After the flood subsiding report, lightness carried me high above and left all the lessons with the Princes and the 'R' dinner to come this evening down below. I felt so carefree that I decided to take a stroll at the green lawn outside the castle.
Greet by the warmth of sunshine, I squinted and stretched. It had occurred to me that I had not set a single foot outside the castle since the first day I stepped in. I had been too busy with works, disguise, and stupid lessons; clean forgot how good it felt out in the open, amid the green nature and privacy.
The garden in front of the castle was very flat. It was a disappointment because I preferred dense of the trees than having all the maids and footmen visible to my sight, and I to theirs. The privacy reclined by double as everyone bowed when I strolled past that I had to keep my eyes at the knee-length colorful bushy flowers. They were refreshing and I could pretend that no one was around. Some of the bush was cut into square shape, some round, some indefinable. There were a few gardeners working diligently on the trimming at the time. Most of them were human, but a few had animals' traces.
Speaking of Animal-skin?—Beastskin, reminded me of King Fayn's coat. I had wanted to give it back but he had been shutting himself busying with his work for days. Well, the less prince the better and I will meet him today anyway.
Walking further, I came across the first fountain in which white statues of faeries were spuming crystal clear water into air. The second fountain of a sea nymph was not a long walk, and as I passed the third fountain of nine horses, the gilt front gate came into my sight. Red and white uniformed soldiers stood, even more lifeless than those fountain statues, aligning the metal door as if their times stopped while the city beyond it bustled with activities as if their days had accelerated. Such a contrast sense it gave, I thought and quickly sidled to the side, not wanting to attract any attention.
The side of the castle was indifferently flat. Still avoiding the people, I walked further as trimmed bushy flowers' number grew less. In the end, there was no sign of them at all and the ground was only covered with lovely green grasses with a couple of big trees.
The palace was huge, I realized, now that I was at the back of it. The building stood magnificently impeding all the noises and liveliness from the front of the castle. On the other side of this lawn, a forest fanned out endlessly. It was very peaceful here and I totally loved it.
I sauntered on the damp green carpet exultantly. Birds chirping from the forest brightened up my spirit. I was taking in a deep soothing revitalizing breath when a cluster of animals struck my eyes.
Two deer, a beaver, wild cats, rabbits, squirrels, birds, two wolves, and a bear were mustering around something in circle. They were not supposed to be together considering the wolves and the bear's diet. With stealthy steps, I slowly approached the group cautiously shielding myself with big tree trunk on the edge of the forest.
There, in the midst of creatures, lay Prince Le—Leonharp? He looked very relax and laid-back. The weirdest thing was he had a smile on his face and it seemed like he was chatting to the animals.
"Nuts taste better?" he laughed at a squirrel wriggling its tail in front of his face, patting his index on its nose. "You should start stocking for this winter. Pippy can help you."
Another squirrel jumped up and down beside the one the Prince was talking to. A rabbit pushed itself to the front line, whiskers moving, then the Prince answered him. "Congrats to your new home."
It was hard to believe my eyes. I waited and observed until I was sure that he was really talking to the animals, not just a crazy man pretending he could understand animals' languages. My heart beat excitedly. The astonishing ability and friendship among them brought out the child in me, impressed my dull heart just like Magic. As if turning back to ten once again, I could not resist the urge and had to dart out of my hidings.
"Prince Lionheart!" I called. Wait—did I got his name right? "Oh!"
Startled by my sudden appearance, all the animals scattered back into the forest, and the Prince glared at me. "S—sorry!" I stammered, averted my eyes from him guiltily, put my hand beside my mouth and said to where the animals had disappeared. "Sorry."
"What do you want?" The Prince sounded real threatening.
"I—I saw you talked to the animals." I said meekly.
"So what?" His hard voice swatted me like a blow and I winced.
"I—I just want to join—I want to be friend with them too." I said rolling my eyes toward the forest where small heads curiously sticking out from behind the trunks watching us, or rather, me. The heads shrank back almost immediately when they met my eyes. I sighed thinking this was a total mistake. "I am really sorry. Excuse me." I said one last time and turned to leave.
