The next day Maxim took me out of the Palace. We walked through the small village of all the lost children, the ages varied from about three to seventeen, there were very few who were older. They looked at Maxim and I with furrowed eyebrows and glares, Maxim had me on his arm but showed no more affection than that for obvious reasons. There were of course mutters as to why a Prince was taking the Mortal "servant" out in public. There were many stands in the market selling foods, drinks, crafts and gifts. Maxim had offered to buy me extravagant jewellery but I refused to let him, I did not have anything to give to him and I hated the thought of him spending his riches on superficial gifts for me.
'Prince Maxim,' a girl in a deep chocolate coloured dress said and curtsied before him. She had long black hair down to her waist and it gleamed in the sun. She wore a weaved cape with bright coloured patterns of red, orange and turquoise. Her skin had a lovely glowing tan and her dark eyes sparkled.
'Good day Princess Tiger Lily.' Maxim bowed to her. 'Miss Booth this is Princess Tiger Lily, she is the Chief's daughter of the Indian tribe. Tiger Lily this is Eden Booth, she has joined us from the Mortal realm.' I curtsied to her and she nodded her head once, smiling. This was the Princess who had her eye on Peter.
'So this is the Mortal everyone is talking about.' She said. 'I hope the boys are taking good care of you?' I saw Maxim smirk in the corner of my eye and chuckled.
'They are indeed.' I said with a smile which she returned.
'Good, Maxim, how is Peter?' She asked.
'He's well, you should visit him sometime.' Maxim suggested.
'I should, he did drop by one evening but that was to discuss a matter with one of my brothers.' I froze, I knew he would have been discussing plans for me.
'Which brother?' Maxim asked, I noticed his jaw was clenched tightly.
'Hassun. I have no idea what they were talking about.' She shook her head. 'I shall leave you two to continue your errands that I interrupted. Have a nice day.' She gave one last curtsy to Maxim and left.
'Is Hassun the worst of all the brothers?' I enquired, still thinking about what Maxim said about the Chief's sons.
'Hassun is the most arrogant.' He said. I noticed Maxim was looking pale, he had some dark circles under his eyes and he didn't look well.
'Maxim, are you feeling alright?' I asked and he stared off into space with a vacant expression but then eventually nodded.
'I'm fine.' He mumbled and gave a small smile. 'You won't allow me to buy you anything here so we shall go home and get ready for dinner.' I nodded and we headed back to the Palace. We were greeted by guards at the door and the servant who gave Maxim his drink was waiting for him with a tray of the familiar lime green liquid.
'The drink you requested upon return.' He said and bowed. Maxim took the drink from him and began drinking it.
'Fetch Miss Booth a glass of juice.' He ordered and the servant nodded.
'As you wish.' The servant walked down the halls and towards the kitchen.
'How can you order people about so swiftly? I'd feel so guilty and rude.' I said and he chuckled to himself, taking my pale blue coat off of my arms and handing it to a servant to put away in the cloak room.
'You'll have to get used to it princess.' He whispered, I rolled my eyes as he chuckled, mocking me.
'I wonder if the servants tire of you.' I said and he frowned.
'No, they're as loyal as can be.' He scoffed. The servant came back with my glass of orange juice and offered it to me on a silver tray as he did Maxim's.
'Thank you.' I said politely, taking it from the tray, not once had I heard Maxim say thank you. When we had finished our drinks Maxim took my empty glass and held it in front of the servant.
'You're dismissed.' He firmly stated as the servant took our glasses away. I watched the servant disappear down the hallway.
'Would a "thank you" hurt?' I folded my arms and narrowed my eyes at Maxim.
'They're servants! They expect to be ordered about.' He tried to justify.
'I expect a "thank you" from you at dinner.' I raised my eyebrows and he put his hands up in surrender.
'Fine, I will.' He smirked. Maxim rubbed his face and frowned, I swore he had lost even more colour than before.
'Are you sure you're not ill?' I asked and attempted to feel his forehead for a fever but he lightly smacked my hand away.
'I've told you I'm fine.' He muttered. 'Go change for dinner.'
