Hello and welcome to my story! This is my first fan-fic, although not the first story I've written. I know their isn't much plot here yet, but have no fear! It will soon arrive! Probably next chapter or so. I don't want to go on forever here, so I'll just let you get on with it. Oh, and excuse the misspelling of the chapter title. I was going through a brain spasdoramic.

I hope you enjoy it.

Lulai

Chapter One: Preparations

"Confound it!" Lia stuck her thumb in her mouth, ignoring the dirt and greenery that coated it. She could faintly taste the coppery tang of blood where the thorn had poked the fleshy pad. "Confounded roses," she muttered around the injured digit.

Princess Annalia Fer Drewery, seventeen, and second princess to the Drewery throne was kneeling in the dirt in front of her rose bushes, a pair of pruning sheers in one hand. To look at her, one wouldn't imagine that she was royalty. Her long red hair was tucked neatly away underneath a blue handkerchief and her blue dress had a great deal of dirt smeared all over the front. A light smattering of freckles was sprinkled across her nose, a result of being out in the sun too long. Her thumb was placed quite unceremoniously in her mouth.

Gardening was her one true passion. Ever since she was small, Lia felt drawn towards nature and plants. She remembered being only seven, watching intently with wide eyes while the gardener taught her how to weed and water a small bean stock. She kept such good care of the bean stock that soon it was the best bean stock in the garden. Ever since then, the Royal gardener loved having her around and had taught her everything he knew. Still not satisfied, when Lia was thirteen, she went to the local healing woman and learned how to use the plants that she loved so much to heal people. She sucked up the woman's knowledge like a thirsty desert sucks up water. She soon had her own reputation as a healer.

She inspected the cut to see if it had stopped bleeding and found that it had. Brushing her moist thumb on her dress, she stood up, walking towards the patch of garden where she kept her herbs. She was bent over, inspecting a small patch of Floden when a familiar voice called out from the distance.

"Annaliiiia!" the voice sang. Sighing, Lia straightened. She had hoped to avoid her sister.

"Annalia," Princess Clarissa Fer Drewery said, walking up to her, making sure that neither her skirts nor her shoes became soiled with a single speck of dirt. She was dressed beautifully in a purple gown with her blonde hair streaming down her back with just the right amount of curl. She always made Lia feel like a country bumpkin compared to her sister, with her carroty red hair that had a tendency to frizz any way it wanted and her dirty clothes.

Lia put her hands on her hips to show that she did not like her sister interrupting her. She secretly wished that Claire would just go away instead of bugging her about Claire's nineteenth birthday ball. It was all she talked about lately. The birthday bash – and the subsequent engagement to Prince Fredrick, who's looks were rumored to cause women to faint.

Lia snorted to herself. As if looking at a man would cause someone to faint. They probably had their corsets on too tight.

"Annalia, I was just coming out here to make sure that you would have sufficient time to prepare yourself for the ball," Claire said in a sugary sweet voice. "I do not want you to forget and have to rush, and therefore embarrass me in front of Freddy." Freddy was Claire's new pet name for Fredrick, just as he called her Claire Bear. Of course, this was all through letters, which Claire never failed to read to Lia. The soon-to-be couple had never actually met in person until tonight.

"Do not worry, I will not be late," Lia said, silently tacking on, if you would stop pestering me! "I have a dress ready and will be up within the hour to prepare."

"Oh, Annalia, you are not wearing that horrible green dress, are you?" Claire made a slight face.

"No," Lia soothed. She did think of wearing it, just to spite Claire, but she had a special dress made up for the occasion.

"Shouldn't you be getting ready?" Lia inquired, her tone matching Claire's sugary insincerity. "After all, you are much prettier than I. You need more time."

"You are so right, dear sister," Claire gushed. "I must be ready for dear, sweet Freddy. I shall see you tonight." Claire left in a rustle of skirts, letting Lia get back to her work.

After about an hour, Lia stood up from beside her herbs, brushing off her knees. She gathered the dead plants at her feet and dropped them off at the composting section of the garden. Smiling widely, she made her way up to her rooms to get ready for the ball.

She entered her rooms, painted in soothing shades of blue and green, and preceded straight to the baths. She stripped out of her dirty clothes and threw the handkerchief in a corner of the room to be picked up by the maids. Someone had obviously seen her coming and drew a bath, for the water was still hot and bubbly.

