~
On Monday, my first class of the day was indeed Magical History. We filed in, yawning widely and many of the students were carrying thermoses; autumn was rolling in and the air was notably colder.
“This morning’s lesson will be dealing with the relationship between Lotheria and the other countries of the world,” Jett began. “Now, trading between Surac and Lotheria of late has been strained...”
Jett’s voice droned off as my eyelids began to droop. Dena nudged me and I straightened up, blinking blearily. Jett was writing something on the board and as I squinted to see what it was, I realised that he’d written the words ‘Monarch’ and ‘Fleur’.
A few blinks later revealed that he’d been teaching us about the previous Kings and Queens. I scrabbled around to copy down what was on the board.
“So, in three thousand years of magical civilization, there have only been two kings and queens, with no biological link between them whatsoever. There are no records of the first king and queen, but it has only been one thousand years since the last monarchs.”
“Only one thousand,” Theresa muttered on my right.
“King Morgan and Queen Fleur were the last rulers of Lotheria, called to duty by the war that was raging. However, this was not a typical kind of war,” all of the students were paying attention now. “Lotheria was at war with itself. No other countries were involved. Actually, two other countries tried to lend help. Surac,” he tapped a large, round continent on the map. “And the Tsalski Islands,” now the pointer indicated three large islands off the west coast of Lotheria. I dimly remembered Rain mentioning that she was from there. “Queen Fleur turned all help away however; she feared that the involvement of other countries would lead to the divide of Lotheria. She also suspected that both countries had a hidden agenda.”
I raised my hand and Jett nodded at me.
“You mean, she thought they might try to take Lotheria for themselves?” I asked.
“Correct. Lotheria is a very resource rich continent; it would be a prize for either country.”
Dena raised her hand.
“Dena?”
“Who were the King and Queen fighting?” she asked, and we all turned to Jett for the answer.
He sighed heavily.
“The King and Queen were on either side of the war. They were fighting each other.”
The bell rang, signalling the end of lesson. Everyone stood up to leave, but Jett had one more piece of information.
“It is also a little known fact,” he said, almost to himself. “That Morgan and Fleur were soul mates.”
My eyes widened, and I couldn’t resist raising my hand despite everyone leaving.
“Why would soul mates be fighting each other?” I asked loudly but Jett didn’t reply and I knew we’d been dismissed.