New chapter! I hope you like it. I know my story is quite cliché, but I can't help it. More in the next chapter. (Obveously)

Tarra

Chapter two

I headed down the stairs to the main entrance. The guard's bowed. I curtsied.

"Where are you going on a fine day like this, your highness?"

I thought for a minute. Should I tell them that I was going to go see Sirus? I contemplated. It might come as a disadvantage later on. And though I knew that that was quite improbable, I enjoyed pretending.

"Oh, just to go see a friend. What are your plans for the day?"

He looked surprised. "I have to stand guard so that no trespassers come through here."

Drat. Now I had offended him. "I am so sorry. I forgot. If I find the time later on, I will bring you a snack so you won't be to bored."

At this he smiled. "That would be very fine, your highness."

I curtsied a goodbye and was on my way. I had a weird feeling in my stomach that I was going to have a very unusual, interesting day. And since Mandy often tells me never to ignore my instincts, I tried to be ready for anything that might come my way.

Soon I got to the first field. It was beautiful. The trees were just starting to look like they were being dipped into a golden red color, and the wind was starting to get a little cooler. I just loved the season of year when it was not quite fall, yet summer was not over. I ran down the field swinging my basket of lunch. These where the moments where I felt the most free. No tutors to make me sit still and learn, no stitching practice, no curtsying practice, and no dancing lessons. I was sick of it all. But it was worth it to just run through the fields, climb the trees and sniff the flowers.

I did this for twenty minutes until I got to one of Sirus' main fields. I started walking down until I saw Sirus using a mace to cut wheat.

"Good morning, Sirus!" I called. He turned around and smiled. "Why, hello, Tarra."

A warn feeling formed in me, as I loved it that he did notcall me princess, or your majesty, or your highness. It was just plain old Tarra. He bowed and I curtsied. We looked at each other for a long minute. He hadn't changed much. His short beard was turning gray, and he still had his large belly. But without them, he just would not be Sirus. He smiled.

"Tarra, my dear, you're just as beautiful as you were last month."

Had it really been a month since I saw him last? I couldn't wait any longer. I had never had any sort of grandfather figure in my life, as both my father and mother's parents had died or where too distant to learn to love. It was in Sirus that I found an old, lovable man to talk to, whom I seemed to relate to most. I ran up, threw my arms around him and hugged his neck. He was like a grandfather to me.

He chuckled, hugged me back and then let go. He motioned to his right.

"This, Tarra, is my nephew, Benjamin."

I turned. I hadn't seen the young boy standing a little ways away from Sirus. He had dark wavy hair that fell into his eyes, but I could not accurately make out his face from the distance. He looked like he didn't know what to make of our greeting. He looked at me. I looked at him. I was waiting for him to bow, and apparently he was waiting for me to curtsy. Neither or us did either.

Sirus spoke up.

"Uh, Benjamin, this is princess Tarra of Frell." With that comment Benjamin quickly bowed. I giggled lightly and curtsied. Then Benjamin went back to work. Right before he turned, he gave me a strange, foreign look of 'what do I care?' that I had never seen before.Then Sirus turned to me.

"I'm sorry that I don't have time to spend with you at the moment, but if you wait for me I will finish this soon and then we can spend some quality time together."

I smiled and nodded.

He went to the other side of a different field and started cutting the grass. I sat down on the grass and watched Benjamin cut in front of me. He was going awfully slowly. Without thinking, I mumbled,

"I bet I could cut faster than that."

He turned around and looked at me. I realized that he had heard me. I didn't know what to say, So I stood up.

"You, a princess, think you can cut faster than me?" He emphasised the word describing my statues, but he did not mean the word kindly-more mockingly. I didn't think I could cut at all, but I nodded anyway. He handed me the mace.

"Try," he said simply. I took it from him and cut a few blades of grass. It was actually easier than I had thought. Suddenly I felt a lot of courage come from no where.

"Lets make a deal." I said, walking through the grass to the other side and back, always in a straight line. The grass was divided equally between the two sides.

"You cut that side, I cut this one. Whoever cuts their side first, wins." He looked surprised, but nodded. He picked up another mace, but faced me and instead of the grass.

"The question is, what do I win?"

I hadn't thought if that.

"I'll give you... An expensive necklace from the palace." I thought that would suffice. He shook his head.

"If I win, you have let me kiss you."

I blushed. I had never kissed anyone before. I wanted to object, but instead I nodded. He looked like he had thought that I would back down. But then he smirked. 'He must think I am going to lose,' I thought to myself. There was no way I could lose this.

