Rejoice a Princess is Born
Every Wednesday, the weekly market in Arneravine had merchants in the market street displaying their wares in front of their shops. Non-resident merchants had their market stalls lined up along the fence of the gorge. To enter the city, anyone who carries goods must pay a fee. The residents of Arneland don't pay taxes, but they can only offer their wares in Arneravine and the two other market places in Arneland.
It is ten o'clock in the morning and the busy activity was interrupted by the church bells announcing that today was not a normal Wednesday, but a special one. The good news spread through the village and market square with the church bells, and in the coming days it would reach the entire land. Queen Thiara of Arneravine had given birth to a healthy child, Princess Fionrah of Arneravine.
Fionrah's early years were not particularly eventful. She inherited her father's intelligence and curiosity, who was always fascinated by technical sophistication. From her mother, she got the blue eyes, blonde hair, courage, determination, and today we would say athletic stature, which her nurse now believed she could recognize to some extent, as she was now seven years old.
These were the typical attributes of the Nordsgarth family, which exerted its influence through sea travel from the northern coast of the Atlassea, up the Ringowyn to Chatelanovia. Her nurse and the other maids always lovingly cared for Fionrah and the other children on the castle, but she had no siblings. However, there was Johlanda Axeholm who was the same age as her and she liked her very much. Johlanda the granddaughter of the carpenter who invented the water supply of Arneravine. Because of this invention, the Axeholm's became the king's advisor for technical affairs and also enjoyed the privileges of visiting the castle and providing there children with noble education.
Johlanda and Fionrah had to stick together if they wanted to stand up to the older children. The older children at the castle went to school or were taught by the chief maid in reading, writing, and arithmetic. Now that Princess Fionrah was seven years old, she also had to be educated, but not by the chief maid. Fionrah received private lessons from Bartolomeus Zeus. At the request of Thiara, he came from the great library of the monastery in Bookwood to teach Princess Fionrah at the castle. Fionrah found it unfortunate that she couldn't go to school with the other children, especially Johlanda. But private lessons also had their advantages, because the chief maid and wife of the treasurer Hanna Goldshield had her two daughters in her lessons as well, who were quite arrogant and Hanna Goldshield was never shy about praising her daughters in the highest terms when she had the opportunity to do so.
The children only had school in the morning, and in the afternoon they did their homework under supervision. Hanna Goldschild allowed Johlanda to solve her homework together with Fionrah under the supervision of Bartolomeus Zeus. Fionrah finished her homework first and gave it to the honorable Mr. Zeus for correction. She then inquired Johlanda about how much she still had to solve. After Johlanda also completed her homework, they both went to Johlanda's mother together were they spend the rest of the day.
