Chapter 6. its late, I'm too tired to type any more up here, except enjoy.

Hey, EvenSong said I could make this better, so I think I did. tell me what you think! :-) Enjoy!

Chapter 6: Conversations

"He's quite taken with you, you know." Janie smiled at Katie.

Katie raised her eyebrows. "Who?"

"My cousin, of course!" Janie laughed.

Katie stood, her face in an expression that said she thought Janie was out of her mind. "That's ridiculous! I lectured him! He rolled his eyes and huffed at me! He - "

"Katie." Katie glared. "That doesn't matter. He was taken with your appearance and the way you could stand up to royalty."

"Janie." Katie put her hands on Janie's shoulders and looked at her seriously. "You're nuts."

Janie laughed again. "No Katie, I'm serious!"

"Janie, no. He's too stupid and arrogant." Janie opened her mouth to protest, but Katie turned and left the room, heading towards her garden. Janie was crazy; the Prince couldn't be taken with her. He was too. too! Besides, even if he was taken with her, he was taken with her appearance - that just goes to show he didn't look within, just out.

She came to the gardens and ran through them, ignoring the hellos shouted by fellow servants. Her skirt and hair looked like ribbons she was running so fast. So fast she didn't have time to stop when a man stepped out in front of her. She ran right into him. "Oh, dear, I'm terribly sorry, I was-" She stepped back and realized she had run into the Prince. "Oh, it's you, Majesty. Then that's all right." Nevertheless, she curtsied - rolling her eyes as she did so. She made her way around him but he grabbed her hand to stop her.

"Wait!" Katie resisted the urge to struggle out of his soft, warm grasp and listened impatiently. No! Katie mustn't think such thoughts. "Would you walk with me?" She looked into his gray eyes and upon seeing the expression in them, thought, My goodness, Janie's right. She nodded warily and he let go of her hand. Wanting to dashing away, but not doing so, Katie walked through the gardens by the Prince's side. Both were silent.

Beautiful gardens went by and tall topiaries and stone figures. Finally, Katie turned to him and asked, "What do you want?"

He looked confused. "What do you mean?"

"You wanted me to walk with you, so surely there's a reason."

The Prince hesitated and Katie could tell he was trying to make up a good excuse. "Well, I remember you coming with Duchess Starina - you were the girl called Katherine - which means you're the daughter of a duchess. So how do you know so much about peasants?" Katie knew it was a lie, so she lied back.

"My best friend - name of. uh. Vicky - is a peasant. She told me all about it and took me to town and let me live the life of a peasant for a day."

"Oh." The Prince looked as though he didn't know what to say about this. He shook his head a little, as though to clear something from his thoughts, and walked on.

Katie hurried to catch up. "Is something wrong?"

The Prince looked up, shaking his head, but with a confused expression still on his face. "Uh, no. No, of course not."

Silence. Katie never hated silence more.

They arrived at Katie's garden. The Prince looked around, noting the pumpkins. "Those pumpkins are enormous."

Katie chuckled. "My fairy godmother grew them."

The Prince hid a laugh. "Ah, of course."

"You think I'm crazy, don't you?" Katie crossed her arms and glared at him.

"No, no! Of course not!" He sighed. "I used to love pumpkin pie, up until I was six. Now I think it's disgusting. I much prefer apple. What about you, what's your favorite kind of pie?"

"Well, we used to have pumpkin pie occasionally. My mother loved it. But after she died, I never had it any more. I could smell Carita, our cook, making pies in the kitchen and they smelled delicious. But my stepmother allowed me only peas and lentils and bread to eat-occasionally, though, Carita would slip me a bowl of stew."

"Your mother died? But I thought Duchess Starina -"

An embarrassed laugh escaped from Katie's lips. "Did I say my mother died? I meant my father."

"Oh, I see." The Prince's face softened. "I'm so sorry."

"Mistre-Mother wouldn't let me have pie anyway."

"Your mother didn't allow you to have pie? What about cake? People can't survive without cake!" The Prince looked horrified at the very idea.

Katie cocked her head and smiled at his ignorance. "You know nothing of the real world, Majesty. I can't imagine how little you know of peasants."

"Well then, how can you teach me?"

"The only way to know how peasants live, Majesty," Katie said, ducking under the ash tree and picking up Sammy to stroke him, "is to live like them." Upon seeing the Prince's confused face, her smile broadening. "Meet me here tomorrow at dawn. And don't eat anything before you come. We're going into the city to live like peasants. Just like Vikki and I did."

END CHAPTER SIX

Short, I know. Sorry. But it was a little bit I needed to happen. this might end up merging with the seventh chapter, if the seventh isn't too long. Until the seventh!