“We should report to the king,” Christopher said.

  “Yeah,” I said as I followed him. I felt a bit in a daze. Everything was replaying in my mind. Christopher didn’t know about the chief’s parents. I put innocent people in danger. Why did I do that?

  I bumped into him. I didn’t notice he stopped. “You okay?” he asked.

  I heard his words, but for some reason, they didn’t click. It was almost like they were floating in water and not reaching me. Instead, words came out of my mouth. “Am I a bad person?”

  “Huh? Why do you ask that all of a sudden?” he asked.

  “I put innocent his parents in danger because I was mad about my own parents being in danger,” I said.

  “Okay, the king can wait. Come with me, we need to talk,” he said.

  “I thought we had to obey the king?” I asked as I followed him.

  “We do, and we will, but you clearly need a moment,” he said.

  Once inside his room, he set me down on something odd. It wasn’t a chair, but it wasn’t a bed. It was like both, just enough room for me. It was soft and comfortable. He took a flower from a vase and set it on my chest. Lavender… it smelled nice. He also fetched a cloth and dipped it in cold water, and put it on my head. That felt nice.

  It felt odd. I closed my eyes. It was like I was falling, tumbling downward, and spinning. It made me dizzy, but there was almost this desire to get lost in this feeling. Like nothing else existed for a moment, I don’t know how long I lay like this, falling like this, but eventually it stopped, and I could hear scratching. Opening my eyes, I saw him sitting at a desk.

  “Feeling better?” he asked.

  “Yeah,” I said.

  “I was thinking while you slept. And I realized something. You really know nothing of the world, do you?”

  I closed my eyes. I didn’t want to think about that. “I don’t know how to answer that.”

  “Do you know the shape of the world?” He asked.

  “I presume whatever shape the gods picked, I can’t say more than that?” I asked. It was a stupid question, like wondering why the wind blew, or why the sky changed colors.

  He chuckled a bit. “In Hatula, when one says sorry, do they just say sorry? Can one do something special to mean they are very sorry?”

  “Yeah,” I said. A question like that made me ponder for a moment. “I guess, when Mom was really upset, he would pick flowers. When Dad got super mad, Mom would make his favorite food. Like that?”

  He walked over to me. I sat up, and he got down on both knees. “In noble society, to get down on both knees is how we say we are very sorry.” He then leaned forward, placing his hands and head on the floor.

  I didn’t know what to say. I thought it was kind of gross, I mean, it's the floor, but I didn’t say anything until he stood back up. “So, why are you sorry?” I had an inkling it was going to be something dumb and not at all what I felt bad about.

  He sat in a chair and looked at me. “I said this with the chief, but Hatula is my responsibility. A chief may work for a noble, but he is not a noble. And as I told you. It is a noble’s responsibility to protect people. Ultimately, the fact that your parents and even yourself don’t know about such things is my fault. I doubt you want to accept my apology, and that is fine. I simply wanted to demonstrate my thoughts on the matter.”

  Huh. I didn’t expect that. It was precisely the reason I was upset—or at least one of them. I almost felt sad thinking about it. The Hatula I loved. “Are you saying my home is bad? And that you're going to change it?”

  “Bad may not be the right word, but it is going to change.”

  Tears started hitting my lap. “I love Hatula. I don’t want it to change.”

  He moved to the thing I was sitting on and placed a hand on my shoulder. “I know. Sadly, things never stay the same. We grow up, then we grow old.”

  “The king said he would protect Hatula for me because I am the Maiden of Wind. Will he protect my version of it?” I asked. I clenched my skirt.

  He shook his head. “No. I do not believe he will. The moment you became the Maiden of Wind. Hatula was destined to change. Either becoming a new holy land or becoming a graveyard. There was never any way for it to remain the same.”

  I squeezed my skirt even tighter until my palms hurt. “Why me. Why did the stupid god of wind pick-”

  “Please!” he shouted. “Don’t take the Gods’ name in vain like that!” He grabbed my head and pulled me close. “If the priest didn’t tell you, nightmares have been told to come from such behavior. Do not make your situation worse.”

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  I cried as I leaned into his shoulder. “It’s not fair.”

  “I am aware. But Julia, life never becomes fair. That is what it means to be alive. Sometimes we may be lucky, and in those brief moments, we can bask in it, but at the end of the day, night falls, and we must fight to survive. Life not being fair is not a reason to stop. Keep marching forward. You can capture a good life for yourself. For the ones you love.”

  Tears just flowed faster. Why! I didn’t understand any of this! “I don’t understand! Why does it feel like one moment you are helping me, and the next you're someone who will kill my family?”

  He softly rubbed my head. “Because I am both those things. Of the thing I apologize for. It won’t be that.”

  A tapping noise came at the door. “Dear? Is everything okay?”

  “Yes, everything is fine,” he said.

  No voice returned, but now that I was listening, I heard a clacking getting quieter.

  “Who was that?”

  “Elise, my wife,” he said, moving his jacket aside and pulling out a silver disk with a button at the top.

