//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2 
// Story: Legacy of Verjaniva 
// by Musketeer 
//------------------------------//

Octavia heard the trunk slam shut behind her, and the two taps on the chassis of the car. As the engine stuttered to start, she realized that this would mark the start of her endless trip.
She closed her eyes, and thought about the destination. ‘“Stellansk”, the coldest and second largest city of Verjaniva. 'No,' she thought. 'I shouldn’t be thinking of it yet. I should enjoy the refreshing landscape that is still here now.' She looked behind her, through the dirty window. The mountains and palace became smaller and smaller as they waved the convoy of cars goodbye. She kept looking until they weren’t visible anymore.
She turned around and sank  back into her seat, submerging herself in her sea of thoughts. ‘This will be a long ride.’ she sighed as she began to doze off.

A bump in the road woke her up violently. Octavia lifted one of her heavy eyelid to take a peek outside. There, behind the glass window a white, cold landscape laid. In 4 days, the tundra had changed from unorderly patches of green here to there, to a fully white landscape. Her sleepiness was wiped by the shock of the cold air around her as she sat upright , and stretched her legs and arms as far as she could in the cramped car. She looked past the driver's seat through the large front window. Infront of her stood tall, gray buildings covered by the sooty snow loomed over the horizon surrounded by a layer of choking smog that refused to blow away no matter the wind.

The convoy drove past the large city, towards a little hill just outside of it. On top of the hill stood a small gray castle, waiting for its guests to arrive.

The large dark brown wooden gates of the castle slowly opened to welcome the royal convoy. They came to a rest right in front of the much smaller door of the palace itself. Immediately those doors swung openen, for a bunch of butlers to walk outside towards the convoy.
Octavia stepped out of the car. ‘Finally I can stretch my legs properly again.’ she whispered to herself. 
Her mother followed afterwards. ‘Follow me.’ she said to Octavia. ‘I’ll show you your room since I doubt you are familiar with this palace.’

After a long walk through the hallways of the new palace, they finally arrived. Her mom grabbed a key, and opened the dusty door in front of them. The door revealed a room, which almost looked like a small house. It had a kitchen, food storage, bedroom, bathroom and many more accommodations you would see in a regular house.

 ‘Alright listen to me.’ her mom turned towards her, and looked her into her eyes. ‘As I have already told you, I have some stuff I have to do with the Jade family. This room is yours, you will be able to do anything here. You have books, a kitchen and much more so amuse yourself. And now, if you will excuse me I am going to give the personnel orders to sort this place out.’ 
Her mom closed the door, and locked it. Octavia heard her footsteps slowly fading away in the distance.
Octavia’s eyes wandered around her new room. Her large suitcases were already waiting for her, and so were her smaller bags. ‘This is it then.’ she said to herself. She walked around, and noticed that her room was on the ground, and not in a tower. ‘Of course its on the ground stupid.’ she mumbled‘ If it was in a tower it wouldn’t be this spacious.

She turned her head towards the kitchen and walked through it. ‘This room really does have everything a person needs, it's like my mom wants me to stay here till I die.’ she thought sarcastically. She opened the storage room. Large sacks of potatoes, meat and other rare food products were kept fresh like they were stocked only a few minutes ago. Upon seeing this, the reality that nothing has changed began to set in.
She never figured why her mother never let her out, she never thought that it was a just reason though. Was it necessary for her to keep her in a cage like this?
Her mom always told her a princess should not be under the public eye till her coronation. But ever since she was little, she thought otherwise. ‘I am 24 now, not an immature kid. Mom probably has a reason to hide me.’ she said to herself. ‘But what for?’ She contemplated to herself for the thousandth time.

The lock on the door made a sound, and the dusty door opened with a creek. Her mother walked in. ‘I see you’ve already settled down.’ she said while looking down at Octavia’s empty suitcases. ‘Good.’ Her mother took a seat in one of the many chairs. ‘Alright, I came here to tell you the plans for the foreseeable future.’ she explained. ‘Tomorrow I’ll be at the castle of the Jade family on the other side of Stellansk, as you should know. I’ll be there for a week. After that is done, I will have other business to attend to elsewhere. In total, I will be gone for around a month.

Meanwhile, you stay here and be a good girl. As you might have seen, you have enough food for a year, and since you can cook I doubt the fact you will starve.’ she laughed at her own joke. ‘When I return, we will have another talk with each other.’ She stood up. ‘I will see you in a week then.’ she said while closing the door behind her and locking it.

Octavia made her way towards her bed. All of this was expectable, and yet, she wasn't prepared for it. She fell limp on her bed and laid there for a couple of minutes. Ideas and plans shooting through her head. ‘You know what?’ Octavia sat right up, and looked at her window. ‘When my mother is gone, I am going to risk it.’

She had a plan.