"What do you want if," his smile widened, "I lose?" I thought for another minute. What could he have that I already didn't? Finally I thought of something.

"When," I grinned, "I win, you have to spend tomorrow with me."

He looked surprised yet again. I had even surprised myself; I was never this bold. I told myself that I just said that because what I wanted most was company, and a way to skip dance lessons tomorrow. But somehow, I knew that wasn't it.

He nodded and put out his hand.

"Shake on it."

I gave him my hand. I guess I was expecting him to kiss it, because when he shook it, I was a little surprised, and suddenly I felt foolish for ever enjoying this special treatment.

Then he handed me the mace he was holding and took the one I had. When I looked perplexed, he said,

"The one you where holding causes splinters."

I gave him a blank look. I couldn't tell if he was making fun of me, or if he really did care if I got splinters in my hands.

We took our positions by each side of the field.

"Ready?" he said.

"Set?" I mumbled, but he heard me. He was great at hearing.

"Go!" he shouted. I started cutting slowly, getting a grip on the mace. He was cutting like a mad man.

'He must really wan't that kiss.' I thought to myself. An unknown cold rush tingled through my whole body.

I realized that I was thinking about purposefully losing so I could kiss him. I scolded myself.

'I don't want to kiss him, I want to win.'

At least, that's what I was trying to convince myself.

I devised a strategy. He was cutting quickly, so his energy would run out soon. If I cut slowly and stretched out my stamina, I would win. At least, I hoped. I carried out my plan and cut slowly. He was way ahead of me.

But the field was large, and he would run out of energy soon. Finally it happened. He slowed down, and then sat down. I caught up with him. He looked at me, like he expected me to sit down also. I kept right on going. When he saw that I did not stop, he jumped up and started up again. But this time, as I had guessed, he was going slowly. I was sure to beat him. He realized what I was doing, and tried to stop it. He started cutting a little faster than me, and soon we where cutting beside each other at the same speed. My heart raced like it never had before.

Still cutting, he turned to me. "You do realize I'm not going to let you win?"

I smiled. "You don't have to." but I was getting worried. He just might win.

We were close to the finish line. All of a sudden I had an idea. I would do what he did. If I used up all my energy at once. I would get farther than he was and win before my energy was all out. So that's what I did. my heart continued to beat swiftly as I raced ahead, and as if in slow motion, a quote hit me that I had once read in a book.

'When two hearts race, both win.'

In one swift movement, before he knew what was going on, I was done. He looked up. I smiled at him.

I realized that I shouldn't have done that. He looked down and slowly kept on cutting. I realized that what I had done was almost like slapping him inthe face.I didn't want it to end this way. So when he was done, I gave him a that-was-fun smile instead of a ha-ha-you-just-lost smile. I hoped he could tell the difference. Just in case he couldn't, I stuck out my hand.

"Good job. It was harder than I thought, and you did better than I had hoped."

He looked at my hand, then at me, then back at my hand, and then into my eyes. Our eyes met. It was then that I realized how deep brown his eyes were. They were looking straight through my blue eyes, and I was sure that he was reading my mind.

I also realized how handsome he was. Much better looking then some of the princes I had met before. My hand was still out, and he reached out and took it. But instead of shaking it, he kissed my hand. His eyes never left mine. I blushed but did not look away. He broke the silence by saying, "You are the most unusual princessI have ever meet."

I didn't know what to say. Sure, I had heard that a thousand times. But never like this. But like what? What was different this time? Thankfully, I didn't have to answer. Sirus was coming to see how Benjamin was coming along. He quickly let go of my hand, and for that I was thankful. It would have been too embarrassing to explain.

Sirus looked at the field. "Well, Ben, you did an outstanding job on the field. And you got the whole thing done so fast! I didn't know you could do that. Heck, I can't even do that!"

Benjamin looked at me. I smiled. I wasn't going to ruin it for him by telling Sirus. Benjamin some how read my face and knew I wasn't going to tell. He mouthed 'thank you' and I nodded. Sirus was oblivious to all of this. He just kept talking.

I would have continued staring at Benjamin's attractive face, but whatSirus said next caught my ears.

"...And Ben, I think since you did such a good job, you can have the rest of the day off. How do you like that?" Benjamin looked at me. I was trying to figure out what he meant. Did he want to spend the time with me? This time Sirus saw him look at me.

