Her dress now lay at the bottom of the lagoon where she had dropped it in surprise. The hands that had touched her bare shoulder had sent a cool, tingling sensation all the way down her spine.
At first, the princess had suspected one of the boys had snuck up on her. She'd covered her breasts and prepped some choice words on her tongue as she spun, ready to chastise them for breaking their promise.
But instead of Touya's tall, dark, looming figure bearing down on her, or Samuel's shorter, broader slouch stood over her, there stood a woman. A beautiful, voluptuous woman with eyes as bright and blue as the pool she peered into. Her curvaceous body was decorated with flowers and her hair was the same shade as the bluebells that covered the forest floor beneath her bare feet.
Calliope had cried out sharply in surprise. She hadn't yet noticed that her companions had come running. Rather, she was far too mesmerised by the woman's aura. There was something...otherworldly about her.
"Oh! I'm sorry if I startled you!" She chimed girlishly, he head titling to the side like a curious bird. "I just wanted to know if you needed help cleaning your dress!"
Calliope continued to stare with mouth agape. The beautiful stranger continued merrily.
"It can get pretty deep in this end of the pool! Here, let me help you get your dress back."
As the princess continued to watch with wide eyes, the flower-clad female lifted a delicate hand and flicked her slender wrist.
Calliope felt the water bubble behind her. Gasping, she kicked away and bumped her back into the mossy bank just as her dress rose from the bottom of the lagoon. As it broke the surface, it was completely dry and newly decorated with flower petals in the places where brambles and branches had snagged and torn at the fabric. Astonished, Calliope could only ogle the beautiful, freshly cleaned and newly repaired garment with quiet disbelief as it floated in the air before her.
"Holy shit," breathed a voice from the opposite side of the lagoon.
Calliope looked past the twinkling robe to see her companions' bewildered faces.
"You're a nymph!" Touya declared, pointing a figure at the woman behind Calliope. His expression then became rather wolffish. "Nice..."
Samuel's expression rather reflected the Princess'- a look of shock and disbelief.
"Nejire!" The woman chimed back, casting the men a closed-eye smile.
"Enchanté," Touya replied, bearing his teeth in a roguish grin.
Samuel merely blinked. "Hey."
A nymph? Calliope had heard of them. Forest dwelling creatures that possessed magical abilities. Had she not have seen her dress dancing above the water like a phantom, Calliope would never have believed it. She thought such beings only existed in books.
"Oo! You should probably get out now, Miss! It's not safe to stay in the waters too long!" Nejire the Nymph warned. "Come on!" And when she offered Calliope her hand, the princess took it without even thinking about the men behind her.
Luckily, Nejire had done so for her, and ordered them to turn around as she helped lift a very bare and very bewildered Callie from the pool. Once on the bank, the nymph blew the princess a kiss and in an instant her hair and body were dry and infused with a delightful scent of summer flowers. She babbled her thanks as she pulled on her dress after it had drifted back down to her, skirts fluttering in the breeze.
"You can turn around now!" Nejire called cheerily to the men on the other side of the lagoon.
As they did so, she took Calliope's hand and began to lead her forwards.
Eyes dropping to floor, she was once again amazed to see the air around Nejire's feet shimmer with every step.
She lead her over the pool, walking straight across the water as if it were as solid as the forest floor. The young men watched in awe as the women drew nearer, the lagoon slowly vanishing around them.
"Since you won't be needing it anymore..." Nejire smiled, gesturing towards where the lagoon had once sat with her free hand. The other still held onto Calliope's, sending a tingling sensation up her arm the entire time.
"Wait, you made that appear?" Samuel finally spoke, eyes wide and searching the space where the pool had once been.
The nymph nodded her pretty, periwinkle head. "You said you needed to bathe so, yeah!" She beamed. "Did you like it? The water smells like what you love most! But it's risky to stay too long. Sometimes people don't ever want to get out." She pursed her lips and placed a finger to her chin idly as she said this.
Calliope fought back the urge to shudder at the thought of how many souls had been claimed by the enchanted water. Instead, she focused on Nejire's previous statement. The water smelt like what you loved most...
