What a Pair We Make
Chapter 1
"Taj! Taja, slow down!" Nasrin called as her friend practically dragged her across the marble floors of the palace, their steps reminding her of the brief rainstorms that occasionally blessed her desert city home.
"I can't slow down Your Highness; your father will skin you alive if you don't get to the banquet on time!" Taja mockingly scolded as she rushed along.
"You know how important it is to him, how important it is that…" "That I make nice with all of those unbearable sycophantic nobles and pretend that my father loves me for five hours?" Nasrin cut her off, returning Taja's glare with a sarcastic smirk.
"Please, the only reason Father wants me there is so that he can look good in front of those phonies he calls his court. He couldn't give a camel's ass about me and you know it."
Taja and Nasrin turned right and entered another corridor, the one with high windows and portraits of past sultans. The sun was high, casting a blinding glare on the golden arches adorning the hallway and illuminating Nasrin's honey-brown skin. "Naz, please, not now. You really need to be on your best behavior, okay? This is serious, you heard it yourself, Sultan Ali said that the royal coffers are going bare and the only way to stop it is to ask the nobles for help. So if that means you have to...'play nice', then yes it is important."
Nasrin rolled her eyes but didn't respond, not in the mood for a lecture from her best friend. She understood the dire situation the kingdom was in, and she understood her duties as crown princess, mainly to stand behind her father since her mother wasn't there to do it, but she hated the onslaught of banquets and meetings and balls and tea ceremonies and court gatherings that seemed to be her life lately. Dressing up and parading around, pretending to like people who only wanted her father's crown and his money, smiling in the faces of those gossipy noblewomen who clicked their tongues and talked about her the minute she walked away, was not how Nasrin would like to spend her days. She'd much rather read adventure novels, dreaming about a life she could never have. This, in fact, was the reason she was running late now; she was in the middle of an excellent book where the exciting fight scene was about to begin, when Taja busted into the library, demanding that she "get off her lazy ass immediately" and get ready for the banquet she so conveniently forgot about.
The girls turned right again and Nasrin was greeted by a most unwelcome sight; the ornate double doors to one of the many banquet halls of the palace. Taja quickly turned to face Nasrin and began inspecting her, straightening out any wrinkles in her dress, trying (and failing) to tuck her outrageously curly and unruly hair behind her gleaming crown, and ignoring her attempts to shrug her off.
One of the four guards stationed by the door cleared his throat awkwardly. "Excuse me, Crown Princess, it's time for you to be announced to the court." "Well, that'll have to do" Taja sighed, looking at Nasrin with a critical eye. "Next time Naz, try to get ready earlier so you can look half-decent for these things. It reflects bad on me when you look bad; after all I am your handmaiden."
"I think I look absolutely dah-shing, don't you dah-ling?" Nasrin retorted with a snooty drawl to her voice. Taja snickered and shook her head. "This is why you don't get along with anyone."
"Because of my glowing personality?" "Because you're so damn sarcastic, that's why." The same guard cleared his throat again, interrupting their banter. "Princess, it's time."
"If you're truly my friend, you'll find a way to kill me in the next thirty seconds," Nasrin whispered to Taja while the guards ushered her towards the now open doors.
"And jeopardize my job? I wouldn't dare!" "Oh, I feel so loved." "GO, dammit, you're late!" "FINE! I'm gone!" And with that, Nasrin straightened her back, picked up her chin, and entered the banquet hall.
A.N: Hey readers (if there are any) this is my first time writing anything that's not school related so I'm pretty nervous about this. Let me know if I should continue this, add more to it, or take it down, and any feedback good AND bad will be greatly appreciated :) And if anyone is willing to beta me PLEASE LET ME KNOW I WILL WORSHIP THE GROUND YOU WALK ON!
P.S I know this is a OUAT story, so don't think I forgot our favorite villain! Peter's chapter is up next!
P.P.S WHO ELSE REFUSES TO BELIEVE THAT RUMPLE AND PETER ARE DEAD?!
-Liv.
