Meekah's promises on that evening were lies, he knew them to be so, and swore that he would never tell Ahriana another again for the entirety of his life.
He had watched the sadness settle so heavily on her heart with the knowledge of the last of her generation bonding, Meekah had simply not been able to resist making just a few empty promises to lift the weight , even if the effect lasted but a moment. Every one Ahriana knew was bonded and preparing their futures. All were tested for magic or ability and began to learn and practice their arts. The men began building homes while the women who did not have a gift of magic and power learned how to care for these homes.
Ahriana had no home to build, and no power to practice so she spent the years with Fairsh running through the woods and fishing at the lake. She learned what was required of her when she became queen. Every formal greeting and proper etiquette for any possible situation she learned from her mother. She learned from her father what it was going to mean to rule alone, as no one had ever done before her. No city of the Elderaldan nation, much less the entire nation, had ever been ruled by a solitary monarch. There had always been two, until Ahriana and the prophecy. Meekah never left her side, he kept his promise he made that night when they were children, but it was growing to be a difficult task.
Ahriana reached the age of twenty without much excitement, beyond bonding ceremonies, weddings and children being born. The Dark King, Demunik, though restless, did not try to assault the gates of Imerald, and his armies kept well away from the human villages at the border. On her birthday she was finally considered a woman by traditional standards of the Elderalds. All except two, of course.The most important two if you asked her opinion, and she was being honest. Her copper hair hung past her waist, only married Elderalds bound their hair, so it flowed like a river down her back free. Her emerald eyes grew sad and haunted as she learned just what future was to be hers, long gone were the giggles, and the fake smiles.
To most she seemed cold and prepared for the future,ready to be a firm and unyielding Queen. She kept most of her peers as aquantices, not bothering to form relationships with them because all of them were already in the most important one of their lives. They had little time for her antics, and no understanding of her heart.
Those close to her knew it was an ac, Ahriana was just as kind, and gentle hearted as she had always been. Completely unprepared for her destiny, having long since accepted that someone had been wrong. She was not the one prophesied, she was simply, alone. It wasnt unheard of, plenty of nomads remained unbonded for their entire long lives. Her father and mother had groomed her to put on a very good façade in public, they knew that if she was to be taken seriously as a single ruler, no one could ever have a moment to doubt her. She had extra lessons, extra training, extra reading. She had to make up for what she lacked in power and love.
She learned all the intricate manners of their people, even leading a weekly prayer to the magic and power of the earth., as the years went by that weekly prayer giving thanks to the magic and power for their blessings, set Ahriana's teeth on edge. She hated them both now; both had decided her fate before even her grandparents were born, before her heart took its first steady thump.