The Rose Prince: Chapter Five [apologetically short]
The girl who stepped from the carriage of alabaster white was like a ray of sun with feet. Her hair was long-though not as long as Sere's-and the hue of sweet corn, lighter than Sere's but no less beautiful. Eyes of an unusually pale blue donned a face of immaculate sculpting that promised in the future, once all baby fat had gone, to be regal and lovely; even now it was a rose among thorns.
Of course, all the girls were pretty, but Mina, as they were about to find out, knew it and she used her sweet blue eyes and perfect-princess smile to harmless ends that nonetheless had both of her parents wrapped around her delicate royal index finger. She had no qualms with this, as she called it not "manipulation" but a mere advantage with which she could more easily make others see things from her perspective.
That would come later though.
As of yet, all the girls knew of Mina was that she seemed to have an almost jaunty hop to her skip that made her skirts rustle with her personified excitement. Still, though her anticipation was obvious, she managed to do that hop-skip with grace and made her way with the fluidity of water to greet Queen Serenity, two servants following a respectable distance behind.
"A good afternoon to you your majesty," she said with a warmth befitting of her sunshine and curtsied with that same quirky grace that she walked with. The Queen for her part, smiled and inclined her head.
"Well met, Princess Mina. I trust your trip was well?" The pleasantries were only half-hearted as, Mina and the other girls kept stealing moments to examine one another.
"Yes thank you, your majesty," Mina replied respectfully and then discreetly-or so she thought-glancing behind the Queen at the other princesses. One had a short coiffure so black it seemed blue and a sweet demeanor, while the one next to her was apparently tall and confident with a stance of simple grace that belied her elfin blood. Two others, a raven haired girl with the most unique shade of purple eyes Mina had ever been acquainted with, and the shortest, most innocent looking of them all stood beside her, silver hair done up just like her mother's. So this is Princess Serenity, thought Mina and she smiled briefly at the girl after catching her eye.
Had it not been horribly rude, the Queen might have laughed aloud. These silent greetings were very entertaining to her, as the girls had apparently forgotten she could see them all due to the fact that she had at least a few inches on them. Still, this would not do if they were to ever learn each other's names, or at least for Mina's sake. The Queen coughed politely, and Mina's eyes snapped back to the lovely woman before her, a flush coloring her cheeks as she came into thought of exactly how impolite she was being and was greatly relieved to see the Queen smile. In that smile alone she could read that the Queen took no offense. Interestingly, the Queen had always been able to respond with the best confidence, the best attitude to anyone, without even speaking. Perhaps it was one of the secrets of her legendary eyes, Mina thought, and wondered if maybe her daughter had inherited the blessed talent.
"Princess Mina, please allow me to introduce to you the other princesses you will be staying with: Princess Ami, Princess Makoto, Princess Rei, and my daughter, Princess Serenity." With that, the Queen stepped aside in order to give Mina a full view of the girls, and allow them to make proper introductions themselves. She watched with quiet earnest and was only there enough to be noticed but not bothersome. It was a trick she had learned many years ago as a princess herself. Mentally laughing as she watched Sere nearly bouncing with excitement and happiness, she knew that even if her daughter never mastered silence, what was important was what she said.
"Mina! Mina, Mina, Mina! Isn't that a shining name?" Sere asked the girls as she smiled at, well, Mina. Mina grinned and responded for herself.
"Shining? What do you mean by that?" Sere scrunched up her face, trying to organize her haphazardly strewn thoughts in order to explain properly.
"Hm, well, what I mean it to mean, not saying that it does really mean this but only that the way I want it to mean, it means that 'Mina' is a name that really helps show how bright and sunny you are, you know? Shining!" repeated Sere triumphantly, obviously satisfied with the explanation she had drawn up. At this though, Rei shoved her playfully.
"And what does that make us Odango?" teased Rei. "Our names are drab or dull then eh?" Sere shook her head furiously and placed her hands on her hips.
"No! You're all pretty and have nice names, it's just that Mina's name shines!" She paused in her rebuttal and then after registering a late thought, she continued. "And don't call me Odango!"
