Today is the second day of the generals visit, the first full day he should have spent together with my family or at least that is how it was meant to be if Prince Charles had not been so wonderfully up tight,
The warm snacks and cool drink mother had prepared for the picnic that was to hold in the forest are currently switching there temperature,
The cold drinks that we had ice transported just for this day is currently getting warm, and the warm snacks that took a lot of time to make are currently getting cold,
Father was currently cooked up in his office with the prince and the general who, by the way hates this form of work and has stirred up quite the temper within the first thirty minutes working.
He has been there for an hour now and no one knows what horrible state his temper would be in when they are done with the taxes account meeting.
Mother is current having a mental breakdown, I know this because she is brutally quiet, and I am currently in my bedroom sitting on my bed in the most beautiful blue dress that I have ever seen that make the blue in my eyes seem brighter what an awful waste of good clothing,
If things continue like this it's going to be very bad for everyone, and I cannot bare to stay in this room for a minute longer.
I could not go out in this dress even though I doubted that mother would object, it takes more than a few hours to get out of her down state and she doesn't talk to anyone when she is like that,
But still I pull off the beautiful blue gown I had on and put a sporting outfit, the one worn by women for horse riding,
It was brown leather pants so it is easier to clean I pair it off with a plain with cotton shirt, I put on my long boots that stopped at my knee, plait my hair in one simple braid that went down my back to my waist, just as I was about to leave I grabbed the leather jacket that hung on my chair, and walked out the door.
I already knew where everyone was so I didn't bother double checking the stair, or hallway but I still practically run down the stairs happy to be out of my little prison of a room.
I was already outside when I realized I didn't have any idea what to do to pass the time, all the towns people were so busy, even though the guest where inside working, there was still the lunch to prepare, sheets to wash, water to fetch, they barely even notice my existence, the few that did notice me only had enough time to say "hi".
I'd rather not be in their way so I just simply walked out, I was about to give up and enter back inside when it I remembered James.
He would always have time for me, I hopped my way to the barn if I'm lucky he'll be there and he was there, talking with Timothy they both seem to be in a really serious conversation but before I could get close enough to hear what they were talking about James saw me, tapped Timothy and nodded towards me and they both fell silent, okay that was wired.
"hey Eva, what's up"
"hello miss Woodson" Timothy always calls me Miss Woodson for some reason that I don't understand, we are not only friends but also age mates.
"hey guys, what was that about?"
"What?" James asked feigning innocence , while Timothy stood mortified, hmm something was definitely going on.
"what were you two talking about, that made you stop when I came around"
"oh, nothing serious, I'll tell you later okay" James said making timothy looked even more mortified, I laid of the matter so he could relax.
"okay, later"
"James I need to go back to chopping up some wood, and you need to get back to work too"
And with that Timothy picked up one of the two axes that was on the floor and disappeared to his work station, leaving just me and James "what work were you assigned?" I asked him
"To go get some wood from the forest"
"okay, I can go with you then, I was so bored inside"
"sure" he replied picking up his axe and handing me two wheeled boards
"and then you can tell me what you were talking about"
"okay, no problem but can you handle it?" He replied jokingly moving into the forest without waiting for my reply, I hurriedly followed behind to meet up with his long strides.
We've been looking for fallen trees for a short while, I really don't mind it, I love the forest, James however is starting to get irritated at how much I have been pestering him, but I feel like hes about to give in "James, James" there was no response.
"are you really not going to tell me what you were talking about?, James",
"Eva it's really nothing it's just this whole situation with the prince and all" he sounded annoyed but it was obviously not because I was pestering him.
"why are you worried?, you heard my mom say it was all under control, anyway that doesn't even explain why Timothy was weird"
"This is why I didn't tell you before, you'd just toss it aside, and if you want to know why Timothy was weird you can just ask him yourself" now he was back to being annoyed with me.
"why should I ask him when you can just tell me"
"How am I supposed to know that Eva, just forget it" he said in an angry voice then increased his walking speed, leaving me to walk behind him,
I knew when to push and when to stop, this was definitely a time to stop. We walked in silence, in an abundance of trees and nature, finally we found a tree that had fallen from its roots that had huge branches and James got to work with his axe, while I sat there and waited for him, not saying a word.
It had started to get a little darker when he was finally through with cutting of two huge branches that would be enough firewood for at least three days, he took the bundle of rope that was tied to his waist and wrapped it around the wood, while I laid down the wheeled board he had given me before on the
Floor and he pulled the wood unto it, with another rope he fastened the branches and boards together, it made it easier to move and we started our journey back home.
"I'm sorry if I vexed you James" no word "James?"
"I think he likes you" that was out of nowhere, but at least he was talking she thought, James on the other hand knew that she was still going to question him and would say anything to get her mind of the matter.
"who?",
"The prince" I huffed at that "it's quite the opposite, he practically said I was ugly yesterday"
James stopped wheeling turned to look at me for the first time since he got angry with a funny smile on his face
"I was there Eva, to collect his horse and he said no such thing"
"yeah maybe but, you did not see his face when he replied the mocking look he gave me"
"You were gorgeous yesterday, and today and if he didn't see that then he is most certainly blind" he smiled at me and continued walking, he always does that, complimenting me out of the blue, well I guess I will never find out what they were talking about.
It was a twenty minutes' walk from where we were back home, the darkness had almost completely creeped in when we heard a loud voice call out.
"I found them!" and like that more lamp lights started to emerge out of the tree, brightening up the dimly lit forest, Timothy was the first to reach us,
"where have you guys been, they've been looking for you for a while Eva"
"Why?, did something happen at home" Panic started to rush through me, but Timothy didn't have the time to reply when we heard the generals horse and a few of his soldiers approaching with speed, something bad must have happened.
The general halted his horse just a few steps away from me, the prince besides him, but when he spoke he directed it to James
"On your knees boy!" he gave the command with a strict tone, James did not move fast enough, and to my horror one of the soldiers hit him in his guts with the elbow.