Princess Academy by Hale Shannon

Author:Hale, Shannon [Hale, Shannon]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2010-05-02T14:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

Look no further than your hand

Make a choice and take a stand

In a mountain summer, the world savoured each day. Dawn came early, inviting waking up slowly and stretching and looking forward to everything. Olana noticed the class’s attention straying to the window, so she held more and more class time outdoors. The girls spent weeks learning the dances for the ball, twirling, skipping and sliding under the sun. The hard blue of the sky appeared to arch above their heads a mere arm’s length away. Sometimes Miri reached and jumped and fancied she nearly brushed its smooth, curved shell.

Miri had never felt like this, light enough to float into the clouds. Even Katar’s jabs and Bena’s and Liana’s turned backs did not hurt so much – Doter’s story draped around her. What she had long believed was not true, and now the world was wide open to discover what was.

One evening after chores, Miri sat with Britta, Esa and Frid on her pallet in the corner of the bedchamber and confided in them the story of her mother.

‘So, did you … do you think I’m a burden on the village?’ Miri spoke low enough that her voice would not carry. She did not want to give Katar anything else to taunt her about. ‘That I’m too weak to work in the quarry?’

Frid frowned. ‘No one on Mount Eskel is too weak to work in the quarry. I heard my ma say once that your pa kept you home for his own reasons. I guess I never thought about it again.’

Miri rubbed her arms and laughed. ‘It’s wonderful, it’s just so hard to believe. It’s like all my life I thought the sky was green.’

Esa lay on her stomach, one arm propping up her chin. ‘The way you act, always laughing out loud, saying what you think, I never would’ve guessed you worried what anyone thought.’

Britta had a shrewd smile. ‘I keep thinking about a tale my nurse used to read to me about a bird whose wings are pinned to the ground. Have you heard it? In the end, when he finally frees himself, he flies so high he becomes a star. My nurse said the story was about how we all have something that keeps us down. So here’s what I’m wondering – if Miri’s wings are free, what will she do now?’

Esa grinned. ‘Fly away, Miri bird, fly away!’

Miri flapped her arms and cawed.

‘What are you doing?’ said Bena, annoyed.

The girls laughed.

Where should I fly? Miri asked herself all summer as she travelled between the academy and home.

Olana did not like it, but she lived by the agreement and allowed the girls a week off with each trader visit. Word of a village with gold coins to spend must have reached many ears, and traders new to the mountain arrived with speciality goods like strong-soled shoes, dyed cloth, chairs that rocked, ceramic cups, metal pails, painted ribbons and steel needles. The village’s food stores built up, so no one had to wait with empty barrels for the next trader visit.

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