So starting out this wasnt really realted to Butterflys swing, but it uses the same canon. I liked that Ambrose would call her butterfly because it seems like something speacial anly he would have clled. her.
I dedicate this to friends, mine and yours who accept us for the way we are. Who smile and laugh with us, knowing we are flawed knowing we screw up and love us anyway. And likewise understand they are not perfect and let us into their private worlds anyway.
And dedicated to Magicgirl29 who asked for more young Lavender-eyes and Ambrose stories
I dont own any of this
"1,2,3 and 4 1,2,3 and 4 Arms up Lavender dear." The dance instructor, Madame
Trenchderie called from the other side of the room. "Your sister Olive was never this clumsy!"
The young princess bit her bottom lip in consternation. "1 2 3 4 ,1 2 3 4" she counted under her breath. "123 Oh!"
The lavender eyed girl tread on the hem of her over long dress and toppled over the long skirt and fifty petticoats she had been stuffed into flying over her head.
"Impossible!" Madame Trenchderie screeched "She is positively impossible! She lacks grace completely! I cannot teach her rhythm at all."
The small princess followed her instructor as she stormed out. She stopped at the door and watched her mother float down the stairs with a serene smile. "How is my little Lavender s dancing? "
Madame Trenchderie rallied. "Lavender is the clumsiest little creature I have ever seen. If you wish to have a successful ball at all next week, you do well to lock her in a room, someplace where there isn't any trouble."
The princess shut the door to the ballroom and sank to the floor in despair. But she was never one to give up. After a few minutes, she gathered her courage and began with fresh determination.
"1,2,3,4 1,2,3...1,2,- Oh" she over balanced but caught herself before falling. As she steadied herself she gasped in surprise.
She wasn't alone.
A boy about her age was dancing in graceful, sweeping strides across the other side of the room. He had long lanky arms and legs and sharp features. His clothes were neat and clean, but rough and work worn. He had a mop of wild curls on his head waving every which way as he moved. His eyes were closed and he had a serene smile on his lips as he danced a solitary waltz. And he made it look so easy!
The princess shook her head. Never mind the boy, she had to figure how to move her body. "Ok 1 and 2 and... No that s not right." She closed her eyes and stuck her tongue out trying to remember "1,2,3,4 whoa!" The princess toppled over, spinning around wildly, trying to catch her balance.
With a resounding crash, she tripped headlong into the boy and a tapestry on the far wall. "Sorry I m so sorry Oh I should never... Its the steps and the spin. I I keep losing count." she babbled.
"You can count all the stars in the sky and that wont help your dancing." The boy said kindly, lifting the tapestry enough to see her big lavender eyes.
"I know I m terrible." she wailed. The boy pulled her to her feet and dusted off her gown.
"No that isn t it" He said calmly pulling her free of the tapestry. "Its the dance itself. Its not made for such light little butterflies, like you. Its a maneuvering mechanism for clomping cow hooves."
"It worked for Olive!" The princess protested. Olive had always been the princess' reminder of everything wonderful she wasn t.
"You aren t Olive. Come on, Butterfly." The boy smiled and stepped back. "Show me what you can do."
The princess flushed. "Madame Trenchderie says I need to-"
"Forget what she said, close your eyes and float. Don t think, just move."
The princess closed her eyes and gave a little spin. This time she didn t fall. She looked up and smiled, stepping gracefully up and kissing the boys cheek. She giggled when he blushed.
"Thank you. I ve never been able to do that before." She smiled, taking his hands and spinning around the room He grinned and fell in step with her " Yes you could, you just never applied it to dancing. I ve seen you. At court with your parents and sister. I ve seen the way you walk, and how you curtsy. You re the most graceful of all the lords and ladies there, Butterfly."
"I never saw you before. I know I woulda remembered you." She replied tilting her head to one side.
He shrugged. "I ve wanted to come and greet you, introduce myself. But I'd always get so nervous. And I didn't want you to think I was just another court lord currying favor. I m not, I swear."
