Once, during a time that is wraught with strife and war-- as these things usually are--, a princess was born to the kingdom of Veshrane. She was good and sweet, everything that is expected from a child born into her position, even if she wasn't loved by all. After all, Veshrane was a large and prosperous kingdom and it is hard for the peasantry to love that which they do not see. They loved the idea of the little princess, a daughter of their good-hearted King and beautiful Queen, who would marry a man just as good and continue the Golden Era that the country had been graced with.

But such prosperity only lasts for an eternity in fairy tales and legends of old, and although her life was happier then most, the young princess was most decidedly not a heroine of ease and predictability. The princess was quite young, no more then seven when she lost her mother to greed and death. The unfortunate daughter happen to stumble into the Queen’s private chambers one cold, winter day looking for a mother’s warmth and finding a cold lump of flesh, blood, and broken bone.

Princess Javeska didn’t quite understand it. What was that strange thing that was making the cream-colored carpet red and why was it wearing her mother’s clothes? Why did the Inner Guard pull her away from it when she screamed because it smelt bad and wrong? Why did her father hold her close and cry saying that everything was going to be all right and that God had taken her mother to a better place? Why did he only cry harder when she asked if God would be letting her mother back anytime soon, because Mother had promised that they would go for a ride tomorrow and Mother never lied. If she didn’t take her new pony out it might get sick.

Queen Megumi’s death was a tragic blow to the kingdom. The daughter of the bluest noble blood from the East, it had been her marriage that had secured favorable trade with the silks and spices that were in high demand on the continent. After her death, Veshranean merchants once again had to compete with foreign merchants for the best goods. The King’s Counsul was unsuccessful in getting King Leonard to rise out of his grief enough to handle the affairs of State and for several months it was left in the hands of the Court.

For the first years after her mother’s death, the princess was fine, living her life as normal. She continued to go on adventures with Kei, a young squire from her mother’s homeland who served under the Captain of the Royal Guard and Venya, a girl of unknown origin with an affinity for magicks. It was the help of these two children and the Royal Healer that Princess Javeska was spared her grief, until her sixteenth birthday. It was on that day, a day that is of such importance to all young girls, be they of noble or common blood, that her mother was never coming back. Her mother would not be able to guide and prepare her for all the things that a young princess must be ready for.

Venya was the only one that she could turn to while she suffered through the whispered cruelities of the daughters of the Court or at the strange way the boys would treat her.

Javeska quickly learned that it was best to go to Venya with the problems that involved the court only if Aya was unavailable for consul.

For most of her young life, the copper-haired princess spent her time among Venya and Kei until Life forced them to part ways for a while. As the princess approached the proper marriable age of eighteen years, her dark-haired friend disappeared to the country side to train and learn the teachings of her heritage. Her heritage was something that was only whispered in the darkest corners of the kingdom, and Javeska knew that her mother had saved the girl from a horrible fate when she had taken in the foundling. It scared her, during those two years that her friend trained. There were no letters to reassure her of Venya’s safety.

Kei, the squire from the East, disappeared from her side as well. He was knighted and given a position of honor in assistance to the Inner Guard that protected the royal family. He trained with the hope of joining their ranks one day, and no longer had the time to spend with a foolish princess and the intrigue of the court.

For two long years the princess was alone, with only her father and Aya for companionship. She didn’t care much for the younger ladies of the court, and did not anitcipate the day she was crowned and they became a part of her life with much entuasism. To spare herself from boredom, and the dark thoughts that plagued her when she thought of Venya, she devoted herself to her studies: the sunlight hours spent devoting herself to etiquette and embroidery; the twilight hours spent with Aya, absorbing everything she could about the Healer’s trade.

The years passed slowly for the blossoming princess, but pass they did and she soon found the two people she treasured most back in her life. Kei had done surprisingly well for a squire with no pedigree to speak of. He advanced swiftly through the ranks of the Inner Guard, and when the aging captain retired, the almond-eyed Easterner took his place.

As for Venya…almost no one at Court recognized the mysterious woman who returned to the palace. Dark hair, once as black as the night sky and cropped as short as any boy’s, were replaced with long, luxurious locks that were streaked with crimson. Emerald eyes had lightened into an unearthly silver, and she moved with the most unnatural grace. Gone where the soft dresses made for palace life. These were replaced with tight fitting trousers and tunics, which did much to empathize how much she had grown over the years. A long, golden, sleeveless coat that fell past her knees made of nearly transparent silk did little to hide the wicked looking mithrodin that were strapped to her hip. Dark leather curved around her breast and stomach to keep a dragon-hilted broadsword strapped to her back. The young lords hated the way she flaunted her weapons so brazenly, and she was challenged many times to prove that she had earned the right to carry them. The combination of destructive magicks and deadly swordplay soon earned her the title of Sword Witch, a being to watch with caution.

She became Princess Javeska’s personally bodyguard, her guardian. Whatever training she had undergone had changed her. It was only the privacy of Javeska’s rooms of private gardens that Venya allowed her self to act like a girl, happy and carefree. To the eyes of everyone but the royal family and their healer, she was a woman of ice. Even Kei could no longer feel comfort in her presence.

It seemed that the Golden Era of the kingdom of Veshrane was coming to a close. The Council of Lords became more insistent in their demands that the king find a suitable husband for his daughter. The king, kind-hearted as he was, could not bring himself to force his only heir to marry a man that she could not love. He wanted her to be as happy as his Megumi had been when they wed, and each month he continued to delay the Council, finding one feeble excuse or another to delay a wedding. It was only when he proposed that Veshrane participate in the Summit that took place every five years on the island country of Flerush that the Council seceded their demands. They would accept the request of their neighbors that the crown princess join the sons and daughters of rulers throughout the world in hopes that alliances and courtships would arise. With luck the Summit would allow Veshrane to form a powerful alliance with a country from across the sea.

The poor king never got to see what type of man his daughter would have chosen at the Summit. A dark and sinister power had gripped members of the Council and those that served in the palace. It was on this day, the forth night of the last month of the season of fire, the King Leonard IV had has life stolen from him, and it was on the fifth day that his daughter walked into to find the what remains his assassins had left. Like that day so many years ago, the kingdom mourned and the crown princess lapsed into a feverish fit as the Council made arrangement for all of the elgible men in the kingdom to come and duel for the Princess Javeska’s hand.

Some say that it was Fate that urged Lord Venkal to look at kingdoms across the sea and beyond theorders and to send out immediate invitations to the unwed kings, dukes, and men of acceptable status and offer them a chance at a lasting alliance with one of the most powerful countries on the Northern continent.