Names
Children of Tamina and Dastan
-Firstborn Boy- Raheem (merciful, kind, compassionate)
-Second born Boy- Sher (lion)
-Firstborn girl- Astera (star)
Leading girl: Her Royal Highness Princess Amelia Sophia Eleanor of Hanover (called Emily? Perhaps Mimi by Astera)
Father- His Majesty George II King of Great Britain,
Mother – Her Majesty Queen Caroline
I was sitting at my dresser while my maid, Jacqueline combed my long hair before I got into bed, when my younger sister, Margaret, burst into the room wearing her only nightdress.
"Emily! Father is talking about a war! He is saying how we need to be sent away to live with allies for our own protection! Oh, what shall we do?" She crumpled to the ground in sobs.
I sat at my dresser for another moment, trying to understand what she had just said. I mean I was only sixteen; this was a lot to take in at one time. I looked at Jacqueline, who had stopped mid comb of my hair and seemed to be in shock. I decided to be as mature as I could in this position, and be strong for little Margaret.
"Well, if Father thinks this is for the best, then it has to be. He is the King of England. There isn't much we can do about it. Its alright."
I went over to Margaret, knelt down and began to stroke her hair while pulling her into my lap.
"Maggie." I used my baby name for her since it usually calmed her.
"It's going to be all right, we will be together and that's all that matters. It will be like a little trip with just us kids. We have been away from the palace before. Cheer up." I smiled for her as she raised her head to look at my through tear filled eyes. She shook her head at me and still in her watery voice,
"I wouldn't be this upset if we were together! You are being sent to Persia by yourself; and I am going to Spain with Baby Joseph. George is being sent to Belgium, Father wants the two of you sent the farthest away so that your are the safest since you two are the oldest. If something happened to Father, George and you would be the next in line after Mother so its important that you two are safe. Oh god, we are all going to be so far apart! I will miss you so much!"
She crumpled again into my lap and began to soak my nightdress with her tears. I once again was in shock. I looked back at Jacqueline who was crying by my dresser, clutching my comb. The only thing I could do was stroke my sister's light hair and murmur words of comfort. I have no idea how long we stayed like that, it might have been a few minutes, a hour, maybe more. Sometime though, Margaret's maid, Kate came in and picked up Margaret and after a awkward bow to me since she was still holding Margaret, carried her to her room. I felt a warm hand on my shoulder soon after and heard Jacqueline's cool comforting voice say,
"Come on, little Miss. It's past time for bed. Your sister needs to listen in on your father's conversations at better times of the day. She always seems to bring bad news before bed doesn't she?" She managed a chuckle and I couldn't keep back a smile.
"Yes, she does, that little weasel. She loves how sneaky she is but little does she know that almost all of her spots are my old ones that I can't fit into anymore and everyone knows about them."
Jacqueline was able to turn back into her usual brisk self and while she helped me off the floor she said,
"All that sneaking is going to get her in trouble some day. If all of the staff wasn't so fond of her, she would never get away with it. Anyways, you don't need to be told these things right before bed, they will keep you from sleeping. Come now and get in bed. You will be exhausted in the morning if you don't."
I sighed and reluctantly slipped into the white poster bed. Jacqueline fussed while tucking me in and after making sure I was warm for about the fifteenth time, she gave me a swift kiss on the cheek and said,
"Sweet dreams poppet. Sleep well and we will deal with the problems in the morning. Just concentrate on sleeping well, alright?"
I nodded back at her and gave her a smile.
"Goodnight Jacqueline."
"Goodnight, my sweet princess"
When the door softly closed, I turned right and left to get comfortable. When I finally was, I couldn't get my brain to stop whirling. It was full of questions. When would I be leaving? Am I really going alone? Can I bring Jacqueline and few other maids? What do they wear in Persia? Will the King and Queen there like me? How long will I be gone? Can I write my siblings? I decided that I would talk to be my older brother George, he is seventeen now so he is learning how to be a king, he must be aware of this move right? After all of these thoughts and more, I finally fell into a fitful sleep.
