Noblefrost

Many years ago, the kingdom of Noblefrost ruled over the Island with an Iron fist. The floating city was only connected to the Island by a 3-meter-wide Ice bridge. The people in the city were all wealthy, and connected to the elements of ice and water, while the 3 elements that lived on the island, fire, earth, and life, were all poor. One day, the strongest decided to rebel, and the island was divided into cities, ruled by a king and a queen of the respective element. Though there was no fighting, none of the nation’s got along. They all went about their business, while being extremely weary of each other. Our story begins 1200 years after these events, with the youngest daughter of the fire kingdoms queen.

CHAPTER I

Ashlynn always knew life would be hard for her. She has duties to fulfil, and very little freedom. But never once did she expect to be married off to the prince of ice. Nothing like this has happened to anyone in the 4 nations in their history. She always thought she’d get married for love like her parents and grandparents did. She knew this was important though. Out of the 4 nations Noblefrost was the most dangerous and most likely to defeat Inferno in a war. But why her? Why not her sister? Or her brother? They’re both older than her! Her mind raced as she paced around her room.

Ashlynn is 18, she has green eyes and orange lightly curly hair that’s about back length. She often wears dresses, though they aren’t the most practical thing to wear, she feels pretty when she wears them. She likes to wear makeup, but rarely has time to put any on. She knows how to use a bow and a sword, due to her parents’ paranoia about war. They even taught it in schools in inferno.

Ashlynn’s trail of thoughts was interrupted by a knock on her door. “Ashlynn? It’s me, Melody! I’ve come to say goodbye” her heart skipped a beat. Say goodbye? Was it really that late already!! Her sister said she’d make time to say goodbye about 30 minutes before Ashlynn had to leave. She sat down on her bed and choked out a “come in!” Melody slowly opened the door and peaked her head around it. “How are you doing ash...?” she asked, before stepping into the room. “Not great” Ashlynn admitted, looking at her hand. It was shaking more than ever. She hadn’t realised how scared she truly was until now. Though the wedding was in 4 days, she was being sent to Noblefrost now so she could “get to know” her fiancé. She glanced at her bedside table, where her engagement ring was. It was a beautiful ring, gold with silver snowflakes all around it. There was a water drop shaped diamond in the middle. Ashlynn hasn’t put it on yet. It would make everything feel too real. They sent a ring over to the prince, but it wasn’t as spectacular to look at. Just silver with a ruby imbedded into it. “You better write to me” Melody said, breaking the silence. She brushed a strand of blonde hair out of her face as she handed Ashlynn some paper and sparkly gel pens. “To motivate you a bit” she smiled. Ashlynn stared at the gift for a moment, before smiling. She held it close to her chest and whispered: “I’m gonna miss you the most, Melody.” Melody smiled and pulled Ashlynn into a hug.

Ashlynn walked down the path that led to the bridge of ice. Melody said someone would be waiting In Noblefrost to take her to the prince. Ashlynn couldn’t remember his name, even though her parents told her at least 10 times. She had a large rucksack on her back and a suitcase dragging behind her. Her parents made her wear her crown, silver with rubies imbedded in it. Just like the ring her fiancé has, she thought. She paused when she made it to the bridge. 3 meters is only wide when it’s not a bridge with no handrails over a massive drop into the ocean. The fog wasn’t that thick, but she still couldn’t see Noblefrost. She slowly and carefully stepped onto the ice, afraid she would melt it. To her surprise it wasn’t slippery at all, and she did not melt it and fall to her death. She continued down the bridge, until after about 5 minutes Noblefrost came into view. Ashlynn stopped in her tracks. It was big. And impressive. A huge city on a big floating chunk of ice. At the back was an elegant palace, which is probably where her fiancé lives. Down the sides were more floating islands, that slowly went down into the ocean. A lot of the islands had statues of royalty on them. She kept moving, slowly wandering up the curve in the bridge. She stood in front of the gate, fear telling her to turn back and go home when she was greeted by a blonde, tanned girl with a green stripe in her hair. She was wearing a suit with a rose pin in the jacket. This girl must be from Sundew. “Princess Ashlynn! Hello! I’m Lady Sarah, I’m the queen of Sundew’s Niece! I’m here to take you to Prince Alaric” she beamed. Ashlynn remained silent but nodded and followed Sarah up the street. She looked at the ring she had slipped onto her finger before she left. It was all incredibly real now.

