More than a pretty face

The story of a princesses maid who must sacrifice everything for her love, her people and her life.

With a fluttering sigh, Princess Rose of Essalia sank onto her plush, rose-patterned bed and said, "That commoner was OBVIOUSLY coming on to me, back there in the village. How DARE he! Doesn't he know who I am? I am the princess of Essalia! No COMMONER is allowed to talk to me, much less flirt with me!" "Yes m'lady," replied the maid, who had actually become quite taken with the commoner, who was at least as handsome as the prince of the neighboring country, Prince Taggun of Shankone, who Rose had set her sights on. "What do you think, Shauna?" The princess demanded of the maid. Shauna snapped to attention at the sound of her name. "I completely agree with you, Princess Rose. A commoner such as him has no right to look at you in that way." But he has the right to look at me, she thought, wishing he had. "You know what, Shauna? You and I are going to go find that commoner and give him a piece of our minds!" "Yes, m'lady." With that, Rose flounced to the mirror to redo her hair.

An hour later, they were at the village searching for the commoner. They found him at the local market. "Shauna, go talk to him! Bring him over here! Tell him that the Princess wishes to speak to him!" Shauna scurried off to talk to the young man. "Um- excuse me?" He turned to her. "Yes, miss?" "Ah- the princess wishes to speak with you." "Well I don't wish to speak with her." Flabbergasted by the rude response, Shauna stared at him, mouth agape. He turned, crooking her chin up with one finger, and smiled flirtatiously at her. "But for the sake of one so pretty as yourself, I will." He stalked forwardly over to Roses' carriage. "I was told you wish to speak with me?" Shauna, still shocked by his ostentatious actions, ran after him.

Rose was shocked for a moment at his lack of respect, then said, "You have no right to speak to me that way! And you have no right to speak to me as you did yesterday!" "Yesterday? I didn't speak to you yesterday." "Oh, yes you did!"

Flashback

The commoner walked up to the carriage, and looked up at its occupants. "My," he said admiringly, "You're, a pretty one aren't you?" Rose stared, flabbergasted, back at him. "Oh come on!" He laughed. "It's not as if I've insulted anyone!" He walked off, laughing to himself.

End Flashback

He snorted. "I wasn't talking to you! I was talking to her!" He pointed backwards – at Shauna, who stood stunned. He turned his back on the rather offended Princess and walked back to Shauna, lifting her face up with a crooked finger under her chin, and said, "That's right. I find you far more attractive than I ever would some snobbish Princess whose so primped up that she believes every compliment that is said is directed towards her own self. I much prefer the less conceited type." Shauna, absolutely shocked, couldn't say anything in reply. He released her. "I'm Athroaten. We will meet again, miss." Then he walked away with a wave of his hand. "Ta."

Shauna raced to the carriage and kneeled in front of it, hands clasped as if in prayer. "Please, Princess, don't punish me for this! I couldn't defend your honour, I was so surprised that anyone could like me over you, because you're so beautiful and I'm just a faceless servant-" "Oh come off it, Shauna," the princess snapped. "It's not YOUR fault that man's an idiot. Now get back into the carriage before I am further embarrased by this." Shauna clambered onto the carriage as fast as she could.

In another half hour, they wre back at the palace. Rose was pacing angrily on the soft shag rug of her palace room. "How dare a mere commoner snub me like that? I am the most beautiful woman in the whole country! And instead, he talks to the person next to me!" Shauna kept to herself that the princess had been just as angry when she thought the man was talking to her. "You're dismissed, Shauna. I need to calm down. It is unladylike for a noble to be disgruntled by a mere commoner."

Shauna nodded and walked out.

That night she lay in bed, thinking of Athroaten, and what she would do if she saw him again. She was startled out of her reverie by her sleepy colleague/friend, Coaken. "Shauna? There's a man here to see you." Shauna got out of bed and dressed, then the followed Coaken down to the servants quarters side door. She opened it – and there stood Athroaten, a slight smirk on his face. She gaped at him. He beckoned her to come outside, and she followed. He brought her to a tall, branchy oak tree and boosted her up onto its low boughs, then leapt up after her. He continued to push her up until they were at the top of the tree. By then she had recovered – moderately. "So what is the point of this visit, anyways?" "To make sure I didn't get you in hot water with Princess Rose." "No. She blames you and is probably trying to think up some way to punish you for making a fool of her." "Meh. I have no fear of her. She has no power over me." "Since when!" "Since I'm not an Essalian citizen. I'm a visitor from Shankone. I'm actually a close friend of Prince Taggun. And I assure you, Rose may get her wish of snagging him – he's been raving about her for months, ever since that last ball." "Well! She'll be happy about that, next time they meet!" 'Tell you what – when I go back to Shankone, I'll tell the Prince that Rose loves him too – unfortunately I do have to go back. Then their relationship can truly begin." He smirked. "Well, I guess I'd better go, before your absence is noted. I think that girl who went to fetch you was half asleep, and didn't notice the strangeness of a random visitor in the middle of the night. Soon she may realise." Shauna laughed. "Not Coaten. She'll probably be asleep already. Pretty much nothing can keep that girl from her sleep." "Alright then. But I should still leave." "Alright. Goodbye." He helped her down from the tree. He hesitated before turning around. "By the way – When I go back to Shankone, I plan to take someone back with me" He turned to her – and kissed her, fully and warmly, right on the lips, clasping her shoulders, and, in one of the more cliched phrases of this story, if he hadn't been holding her up, she would have fallen down. But she couldn't help but respond to his kiss. Finally he broke it, and turned. "I'm hoping that someone will be you."

Then he was gone.

Shauna stood there for about five minutes before scurrying back to her bed. It took her about an hour to fall asleep as new thoughts – and feelings – bubbled through her confused mind.

The next day, she continued to serve Princess Rose, dreading the thought that Athroaten might show up when they were at the market the next day shopping for a new gown for each of them, for the ball in a weeks time – which would feature… drumroll Rose and Taggun!

They headed for their most frequented tailor shop, the Flower Ribbon Tailors, and entered calmly. Still no sign of Athroaten. They browsed among the gowns and found none they liked, so found the fabric and designs they liked – Rose with a dark-red brocade embroidered in glimmering golden brocade in fanciful patterns and spirals, which would be made into a sleeveless dress form-fitting torso, made to her exact measurements, and a thin-waisted skirt with a flared bottom, accompanied by a golden sash; Shauna had a matching dress of the same design, except that the fabric was reversed: gold brocade with red patterns. The dresses were to be picked up in a week, and they returned to the palace, Rose chattering excitedly about her meeting with Prince Taggun, Shauna nodding and pretending to care while gloating to herself that she knew something Rose didn't – her not-so-secret crush was crazy for her, too.

The rest of the week was equally uneventful as Rose continued to chatter mindlessly about "her" Taggun, while Shaunas' thoughts were immeasurably focused on "her" Athroaten. And, finally, the night of the ball arrived. And, when Shauna and Rose got there, they were greeted by… -Big Surprise!- Taggun and Athroaten.

Authors Note: This is my very first fic, so I would really, really appreciate it if you could review it, because I'm not sure if I should keep going our try something different. I know not many people will read it, but if you do, don't be shy to tell me you hate it, its the only way I can learn. So please review!

Thanks!

Luna

(and I know its really short, but I didn't want to go through a lot of effort to write something that I may not continue.)