Chapter 1: Aaria (age 6)
At the tender age of six, Aaria Myra Lancaster the Second carried herself with a dignified grace that few others her age could achieve. She walked through the hallways of the Lancaster mansion towards the dining room, her shoulders back, and head held high.
Aaria stepped into the dining room, she took her place at the long dining table, "Elenore," she whispered to her sister sitting in the seat beside her, "Is father going to be eating with us."
"He said he would," Elenore responded, as if their fathers word meant anything.
Aaria sat straight, doing her best to imitate her sister's posture, hands placed delicately in her lap, ankles crossed, she fought the temptation to swing her legs. Her tutor would never approve of such unladylike mannerism.
The door swung open and King Nolan strode into the room, the Queen following silently behind him. Aaria sat impossibly straighter, determined to behave perfectly.
King Nolan sat down, he greeted Elenore and Aaria with a simple nod of his head in their direction, the Queen sat beside him.
A string of four servants entered the room, each holding a silver platter. Aaria waited anxiously as one walked towards her and placed the platter in front of her. She turned to look at the King, he took the top of his platter, the others following shortly after.
Elenore selected a fork and began to eat her dish, taking small bites and listening intently to her father speak about something Aaria couldn't understand. Aaria gulped as she looked at the array of utensils. She moved her hand towards a fork and looked to Elenore who slightly shook her head before turning towards The King again. Aaria moved her hand towards a different fork, the one furthest from her plate, and poked at her food, hoping desperately she hadn't chosen wrong this time.
Turkey, she thought, picking at the meat on her plater, I hate turkey.
"Aaria Myra," King Nolan snapped, Aaria jolted up, "Eat your meal."
"Yes father," Aaria mumbled, looking anywhere but at him.
"Speak up Aaria," the King scolded.
"Yes father," Aaria said, this time much louder and clearer.
"I expect you to look at me when you speak Aaria, your manners are simply appalling," King Nolan shook his head at his second daughter.
"Yes father," Aaria repeated once again, doing her best to keep her voice even, it still shook.
"That's as good as it will get, I suppose," King Nolan sighed, he turned back to his wife and began talking about future marriage arrangements for Elenore, "Jaymis is currently one of our only options" he said, "His parents are clearly open to the idea, but I think we could do better for our daughter, he is only fifth in line for his throne after all."
The Queen nodded pleasantly; a small, clearly fake smile plastered onto her face.
"Father," Elenore said, speaking for the first time since he had arrived, "Must we really speak of marriages for me now, I am only eleven, I cannot be married for years to come."
��Its never to early to secure a good match, it would help us." King Nolan responded.
"Well Jaymis is not a good match for me, he's far too young," Elenore said before taking another bite of her turkey.
Aaria tuned out the rest of the conversation as she slowly ate away at her platter. Choking back tears the whole while.
After finally finishing the food Aaria took a deep breath and looked up at her father, "Can I be excused. I want to get ready for my lessons."
"May I," King Nolan corrected, "And yes, you may, "I will be attending your next lesson to see your improvement."
Aaria stood up quickly, she cringed at the scraping sound the chair made as it was pushed away from the table. She clenched her fists and tried to ignore the disapproving look her father gave as she left the room.
The second the door was closed behind her the tears spilled over. Aaria ran, slamming her bedroom door when she got to her room, ignoring the looks of pity the maids in the hallways gave her. She sat down on her bed and stared at her hands.
One tear fell onto her outstretched palm, then two, then three, each growing colder until the cold hurt her hand. She continued to count the tears. Eight, nine, ten, the eleventh was completely frozen. The child watched as the drops of ice fell onto her hand. She collected a small pile, then dumped them onto her blanket and watched as they melted.
The temperature of the room began to drop, frost clouded her window and Aaria's breath began to come out in white clouds. Her blue and silver eyes glowed faintly. The girl shivered but made no move to warm herself. She buried her face into a pillow, sobs racking her tiny body.
"Aaria," A melodic voice came from the other side of the door, a soft knock followed.
"What do you want Elenore?" Aaria yelled back through muffled sobs.
"I'm coming in," Elenore said, her voice even, as always. The door was pushed open and Elenore stepped into the room, "It's freezing in here Aaria. You need to stop doing this."
"I can't," the younger girl whispered, "You know that."
"Well you're going to need to learn, doing this is dangerous. It could kill you," Elenore said casually.
"I know that. Why are you here?" Aaria sat up to look at her sister.
Elenore sat down next to Aaria, "Don't cry Ari," she said, using a nickname Aaria hadn't heard in a long time.
"I can't stop crying," Aaria hiccupped.
"Don't cry," Elenore repeated, this time as more of a command, "Don't cry because if the King Nolan makes you cry, you've let him win, he wants to break us, I'm not going to let him break me, don't let him break you."
Elenore had stopped calling the King father years ago.
"Why don't you love dad," Aaria whispered, her small mind couldn't grasp what Elenore was saying.
"Because," Elenore said, leaning back, "He never loved us," she grabbed Aaria's shoulders and turned her sister until they were facing one another, "Don't let him win Ari."
Dad loves me, she thought, Dad loves me, Dad loves me, dad must love me, as she continued her mental chant, she started to cry harder.
"Do you want to know a trick Ari?" Elenore said, looking at the ceiling.
"Huh," Aaria said sniffling.
"Hold your breath," Elenore commanded, Aaria complied, "Hold your breath as long as you can, then let it out as slow as you can."
Aaria did as she was told.
"Now do it two more times."
Once she was done, Aaria turned to stare at her sister, "Why did you make me do that?"
"You're not crying anymore, it always worked for me," Elenore flipped her platinum blond hair over her shoulder and gave a sad smile, "Now go wash your face and go to your lessons."
Elenore stood up to leave, "Don't let him win Ari, we can't let him win."
She left the room with a stunned Aaria sitting on her bed, her face tear stained but no fresh tears fell. She splashed water in her face and brushed out her long silver hair. She opened the window and let the warm summer air defrost her room.
Though still confused by her sister's request, Aaria attended her lessons with the best smile she could muster.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Anna_Mae_3472
Anna_Mae_3472 Thanks for reading! let me know what you thought of chapter one. This wasent suposed to be where the story would start, its a prequel of sorts to my mane fantasy series. Buy hey I love Aarias backstory so much I just had to write it out. Each chapter will have a character name and age at the top, each chapter will be snippets of Aaria and her siblings childhoods.