As she had been washing her hair beneath the gentle waterfall, she had smelt sunshine and flowers. Initially, she had thought it was simply just the smell of the forest. After all, it was a bright day and there were bluebells all around. But now that she thought about it, there was something more familiar about fragrance..
An arched, open window overlooking the royal gardens in August.
Yes, the memory became clearer to her now. She had been sat in her chamber with her Maids in Waiting, Mina and Ochako. They had been chatting about the upcoming harvest ball that was taking place later that evening. Mina was braiding the Princess' hair while Ochako poured them all tea.
As the two maids began to converse about which of the Knights were most likely to get drunk that evening, Calliope's bet being Sir Kaminari while her maids pondered Sir Kirishima's weakness for strong ale, a voice from outside her window caught her attention. Sidling closer to it as Mina reached the last few inches of Calliope's long plait, the princess had peered out.
The voice was faint but familiar and coming from the gardens. Looking down, her searching eyes located the owner of the low, drawling voice.
The new jester was pacing between the rose bushes, wringing his hands nervously in front of him as he muttered under his breath.
As her maids laughed and joked at their own impersonations of the knights, Mina masterfully recreating Sir Kirishima's manly bellow, Calliope shifted to lean further out of the window to better hear what the jester was saying.
Slinking her slender body across the sill, she smirked at the slyness of her own eavesdropping. Resting her chin on a closed fist, she listened as her father's new jester practised his stories and jokes in the sanctuary of the flower beds.
The air smelt sweet- as sweet as the image was of the nervous performer pacing below. He was already in costume, in shades of silver and blue. She could hear the gentle chime of his bells ring pleasantly on the breeze as he shook his head in exasperation. Clearly, he was dreading tonight's performance. The princess bit her smiling lip as she continued to spy the adorable scene.
Either side of her, appeared the bodies of her maids.
"Oh! Is that the new jester?" Mina whispered, though there was little chance of him hearing them from their high perch.
Calliope nodded. "Yes. Samuel, I believe his name is."
"Sir Russel's brother?" Ochako asked, titling her head curiously as they watched the jester run a hand down his face.
"Indeed." The princess replied, smiling serenely.
They young women lapsed into silence as they watched him reel off another line, then another, as he walked slowly up and down. They couldn't quite make out what he was saying, but they could detect the rise and fall of his intonations as he practised his punch lines.
It was Mina who broke the silence, speaking the words the princess had been thinking.
"He's quite handsome, isn't he?" She mused, squinting her eyes and peering closer. She idly twirled a lock of her rosy hair as she spoke, pouting her lips in thought. "Not as handsome as Sir Russel, though."
This was true. The knight was classically handsome in every way. With his wavy, chestnut locks and eyes like clear honey. He was also tall and muscular with a strong jawline. Many of the kingdom's women desired him. Sir Bakugo was also a popular choice, but Calliope couldn't see the appeal. For either of them, in fact. Even the lovely Sir Midoriya, who Ochako had secretly been courting for some time now, didn't hold the princess' attention for very long.
However, when King Toshinori had first introduced the new jester a few weeks back in the great hall, she had found herself instantly drawn to his icy features. Cool eyes and platinum hair. Fair skin with an idle grin. Nothing like his brother. Except perhaps the boyish charm in his smile and his even, white teeth.
"The poor thing..." Mina tutted, pursing her lips upon hearing the jester's heavy sigh on the wind.
But Calliope was laughing softly, as was Ochako on her right. Clearly, they both found amusement in the innocence of it all- his nervous pacing and their mischievous peeking.
Filled with girlish mischief, the Princess gripped the window sill and leant out as far as she dared. Her maids gasped and gripped her dress in fear she would fall into the rockery below.
"Your highness! Be careful!"'
Supported by her maids in waiting, Calliope called out into the golden glow of the late afternoon sun.
"Jester!" Her voice carried across the gardens. "Oh jester!" Her boldness caused her maids to giggle at her sides. That, along with the way the young man spun wildly in surprise.