Mina chuckled as she stood between Ami and Makoto; the former was placing her head in her hand in only half-mock exasperation and the latter was simply staring in amusement. Makoto, it might also be noted, was actually wondering if this was their twisted form of an apology and an acceptance. Knowing Rei and even only briefly knowing Sere, Makoto knew it was more than possible. In fact, she was probably right. Slipping out of her thoughts, Makoto returned to the argument at hand just in time to see it reach a debatable end.
"Fine!"
"Fine!" The two girls turned stiffly from one another and stood back to back, heads raised and eyes shut indignantly, each feeling equally insulted and in the right. Opening one eye, experimentally almost, Sere saw Mina again and smiled lightly.
"Mina, do you like flowers?" she asked. Mina nodded vigorously.
"Back home, flowers are like our grass and our grasses are like weeds. There are so many, it had to be reversed that way. Why?" cocking her head to one side thoughtfully and curiously at Sere's widening grin, she had little time to further contemplate as the young girl took her hand-firmly and surprisingly so for her age-and began running towards the gardens, Mina in tow. The other girls, sighing in amused and exasperated states, raised their skirts the preliminary few inches it took to avoid tripping in them and rolling into the bushes, and sprinted after the pair.
Endymion saw her coming and that she was now with yet another new girl. Looking at his hands, he sighed a sigh that sounded like the wind and smelled like roses. Everything about him was the roses. And these hands, these hands could not even join with Sere's in a friendship that others could see. For now though he would not think on that, he thought stubbornly and smiled slightly as he heard her laughter. For now he would not think of that. He followed the laughter and his footsteps sounded like silence.
As Sere had run through the gardens with Mina, listening partially to Mina's giggles mixed with awed expressions of her gardens, she had suddenly shivered. It had been an unnatural breeze, scented with roses and the shudder only lasted a second, but it was only a second that was necessary to alert her of His presence. Of course he was there. It was the gardens, his home, but the feeling of simply knowing where he was without meaning to unnerved her. Luckily Mina's ramblings distracted her to amusement. And as they reached the roses, Sere's whole point of destination in the first place, she temporarily forgot the rose wind.
Mina stared in wide-eyed admiration. Roses of every color, every size, and every imaginable thought dwelled here in wild abundance. Red, pink, yellow, white, purple, pale blues, magenta, even black ones rained and speckled the green leaves and vines. And then, on the ground in a semi-circle-like area of earthy ground, were two roses, a yellow and a red. They were planted so close it seemed as though they would entwine roots and even now they seemed to draw closer to each other, though that could have been the work of a sudden cool rose breeze, which Mina noted seemed to happen a lot here.
"Those are special roses," Sere commented quietly, looking at them as though they were as dear to her as anything precious and sweet in life. Mina glanced back at the roses, and suddenly noticed a pull at her heart. It was the pull she had been taught by her mother, Queen Coeur, to recognize as a symbol of a strong bond. One side resonated with Sere's purity and the other.Mina closed her eyes in concentration; the other one she could not grasp onto. But suddenly she knew he was there and looked around wildly for the source of the dual pull.
Sere, having slipped into thought of her Rose Prince, did not notice Mina's behavior immediately. Inhaling the wind that signaled his arrival, she tried to find his exact location by heart. Turning like a blind infant, she spun, her skirts lifting ever so slightly as to rise above the ground where they had previously draped majestically. And then she let her arms drop to her sides and stopped.
Letting her eyes part slightly, glancing lightly through her sooty eyelashes, Sere glimpsed red, green, and. a flash of blue. Allowing her eyes to open the rest of the way, her eyes adjusted to the shadows in the roses as they melded into the single form of Endymion.
Her eyes lit up and she took one step as if to run to him but he raised his hands in a subduing gesture, telling her silently to stay and then disappeared into the surrounding foliage, his eyes becoming the centers of full blooming roses, and his limbs becoming vines with many, many thorns. And he was gone.
Meanwhile, Mina had given up and was staring at the two roses again. Then the sounds of three panting breaths were heard and both Sere and Mina looked up to see three irritated princesses, bent over double catching their breaths.
"You two run like." Rei paused, catching her breath some more.
