Lavenders in Spring

From when I was a little girl until I turned of age, the word "devotion" has been engraved to me. It is what kings, queens, and all nobles that serve the kingdom have in common.

Even being the 10th child of the Elxi empire, I have also felt what my brothers and sisters before me feel when talking about anything that concerns the kingdom. Devotion may not be the same as love, but it provides a good soil for the seeds of love to grow.

---

"Your Highness, please be careful out there. We beg that you would not leave the palace for so long." Din, one of my ladies-in-waiting, said with her curly chestnut hair covering her face due to bending so low.

I can't help but laugh.

"Hey, I have always come back in one piece and no scandal. Besides, no one pays attention to 'The Tenth Child' or the fourth, no that's third now, third princess." I retort. My eyes already assessing Fie, my lovely Friesian horse. She is being saddled now while Din arranges my cap.

"One piece, my --! But not the trousers and boots, they are not!" Din almost said pleadingly with sarcasm. She was almost like a salesman caught in the act of selling used goods.

"If you care more about the boots, I'll ask my brother to make you one." I said. Although a royal, one of my brothers chose a quiet life in thr country to make boots. Why? I don't know why boots but he is off the map. Only the Captain of Guards knows where and how he sells his boots. Cheeky.

All saddled up, Fie and I both throw Din a playful glance before going off. However, today turned out to be much tragic than my optimistic mind could fake it.

After tying Fie in a common stable near the market square, I walked to my favorite food stall and got skewered meat. The sauce is delectable! No offense to Cook, but this is one of the things that makes me go back out here.

I was on my second one when mister skwere-er was grabbed by the neck and sent face down on the hearth with a groan.

"Barbecue-ing again when I told you to get me my money back!!?" screamed on of the four guys who attacked the stall. He must be the leader. They trashed the place -- sending my favorite sauce toppling on the ground. Now, it just looks like a muddle.

I am rooted on the spot while everyone else screamed and ran for life. I am so angry. Do I turn these craps into toad? My eyes itch and if it wasn't for a young man who fought back, I would already have made transformed them.

"Yo! Get out of the way or help sir!" Shouted the hero at me. Noble? I have not interacted with much nobles but he has a certain accent that's very different from the lay.

He fought three guys all at once. More like, making them catch a pig. While that pig gets away and lands a fist or a kick after. It looks like a chase. Someone grabbed my right arm and swung a fist, but I was faster. I ducked and turned 180 to give the kick a force. One of the four bullies was now groaning on the ground. No helping but fight now. I got skewer-man up and helped him walk to the side when another reached my cap. Oh no.

My black with a tinge of violet hair cascaded in waves. I have to get that cap! I turned and, with a nimbleness of an assassin, I ran towards the man holding it and tackled. I am not good with fists but I am faster and my kicks are accurate.

The hero was the next one to grab my arm, "The hell you think you're doing?!" He shoved me towards the townspeople who have surrounded the fight. The two men he was fighting are definitely angry now after being dealt with blow after blow by this so-called hero. "Enough kid and girl! He owed us!"

"Okay. But there's a legal process for that. Oh, here comes the constables."

"Crap!" They all turned towards a delegation of eight constables, while the young man silently walked to the crowd and disappeared. So, everything must be in order now.

"Hey! Here." I turned at the whisper and saw him with my cap. I have got to hide before I was reported! no one in this kingdom have violet hairs. No one. Except the females of the royal family. Also, only mages at that. I am not a mage. Well, I cannot do the average magic -- I can only make other's magic disappear. The best shield.

And I have to hide.

I ran to him and said, "Thank you sir. I need the cap back and disappear. Please turn a blind eye."

"Go. You can reach the stables through here." He pointed to a narrow passageway. "Let's go."

I follow him because he left no room for discussion.

After mounting Fie, I thanked my accomplice, "It is a pleasure --"

"Pleasure's all mine princess. Please do not do this again. At least, do not get into street fights. Here--" He handed me a stalk of a plant. No, it's a flower, with tiny blue florettes at the tip. "They bloom twice, in spring and in midsummer. Take it as a gift of gratitude for helping me and that man in the stall."

I was speechless. I never had gifts. "Are you related?" I take the flower and then hold Fie's reins to act normal.

"Something like that."

His eyes are the color of the sea with gray clouds on the rims. His hair is not really blond, but not quite white. It's like winter. "I got to go. I'm Dy."

"Nice to meet you, Dy." He steps back to the shadows with eyes still alert. I never got his name.

---
After a knock, I was ordered in and I curtseyd to my mom, the Queen. She gestured me to the balcony where the fresh scent of flowers fill the air.

It was a calm silence, just like before a storm.

"Mom, why lavenders?" I asked.

The Queen chuckled before replying, "It has not been always lavenders but it is what this kingdom needs right now -- life and eternal devotion. It is what lavenders symbolizes int he flower language."

There is plenty of that here, right? I can't help but think back to the guy in the market. Does he know about this? Or maybe, it just so happens that there are so much lavenders around at this time of the year?

"These are early lavenders." My mother continued while looking at the vast land covered in blue.

"And they usually bloom twice." I added.

Surprised, my mom looked at my direction, "Very good. You keep to your lessons." Then she turned fully to me, "So, when will you stay home and not go out of the palace in disguise?"

Uh-oh.

"Dyara, princess or not, ladies should maintain a decorum of not leaving home unattended, not disguising as male, and not fighting brawls," scolded my mother in a stern but calm tone.

There is really nothing I can say to ease my guilt. I had been selfish and reckless today

"Were you successful in the fight?"

I blinked once, still bowed.

"Don't make me ask again, Dyara," this mother of mine insisted.

"Y-yes. I had some help... mother," I looked up then and saw the wrinkles at the corner of my mom, the Queen's, eyes. They only appear when she's smiling. "I'm sorry, mother. There is just so little I can do to help the poor man. I couldn't just stand there." Tears thretened but I clenched my fist with resolve.

"Then, knowing that these things do happen and you are not always there, what do you think would have happened to another man in the same predicament?"

"Well, I... I- I guess someone will... help?" She said, defeated, realizing that it didn't need to be her. Maybe someone else, like the man who helped her, would have.

"That is correct. That or the man would have fight till death and still not be able to win against an unjust attack. But at least, he learns," she moves towards me and takes my hands, "Never prevent anything from learning.

I have lost a daughter once and I would never lose another before me. You go and learn anything there to learn about the world but do not just be careful -- be wise. If you keep on being reckless, you only hurt more than help. Do more bad than good." She pressed on my fingers. I feel like I am 11 years old once again. "Do you understand?"