Story Title: Colors of the Heart
Characters: Mimi, Miyako, Sora, Hikari|Pairing: Mimi x Miyako/Miyako x Mimi (others may be mentioned)
Word Count: chapter: 2,099||story: 2,099||chapters: 1/10
Genre: Romance, Fantasy||Rated: G
Challenge: Diversity Writing Challenge, J10, a multichapt with no prologue or epilogue; Word Count Set Boot Camp, #18, 24,999; Pairing Diversity Boot Camp, #12, response; 28 Days of Love, #10, any pairing; Chapter Set Boot Camp, #14, 10 chapters; Advent 2016-2017, day #21, different social status AU; I Kissed A Girl & I Liked It, prompt 'purple'; Digimon Femslash Week 2017, day #3, long-distance
Notes: This is a magical/royalty AU.
Summary: A princess. A cook. Each of them has a secret hidden deep within and when circumstances bring them together, those secrets will be brought out. But for good or for ill?
"What are you doing?" Mimi peeked into Sora's workroom, curious as the proverbial kitten. She followed her question in a heartbeat later, not wanting to stay by the door where she couldn't get a good look at the proceedings.
"It's a special commission from the palace," Sora said, once she could spare a few seconds to look away from the magnificent creation in front of her. Mimi knew gowns and she knew artwork and what hung on the fitting dummy qualified for both.
"From the palace?" Her ears caught up with her mind and she glanced quickly at Sora. "Is it for the coronation?" Of course it was; what else would it be for? Special commissions had been going on for weeks from the palace for the event. Sora just hadn't received one: until now.
Sora nodded, though, still examining the outfit in front of her. It wasn't much more than pieces of fabric pinned together, but Mimi could already see what it would become and how amazing it would be. Most of all, she noticed the color: a deep, rich shade of purple.
She knew that shade. Sora had only a small supply of it, but it looked as if she'd brought it all out for this one.
"You're making her gown, aren't you?" Mimi tried hard not to squeal and didn't succeed all that well.
Her. She. Princess Miyako, the youngest – and in Mimi's mind the most beautiful – of the royal family.
"That's right," Sora replied, glancing at her housemate with a small smile. "The commission came this morning, right after you left."
Mimi pouted. That would just be her luck; she went off to buy a few things for her own next masterpiece, and a royal commission showed up.
"Was she here?" Mimi wasn't certain what kind of answer she wanted.
"Of course. I needed her measurements." Sora gave her another teasing glance. "I could've used your help, you know."
Mimi glowered, shifting around so she could get a better look at the proto-gown. "She had a chaperon, didn't she?"
"Of course. Why wouldn't she?" Sora shifted as well, lifting up what might well be a sleeve one day soon and examining how it fell against the rest of the fabric. "One of the older noblewomen."
Mimi fell back enough steps so she could pace in mild annoyance. On the one hand, meeting Princess Miyako face to face had been an ambition of hers for over a year now. On the other, she knew herself well enough to know that if she'd seen the princess without being able to calm herself down, she might well have made a spectacle of herself.
Not that she thought Princess Miyako would mind that much. She'd made a spectacle of herself once or twice on her own, such as when Prince Ken paid a royal visit. That wasn't so surprising, though. There weren't many people who didn't fall all over themselves when Prince Ken came to call.
"How long do you think it will take?" Mimi wondered. It would have to be done before Prince Mantarou's coronation-wedding. She sort of envied whoever got to do the outfits for that. But something that important would be the task of the royal tailors, people who had spent their entire lives and their parents' lives and their grandparents, back a minimum of ten generations, creating elegant and sophisticated clothes for the highest ranking royals.
Sora wasn't in that league. Not because she didn't have the skill; Mimi fully believed anything that Sora made would equal or surpass what the royal tailors and seamstresses made. But she didn't have the lineage for it, no more than Mimi had the lineage for a position in the royal kitchens.
There wasn't an answer right away. Sora measured a few more pieces, scribbled down some notes on soft, well-worn paper, and stared at the whole thing again, her lips moving but no sound coming out. Mimi had seen this before and waited, knowing Sora would answer her sooner or later.
"I'll need her for a first fitting in at least a week or two," she said at last. She glanced at Mimi, amusement sparkling in her eyes. "I'll need someone to go to the palace for me and let them know. I couldn't pin down an exact date when they were here before."
Mimi blinked at first, then breathed in sharply, raising her head. "Just let me know when you need me to go there." She might not see the princess. She probably wouldn't. The royal family kept very much to themselves, especially around this sort of occasion. But there was always a chance.
"Tomorrow will be good, I think," Sora said, turning back to her work. "I don't think I'm going to bother with dinner tonight."
Mimi's full attention snapped back to what was going on in front of her. "You most certainly will. You're not going to do your best if you're hungry."
Sora made a feeble protesting noise that Mimi ignored.
"I'll come get you when dinner's ready," she declared, whirling and heading to her own personal kitchen domain. Sora made another noise but Mimi paid no more attention to that one than she had the one before it.
Instead, she started to browse through her supplies, intent on making something suitable to keep Sora's strength and attention up until she called a halt to work for the night. Preferably at a reasonable hour, because Sora had been known to work until past midnight if she found herself caught up in her creation enough.
That didn't really surprise Mimi, who knew how the creative types were. She could get the same way if she wanted to try a new recipe and something wasn't co operating. She would never, ever forget the time she'd worked on a new flavoring for cookies and had actually been surprised by sunrise.
