"What's with the hair? It's like half yellow and half brown."
Regina sighed. "I don't know, it started growing out gold after Mama died. I don't know why," Regina ducked her head down. She was embarrassed. Nobody else she'd ever seen had hair of such a strange color.
Alex looked at it a minute longer before shrugging. "It matches your skin and eyes better," he said.
"You don't think it looks strange?" Regina asked him.
"Nah. Although you should probably cut off the brown part. Having two different colors looks weird."
Regina nodded.
"I'll get the sheep sheers!" Alex announced, running off.
Regina stared after them, then turned her attention to the geese, who were squawking and snorting as they always did.
Alex came back shortly with the big sheers in his hand. Regina fingered her hair nervously.
"Alright, so I'm going to cut off all of the brown parts," Alex said.
Regina frowned. "But, I've always had brown hair...I—I like it that way."
"Well, you're hair isn't going to turn back to brown, Regina. Either yellow or half and half."
She sighed. "Oh...alright."
Alex came forward and awkwardly started to cut her hair. In a few minutes, they stood with Regina's brown locks lying at their feet. Regina hoped he'd at least cut it evenly.
She ran her hair through it. It seemed so short. She bit her lip nervously. "Does it—look ok?"
"You look great," Alex said.
Regina smiled slightly.
Alex picked up the remains of her brown hair and handed it to her. "Here. Keep it. Memories of your days as a brown-haired lass."
Regina laughed. "Thanks, Alex."
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Regina stood with Lena at the shore of the lake, just talking. Lena was a shepherdess, and one of Regina's best friends.
"I do love your golden hair so much!" Lena said, yet again, though it had been nearly two years since Regina had chopped off the brown part and started to let a few people see the gold. "You know, you should really let people see it more often."
"I can't, nobody has hair like this. I'd stand out and be...different," Regina said, for lack of a better word.
"That's the point! You should be different, it will catch people's attention. You'll never catch a husband if you look like all the other girls."
Regina laughed. "Well, catching a husband isn't something I'm planning on doing. Just because you have Jack, don't assume..."
Lena turned bright red and slapped her.
"What are you girls talking about?" Jack, the shepherd, called from where he was standing by some trees.
"Oh, nothing!" the girls said, giggling.
He shrugged and turned his attention back to the sheep.
Lena seemed to recover from her embarrassment. "Don't you think you'll ever fall in love?" she asked.
Regina shrugged. "I don't know...I mean, I can't just fall for any ordinary boy. There would have to be something...something extraordinary about him."
Lena laughed. "Like what?"
"I have no idea. But I'd know it when I saw it."
Lena nodded slowly, her auburn curls bouncing up and down. "I see."
Regina looked her in the eye. "No, you don't; you're just saying so," she teased.
"Do too! I'm not that dumb, Regina!"
Regina laughed. "So when do you think you Jack will get...you know...hitched."
Lena shook her head, blushing furiously. "Why does everyone assume Jack and I are in love?" she asked, though Regina could see she looked slightly pleased. "Maybe—maybe I'll marry Alex."
Regina burst into giggles. "You—and Alex—do you two ever say two words to each other without fighting?"
Lena smiled. "True. Well, maybe not Alex then, but maybe some other boy."
"Maybe," Regina said, though her tone hinted that she thought otherwise.
Lena pushed her towards the lake. Regina lost her balance and fell in the shallow water on her behind, laughing hysterically.
"Help me up!" she said.
Lena extended her hand and Regina through it over her shoulder, tossing Lena into the water with her.
"There! Get a taste of your own medicine!"
The girls splashed each other's faces.
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"Why do we have to herd the king's geese?" Alex asked. "I mean, they're the king's, why doesn't he herd them?"
"Because he has more important things to do," Regina answered smartly.
"Well, maybe I have more important things to do."
"If you did, you could quit. It's not like anyone is forcing you to be a goose boy. Though I might if you decided you didn't want to anymore."
Alex was silent for a moment. "There's been talk of Rebel uprisings in the west."
"Rebels?" Regina asked clearly confused.
"People in favor of taking out royalty and kingship. They want freedom, independence. There's talk of war, Regina."
"War? Well, it's not really much to me. I'm just a goose girl, not even a boy, so I can't think about enlisting."
"You'll care when the king gets mad about it and takes it out on all the peasants and takes away from our pay," Alex said.
Regina turned and looked at him. "I take it you're not against it then?"
Alex scratched his head. "I don't know. I don't have anything against the king but...they make freedom sound so exciting. What do you think?"
"Well, I don't know, I mean Mama always spoke highly of the king, I don't know why, it's not like she knew him, but still. I feel like I owe a certain degree of...loyalty to him."
Alex nodded. "Well, we don't really have to take sides yet. Nothing much has happened. It's just...something to think about, I guess."
Regina nodded.
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Well, I think I've had the American Revolution pounded into my head a bit too much. But I think it might turn out alright anyways, I have a few ideas. It should be interesting at any rate. Oh, and this chapter was kind of to pass a few years by. So by the end, their a lot older than they were at the beginning, k? Well, not a lot older, but like 3-5 years or so.