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Like everyone else, Amber had a red string of fate that connected her to her soulmate. Like every other kid her age she used it to play jump rope and knotted little bows and bells onto it. She tugged and pulled and twirled in hopes that someday her soulmate might tug back.
But unlike everyone else her soulmate never tugged back.
A village is only so big, so it wasn’t unusual for people's soulmates to live faraway. Amber often found herself standing by the edge of the woods, staring at where the red string led her far away.
But before Amber could adventure, she had to stay at home first. In the beginning of every novel, the hero starts at home. Amber had her family to take care of, and it’s not like she had the funds to travel. So she got herself a job, and what money that didn’t go to her experiments she saved for her soulmate.
One day, she thought to herself.
---
Nuru wasn’t like most people. Being a princess was a big part of it. She never got to explore the town with girls her age. The only people she met were princes and other nobles, mostly to check to see if they were soulmates. They never were.
She was five when the meteors began to plummet onto her kingdom. She was eleven when they took her father. She was sixteen when she met some boys that might change everything.
The Eternal Library, surely a place of infinite knowledge would hold the answers to her problem and help her save her kingdom. If she managed to not murder her quest mates first.
The biggest problem was Hugo. Tall, blonde, and annoying. He despised her and she despised him. His only tolerable quality was that he was apparently Varian’s soulmate, much to both boys' dismay.
“Do you think I can use the string to choke him?” Varian asked her one day.
Hugo’s head snapped up, “Hey!”
“It’s for science,” Varian told him, “we’re the only ones who can see or feel this stupid thing anyways.”
Nuru had never given soulmates much thought. Her kingdom needed her, so she didn’t exactly have the time to find some boy and solve his problems for him. She had her own emotional baggage, thank you very much.
“Whoever said soulmates were romantic lied,” Varian said, turning towards Nuru again.
“For once we agree Goggles.” Hugo said, glaring at the younger, “I don’t recall any fairy tales that included the princess murdering her prince.”
“Excuse you,” Varian turned towards Hugo, “I am not the princess and most certainly you are not the prince.”
“What’s wrong with being a princess?” Nuru asked, “Don’t answer that Hugo.”
Hugo obediently shut his mouth.
“It’s not the princess that’s the problem, it’s just what Hugo’s implying is the problem.” Varian told her, “He’s trying to imply that princesses need their prince or that they’re helpless by themselves.”
“I am not!” Hugo scoffed, “You’re the princess because you’re so short!”
“Hey!”
Nuru pretended to not notice Varian kicking Hugo in the shins, which the taller man tried to play off as painless.
“Like baby tickles,” he said through gritted teeth.
“I’ve never met a pair of soulmates that were both boys.” Nuru mused out loud, mostly to get the boys to stop fighting.
“Welcome to the real world princess, people are gay.” Hugo said.
“Be nice,” Varian pouted.
Just because Nuru grew up sheltered didn’t mean that she didn’t know what homosexuality was. She had to admit though, she didn’t quite know a lot on this topic.
“Was it a surprise when you met each other?” She asked.
“Of course it was,” Varian said, “he was robbing me!”
“No, I meant were you surprised that Hugo was a boy?”
“Hugo is right here,” Hugo pouted.
Varian ignored him, “Kinda? I mean I already knew I was bisexual so I wouldn’t have really cared either way.”
Nuru’s brow furrowed, “Well how did you know you were bisexual?”
Varian shrugged, “I’ve known I liked boys and girls forever, so I guess it just came naturally?”
Nuru turned to Hugo, “So how did you know you were gay?”
“I didn’t get some kind of magical premonition before you ask,” Hugo said, “But the idea of me and a girl just never clicked, if that makes sense.”
Nuru thought back to all the princes she met. They were nice and all, but something just felt off. Could that be like the click Hugo was describing? But if something’s not clicking, then that means she doesn’t like guys, she likes girls which means that she’s-
Oh.
Oh.
“Nice going Hugo,” Varian said, “you gave Nuru a sexual identity crisis.”
---
Amber felt the tugging for the first time in the middle of the night. At first she was confused and still half asleep. Then she felt it again.
It was hesitant, nervous maybe?
Amber almost cried out in joy. Her soulmate! Finally, after all this time! Amber tugged back perhaps a tad bit too enthusiastically. The string vibrated, like her soulmate was laughing.
I can’t wait to meet you.
---
It had been a fairly normal day when her soulmate tugged again. A little stronger than the first time. Amber happened to be carrying some fairly heavy boxes at this time while the twins ran through around her in an attempt to trip her.
Amber adjusted her grip on the boxes, and the tugging only got stronger, more urgent. What was happening, was her soulmate in trouble?
Then her soulmate yanked.
Amber let out a yip of surprise as she dropped the boxes, luckily not on anyone’s foot. Her soulmate seemed to take this as an invitation to continue pulling harder.
“Hey!”
Amber’s head snapped up, meeting a girl with amber eyes. Her skin was a rich shade of brown, and she had a halo of hair that glistened in the sunlight like a halo. She was beautiful.
And on her pinky finger was the other end of Amber’s string.
“Hey,” the girl said, less urgently this time.
Amber managed to find her voice again, “Hi.”