Author's Note: I'm so excited to get to put up the third chapter for this story! I hope that everyone is enjoying this story so far. I've really enjoyed writing it, and I'm super excited for where it's going to go. The next couple of chapters are also almost ready to post, so they will be up soon. In this chapter, Clara is now eleven, and Kath is ten, and they are really just two rather sheltered girls who want to escape the confinements of the life of being a princess. Enjoy!
Princess Clara of Corona yelped as a raindrop landed on the middle of the page she was reading in her favorite book while sitting in the palace gardens. The eleven-year-old princess gave the sky a glare and sighed heavily, closing her book to protect the pages from the rain. Her sister, ten-year-old Princess Katherine, looked up from her own book, and glanced up at the sky with a content sigh.
"I love rain," Kath said, her face lighting up as she realized that large drops were starting to fall around them. She grinned at her eleven-year-old sister, enthusiasm lighting up her blue eyes. "Do you want to go run around in it?" she questioned.
Clara glared at her younger sister as she stood up, gracefully spreading her skirt around her. "Katherine," she began, using her sister's full name. The younger princess merely responded by making a face at her older sister's use of her dreaded full name before Clara could continue with what she was saying. The older princess ignored her sister's response, pretending to not be bothered by the annoying gesture. "We are princesses, and princesses do not play in the rain." Clara turned on her heel and began to march back toward the castle, her book tucked safely under her arm, where the rain would not hurt it.
Kath glared at her sister's back, and began slowly trudging after her sister, not wanting to play in the rain on her own. Having fun really didn't feel right unless Clara was laughing next to her. She and Clara seemed to be having less and less time to spend giggling over silly things lately. Clara had been much more focused on their lessons every day, and had spent more time with their mother, learning about the duties of being queen. While Clara seemed to enjoy the time spent with their mother on a daily basis, Kath spent much more of her time hiding from her tutors and exploring the castle—even though she already knew almost every nook and cranny by heart. But still, every day she wished that her scholarly older sister was beside her—nothing was the same without Clara.
As Clara entered the castle, she was met by her mother, who had been walking down the hallway talking with a servant. "Hello, Mother," Clara said, curtsying to the queen. The queen smiled nodded acknowledgement at her older daughter.
"Hello, Clara," she responded in her usual calm tone. "Were you outside?"
"Kath and I were reading outside in the gardens, but then it began to rain, so I decided to come inside. Kath should be right behind me," Clara told her mother, as she glanced over her shoulder.
Kath was still making her way inside, one of her arms outstretched to catch the falling rain, a large grin on her face as she began to twirl around in the rain, keeping one arm tucked close to her body, protecting her book.
"Oh, your sister," the queen said, a small smile appearing on her face as she watched her younger daughter spin. "Ever the adventurer, our Katherine."
Clara glanced up at her mother, confusion plastered on her face. Normally her mother's reaction to Kath's love of being active and often making messes was complete disapproval; but now the queen seemed to be almost proud of her younger daughter's joyful gallivant through the rain. "I thought you didn't like it when the two of us did unladylike things," Clara stated.
The queen smiled at her daughter and tucked a piece of Clara's hair behind her ear. "I don't always approve of you being unladylike, but I love it when you two show off your uniqueness. You, Clara, are intelligent and inquisitive. Kath is spirited and ambitious. You are both different, and someday you will both make fine queens. You're still in the process of growing up. There's no need for you to be perfect ladies just yet."
Clara bit her bottom lip for a moment before responding, realizing that her childhood may have been very different had she known her mother had this viewpoint on their personalities. "But you always scold us when we say the wrong thing, or trip over our skirts, or bump into tables…"
The queen laughed heartily, her ringing voice echoing through the corridor. "Behind every queen is a young girl, who just wants to be herself. It is important when people are around for a queen to be a symbol of strength and grace. But, when a queen is alone, she is no longer a queen. She is just a girl, free to do whatever she loves. That was a lesson that took some time for me to learn, and sometimes I feel like I'm still learning that lesson. It all depends on who is around, Clara." The queen gestured to the empty courtyard. All of the servants and gardeners had run for cover when the sky burst open and rain began to pour down. "Right now, Kath can just be herself, while no one is watching. Moments like this one are the ones where I am the most proud of you two."
