Wow, sorry for not updating in awhile! I've been dead. Actually, I think all my fav authors are dead... But I think they'll come back!
Anyways, finished this chapter! This is yet, another filler, and I hope you aren't getting too annoyed by how slow it's going. A story always needs its background info. I promise you, it'll get more interesting in the future.
Please enjoy.
Ness slept upon his bed, dreaming wonderful dreams. He laid in complete rest, rest that he couldn't get the day before. He learned many dances, which took a long time to learn, due to the fact that Ness was a 'I learn at my own pace' learner. Also, he got into minor fights with Lisa, with his accidental slip of the tongue. He couldn't help it, though. Anyways, it was all brought to an end at around midnight, which really tired him out because he had a strict bedtime that was at 9 p.m., to 8 a.m. The extra hours of sleep was mandatory for him. It was said to help him keep his healthy complexion (no bags under the eyes), and to give him all the energy he needed.
However, today, that wasn't the case.
Knock knock! Knock knock!
Ness shuffled in bed.
KNOCK KNOCK! KNOCK KNOCK! BANG!
"Nnn..."
"Ness! Wakey wakey!" Duster called. Having the key to every room in the castle, he opened the door, and entered. He sat on the side of Ness' bed, and shook the prince awake from his slumber. "Time to wake up! There is a big day ahead of you!"
"Just give me five more minutes... or years..." Ness mumbled.
Duster sighed, then went over the the huge window. There, he separated the curtains with speed, letting the bright sunlight hit Ness' bed.
The bright sunlight started to get to Ness, and got him to open his eyes. "Ah...! Shut the curtains!" He flipped the blanket over his head.
"Ness!" Duster whined. He went back over to the bed and ripped the whole bed sheet off. "It's 9:00 a.m! You simply must get ready! Your betrothed is to meet here promptly at 10!"
"Tell her I got cancer and died..." said Ness. He had nothing against his betrothed, nothing at all. He just didn't want to get up.
"GUAH! The king will surely punish me if I do not manage to get you set and ready for today...!" Duster panicked to himself. Then he resolved to physical violence. Carefully, he tucked his hands under Ness.
"Woah~ what're you doin' there, Du-"
Duster flipped Ness off of the bed. The prince fell off the bed and hit the carpeted floor lightly.
"OW!" Ness got up on both knees. "What was that for?"
"For being a little hard headed prince." Duster chuckled. Ness growled.
"FINE! I'm up! I'm up!" Ness admitted defeat. "I'll get ready! Just get out so I can change into my suit!"
"Oh no no no! Today is a special day, and you know what that calls for! Special treatment!"
"Special treat-"
The brown haired servant took a hold of the prince's hand, and ran out of the room. "No questions! We must begin to prepare you!"
Then Duster quickly led Ness through the building. They rushed through passing maids, guards, and other residents of the castle. The elegant colors of the Grand Hallways flew across Ness' eyes, dazing him temporarily. Before he knew it, Duster has brought him to the west wing of the castle, and stopped right in front of a mahogany door that was golden near the edges. He opened the door and gestured Ness to go inside.
Ness did, and slowly walked into the room. Of course, Duster didn't go in, for he had other jobs to get to. So it was all on the prince.
The confused boy looked around inside. The room contained many stations. One for grooming, hair designing, washing, etc. To be put more simply, it looked like a salon.
"Hello, Your Royal Highness." A lady approached him. She was a beautiful brunette, tall, and graceful. Along with her, was another woman. A bit shorter and blonde, she was. They both bowed.
"Hello." Ness nodded his head respectfully for the two.
Once they were done bowing, the blonde spoke. "Word from the king and queen, you are to meet your betrothed?"
"Yes, at 10, specifically," replied Ness, in his formal voice.
"Ah, just enough time." The brunette smiled. "Now, young prince, if we may, we shall get you ready."
"I grant you permission," Ness accepted. Oh how he hated speaking formally around the castle. The dialogue, in his opinion, is too bland and lack personality.
So afterwards, the two ladies did all that was possible to make the prince look his very best. First, they made sure he showered and brushed his teeth. The next thing they did afterwards was sit him down on a comfortable chair, and face him towards a mirror. From there, they blow dried his hair, combed out the tangles, and fixed it with a style. Afterwards, they gave the prince an outfit, one that was different from the one he usually wears. Rather than navy blue, it was pure white, golden on the edges of his collar, and the edges of the cuff. One that could easily differentiate him from another noble. He put it on, then checked himself out on the mirror. As expected, the ladies helped out and straightened out the wrinkles and curves on the expensive cloth. When finished, both of the women looked at the finished product.
The blonde examined the prince with her hand on her chin. "Hmmm..." She put her hands together. "I love it! Oh, how I would fall in love with you in first sight if I was but a little girl!" She smiled.
"I agree," said the brunette. "The outfit Her Highness, the queen, picked out certainly goes well with your skin tone!" She grins at the sight of the prince.
A pink tint started growing on Ness' cheeks. "Heheh... Thank you."
"The meeting will go great!" the blonde encouraged. "I simply cannot wait until your parents, or rather, your betrothed, sees this!"
"OH- And speaking of that, what time is it?" asked the brunette. She looked over to the expensive wall clock. She gasped. "A quarter till 9, it is! Quickly, apply the fragrance so we may escort him!"
"Ah, yes!" The blonde rushed over a grabbed a bottle. She sprayed one time of Ness' collar, and left it at that. The strong scent bothered Ness a little, but it soon faded away.
From that point on, the ladies took the young prince out of the room, and escorted him across the mansion. Turning and turning the curves in the castle, they brought him nearer to the castle's main entrance. Getting proximal to the destination, Ness could hear faint talking and chatters.
