Cherry & Lime

Eleven years ago, I left home. Though I did return a couple times for visits, nearly all of that time was spent away. Two of those years were even spent on another continent.

It was two years ago that I returned. Some years after I left, I had to make an important decision: Did I still want to be a princess?

I could’ve left all of that behind. I could’ve continued to travel and explore as I’d been doing, but it was something Aunt Jade said once that urged me to return.

“I’m glad I got to do for you what I had always wanted for myself,” she had said. I realized that if I became queen, if I took my place on the throne, I could do the same thing for others. People like myself and Jade, or like the relationship Jade and Allamyne share.

In my absence, my parents had worked tirelessly to make the kingdom a place worth returning to. They first had to work on changing policies that would more easily allow future policies like what we had in mind to be established. Then they began to really change things. So much so that I even heard news of the Flame Wastes from across the continent.

Mirst had been working hard as well. It turns out that there are actually quite a few people out there such as Jade and myself, so in addition to helping them out, she had also begun teaching others to do what she was doing. As a result, slime people as a race were becoming known.

When I came home two years ago, I did not do so silently. I announced myself to the world, with my parents supporting me.

Many of the changes my parents had made in the past decade had made them rather popular with the public, while the nobility began to hate them. My return only increased both of those things.

As a result, a revolt occurred, and much of the nobility was executed in the end. This further opened the doors to completely abolishing nearly all the laws and systems that allowed the wealthy elite to be the awful people that they were. Those who remained were the ones that had sided with the royal family and the public.

With me returning home and Mallok retiring from questing due to age, everyone decided it was time to settle down. Sanor and Mallok ended up opening a bakery here in the capital. Sanor mentioned adopting at one point, though they want to get more settled first.

Allamyne was given possession of everything her parents had owned, and she turned it into an organization for helping the poor. Besides being something that she actually wanted to do, it was also “spitting on their graves in the most vicious way possible”.

Jade floundered in her new lifestyle a bit, but has recently begun helping out other slime people, both before and after their transformations. She also sometimes teaches archery at the Guild or does healing work, though the latter is mostly unnecessary with the recent changes to medical care being available for everyone.

It was still going to be many years before I became queen, so I planned to use that time furthering my connections with different countries.

After I had decided that I would return home, I then began going out of my way to meet with people who could trade things that we had little or none of back home.

It had been difficult to make connections, as I was seen as a quester before a princess and the gap between the two professions is vast. But I still managed to make it work most of the time.

All that knowledge I accrued at the villa was put to use, as I actually went to many of those places, and was able to get a head start on things with my historical and cultural awareness.

Obviously, reading about a place and being there in the flesh are two entirely different things, but those books I read were a good place to start. Another thing I began doing was correcting and updating some of the information we had on faraway places.

All in all, I’ve become very busy, and with my parents expecting another child, I’ll be taking on some of their duties for a while.

I’ve been given the nickname “The Questing Princess”, and I’m not entirely sure how I feel about it. But I can’t say that I hate it, and people like to talk about how I spent many years mingling with commoners.

But all that time traveling, and not even as a royal would, really did help me gain new perspectives and understandings on a plethora of topics.

I saw many places in the world where people could’ve been living better lives, if only those in charge would allow it.

There were people who only saw the commoners as tools to increase their wealth. There were places with the capacity to heal and take care of far more people than they were doing, but charged exorbitant prices to increase their profit.

I saw people who hadn’t been given the chance to receive a decent education, people who were homeless for a variety of reasons… There were just people everywhere who could be living better lives, and I long ago vowed to not be one of those corrupt rulers who takes advantage of those they are in charge of.

I’ve got a lot of work ahead of me. I need to gradually create a list of accomplishments so that I’m seen as someone worthy of the crown I’ll one day be wearing.

But I’ve worked enough that I can take a short break. Today is one of my regular visits with my non-royal family.

———

Incori Nymda ve Szikehr would be the last queen the Flame Wastes ever had. She would go on to eventually abolish the system of nobility, including the royalty, for good. The Flame Wastes Republic flourished.