Edited by the wonderful tumblr user eatingfireflies. Go check them out or don't whatever you want, but if you don't check them out I'm gonna go to your house and force you to check them out.

I once served a prince.

He was the ruler of a city in the middle of dry, hot desert. The city was well known for the abundance of crystal clear water. How such clear water reached a place in the middle of the hottest desert of known lands was a mystery, and still is. There is no known flow of water near the city and oases are rare around that area. Some in the north say Haurvatat, the divine entity associated with water, blessed the site in ancient times. Others in the neighboring settlements believed that the city was haunted by ghouls and that they bled clear water. I had the luck to meet a certain merchant with a special love for water who seemed to always have more than enough of it and provided the whole city with it.

The prince's kingdom was well ruled. His people were well fed, and business prospered though the town. With neither wars nor trading competition to worry about, the prince had enough time and money to find and buy himself entertainment.

I was caught in the middle of his never-ending purchases.

I remember the day clearly. It had taken my owner and I a couple of days to get across the vast desert between the two towns. The previous town where I had serviced for the past years had declared war recently, which was never good for business. Because of that, my master decided to go to the next town which was two days away.

I quickly found myself in a grand hallway within one of the biggest palaces I had ever seen.

My owner pushed me into a line of people who were waiting. By my sides I saw small girls, and grown women, even a couple of other boys, younger and older than I was. We were all clothed in the best silks we owned; after all serving a prince was the highest honor people like us could hold.

There was a code among people of service like us. The colors we wore meant everything, we were like open books.

The older servants wore deep blues and purples, sometimes even dark red. The colors symbolized experience, passion and dominance. The younger set of people, including myself, had cream and light blue, white, and pink. Those colors symbolized youth and innocence.

My own outfit was a long sleeved shirt, which was a light shade of pink, and light blue loose pants. Jewelry was also worn by most of us, the ones who could afford any at all. Gold was worn by everyone except for two people. One of them was a boy, a little taller than me, who seemed a nervous wreck. This must have been his first sale. The other was a small girl, no more than ten, who wore silver instead of gold.

At the sight of those two, I closed my eyes and pressed my lips together. A girl of ten, probably forced into the business, probably an orphan, being sold to a prince as a virgin; there was nothing more disgusting than that. Silver has always symbolized pureness, and it was always great for the owners since they could claim a huge amount of money for a virgin, but for the property themselves… The first was always the worst.

I wore my own jewelry, a simple gold bracelet on my left wrist and a loose gold belt I had fallen in love with when I saw it on a merchant's shop in one of the many cities I had been to. I was surprised my owner hadn't drowned me in newly brought gold and made me wear his own clothes that were of much better quality.

Either way, I was terrified. I had been sold and bought more times than I could count with both of my hands. I had been starved, beaten, and whipped, but I had never served a prince before.

My thoughts were stopped when the loud clinging of gold and jewels echoed throughout the grand hall. My body tensed and I quickly positioned myself within the line. A hand grasped my shoulder from behind, the man whispered to me, "You know what to do. Don't mess it up or you're gonna get it tonight." A shiver went down my spine as soon as he finished the sentence. His raspy voice still hunts my dreams.

The prince walked into the hall with a large smirk on his face. A tall guard accompanied him. The guard pushed up his red framed glasses as he whispered something to the prince. Their whispers grew louder into plain talking as they approached the line.

"Your mother will not approve of this." The guard wore a pair of loose white silk pants that were held up by a thick purple belt on his waist. A leather canteen hanged from the purple belt. The guard's high collar jacket was several shades lighter than the belt. The jacket had two golden stripes sewed onto the fabric along his shoulders. His chest was exposed and for the first time I spotted the small object that would later become my salvation hanging from his neck.

The prince ceased walking when he reached at the first woman in the line. He looked at her from her feet up to her eyes, his eyes pausing in the general direction of her waist. He waved his hand in the air, dismissing her and her owner from the hall. He continued this practice until he reached me. I remember my heart beating harder than it ever beat before; I waited for his hand to wave me away.

I could see him clearly now. The turban he wore was bright red with thick golden lines sewed onto the edges of the fabric. I have never seen silk that looked so beautiful before. It looked smooth and soft, I wanted to reach out, yank it off his head and run away with it. He also wore white pants, similar to his guard's and a large piece of black cloth hung from his shoulders. It seemed like he had two holes cut off the material so he can wear it as a jacket. The quality of the golden patterns sewed onto it was so good I wouldn't be surprised if someone cried over it. When the prince leaned over I could see that the cloth was tinted red in the inside. I wondered how they managed to do that.

Every time he moved, the gold bands on his wrist and the jewels around his neck tinkled against the toned muscles of his chest. The sword that hung from his hips moved with his body threatening to fall to the ground.

"Hey are you listening!?" A rough voice snapped me out of my thoughts. When I looked up the prince was staring at me with intense red eyes that froze me in place.

"I asked how old you are. You're awfully small." The prince booped my nose and waited for an answer.

"Uhh…" I had never been asked that question before; most client didn't care for anyone's age.

"Old enough" My owner responded with the special voice he used only for important clients.

The prince's eyes traveled up to the man behind me.

"Did I ask you?" A tone of anger lingered in his words.

"I ap-"The man was interrupted as the prince looked down at me and asked again.

"So?"

"I…" I was terrified. Whenever a question was asked it was the owner, not me, who answered them. I needed to win the prince over, I needed him to purchase me or the punishment would be…brutal to say the least.

"I'm…e-eighteen?" Lying had never been my forte.

"Wow I didn't know it was possible to be such a bad liar. I'm impressed. Rei!"

The guard pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and walked next to prince.

"He's that guy's son isn't he?" The prince didn't take his eyes off me.

"It appears so your majesty." The guard, whose name I just learned was Rei, also gave me with a questioning look. It was fair to say that I had no idea what they were talking about because I had never known who my parents were.

"If you call me that again I will have you beheaded, or stoned, whatever you prefer." The prince put out his hand as if waiting for something to suddenly appear on it.

"Matsuoka-sama, your mother -", Rei began talking, this time looking at the prince whose family name was apparently Matsuoka. I couldn't recall any kingdom that was ruled by the Matsuoka family, but then again I had never gone to a history lesson and I always tried to avoid knowing anything about the clients at all.

"I don't care. Do I need to force you? Because I will." Something told me that the prince was serious about forcing his guard.

Rei obediently handed Matsuoka-sama a small leather pouch. The contents jingled as the prince threw the pouch to my owner. Coins.

I had done it.

"Now get out of here!" The shout was forceful and a little scary. Everyone walked out of the grand room. When everyone was gone the sound of gold tinkling stopped.

Isn't life wonderful when you know exactly what to write? (hint: the answer is yes) So I'm really excited about this because I just have everything written down and I'm really excited to know what u guys think. I don't really know how long it's gonna be but I've already written the second chapter and I didn't write any of the things I had planned so probably longer than expected.

Anyway! Ugh this request ruined my life~