'Find a mask and wear it well so your true identity no one can tell'
"ugh, i miss my long hair" Katie groaned looking in the mirror at herself.
"you were the one who said you wanted it short, " her older sister allura said rolling her eyes while brushing the younger girls hair
Katie huffed "yeah yeah," she said with an annoyed sigh "but why did I say that "
allura shook her head " I cant read your childish mind now can i " she said accidentally dropping the golden brush onto the floor
"you dropped something " Katie laughed as allura bent down to pick up the brush. allura placed the brush on the dresser making the young girl turn to look at the older girl
"I noticed," allura said putting her hands on her younger sisters checks and squishing them together, Katie blushes a little trying to grab a hold of alluras arms. grabbing a hold of alluras arms she gently tugs at them making allura move her hands
"the only one who can do that is ke-" she started but stopped herself but allura herd it making her smirk, Katie, or pidge as she liked to be known, never really seemed like the girly type so her having a crush was something rare and of course, allura wanted to take advantage of this
"what was that? "
pidges eyes widened realising that allura had herd her "n-nothing " she coughed before pouting and sitting up straight in the chair and looking at herself in the mirror again "make me beautiful"
allura blinked at the sudden outburst from the girl but quickly recovered from it and her smooth demeanour returned "then I don't need to do anything "she smiled resting her chin on pidges shoulder and looking at the two of them in the mirror
pidge cocked her head sideways "repeat that ? " she asked unsure of what she had actually herd
"I don't need to do anything to making you pretty Katie" allura smiled removing her chin from pidges shoulders and replacing them with her hands
pidge cleared her throat "why is that? " she asked looking at allura through the mirror. katie had never really seen herself as pretty, sure she knew she was appealing, appealing enough to have boys look at her when she walked past however she thought that was just because she was a princess
allura put her hands on Katies checks "you mothers eyes, fathers face and my lips " she smiled at the girl "all the best parts"
katie blushed "r-really" she smiled, her eyes lighting up with awe and amazement
allura giggled while getting closer to pidges face"yeah, you'll find a lucky guy someday " she whispered in the girl's ear
katie blushed a deep crimson red "wh-what" she was starting to feel nervous all of a sudden "all-allura are you out of your mind?" she spluttered out allura giggled
teasing Katie was something that allura would do from time to time but she did still love her of course, she still loved her sister but always being nice was a tad bit boring "hopefully at least" allura giggled
katie laughs nervously "he...he..yeah..." she cleared her throat " I hope as well, I guess " she mumbled
"im serious"
"I know.. I know" she looked away "I know.."
allura nudged the girl "so have you got your eye on anyone in the kingdom ? " she said following her sisters gaze "or perhaps someone in a neighbouring kingdom?"
"I haven't really seen anyone " pidge shrugged "who knows maybe I'll know the guy when I see them at the ball"
"love at first sight? like Romeo and Juliet? " allura said playing with the girl's hair. it was no secret that allura loved to read, she loved going to these far off places where the prince always saves the princess. she definitely didn't want to end up like most girls did, using their bodies to beg for money, it was disgusting to see them sell themselves so low like that.
however, that was how the world worked, the women were nothing more than property that could be sold to the highest bidder. women were the second-hand people, let the men do the important things the women need to be kept safe.
"who and who? allura I think you forget I don't read as much as you" Katie said looking back at her sister
"a book im in the middle of about star-crossed lovers in Verona" allura sighed happily but shakes her head before she started daydreaming about her book again which she seemed to find herself doing a lot of the time lately "are you sure you don't like anyone pidge , you can tell me lance never tells me anything"
katie turns to look at her older sister "yeah I think Lance has secrets " she says smiling again"makes me wonder what he's hiding"
"perhaps we should just leave lance to do his thing " allura suggested knowing her brother liked his privacy "but on the other side me and him used to be so much closer as children"
pidge looked at the girl once again cocking her head sideways "you did ?" allura nodded at her slowly "close? I would have never thought that of you two given how much you interact now"
allura giggled slightly "we do talk sometimes in the hallway when we pass, im just mostly in here reading" she sighed looking over to her book shelf before looking back to Katie "it was while Lance was still a toddler, I would take care of him. actually, it was more like me dressing him up"
"you took care of lance? "
"and what are you implying here missy ?" allura teased
"I never really knew, where were our parents?"
