As news of the newest suitor coming to the moon to seek the hand of Serenity circulated around the grounds, said princess was in pursuit of a very different ploy.
"Your beauty is legendary. You are a princess. You are regal. You're blond, blue eyed; about the same height, just a tad taller, which is easily rectified if you say you grew, I grew." A crease made a dent in her forehead caused by grammatical confusion. "I've never met the earth prince, neither have you. As far as I know he hasn't seen us. You could do it."
"I'm not you." Her companion pointed out gently.
"You don't have to be. Not on the inside. You will still be you just have to go by my name and pretend you're the princess of this satellite. Your decisions and attitude doesn't have to change just because you're in a different position. It will only be for the duration of his stay."
"And what if he likes me? I mean actually likes, me? And I like him back?" Straight white teeth worked at her lower lip.
"Then you tell him. He'll understand that you were doing me a favor and if he still tries to go after the crown then you know he didn't like you as much as you thought he did, as much as it might hurt." Serenity took a step back to consider this new side to it. What if he did like Mina? He might get angry at the betrayal but he'd understand eventually, wouldn't he? Mina was an easy person to get along with but she didn't click with everybody. Much less than Serenity did although she got along with everyone as long as they weren't suitors.
"Everybody else will go along with it. " Serenity said it to give her more time to think. "Even Mother will agree because it is an interesting challenge." Serenity looked up into the eyes of her best friend. "You'll see through him." She decided with unmistakable clarity. "If not, I won't hesitate to tell you what a pig he is. If he's ok, then I'll let the two of you be to sort out your own affairs."
"Again you're leading to the fact that I want to get married." Mina nudged.
"You don't have to." Serenity said on exasperation. "You are always running around with a new man, this is just another notch on your proverbial belt.
Mina gave a smug smile, which made her look devious and enticingly witching at the same time. "Where will you be during this escapade? Surely not pretending to be me? I don't think you could handle my life. I on the other hand can more than handle the goody-two-shoes role."
"Don't worry about me messing up your image. I will be around the palace as a servant. Also think before you snide away at your future matriarch's life, it isn't as easy as it's cracked up to be."
Serenity looked across the grass at her consort and took in her lean curves over a small structure, not even close to her own, but seductive to more than one man. Serenity had no fear her friend would be all right. "So you'll do it?" She needed verbal confirmation.
"Of course. When do I start?" Mina's eyes twinkled. "Does this mean that I get to boss you around?"
"Within the limits." Serenity's eyes narrowed as the thought of Mina making her do pointless chores like washing the cats in the mud. That wasn't the reason for this expedition. It was to ensure Serenity had free reign on the palace without the prince lifting an eyebrow at why the princess of the Moon was in his chambers. It wouldn't alert him if the little servant was around to hear part of conversations, servants were legendary for their invisibility.
Serenity was always friendly to them and saw the other royalty not even notice if a servant was directly in front of them while the most protected secret in the universe was being discussed in isolation.
Serenity knew of servants who served their masters tea while they were having an affair in the same room. The crusted upper-class snobs didn't even notice when a huge crash was heard, just merely glancing to see if anything priceless was broken and then returning to their business, ensured the help would clean it up so the floor glittered their faces back at them spotless until their muddy feet treaded over it seconds later.
Serenity was hoping for this prince to be just as clueless as the rest. Not even her mother or Mina or any of the other girls paid much heed to their surroundings taking it all for granted. Serenity didn't know how she was bestowed upon this trait but she didn't squander it.
It was the trait to see the small details that led her to the idea to become invisible. Something she had never managed to do before. If any of the palace members thought it wise to question her motives for being in the prince's chamber she could either pull rank, which would only serve to increase interest, or brush it off with the servant's duty excuse.
"The switch starts the day before the prince gets here so some of the unease at having me in the ranks will dispel because they've had a day to deal with it before another royalty shows up."
"Where will you be sleeping? I'm hard-pressed to believe that you're mother will allow you sleeping in the servant's quarters even if she thinks your ploys are entertaining." Mina trampled that notion down effectively.
"I'll be sleeping in the opposite wing of our dear guest so I can sneak out at night without his notice and so he doesn't realize I get special treatment."
"Why don't you just sleep in my quarters? It's around the bend so he won't care if you go that way thinking your attending to something and won't see you enter and never come out. It's the same numbers of rooms used as people the servants can't bicker about that too much then." Serenity thought for a moment, but she'd put a word in with the servants not to tend to that room, no matter how much they thought it was necessary. "Good plan Mina." Serenity winked, things might work out yet.