A one-shot tie-in to my other story Paved with Sorrow. You don't need to read that in order to understand any of this though. This is just pure, pointless fluff.
Jade looked up at the fruit tree, its crown overflowing with thin curved leaves and shiny red apples. A few rays of sunlight weaved their way through the foliage, stinging them in the eyes. The sky was almost entirely clear, save for a few white curls sailing by, but the orchard was filled with trees in neat, intimate lines, which caused the sun to be mostly blocked by the greenery.
It was nice: cool, dim, airy – exactly the way Jade preferred it. She couldn't remember a time when she last felt comfortable in bright light. The shadows were her sanctuary.
That, however, did not mean she thought this to be a good idea.
"Are you certain about this?"
Princess Kitana tore her eyes from the tree, beam still in place, to look up at Jade. She was moving around restlessly – not quite bouncing, but almost – and nodded eagerly.
"Uh huh!"
"There are bowls with apples down in the kitchen, you know."
"I know." Kitana rolled her eyes whilst emitting a sigh, as if this was the most obvious thing in the whole world. In her world, it might just have been. "Everyone knows apples taste better when you pick them yourself!"
"But how shall we get to them?"
Kitana grinned, her eyes shining with joy, and pointed at the trunk.
"You'll climb!"
Jade squinted at the tree. It was tall and rather bare; the first limbs were hanging over twice her height above the ground.
"I don't think I can."
"Try!"
Jade dug her fingernails into the bark, pressed her toes against the wood to gain footing, attempted to pull herself off the ground… only to immediately slide down to the grass. With a grumble, she took a few steps backwards, then ran and jumped at the trunk, to use the force to propel herself or to simply come closer to the limbs. She clutched at the stem and tread with all her might to scale the stupid thing. And slid down. Again.
She dusted off the dirt from her hands, shaking her head.
"Nope."
Kitana gazed up at the tree with her forehead pensively creased. She tapped her fingers against her temple, like her history teacher always did when he talked about using your higher intellect, whatever he meant with that.
"Hmmm… What if you stand on my shoulders to reach that branch?"
"You are not strong enough for that."
"But what if I stood on your shoulders-"
"-and then I might drop you and the Empress will be cross with me. No."
The Princess exhaled noisily. She crossed her arms over her chest as she glared at the ground with her mouth in a sullen line. She looked from the ground to the tree and then back again several times, all whilst muttering things that probably weren't even real words to herself. Jade was about to propose that they give up, when Kitana gasped dramatically.
"Ermac!" she said, looking past Jade's shoulder. She turned around and, sure enough, saw the Emperor's favored enforcer hover past the balconies, attention buried in a book.
Kitana cupped her hands around her mouth and yelled his name; his head spun in their direction as he was roused from his reading. At once he changed course, descending to bow deeply when he arrived in front of them.
"Your highness. Miss Jade."
"Ermac, we need you to help us pick apples!" Kitana said.
Ermac straightened up, casting a quick glance at the tree.
"Your highness knows there are many apples down in the kitchen?" he asked.
"Yes," Kitana said, very patiently. "But we need these. Can you help us?"
Ermac gaze drifted between the tree and the Princess before nodding. Then he made a flick of his wrist so subtly Jade barely noticed it. Kitana floated off the ground with a squeak, which soon transformed into unrestrained laughter as she soared upwards. She pulled up her skirt, using it as a basket, and then proceeded to order Ermac to bring her left, right, up, a little bit down, so she could reach the apples she wanted the most.
She'd been at it for some time when a soft cough was heard from behind them.
"Jade, Ermac: what are you doing?" the Empress asked.
She was dressed in a sheer white gown and a silky lavender robe that wrapped around her body, with close-fitting three-quarter sleeves. Her dark hair hung almost slack, which was a rare sight, only held together loosely with a tie at the tip. She was smiling at them, but she was frowning slightly too; her brown eyes looking almost a bit worried about them. At first Jade wondered why, but then she realized it must have appeared rather strange, seeing two of your otherwise quite normal servants stand and stare up at a tree for seemingly no reason.
She pointed at the crown.
"We're waiting for Kitana to be done."
The Empress's eyes widened; she hurried forth to look up among the leaves.
"Kitana?!"
The Princess turned, giggling and without trouble, to show the Empress the heap of apples in her skirt.
"Mother, look! I'm picking apples!"
The Empress brought a hand to her chest, slowly exhaling. She smiled, very tensely.
"That is wonderful, darling," she called out. "But don't you think you should come down now?"
Kitana looked down at her skirt. "But I have room for more!"
"Yes, but..." The Empress trailed off, glancing at Ermac. "I'm sure Ermac have other things he needs to do today. Why don't you continue some other time?"
Kitana sighed. "Allllll riiiiight…"
Slowly she fell downwards, like a feather drifting in the wind, before taking ground completely unharmed. She held out her skirt again for all to see. Jade began unloading them into her own arms, in case the Princess would lose her grip and have the whole thing be for nothing.
"Look!" she said. "Didn't I pick the nicest ones?"
"Yes," the Empress said. "But, Kitana, there are many apples down in the kitchen. You know that, right?"
Kitana groaned loudly, throwing her arms up in the air.
"YES. But apples always taste better when you pick them yourself! Here, taste one!"
She swiped an apple from Jade's armful, handing it to her mother. The Empress gracefully bit off a small piece, and hummed with delight.
"It is very delicious. Thank you."
"We must let father have one too!" Kitana said, grabbing another apple and about to dash towards the place when the Empress made her halt by calling her name.
"Don't you have something else to do first?" the Empress asked, making a soft gesture towards Ermac. Kitana gasped and ran back up to him, offering the apple she had taken for the Emperor.
"Thank you for the help, Ermac!"
He accepted it with a nod and no words, although Kitana probably wouldn't have heard them anyway as she was on her way to find the Kahn once more. The Empress patted Ermac on the shoulder, giving him that kind of silent look adults sometimes gave each other, before putting a hand on Jade's back to steer her after Kitana. Jade hadn't deciphered what those looks meant yet, but she would – soon.
"Your highness, should we have these brought down to the kitchen?" Jade asked, referring to the heap of apples.
The Empress smiled, brushing away a few of Jade's dark tresses that had escaped from behind her ear. Of all her features, she liked her hair the most right now. Her skin and eyes was different from Kitana and the Empress, but their hair was almost exactly the same shade. The Empress relieved her of some of the burden.
"Yes, Jade. That sounds like a very good idea."
Thank you for reading, and please review. Positive or negative, it will be appreciated.