“Prince Alaric” Sarah Bowed, as he looked over at them. He smiled and rushed over. “Sarah how many times do I have to tell you, we’re friends! There’s no need to bow!” he laughed. He turned to Ashlynn and said “and you must be my fiancé. Haha, no one in Noblefrost has hair like that!” his laughter calmed Ashlynn, she even managed a light smile at him. She felt a little stupid for being nervous now, she wasn’t expecting him to be so nice. Alaric was in no way ugly. He had shining ocean blue eyes, medium length black hair that was swept back in a very short messy ponytail, and pale skin. He had a piercing, a snake earring that looked like it was coiled around the top of his ear. Ashlynn was brought back to reality by her fiancé’s laugh. “You like my earring?” he giggled. Oops. She’d been caught. “Oh uh- I mean... y-yeah, it’s really cool” Ashlynn stuttered, while Alaric and Sarah continued to laugh. “there’s no need to be shy Ashlynn, I’m not gonna bite your head off!” he sighed, still giggling a bit. She shifted nervously, but still smiled. A lot of the anxiety faded after she realised he was so kind. “Come on, I’ll show you to our room” he said, holding his hand out to her. Ashlynn felt her face grow hotter as she carefully placed her hand in Alaric’s. they walked down the hall of the castle and walked up a clear spiral staircase. Ashlynn felt her palms grow sweaty, which only made her more anxious. Alaric opened a small wooden door and led Ashlynn into a large room. There was a double bed in the middle pushed against the wall, with fancy wooden tables either side. There was a door that led to a bathroom on the right, and a desk with a comfy chair next to it. On the left there was a walk-in closet, and a lamp in the corner next to an armchair. There was a cushion on it with a snowflake embroidered on it. Ashlynn stepped into the room and looked in awe. Behind the door she saw a table with a sewing machine on it, that had a half done light blue hoodie under the needle. In front of the bed was a red and blue spiralled rug. Ashlynn dropped her bags by the bed and stared in awe. “Wow…” she breathed, poking her head into the bathroom. It was almost as big as the room itself, with a big shower in the corner and a bath next to it. The bath was probably big enough to fit 3 people, and there were a variety of bath bombs, salts, and gels on a shelf above it. The sink was a double sink, with two mirrors above them, and there was a small shelf full of towels next to it. Alaric stood next to her and started talking about the bathroom, but Ashlynn’s mind was elsewhere. She couldn’t stop staring at the snake earring. Without realising it, Ashlynn reached out and brushed her fingers against it. This made Alaric freeze. Ashlynn quickly pulled away, her face turning red as she mumbled an apology and looked at the floor. Alaric placed his own fingers on his earring. “You… really like the earring, don’t you?” he whispered. “y-yeah, it’s just… my parents never let me get something like that…” Ashlynn sighed quietly. Alaric paused for a moment, processing what he just heard before he smiled. “Do you want to go get a matching one?”

Ashlynn’s face went even redder after that. “w-what?? A matching piercing??” I-I mean… uh… I- “she was interrupted by Alaric laughing again. “Just say yes or no, Ashlynn” he giggled. Ashlynn thought for a moment before stuttering out a “yes”

CHAPTER II

“When you said I could get a piercing like yours I thought you meant tomorrow! O-or the day after tomorrow!” Ashlynn squeaked while Alaric guided her through the streets of Noblefrost. Ashlynn was glad she had taken her crown off, as she already stood out enough as it was. She let go of Alaric’s hand for a moment to pull up the hood of her hoodie in an attempt to hide herself from the people. “Ashlynn? Are you alright?” Alaric asked, sounding genuinely concerned. “Yeah, I just feel… really out of place here” Ashlynn replied, trying to tuck her hair into the hood. “Ah…” Alaric replied, unsure of what to say to comfort her. Instead, he just slipped his hand back into hers and smiled. Ashlynn felt surprisingly safe with him around, confident that he didn’t want to hurt her, and no one would hurt the prince’s fiancé with the prince around, right? Sadly not. After just a few seconds of walking someone threw a rock at Ashlynn, which hit her cheek. After a small cry of pain, she grabbed her cheek, and she felt the blood drip down her face. Someone yelled “go back to Inferno freak!” but Alaric ignored all their nasty comments about his Fiancé. “Ashlynn! I’m so sorry, are you ok?” he cried. He’d gone through so much effort to show Ashlynn she was welcome just to have it all be ruined by some random person on the street. “I’m fine!” she squeaked, pulling her hand away from her face. She looked at the large patch of blood on her palm. “oh” she whispered, realising the cut was a bit worse than she thought. Alaric looked horrified, finally turning to the person that threw the rock. His look alone was enough to scare the guy away, his soft and sweet face that had originally made Ashlynn feel so safe was now displaying so much anger that he almost looked like a different person. He called over a few officers to chase after the guy and brought Ashlynn to Sarah.

