Hey! This is a looong chapter (thanks to all the candy I got for my birthday-what is my sister trying to do, make me fat?) so I hope you like it!
Crazayladay: I probably like him better to. Hope that shows a wee bit. :D
Don't-ask: Thanks so much for the gum-chewing suggestion! It totally works.
A sly fan: Thank you!
Nicole: Thanks! She tends so be a little sarcastic 'cause I can't stand it when female characters show no emotion (like never getting mad).
Sccrgrl: I'm glad it wasn't that bad. Thanks 4 reading!
Anonymous: Whoever you are, I'm so glad I'm not the only one who checks fics 'like a million times'. It makes me feel less…well, crazy is the right word I think.
Talabe187: Yeah, that chapter was incredibly confusing. Hope I have the time to totally re-write it when I've finished this fan fiction. :D
Kat: Soooooooo sorry about the 'unconvertible' thing! I actually meant uncomfortable. (hehe, don't know how I will be a writer if I can't spell).
Tamaran Girl: Thank god someone still loves her! "hugs Ella"
Tamaran Girl: Glad you think it's very very interesting!
Few! THANKS ALL REVIEWS, LOVE YOU GUYS SO MUCH!
Tarra
Chapter 12 (you betta believe it!)
Restless Thoughts
"Thank you, mark!" I yelled after hugging him.
"Stop it, stop it! It's not that big of a deal. Now go and have a fun time, and do not come home too late, do you understand me?"
But I was already down the hall.
"Tarra! Did you hear me? I mean it!"
"Yes Mark! I willbe home before supper!"
I raced out of the hall and towards the castle doors.
"Where are you goin'?" The guard yelled after me.
But I was already through the gate and down the field.
"To visit a friend! Good bye!"
I would have stopped to let him know that I wasn't doing anything 'wrong', but I knew Mark was on his way to talk to him.
So I raced on as fast as I could go, as far away from the palace walls as I could possibly run.
It was exactly a week from the day Ethan had come to the palace, and I was dead sick of him. The thought of spending the entire day away from him seemed too glorious to imagine.
After afew minutesIfound what seemed to be the perfect climbing tree. It had huge branches that stretched low to the ground and then lifted towards the sky, higher and higher until you think that they will touch the sun.
Climbing up, I laughed out loud. "Can you believe it?" I happily asked a squirrel, who happened to share the tree I was climbing.
It looked at me strangely and then raced up the tree. I smiled and kept talking.
"It isso glorious—Mark gave me the whole day off from classes! Isn't he wonderful? Ben never came to see me, so I thought I wouldgo see..."
My thoughts slowly melted away.
Peering through the leaves, my eyes widened.
A caravan.
Not just any caravan, but a gypsy caravan.
It looked as if they had arrived just a few hours or so before, and where now setting camp. It was a ways away from the tree I was in, half hidden by bushes and trees if you happened to walk by.
I watched in amazement. A family of four was setting camp and building a fire. A ways away a man was playing an instrument that I had never seen before. Five girls where dancing around him, happily twirling to the music. There where so many of them. More and more caravans came into my sight, with more and more people.
'So many people, so many caravans, so many bright colors...' I thought to myself.
The girls' dance was beautiful, I realized, with bright red dresses and skirts and long flowing sleeves sewn to their blouses. They each had on different corsets, each unique and flattering and beautiful.
For a minute I longed to join them in their dance, feeling so carefree out in the sun.
But reality flew swiftly to my mind.
Gypsies weren't supposed to camp so close to the castle. Actually, they weren't supposed to camp period.
It wasn't until father declared that they could camp wherever they wished, as long as they where a safe distance away from the villages, they wheren't on anyone's land, and they didn't bother anyone or disturb the peace.
Did Mark know about them? And would I tell him? I knew that Mark was the ruler for the short time our parents where away, but I also knew that he wouldn't want to chase the gypsies away. But what would he do?
How could mother and father leave us like this? So much can happen in so little time.'
"Why are you watching my family?"
I jumped and with a thump fell off of the tree branch I had been balancing on.
Carefully steadying myself on the lower limb I had fallen onto, I slowly looked down at who had startled me so.
It was a boy, (Of course), who looked to beeighteen at the oldest. He had long silver hair thatreached a few inches past his ears. I had never seen someone with silver hair.
His clothes looked strange, Almost of a different era, with a large white shirt and baggy brown trousers that almost completely covered his boots. I had never seen him before.
"Beg your pardon?" I asked him, as was the polite way to respond.
"I asked you why you're watching my family."
I frowned and turned back to the gypsies. They where his family? But then...
"I...I wasn't..." I lied. He looked at me strangely.
"You where. You where watching them through the trees. I'm just asking you why. I'm not going to hurt you."
I looked back at him.
"Why would I think you wanted to hurt me?"
He shrugged.