"Up here!" She called again, this time waving an arm above her head when he failed to locate the source of the voice that called to him.
The jester raised his head, shock registering swiftly across his features as his wide eyes identified the princess. He swiped his hat from his head and held it against his chest. The women laughed as his bells jingled comically.
"Your highness," he croaked in surprise, blinking his bright eyes bashfully before bowing.
More jingling. More giggles.
"My, my jester!" Calliope sang, once he'd righted himself again.
He kept his hat pressed against him as she continued to address him in a playful manner.
"What troubles you so? And on such a beautiful evening!"
Mina and Ochako relished the scene with youthful glee as the young man shifted awkwardly below them.
"Your highness. I'm-I'm afraid I do not know what you mean."
The ladies laughed at the stutter of his sentence.
"Now, don't lie to your princess!" She called down, her tone revealing her teasing smirk. "I've been watching you tread trenches into my father's beautiful lawn for a while now!"
The jester swallowed, eyes darting behind him where his nervous pacing had left the grass looking flat.
"Your highness! I think your scaring him," Ochako giggled quietly.
Indeed, the young man looked fearful as he tugged at the collar of his costume.
"My apologies, Princess." He bleated, clearing his throat and trying to regain some sort of composure. "I was merely practising for my performance this evening." He bowed again. When he straightened back up, he had managed to find his smile again.
It made her heart flutter and her words bolder. She pulled a theatrically feigned expression of curiosity. "Why? Do you often perform badly in the evenings?" She teased, lips curling, lids lowering.
Mina and Ochako spluttered a laugh at their Princess' saucy implication, the sound carrying across the quiet garden.
The jester's blush was visible even from their high perch. He scratched his head sheepishly, eyes dropping from the womens' playful regards.
"I-well..." He gulped, pausing to take a second to compose himself again. Clearing his throat into his fist once more, he manage to respond in his most confident voice yet. "One does not wish to disappoint, your highness."
When he cast the young women one of those lopsided, dimpled grins Calliope loved so much, the maids at either side of her squealed quietly.
Why, the cheeky jester was flirting back!
Because of course, that's exactly what she was doing; flirting. She couldn't deny it. And what fun it was! Usually, she was never allowed to address men without a chaperone. Of course, her maids were with her, but still- their presence actually made it all the more fun. For the first time in her life, she actually felt like a normal young woman, messing around with her girl friends, and not like a caged bird.
"Well, how about you grant myself, and my lovely lady friends here, a private show?" She purred, resting her head on her hands as she peered down at him expectantly. Her maids mirrored the action and nestled in either side of her with wide grins. Together, the three of them surely looked like mischievous cats eyeing up a little mouse.
But the little mouse was no longer fidgeting beneath their toothy smiles and long-lashed looks. Rather, he seemed to have found his courage and was rather enjoying the attention.
"Your highness, I'd love nothing more..." he replied in a low, fruity voice through a roguish smile, "yet I'm afraid I must decline for I do not wish to-"
"YOUR HIGHNESS!" An angry roar cut across him.
The sudden interruption almost caused Calliope to topple from the window. Luckily, her maids were there to catch her.
That voice. She was so used to hearing her title bellowed in such a way. Always the killer of what little joy she found in her monotonous life...
Sir Bakugo was storming up between the roses towards where the jester stood, though his crimson eyes were fixed firmly on her as she scowled right back down at him.
"Get back inside your room at once! You can't be seen hanging out of windows and fraternising with fools!"
Mina was grumbling beside her while Ochako worried her bottom lip.
Calliope rolled her eyes as a heavy sigh escaped her. "Well in that case, perhaps you should turn and go back to where you came from!"
Her cheeky retort caused both Mina and the jester to stifle a laugh. Sir Bakugo only growled louder...
Yes. A fond memory indeed; the first time she'd spoken to Samuel. It had been a brief exchange. And not exactly a private one. But in that moment, in the golden glow of a summer evening, with the smell of sunshine and flowers in the air, her heart had been full. A cherished memory. One she loved most.
So that's what she'd smelt in the water.