Disclaimer: I don't own Ella Enchanted. (Boringest disclaimer in the world. x-x)
The Queen was greeted with an astonishing sense of déjà vu. Her teenage son had come home from a simple walk covered in mud. Apparently, he had been hiding from the court ladies. His grandmother tutted impatiently.
"Where in the world does he get it from? His mothers side, no doubt," she added under her breath. Her Highness Daria pursed her lips for a moment, and decided not to respond.
When the King finally showed up, the matching bemused expressions on both faces caused her to double over in laughter, earning her a disapproving glare from mother-in-law Enna. Suddenly, she remembered something the King had once looked like.
---
Daria could feel the insolent commoner's glare on her back. "This is all your fault, you know."
"And -- how is -- that?" She responded in between pants.
The two were chopping down an old, sick tree behind Inez's house. Daria, because she worked there, and the commoner (George? Jack? what did it matter, anyway? Daria thought crankily), because he slowed Daria down (the commoner had had a good laugh at that, an earned himself more work) and Inez's more delicate plants had been damaged. George (Jack?) was to work there with the rude wench as he had so kindly called her until Inez thought his damage had been accounted for.
"Well, if you hadn't thrown that bucket at me we wouldn't be -- here right now. Or -- at least, I -- wouldn't!" George (Jack?) was having an easier time of it than Daria. It was probably because of all the hay he threw as a farmer or something, or at least that was what Daria thought...
"Oh -- you deserved -- that one! And if I could do it again -- I would," the tired, sweaty noble's daughter threw down the ax (which was actually quite heavy) and squelched into a sitting position.
The muddy ground beneath them was making the relatively easy task hard -- the tree just happened to be next to a stream. (Upon realizing this, a flustered Daria had earned herself more downtime with him because of a nasty case of sailor's tongue, which Inez just happened to hear.)
"What are you doing? Get up!" George (Jack?) Threw down his own ax and squelched around the rather large tree to where she was sitting. "We cant leave until this thing is felled."
"So? I'm taking a break," Daria spoke crossly.
"No, you're not. The sooner we get this done, the sooner we can leave."
Daria did not get up. However, she did scream. Loudly. A slimy glob had struck her head and was now trickling through her hair. (All right, it was cooling her down, but how dare he!) Incensed, Daria scooped up a palmful of mud and hurled it at George (Jack?). She missed by a league, at least. Again, George (Jack?) made the mistake of laughing (with his eyes closed, Daria noticed evilly). Daria picked up another handful of mud and advanced, effectively silencing her squelches
---
Boris was confused. Knights? Here? He entered the tavern with trepidation. However, he saw what the men were all drinking and his fear disappeared. They couldn't be that bad. Its not like they were drinking imported wines, right? Boris rented a room from a pretty lady and took a seat next to a man named Montgomery...
---
Daria and George (Jack?) Met a very angry Inez when they finally finished their task around midday. Daria thought she saw a smile, but the notion quickly disappeared as they were given yet another task. She silenced their protests with a glare and sent them off to clean up before they entered town. (Daria, received a particularly strong glare -- she could've sworn it scorched -- because she dirtied Inez's floors when she fell from laughing at the owlish look on Jerrold's mud covered face. This wouldn't be the last time the look got her into trouble...) They were deliver newly dyed cloth, and sell a few of the common plants she grew at the market.
Little did she know that earlier that day her Ladies Gwenneth and Sarah had set off for some knight-welcoming shopping...
---
"Tomatoes, a penny each!"
"Lilies, roses, tulips! Get everything in one cheap stall!"
The pair were bombarded with overlapping shouts from every direction. As they passed a stall containing fawning ladies, a sly crone beckoned to Jerrold. "Lovely trinkets I've got, lad! Make your lady smile, no?"
"What're you doing?" An interested Abbey appeared behind Jerrold's shoulder. "Oooh! Look! She's got a cute green parrot--" blushing Jerrold shook his head at the smiling crone and pulled Abbey away, mumbling incoherent things about garbage under his breath.
"Here we are. Inez's usual stall..."
What met them resembled a dung heap. Everything was either extremely dirty or broken. After more arguing, Abbey swept out the space while Jerrold held the merchandise a good distance away (while trying to avoid the looks of the towns female population). They switched jobs and Jerrold set up shelves and an Abbey oblivious to whistles tried peaking at what they were going to sell. A few extra minutes and they were set up. However, they weren't getting many customers.
"I think we have to ... yell."
"Yell?"
"Advertisement!"
"No!"
"Yes!"
"No!"
"Yes!"
And so it went until the neighboring merchant threw a rotten tomato at them. Actually, it was more like an avalanche of merchandise no-one would buy.
It was going to be a long day, thought Jerrold. And a long week, as well.
A/N: I know, it's short and definetely not worth the wait. I was having multitudes of editing problems and authoring-insecurity. So, you'll be getting the rest of their day as a separate chapter -- I'm rewriting that, and I felt too guilty to keep it on hold for two weeks. You should, however, look forward to it. Inklings of romance begin! And, as always, please review. It'll make me write/update faster/on time! xD And, while you wait, you can read and reviewmy other story, Cindy, as well!
