Eloquent

Summary: Sofia has to give a speech at a children's home but keeps messing it up. She asks Rapunzel, who happens to be in attendance, for help with making her words sound as heartfelt as she means them to be.

Disclaimer: Haha, I don't own this show!

A/N: Well, they did it again… They gave me not only TODAY off but tomorrow as well! Now I'm focused on writing at least two stories in honor of having two days off. This one and one more…I have about nine in my "bag of goodies," so it's all a matter of choosing one. I'll even let you help me. Choose one of the titles below that sounds the most interesting to you. The story title with the most votes by tomorrow around noon-ish wins. :) Here are your options!

Kingly

Xenial

Princess2Princess

"Happiness is…is not based on—things," Sofia stumbled, trying to wrack her brain for useful words as she sat writing a speech she'd been asked to give for the children's home. When Roland had first asked her to speak to the younger kids, she'd been thrilled…and then she realized she didn't have a clue what she truly wanted to say.

The princess groaned and crumpled up yet another piece of paper, tossing it to the side of her room and folding her arms across her vanity, resting her head face down. She let out a frustrated sigh.

"How's it coming?" Amber asked playfully as she reclined on the younger girl's bed. She smiled and rolled her eyes when the other princess huffed in annoyance and ignored her. "Goodness, Sofia… I always thought you were so good with words."

"I am, usually," Sofia responded as she sat up and turned on the bench to face her sister. "But this is different, Amber. I'm not talking to adults or royalty. They would be easy. I'm talking to kids…kids who don't have much, not even parents. Why should they listen to what I have to say? To them, I'm just some princess who doesn't know about hard times and being alone in the world…"

"That doesn't mean you can't talk to them though." Amber slid from the bed and walked over to Sofia, pulling her to her feet. "Look, you'll know what to say when the time comes…" She laughed lightly. "Which is in about an hour…"

"An hour?!" Sofia panicked, her face paling. "I thought I had at least two more! Ooh." She sat down and pulled out another piece of parchment. "This is hopeless…"

The blonde girl just shook her head. "I'll leave you to your thoughts. Baileywick will be by in a few minutes to get you though." She waved and left, shutting the door behind her.

Words, words, so many words flooded the young girl's mind. What were words, really? Just letters pressed together to formulate some written or spoken meaning, right? Words didn't actually have meaning until someone supplied it. That really gave her a headache as she pondered the origin of such things.

She sighed as she completed what she presumed to be a decent speech. It seemed to be positive, and she'd certainly put thought into it, but it still seemed to be lacking something. Either way, she didn't really have time to change it now, because…

"Princess Sofia?" Baileywick called as he knocked on her door.

"Come in," she returned, folding up the parchment and holding onto it carefully. She smiled lightly. "Hi, Baileywick."

"Are you ready?" he asked, holding a shawl out to her. "It's a little cold outside."

The princess nodded and turned, allowing him to drape the shawl over her shoulders. She then turned to look up at him. "Are you going with us?"

"Yes, I'll be riding with you and Amber." He smiled and led her on.

Since the king and queen were in a meeting and James was visiting Zandar, the two princesses were left to themselves. Sofia was sort of disappointed that she'd have to visit the little kids alone—well, Amber was with her of course, but still… It would have been nice for the little ones to see the king and queen, but she understood duty and mandatory meetings. It was part of life.

At least Baileywick had agreed to accompany them. Maybe he could help with her speech.

"Baileywick, can you look at this and see what you think?" Sofia asked once they were in the coach to head out.

He nodded and took the parchment from her, scanning the words written.

"Oh, Sofia," Amber sighed with a smile. "Still worrying about that?"

"I want it to be perfect, Amber… I want it to come from the heart." She smiled lightly, remembering the last princess who'd reminded her of that: Princess Tiana.

"I'm sure it did."

Baileywick nodded in agreement as he handed the speech back to Sofia. "It looks good to me, Princess Sofia. I think you have a way with words. In fact, I know you do." He chuckled. "Just think of the times you've helped me, remember?"

