Misha the Beast Tamer.

The carriage was packed, I said my final good byes to a bawling Stefan and a quiet Father, and a brother who seemed happy to be rid of me.

I clutched my necklace and forced myself to turn away. I quickly wiped a few tears from my eyes. I straightened my back and entered the carriage where a relieved Bourdon waited for me. I shut the door. I waved goodbye and as we rattled along the rutted streets out of my kingdom and away from my home. When the castle and surrounding villages disappeared, I could no longer control my sadness and bawled.

Bourdon rested a calming hand upon my shoulder. I cried until there were no more tears to cry.

" It will get easier, Princess. Soon you'll be happily learning the art of beast taming."

I smiled weakly, and started to wonder if I had made the right decision after all. At least I won't be married off to a man four or five times my age and forced to birth his children. I knew my Father would've tried to find someone closer to my age to marry, but if a powerful man that was up to five times my age had the wealth, strength, and smarts to be of value to the Okeanos kingdom, he would not hesitate to marry me off. I shuddered at that thought.

" Thank you for saving me, Bourdon." I whispered.

Bourdon smiled gently,

"You're a beast tamer in training Misha. You're too valuable to be used as a pawn to strengthen alliances between kingdoms through marriage. You're meant for more and you're stronger than you know.

Women make very good beast tamers, strong women make the best. It's up to you to realise your own strength and ignore those who will put you down. Believe me, there will be many who will try."

I listened, and tried to make myself believe that I was strong. I have lived a privileged life, I've never been poor, I have endless clothes, I eat every day, I've constantly been protected from danger and I have three parents who love me.

In reality, the peasant, servant, and poor women were stronger than I was. They've had to be, to survive. I've never had to struggle to survive.

It had been raining constantly for two and a half weeks. I would be within the academy grounds in another two days. The trip would normally take fourteen days, but the wet weather, flooded roads, and muddy streets, slowed our progress. I was exhausted and smelly, my skin was covered in itchy tiny red lumps.

Bourdon tells me that one of the many dodgy inns we had the pleasure of staying in had bed bugs or body lice in their bedding, and that was why I was itchy.

He said that there was a special soap back at the academy that would kill the lice and stop my lumps from getting infected. I had never gone this long without a bath or washing my hair or ever had body lice. My face was grubby and I no longer looked like a Princess. I looked as though I'd spent my life on the streets. I scratched at my legs, and soon my head was itching too.

"Please tell me I don't have head lice too Bourdon?" I begged him

"Most probably Princess. But the soap kills head lice as well. You might have to cut your hair a bit though, to make sure that you have a better chance at killing them all. Plus long hair gets in the way and is too much effort for a beast tamer. Don't worry, you wont have to shave your head princess, just cut it shorter, much better for you."

Bourdon replied dismissively.

I scratched my head and legs again. It was unbearable, a tear escaped my eye. I couldn't wait until we got to the academy so I could bathe and get rid of my unwelcome stowaways.

We finally arrived, my head felt it was crawling and my skin was red and raw from my scratching and rubbing.

I was a tad confused as the carriage passed the front of the academy and turned down a rickety road.

"Why didn't we stop at the front of the academy, Bourdon? Where are we going?" I started to feel uncomfortable.

Bourdon sighed,

"I'm sorry Princess, but you have to be kept separate from everyone else for a little while. You're infested with body and head lice. If I let you in with everyone else, the body and head lice will spread like wildfire and would be near impossible to stop re-infestation. Don't worry, I'll visit a couple of times a day and bring you food and learning materials. Your bed and everything has already been allocated. So once you're free of the lice you'll be inspected and given permission to sleep in your bed and attend classes. But for now, you'll be quarantined. There is a building just ahead that used to be a classrooms, but they updated and built the new building. This is used now as a quarantine building for cases like yours and unknown sicknesses."

We pulled up in front of an old building, the pale stone was water stained and crumbled in places. Vines crept around the top of the building just below the old thatch roof, that looked as though it was starting to rot.

"Is it safe, Bourdon?"

"Yes Princess, I wouldn't leave you here otherwise. Follow me and I'll take you to your temporary room and show you around."

Bourdon fiddled with his belt before pulling out a ring of keys, all different shapes and sizes. He found the right key and inserted it into the keyhole. There was some resistance, before the door creaked open. He fumbled with his keys once again, found the key the was looking for and unlocked another door located to my right. The door led to a small room, there was no window in the walls there was only the small rectangular window in the top half of the door. There was a bed, a wardrobe near the door, a lone mirror on the left wall, and a small fireplace to the right.

"This is your room Princess, there's a chamber pot under your bed. Ill bring in a small bathtub and there should be some towels around here somewhere, check the wardrobe. There are buckets in the kitchen, there's a well located about 20 feet from the back door. The water is still fresh and it does get used. You'll have to warm the water in your fireplace, there's wood in the cellar. After he said these things he dismissively pointed in their general directions.

I had to wait until that evening for Bourdon to bring me a meal and the soap I needed to use. I swear he waited this long to bring it to me for a lesson in patience, to take me down a notch or two or something else.

After I ate, I warmed up the water and put it in the small bath. It reminded me of a wine barrel cut in half. My knees were almost to my chin. I sighed as I covered myself in the foul smelling soap. It made my lumps and scratches sting, I tried to put it through my hair, but resigned myself to do as Bourdon suggested and cut it short.

After I dried myself in a threadbare towel, I lit the candles that were scattered through my room. I found a rusty old straight edged razor in the cupboard amongst the towels. It was blunt but it still cut through my hair, even though I had to saw through the strands like a piece of wood. I left it a little longer than I wanted, so I could tidy it up when I found a sharper razor or a pair of scissors.

Every day I spent in isolation, I washed myself, head to toe in the soap. It took nearly two weeks for me to no longer feel itchy or feel the lice crawling through my hair. I was going stir crazy and the next time I saw Bourdon, I begged him to let me be checked over. He agreed, and the following morning when he brought me Breakfast another teacher accompanied him.

She waited patiently for me to finish breakfast. Once done she checked my hair, and also tidied it up with a sharp pair of scissors.

"You're clear, Princess. I'll take you to your room now and give you a quick tour of the wing you'll be staying in and attending classes. You're in a shared room with one other student, her name is Aqila. Your belongings are already in your room. Follow me, my Lady."