Sun Flower

"Princess? Princess?" the annoying voice of the royal attendant floated through the darkroom of Princess Ahli Marigold Dasveera the III's royal quarters. Groaning she pulled the plush pillow over her head and tried her best to fall back into that peaceful slumber. After a few minutes of that horrible high-pitched voice, the princess finally pulled herself out of bed.

Wobbling towards the door Ahli pulled it opened and looked up at the prick who woke her. The royal attendant cringed when she ran up to him and stomped on his polished shoes. The guards chuckled when she continued to attack him relentlessly, she was the princess, if she wanted to sleep longer than she bloody well could!

"Ahli, don't be sour" the guards suddenly stood at attention, the royal attendant did as well. The Crown Prince Darius Amerahn Dasveera smiled down at his sister, "Today is a day of celebration, you simply must be awake and attend."

Ahli huffed and went back to her room, her servants following closely, "Fine, I'll see you in a bit then poopy face." Darius laughed at his not so nice nickname as he strode away.

Her mother had chosen the dress she was to wear today and Ahli rather liked it. The gown was a delicate sage green, beautiful intracit lace framed the bottom with a soft silk overcoat that complimented her emerald green eyes. She absolutely loved the elegant patterns stitched in the overcoat, the buttons running down her chest to her belly were of a stunning silver. The sleeves felt nice and loose, she liked the fact she could move around so easily in this dress.

The court hair styalist came in and after a slightly agonizing half hour her honey brown hair was lifted in a braid that crowned her head. She had little curls down by her ears but Ahli ignored them when her rose gold crown was delicatly placed atop her head.

"Oh dear why you look absulutely stunning!" Valyre, Darius's wife, said as she came into view of the full body mirror. Ahli did indeed think she was stunning, but Valyre, well she was beautiful. Her hair was so light it was almost white but it only made her dark gold eyes pop off her alabaster skin. Not only that her but she had the body of a woman, Ahli had once heard her mother say that Valyre had very generous assets thanks to her early bleeding at 11 but she didn't quite understand. What was a bleeding? or cycle as her aunt would say.

"How is Eris?" Ahli said as she hopped off the circular dais, Valyre quickly grabbed the small baby and showed him to her. Even though Valyre was only 15 she already had her first child. In the Dishahn Empire the crown wasn't given to the first in line like other kingdoms, no the Empress would give birth to many children so the Emporer could properly chose who he wanted as heir. Valyre and Darius had just announced that she was again pregnant only after four months from the first. Having many children in the royal family was a good thing. Ahli and her parents thought Valyre was doing very well.

Ahli frowned when she thought of her mother, when she gave birth to Darius it nearly killed her. They tried so hard to have more potential heirs but they would end in miscarriages. They stopped for a while until 10 years later she was once again pregnant.

There was a time when her father hated her in her early life because when she was born mother was so weak she could barely get out of bed. Ahli was six when her mother could finally walk around for more than a half hour without collapsing.

One could imagine the relief the family felt when Valyre's pregnancy went very well.

Eris giggled and waved his hands at Ahli, making her frown disappear. She was excited to be an aunt, although she was still only nine. Ahli decided she would be the cool young aunt who gave them candy and chocolate. That's what her uncle did and she found him to be the best.

"Aw look at you-" Ahli was interrupted by the noon bell and everyone in her room seemed to freeze. The celeramony began at noon.

Everyone panicked as they rushed to put the final touches on the princess, Valyre waited anxiously as they finished and finally sent them to the throne room.

They decided to enter through the secret door near the front and managed to get to their respective spots without being noticed by many.

From the looks her parents, brother and uncle she found that she wasn't too stealthy after all.

The Sun Celebration began with the usual dances and festive music, fire breathers entertained the courtiers and nobles. Ahli felt a bit guilty she was late, this wasn't just any Sun Celebration. Her brother, Crown Prince of the Dishahn Empire and Keeper of the Cahln Spear was being given the Sun Flower. An ancient crown worn only by the heir to the empire and the person who has the gift of light and fire, the magic forged by Solas, the Sun God. The qualifications for the Sun Flower was rare as the gift of Solas was only given to those born on the longest and hottest day, when the sun is at it's peak. A child like that is not born by accident, no a child like that was given to the world by Solas himself.

The Sun Flower hasn't been given to anyone for over a milenia, this was an event that would go down in history.

The Sun Flower was given when the sun fell down into the earth, Darius would then have to stand vigil over the palace until the sun arises again and the crown glows with the might of Solas.

Even though is was a grand event Ahli found most of it boring, the kids her age would either be snobs or too scared to talk to her so she mostly stayed with Valyre or her cousin.

After a long day of walking around, dancing, greeting guests and trying to understand the conversations of her court Ahli was tired when the main event started.

Everyone stood to the side of the throne room as the sun fell beneath the earth and the room was cast into shadow. Darius was in the center of the room as he ignighted his magic. Warm soft fire swirled around him delicatly as he kneeled and prayed to Solas. Gasps and awes skittered over the crowd as the fire shot into the ceiling and up into the highest tower where the crown was.

Only Solas's power could breach the wards, this was the true test to see if he was the next Sun Flower heir.

Everyone waited anxiously for a few minutes before whispers of doubt spread like wildfire through the crowd. The whispers and doubt was silenced when the flames slowly descended, swirling quickly around the Sun Flower. Ahli gasped when the flames were adsorbed into the crown as Darius let it lay in his hands.

The crown was a deep gold with stems wraped in a perfect circle, varius sizes of sunflowers and other flowers were scattered throughout the stems. The sun seemed to glow from the crown as Darius lifted it over his head and lightly placed it atop it.

Everyone, even father and mother knelt as Darius stood, wearing the Sun Flower.

No one spoke as they left the room, leaving Darius to stand watch until sunrise. Ahli listened carefully as her mother beamed with pride, her father smiled down at her, "You're lucky girl, there won't be another Sun Flower heir for at least 500 years. Now you can tell your grandchildren of this day." she smiled back at him, yes this was a great day, one that would be told by countless others for the centuries to come.