Sitting down gently so as not to burn herself, Lia sighed in utter pleasure as the dirt and grime of the day was washed away in the soapy water.

"I was wonderin' when you were goin' ta come outta tha garden," Guthra said, bringing a towel.

"Oh, I thought about staying there all day, but I though about how much my sister would miss my presence and decided not to disappoint her," Lia said with a grin. Guthra lay down the towel and picked up Lia's hair soap.

"Nay, but donna anger her, Lia-bean," she said as she ducked Lia's head under the water. "Some people o' the village have been sayin' that she's been apractisin' magic, she is. Ye might not be all tha safe."

Lia snorted as Guthra massaged the soap into her wet locks. "I don't think that's possible. Magic? Claire? She can barely dress herself."

"Aye, that may be true, but mark me words, missy. Donna be settin' fires where ye canna put them out."

"Yes, Guthra," Lia said meekly. Nonetheless, she wasn't about to let the threat of possibly making her sister angry upset her evening. Lia was determined to enjoy herself as much as possible.

After her hair had been cleaned, and wrapped around strips of cloth to set, Lia stood up out of the tub water, now cold, and into the towel that Guthra held open for her. She walked to the closet and opened the doors to take out the dress that she had specially made that night. As she twirled around, imagining all the handsome men she was going to dance with, Guthra laid out her undergarments on the royal blue four poster bed.

"Now, ye stop all tha twirlin' an' come ova here so I can dress ye." Lia didn't immediately stop dancing, but she did spin over to where Gutra stood, hands on hips, and lay the dress beside the other clothing on the bed. She handed the towel to Guthra and pulled on her drawers and the chemise.

Grinning foolishly for no particular reason other than she felt happy, Lia lifted her hands above her head and let Guthra slide the dress down until it fit her body snugly. She ran her hands down the ivory silk, studded with little pearls, letting the smoothness of the fabric fill her senses. The long sleeves that flowed around her arms were a slightly lighter color of the inner sleeves that hugged her arms. The neckline went right around her upper torso, showing off her shoulders.

Lia smiled as she sat in the chair in front of her vanity. Guthra placed Lia's silver necklace with its diamond rose around her neck so that it lay between her collarbones. She accented her ears with two more diamonds. Guthra unwound the straps of cloth in her hair, causing Lia to gasp. Instead of frizzing out like it would have done normally, her hair fell in soft spirals.

"I learned tha from yer sister's maid, I did," Guthra said, beaming. She picked up the pins and in no time had Lia's hair falling from a beautiful knot at the top of her head. Two white flowers made her hair seem less carroty, more... exotic. Lia didn't even recognize the person in the mirror.

Lia stood up and spontaneously grabbed her nurse in a big hug. She was surprised by the tears she felt forming in her eyes.

"Thank you," she whispered into Guthra's shoulder.

"There there, Lia-bean," Guthra said, patting her on the back. "T'was no problem." She pulled Lia up and wiped the tears from her eyes. "Ye should sit here awhile, yer nose is all red." Lia laughed and covered her nose with her hand.

"That's alright, I have to wait until the trumpets sound to go downstairs anyways." She picked up a book that was lying open face down on her nightstand. "I can always finish 'Ronald and Isabelle'. I'm at a good part, where they fall in love."

Guthra sat back in the rocker in the corner of the room and picked up her knitting. "Aye, love is a grand thing, Lia-bean."

Lia looked at Guthra curiously. "Do you think I'll ever fall in love? I can't even see what my prince would look like."

"Aye, missy. I think ye'll fall in love in all due time – an' when ye least expect it, too."

"Hmm..." Lia murmured. She really didn't think that anyone could fall in love with her, and she didn't really think she could fall in love either – at least not how Ronald and Isabelle did. She could do flowers, but Ronald always gave Isabelle flowers, not the other way around. Lia frowned. She wasn't overly good at flirting, or reciting poetry, or even playing music. She could sing a little, but that was about the extent of it. In fact, she didn't think she could do a single thing that Isabelle did to attract Ronald.

"Oh well," she murmured to herself. Lia picked up her book and was soon lost in the courting of Ronald to Isabelle.

After two hours, the trumpets finally blared out their song to invite the royal family downstairs. Lia, on the last page of her book, scanned the final paragraph quickly and closed the cover.

"Done," she said, standing from her chair. "Do I still look alright?"

"Perfect," Guthra said, after giving her a look down. "Have fun."

Lia took a deep breath and walked out the door.