Sorry for the delay, I've had finals all week!
Here's the next installment of my fic to honor the dragon prince.
Chap 4: layout of the pad
Cinnamon hummed a quiet happy tune to herself. This was going much better than she had expected. She thought that she would have to ask for escorts and train them herself, but Prince Herb had surprised her and thought of it first. Not many of her students had ever thought for her safety on the first day before. Usually it was only after beating the crap out of two or three too curious men did any of the others realize how much danger she could be in.
She studied the hall as she walked along with the two boys, trying to memorize her way. The floors were red marble, with white alabaster columns. Thick rugs lined the floor, and old tapestries lined the walls. Torches and candles in silver holders were evenly spaced along the hall, keeping it bright. The prince's quarters were the most lavish in the entire complex, but even here it was simple and not cluttered at all. She rather liked his style.
The palace, while not very tall, three stories, was vast, with multiple enclosed courtyards for small classes and weapons training. It was mostly for the prince, the training masters, and the grounds staff.
At her request for an overview, the retainers had taken her up to the third floor where one could see the entire place from its balconies. The grounds themselves were vast and spacious, three valleys enclosed by steep mountains. The path Cinnamon had walked was the only way in, easily defendable. The dormitories were little more than a hundred feet from the palace, and the infirmary was farther down the way, closest to the small river that flowed through the valleys. Its source was high up, mountain ice runoff, and some of the younger fighters had caught hypothermia even in the summertime for not respecting the water's temperature.
Cinnamon drank in the view. It was a truly beautiful place, and seemed so peaceful as the sun set. Lime and Mint just smiled at the look on her face. They were watching her every move, still very not used to being in the company of a woman. She noticed their stares and spoke. "I'm sorry if I'm going to take time away from your training, Lime, Mint."
"Oh, no, Lady Cinnamon, we don't mind at all!" Mint said. He opened the door for Lime to carry in the bags to her room. The young boy eagerly spoke again. "What sort of training will you and Master Herb be doing?"
"Can we help with it?" Lime asked as he placed her few bags on the spacious bed.
Cinnamon quickly answered, "Oh, no, this sort of thing he has to do on his own. As for what kind of things I'll be teaching him, well, its all about courtship." Seeing their confused looks, she explained. "Basically, what I'm trying to do it help smooth his way with his bride by teaching him what women are like and how to"-she tried for a better word and couldn't find one-"well, interact with us. Women are very different from men."
"Yes," Mint said. "Women are. Your bodies are different. You're smaller and you're round in weird places. Is it true you have chickens on your chests?" Lime lightly shoved the boy in the arm and almost sent him out the window. "Don't be rude, you mutt. They're not weird, and its not chickens, its breasts."
Cinnamon couldn't help raising an eyebrow. Good lord, they certainly were a strong bunch, these Musk warriors.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Herb walked silently down the hall, tuning out the sounds from the great hall below. Even on the third floor, he could still hear, "A woman! A real live woman, here in the palace! She'd come for Master Herb!" This is going to get so very annoying, he thought to himself. As he walked down the hall, he noticed that page that normally opened the door for him, a young boy of the rabbit clan of martial arts, was almost glued to the other door. He didn't even notice his prince coming to stand beside him.
Herb mentally growled. It was just a woman, for the love of the gods. He readied himself to speak before he heard the crash of someone small hitting the floor. The prince instantly became concerned. While he trusted Lime and Mint not to harm her, he wouldn't put it past some of his other men to lay an ambush on hearing about a woman in the palace. Herb almost leapt in to see if Lady Cinnamon was alright when he heard the voices. 'What on earth are they doing in there?' He leaned over to listen more.
%~%~%~%~%~%
Lime growled while the wolf boy stood back up. "Sorry for his mouth, Lady Cinnamon."
She giggled. "You know, you don't have to keep calling me 'Lady'.
The tiger man cocked his head in confusion. "What else can we call you?"
Mint was also puzzled. "Are there other names for women?"
Cinnamon remembered that since they'd never had to talk with women, they didn't know any polite terms for them. "Sure there are, Mint." She sat on the bed to think about how to phrase it and decided to work her way down from the top. "As there are kings, there are queens, their wives. Emperor, empress, prince, princess."
"So when Master Herb marries, his wife will be a princess?"
"Exactly! Duke, duchess, baron, baroness, lord, lady, master, mistress, mister, miss. Since lord and master are titles, mister is just for someone you've just met, and that goes for miss too."
"Which one should we call you?"