"Where is the young prince?" said an unfamiliar voice.
"He should be here soon...! I am terribly sorry for the wait..." said the king of Eagleland's voice.
Going down the stairs (the front doors of the castle were at the bottom), Ness rushed. The two ladies went away when the prince was where he was supposed to be.
"I am here," said Ness, professionally. He walked without a flaw to the group of nobles that has gathered. Immediately, everyone's attention went to him. However, that didn't bother Ness in a bit, he was used to unwanted attention. Just a princely thing.
"Yes, here he is!" announced the king. The queen, who was in the group too, came to Ness' side, along with his father.
"Oh...?" a lady, clad in a different colored dress, as well as a different textured dress compared to Ness' mother, said. "This is him...?" She questioned, in a surprised tone, rather than a disappointed one. Next to her was a man, who was as well dressed differently compared the Ness' father. And in the middle of the two, was a young woman, that looked like Ness' age.
"Yes, this is our son, Prince Ness. Future ruler of Eagleland." The king smiled, completely happy about the unknown visitors' presence. Ness was still confused about who the three were, until his father answered that for him.
"Son," he began, "meet the King of Polestar, the Queen of Polestar, and..." He smiled at Ness, then guided the boy's attention to the girl in the middle. "The Princess of Polestar, Paula."
The girl looked away shyly from Ness, nearly hiding herself completely behind her mother's dress. She had on the most pinkest dress ever, one that was made of priceless material that would not tear, yet, at the same time, remain fashionable. Her eyes were an endless sea of blue, and her hair was a cascade of blonde. Although a bit short, the hair proved its point, and that is to be beautiful. What made it stand out even more was the shiny red bow placed cleanly on the side of her head.
Ness' eyes widened. So that's who they were?! Ness tried his best not to look surprised. And it worked. He kept his princely composure, smiled, and bowed respectively at the three, mainly at Paula.
"Oh~" The queen focused her attention on Ness. "A prince of manners. One could not ask for anything better." She and her husband smiled at the king and queen. They both smiled back, glad that their son kept his princely act during this sort of meeting, instead of the unsteady one he had two nights before.
"Now, shall we head to the gardens for this morning's brunch?" The queen offered.
The king of Polestar happily nodded. "Why, yes! The weather outside is not too far from perfect!"
The adults happily made each other acquaintances, and picked up their feet and began their ways around the building. Ness followed closely near his parents, while the princess, Paula, did the same thing. While they were doing that, the adults made conversation, which consisted of their daily lives of how they run their kingdom, and about the castle they were walking through. This continued until they got to the back entrance of the castle. The guards who were positioned there, opened the door for the royals, and closed it afterwards.
As soon as everyone was outside, they were greeted with indeed, perfect weather. The sun was shining, but not to the point where it would annoy someone's eyesight. The sky was blue also, and the temperature outside was not too hot or too cold, just right. And due to everything's idealism, it couldn't have made the garden look anymore better. The garden and grass looked lush and bright in the sun's rays, like an earthly paradise, considering its diversity in colorful flowers and trees.
The Polestar rulers' faces were priceless. They gasped as soon as they got out of the castle.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" said the queen. "I tend to this garden myself. It lies deep in my heart. I do not know what I would do without it." She stares soulfully at the garden and smiles warmly to herself.
"I have a garden at my castle as well... but it could never surpass this garden's beauty!" said Polestar's queen. "Jealous, am I!" she admits, with an optimistic tone.
"Oh, I wouldn't say this garden is the best..." the queen remained modest, then continued on. "Over here, we have a table set up for this special occasion." She led everyone to a white table made of glass, which was supported by white metal legs that had a vine design to it. Atop of it were tea, scones, fresh summer berries, nut bread, and cups of lifenoodles. Standing next to it was a silent butler.
Everyone took their seat. There were 3 seats on each side. Ness sat in between his parents, and on the other side, the princess sat in between her parents as well.
"Oh, my favorite!" said the queen of Polestar. She immediately dug into the cups of lifenoodles. That made a signal for everyone else to help themselves to their food. Afterwards, eating commenced, as the adults talked about themselves yet again.
Ness remained silent and drank his tea in quiet sips. I thought this was supposed to be a meeting of me and my betrothed... not some kind of convention that adults would go to to make friends... All well. Ness didn't really care, well, it wasn't that. He had to admit, he was pretty nervous to go talking to the princess himself. This just counted as a save.
When he thought he'd never get a chance to actually meet the princess, his dad leaned over to his ear and whispered, "Why don't you go speak to her?"
Those words surprised Ness. And despite the current situation he was in with his father, he replied anyways, because what happened 2 days ago wasn't the point right now. "In these kind of conditions, I don't think so. Why don't you just get back to your conversation?" He couldn't help but pass a little rude tone in that.
The king ignored it and persisted. "Go show her around the garden. This is my order."
Ness rolled his eyes and did as told. He got up from his seat, which caught eyes from everyone. With as much grace he could muster, he walked over to the princess' seat, and bowed.
"May I show you the garden, Princess Paula?" he asked, smiling at her. The girl blushed.
The parents of the two looked at each other, then at the two young ones and smiled the kind of smile that said, 'How cute!'
It took awhile for the princess to reply, but she did. "Y-Yes, you may." Her voice was gentle. Like a leaf hitting the surface of calm waters.
With that, she got up from her seat. After she did, Ness offered her a hand. "May I?"
She nodded, putting her hand in his.
Then they both walked together, deeper into the garden.
Okay, I'd like to mention that there will be NessXClaus in the future! I'm not purposely prolonging it, okay? I'm not guilty!
Stay awesome.