But that wasn't the situation tonight. Tonight Sora needed energy and Mimi started to put together a few pieces. It was a familiar enough process that her thoughts drifted away while her hands worked, maintaining just enough focus so she knew she wouldn't ruin anything.
But now the bulk of her thoughts floated effortlessly around Princess Miyako and what the chances were of meeting her on this little trip.
It's probably the only chance I have. She held back a sigh. Cooks didn't often meet a princess, even someone as good as she was. If they did, likely enough the princess would just thank her for whatever meal she'd created and perhaps a small bonus would be added.
There would absolutely be no conversation beyond anything related to the meal. There would certainly be nothing at all that Mimi would like to have happen with the princess.
I'll enjoy what I can, she told herself firmly. Oh, she could and would entertain herself with fantasies about enchanting Princess Miyako with a few well-chosen words that would make her laugh and entice her to invite Mimi to stay for a while, as her guest and not a cook or servant.
Mimi knew such fantasies very seldom came true, and while she would still hope, if it didn't happen… well, she wouldn't be surprised.
I should bake something for her. The thought slipped into her mind naturally and easily and Mimi smiled. There would be all kinds of wonderful dishes being served at the palace, above and beyond what the usual fare was, all in honor of Prince Mantarou's coronation-wedding. But how much of it would be designed to the princess's taste? How much attention was she really getting now?
With Sora's dinner safely underway, Mimi started to work through her personal favorite recipes, the ones that she'd created herself. A princess needed something incredible, something very few people had ever tasted, and Mimi intended to provide.
Miyako stared out the window. She didn't really want to be bored, but what else was she going to be when there wasn't that much for her to do right now?
"Your Highness?" Hikari spoke from behind her. "Do you have a moment?"
Miyako glanced back. "Of course I do. What is it?" She remembered all of her etiquette lessons, no matter how boring they'd been. Hikari was a loyal and faithful servant and didn't deserve to be treated poorly because Miyako wasn't in the best mood. She couldn't do anything to change the situation. Only time could do that.
"There's a package here for you from one of the bakers in the city." Hikari held it in her hands. It wasn't very large and a most enticing scent came from it.
Miyako perked up right away. "I didn't order anything." She would've thought most of the bakers and cooks were too busy getting things ready for Mantarou's big day, if they weren't doing their regular jobs. People still had to eat between now and then, after all.
"Do you remember the seamstress we chose to make your gown?" Hikari asked, setting the box on the table near Miyako. "Apparently they're roommates. She came up to pass the message that your first fitting will be in a week."
Miyako could see that the box had already been opened once already, and probably scanned for every sort of poison or dangerous spell that the royal mages could think of. If it hadn't passed muster, then it wouldn't be here now. She examined it curiously. The box itself wasn't anything special, nor was the ribbon that held it together.
If the aroma of those cookies meant anything, though, they were something special indeed. She didn't care how close it was to lunchtime. She wanted a cookie.
Wonderful! She almost died of delight when the first taste of honey and almond broke over her tongue. Whoever this cook was, they should definitely be working in the palace!
Miyako grabbed for another cookie, then looked up to Hikari with a touch of guilt. "Would you like one?"
Hikari was more than her personal maid; the two of them had grown up together from the time Miyako was twelve, and in the ensuing decade, they'd only grown closer. If there was something about Miyako that Hikari didn't know, or vice-versa, then it was likely not worth the knowing.
Hikari alone knew Miyako's most deeply hidden secret. She didn't count her family for that; they'd known there was a chance anyway. But for those who had never thought such a thing could happen in the royal family? Only Hikari knew.
"Thank you," Hikari replied, with a quick smile, as she reached for one of the cookies. Her eyes widened as she bit into it and chewed it carefully, savoring every bit of it just as Miyako had.
"I want to meet whoever did this," Miyako said, staring at the box. There had been a dozen cookies when she opened it, but she suspected by lunch there wouldn't be any, not if she didn't control herself.
Miyako wasn't very good at controlling herself. She already had another cookie in her hands.
"You'll be going there next week for the fitting," Hikari pointed out. "We can make sure that she's there then."
Miyako started to nod, then slowly shook her head instead. "Too crowded." There had been enough people there when she'd gone for the initial meeting with Seamstress Takenouchi. She'd barely had the space to answer the seamstress's questions.
The idea of meeting such a wonderful cook and not being able to talk about anything wasn't in Miyako's thoughts at all. No, she wanted time just between the two of them. Time to say thank you for thinking about her. Time to find out why this cook did this in the first place. Did she want something? Was she just that sort of person?
Miyako had to know. And she knew a way that she could find out.
"Send a message to her. A private one." Very seldom did Miyako ask for a private message to be sent anywhere, and Hikari knew how to do it. "Ask her to be at…" Miyako thought quickly. "At Sunside Park, tomorrow night, at moonrise."
Getting there wouldn't be a problem for her. She could only hope that it would be the same for the cook. Then she realized something.
"What's her name?"
Hikari had clearly expected this. "Tachikawa Mimi."
Miyako repeated it to herself, enjoying the taste on her tongue almost as much as she had the cookies. "Tell her that I look forward to seeing her in person."
Hikari bent her head and Miyako thought she smiled. "As you wish."
To Be Continued
Notes: I'm using "long-distance" in the sense of the social gap between them for the purposes of this story.