"Maria, you need to wake up."

Maria could vaguely make out Loveday's voice as she stirred from her slumber. She didn't want to get up. She was warm and comfortable and it was early.

"Come on sweetie," Loveday said shaking Maria's shoulder. "We need to get ready. We have to leave early or else we won't make it to De Noir castle before breakfast," Maria heard Loveday say.

Maria moaned and slowly sat up in bed. She yawned and stretched before looking over at Loveday with sleepy eyes. She had almost forgotten that the Merryweather's would be spending the day with the De Noir clan for a post-marriage celebration. Tomorrow would be Loveday and Sir Benjamin's wedding day and Coir had decided that they would have a celebration the night before so that the adults could get drunk then and might be less tempted to do so during the wedding banquet. That and because he wanted to do something nice for his daughter and future son-in-law as an apology for all the years of pain he put them through. He had been apologizing ever since the incident with the moon pearls a month ago and honestly Loveday had long since forgiven him as had Maria and Sir Benjamin but no matter how many times they told him so he still continued to apologize. The celebration would consist of breakfast together, after which the Merryweather's would be shown to their rooms since they would be staying the night to return to Moonacre Manor in the morning to get ready for the wedding. They Merryweather's will be given a chance to rest and explore the castle until it was time for the party to start. There will be dancing, followed by lunch, more dancing, then a dinner banquet, and finally they will finish off the night with more dancing.

Loveday smiled at Maria and moved away from her bed and over to the chair by the door. "You still look so tired," she said as she looked back at Maria over her shoulder. "You were up late again weren't you?"

Maria yawned and swung her legs over the side of the bed. She didn't answer Loveday but she didn't need to. It had been a rhetorical question. Loveday knew Maria had been staying up late at night for the past few days working on something but Maria hadn't told her what and she'd made her promise not to tell anyone about how little sleep she had been getting. Loveday had agreed, though it had taken a lot of persuading from Maria and a promise that when she had finished what she was working on she would stop staying up so late.

Maria stood and walked over to her washbin to wash her face and wake herself up so that she could get ready. When she was finished she turned to look at Loveday to find her laying out a dress on the newly made bed. Maria walked over to see which of the first moon princess' dresses it was today and gasped. The gown that lay on the bed didn't belong to the first moon princess but it was stunningly beautiful. It was an emerald green, off-the-shoulder ball gown with long sleeves that flared out all the way down and the entire dress looked to be made of pure silk.

"Oh Loveday it's gorgeous," Maria gushed gliding her fingers over the smooth material.

"I'm glad you like it," Loveday says with a smile. "I know you've grown accustomed to wearing the first moon princess' dresses but I was thinking that this was a special occasion and that you might like to wear something a little fancier."

"Thank you Loveday," Maria said giving her a smile.

"You're welcome now shall we get you into your dress for the day. We want to keep this one a secret. Make it a surprise for everyone. I know one person who will be very surprised when he sees you in this," Loveday giggles winking at Maria who blushed instantly knowing exactly who she's referring to.

"Loveday, Robin and I are just friends."

"Sure just keep telling yourself that," Loveday smiled. She moved back over to the chair near the door and picked up a deep red dress that Maria recognized instantly. It was the same dress she wore the night she saved the valley. It was her favorite dress out of all of the moon princess'.

"Let's get you dressed quickly so that I can get into my dress."

Loveday helped Maria into her dress and did her hair for her. When she was done, Maria slipped into her knee-high brown boots that she wore when she went into the forest with Robin. She looked herself over in the mirror and smiled. The dress brought back memories of that night a month ago when she had jumped off the cliff. The pearls were no longer attached to the dress but it was still as beautiful as that night. That was also the night maria had become friends with Robin. Ever since then Robin and Maria had spent all of their free time together in the forest. Maria had been uneasy at going into the forest again at first but Robin assured her that the only danger she had been in was with his father and that had passed. Besides if anything did happen, Robin would be right there to save her.

They'd grown close as Robin guided her through the forest. He taught her how to follow tracks, which plants were poisonous and which ones were edible, and he even tried to teach her how to climb a tree though Maria didn't seem to need to be taught. She had climbed trees as a kid and had apparently never forgotten even after all her manner lessons. Robin was Maria's best friend. He became a common occurrence in her everyday life and even Ralph (who had changed back into his dog form), who growled at all De Noirs (even after they had made peace), seemed to accept him and stopped barking whenever he came around to get Maria for their walk in the forest. Ralph had seemed to be glued to Maria's side for the first week that Maria went with Robin into the woods but when it became apparent that Robin had no plans of hurting Maria he started coming on the trips less and less until he hardly ever came.

"-ria. Maria."

Maria jumped, the voice pulling her out of her thoughts. Maria turned to see Loveday wearing one of her moon princess dresses. It was purple with fur around the shoulders and a long trail (the first dress that appears in Maria's room. It was never actually worn). Her hair was done up beautifully.

"Sorry Loveday," Maria apologized with a small smile.

"Penny for your thoughts," she asked.

"Just thinking about the past month."

"So you were thinking about Robin," she said with a sly smile.

Maria blushed. "I never said that. I was only thinking about the past month. That's all."

"Maria face it," Loveday said putting a hand on Maria's shoulder. "You and Robin have been inseparable the entire month. You guys only spend time with each other. Father rarely sees him now unless he's doing his chores or hunting with the clan. After that he's gone as fast as possible to go see you. The same goes for you. You rush through your lessons with Mrs. Heliatrope as fast as you can, do your chores and then you rush off with Robin. You're gone till just before dark every night and you sleep late every morning so we hardly see you. Trust me. Robin is the past month for you." Loveday smiles down at the girl who's face is as red as the dress she's wearing.

"Sorry," she mumbles.

Loveday laughs. "Sweetie you don't have to apologize. I'm glad that you and Robin are so close after such a short time. I think this has been good for Robin having someone around him so much. So don't apologize."

Suddenly there was a knock on the door. "Maria," came Ms. Heliatrope's muffled voice. She pushed the door open. "Are you awa-" Ms. Heliatrope stopped when she saw Loveday and Maria. "Oh so you're up and dressed. Good, then we can leave earlier than planned. She turned to Maria. "Do you have your bag ready with your spare clothes and your toiletries?"

Maria opened her mouth to speak but Loveday cut in. "I packed it for her before she woke up. It's sitting on the bed," Loveday stated nodding over to the bed. Maria looked at her bed and found that the gorgeous green dress was no longer laid out on her bed and a large bag took its place. Ms. Heliatrope walked over to it and picked it up before leaving the room.

"Well we better get down there," Loveday heading towards the door. "Don't want to keep Benjamin waiting." Maria nodded silently and followed Loveday out of the room.

Thanks for reading. I'll have the second hapter up as soon as possible. rxr