"Some people think gypsies are like that. I can understand why they don't like us. But hurt people? That's bizarre. But your people seem to fit that description, more often than not."
I raised my eyebrow and slowly nodded.
"I don't think you aregoing to hurt me." Istated like a fact, as if to prove I meant it.
He was watching me. It made me feel a little uncomfortable, and I shifted a little.
"Well?" he asked me.
"Well?" I shot back.
"Why where you watching my family?" he asked for the third time.
"Oh!" I said stupidly.
"I'm not sure. I mean... I was climbing the tree, and then I saw the caravans. I guess... I don't know... I was just curious. Is that a crime?"
He smiled. I noticed that he had a handsome face, a trait that I have come to notice on most of the young men I seemed to run into so frequently. But the difference with him was strange. He wasn't good-looking in an Ethan sort of way, or even the way Ben was. It was a mysterious, different kind of handsome, if that makes any sense.
"Why are you in a tree?" he asked me casually. I was dumbfounded. Why was I in a tree?
"I... I don't know. I felt like climbing."
He nodded. I was still weary of him watching me the way he was. I figured he was trying to figure out who I was, or where I had come from.
Strange. It seemed either people had never seen a princess in princess-like clothing and therefore did not know what I would look like, or they where just... stupid.
"So...Why don't you come down?"
I couldn't think of an answer, so I slid off of the branch and landed on the soft grass.
Standing up, I looked at him now from a face-to-face angle. He was taller than me. Taller than Ben, but I couldn't really tell if he was taller than Ethan or not. He might be, but he didn't have the towering effect that Ethan had.
He looked at me like something was bugging him.
"So..."
We where both speechless. I sighed.
"You know, just because I'm not the prettiest girl around doesn't mean you can look at me like I'm mentally ill."
I said it in an angry tone, which I hadn't really intended. But then again, I hadn't really intended on saying that either.
He kind of shook his head and looked a little embarrassed. Well, good for him.
"Sorry. I mean, I wasn't... I didn't..." He trailed off. I felt regretful.
"Its alright. I'm sorry for snapping like that. I had no right. Its just..."
He looked at me expectantly, waiting for me to finish. When I didn't make a move to finish, he got the drift and stopped expecting me to.
He turned and started walking away, without a goodbye or anything.
"Where are you going?" I called after him. He stopped walking.
"Back tomy camp." He yelled back. Not knowing what exactly I should do, I yelled after him,
"Can... can I come with you...?"
He had gone on walking, but stopped again. He stood there, not answering or turning around.
"Please?"
Finally he turned around.
"Why?"
I thought a minute, not knowing what to say. Why did I want to go to the gypsy camp? It was as if something was pulling me, wanting, pleeding, daring me to. I had never felt an urge so strong.
"Gray! Where are you?"
The prettiest girl I had ever seen came running from where the gypsy camp was located.
"Gray! Where have you been? I don't understand how you can bail like that every time we set camp. It's really childish, you know!"
She had been one of the dancers, I now realized. She was the one in the flaming red skirt and white peasant blouse. Her incredibly dark curly black hair hung loosely around her face and reached all the way past her back.
"Gray...?"
She reached us and slowed to a walk. She stared at me.
"Who are you?" She asked me, not in the kindest way possible.
"I...uh..."
"Ronnie, this is-"
"Maria." I said quickly. Why did I say Maria?
He looked at me a minute.
'What?' I wanted to ask again. Was my lying so obvious? How would he know?
The girl stared at me.
"I...well then. Nice to meet you, Maria. Come on Gray, Julio needs you to help the guys get the hay out to feed the horses."
Gray nodded and started back. I expected Ronnie to go with him, but she stayed in place.
"Sorry if Gray comes off a little gruff sometimes. He's really sweet when you get to know him, though."
Shegrasped my hand. "I'm Ronnie. You already told us your name."
I nodded and shook her hand. Shook her hand? I guess that was a normal custom for her. Her grip was strong and confident, her hands rough and worn from labour.
"Where do you live?" she asked me.
"Over there."
I pointed vaguely towards a small village not far from the castle.
"Ah. Do you usually dress, well, like that?"
I looked at the frilly pink dress my chambermaid hadforced me to wear.
"Not when I have a choice."
She smiled and nodded. "I know how that goes. Hey, you want to come to the camp with me? I need to help make lunch, but I'd like to talk to you some more."
I grinned and nodded. People at the palace had always made the caravaners out to be mean and hateful, but Ronnie didn't seem to be either.
"I mean, if you have some place else to go, then I guess I couldtalk toyou later."
I shook my head. "No where else. I would love to talk to you some more."
She grinned at me and we started for the caravan. 'I could just visit Ben a different time. I'm sure he wont mind me making some new friends.'
"""""""
"So... Are you and Gray courting?" I asked Ronnie casually while we walked through the camp.