".scared rabbits," Ami offered as a filler and Makoto only nodded her agreement. Absently rubbing the back of her head, Sere giggled slightly, giving an innocent smile in hopes of escaping any anger.
"Um, sorry. I guess I was just really excited to show Mina the roses," Sere explained, waving to their surroundings. The others sighed; they could not be angry with her, though Rei could fake it very well.
"You Odango! Have some consideration!" Rei fumed, gesturing wildly with her small fists. "The roses aren't going anywhere you know," she added as an afterthought. Sere nodded absently as she looked around, supposedly at the roses, but in fact, for the prince who had once again disappeared from her sight in less than a thought's moment.
It was like he melted into-no, became apart of the roses, Sere thought absently as she also listened to the conversation before her.
"Let her be Rei. She was just excited," Makoto vouched for Sere's behalf, having regained her normal steady breath and lopsided grin that would surely in her future years capture many hearts, most of which she would never know of and many of which she would turn away from. Meanwhile, Ami had been studying her friend with curiosity; Sere was very quiet and intent on something Ami could not pinpoint. It was unsettling to see her bubbly friend so solemn in the glory of the sun's complimenting shine. It made her look almost sad.
"Sere?" Ami began. Sere's eyes looked up at Ami in recognition and smiled brightly, seeing that she was unnerving her friend so dear to her. She would die before cause them any trouble over herself.
"What is it Ami?" she asked with a perfect cheerfulness that dared anyone to question its validity; and while Ami was smart enough not to do so, she placed the sadness she had seen earlier in the back of her mind to look into later.
"Nothing Sere, just checking on you. You looked like you were gone there for a moment.
End Chapter Five
ACK. I know, 'tis short and not as well organized nor as cohesive as it should be, but understand it took me a long time to do all of this. If you re-read this or even the whole story, hopefully you'll see there's a lot there, because I love this story and will not abandon it, even though I enter loops of dormancy due to my work, et cetera. Please keep reading, hopefully my next update will be sooner and better written. Again, profound apologies to you, my esteemed and appreciated readers and reviewers,
Kaji~
The girl who stepped from the carriage of alabaster white was like a ray of sun with feet. Her hair was long-though not as long as Sere's-and the hue of sweet corn, lighter than Sere's but no less beautiful. Eyes of an unusually pale blue donned a face of immaculate sculpting that promised in the future, once all baby fat had gone, to be regal and lovely; even now it was a rose among thorns.
Of course, all the girls were pretty, but Mina, as they were about to find out, knew it and she used her sweet blue eyes and perfect-princess smile to harmless ends that nonetheless had both of her parents wrapped around her delicate royal index finger. She had no qualms with this, as she called it not "manipulation" but a mere advantage with which she could more easily make others see things from her perspective.
That would come later though.
As of yet, all the girls knew of Mina was that she seemed to have an almost jaunty hop to her skip that made her skirts rustle with her personified excitement. Still, though her anticipation was obvious, she managed to do that hop-skip with grace and made her way with the fluidity of water to greet Queen Serenity, two servants following a respectable distance behind.
"A good afternoon to you your majesty," she said with a warmth befitting of her sunshine and curtsied with that same quirky grace that she walked with. The Queen for her part, smiled and inclined her head.
"Well met, Princess Mina. I trust your trip was well?" The pleasantries were only half-hearted as, Mina and the other girls kept stealing moments to examine one another.
"Yes thank you, your majesty," Mina replied respectfully and then discreetly-or so she thought-glancing behind the Queen at the other princesses. One had a short coiffure so black it seemed blue and a sweet demeanor, while the one next to her was apparently tall and confident with a stance of simple grace that belied her elfin blood. Two others, a raven haired girl with the most unique shade of purple eyes Mina had ever been acquainted with, and the shortest, most innocent looking of them all stood beside her, silver hair done up just like her mother's. So this is Princess Serenity, thought Mina and she smiled briefly at the girl after catching her eye.
