There was once a child, whose hobbies are to roam around the castle. Her name, was Elizabeth.
She was a child of a baron, close to the King, which were also the royal artists. For almost everyday of her life she would sneak in the workplace, carefully admiring her father's portraits of the beloved rulers of the land.

Thus goes the child, she practiced. Drawing in colors from the mountains, valleys, and forests outside the castle. All of them, where she had never been before. She had fun, they all had fun when the King discovered what had the child been doing behind her father's back.

This delighted the King so much, he offered her a job only appointed to one's trusted. That is..

"Elizabeth my dear?"

"Yes, uncle King? What is it?"

"Will you be willing to play with my son?"

The King asked the child, and Elizabeth couldn't be more happy to do so. For that, she had earned her first friend. But then.

"No!" The prince said, shutting her out and giving no chance of approach. There she stood just outside the wooden frame of the prince's door, filed with shock. However, this was her first time doing so. Her first job. She needed to do it.

From then forward, she tried and tried and tried. But everytime she did, she was isolated. She understood the prince. He didn't want to have connections with her, or anything else. He just wanted to be alone. But for her, she wanted the exact opposite.

She wanted to play, to meet new friends, more specifically him. She thought he was really still a kid. Making a woman like her, do a lot more than her age. But she figured if the prince didn't wanted to be friends. Then she would just stay away.

She's also, more than tired to do so. Everyday, she had thought of ways she never thought she'd be able to think of. Baked cookies, Accessories, A surprise party. But none of them seem to have attracted the prince. So she sat there, alone. Thinking of another last way to get his attention, before she would finally give up.

The ground was cold, she wanted to cry. It was very hard for her. Like torture, but with a prize. When she heard footsteps coming up behind her, this created a woman with dazzling beauty. So much so, she was standing the moment she saw her. The woman, with the kindest smile, looked at her with nothing but awe.

"Elizabeth my dearest? Is the ground cold?"

"Yes ma'am. Naturally." Elizabeth was flabbergasted, she was seen doing something inappropriate for a baron's daughter. But more surprised so to find out people we're patrolling this hour. It was already twilight. That means, she hadn't paid much attention to time, and that her father was no longer at the castle.

There, she panicked.

"Oh wait wait wait." The woman stopped her from going, almost tripping by the shoe. She had known the dangers of the night more than anyone, and she knew what was in store for the little girl if she had continued so.

"Your father told us it would be best, to make you stay the night for once."

The woman said, gripping her little hands. Gently guiding her across the winding castle halls.

"Had he? Have you asked my father?"

The child said, looking so amused as confused. She didn't knew there were such a beautiful maid in the castle. It was her first time meeting this one. Maybe there were others? But she doubted it.

"Yes, my dear." The woman said, pinching her cheeks, and again. Guiding her across the halls.

"He said, you shouldn't leave things unfinished, My dear. It's bad manners to do so. Would you be saddened to think little ole' prince has none to play with?"

She smiled once again, before the two finally reached a room prepared for her. At least, that's what she had once thought.

"Ma'am? May I ask a question?"

"Yes? What is it my dearest?"

"Is this the room that was prepared for my stay?"

"Yes, of course my dear. Did you have any problems with it?"

She didn't have any problems with it, in fact. In the child's vision, she loved it. The room was small yet clean. The bed was big, and tidy. As well as every other furniture in the room, all of them were laced with gold. But that wasn't the problem.

"But ma'am! This is her majesty's room! I can't stay in here!"

Elizabeth looked at the woman with woeful eyes, yet she smiled at the child. Later on, laughing at the matter. Elizabeth couldn't wrap her head around the urgency of the situation. Had the woman gone insane?

"Elizabeth, my dearest?"

"Yes, ma'am?"

"Do you know who I am?"

"No idea ma'am? Are you perhaps the leading maid, ma'am?"

"No, no. Guess again my child."

"Then... Perhaps a female knight ma'am?"

"No, no, no. I have too much to do to be one my child. Then do you know whose room this is?"

"Her majesty?"

"Correct, repeat that again?"

"Her majesty."

"And again?"

"Her majesty?"

"Last one?"

Elizabeth panicked a second time, when the thought crossed her mind. For a child, that was like a mini heart attack waiting to happen.