"And if you want, you can spend the day wit' Tarra here." He winked at Benjamin. Benjamin blushed. Istiffled a giggle. Then Sirus winked at me, and I blushed to. Sirus laughed.

"Don't think I haven't been watchin' yah. I know what's going on. Now you two run along." he had been watching us? For how long? I would never get over the embarrassment. But it seemed Benjamin would.

He nodded at his uncle and grabbed my wrist. I looked at him. He grinned and pulled me toward the hill. Before we started running up, I remembered my basket.

"Oh, hold on... uh... Benjamin, I need my lunch." He let go of my hand and I ran to go get my basket. Once Ihad retrievedit I ran back to him.

"What's in there?" he asked, motioning to the basket. "My lunch," I answered. He smiled and said nothing as we ran up the hill and through the fields, saying nothing, just feeling the rush of our randomness.

We ran until we got to the old tree. I knew the tree well. I had sat under it many times with Sirus. I plopped myself down and breathed heavily. Benjamin did the same. Once we had caught our breaths, I was the first to talk.

"What did we just do that for?" I asked. He looked at me. "Do what for?"

"Run! We didn't have to run so much."

He laughed. His laugh was so magical, but I couldn't explain it. It just sounded great. When was the last time I had spent time with a boy? I could not remember.

"You don't like running?" I realized that he had asked me something.

"Oh, I don't know. I used to have a tutor who would say that if you run when you don't need to, then you won't have the breath to run when your life depends on it. I guess not everyone has a lad to protect them."

I realized what I just said. Not only was it absurd, but way too... well, flirtatious. I blushed deep red. Benjamin laughed. Then he just smiled and looked at me.

I wondered what he was thinking.

He kept smiling. Then I said something else without thinking.

"Why are you here?"

he looked surprised, and then a little angry. I started to apologize for being so rude when he put up his hand.

"No, its okay that you asked. I should tell you. I am from Bast. That's where I live. I was hard to manage there. I did a lot of things without thinking. My parents didn't know what to do with me, so they sent me to my uncle for a year or so. They thought if I worked for Sirus for a while, I'd cool down."

I was too afraid to ask what sort of things he had done in Bast. It could be anything. His explaination was very vaugue, and it seemed to be on purpose. Maybe it was dangerous for me to be with him. He saw my worry on my face.

"No, I didn't do anything terrible. I know that's what your thinking. I just hadsome ludacris ideas...and I dislike authority." He mumbled. "I don't know why I hate restrictions. I just wanted some excitement. Does that make me a criminal?"

I realized that he was asking me. Slowly I shook my head. "I have gone out looking for adventures myself. It just... never works the way you hope." He nodded.

His stomach growled. I giggled and started unpacking my lunch. Mandy had packed me an apple, some cheese, a small canister of apple juice and a pear. Mandy always said she believed in eating well. I smiled and pushed the basket towards Benjamin. He shook his head.

"This is your food. I couldn't eat it when you're probably just as hungry as I am."

I smiled at his politeness. "We can share."

He finally gave in. I ate some cheese and he ate the apple. Soon everything was gone. We talked.

He was fifteen, a year older that I was. He had a little sister in Bast; her name was Maria, the same as my chambermaid. But I didn't tell him that. It was easier to pretend that I was a peasant that a princess. I hated it when something came up that stated that I was royalty. It made me feel uncomfortable. Luckily, Benjamin didn't seem to mind.

I looked on the horizon. The sun would set in about twenty minutes. Twenty minutes! I had to get home! I stood up, and so did Benjamin.

"What's wrong?" he looked confused.

"I have to get home, or mother will think something terrible has happened!"

he nodded and handed me my basket. I took it and turned to go. He grabbed my arm. I turned around.

"I'll see you tomorrow?"

I was surprised. I thought we had just finished my prize for winning the 'contest'.

"W-why? I mean, w-why do you want to see me tomorrow?" I was stuttering.

"Because you're my friend." He stated quite matter-of- factly. I smiled.

"Okay."

"I'll see you tomorrow then?"

I nodded. He grinned, and I turned to go. But he was still holding my arm. I turned back to him.

"One more thing."

"Yes?"

"Call me Ben."

I smiled. It had been terribly awkward when I had called him Benjamin. I knew it would sound funny to call him by his full name, but I didn't want to offend him by calling him a nickname he hadn't asked me to call him. very confusing.

"All right, Ben. I'll see you tomorrow."

He nodded, and I turned and ran all the way back to the palace. I didn't care if mother would be mad. I had just had the best day of my life.