the eyes of the princess

Chapter One
Maribelle Cherie Koreloath stared out of her nearly opaque window and tried to make out the people of her bustling town, all minding their own schedules with apprehensive looks pasted on their faces, though that was nothing out of the ordinary for people of the castle. Everyone ran in and out of the castle, trying his or her best to please the king (her father), even though he was pleased easily enough so that they didn’t have to work their tails off (if people had tails, of course).
For a princess, Maribelle had highly unusual behaviors. Even not for a princess, Maribelle still had highly unusual behaviors. Not every princess would decide to change her middle name every so often, but Maribelle found it nearly impossible to keep it under control. She was always restless with her middle name, considering that she wasn’t given one at her birth like all other royalty. Being so restless, it would change every so often, thus it would be extremely confusing, thus the royal families who visit from afar always have no idea what to address her with whenever they attended one of the extravagant balls her parents, King Nathane and Queen Soire, were famous for holding. Of course, most royalty would notice Maribelle immediately, her blonde ringlets and blue eyes stood out among all others. Royalty was never ever allowed to have blonde hair and blue eyes, and though that rule was never established, it was never expected to be possible. Not even commoners would be born with blonde hair and blue eyes, it was just simply NOT possible in the kingdom of Kastellarr, not possible in all the kingdoms’ combined, not possible in the world. The fact that the baby princess had been born with blonde hair and blue eyes had been described as a miracle, better described as a cursed phenomenon, or simply a curse. Reprehensibly enough, Maribelle’s appearance was not the worst of her. Her eyes were described to be a curse solely by their color, however there was something even darker, even more horrifying hidden in that eerie blueness. Her eyes were the endowment of her, and the ability that they’ve mastered could surpass all the other joyful enchantments for this strength of her wasn’t just a special talent that would give her eternal happiness or intelligence or beauty. The curse explained itself on the day of Maribelle’s birth, and it almost took Queen Soire’s life as a token.
When Maribelle was born, unlike others, her eyes did not open. Though people were worried, there was something slightly good that came out of it. For a while, people were only distraught over the blondeness of her hair. The king and the queen had given up on her ever opening her eyes though a small flicker of hope was still within them. Though Maribelle learned how to talk like any other child, she could not grasp the feeling of writing words as they particularly were (her handwriting was horrible) and her eyelids would not give in to permit her the brightness of sunlight or the appearance letters of the alphabet, though she knew all of them by heart. The king and queen loved her most dearly, though the king was barely ever home to acknowledge her. Therefore, the queen was the one who paid the most attention to her, and thus the one who adorned her with the most love. They never spoke much of her to other kingdoms, if at all, for it would be troubling for the other kingdoms to know about the displeasure. Maybe it was something in the air, for at her age of six something miraculous happened. She was released from the grasp of eternal darkness. She was still in the red satin covers of her bed, but this time it was different. Instead of the darkness that once blinded her, she was greeted by colors. She loved it; she loved all of it, the colors, the shapes, and the types. Her first instinct was to run off to her father, for she wanted him to be finally blissful after all his tiring days of traveling, but she had realized that he was off working at some other realm. Therefore, she sprinted to her mother though the sun had not set and it was certainly not past six. Her joy was indeed evident, her bouncing up and down on her mother’s bed did give it away but what stood out the most were her cheerful smiles – she barely smiled in the first years of her birth. Finally, her mother had gotten up too, first a little cross from being woken up so early and then she too, started jumping on the bed joyously. They jumped for a while together, and her mother didn’t even come to realize at first that her eyes were blue. Maribelle had said in delight, “Mother, now I can be a normal child!” Her mother had laughed with her eyes shining brighter than ever, now taking in the color of her eyes. Her mother had only replied with a smile, “Mari, how can you be normal? You’ve only added to your unusual appearance.” That tender gentle laugh from her mother made her joy blossom into a rose. She’d never seen a laugh before, only heard one, but the sight more captivating than the sound. Her mother wiped a tear of joy from her face and inched a bit closer to Maribelle. “Come closer, Mari, I want to get a good look at your eyes. They’re absolutely wonderful, even if they’re just a little strange,” her mother had said. She smiled and looked at Maribelle with her shining amber eyes that could dazzle anyone; her mother’s gift was beauty. Her eyes lingered on Maribelle for a while, still smiling that smiling of hers, until a little later the smile started to lose its curve. “What’s wrong, mother?” Maribelle had said, hugging her mother with worry. Her mother had replied that she was just a little drained from the enthusiasm and confirmed that she was okay. Maribelle was still worried, but she left her mother off to some rest and ran back to her room. She wasn’t hungry for breakfast and didn’t want to awaken anyone from his or her slumber yet. Therefore, she laid in her bed and stared up at the ceiling, wondering about all new things she would be able to see. After a while, her wondering turned into dreaming. It was almost night when she awoke, and her stomach grumbled terribly. Then she realized that her father would most certainly be home by now. The kingdom he’d visited wasn’t that far and he had promised that he would be home by supper. She blinked her newly found sight, and skipped off to her parents’ room. She was just about to open the door to jump in and hug her father when she heard noises in the room. Funny, her father’s voice wasn’t as gruff as that, which sounded more like the royal doctor (she was certain, when she was four she’d always try to imitate him). Maribelle was always a curious one, so she pressed her ear against the wooden door struggling to make sense of what the two were saying. It was hard to hear, but she could make out some of the words. “Sickness…impossibly hard to cure …death…Healer…” Maribelle was frightened – and horrified. What could this mean? Who was sick? The Healer? Who was that? Maribelle didn’t care anymore; she burst into her parents’ chamber weeping with worry all over her face. Tears streamed out of her eyes for the first time and suddenly she wished that she didn’t yet receive her vision. Her mother! Queen Soire’s beauty seemed faded and the fact that she even ever had such an endowment was shocking; her face was a shade of yellow, terribly close to a banana and her eyes lost their dazzle, her smile was now weak and her lips frail. Just looking at the horrible sight made Maribelle shrink. She didn’t even notice her father’s awareness of her newly found sight, her father was gaping at her; all she did was bawl and wail and then bawl some more. This got her eyes irritated and she started to rub them furiously, making them even more irritated. Her mother’s eyes no longer consistently gleamed, her hands were weak and frail, and her face looked as if it had aged ten years in only a night. Maribelle felt the urge to sprint out of the room, out of this horror, this mess, and eventually fade away into a place where no one would be able to recognize her. Of course, that was nearly impossible to do and even think about, and it was already unfeasible enough for her legs were already wobbly and seemed like the new recipe the cook had made up – apple caramel wobbles (they were so squishy and unstable that if you had touched it the whole thing would collapse) Through her teary eyes she could make out her fathers unwavering stare and his mouth shaped like an O, or more rather like a zero. She looked away and was immediately ashamed of her eyes and the absolute horror it brought to her father. She felt like she was the cause for her father’s sadness even atop the sadness for her mother, for she believed that her mother would get better quickly and that her eye color would always remain the same no matter what. Though Maribelle was a true beauty, her hair and eye features were what made her hideous to the kingdom. That very day she did run out of her parents’ room and went sulking in her own. Her mother could understand, why couldn’t her father? It wasn’t her fault that the holy lord had bestowed such features upon her. For the few nights and days subsequent to the meeting with her father, her father spoke few, if any, words to her and barely glanced at her if he could help it.