The Princess and the Pauper
"AND I'M SITTING HERE DYYYYYYYYYYYIIIIIIIIIIIIING-," Stella sung at the top of her lungs, she was stopped by an annoyed cough from Brandon, still tied to her back.
"You've been singing that for ages… Is it even a real song?" he sighed.
"How should I know? I'm not a musicalologist." She shrugged.
"Well there may be a reason for that…."
~.~.~
"HERE HERE HERE! I CAN SENSE SOMEONE SINGING!" Musa yelled from the top of a hill at the back of a forest. "They've stopped, probably because they sounded so bad, but they're definitely in this area," she walked precariously in a small circle.
"… Musa, there's no one there," Riven raised an eyebrow.
"Yes they are!" she put her ear to the ground and sense the vibrations of the sound of life underground. "They're… buried… I guess… How could you sing if you're buried?" she worriedly looked at the spot.
"It could be a basement." Helia suggested, "Maybe the house was demolished."
"It's really far underground… But I guess it could be possible."
"We have to get down there fast! Brandon should be okay for a while, but there's no way that Stella can survive that long without sunlight." Said Flora. Helia smiled a little. There's no way she's the person that Baltor made her out to be.
"We can't get down there with a teleportation spell; we wouldn't be able to get out again."
"Why not?" asked Riven.
"Teleportation spells originated in Solaria," Flora explained, "They always need sunlight to be carried out."
"For this job, we need to make a hole." Musa nodded slowly.
"Okay- Lets go get some spades then-" Helia was about to lead Riven off when an excruciatingly loud vibration moved the ground and swept through the forest. They looked back at Musa to see that she had made a tunnel leading straight down into the ground.
"Well that made me jump." Flora held her heart. The four of them peered into the hole.
"… I can't see anything."
"It's awfully dark down there."
"Maybe it is a basement, and we're looking at the ceiling."
"In any case-," Flora created a vine that lead all the way down, "I'm having a look,"
"Flo, there could be something down there!"
"That's what we're counting on, right?"
~.~.~
"WHAT WAS THAT?" Stella yelled after what they thought had been an earthquake.
"I don't know, maybe there was some more demolition or something." Said Brandon.
"Well it blew the friggin' lamp out!" Stella pouted. Another crack made both of them look at the ceiling. The plaster crumbled and two intertwining vines twisted their way through and secured themselves on the floor. "I-I can see light!" Stella exclaimed happily.
Flora cautiously climbed down, before deciding it was taking too long and sliding the rest of the way, not caring how red her hands would be afterwards. She landed on the ground and tried to look around; it was dark but the light from the tunnel made everything fairly visible.
"Stella! Brandon! Thank goodness you're alive!" she hugged them both.
"Flora! How did you find us?!" Brandon gasped in delight.
"You're on Linphea- mother nature told me of course!" she giggled.
"Get us out of here! Quick!" Stella yelled impatiently.
"Oh okay!" Flora kneeled by the rope that was tying them together. "Darn it! This is enchanted rope! There's only one thing that breaks that!"
"Platinum." Brandon sighed, "Why is it an earth metal that breaks it?"
"Hey, I dunno if this is important but my ring is made of platinum." Stella stated.
"Really?" Flora took Stella's hand that was tightly tied by her side, "It is! Can I use it?"
"Do it! But don't sharpen it! My dad gave it to me before he…" she sighed.
"Don't worry about that!" Flora smiled encouragingly, "The rope and metal can never be in the same place, so when you pull the metal through…" she waved the ring through the rope, "That section disappears,"
"Finally!" Brandon exclaimed happily, pulling the rope off and stretching his legs, "Thank you Flora!" he hugged her tightly. Stella joined in.
"Let's get out of this hole before I die," she said warmly.
"Do you guys climb?"
~.~.~
"NO." Stella panted as she collapsed on the grass on the surface, "NO I DO NOT CLIMB." She stood up and looked at everyone else.
"Hey! Sewing person! Stranger! Other stranger! I missed you guys…" she pulled Musa, Helia and Riven into a hug.
"I must've told you my name about ten times!" Musa complained.
"I'll remember it later…"
"I'm not usually known as stranger, my name's Riven." Riven growled. "I'm on Nighly's elite royal guard."
"And I'm not other stranger… I'm Helia, the prince of Nighly." He introduced himself. Stella stormed right up to him and slapped him in the face.
"I DON'T WANT TO MARRY YOU!" She exclaimed.
"IT WASN'T MY IDEA!" Helia yelled in defence. "I didn't want to marry you either! I had liked someone else. Baltor has other plans now, so we need to get back to the palace."
"… Honey, I wouldn't slap him again." Musa put an arm around the princess, "You can slap the other one if you want to though!" she pointed at Riven.
"Well okay!" Stella said enthusiastically. She walked straight up to Riven and slapped him in the face.
"… I wasn't serious."
"I don't think I'm going to like you, your highness." Riven hissed. Helia couldn't help but smirk.
"Stop slapping people Stell." Brandon instructed. "Hey, Prince Helia, can I talk to you for a minute."
"Sure… You…" said Helia, "I've totally forgotten your name."
"It's Brandon."
"Cool." They walked slightly away from the group, leaving Riven with the three girls.
"So, Helia, I just wanted to ask if there are any hard feelings about anything that happened."
"This is the first time I've met you,"
"Oh yeah. I'm Stella's mentor, and I've really liked her for a really long time. She told me the same thing… You weren't still planning on marrying her, were you?"
"This is the first time that I've met her as well, she hugged me when she had no clue who I was. Then slapped me. Then slapped Riven. Has she slapped you before?"
"… Once or twice, but you're okay, right?"
"I never wanted to marry her in the first place, I liked… Someone else."
"Oh yeah, who?"
"Flora worked in the palace as I was growing up, and I guess I got to know her a little better when she was disguised as Stella. She's just… Beautiful, isn't she?"
"You like Flora?" Brandon seemed slightly shocked. They looked back at the girls; Flora and Stella were switching outfits. "Not really my type, but she's really sweet."
"I know,"
"Does she know you like her?"
"I'm not sure."
"After all this drama's over, you should ask her out."
"We'll see what happens." They walked back to the rest of the group.
"So, Baltor told me that he's marrying Queen Luna at dawn. We need to get back now and stop the plans from going further." Helia explained.
"What's the time now?" Musa asked.
"It's five," Riven checked his watch.
"So… We have eleven hours before the wedding?" Stella asked. "Can't we make it a closer call? Make things more exciting?"
"Yeah, I might take a nap." Said Riven.
"You guys are idiots. But fine."