Had it not been horribly rude, the Queen might have laughed aloud. These silent greetings were very entertaining to her, as the girls had apparently forgotten she could see them all due to the fact that she had at least a few inches on them. Still, this would not do if they were to ever learn each other's names, or at least for Mina's sake. The Queen coughed politely, and Mina's eyes snapped back to the lovely woman before her, a flush coloring her cheeks as she came into thought of exactly how impolite she was being and was greatly relieved to see the Queen smile. In that smile alone she could read that the Queen took no offense. Interestingly, the Queen had always been able to respond with the best confidence, the best attitude to anyone, without even speaking. Perhaps it was one of the secrets of her legendary eyes, Mina thought, and wondered if maybe her daughter had inherited the blessed talent.
"Princess Mina, please allow me to introduce to you the other princesses you will be staying with: Princess Ami, Princess Makoto, Princess Rei, and my daughter, Princess Serenity." With that, the Queen stepped aside in order to give Mina a full view of the girls, and allow them to make proper introductions themselves. She watched with quiet earnest and was only there enough to be noticed but not bothersome. It was a trick she had learned many years ago as a princess herself. Mentally laughing as she watched Sere nearly bouncing with excitement and happiness, she knew that even if her daughter never mastered silence, what was important was what she said.
"Mina! Mina, Mina, Mina! Isn't that a shining name?" Sere asked the girls as she smiled at, well, Mina. Mina grinned and responded for herself.
"Shining? What do you mean by that?" Sere scrunched up her face, trying to organize her haphazardly strewn thoughts in order to explain properly.
"Hm, well, what I mean it to mean, not saying that it does really mean this but only that the way I want it to mean, it means that 'Mina' is a name that really helps show how bright and sunny you are, you know? Shining!" repeated Sere triumphantly, obviously satisfied with the explanation she had drawn up. At this though, Rei shoved her playfully.
"And what does that make us Odango?" teased Rei. "Our names are drab or dull then eh?" Sere shook her head furiously and placed her hands on her hips.
"No! You're all pretty and have nice names, it's just that Mina's name shines!" She paused in her rebuttal and then after registering a late thought, she continued. "And don't call me Odango!"
Mina chuckled as she stood between Ami and Makoto; the former was placing her head in her hand in only half-mock exasperation and the latter was simply staring in amusement. Makoto, it might also be noted, was actually wondering if this was their twisted form of an apology and an acceptance. Knowing Rei and even only briefly knowing Sere, Makoto knew it was more than possible. In fact, she was probably right. Slipping out of her thoughts, Makoto returned to the argument at hand just in time to see it reach a debatable end.
"Fine!"
"Fine!" The two girls turned stiffly from one another and stood back to back, heads raised and eyes shut indignantly, each feeling equally insulted and in the right. Opening one eye, experimentally almost, Sere saw Mina again and smiled lightly.
"Mina, do you like flowers?" she asked. Mina nodded vigorously.
"Back home, flowers are like our grass and our grasses are like weeds. There are so many, it had to be reversed that way. Why?" cocking her head to one side thoughtfully and curiously at Sere's widening grin, she had little time to further contemplate as the young girl took her hand-firmly and surprisingly so for her age-and began running towards the gardens, Mina in tow. The other girls, sighing in amused and exasperated states, raised their skirts the preliminary few inches it took to avoid tripping in them and rolling into the bushes, and sprinted after the pair.
Endymion saw her coming and that she was now with yet another new girl. Looking at his hands, he sighed a sigh that sounded like the wind and smelled like roses. Everything about him was the roses. And these hands, these hands could not even join with Sere's in a friendship that others could see. For now though he would not think on that, he thought stubbornly and smiled slightly as he heard her laughter. For now he would not think of that. He followed the laughter and his footsteps sounded like silence.
As Sere had run through the gardens with Mina, listening partially to Mina's giggles mixed with awed expressions of her gardens, she had suddenly shivered. It had been an unnatural breeze, scented with roses and the shudder only lasted a second, but it was only a second that was necessary to alert her of His presence. Of course he was there. It was the gardens, his home, but the feeling of simply knowing where he was without meaning to unnerved her. Luckily Mina's ramblings distracted her to amusement. And as they reached the roses, Sere's whole point of destination in the first place, she temporarily forgot the rose wind.