"No! Oh my, did it seem like that to you?"
I nodded. Ronnie laughed.
"No, where just friends. Gray and I have known each other since childhood. It's hard to even imagine dating! That's funny."
She laughed again, but it sounded more of a nervous laugh this time. Dating was a term I hadn't heard often, except from the servants and workers on occasion.
"Ronnie? What are you laughing about?" Another girl walked up.
She had the same curly black hair Ronnie had, only it was cut short and had a few silver streaks in it. Strange seemed like theperfect word, though unique seemed kinder.
"Oh, hello Rica. Maria, this is Rica, Gray's sister."
I smiled and stopped myself just in time from curtsying.
"Hi! So I guess you've meet Gray. Well, I'm the fun one in our family. Be sure to stay far away from Gray! He isvery weird when he wants to be."
I smiled and nodded again. Did all people talk like this? They seemed so carefree without having to say 'this' and 'so'. It was all incredibly new to me. refreshing flew to my mind, but I shoved it away.
We walked over to where a large black pot was hanging over an open fire. That was interesting.
"Rica, go fetch that sack of potatoes I saved in our the wagon, will you? I think potatoes sound good today."
Rica nodded and ran off. I looked around at the peculiar way these people lived. They ate from open fires; lived in caravans, whore comfortable and casual clothing, had more than two children, (Mother and father where an exception; not many royal families wanted four children). Everything was so different, and yet so... comforting. But how could that be?
"Here you go. That last potato might be a little rotten, 'cause there was a leak in the roof and it dripped on it, but the others should be good."
Ronnie nodded and pulled a small knife from...well, I actually had no idea where it came from.
She cut the bag open and started peeling the potatoes, carefully putting the peelings in a pile.
"What do you do with the peelings?" I asked her. Mandy usually just threw them away.
"We make chips out of them. They really taste good, if they're cooked right. Hey, you want to help me?"
I stopped thinking and watched her work as if she had made the food hundreds of times. Was I really invited to try this? Mandy always refused to let me help. "Not fit for a princess," she would murmur.
I slowly nodded and Rica got us both more knives. And I got to work cutting potatoes.
And I must admit, it was more fun than anything Mandy had ever let me do. Especially because she didn't want me holding the sharp knives. Yes, this was different. And I liked it.
"You girls almost done with that?" A young man asked, walking up tothe three girls peeling potatoes.
"Yes, Julio, we arealmost done. Oh, and by the way, this is Maria. She lives in one of the nearby villages."
Julio nodded and smiled a warm smiletowards me. "Welcome to our camp. I hope we don't bother any of your people, and I hope they don't bother us."
All of a sudden, I felt really shy. But that never happened. Of course, I wasn't usually allowed to talk to older men anyway. But before anyone noticed, he left, just like that.
"For him, that's a warm welcome. He never has trusted villagers. Can't blame him though, for what happened back then and all."
Ronnie elbowed her. I kept peeling potatoes, not sure exactly what Rica meant by that. What had villagers done 'back then'? It was none of my business, I kept telling myself. Suddenly I felt really unconvertible.
I felt like I needed to get away, and I needed to get away quick.
"Ronnie, I... uh... I just remembered, I need to meet someone. So if you don't mind, I really need to be on my way. I had fun meeting you though."
I turned to Rica. "You too, of course. Tell Gray I said goodbye."
They nodded and Ronnie got up.
"Well, sorry if I did anything to bother you. I just like making friends is all, but I understand how weird this might seem to you. Maybe we could meet sometime, so you could show me around or something?"
I nodded and gave her one last smile. It was pretty weak though.
"Till next time. Good bye!" I turned and left, doing my best to walk slowly so it didn't look like I was running. I just needed to be by myself for a while.
"I hope she's alright..." Rica whispered, but Ronnie just ignored her.
"Something's different about her, Rica. I can feel it. I just hope I can figure out what it is."
Rica nodded, but Ronnie was too busy watching the tall brunette walk towards and out of their camp to notice.
'She has the most gorgeous face I have ever seen...' she quietly thought to herself.
"You think myfather scared her?" Rica asked quietly.
"That could be it, but I doubt it. No, it was something else... I really couldn't say though."
Ronnie sighed and went back to peeling potatoes.
"I will find out what is different about her," She promised herself. "I can feel it all around me. There is something strangeabout this girl. Something wonderfully strange."
Feeling bewildered and like she was lost somehow, Tarra walked past the trees and through a field of dandelions.
"Why did I feel so... so right there?" she kept asking myself. But she wasn't getting any answerers.
It almost scared her, how much she felt at home with the gypsies, how much she longed to travel.
'That's wrong. I'm not supposed to like the way gypsies live...I amroyalty, and I should feel right in the castle...'
But she knew something was amiss, and she meant to find out.
The next few chapters will have more and more answers to the plot line/lines, so stay tuned!