The princess smiled. "I can see you re not. But isn t it more dreadful to sit and wonder than to just get it over and done?"
"I spose so. But I m a terrible coward." He laughed.
"You came out today." She smiled.
"I heard the music and I wanted to dance. I I was going to stay in my corner and not disturb you. I didn't mean to bother you."
"You re not a bother. Not at all Lord-" She stopped, not sure what to call him.
"My Name is Ambrose. I m not a lord or anything. My mothers a maid actually." He blushed again.
"I m very pleased to meet you, Ambrose." The princess curtsied. "I'm-"
"I know who you are" Ambrose smiled, pulling her to a starting position for a waltz.
"You re Butterfly."
He stopped their dancing and looked worriedly at her. "I mean if you don t mind me calling you that, majesty."
"I don t mind." She replied passively, and pulled him back into the dance. "I rather like it actually. Much nicer than Lavender anyway."
Ambrose smiled and breathed in her scent. She smelled like apples. He never realized before how much he liked apples.
"Why did you though? " she asked, breaking into his thoughts. "Why did you call me butterfly?"
Ambrose shrugged. "You re so light and graceful and when your not counting like that clumsy cow showed you, you look like a butterfly. It just kinda slipped out."
The princess smiled. She never found anyone so easy to talk to as him before.
"So. Ambrose, what do you do for fun? Besides teaching clumsy little princessesto dance?"
"I'm an inventor. I find bits and pieces of things no one else wants and put them together to make something new. I made a Tie tying machine for Lord Culterburry. He paid me with a ruby"
The princess smiled. "I thought his ties looked unusually straight. Maybe you can show me something you made sometime?" She asked hopefully.
"Really? you you wouldn t mind seeing me again?"
"Of course I want to see you again." the princess replied, surprised at his response. "I would love nothing more than to see what you do."
"I would like that. No ones ever been interested in my inventions, except when they need something particular."
She smiled and watched their hands, noting how perfectly hers fit into his.
"So. Are you going to dance at the ball? Or are you going to leave me to the clomping cows that send me hoards of gaudy purple trinkets?"
"I don t have an invitation" He murmured, going red again.
"I m inviting you."
Ambrose looked into her dazzling eyes and smiled wistfully. "Id be honored, but I m the helps son, Butterfly. Balls aren t for the likes of me. I would only be in the way."
"But please Ambrose you ve got to come! You re the only person who s never asked me for anything! Every one says a few kind words and then starts asking all these silly things of me and you re just-"
"Lavender? Lav! Come on out from wherever your moping."
Ambrose froze, recognizing the voice of the elder Princess.
"In here Olive!" Lavender smiled and headed to the door. Throwing it open, she smiled to her sister. "I want you to meet Ambrose. He s..." the young princess turned to see the room was empty. "He s gone..."
"You re a bit young for an imaginary boyfriend Lav." Olive teased. "Mom told me to rescue you from the dancing catastrophe."
The lavender eyed princess had no response to this and so followed her sister with many glances around the room, wondering where the boy with crazy curls and a warm smile had gone.
The next few days were a blur as everyone prepared for the up coming ball.
Madame Trenchderie thoroughly congratulated herself over the improvement of her student. "She is better than Olive, that little Lavender! And she is only 8!"
The princess progressed steadily but her heart was heavy for the absence of Ambrose, she hadn t seen him since that day in the ballroom.
The night before the ball, She went up to her room to find a new trinket. She inspected it carefully and found it was an apple that seemed to be made from a solid ruby. On the top was a square cut emerald designed to look like a leaf. It reminded her of the necklace Olive had thrown out 2 weeks ago.
the princess smiled and set the apple down where she would see it everyday when she woke up and when she fell asleep. Her palm pushed down the stem and the entire apple opened up, revealing a dozen metal butterflies which flew twice around the room. their brightly colored wings winked in the light of the setting suns.