The girl paused. "Well, I'm fine with you just calling me Cinnamon, but technically, we haven't known each other long enough for that to be appropriate. I suppose you could just call me Miss Cinnamon. Or just Miss, if you like."
Mint and Lime smiled. "Sure thing, Miss Cinnamon."
~*~*~*~*~**~*~*
Herb rolled his eyes, something he would never do in public. (As the rabbit boy was still listening to the conversation, he didn't notice and wouldn't have said anything anyway.) That girl would have those two eating out of the palm of her hand in no time. Through the crack in the door he caught a look at her face. The dark smudges under her eyes were getting worse. Couldn't those two see that she was tired? He cleared his throat outside the door.
Sun-he, the page, jumped five feet in the air, whirling to see his prince looking at him with something akin to amusement. The boy almost ran back to his post beside his prince's door, blushing bright red in embarrassment...
Cinnamon glanced briefly around but couldn't quite identify what that soft noise was. Mint and Lime, with their animal ancestry, could hear him just fine and immediately began to go for the hall.
"We'll be going now Miss Cinnamon," Mint said.
"We'll be right outside your door if you need anything. Don't hesitate to ask!"
The girl nodded. "Thank you for watching over me tonight. I'm so tired I probably wouldn't notice if a troop of elephants walked outside my window."
"May you sleep well," Lime said, turning to leave.
"Oh, wait, Mint? Lime?"
They turned back to her.
"Could you please come talk to me tomorrow? I'd like to know more about the prince." She looked down, blushing. "I mean, since we're going to be working together, I'd rather find out now if certain things annoy him more than others. Is that alright with you?"
They both nodded, thinking the same thing. Better tell her about the changing thing.
"Goodnight, Mint, Lime."
"Goodnight, Miss." The boys went out to the hall and shut the door behind them.
Only to be greeted by their master. He gave them a light glare. "Don't even think about telling her about my curse."
"But Master Herb"-
"Not a word, or I'll start practicing my finishing moves again."
Lime and Mint shuddered hard. Those moves depicted on the murals were extremely painful looking, and those few that they'd been done to almost never could walk right again. Those who lived, that is. The boys nodded their agreement of their lord's wish and settled outside the lady's door.
Sun-he opened the door for his master and helped him prepare for bed.
** hope you all like it, please review!
Here's the next installment of my fic to honor the dragon prince.
Chap 4: layout of the pad
Cinnamon hummed a quiet happy tune to herself. This was going much better than she had expected. She thought that she would have to ask for escorts and train them herself, but Prince Herb had surprised her and thought of it first. Not many of her students had ever thought for her safety on the first day before. Usually it was only after beating the crap out of two or three too curious men did any of the others realize how much danger she could be in.
She studied the hall as she walked along with the two boys, trying to memorize her way. The floors were red marble, with white alabaster columns. Thick rugs lined the floor, and old tapestries lined the walls. Torches and candles in silver holders were evenly spaced along the hall, keeping it bright. The prince's quarters were the most lavish in the entire complex, but even here it was simple and not cluttered at all. She rather liked his style.
The palace, while not very tall, three stories, was vast, with multiple enclosed courtyards for small classes and weapons training. It was mostly for the prince, the training masters, and the grounds staff.
At her request for an overview, the retainers had taken her up to the third floor where one could see the entire place from its balconies. The grounds themselves were vast and spacious, three valleys enclosed by steep mountains. The path Cinnamon had walked was the only way in, easily defendable. The dormitories were little more than a hundred feet from the palace, and the infirmary was farther down the way, closest to the small river that flowed through the valleys. Its source was high up, mountain ice runoff, and some of the younger fighters had caught hypothermia even in the summertime for not respecting the water's temperature.
Cinnamon drank in the view. It was a truly beautiful place, and seemed so peaceful as the sun set. Lime and Mint just smiled at the look on her face. They were watching her every move, still very not used to being in the company of a woman. She noticed their stares and spoke. "I'm sorry if I'm going to take time away from your training, Lime, Mint."
"Oh, no, Lady Cinnamon, we don't mind at all!" Mint said. He opened the door for Lime to carry in the bags to her room. The young boy eagerly spoke again. "What sort of training will you and Master Herb be doing?"
"Can we help with it?" Lime asked as he placed her few bags on the spacious bed.
Cinnamon quickly answered, "Oh, no, this sort of thing he has to do on his own. As for what kind of things I'll be teaching him, well, its all about courtship." Seeing their confused looks, she explained. "Basically, what I'm trying to do it help smooth his way with his bride by teaching him what women are like and how to"-she tried for a better word and couldn't find one-"well, interact with us. Women are very different from men."
