would throng the streets, shouting and selling, banging drums, telling penny poems and rowdy tales. When I was younger I would inhale the perfumed spices right out of the air from my keep chambers.
My Father and my brother and sister would parade down the king’s road amid cheers and flag wavers. I was ordered to stay inside, and Corbin would always be put on duty in the kitchens, but Mareen would take pity on us and smuggle us out claiming she had to run errands. She gave me her grown-up daughters old clothes and called me Meg for disguise.
Those were the days I remember most fondly from my childhood. I was a normal girl for a few hours, able to walk amidst the people and see the sights for myself. I took everything in like a drowning man would air. People from all kingdoms of the world would queue for miles at the gates and the docks.

We would walk along River Walk staring at the exotic ships chained to the piers. Corbin informed me that the longships with the wide red sails were from Kree, the desert lands to the South.
Mareen said it was full of uncouth men with fierce faces and beards, with scarf’s wrapped around their heads and curved swords at their sides. We watched them unload vast cargoes of spices and carpets, jewelry and gems and listened to them shout in their strange guttural language.
I didn’t watch them for long. The galleys were filled with slaves chained to each other, their faces bleached brown by the hot sun. I met one’s glance and gave a small wave. I regretted it instantly: one of the kree men whipped him. His expressive black eyes closed in pain and he kept his eyes down after that.

The ships from Lamavia were beautiful. The mastheads were exquisitely carved with figures and trees. The sails were plain white that buckled and flapped in the winds like swans about to fly.
The men on board were tall with pale faces and golden hair, they moved with grace and dignity, and frowned at the Kree ships nearby. They would have sailed from the inland sea in the West and around Kree and the forgotten lands to reach us. Their cargo was abundant; metalwares, gold and silver and iron, expertly formed fishing nets and baskets, leatherwork, the fine woven cloths that Lamavia was famous for, honey and beeswax.

I watched a few of the Lamavians unload goods on the dock beside us. One of them gave Mareen a big grin as he was unloading. Mar had to go and sit down for a minute. I stayed on the dock watching fascinated. Someone on the boat caught my eye.
A Lamavian was leaning on a cabin door frame watching the work. He was tall even for a Lamavian, with long white/gold hair and I could just see his gracefully pointed ears.
I gasped. An elf! I had never seen one! His head turned and looked right at me. He regarded me with an expressionless face, but with eyes so piercing I felt like he was reading my mind. I blinked surprised and looked away. When I looked again he was still watching with a speculative expression. I turned when Mareen called me and didn’t look back. What if he knew who I was? What if he told my Father?

I quickly forgot about him as we entered the market proper. So much information flooded my senses that I forgot everything: I was just a pair of eyes and ears floating on a sea of sights and smells.
Corbin would stuff his face on chewets from the hot pie peddlers. You couldn’t pay me to touch the stuff, who knew what was in them?

Katara had sent Mar out to purchase cloths for the palace tailors. While Mar haddled and caught up on the news, I would be nose deep in swathes of textiles; reds and gold’s and heavenly blues, every colour I had ever seen and many more. We bought Artesian silks, velvet, brocade interwoven with silver and gold threads, fine Lamavian wool, linen and coarse cottons.
We had to fight the crowds to get to the Kree stall that Mar wanted to go to. She needed to stock up on her medicinal herbs and she called out their names and uses as she bought them. The Kree seller watched with a wide gap-toothed grin.
“Lungwort for the lungs, see the shape? Feverfew to sweat out illness, wormwood to get rid of worms and fleas, the smell drives them away-”
“I don’t have worms or fleas!” I protested.
Mareen fixed me with A Look. “Are you the only person I look after? The staff gets sick too. You’re not the center of the world you know.” Her chiding was gentle though so I didn’t waste time with sulking.
The seller spoke up,” Wormwood half price! A bushel for six shillings!”
She ignored him. “Marjoram for bruises and poultices, two bushels, I’ll need it with you two.”
Corbin and I grinned at each other. Our favorite game at that time was playing knights. I had ‘borrowed’ two practice swords from the squire’s training building outside the keep, and Corbin had made two helmets out of wood. The night before I had ambushed Corbin by jumping out of a tree on top of him. Needless to say we arrived back inside bleeding and bruised but happy. At least I was, I had won.