She looked again at the apple and let out a cry of delight, seeing a folded bit of paper at the bottom.
With trembling fingers she unfolded it and read it carefully
Butterfly,
Save me a dance.
yours forever
Ambrose
Lavender was very careful to set an extra place beside hers at the feast. Olive teased her more about imaginary boyfriends, but she ignored her and placed her ruby apple on the table between the two seats. Just as she finished, her father swept her away to a small alcove.
"After the other guests have entered the ball room, you ll hear your name called.
Come out and make your curtsy when you reach the table." He smiled and ruffled her hair. "Sorry we couldn t find you an escort, Lavender."
She waited impatiently for all the lords and ladies to take their places. what if Ambrose burst in at just the wrong time? What if someone said something rude and she wasn t there to protect him? Would he think she had lead him on? Played a cruel joke on him? He d hate her forever, and he would be right to.
"Nervous Butterfly?"
The princess jumped and spun around. "Ambrose!" She smiled, hugging him close.
"I hadn t meant to startle you."
"I didn t expect you to be here, I thought you would go down-" She pointed to the room below where high ranking men and women milled about looking for their seats and determining their status based on who was placed near them.
Ambrose glanced down for a moment then shook his head. "Nah, I ve seen this done before. Never thought Id actually be part of it though. Oh this is for you."
Ambrose held up a white lily and tucked it behind her butterfly barrette, one fromthe ruby apple. "I see you got my gift."
The princess smiled and clutched his hand "Thank you so very much. Its the loveliest thing anyone s ever given me! And so very clever!" She pulled the Lily from her hair and gave it a delicate sniff. "How did you know my favorite flower? Everyone else sends me lavenders."
Ambrose shrugged. "It was easy. I m the helps son, I ve pruned the flowers under your window many times. The lavenders are dried and wilted, but I could see you took special care of the Lilies."
"The lavenders are from Dukes and Counts who wish I were betrothed to their sons. And they re all so old! They don t know anything about me, and they don t care to learn. No one does. "
She looked so sad right then, Ambrose bent forward and kissed her cheek. "I care. I want to know everything about you, Butterfly."
The lavender eyed girl took his hand with a smile, and then realized her name had just been called. "Oh We ve got to go! Oh no I m going to trip on the stairs or I'll -I'll..."
Ambrose wrapped her arm around his and lead her carefully along. "Its ok Butterfly. I ve seen this done dozens of times."
She calmed at the sight of his warm smiled and walked down the stairs with him.
"Everyone s staring." She whispered, panic over whelming her.
"Its ok, don t look at them, look at me." Ambrose smiled, never taking his eyes off her.
She did. He was wearing a black tux with silver fringe, they made his pale features stand out starkly. His mop of curls were as untamed as ever and she found herself secretly glad. He had brown eyes, large and warm like pools of melted chocolate.
He was tall but he couldn t be that much older than her. Could he?
"How old are you Ambrose?"
"I'm 9, Butterfly. But next year I wont be, so I suppose it doesn t matter." He grinned.
She giggled, feeling more relaxed than she thought possible.
Ambrose smiled and took in the sight of her. The fluttery green silk dress with long draped sleeves made her look more like a butterfly than before. Her dark hair was up in an elegant twist and had sparkling diamonds set into it, not to mention the butterfly and Lily.
From the bottom of the stairs, the princess guided them to the head table, curtsying to her parents and people of state. Ambrose bowed.
The king stared as his little girl reach out self consciously for the hand of the strange boy beside her. The queen smiled warmly. "Who is your guest, Lavender dear?"
"This is Ambrose!" The youngest princess smiled proudly, but that s all she would say on the subject.
Many a curious, and envious eye followed the strange boy no one seemed able to place. The boy himself ignored the stares and whispers, instead focusing all his attention on the littlest princess and something red she was holding.
"Did you make it yourself? " The princess asked delightedly, holding the ruby apple.