"Her majesty..."

"Yes, my dear? Are you okay? You seem kind of pale?"

"Her majesty!!?"

"Yes my child? Please stop shouting, people are sleeping."

"No that's not it!?"

"What's 'not it' my child?"

For the child, she had done something very wrong. That's what she felt at the moment. The urge to do something more polite that would mask her own mistakes.

The woman sighed as she saw the child bending over in an arc. A bow that was as horrifying to see.

"Elizabeth, please stop." This made the child flinch. She didn't expected the queen would be this mad. But she was far from the truth. Nobody wants a child bowing. Prostrating themselves in front of people, other than those conceited royalties.

She wouldn't want the child to pick up the habit of lowering themselves to the level of a servant even if it was as a sign of respect. But that doesn't mean, the child should stop. Just in front of her will not do.

Then, she scolded on her way of thinking and managed to convince the child that bowing is just for important person. At least she thought to herself she wasn't one, but more like a 'Mother' to her. Yet the child refused to call her that, which later brewed on a full blown argument on why should the child call her 'Mother' and not 'Your highness'. Which then evolved in the Queen teasing Elizabeth with the prince, that was when the voices got too loud the King had to silence them and tucked them both to bed. Until finally both of them were tired and gave the argument a rest for tommorow.

The place was dark when the lamps were out, but it was the relaxing kind of dark. Elizabeth thought, if only the roof were transparent, then she could see a lot of beautiful night stars up in the sky.

For her it was a sweet time to remember. When the queen started talking again.

"Elizabeth, my dear?"

"Yes, mother?"

They both laughed at the dark. However the woman had a secret to show. At the side of her bed, hung a piece of rope. When pulled slowly folds a secret cloth covering the true ceiling. This amused Elizabeth, as what she saw.

Was tons and tons of glowing material that was littered freely. A sky inside the inside.

"Woaah, what is it mother? Why does it glow?"

Said the child seeing a lot of colours, Blue, green, red, yellow and many more. Like little dots spread across. But to answer her question, the Queen didn't know..

"I don't know my dearest. They just... Glow..."

"It's okay not to be smart mother dearest. You're a dimwit after all."

She pinched Elizabeth's cheeks hard for being too cheeky, and cute. She can't help it, both of them were lonely. One because of knitting and matters, the other one was because she has none to depend on except her father.

"Ow, that hurt."

"Can't help it... Elizabeth?"

"Yes, mother?"

"Does this sky reminds you of something?"

It took a while before Elizabeth could offer an answer. It reminded her of her late parents, that passed away a long time ago. They all used to go sightseeing late in the night before camping the night out.

"Fun times?"

"Uhmm."

"Dark times?" The Queen saw tears forming at the sides of the child's eyes when she thought about it. Her parents were belittled by bandits, as such she heard. Their heads rolled a meter away from the pathways..

She felt a warm embrace enclosing her, a thudding sound knocked her ears loudly as the dreaming rivers finally, swept her in carefully, and sweetly.

That morning, what happened last night skimmed through her mind when she decided it would be best if she didn't left things unfinished. It was thrilling for her, like a new experience. Waiting to unfold. As well as a lot of wind grazing her skin and tightly grip.

She heard a voice shouting in a nearby castle window, and without mistake. It was the Queen.

"Bless the gods Elizabeth! Why are you up there!!!?"

Said the queen, possibly looking very angry at her for disobeying safety and regulations in the castle, as she was now officially hanging by a ledge with a ladder that extended to the prince's window.

What a crazy kid... Anyways, it was starting to get scary when the ladder wobbled with the wind violently.

Elizabeth held on to dear life, and with her quick thinking. She managed to survive by breaking the window with a rock she had picked up just outside the gates.

Thank the gods she was smart, because if she wasn't, the ladder that toppled seconds after. Wouldn't suffice at all, she would be good as dead. But she was feeling herself that morning.

She had the chance to see the prince's jaw drop to the ground, before she could say.

"Say... Wanna' play?"

As that set of words left her mouth. She knew this was a turning point. A new chapter of her life, a chapter that talks about the two of them. Maturing as they are today, that started from a stem of perseverance and bravery...

© lazywriting