"Alison," Her Royal Pain-In-Ally's-Butt scolds, "how many times have I told you? Raise only the cup, not the saucer!"
It's a wonder how her mother can keep her voice so elegant and gentle while somehow managing to chastise Ally loud and clear.
"Right. Sorry," she mutters as she sets down the small piece of expensive china.
"Alison."
"My apologies, mother," Ally tries again in the daintiest, most gentle voice she can muster through her gritted teeth.
The Queen of Egaia nods in approval. Ally takes it as a sign to continue trying to enjoy her afternoon tea.
Oh, who is she kidding? She doesn't even like tea.
She tries to swallow it all in one gulp, and her mother nearly has a heart attack.
"Alison Marie, you take one sip at a time!"
Ally sets down her cup and takes a deep breath, clenching her fists in her lap where her mother can't see them.
"My apologies, mother."
"Alison, you are nineteen years old. I've been trying to teach you proper etiquette for almost fifteen years. Will you ever learn?"
Ally thinks about it, and then responds with a firm "Nope!"
"Honey, you're going to be married soon-"
"Yeah, to some idiot prince who probably spends more time looking at himself in the mirror than learning how to rule a kingdom."
"Alright, I think that's enough for today. Go meet your tutor."
"Mother, I've been studying since I woke up this morning!" she whines.
"Alison," her mother says sharply.
A lady never whines.
"I know, I know," Ally says before the Queen can remind her. She grabs a scone from the table and stuffs it in her mouth to spite her mother, pushes her chair back in the nosiest and most obnoxious way possible, hikes up her dress, and walks off.
"Off" means her room, and "her room" means the highest tower in the castle. Her parents claim that the highest tower offers the most protection, as it would be the hardest to access by attackers, but Ally's pretty sure that her parents like to keep her cooped up out of reach so she can't cause a ruckus and give the Royal family a bad name.
Honestly, she doesn't understand what she's been doing wrong. Sure, she isn't very ladylike, and maybe she's slightly disrespectful and childish, and she could quite possibly disregard all the rules and regulations that come with being a princess, but she's just being herself. It isn't like she asked to be royalty. She probably would've been happier as a peasant, anyway.
As soon as she gets to her room, she locks the door and sheds the wretched dress her maids forced her into. They gushed for twenty minutes about how gorgeous she looked in it, but looking in the mirror she definitely thought she looked like an undercooked pastry.
Not that she's expected to know what that looks like. As far as her parents are concerned, she's never set foot in the kitchen in her life.
As far as she's concerned, however, she makes the trip every day before dinner. Someone has to make sure that the dessert isn't poisoned.
She puts on the silky pajama pants and shirt that she had her tailor secretly make for her. The nightgowns her mother insists on having made for her are almost as dreadful as the dresses.
Ally looks out her window at the view of what will soon be her kingdom and sighs. One day, she'll be able to make her own choices. And if whoever her husband ends up being tries to say otherwise, he can go to the guillotine.
"Princess, it's time for supper," she hears a young boy's shy voice on the other side of her door. Of course, her father would send a squire for her instead of actually coming himself.
She opens the door and smiles at the boy gently. He can't be older than nine.
"Thank you."
He stares at her, wide-eyed.
"Um, Princess Alison-"
"It's Ally."
"Well, you're in your pajamas."
She looks down at herself and debates going downstairs anyway. Her mother might have an aneurism.
"Right. I better change. Thanks for telling me," she says. She retreats back into her room and changes into the dress from earlier, not bothering to go to the trouble of calling maids to help her. She can dress herself.
Twenty minutes later, and she realizes she can't dress herself.
"Elena!" she calls.
She hears quick footsteps on the staircase, a faint knock at her door, and then her shy maid (also her favorite maid, might she add) enters the room.
"What can I do, Princess?"
"Help me get into this bloody dress!" Ally grunts, trying in vain to fix the mess that her gown has become.
"Of course," Elena says.
Quickly, expertly, Elena fixes the disaster and Hurricane Ally resembles a princess again.
"Thank you," Ally says. Elena gives a polite curtsey and scurries out of the room.
Ally walks (more like trips in intervals) down the stairs and makes her way to the dining hall, where her parents are already seated.
"There you are, Alison," the King says warmly.
"You're late," her mother tells her. "A lady is never late."
"I'm not late," Ally says with a shrug. "You're simply early."
Her father smiles, but her mother doesn't move.
Ally purses her lips and sits down, crossing her ankles and folding her hands in her lap, keeping her posture in check and her shoulders relaxed. She glances at her mother, who seems pleased.
The servants bring out the first course, and Ally plays Good Little Princess and uses all the proper etiquette her mother has taught her. She truly dislikes arguing with the Queen.
"So, Alison," her father says, "how was your day?"
"Fine, thank you. How was yours?"
"Well, it was a bit stressful. I had a bit of a quarrel with one of my generals about defense tactics."
He stops there. No explanation of the argument, no nothing. Apparently ladies aren't supposed to be interested in that kind of thing.
"Oh? What was the quarrel about?" Ally presses. Her mother shoots her a warning look, but she ignores it.
Her father seems slightly surprised at her interest.
"See, fires are becoming more widely used in offense, and I'm worried that the outlaws might find out about it. We don't have much defense against fires. Thomas says our moat will do just fine, but I think we should do something more," her father explains slowly, as if he's talking to a toddler.
Ally swallows a spoonful of her soup.