Mareen continued her instructions until she noticed our bored expressions. She sighed heavily. “All right, you two can wander around for a while.” She yelled after us. “Stay together! Corbin keep an eye on her!”
We were already gone. Corbin’s favorite sights were the plays put on by the guilds. The ship makers were performing the legend of the wavewalker. The men wore dolphin and whale masks and danced around wavewalker in the boat. I grew bored quickly and dragged Corbin off to see the sword demonstrations. The knights fought swiftly and deftly but Corbin was disappointed to see that the fights were staged. I left him there while I rambled over to see the dyers at work. I bought some water off a water peddler even though Mar warned me that they probably got the water from the river and not the crystal clear mountain streams like they said.

The dyer’s vats were huge and filled with water. I watched them drop a compound of powder in the vats and saw the swirls of colour turn the vats purple, or blue or any colour. They then dropped the wool in and pulled it out transformed. They kept the ingredients of the dye’s secret, and if they told they would be expelled from the guild.
Timeworn women would sit on coloured rugs surrounded by herbs and spices. As lifelong market sellers they would just sit watching the passersby by through black eyes in a maze of creases. They knew if people would buy off her they would come, she had no need to shout.
I turned into the stalls from Torian. There were stalls and stalls of furs and animal hide. I peered closely at a table full of the gold coloured gems they called Amber and watched the light fall through them. Torian was icy and cold and they were a hardy looking folk. Many dwarves were selling metalwork; jewelry and tools. I must have been staring because one dwarf made a fierce face at me from under his helmet. I walked quickly away ignoring his chortles.
I came across a stall selling troll’s heads. I winced. They were made of stone, I had no idea how anyone cut it off, I thought it was illegal to kill trolls, not to mention impossible. The trolls I heard about lived high in the mountains of Torian and rarely came in contact with the people. I felt sorry for the surprised grimaces on the faces. The hunter behind the counter ignored me. I wasn’t a customer. There were wolf pelts and teeth for sale also. I fingered the soft fur and tried to imagine a live one. They were enchanting creatures, I thought, even if they killed humans. I gave the hunter a fierce scowl. Wolves were my favorite creatures.
The hunter leaned down to my level.
“You got a problem girlie?” He hissed. “Bother me and I’ll cut off your hand. Girl's hands are very lucky --fetch a high price in Kree.”
My scowl deepened. “You just try. My Father would cut off your head.”
“Oh would he now!” He laughed mirthlessly. “Well lets see will we.”
I stepped back intimidated and felt a hand on my shoulder. Startled, I looked back and saw the elf. My mouth dropped open.
He spoke in a calm low voice, yet strangely musical. “Leave the child alone. You’ve hurt enough harmless creatures already.”
The hunter seemed cowed but muttered “I’ll hunt elves yet.”
The elf guided me away with my eyes never leaving his face. He looked young, but I couldn’t pinpoint any age on him. His eyes were old though, like they’d seen too much grief already.
When we were sufficiently far away he stopped and looked at me.
“My name is Arenne. I presume you usually do not make a habit of snapping at slavers.”
“He was a slaver?” It was the only thing I could think of to say.
Arenne looked amused. “You didn’t know?”
I shook my head. “You’re an elf aren’t you. I’ve never seen an elf before.”
He crossed his arms and smiled. “I’ve seen you before. I am an old friend of your Fathers.”
I blanched. “Oh...really .You know who I am?”
“Elves see further than most. But when you mentioned he would cut off the slaver's head, it gave me an idea.”
“Ah .You’re not going to tell him are you? Because I will be in so much trouble-”
“Fear not young lady. My business is not with him.”
I smiled in relief. “Oh good-”
“It is with you.”
“What!”
He crouched down so he could look into my face.
“I was a friend of your Mothers also.” He handed me a chain with gentle hands. It was a silver thread with an amber gem attached to it.
I looked at it bemusedly as it pooled in my palm.
“I was sorry to hear about the death of your Mother. She was a great Queen and is sorely missed.”
“I’m sorry.” I muttered with a pain in the pit of my stomach.
He smiled gently.
“It was not your fault she died. Childbirth is a difficult thing, or so I’ve heard. All I know is she loved you deeply since she learned she was to have you. You are named for her mother, do you know that?”
I shook my head, my eyes blurred from tears.
“She would have wanted you to have this. It was a gift to her from our people but we never got to give it to her. You have her heart, I can see it in your eyes. Wear it and remember her love for you. Never forget.”
I nodded and put it around my neck.
He stood up. “Your friend is looking for you.” He reached out his hand and took mine. “Good-bye Kayanna. Never take it off.”
In an instant he was lost in the crowds. I fingered the gem around my neck and watched the light fall through it. I stuck it under my dress. It was my secret. I kept it always.