I woke up the next morning with a warm body pressed to me on my right. I was alarmed and tensed for a moment before I looked at the crown of blonde hair next to me, which was the opposite of my light brunette head. I smiled when Margaret moved and wiggled next to me. I was about to wake her up and say good morning when I felt another bit of movement in the bed. I looked to my left and saw a small body with just a little tuft of brown hair, which color mirrored mine, sticking out of the sheets. I giggled when the little bit of hair seemed to wriggle toward me for warmth. My three-year-old brother Joseph had crawled in along with Margaret last night. I was just about to get up when I saw something on the floor. It was a bit of fleshy colored something, or that's what it seemed to be to me. I slowly inched up on the pillow and saw that it was… a foot? It seemed to be sticking out from under a red blanket and as I slowly inched upward more, I was even more surprised to see that was my older brother George!
He was sleeping soundly on the floor! He seemed to have somehow escaped his guard that stands at his room, and brought his coverlet and pillow from his bed and slept in my room. He must have heard about us all being sent to separate countries. He was probably the one that brought Joseph. The feelings that I felt in that moment were indescribable. I felt so loved and close with my siblings that the thought of leaving them for Persia, felt like leaving part of myself. I choked up and could feel the tears in my eyes forming as I looked at all of my loving family. Just as they were beginning to fall, little Joseph yawned and stretched next to me. His baby blue eyes slowly opened looked into my green ones. Joseph had been the only one of us children who had inherited our father's blue eyes. George, Margaret and I had all gotten our mother's green ones. He smiled a sleepy grin and said with his little baby voice,
"Good mownin, Mimi. George browght me to your woom last night. He said, dat we need to be togever tonight. I like your bed beder than mine, dere is more woom."
He giggled and moved his legs around as though to prove his point. I laughed along with him and pulled him into my arms. I loved little Joseph so much; he was just so innocent and young. I missed being like that. Our giggling and movement woke up George and Margaret. They both stretched and yawned with the same sleepy grins on their faces that I had seen on Joseph's, I momentarily wondered if I looked like that when I woke up.
"Good morning, Ems." George said sleepily and shakily got off the floor, to plop back onto my bed. Margaret, Joseph and I all laughed as we watched our oldest brother struggle to move around on my bed as he was still so overcome with sleepiness. After watching him struggle for a bit, I finally noticed that no one was coming to wake me up or order my siblings out of my room. Where was everybody? I looked at George and asked,
"George, where are all our house servants? Jacqueline and your guard, Fredrick? How did you get Joseph in here? Why is no one coming to find us? Wouldn't they notice that you were all gone from our rooms?"
George looked around as if he was just noticing this also.
"Huh. That's odd. Last night Fredrick left my other guard, David to watch my room last night and David fell asleep on duty. I slipped out then. I just told the nanny in front of Joseph's room that Kate the cook was looking for her and that Joseph was going to sleep with me. She seemed a little uneasy but she left anyway. When I came in, Margaret was already here."
Margaret grinned and looked very proud of herself when she said,
"Well, I told Lizzie that I had to go to the loo and I wanted to go by myself. Then instead I came to your room Emily."
She ended her tale with a triumphant grin and a waggle of the eyebrows, which led us all to burst out in laughter. When the laughter died down, I frowned. If Margaret never came back to her room wouldn't they have come looking for her last night? She has slept in my room before but we used to have to beg for permission from Jacqueline and Lizzie. And wouldn't Joseph's nanny said, no to George? It was all very odd. I looked over to George who also had a frown on his face, he seemed to be mulling over the strange occurrences of last night as well. Our eyes met and he nodded at me at the same time as I clapped my hands together and said,
"Well, I'm hungry aren't you all?"
Joseph nodded and giggled. Margaret said,
"I hope that there is breakfast sausages! I do love those."
"Lets all get dresses and meet in front of the dining room in five minutes. Joseph, I'll help you get ready in case your nanny isn't there."
He took little Joseph's hand and led him out of my room a Joseph asked,
"Why wouldn't nanny be there?"