  “Is that your marriage gift?” I asked.

  He nodded. He pressed the top, and the front popped open, revealing a needle pointing to the upper right. The top of the disc was yellow, but the bottom was a bluish purple.

  “A gift from the goddess of time. The needle moves with magic, and it follows the path of a day,” he said, pointing to the line where the purple and yellow met. “This is nightfall.”

  “Goddess of Time?” I asked. I only knew of nine gods, and time wasn’t one of them.

  He smirked a bit. “Most priests focus on the favorable nine. The Nine Gods that love humanity. But there are, in reality, many more than just nine gods. The others don’t pick maidens. They don’t interfere in our lives nearly as much. But every once in a while, they do. Something that keeps time was a clear sign that she ordained my wedding.”

  I looked at the ring I was given. It made me shudder. I wished I could take it off.

  “I think we agree in the sense of our god given gifts,” he said.

  “Huh? You're saying you don’t like yours?” I asked.

  He took a deep breath. “More than wanting to give you an education in nobles, I need to help you with that. So, if nothing else, what I am about to tell you is a bad example. Nobles hold secrets. Secrets we should take to our grave.”

  I clutched my chest, thinking about how I lied to my parents. It wasn’t hard to imagine he had many secrets of his own in the same manner. “Then why tell me?”

  “Consider it, part of my previous apology. It is my fault you are not somewhat better prepared. Though I wish you wouldn't share what I say, I can probably manage. But more than my previous apology. You are the Wind Maiden. Do you understand what that means?”

  Just that term made me recoil. “That I have to save the world?”

  He scoffed. “Yes, but that isn’t what I am referring to. The God of Wind. He looked at every living woman in this world. Every single one,” he got up and picked up a ball attached to a hook. “The shape of the world is a sphere. And look at it. Anlage is right here,” he said, pointing to a tiny little piece about the size of a circle I could make with my index finger and thumb. “And in the entire sphere of life! More people than you can count. He picked you to represent him. No one else was better.”

  I felt so embarrassed when he said something like that. It was ridiculous! I’m just a village girl! How could a god of anything look at me and think like that? He had to be wrong! It had to be some other reason I was picked! A cruel joke! Something.

  He sat back down. “A Maiden is the best of us. If there is anyone I can share this with. It is you.”

  He paused, looking at his time-telling marriage gift. Even I could tell he was nervous. But eventually he closed it and looked at me. “Twelve years ago. I killed my father.”

  I gasped. “What? Why?”

  “He was planning to disobey the king. My father, Markis Lee Malatise. He was an amazing father. I did love him as one loves such a person. He was a powerful wizard. I know you won’t understand what that means, but for this story, he was an amazing person. And as the Gods warn. Pride is like warm coals. They can save your life, and they can burn you. He thought he deserved more. So, the king sent an agent. He informed me of what was going on. Because he knew what my father was planning, he gave me a choice. Poison my father, or die with him.”

  “That’s terrible!” I said. I couldn’t imagine being forced with such a choice. I was struggling enough with my current situation.

  “I was given one day to decide, and I killed him. If you ask me if I regret it. I regret that he failed in the end. But I don’t regret what I did. I was due to be married that summer, to Elise. We have three children. And not just that, but since it isn’t obvious to you, had my father been executed? This whole area would have suffered. A new noble would be needed. Hatula would have suffered as well.”

  I gripped my heart thinking about it. But I also realized I didn’t know what he meant. And if this story was to mean something. I needed to know. “What would have happened to Hatula?”

  “I’m a Baron, the lowest rank. Odds are the king would have sent a higher-ranking noble whom he was testing. That would have been a man in a bad mood. He would have killed the chief in a heartbeat. A new chief, new rules. Likely higher taxes. Fewer resources. Meaning less food and more work.”

  My paradise. My Hatula. He was saying.

  “The Hatula village, you know, was allowed to exist because I murdered my father. It was one of the reasons I didn’t fix things. I was not in the best state twelve years ago. A small village that was getting along just fine was not my concern. So both my success and my failure shaped Hatula.”

  “Why are you telling me this?” I asked.

  “Because the Gods understand us,” he said. “They gave me a time keeper with one day on it. A reminder of the one day I was given to decide my fate. A reminder of the beauty of this world. How precious the time we get is. You have said you are just a village girl. But I don’t believe that. The gods, perhaps they don’t play fair, but they also don’t make mistakes. You have the potential to save this world. That includes Elise and my children. That includes Hatula. And so much more.”

  “But I can’t!” I shouted! “I am not that girl!” What about me is some legendary maiden! Why did they think that? The gods? It wasn’t fair!

  “But you are!” He shouted. “You need help. I understand that. I can help you. This kingdom can help you. This is your first lesson, Julia, Maiden of Wind. There are two kinds of people in this world,” he opened his hand holding his timekeeper. “Those who do what they must. And those that fail.”

  I clumbled to the floor. “I… I don’t want to fail,” I said, and he just smiled.