Lady looked at herself calmly silently adoring how her face looked nice using her reflection in the water that was in the small bowl in front of her. Her foot was still not intact from when she he hurt herself but it was manageable enough to cover her slight limping and to prevent her mother from scolding her again. She crouched more almost sitting down on the sandy ground.
She sighed with no reason smiling afterwards and lifting herself up into a straight posture, the posture for proper ladies. Sometimes she wondered who was very silly and had so much time on her hands that she racked her precious brain to come up with silly actions and reasons for proper ladies. To her ladies are not supposed to be bound with heartless and silly rules and reasoning. They all deserved a right to their freedom just like their male counterparts, after all they were all humans.
"Lady, come help me prepare the table!" her mother shouted from the kitchen calling for her.
Lady without hesitation stood up hurriedly and walked to the kitchen just in time to help her mother who was balancing two heavy trays in her hands with a pot of milk dangling dangerously on her head. Lady took one of the trays and took the pot of milk from her mother's head placing it on her own. She turned and walked hurriedly to the long table that was placed in the middle of their compound with different kinds of foods and meat placed on it. She placed the pot of milk beside other pots containing delicious juices for the sweet toothed during the feast. She placed the trays at where it was supposed to be turning on her heels sharply to go back to the kitchen.
She entered the kitchen, a small rounded structure with shelves and a fireplace that had served at least three generations of her family glancing around to see if anything had been left. Much to her satisfaction, everything was in order and anything that was supposed to be out was out on the table. Checking once again, she came out of the kitchen with a satisfied smile approaching her mother.
"Mother" Lady began to draw her mother's attention " I would like to go and change my dress for the feast" she continued after her mother had given her the attention she wanted.
"Alright, but don't take long. The guests would be here anytime soon" Her mother replied.
"I understand mother" she said and bounded up the stairs that led to her room.
Lady's room was just beside her father's, a small rounded structure just like the kitchen just that her room was furnished and more humanly comfortable than the kitchen. She had gotten her room after she was introduced as a matured woman into their society. She was now a grown woman and so deserved her own privacy. She entered her room and straightened the edges of the pale yellow dress that reached just below her knees and smiled fondly at it.
The dress was a gift from her eldest brother as a parting and consoling gift. It was new and crisp, she knew she was going to get a lot of attention and envious stares. She took a deep breath and took the dress from her bed and pulled it over her shoulders. When the dress had finally and comfortably settled upon her frame she stood tall, straightening her back and checked her reflection in the full length mirror in her room, again the mirror was a gift from her eldest brother.
The thoughts about her eldest brother made her feel the gaping hole in her chest, the empty space that once was filled by her eldest brother's affection and motivation, now he was travelling far from her and taking a huge piece of her life with her. She wiped her unconsciously falling tears and smiled genuinely, at least her brother was going to better his life and she was supposed to be happy for him not selfishly brooding over his soon to come departure. Lady left the confines of her room just as a narrow streak of the town folk started streaming into their compound. Still with a genuine smile on her face, she stepped down into the crowd nodding courteously to the men and the women and flashing toothy smiles to her age mates and the children. She lifted her eyes and saw one of her age mates, a girl she used to fetch water with not long ago and the girl who also had weird name like her. That girl, Star was the closest thing to a friend for Lady. She mostly liked keeping to herself, not bothering about the matters of the world around her with the exception of those relating to her family, those clearly was part of her business.
Star who was known as the most elegant young lady among the recently introduced young women swayed her body elegantly as she took confident strides towards Lady.
"How fares the day for you?" Star asked in greeting as she stopped before Lady.
"You know the painfully obvious, going round and round like queen bees" Lady chuckled hiding her pearly whites teeth behind the back of her right hand as sign of respect and courtesy as a lady.
"Hmm" Star sighed " But I think that didn't stop you from becoming the most beautiful here" she continued and laughed.
"Oh, don't flatter me" Lady slapped Star's shoulder playfully with a laugh of her own.
Then as the ladies got right into conversing about their domestic affairs and how the town was faring with the harsh climates. Just then a faint whisper of probably the sauciest and biggest news flashed through Star's ears.
"Did you hear that?" Star scrunched her eyebrows almost fusing them into one.
"What?" Lady asked confused.
Star glanced around at the now growing crowd and saw not far away from where she was standing with Lady a group of young ladies conversing heartily in hushed whispers which were unfortunately faint but clear to Star's ears.
"Let's get closer to them" Star pointed in the direction of the gossiping young ladies with her head, taking Lady's hand and dragging her along with her as she moved subtly towards them.
"I heard the prince would be joining us here today" one of the young ladies giggled almost too loud and earned hard glares from the remaining three of her group.
"I don't really believe you, the prince was supposed to come down here next year when the next farming season begins" Another disagreed with a stern but calming voice.
"I can't believe you really said this" the shortest of the group scoffed " You know she lives in the king's house so everything she says about the royals is true"
"Exactly" the rest of the girls agreed in unison.
"But I still can't bring myself to believe this" The girl with stern voice said still not letting go of her disbelief.
"Well I guess you'll believe me after you see it with your own eyes"
And with that the ladies dispersed leaving a shocked Star and a surprised Lady to look at their leaving backs.
" Have you met the prince before?" Star asked Lady.
"Yeah once when we were kids. I had gone to the farm with eldest brother to pick oranges when we met him and his mother taking a stroll around town" Lady answered and added thoughtfully " But I don't think I will recognize him now should he come before me"
"Well tough luck but at least it's a good thing that the prince is in town. I suppose he is here to take for himself a wife from our batch that was newly introduced" Star stated with a bland voice.
"Are you sure of that?"
"Of course Lady, why then would you think the prince would down here when he is supposed to be here next year. Have you forgotten he was part of the introduced men in the big town last year?" Star pointed out to Lady who just nodded in agreement not finding any plausible reason to challenge Star's.
The two young ladies fell the night descending upon them as the compound was now filled with the people of their village, both young and old to join in the congratulatory feast for one of their own who was embarking on a life changing adventure.
With songs and deep voiced shouts, some of the men gathered a large of pile of woods, lighting them into a big bonfire, illuminating the whole of the compound and beckoning the late guests to hurry as the festivities of the night feast had began.
Lady smiled and swayed her body to the deep baritone voiced of the men who were singing as they fed the fire more wood to enlarge it. She always loved the feasts but she never ceased to wonder why the feasts were always held on the nights. She shrugged and placed those thoughts aside, it was not like she could voice it out loud.