Ambrose nodded modestly. "I was easy really."
"Tell me."
Ambrose laughed. " Alright, Butterfly. I had a ruby, it was payment for something else I had built."
The princess nodded and glanced at Lord Cutlerburry, smothering her laugh. "But Ambrose, I cant keep it, its yours!"
He shook his head. "I don t need it. Its worth more than a thousand rubies to see you smile, Butterfly. " Ambrose smiled and nudged the apple back to her.
"Ok. But you were telling me how it was made."
Ambrose nodded. "Well I got the ruby and mom and Pop said its mine so I could do what I wanted with it. Well rubies are pretty ordinary you know? So I figured Id just leave it since I couldn t use it for anything I was working on."
"But then you made it an apple. And a lovely apple too."
"We met the other day and you smelled like apples... you still do actually." Ambrose blushed but the princess smiled.
She leaned forward and sniffed him carefully. "You smell like straw. And bulgarnovi. The wild flowers in the Barren fields. I do love their fragrance."
"Yes thanks" Ambrose replied as she giggled "Anyway I made it into the shape of an apple and I cut it into the slices so it would open at the top. On the edges I put Silinoum and Legtentite. Silinoum is magnetic so it holds the ruby closed."
The princess nodded. She vaguely remembered hearing about Silinoum in her lessons.
"Legtenthite reverses the magnet though, so when you push on the stem, the Legtentite is activated and it opens up."
"And the butterflies?" The princess asked eagerly.
" You remind me of a butterfly."
The princess laughed. "No, I mean what are they made of?"
"Airsonate. Its only found on sky island." Ambrose grinned. "I built a mechanical
pigeon for a lord whose fianc lives in the E.V. and he let me keep the spare parts
when I was finished. I still had a whole sheet of Airsonate left.
The princess giggled. " So you just happened to have an apple with butterflies in it laying around waiting for an opportunity to give it to a girl?"
Ambrose shook his head in surprise. "No of course not! I made it especially for you! After we met... in the dance lesson."
"But that was only a few days ago!" The princess exclaimed. "Do you real work that fast?"
"Not always, Butterfly." Ambrose shrugged. "But I was inspired."
The princess blushed
"Lav." Olive hissed. "Come on we have to lead the dance."
The younger princess blushed as she watched her parents and sister move out to the dance floor. "I can't do this."
"Yes you can Butterfly. Just relax, you'll be wonderful. Go on, there are plenty of partners to choose from." Ambrose said, nodding to the lords and nobles trying to catch the lavender eye of the youngest princess.
She smiled and pulled Ambrose to his feet. "Wh-at are you doing?"
"You said it was my choice." She smiled. Ambrose blushed.
"I really d-dont think this is a good idea. Butterfly... there are dozens of men who want to dance with you Lords and Dukes and a few Princes!"
"I don t wanna dance with them I wanna dance with you." the princess smiled.
Ambrose bowed "Well now it isn t that I wouldn t be honored. Its just that... well there are tons of others who want to dance with you."
"Ambrose? Do you not want to dance with me?"
"No! I mean yes I mean I- I would love to dance with you! " Ambrose fumbled. "Id love nothing more than to stay by your side all night. But so would they."
" Because I m the princess." She sighed, wondering if he really were as different as she had thought.
Ambrose smiled and tucked a stray hair behind her ear without thinking. " Because you're the most beautiful girl in the room." he smiled.
"I want to dance with you. Is that okay?" The princess smiled when Ambrose nodded eagerly and they began to dance, whirling across the dance floor effortlessly, talking and laughing like old friends.
When they came close to the seemingly quiet Olive and her partner Lord
Grebdilands (Whom the royal sisters called grabby hands) she notice Olive counting the steps carefully. It must have been hard, as she also had to readjustsaid grabbing hands- which seemed to want to go all the places it was improper to touch a princess.
The lavender eyed princess shuddered and grinned at Ambrose. "I'm glad I got you and not him... or his brother." She blushed glancing at the sloppy 12 annual boy who stared at her indecently.