"Well, you're the King. Can't you do whatever you want?"
"In theory, yes," her father says. "And I would do something about my concern, but I'm not certain if there's anything I can do, at the moment."
"What, to defend against fires?"
She knows her dialect is far too casual for a lady (at least, that's what the Queen says) but she doesn't really care.
"Yes."
"Oh. Well, I think-"
"Alison," her mother finally interrupts.
"Mother, I was just-"
"No. What have I told you?"
"Lots of things."
The cold look her mother gives her raises goosebumps on Ally's shoulders.
"Ladies are seen and not heard," she finally mutters.
"Ladies don't mumble, Alison," her mother says.
"Ladies are seen and not heard," Ally repeats, loud enough for her mother to hear. The Queen nods and returns to eating her soup.
Ally stares down at hers and wonder's what's boiling more: her appetizer or her blood.
"Johnathan, may I ask you a favor?" Ally asks her tailor in the sweetest voice she can muster.
"Of course, Princess," the man says with a nod.
"Could you maybe, possibly, make me another shirt and another pair of pants?"
"The Queen-"
"Won't know a thing," Ally interrupts. "Please?"
Johnathan sighs.
"Yes, Princess."
"Oh, and can you make it, like, a leafy green color? You know how much I love that color."
"Of course, miss."
She has never mentioned the color green to him in all the nineteen years of her life.
"Thank you!"
She kisses his cheek and skips out, hurrying up to her room.
Once safely inside with the door latched tight, she reaches into the folds of her dress. (One upside to the dreadful clothing is that the layers and folds make great hidden pockets.) She adds her stolen breakfast food to the stash in the leather messenger bag she may or may not have coerced a young knight to give her.
Looking at the checklist in her notebook, she decides that she should be ready by the end of the week. The thought makes her smile.
She sets the book down and walks over to the mirror on her wall. She pulls her dress down to reveal her Royal Mark between her right collar bone and her shoulder.
The Royal Mark differentiates Royals from peasants, knights, nobles, and outlaws. Only royal families have this special birthmark, and she thanks her lucky stars that her family's isn't as extravagant as others she's seen and heard about. (She once heard a few knights talking about one legendary family whose Royal Mark covered their faces). The Dawson Royal Mark, however, is just a simple, small sun design that is easily covered by clothing.
Ally fixes her dress again, but keeps staring at herself in the mirror. She looks into her own determined eyes and wonders why the thought of running away didn't cross her mind earlier.
A voice in her mind tells her that she'll never pull it off, but she's an optimist. She already has a plan.
A week later and, just as she predicted, she's ready to go. She stuffs the clothes Johnathan made her in her bag, along with a bit more food, water, and other necessities.
She looks at herself in the mirror again and almost laughs at how elegant she looks. Not for long, she thinks to herself. In the mirror, she gives herself a curt nod and walks out of the room.
"Elena, please tell mother I'm going to read to the schoolchildren in town!" she calls out to her maid, wherever she is. She hears the girl's footsteps downstairs.
Her father has already left to go do whatever it is he does every day, and she assumes her mother is off making children cry. So she nods to the guards and walks out the door with ease.
Across the drawbridge she goes, and she has never felt more proud in her life. She's doing it. She's actually doing it with no opposition.
As she walks through town, she tries not to think of the dangers she will inevitably face once she escapes the safety of Egaia. Large animals that like to eat petite princesses, for one thing. Starvation, thirst, disease…the list goes on. But if she's being honest, there's something that she fears above all else about running away into the wilderness.
Austin Moon.
His Wanted poster is everywhere in the kingdom. They don't care if he's dead or alive, and a hefty reward is offered for his capture. He is the most notorious, most dangerous outlaw in all the world.
Those who've been lucky enough to survive one of his raids say he's big, and he's not alone. They say he takes everything valuable, and will stop at nothing to get it. They say his eyes are dark and cold, and his voice is low and intimidating.
By "they" she means the nobles, knights, and visiting Royals that have run across him. She isn't sure she's ever heard peasants talking about him.
Nevertheless, he is who she's most afraid will be the cause of her death. She's been hearing of him for years, and she doesn't think he'd make any excuses for an innocent little princess.
Especially not when this innocent little princess doesn't know when to shut her mouth.
But Ally's already on the run, and now she has to go through with it. The wilderness outside the kingdom is huge. She'd probably have to go through three lifetimes before running into him.
When she arrives at the gates of the kingdom, the gatekeeper looks shocked. He hurriedly stands up from where he was sitting on the ground and bows.
"Princess Alison. May I ask what brings you here?"
"The Queen has sent me on business. I am to meet an escort just a quarter of a mile into the woods. I know the way, and I'm to go alone."
"Alright," the gatekeeper says, no questions asked.
She smiles gratefully as he opens the gate for her.
"Thank you." She curtseys politely and walks out.
As soon as she sets foot in the woods and is sure she can't be seen by anyone in the kingdom, she hurriedly strips her gown and puts on the comfy clothes from Johnathan. She smiles contently and looks down at the sneakers she managed to steal and nods before continuing on her merry little way.
Where she's going, she's not sure. What she is sure of is that Princess Alison Marie Dawson is no more. She's just Ally now, and she couldn't be happier.
I'm back with a new story! (No, I'm not quite done with WYFAF yet but I was too excited to wait any longer to start this one!) I'm super excited about it and I hope you guys are too! Reviews are wonderful!