Clara glanced behind her mother, and realized that the servant her mother had been talking to had disappeared. "I think I understand," Clara said, wrinkling her nose.
"Good," the queen said, putting her arm around her oldest daughter's shoulders to give her a quick hug. "Now don't let your sister stay in her wet clothes once she makes it inside. We don't need her to catch a cold."
The queen let go of Clara and floated back down the corridor, quickly transforming into her queenly persona. Clara stayed where she was and watched Kath continue to spin in the rain, gradually making her way toward the door to the castle.
Later, both of the princesses were in their bedroom. A seamstress had just left their room, where she had been fitting both of the princesses for new dresses that they would be wearing for the princesses' upcoming birthday celebration. As the two were redressing themselves, Kath said: "Clara, someday, can we go on an adventure together?"
Clara did not answer right away, choosing to think before she responded to her sister's question, especially after the conversation she had with her mother earlier that day. After several moments had passed, and Clara could tell that Kath was becoming impatient, Clara said, "I don't see why we shouldn't be able to, but I do see why we couldn't."
Kath raised an eyebrow, momentarily stunned by the simple yet complicated answer her sister had given her. "What?" she asked, her tone dry.
Clara smiled, turning around so that Kath could fasten her dress in the back. "I mean that going on an adventure, just the two of us having fun and exploring together, would be a lot of fun. But at the same time, we are princesses, and if we were able to spend more than five minutes outside the palace walls without guards around, it would be a miracle."
Kath nodded, but grinned, pulling a little bit too tightly on her sister's dress. Clara let out a small yelp, and Kath apologized before continuing. "So we just have to find a way to distract the guards so that we can sneak off together."
Clara turned back around and put her hands on her hips. "That wasn't what I meant, Kath."
"But think about it! We could sneak away from the guards, and go off on our own. Or we could just sneak out of the castle in the middle of the night, or we could distract the guards with something and they won't even notice us leave," Kath began before Clara cut her off.
"No, Kath," Clara scolded. The tone of Clara's voice made Kath's excitement sink some, and she already began to miss the fun side of her sister as the princess side returned. "Mother and Father would be furious! It's impossible."
Kath's face fell, and she didn't respond for several minutes. After she finished dressing herself, she walked over to her desk and took out a piece of parchment and dipped her quill in ink and began to draw on the parchment. Clara walked over to look over her sister's shoulder at what Kath was doing, hoping to reconcile some with her sister who had obviously had her feelings hurt.
"Why are you drawing a map?" Clara questioned after realizing what Kath was doing.
Kath grinned mischievously, feeling triumph with her sister's interest in her activity. "I don't believe in the impossible. I'm going to make a map of where the guards are patrolling and when, and eventually, we'll sneak out of this castle. We can go on adventure together, just the two of us! You said yourself that you wouldn't mind one, Clara. So let's make it happen."
Clara opened her mouth to protest, but remembered her mother's words from earlier. Kath was "spirited and ambitious," in the words of her mother, and had taken Clara's protests as a challenge. But Clara herself was very curious about life outside the castle. She regularly saw the village, but rarely did she ever see the village in its real essence, where they weren't putting on a show for the royal family as they rode past in their carriage. Maybe Kath was right in attempting to escape the castle and see outside their confinements.
"Okay," the older princess said, a small smile appearing on her face.
Author's Note: I hope that everyone enjoyed this chapter! Please don't hesitate to follow or review this story if you really liked it. Updates will be up soon, and Clara and Kath will be getting into some trouble. Thank you so much for reading! I really do appreciate everyone who takes the time to read my stories! I enjoy writing them so much, and I really hope that you all enjoy reading them. Thank you!