I'm sorry for how long it took me to write this chapter. Writer's Block sucks! I hate it! Besides, for some reason, I'm not as excited for this story as I used to be. I simply got inspired to write again, and here is the result.
A recap, since it's been so long: Snow White, again, has managed to annoy her governess Pearl Purple, who went to complain to the Queen Sun Gold. That's pretty much it, really. Yes, a filler chapter if there ever was one—but hopefully, this one will be better.
Also, because I wasn't too happy with my Prologue, I rewrote that. All-new now, and hopefully Sky Blue is slightly more likable. Read if you care, which I'm sure you don't!
The moment Pearl Purple had left the classroom, Rose Red sidled up to her sister and whispered, "The answer was 'Always keep clean rooms.'"
Snow White smiled. "Thanks." She twisted her hands in her lap for a moment before asking, "Do you think Mother's going to be angry?"
"No. Pearl Purple is, though."
"Pearl Purple is always angry at me. She's mean."
"No she's not!"
"Not to you. She likes you."
"Well, I'm not mean to her."
"I'm not mean, either!"
"You should try being nice, Snow White."
"But it's so hard!" The older girl burst into a fit of giggles. All upset feelings were gone; she laughed at the top of her lungs, her black eyes gleaming with mirth. "Oh, I love you, Rose Red. You're my favorite little sister in the whole entire world."
Rose Red scooted closer. "I'm your only little sister in the whole entire world," she giggled back.
"Did you see Pearl Purple's face? It was red!"
"Like a strawberry!"
"No, no! Like a cherry!"
The two girls were still laughing companionably when Pearl Purple reentered the room. She sighed and scowled at them as they did their best to conceal their giggles. Rose Red, of course, managed to get them under control far sooner than her sister. Eyes twinkling, they peeked up at their governess. Curtly, Pearl Purple made a motion toward the door. "Lessons are over," she told them. "We shall spend the rest of the day outside.
Snow White whooped with glee and charged out the door and down the hall. Pearl Purple, for once, did not chase her, but followed slowly and resignedly. She and Rose Red caught up with the five-year-old in the rose garden, where Snow White was already busy constructing a castle of leaves.
"Snow White!" the governess scolded. "Do not kneel in the dirt like that! You're soiling your dress!"
The girl stood and brushed off her knees absentmindedly. "I need a flag," she announced. "Rose Red, help me find a flag."
Hand in hand, the two girls scoured the bushes for the perfect leaf. "Don't pull any live ones," Pearl Purple called, causing Snow White to roll her eyes and mutter angrily to her sister. Rose Red nodded slightly, preferring not to insult the governess while in her hearing. Snow White, though, had no such qualms.
"I want to go over there," she said forcefully, pointing to a copse of trees far beyond the rose garden. Pearl Purple shook her head.
"You know it is the Queen's orders that you are not to stray from here."
"How come?"
"Your mother has her reasons. When you grow older, then you may question them."
"Well, I want to!"
"Snow White, it is forbidden!"
The little girl immediately started grumbling. She was interrupted by her sister, who nudged her with a handful of leaves.
Pearl Purple watched as the two girls continued in their game. Her charge was a headstrong girl, there was no doubt. Still, she listened to her governess. Of course she did. Of course...
Pearl Purple nodded off.
The leaf castle was finished. Rose Red gently twitched one last twig into place, then sat back and smiled proudly. "There."
"Now what?" The older girl was dragging her finger through the dirt.
"Let's build another!"
"Another castle?"
"Of course!"
"I'm tired of building castles," Snow White complained. "Let's make a village."
"Why a village?"
"Because I'm tired of castles."
"Oh." Rose Red looked down. "But I like castles."
"You're boring." Snow White stood up, glancing at her snoring governess. "I don't want to play with you anymore."
Rose Red stood up, too, watching her sister. "Where are you going?"
A shrug. "Over there." Snow White pointed at the trees Pearl Purple had forbidden her to go to earlier. "I want to climb them."
"You're not allowed to go there!"
"So? Just don't tell on me." And with that, she started off.
"Snow White!"
"You coming or not?"
Rose Red glanced back at Pearl Purple. "No," she whispered.
"Good-bye."
The little four-year-old girl watched her sister's receding back fearfully. They would get in trouble for this, she knew it. As soon as Pearl Purple woke up—Rose Red shuddered at the thought. Why couldn't she ever stop her older sister?
Snow White, though she didn't want to admit it, was scared.
She had never actually been outside of the rose garden before. Pearl Purple had never taken them, because Mother had never allowed it. Though it was boring there, she almost considered turning back.
The path she had taken turned out not to lead to the trees after all. The trees were off to her left now, and she had no idea where the rose garden was. There were lots of lovely flowers and bushes along the path, but she couldn't enjoy them. She didn't want to go back, either, because she would probably get even more lost. There was no way but forward.
What if I get lost in the maze? The thought gripped her with fear. She had seen the hedge maze, which stretched along the edge of the castle grounds, from an upper-story castle window several times. She and Rose Red had once spent an entire afternoon trying to find the beginning and end with their eyes, but they couldn't do it. Bored, Snow White had started asking "What-if" questions about the maze and the forest beyond it. "What if animals from the forest get in?" "What happens when someone can't find their way out?" Pearl Purple had waved all the questions away, which of course made Snow White's young mind forever suspicious.
She was in fact on the opposite end of the castle grounds at the moment, but the fear of the maze stayed with her. Worse, she had now completely lost sight of the trees she had been aiming for, and she had passed several intersections of pathway. There was no possible way she could ever find her way back!
A tear ran down her cheek. She wiped it away furiously. I'm not going to cry like Rose Red always does! she thought determinedly. But another tear fell, and another. Soon she was bawling.