"Yes," Mint said. "Women are. Your bodies are different. You're smaller and you're round in weird places. Is it true you have chickens on your chests?" Lime lightly shoved the boy in the arm and almost sent him out the window. "Don't be rude, you mutt. They're not weird, and its not chickens, its breasts."
Cinnamon couldn't help raising an eyebrow. Good lord, they certainly were a strong bunch, these Musk warriors.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Herb walked silently down the hall, tuning out the sounds from the great hall below. Even on the third floor, he could still hear, "A woman! A real live woman, here in the palace! She'd come for Master Herb!" This is going to get so very annoying, he thought to himself. As he walked down the hall, he noticed that page that normally opened the door for him, a young boy of the rabbit clan of martial arts, was almost glued to the other door. He didn't even notice his prince coming to stand beside him.
Herb mentally growled. It was just a woman, for the love of the gods. He readied himself to speak before he heard the crash of someone small hitting the floor. The prince instantly became concerned. While he trusted Lime and Mint not to harm her, he wouldn't put it past some of his other men to lay an ambush on hearing about a woman in the palace. Herb almost leapt in to see if Lady Cinnamon was alright when he heard the voices. 'What on earth are they doing in there?' He leaned over to listen more.
%~%~%~%~%~%
Lime growled while the wolf boy stood back up. "Sorry for his mouth, Lady Cinnamon."
She giggled. "You know, you don't have to keep calling me 'Lady'.
The tiger man cocked his head in confusion. "What else can we call you?"
Mint was also puzzled. "Are there other names for women?"
Cinnamon remembered that since they'd never had to talk with women, they didn't know any polite terms for them. "Sure there are, Mint." She sat on the bed to think about how to phrase it and decided to work her way down from the top. "As there are kings, there are queens, their wives. Emperor, empress, prince, princess."
"So when Master Herb marries, his wife will be a princess?"
"Exactly! Duke, duchess, baron, baroness, lord, lady, master, mistress, mister, miss. Since lord and master are titles, mister is just for someone you've just met, and that goes for miss too."
"Which one should we call you?"
The girl paused. "Well, I'm fine with you just calling me Cinnamon, but technically, we haven't known each other long enough for that to be appropriate. I suppose you could just call me Miss Cinnamon. Or just Miss, if you like."
Mint and Lime smiled. "Sure thing, Miss Cinnamon."
~*~*~*~*~**~*~*
Herb rolled his eyes, something he would never do in public. (As the rabbit boy was still listening to the conversation, he didn't notice and wouldn't have said anything anyway.) That girl would have those two eating out of the palm of her hand in no time. Through the crack in the door he caught a look at her face. The dark smudges under her eyes were getting worse. Couldn't those two see that she was tired? He cleared his throat outside the door.
Sun-he, the page, jumped five feet in the air, whirling to see his prince looking at him with something akin to amusement. The boy almost ran back to his post beside his prince's door, blushing bright red in embarrassment...
Cinnamon glanced briefly around but couldn't quite identify what that soft noise was. Mint and Lime, with their animal ancestry, could hear him just fine and immediately began to go for the hall.
"We'll be going now Miss Cinnamon," Mint said.
"We'll be right outside your door if you need anything. Don't hesitate to ask!"
The girl nodded. "Thank you for watching over me tonight. I'm so tired I probably wouldn't notice if a troop of elephants walked outside my window."
"May you sleep well," Lime said, turning to leave.
"Oh, wait, Mint? Lime?"
They turned back to her.
"Could you please come talk to me tomorrow? I'd like to know more about the prince." She looked down, blushing. "I mean, since we're going to be working together, I'd rather find out now if certain things annoy him more than others. Is that alright with you?"
They both nodded, thinking the same thing. Better tell her about the changing thing.
"Goodnight, Mint, Lime."
"Goodnight, Miss." The boys went out to the hall and shut the door behind them.
Only to be greeted by their master. He gave them a light glare. "Don't even think about telling her about my curse."
"But Master Herb"-
"Not a word, or I'll start practicing my finishing moves again."
Lime and Mint shuddered hard. Those moves depicted on the murals were extremely painful looking, and those few that they'd been done to almost never could walk right again. Those who lived, that is. The boys nodded their agreement of their lord's wish and settled outside the lady's door.
Sun-he opened the door for his master and helped him prepare for bed.
** hope you all like it, please review!