" Its alright Butterfly, I'm not leaving you." Ambrose smiled, giving her hand a reassuring squeeze.
"Lavender Darling." The king smiled pleasantly but his eyes focused suspiciously on Ambrose. " Are you enjoying yourself?"
The princess smiled sweetly to her father. "Oh yes, very much."
The king nodded, but Ambrose could tell he wasn t listening.
"You re majesty" A Duke scurried over and bowed low. " I am sorry to trouble you with matters of business. But the Pahpay really have gotten out of hand. They attacked two farms."
"Was anyone hurt, Ellington?"
Ellington shook his head. The princess stopped dancing and looked to Ambrose, whose features seemed contorted in concentration.
"No one was injured but the crops were all destroyed."
The king frowned. "If we build the fences higher..."
"The fences are already much too high. The pahpay are so desperate, they plow right through."
"What about the barren fields?" Ambrose said suddenly. "Pahpay are good farmers. If we gave them land no one wants-" Ambrose blushed, realizing he had spoken to the king.
The princess tugged his arm. " Go on Ambrose, I think you ve hit upon something."
The queen nodded encouragingly.
Ambrose cleared his throat nervously. "Well the Barren fields can't grow all that much variety. The only thing the soil is really good for is bulgarnovi and Cassa Trees"
"But Cassa fruit is far too bitter for human consumption." Ellington replied with a snide laugh in his voice.
Ambrose nodded. "True but the pahpays love it. There s some that grows wild just south of Yip country. We can plant a few saplings in the barren land and give it to the Pahpays. Then they can grow their own food."
"That s a wonderful idea." the princess exclaimed, giving Ambrose an enthusiastic hug. The queen laughed and nodded her head.
"Well its better than anything else we ve been able to come up with." Elllington admitted grudgingly. "Very well. We shall look into it at once."
The duke walked away without a second glance at Ambrose.
The king cleared his throat. "You don t mind if I cut in do you L- uh Ambrose?"
The princess clung to her friend nervously "Would you like a dance?" the king smiled sweetly to his littlest daughter.
" One quick spin and then we'll dance again?" Ambrose whispered.
The princess gave a nervous smile and nodded.
"Have fun Butterfly." Ambrose smiled, kissing her temple and handing her over to her father.
The queen smiled and watched Ambrose watch the king and princess. She laughed as each time the princess was dropped into the arms of an eager young duke. It was amusing to see her make and excuse and whirl away again. It amused her more to see the anger flash in Ambrose s eyes when someone stepped up eagerly, and the small smile that flitted across his face when she refused. The queen had a strong suspicion she was going to see a lot of this boy.
"Ive never seen Lavender so self assured as she is when she s with you."
"Oh I thank you majesty." Ambrose blushed.
The queen smiled and waved it away. " I want to extend an open invitation to you- and your parents. You are allowed to any room of the palace you wish. Anytime you wish. In fact Ill see if Lavender will give you the full tour some time tomorrow."
Ambrose smiled. Although he was almost certain he knew every inch of the palace better than she did, it meant a lot that he would get an official look around and permission to linger in any room he wanted.
The king finally lead his youngest daughter back to Ambrose and she crashed happily into his arms.
"Ambrose! Dad said we can go over the whole castle tomorrow. I can show you everything wouldn t that be fun? And you could show me your workshop?"
Ambrose laughed and spun her out to the dance floor. "Id love to, Butterfly."
She smiled and kissed his cheek again. "I look forward to it, Lord Ambrose."
"Butterfly, I told you I m no one special." Ambrose sighed, stopping the dance. She pressed his hand and shook her head.
"That s not true. You re my friend. And that makes you very special to me."
Ambrose smiled and nodded. It didnt matter that he was nobody and it didnt matter she was a sombody.
Together he could be a duke and she didnt have to be a princess. They just were.
Deireadh