"doing royal business, our maids were still there, of course, watching us but it was me who actually played with lance "
"so what happened when I came along?" pidge asked feeling her mood suddenly drop coming to the realisation that it might have been her fault that lance and allura weren't as close as they used to be
"well I was 6 and lance was 4 so at first we stayed close but we both grew up and grew apart so don't go thinking it was your fault, " allura said sensing her sister's mood simply from her tone of voice "boys tend to do that when they grow up anyway"
"he seems to have made a name for himself anyway," she said with a small smile tugging at the edges of her mouth
"what as the grump" allura smiled "the one girls swoon for, the cocky one? yeah what a name"
"no no no not that, " Katie said giving out a sigh "the thing is, with me being the youngest all the names have been taken. your the smart one, you would obviously be diplomatic. lance is the handsome one, who would be dumb enough to resist him anyway " she looked away from allura again "all I really have left is marriage, I don't really want that, not yet at least, not until I find the one, whoever that is" pidge said once again sighing
"i can imagine" allura said rubbing her own arm " I refused to have an arranged marriage, I want to get to know my future husband" she looked away "or wife " she mumbled the last part
"wife..." katie thought about that for a short while, being inside the castle for so long she didn't have an idea about what her sexuality even was . she had always just assumed that she would know when saw the 'one' . "hmm" she stood up
allura looked up at her and giggled "oh no, she has an idea "pidge turned to look at the girl with a confused look
" huh. no ideas, not yet " she said brushing a loose strand of hair behind her ear "im going to bid you, farewell sister
"we share this room" allura smirked standing up
the girl's room was pretty big, the same size as the smaller ballroom that allura loved to dance during the late hours of the night when no one was awake to bug her
Katie however, when she had become more aware of colours, protested against the pink that allura had loved as a child. the fabric had been drapped above the beds due to alluras waking nightmares. a compromise was made for Katie, the pink fabric had been taken down and given to allura for dressmaking which seemed to be an upcoming passion of hers
"I guess I'll go outside, "Katie said walking over to the mahogany door " I need some air" she clutched the handle in her smaller hands for a few seconds before twisting it making it open. she lingered for a few seconds before walking out
allura let out a breath she didn't realise she was even holding in.
Katie briskly walked down the castle stares sure she enjoyed being around her sister but she seemed to enjoy being alone more.
before going to the door a thought occurred to her, she was hungry, no she was starving and needed food. not getting up for breakfast was really starting to hit her, and hit her hard it did.
she made a sharp turn and headed towards the kitchen
The kitchen was as busy as the local cattle market, due to allura 18th being less than 24 hours away shay and her husband, hunk, were swamped off their feet, more than normal
"shay can you pass me the spoon next to you " hunk said with his back to her. she looked at her hands for the spoon, it took her a few seconds before she found it, picked it up and pass it to him
"sure I can" she said smiling before going back to her own work
"thanks, honey"
"afternoon hunk, shay I was wondering if you had anything I could grab to snack on, im going out for a horse ride " both shay and hunk looked up at the new voice in the kitchen
"Hmm I think we have some pastries that you like, " shay said looking over at the oven. she took a quick sniff "your in luck they just finished" she walked over to the oven with pidge following slowly behind her . shay took the tray out and placed them down on one of the sides , pidge took one
"thank you shay"
"just be careful ridding princess" pidge nodded at her before making her way to the door . she emerged from the kitchen and a few seconds later bumped into someone
"sorry miranda" she said stepping back and looking up "oh hi allura fancy bumping into you here"
allura rolled her eyes "want to go out to town ? "
"i suppose that sounds fun " katie shrugged before taking a bite of her pastry