Mina stared in wide-eyed admiration. Roses of every color, every size, and every imaginable thought dwelled here in wild abundance. Red, pink, yellow, white, purple, pale blues, magenta, even black ones rained and speckled the green leaves and vines. And then, on the ground in a semi-circle-like area of earthy ground, were two roses, a yellow and a red. They were planted so close it seemed as though they would entwine roots and even now they seemed to draw closer to each other, though that could have been the work of a sudden cool rose breeze, which Mina noted seemed to happen a lot here.
"Those are special roses," Sere commented quietly, looking at them as though they were as dear to her as anything precious and sweet in life. Mina glanced back at the roses, and suddenly noticed a pull at her heart. It was the pull she had been taught by her mother, Queen Coeur, to recognize as a symbol of a strong bond. One side resonated with Sere's purity and the other.Mina closed her eyes in concentration; the other one she could not grasp onto. But suddenly she knew he was there and looked around wildly for the source of the dual pull.
Sere, having slipped into thought of her Rose Prince, did not notice Mina's behavior immediately. Inhaling the wind that signaled his arrival, she tried to find his exact location by heart. Turning like a blind infant, she spun, her skirts lifting ever so slightly as to rise above the ground where they had previously draped majestically. And then she let her arms drop to her sides and stopped.
Letting her eyes part slightly, glancing lightly through her sooty eyelashes, Sere glimpsed red, green, and. a flash of blue. Allowing her eyes to open the rest of the way, her eyes adjusted to the shadows in the roses as they melded into the single form of Endymion.
Her eyes lit up and she took one step as if to run to him but he raised his hands in a subduing gesture, telling her silently to stay and then disappeared into the surrounding foliage, his eyes becoming the centers of full blooming roses, and his limbs becoming vines with many, many thorns. And he was gone.
Meanwhile, Mina had given up and was staring at the two roses again. Then the sounds of three panting breaths were heard and both Sere and Mina looked up to see three irritated princesses, bent over double catching their breaths.
"You two run like." Rei paused, catching her breath some more.
".scared rabbits," Ami offered as a filler and Makoto only nodded her agreement. Absently rubbing the back of her head, Sere giggled slightly, giving an innocent smile in hopes of escaping any anger.
"Um, sorry. I guess I was just really excited to show Mina the roses," Sere explained, waving to their surroundings. The others sighed; they could not be angry with her, though Rei could fake it very well.
"You Odango! Have some consideration!" Rei fumed, gesturing wildly with her small fists. "The roses aren't going anywhere you know," she added as an afterthought. Sere nodded absently as she looked around, supposedly at the roses, but in fact, for the prince who had once again disappeared from her sight in less than a thought's moment.
It was like he melted into-no, became apart of the roses, Sere thought absently as she also listened to the conversation before her.
"Let her be Rei. She was just excited," Makoto vouched for Sere's behalf, having regained her normal steady breath and lopsided grin that would surely in her future years capture many hearts, most of which she would never know of and many of which she would turn away from. Meanwhile, Ami had been studying her friend with curiosity; Sere was very quiet and intent on something Ami could not pinpoint. It was unsettling to see her bubbly friend so solemn in the glory of the sun's complimenting shine. It made her look almost sad.
"Sere?" Ami began. Sere's eyes looked up at Ami in recognition and smiled brightly, seeing that she was unnerving her friend so dear to her. She would die before cause them any trouble over herself.
"What is it Ami?" she asked with a perfect cheerfulness that dared anyone to question its validity; and while Ami was smart enough not to do so, she placed the sadness she had seen earlier in the back of her mind to look into later.
"Nothing Sere, just checking on you. You looked like you were gone there for a moment.
End Chapter Five
ACK. I know, 'tis short and not as well organized nor as cohesive as it should be, but understand it took me a long time to do all of this. If you re-read this or even the whole story, hopefully you'll see there's a lot there, because I love this story and will not abandon it, even though I enter loops of dormancy due to my work, et cetera. Please keep reading, hopefully my next update will be sooner and better written. Again, profound apologies to you, my esteemed and appreciated readers and reviewers,
Kaji~