A bold squirrel ran over sniffing at my ankle. "Hello." I said quietly giving it a weak smile which grew stronger when it did not run away. I slowly knelt down so not to provoke the little creature and offered my hand. It sniffed and grabbed at my fingers.
"Ahem." Prince Lionel...? appeared beside me. The squirrel and I jumped at the same time. It ran back to the trees while I, had nowhere to run, stood awkwardly not daring to face the Prince. "Sorry!"
"Come." He said and when I looked over his high shoulder, all the animals were back assembling at the same spot. Cutting my eyes between the Prince and the animals, I asked. "Can I? May I?"
He nodded, did not seem wholly welcome but I was already ecstatic. I flumped onto the grass and the animals came around me, some sniffing like the bold squirrel, some looking, some even daring enough to climb onto my lap and up to the shoulder nipping and pulling my hair. A wolf sat down curling around my waist resting its head near my hip. After a few hesitating hand-shaking, it allowed me to pat without any grunt. And the bear—oh the big plumpish brown bear!—it gave me its paw and I handshook it! The blissful experience soddened my heart.
"They like you." The Prince said leaning on a tree trunk.
"Oh, thank you!" I said with the happiest face.
His face was showing puzzle.
I raised my brows. "for telling me they like me. Oh Prince Lenheart, you understand them?" I asked excitedly. "You can converse with them?"
The Prince twitched his left eye and said. "All Beastskin can."
"Wow!" Amazed, I looked at him admiringly forgetting all the politeness. "Can you teach me too Prince Leonard?"
His eyes twitched twice. "It's not something that can be taught. You have to be born with it."
"That's a pity." I said "Then, can you tell them for me, Prince Lionard? That I want to be their friend."
He closed his eyes, pressing, trying hard not to make them twitch without success and sighed. "The name's Leh-Awn-Hard, Leonhard. If it's too hard, you can call me Leon."
"Oops." My hand slid up to my mouth. "Sorry." I said but was too merry to be sorry, and when a rabbit nudged me, it was hard to hold giggles that were filing right behind my teeth any longer.
Prince Leon frowned and lay down on the grass. "They'd love to." He said and turned his back to me.
"What?" I totally lost my politeness now.
"They'd love to be your friend!" Prince Leonhard said exasperately without facing me.
"Oh! Thank you so much Leon." He did ask the animals for me after all. Maybe he isn't a bad person. I thought and crept quietly over to him peering over his shoulder. He looked back from the corner of his eyes and suddenly got up. "What're you doing?" He asked, looking flustered.
"See if you were asleep." I said and drew back continuing my play with the animals. That was fun but he seemed rather put-out. "Say, Leon, do you wanna play with us?"
His temper fell down to ground zero and his usual bored face inserted in. Maybe the animals thought he was sad so they gathered around him too. The bear stood up and cuddled him from behind. "Hey." Leon smiled and I laughed.
The Prince casted a hostile glance at me and I quickly zipped up. He did not say anything else as he walked away. I was left with the animals, which was good, all their attentions were only on me.
"Hey," I said and the animals looked up at me curiously as though they actually understood my words. My heart beat even faster. "let's go into the woods."
I got up and waved the dirt off my pretty skirt poking my head into the green barrier. Only a few steps into the land of trees and I already felt like I was in a different world all over again. It was quiet, peaceful, and refreshing in here. I was falling in love.
Princess shoes did not get on really well with an uneven ground of the forest but I managed somehow. Though, speaking of forest, I was a bit concerned that I would run into that thing. I shook it off from my head. The atmosphere was so nice that I did not want to ruin serenity with the thought of it, the thing I feared most in the world.
"Do you guys know secret, hard-to-find place in here?" I asked the animal hoping I could use this lair as an escape from the troubles out there sometime.
They did not make any noise but led me further in and we arrived at a small circular opening surrounded by brawny trees. There were a few grey rocks in the middle, perfectly serving as seats. I sat down on one looking around and up at the pentagon blue sky framing by lime-green leaves, friends mounding on my knees, feeling finally at the long-searching home. I did what I had not done for quite a while, I sang.
It was more like humming at first and when I made sure of the solitude, words started pouring out. I often sang for the cats at home, so I sang for the animals here too. All the lovely creatures looked at me and came sleeping by my side. We, or at least I, had a wonderful hour.