“Oh my goodness! Al, what happened to Ashlynn??” Sarah cried, as Alaric guided Ashlynn over to Sarah’s house. She was out in the garden tending to her plants, so she saw them coming, and instantly rushed to her garden wall when she saw the cut on Ashlynn’s face. She had swapped the suit for a light floral summer dress, and her hair was braided. “Some guy threw a rock at her” Alaric replied through gritted teeth. “Ah… someone did that to me when I first Arrived here too” Sarah sighed. She bent down to pick a Calendula flower and held it in her palm. Ashlynn watched as it slowly turned into orange and green floating particles, and Sarah pressed them against the cut. After a few seconds the cut disappeared. “Whoa… I’ve never seen anyone use magic that’s not pyro magic…” she breathed, feeling her now healed cheek. Sarah laughed, and said “yeah, I’ve heard inferno is pretty cut off from the other nations. That’s why I was so surprised when Alaric told me about the Marriage” Ashlynn and Alaric both glanced at the floor and shifted uncomfortably. “Oh sorry!” Sarah gasped “I didn’t mean to remind you two…” Sarah was visibly upset, worried that she had hurt them. “it’s alright Sarah… we can’t avoid that reality forever” Alaric sighed. “Maybe we should head back to the Palace. We can try again for the piercing tomorrow” Alaric said, turning to face Ashlynn. “Piercing?” Sarah asked “I can do piercings” Alaric stared at Sarah for a moment, then looked at Ashlynn. “Ashlynn...? do you want it done by Sarah now or do you want to wait until tomorrow?” Ashlynn replied with a bit of an overenthusiastic “today!” before covering her mouth, embarrassed. Alaric laughed, back to his usual self again, and they all entered Sarah’s house.

“Ashlynn, I can’t give you a piercing if you keep shaking like this” Sarah sighed. They’d been trying for half an hour, but Ashlynn was too nervous. “I’m sorry! I-I did say I’ve never gotten anything like this before…” she cried. “it’s really not that bad, I promise” Alaric said, trying to calm her down. “Look, Ashlynn, I’ll make a potion that’ll numb all the pain if you come back tomorrow for this, ok?” Sarah sighed. Alaric nodded in agreement. “let’s go home Ashlynn” Alaric said, holding Ashlynn’s hand. Ashlynn frowned, and pulled her hand away, surprising Alaric with her sudden coldness. “I’d LOVE to go home Alaric, but sadly I’m trapped here” she hissed. She surprised herself with the mean comment, especially since Alaric had tried so hard to make her feel welcome. Ashlynn was holding back tears, thinking back to her home, and her family.

The walk back to the palace was silent, neither Ashlynn nor Alaric saying a word. They walked into their room, and Alaric locked himself in the bathroom. Ashlynn took this chance to unpack a bit. Alaric had saved space in the right side of the closet for her, so she neatly divided her clothes up, putter her practical clothes on the left and her pretty and formal ones on the right. She divided her shoes up the same way. She left her make up on the desk, to remind her to put it in the bathroom when Alaric came out. She neatly placed her gel pens and paper on the desk and went back to her bag when she saw something in the suitcase that she hadn’t packed. Ashlynn delicately reached her hand into the bag and pulled put something pink and fluffy. It was her favourite stuffed animal, a pink dragon she creatively named ‘Mr. Dragon’. She couldn’t hold back her tears any longer. Melody must have slipped him into her bag while she wasn’t looking. Alaric Exited the bathroom to find his fiancé sitting on the floor holding a stuffed dragon and crying. “Ashlynn...? are you ok…?” he asked nervously, a little worried she might snap at him again. Instead, she started babbling out an apology, all while burying her face into the matted fur of the dragon. “Whoa whoa Ashlynn it’s ok!” Alaric said, sitting next to her and wiping away a tear. “I get it, this is a lot harder for you than it is for me. I’m not upset” he smiled. “Come on, you’ve had a long day. Go get changed and get some sleep”. Ashlynn nodded and grabbed a pair of neatly folded pyjamas from the closet, before disappearing into the bathroom. Alaric sat on the bed for a moment when it dawned on him that Ashlynn might not be comfortable sleeping in the same bed as him. He grabbed his pillow and laid down on the rug in front of the bed. He had no cover, but that was ok. The room was plenty warm enough, and he was used to the cold anyway. He was sound asleep before Ashlynn even exited the bathroom. When she did, she paused for a moment staring at Alaric on the floor. “Alaric…?” she whispered, but when Alaric didn’t respond she assumed he was asleep. She knew why he was on the floor. It made her smile, and she whispered a ‘thank you’ even though she knew he couldn’t hear her. She laid down in the bed with Mr. dragon, glad that melody had packed him for her and slowly went to sleep.