I went to my room and put on beige and flower patterned tea dress and went downstairs for dinner. I noticed that Maxim was absent from his seat, he was usually always here before I arrived, it shocked me that he came later than Peter. Maxim stumbled into his chair and I could see sweat making his shirt stick to his chest. He was still pale and the dark circles under his eyes were a sickly plum purple colour. His lips were also very pale and dry.
'Maxim, go to bed you're not well.' I whispered as he picked at his food, proving his appetite had gone. Slightly looked over at Maxim and frowned.
'Twins, you look terrible, go and lie down.' Slightly ordered but Maxim shook his head no. The same servant as before placed a glass of familiar fluid in front of Maxim. Maxim took a sip of his lime green drink and slumped back in his chair, his breathing heavy. Peter eventually looked up from his food and looked the most concerned I'd ever seen him when he saw the state of Maxim.
'Twins, I order you to go to bed. I'll fetch you Tiger Lily, she'll know someone with a remedy.' Peter said and Maxim huffed but obeyed Peter. Maxim stood up but as soon as he went to walk away he collapsed on the floor unconscious.
'Maxim?' I gasped and knelt beside him on the floor. I put him onto his back, his body had a terrible fever and his sweat drenched my hands. Peter swooped down beside him as well and examined him.
'Is it flu?' I asked Peter but he shook his head.
'No…' Peter looked slightly panicked. 'Nibs, Curly, carry Twins to his room. Slightly, prepare Twins' room for visitors, Tootles find him a pair of light cotton pyjamas, we can't have him burning up.' Peter then looked at me. 'Booth, you need to treat his temperature and give him water only to drink, it will hydrate him. Tootles will be the only one to fetch him water, Tootles get the water from a fresh source and nowhere else. I'm going to fetch someone from the Indian village and I want all of you by Twins' side, or fetching something to help him at least.' Peter ran at lightning speed out of the hall and Curly and Nibs had already begun carrying Maxim upstairs, an arm on each of their shoulders and dragging him up.
'Tootles, get tap water. It will be the purest you can find.' I said and he nodded. Slightly rushed ahead to Maxim's room and I followed Tootles to the kitchen. He poured a bowl of water for me to carry and put a soft clean cloth inside of the bowl, which I carried. Tootles himself carried a glass and clear jug of water. We both rushed up to Maxim and into his room, Slightly was moving the furniture around creating more space and opened a window to get a breeze through the room. Tootles put the glass and jug down on Maxim's dressing table and then rifled through his drawers and found a flimsy pair of white cotton pyjamas.
'Put these on him.' He passed them to Curly and Nibs fluffed up a few pillows for him to be propped up on. Curly had managed to strip him down and put the thinner pyjamas on him. Maxim was then propped up on the pillows and a light sheet pulled over him. It was my cue to nurse him when all was prepared. I placed the bowl of water on one of his side tables, I wrung out the cloth and sat by his side on the bed. I began dabbing his forehead with the cool, damp cloth and everyone watched from the end of the bed, Tootles stood the opposite side of me with the glass of water, ready to give to him. Maxim couldn't drink at that moment due to being unconscious. I wondered what made him so violently ill, possibly some forest related fever, he started to murmur and whimper in his sleep like a small child having a nightmare. I hushed him and dipped the cloth in the water once more, and then applied it to his face. His dark brown hair stuck to his damp face and I brushed them back with my fingers running through his hair. The door burst open and Peter entered with Tiger Lily and an older woman. I stood back and allowed the women to examine Maxim. I handed Tiger Lily the bowl of water to dab his forehead and the older woman checked his pulse, examined the inside of his mouth and various other observations.
I walked over and stood by Slightly. Slightly placed a reassuring arm around my shoulders. 'He's in good hands, Tiger Lily's mother is one of the best healers in Neverland. She's treated all of us for some injury or sickness.' Slightly assured, with Slightly comforting me I began to suspect he may have noticed something between me and Maxim due to my sudden caring of him when he fell ill. At this moment I wouldn't care if he knew about us, I was far more concerned about Maxim's wellbeing.
'Is it what I suspected?' Peter chirped in as Tiger Lily's mother pulled back.
'Yes,' she said, 'yes, he has been poisoned.'
Thanks for the reviews (and a welcome (thanks) to the new reviewers!) x
