Merry Christmas, as a present I've written a new chapter for EVERYBODY - and some NEW STORIES! Cause God help me, the new stories just keep coming and coming and I'm drowning...

Well, I have to say it guys, I've really sucked at sticking to my posting plan. But, my New Years resolution is that I'll stick to it. But I can only do ONE story at a time. So we're gonna have a little contest! There will be a poll on my page with all the sorry titles on it. But in also going to create a rule that each REVIEW, and only a REVIEW, (from a guest or not) will count as a vote for that story. You can follow and favorite to your hearts content, but it won't count. Thank you! Please review and vote! Will be open until the 9th of January.

Disclaimer:

Thank you for choosing to read this story! We only own the OC - Merry Christmas

Chapter One- Say Hello to the girl that I am.

A bright morning began once again in the castle. Day in and Day out, same old, same old, and it was getting a tab bit old. It was like she had never left.

Never the less, she showed up to work, as she always had. She was lucky, when she had left home, the palace had happened to be hiring maids by the dozens to deal with the flood of dignitaries coming in to pay respects. It was all a stroke of luck that they had hired her. Even if it was a temporary job.

However, the Head Maid in her wing would argue day and night that she was kept around due to her flower arranging skills that made her very valuable to the staff. After cleaning the older Prince's room, she had knocked over one of the vases, in a scramble she had left the rest team who rushed to wipe up the water while she went to the gardens and gathered enough flowers to replace the others.

The other maids were confused, all she had to do was place the old ones back into the vase, but she refused. Instead she arranged a splendid array of lilies and iris and several other smaller flowers. The other maids ooed and awwed at it before being herded out by the head maid to clean another room.

But the arrangement had still caught the attention of the older prince. Winning the royal's favor and keeping her around when all the temporary work was done.

She was even given her own room near the garden and placed in charge of the elaborate flower decorations. Basically turning her into a glorified gardener. Which was quite a chore with the hundreds of vases on the first floor alone. She should have know it would be a daunting task since the symbol of their country was a Wisteria, which she used primarily in her designs.

She had never met the princes nor did she really want to. But when she heard the maids gossiping behind her back, she was very tempted to march up to that older prince and give him a piece of her mind for arrogantly favoring her due to stupid flowers.

"Wait. Is that Amarante?"

"She's so lucky," a maid washing a window hissed,"All she has to do is arrange flowers."

And prune them in the garden, and make sure that they thrived and work with the herbalists, and keep a detailed record of seeds in case the herbalists mess up. (But knowing Garrack that would never happen.) As well as designing floral arrangements for special occasions and several other duties. But would Amarante mention that to them? No. No. Let them clean, and have their fantasies.

With her last round of checking on the downstairs vases and she was almost in the clear. All she needed to do now was see if the herbalists had harvested anymore seeds from the flowers that bloomed last season, then she could relax before going to the kitchens for a late dinner, as she did every night.

She brushed the dirt off of her white and green uniform, and went straight to the herbalist offices. She lifted her hand and gave the door two strong raps with her knuckles. The cheery voice of Garrack Gazelt answered her,"Right on time, Amarante! Come one in."

Amarante entered in with her eyes down cast,"Hello Garrack, How are you today?"

"Oh, Amarante, don't be so shy. Come on in, there's someone I want you to meet."

Amarante lifted her eyes to the calm yet somehow lively woman who beckoned her forward, and obliged her" Yes, Ma'am."

Inside the room was the young apprentice Ryuu, and two other people that Amarante had never seen before,"Amarante this is Shirayuki," Garrack motioned toward a pale, red headed girl that was very pretty and had warm eyes," she became an apprentice herbalist while you were out, and was picking up supplies for me when you came back."

Amarante smiled at the new face, and said,"It's nice to meet you."

Shirayuki nodded,"You, too," Shiryuki flicked her hand over to the boy with black hair and golden eyes,"This is Obi. He's a friend and will help out occasionally."

Amarante glanced at Obi, and her heart skipped a beat when she saw his golden eyes,"It's nice to meet you," she nodded to him.

"And you as well."

Shirayuki beamed at Amarante "I must say, your hair is beautiful, I've never seen such a blue-toned hair color before."

Amarante fingered a strand of her hair that fell from its tightly formed bun at the top of her head. It was a graying blue, almost silver toned,"Thank you. I make my own poultice that I work into my hair every month. It turns it this color."

Obi and Shirayuki's eyes went wide,"Really," Shirayuki gasped,"That's amazing!"

Amarante smiled,"It was all an accident really. I was just testing to see if the paste would keep the plants preserved longer in their vases. Some of it got into my hair and stained it."

Obi cocked his head,"Is it permanent?"

Amarante shook her head,"No, it would fade in time. But I think my hair would always have a blue twinge to it."

Obi rubbed his chin,"How interesting."

Shirayuki crossed the room to stand closer to Amarante,"So what do you do here Amarante?"

"I'm just a gardener."

Garrack snorted and took a sip of tea,"Oh please, Amarante don't sell yourself so shortly."

Shirayuki turned to her boss' boss,"What do you mean?"

Amarante blushed and looked down at her feet. Garrack elaborated,"Have you seen the hundreds of cases filled with flowers all over the palace? Who do you think takes care and arranges all of them? Not to mention works in the garden as well."

Shirayuki turned to Amarante in amazement,"You mean you have to take care off all of that by yourself? You must work so hard, those arrangements I see are so beautiful."

Amarante smile was small,"Oh, thank you Miss. Shirayuki. I'm happy to know that my work is admired."

"Alright," Garrack sighed,"That's enough for introductions, we could stay here forever and talk. Shirayuki, I believe you were about to start on inventory?"

"Of course!" Shirayuki smiled, and raced off to the storage room,"Bye Amarante, nice meeting you!"

"You too!" Amarante called back.

Garrack pulled out an envelop from her desk drawer,"Here we go, Amarante, these are seeds your looking for."

Amarante smiles and took the package,"Thank You. I kept my eye on the angelica archangelica and the Asclepius tuberosa that you might need for medicine, but they're all still buds. The Carpel's should be fully developed soon, however."

Garrick nodded, "alright. Just let me know as soon as any of them flower and I'll have Ryu and Shirayuki gather about half of them up."

Amarante nodded, "That sounds good. I'll add them to the planting list." She turned away and walked back to her room.

She sat in the darkness for a moment before the tears started to fall. Miss. Shirayuki was so nice. She really wanted the redhead to be her friend, She hoped she would get to see her again.

She was tired of being lonely.

Thank you for reading! Please review- and vote! If you can't tell I'm pattering this off of Britney and the Beast by Todrick hall, check it out on Youtube.