She smiled shyly and nodded, folding her hands over the speech. "I guess."

"You'll do fine," Amber reassured her, placing her hands over Sofia's and smiling.

At the children's home, the two princesses felt immediately out of place. In stark contrast to their elegant dresses and tiaras, these little girls and boys wore plain clothing similar to but of slightly lesser quality than the kids in the village. It was the lack of colors that took Sofia aback, her mind immediately rushing back to her days as a village girl with the pretty purple commoner dress she wore. So much tan and beige surrounded her now…

"Well, look who's here!" a familiar voice laughed.

Sofia and Amber brightened as they turned around to see their favorite visitor. "Rapunzel!"

Rapunzel laughed as the two girls hugged her simultaneously. "What are you two doing here?" She smiled toward Baileywick, who returned the smile and bowed lightly in greeting.

"Dad wanted me to give a speech," Sofia responded with a smile. "And Amber wanted to come with me so she wouldn't be alone."

Amber nodded. "What are you doing here, Rapunzel?"

"Well, my husband mentioned this place a few weeks ago. We're looking at starting an art camp for kids, since I love painting and things like that. I wanted to see if I could help. Besides, we princesses are sometimes asked to get involved, and as you know, helping people is always a good start." She winked at Sofia, who smiled.

"That sounds amazing," Amber gushed with a grin. "I could help, if you'd like. I'm something of an artist myself."

Sofia nodded in agreement. "She is really good." She sighed.

"Sure, why not? I'll talk to your parents about it." She glanced down at Sofia. "Are you okay, Sofia?"

"Can I talk to you?" she asked, looking up at the older princess.

"Sure…" She took her aside and left Amber and Baileywick with the owner of the place as they sat against the wall. "What's going on?"

"I'm supposed to give a speech to these kids," Sofia confided as she pulled her speech from her pocket and unfolded it, eyeing the words dubiously. "And I know it's pretty good, but… I don't know. I just feel like it isn't enough. I'm trying to encourage them to keep positive and strive to do their best, but I feel like it would just be a bunch of fancy words coming from a princess to them. It won't mean anything."

"You're right."

"Huh?" Well, that wasn't the response she'd been expecting. Confused, she turned to her friend. "What do you mean?"

"Sofia, think about it. It's nice to be all 'eloquent' and know just what to say and everything, but what gets to people the most is when you speak to them from here." She pointed to her heart. "Not from here." She then gestured toward her head. "And believe me, as cliché as it sounds, it's still true—even today. So you know what?" She took the speech from the younger girl and hid it behind her back. "Tell those kids what you want them to know from Sofia the person, not Sofia the princess." She smiled. "Okay?"

Blinking, Sofia smiled and nodded. "Thanks, Rapunzel." She stood as the Princess of Corona pulled herself up before leaning against the wall. "Here goes…"

Once the kids from the children's home were all gathered and seated, Sofia stepped forward when directed and stared at the vast array of little ones before her. There must have been nearly twenty of them, in all sizes and shapes, varying ages, different skin tones, different expressions… And it hit her. They were really no different from her and her friends…not on the inside.

She smiled. "Hi, everyone!"

"Hi, Princess Sofia," the kids returned in unison, as if instructed to do so earlier.

"No, today I'm just Sofia. In fact, did you know I haven't always been a princess?" She smiled as many of them gasped. With ease, she delved into her history and her own personal interests.

Amber's eyes widened as she gripped Baileywick's arm. "What is she doing?"

He chuckled as the younger princess continued talking. "She's doing what she does best, Princess Amber: she's being herself."

Rapunzel smiled proudly from her spot near the back. "Good job, Sofia."

The end

CedricAmber: I did take your test! :) I got 94% right. Lol I messed up about the question regarding Jasmine. I think I read it wrong. LOVED Substitute Cedric, of course. :D He was awesome as usual. Do another quiz and I'll definitely take it! :P Be safe in this weather. We had lots of snow and sleet today, which was awesome. My sister and I slid down the hills in a laundry basket. Haha, well, she slid and I videoed. ;) It was hilarious, especially when she fell out. lol