To Be Or Not To Be

[mistic395]

-Amalita

-wolf form

The duty of a prince was to lead his kingdom upon his coronation, and to marry for alliances to other kingdoms. The duty of a princess was also to marry to a prince of another kingdom to build alliances. The duties of nobility were to marry up for money and status, not down. Then there were the guard and the common folk who were, for the most part, free to marry who they chose within their class, with the occasional marriage up for status. However, it was not okay for common folk to guards to marry as high as prince or princess, and it was strongly frowned upon to marry for love as it was always the duty to marry for gain of some sort, whether it be title or alliance.

Amalita Snow knew the rules for marriage. She also knew that she was already outside some of the rules, being the personal body guard to the prince, being an elf, and being female. She had special privileges compared to other guards, being a personal guard to the prince, but it was still expected that she did not marry above her status. This did not stop her from dreaming, however. Her dreams had always been to see the world, not as a soldier or a guard, but as someone who could freely see the world with limited restrictions, as she saw the nobility seemed to be. She knew the life of nobility was not easy, but to her the benefits outweighed the dangers and drawbacks of being noble or royalty. Amalita was born an oddity, even among her own kind. She was of the snow elf race, but even among the snow elves she was an oddity. She was a white wolf. Where most snow elves could change forms to animals of the forests, she was the only one among her people that could take on the form of a white wolf, the rare among the wolves. However, upon being given over to the royal family as a guard for their only son, a binding was placed on Amalita. In her wolf form it was a chain wrapped around her front right leg. In her human form, or as she put it, her two legged form, it was a chain tattoo that went up her right arm starting at the wrist and moving up to finish at her shoulder. It was easily seen from her armor as she never covered it, knowing it was what bound her to the family as well as kept her from attacking any of the royal family in her wolf form.

It was an early Saturday morning in the kingdom of Hallshire. Amalita was up before the prince or any others would be, always taking that time to herself. After going through her drills and cleaning up, she returned to her room where she indulged herself in reading the romantic books that led to her dreaming about one day finding someone to call a husband. As the house started to stir, however, her mindset changes as she donned her guard outfit, which was a dark navy blue, complimenting her features and her silver eyes, and strapped her two swords on in an X across her back. She pulled her hair back into a braid and quickly slipped her shoes on before looking in the mirror. Amalita did not wear the standard metal armor of the soldiers. She wore leather with the house crest on the back.

As she finished readying herself, she quickly moved to the prince's room to await his exit for the day, always the silent guardian. Though she would freely chat with the servants and other guards, she rarely spoke to the prince or any others, knowing that she always walked on thing ground because of her gender and race. The bindings allowed her to shift forms but only for short periods. As she finished getting ready she shifted forms quickly and used the extra speed to reach the prince's room. A chain clinked together that were wrapped around her front right leg. She shifted forms back to her elf form right as the prince came out. She stood fully and bowed in respect to the crown prince. She rarely spoke, and when she did it was usually only in addressing the prince or his family when necessary, or when spoken directly to. "Your royal highness. Your mother and father are waiting in the dinning hall for you." She stated easily, her voice silky and light like that of freshly fallen snow. Amalita knew her place among the royal family, though she in truth, desired more. With an inward sigh she moved to silently follow after the prince, waiting for the rest of the day to continue.