"Mother!" she cried, breaking into a run. "Rose Red! Pearl Purple!" No one heard; she was on the outskirts of the gardens, where few people went. "Mother! Mother!"
"What're you crying about?"
Snow White sniffled and looked up. She seemed to have run right off the path, and now she was in an open, green field. The castle looked extremely small behind her. To her right was a boy sitting in the middle of what looked, to the princess, like a crowd of little clouds with feet.
"I'm lost." She tried not to whimper. "I don't know where my sister is, or my governess—"
"You have a governess?" The boy stood up. He was about the same age as her, with dirty brown hair and a raggedy tunic. "Where's your mother?"
Snow White looked confused. "My mother? She's in the castle, of course."
"What's she doing there?"
"She's—" Snow White couldn't say. Her mother was always in the castle, sitting in the throne room, talking to people. What Sun Gold actually did, she didn't know.
"What are those?" she asked instead, pointing at the animals.
The boy gave her a funny look. "Haven't you seen sheep before?"
"Sheep?" One made a strange bleating noise, and Snow White jumped back. "Do they bite?"
"Only grass."
Snow White wasn't reassured. "My mother has a little dog that fits on her lap. It bites a lot, and these are bigger. Are you sure?"
"Of course. I spend all day with them!"
The girl's tears were gone now. "What's your name?" she asked the boy.
He looked down. "Don't wanna tell," he mumbled sulkily.
"Why not?"
"'Cause you'll laugh. Like everyone else."
"I promise not to!"
"Hmmph."
"Please?"
He took a breath. "Mud Brown."
Snow White, of course, laughed. "That is funny!"
"I knew you'd say that."
"Sorry." Somehow, Snow White got the feeling that teasing this boy wouldn't be as nice as teasing her sister. "My name's Snow White," she said helpfully.
"I thought one of the princesses was named Snow White."
It was her turn to look oddly at him. "Yes," she said, confused.
Mud Brown gasped. "You mean you're actually—"
"Yes." This was new. Everyone the girl had ever met knew she was a princess. She had always thought it just as accepted a fact as the color of the sky.
A grin came over the boy's face. "You want to play? I can leave the sheep alone for a bit!"
"Yes! Play what?"
"How about tag? I love tag."
This, too, was new. "I've never heard of it," Snow White confessed. "How do you play?"
"Are you serious? Everyone knows how to play tag!"
Snow White crossed her arms. "Not me."
Mud Brown smiled and held out his hand. "C'mon. I'll teach you."
Pearl Purple had woken up.
"I don't know," Rose Red insisted. "She just ran away! I couldn't stop her! I don't know where she is!" She was crying.
The governess took a deep breath. "It's not your fault." She had yelled at the little girl as soon as she woke up, and now the princess was terrified. "It's not your fault at all. We'll find her. We'll—you. To your room, now."
Rose Red went, sniffling. Pearl Purple followed, trying to comfort and think at the same time. The princess, scared and guilty, curled up on the bed. Gently, Pearl Purple tucked her in.
"I'll find her," she whispered with a kiss to her charge's forehead. She pulled out a handkerchief for the girl, then started to the Queen's chambers.
Snow White watched with interest.
"So you throw a rock," Mud Brown explained, "and then you have to skip that square. Look, it's easy." He hopped expertly down the hopscotch squares. "You try."
The girl hiked up her skirts, which were bothering her a lot. She had won at tag, thanks to her practice at evading Pearl Purple every morning, but she was hot and sweaty. Now her new friend was showing her another game. "One foot, one foot, two feet, one foot, two feet, cross, two feet, one—oh!" She'd forgotten to skip the square with the stone.
"It's all right!" Mud Brown had learned a while ago that Snow White knew absolutely nothing about the games he played. He thought that whoever played with her at the castle must be extremely stupid when it came to games, but it was still fun teaching her. "Try again."
As Snow White moved back to the beginning, the sun flashed brightly in the corner of her eye. She put her hand up to shield it, then thought of something. "Oh no! How long have I been playing out here?"
Mud Brown shrugged. "I dunno. I think a couple of hours."
"Oh no!" Snow White tried to think. "Pearl Purple must be awake by now! I have to go home! But..."
They weren't far from the castle grounds, but Snow White didn't want to go back into that maze of pathways.
"I don't know how to get back!"
"To the castle?"
"Yes!"
"I know a way!" Surprised, Snow White turned to Mud Brown. "Come on!" The boy grabbed her hand and pulled her along.
"How do you know?" the princess panted as they ran.
"I know the cook! She's from our village. I go to the kitchens a lot, actually. She always has something yummy for me and my sisters."
They were now approaching the grand, main doors to the castle. They were taller than any others Snow White had ever seen. They towered over her, great wooden carvings of people and animals and flowers. Inside was the entrance hall, a room neither of the princesses had ever been in.
Snow White gaped, but Mud Brown led her past them, around one corner, to where a much smaller door was built into the outer wall.
"Here," he whispered, and opened it. The room on the other side was unfamiliar to the girl. The air was dank and the floor slimy. Several buckets of water stood by the walls. Broom and mops leaned against one end of the room. Along the other was a wooden counter, a washbasin, and an enormous pile of filthy dishes. A rotting wooden door like the one the two had just come through faced the children.
Mud Brown led the way through that one, too, and here at last was something Snow White knew. This was the kitchen. She had hidden here many mornings, and the staff knew her well. Usually the place was bustling with people, but now it was empty.
Snow White didn't puzzle over this. "Thank you," she whispered to Mud Brown. "I have to go now. Maybe they don't know I'm gone."
"All right. But do you think you can play with me again soon?"
"Yes! I want to." She gave the boy a hug. "Good-bye!"
Mud Brown slipped back outside, and Snow White marched off to face what came.