Candace

I wake early the next morning, and the world feels a little less like a yawning maw of disaster than it has recently. It’s not that hard to sit up in bed, and when I see the faint line of sunlight poking through the tent flap, I basically smile. Today, I don’t care what people think about Princess Candace. I’m starting a brand new life as just Candace, someone who dances. Nobody even has opinions about her yet.

Just Candace is going to the revitalization ritual to support her loved ones, I decide. I slide out of bed and start pawing through my trunk for something to wear. All...