Amourora was quietly working on writing the ten thousand word apology with the help of Luna, a good calligrapher despite her young age, as Lena tried new hairstyles on Luan's hair. The girls worked under the dim light of the scented candles, keeping the princess company, despite being allowed to retire for the night.
"ow!" Luan complained. "if you tangle my hair you will brush it yourself!"
"Stop whining and sit still, I want to try braiding your hair from the beginning instead of the end of your head." Lena was starting to get annoyed by her younger sister's complains.
"just braid it into two, wrap it around, then pin it with hair pins or ribbons like usual. How hard could it be?" Luan puffed out her cheeks and crossed her arms in frustration. She would rather learn writing with the princess instead of having her hair tugged out by Lena." it's the same exact style we do every, single, day! "
" your highness, please heed my sisters' trivial arguments no mind, they are usually more composed." Luna apologized in her sisters' steed. In her heart, secretly yelling at them to stop embarrassing her and themselves in front of the princess.
" it's fine." Amourora focused on copying the letters Luna wrote on a separate piece of paper.
Because of the queens teaching, Amourora had beautiful elegant calligraphy, but some words are written differently at the Cloud kingdom and it would be weird if her writing suddenly became good and similar to the Cloud kingdom's. And the last thing she wanted right now is people suspicious of her. After the incident yesterday, her father assigned more people to monitor her, there are even two elite knights standing guard outside her balcony.
"your highness, I feel like you have been different lately." Luna admired her master's dedication to improving her writing.
"different? How?" this was exactly what she was afraid of.
"well, you don't...how do I put it...you seem calmer and happier...and merciful." Luna giggled nervously; if she said anything to anger the princess, she might get punished. "you forgave the servants in the kitchen for almost hurting you, and you are working really hard to improve your writing for the apology letter, staying up later than usual to please his majesty."
'and you are talking to me like a human being instead of yelling at me for sitting down in your presence! ' She added in her head. 'and you also know Luan's name! I wonder if she knows my name, too.'
" oh, that..." she scratched her neck. 'think of an excuse, quickly!'
"it's because I did something wrong. It was my fault and I don't want daddy to be angry with me anymore ... He seemed really upset" Amourora pouted. 'nice one! The special effects were great, too! Keep it up! '
Amourora looked down at the paper, she jotted down what she would include in the letter but it was really clumsily done and messy. In the care homes she wrote with a piece of coal instead of ink and quill.
She glanced at the other girls and got an idea. She couldn't think of anything else and didn't want to look 'too dedicated', because it will be too out of character.
She absolutely loved styling little girls' hair, especially one as beautiful as Luan's. It was her favorite part of the day back at the care homes, but since she was busy, she only styled for the first three girls who got ready and the rest would have to braid each other's hair. It taught the girls to respect time and to be fast.
She came up with some pretty good ideas when she brushed girls' hair, like the gardening idea. She also let the children help her and made it everyone's responsibility to take care of their fruits and vegetables garden as she had other work to do. It taught them responsibility and to take care of something.
"can I try?" she stood behind Luan.
"your highness! please don't. You have a letter to write!"
"it would be inappropriate, your highness!"
"yes, we are the servants, you are the master." the three stopped her.
"it's fine, I would only try." Amourora shrugged them off.
"your highness..." Luan was worried the princess would tangle her hair beyond repair, her hair wasn't the easiest to work with. It wasn't long and straight like Lena, and it wasn't in thick shiny beautiful waves like her highness', and it wasn't even thin like Luna's. It was fine braided, but let it go and it's one big poof! It was really frizzy and dry and got knots easily.
"your hair is really pretty!" she brushed out the knots and sprinkled sweet almond oil at the ends.
"it is?" The three asked in union.
"yes, you just need to give it enough attention." she replied. She continued to brush it under the eyes of two admirers. She wanted to tie half of it and let the rest down, but the oil wouldn't work to it's full potential that way. She also can't do any complicated style or it would be weird and Luan couldn't sleep in it. So she started at the top and braided a French braid to the middle of her head, with the help of Luna and Lena, of course, to make it seem like it's not that easy.
"do we continue or tie it here?"
"tie it with a ribbon." she answered decisively.
"but it would turn oily." Luna reminded her. "what if we tie it into a knot then wrap the ribbon around it?"
";no, that wouldn't match." Lena argued. "the knot would be too...it won't look good, it would cover the ribbon."
"then let's use a hair pin instead."
"it wouldn't match the symmetrical hairstyle, we need two that match. Besides, she's going to sleep soon."
Amourora ignored the two fighting sisters and focused on the hair style. Wrapping that once, twice, and done! The final image was extremely pretty! Hair brought back by two French braids, folded into a bow-shaped bun and tied with a white ribbon.
" no we don't."
"I know better at hair styling than you do, w—"
"shh, look!"
"what?"
They both turned to admire Luan's hairstyle. It was so pretty and simple, Luna wanted the same for her hair and Lena wanted to learn how to make it, but both were shocked into a daze remembering it was the princess that made it.
" Why are you so quiet? Can I move now? I want to see it. Is it pretty?" Luan's questions were ignored as the other two started praising the princess.
"your highness, how did you do it? It's so pretty!"
"I have never seen Luan's hair shine like that before! I never knew your highness was capable of doing something like this, it's amazing!"
"yeah, now anyone who dares say the princess has nothing but a pretty face can eat his words!"
"huh?"
"oops!" Luan shrank in her seat as her sisters glared at her.
"your highness, Luan is only spouting nonsense," Luna hissed at her sister. "please heed her no mind."
"no." Amourora wanted to know who would dare to gossip about the imperial family in the imperial Palace, they might collude with outsiders to spy or even assassinate the imperial family in the future. She can not take such risks. "who did you hear that from?"
Luan, scared by the look on the eyes of the princess shut her mouth and stared at the ground, waiting for her sisters to come to her rescue.
"your highness..." Lena was the first to break the silence. As expected, she was loyal to her master and family. "Luan and I will make a list, but we don't want to interrupt you any longer from writing the apology letter."
"then, hand it to me before going to bed." she ordered. 'Could there really be spies in the imperial Palace?'