I.

Unrefined

She yawned widely, not even bothering to shut her mouth. Luna rolled her eyes, watching the princess stretch sleepily. The princess hadn't even bothered to open her books yet. She stared at the board and her teacher thinking of food. She would really love a milk shake right now.

"Princess Serenity, are you listening right now?" her instructor, an old man, asked.

"What?"

"Would you give me the answer for question number five, please?" he asked. He must be talking about a problem in a book.

"Do you mind telling me what page it is?"

She heard Luna sigh. She must not think much of her. The teacher sighed. "It is in page forty-two, your highness."

"Oh right," she said apologetically. She stared at the question, reading and re-reading the words but no answer came to her mind. She looked up and smiled, embarrassed. "I'm sorry, I don't know."

"Geology came from 'geo' which meant earth and anything with the suffix 'logy' means study so the subject of Geology means study of earth," Nehelenia spoke up. She looked back at her younger sister and smirked. Serenity stuck her tongue out.

"Princess Serenity!" the teacher said all of a sudden, making her jump.

"What?" she asked puzzled.

"It is not a proper manner to stick your tongue out to other people! I will have to give you more homework on Refinement and Manners!"

She groaned. "Oh come on! I already have too much homework there! Can't you just let that slip? I mean, I just passed to the next lesson!"

"If you are going to behave that way, your highness, then I have failed my job in teaching you."

Serenity exited the small room reserved for their studies. She sighed. She wasn't going to pass Refinement and Manners now. If their teacher kept on giving her too much homework, she wouldn't have time to make up everything.

"Serenity," gentle voce said from behind me. She turned around. Nehelenia was walking behind her. Her long black hair spilled to her calves. She held herself with such demeanor and elegance that only a true princess has. She wasn't like Serenity at all.

"Big sister," she bowed. She was the heir to the throne. This means she has to respect her. She just can't treat her like her sister.

"You have to try harder than that," she said. "If you don't pass anything, you won't be able to become an ambassador of our kingdom. You do want to go to earth, don't you? If you don't I can't let you become an ambassador when I am in the throne."

She pouted, straightening up. "I know. But everything is just too hard. I mean, if I'm just an ambassador, then why do I have to study Refinement and Manners? It's just too hard."

"Don't be a fool, little sister. You are royalty and we need to show other kingdoms that we are refined young ladies."

"But… it's just too hard!" she whined.

Nehelenia glared at her with such intensity. "So you're going to give up because it's too hard? Do you even deserve to be considered a princess, sister?! If you're going to give up when you're half way there, then you don't deserve to be called a princess at all!"

Serenity didn't know what to say then. She knew her older sister was right. Their mother would have wanted her to learn everything that comes with being a princess. How she hated her position. Everyone in their kingdom longed to be a princess except for her. The truth was she wanted to be a human. She longed to lie on the ground shaded by the leaves of trees. She told her family this but Nehelenia only laughed at her while her mother smiled understandingly. Humans aren't looked up so much in their kingdom.

"You're right, Nehelenia," she said bowing once again. "I think I need to rest first before I start on my homework."

"Good, you realized how important study is. Go ahead. I need to go anyways too since there will be a meeting later on. The princesses from the different planets will come here today and I have to be present. The prince from Earth is already here too. Mother wants to discuss different decisions that will concern all of the kingdoms here on the Solar System."

"The human prince is here?" Serenity asked in amazement. She had never seen any of the different royalties from different planets. She had always been curious what they look like, especially the humans.

"Yes but you know you cannot see him, little sister" Nehelenia said sternly turning away and heading for the conference room in the western wing of the castle. "Do not worry, little sister, when you become an ambassador for our kingdom, you will get to travel all around the Solar System"

"Fine. I will get to see them soon. I'll see you later, Nehelenia. Have fun on that meeting" Serenity called after her sister cheerfully, bowing to her once again before walking away. Once she heard a door open and close, she looked back. Her sister was already gone. She saw Luna walking beside her. Luna's crescent mark seem to be brighter than today. She was about to compliment her but the cat stopped in midway.

"Princess," she said sternly. Luna always gave her the feeling that she did something wrong.

Serenity stopped and turned to her. "What is it?"

"You do know you're sister is right," the cat frowned at her.

She sighed. "Yes, I am not going to go see the other princesses of the other planets and I'm not going to see the human prince either, I promise."

"That would be great. Though technically, they are not princesses but guardians, though they are treated like that in their home planets too."

"If they're treated like princesses too, then they must not like being guardians that much," Serenity said thoughtfully.

Luna sighed, giving up. Serenity is still a child after all. "Just because you don't like being a princess does not mean they do not like it either. Your sister loves being a princess and soon she will be a great leader of the Silver Millennium just like the Queen Serenity."

Serenity laughed. "I don't like running a kingdom. It's just not my thing. It's a good thing Nehelenia was the first born. Anyways, I'm not going to spy on them, so you don't have to worry. Let me just take a bath and I'm going to sleep."

"Don't you have a lot of things to do?" Luna asked, shaking her head.

"Don't worry, Luna, I'll start when I wake up," she said, waving a hand to the cat following her. She accidentally stepped in the hem of her dress. Before she knew it, she was falling in mid-air. The fall knocked her lungs out and she quickly sat up, laughing.

"Aren't you just refined," Luna said shaking her head. "Hopeless."