I cried enough to not be able to cry anymore. All my tears were gone. And I was glad they were; I'm 16. 16 year old's shouldn't be crying, especially the princess. She needs to be stronger than anyone in a time of war. I hate this war. I won't be able to see my dad for... God knows how long, and even worse. He could die. No, he can't die. He just can't. He's the king... they just don't... die. But I have a record of jinxing myself.

The only way I can end this war is to be the actual queen. I could surrender to Fireblade and probably be able to persuade enough people for them to go along with it. But the only way I could be queen is to... marry. And that's usually by your parents finding you a suitor. At least for royalty. When I marry, I want it to be with someone I love, not someone that I just met and the king and queen think is good for me. And the person I marry must have the same opinion I do about wars. Basically, I'm not getting married anytime soon.

I don't know what to do. Do I just hope that my father will come out okay, or do I do something to end this war? I didn't have much time to think, because just then, there was a knock on the door. One of our servants, Molly, went to answer it.

"Hello?" I heard her ask. I told you, sound travels through this house.

"Hello, Molly. Is Amelia home?" I recognized the voice. Good, I needed a friend. I came out of my room.

"Amelia, Nathan's here to see you!" Molly called up the stairs.

"Yes, I know..." I said as I came down the steps. Nathan was tall and thin. Notice how I didn't use lanky, because he looks fine that way. He has black, shaggy hair that is somehow always out of his brown eyes, and a few freckles on his nose. He was a peasant, but he was also my best friend; the only one I've told the war thing about to. But I'm still not sure if he doesn't like fighting either. When I told him, he said he "understood" but he didn't say if he agreed or not.

Molly was skinny, too. But not tall, more of an average height. She had blonde hair always being kept in a ponytail and wearing the classic clothes you picture servants wearing. She was nice, and she makes good pay for working at the castle.

"Hi Nathan." I said when I reached the bottom.

"Hi Amelia," he said, "Want to go outside?" Whenever one of us says that, it means this little grassy area we sit and talk in. Right outside the castle. No one every goes there, and we like it that way.

"Sure," I replied. Then I turned to Molly. "Tell mom I went out, OK?"

"No problem, Amy." Then she went back down the hallway to finish whatever she was doing before Nathan knocked.

We went out to our little area and sat down. He knows I don't mind getting my dress dirty. I hate this one anyway.

"So," I said, "what's new in your life?"

"Nothing. What about you?"

I took a deep breath. "My father, the king... he's going to stay in the war until it ends."

"Yeah, we heard about that. He IS the king."

"Oh... yeah..." Sometimes I can be really stupid.

"We also heard something else... did you?"

"I guess not. I don't know what it is, so, what?"

"Apparently the generals want all members of royalty to help out with the war."