A warm breeze hushed across the lands of valley. Cattails and tall grass seemed to be tottering back and forth the way a tired child would, as they tried to counter the strength of the wind's graces. At least, that was what the young woman overlooking seemed to be narrating in her head.
Footsteps behind her were the only thing to tear her cerulean eyes from the town below her balcony. A tall young man smiled before bowing gracefully, his fluffy head of hair was groomed as if he had put hard work into looking decent for this moment. "Princess," his gentle voice greeted her.
"Why're you doing that?"
His ash colored eyes glanced up to see her reaction. He seemed surprised himself by her question.
"I mean, you look really nice with your hair like that," she quickly tried to recover from how rude her question must've sounded to his ears. "But why are you bowing? We're alone." They were alone. Oh, dear.
The mere mention of the most obvious thing about they're situation seemed to make the Prince's ears turn pink in embarrassment. The Princess couldn't see the color rushing to his face. He had hoped at least that the rising sun's light hid most of it. "I thought it added to my entrance?"
The sound of her soft laugh seemed to join the breeze that pushed her brown hair off her shaking shoulders. A tandem that seemed to tell the Prince to look anywhere else rather than at his childhood friend. And so he looked at another sight that he found to be quite beautiful. The mountains.
Her balcony had a perfect view of the majestic landscape. There was really only one thing wrong with it and that was the big ugly cave on the front. He had never noticed it before since normally he never came near the balcony. He actually never went past the princess's bed.
"Oh, you're looking at the cave?"
"How can you tell?"
"Well, you usually smile when you look at the mountain," she stated, her head turned to look at the cave as well. "It's always been there and no human goes up there anymore as far as I know."
"You say that like you watch me," he teased as he joined her side.
"Oh, be quiet."
They both shared a laugh before falling into a comfortable silence. The two stood against the railing, facing the view and appreciating the sunrise. The brushing sound of fabric against fabric was the only noise as the princess wrapped a single arm around her friend's upper torso, pulling him closer into a tight hug. "Terrance."
His long arm returned the hug around her shoulders comfortably. "Yes?"
"What did you come here for?"
"Oh, that's right!" He pulled away and held her petite hand with both of his. "I came up here to ask you if you'd join me for a walk around the town? Or the garden? Which ever one. Up to you."
"Yes. In town." She answered immediately.
"Great!"
It was the first time he ever asked her to hang out outside the castle. He must've played this scenario out in his head several times before he asked. He still hadn't let go of her hand.
"Did...did you mean now?"
"Yeah?"
"Then you've got to leave the room," she pushed her hand against his chest to urge him to leave. She smiled up at him as they entered her bedroom from the balcony. "I've got to get out of my night gown."
"Oh! Right... right!" Terrance let go of her hand and turned to face the door with a swish of his low ponytail. "I'll meet you outside then, Flora!"
The door shut with a click and her highness was left in her room to get ready for the day.
••─── ••• ───••
Laughter filled the square as children played around the giant fountain that sat in the center. The weathered statue in the middle showed a lovely form of the former queen. Both her hands held out at her sides, streams of water shot from the palms. Two additional arms came from behind her flowing cloak had been sculpted where wings would be. One hand had a snake wrapped in it's stiff grasp and the other hand held a dagger. Flowers and vines snaked up her legs and around her gown.
Her eyes were firm, but kind as she seemingly gazed downward at her people. Her lips showed no emotion compared to her eyes. The water was filled by coins and additional statues of young children with cupped hands that were over flowing with water out and into the pool.
As the two royals walked around it they couldn't help but adore the queen's beauty. Just as they remembered her being before she passed away and left the king to rule alone. It was a sudden death that left most of their people shocked and confused. Many denied Queen Mara's death, she was an extraordinary woman how could she have been killed by a lowly troll? No one saw it ever happening.
Of course, most things you never see happening, but that doesn't stop them from happening. The kingdom never got to say goodbye to their beloved queen and Princess Floramina never said goodbye to her mother. There was no going back though, heavy hearts kept the villagers from ever wanting to lose another royal to a tragedy ever again. So the king and his people vowed to protect their darling princess and kept her from anything dangerous.
Floramina was every bit like her mother, however, and often wanted more than the simple life that was thrust into her pampered hands. The most she ever got to really have any enjoyable fun were times like this. When her childhood friend would take her out to the village or the garden.
She still wished for a much more complicated life than what she had. Of course, she knew that had she grown up with a different life she'd maybe wish for her simple life. After all, the grass is always greener on the otherside.
Neither of the two royals had taken notice of the comfortable silence that befell them on their journey to the square. Having known eachother so long, they barely had to use words to communicate anymore. They simply listened to the bustling town and walked hand in hand.
It was only in this moment that Floramina couldn't tell what her best friend was thinking. Why was his face so red? Is he sick? He seems nervous... Never mind. Wait, why was he nervous? The Princess found herself sitting on the cold stony outside of the fountain. Her hand was still being held by his as he knelt down on one knee in front of her.
Oh.
She never seen him in this light. It was always Terrance: the boy. Her bestfriend. Floramina covered her mouth with her free hand. She had never once considered him as Terrance: the man. Her fiancee. Now that was really starting to come back to her as heat in her face.
"Flora, we've both known that our families—sorry— our kingdoms, had planned for us to be married and unite our strengths and our weaknesses to rule together," he began as clear as he could muster. It was very obvious he had probably been rehearsing this for awhile. "As king and queen. As..."–he glanced down for only a moment, as if he were trying to remember his next few words.–"As husband and wife."
Princess Floramina felt a dryness in the back of her throat as she looked into his eyes. People in the square were starting to look at the two.
"A proposal? This early in the morning?"
"Isn't that our Princess and Prince Terrance?" The prince reached into his pocket. She knew it would be for a ring, but she didn't know that it would be...
"My mother's ring?" Floramina gasped softly. She had always thought the ring was with her mother's missing body, and yet here it was... pinched between Terrance's thumb and index finger. It was still as beautiful as when her mother wore it, the sun light made it smile up at her. "I... I... wha–?"
"I know," he soothed her. He slid the silver, ruby decorated band onto her her dainty hand's finger. "I thought it would be nice for me to ask. I know this has been arranged since we met, but I wanted to have this special moment, y'know?" There wasn't really any time for her to respond. It was probably rhetorical anyways, stupid. "When I told your father about it, he agreed and gave me this ring. Even if I didn't decide to propose, I knew you should have it. So it's yours now. Just like the rest of my life."
It was the sweetest thing anyone had ever done for her, she gazed at the ring momentarily to admire the contrast of her skin to the dark red. She looked back to Terrance. Her eyes were getting misty and she was afraid she'd start crying on front of all her subjects.
The prince still held her left hand in his, a knowing grin had taken over his nervous grin. He had to have known how happy this would make her. Even though she was already nodding, he had to actually ask the question they came out for:
"Flora, will you marry me?"