Not even going to start on the almost-six-months thing - I feel guilty, and that's that.

Plot Summary:

Princess Ashkyla's parents were killed by a visiting king on her 16th birthday (a birthday marked by the ceremonial gift of a golden ring to the heir to the thrown), and she had to fake her death to escape. The First Cook's daughter, Kady, found her and the two of them and the Princess's cat went to Kady's aunt's house the next morning. Kady's Aunt, Winny, had agreed to let her stay in her house, and then both she and Kady left - Winny to the market, and Kady back to the palace to see what was happening. Kady snuck into the Great Hall, where the servants and visiting nobility had apparently spent the night, and heard King Gandon of neighboring Nirdan (the visiting king whose soldiers killed the real King and Queen) give his version of events - essentially blaming Ashkyla's maid Para for poisoning the King and convincing the Queen and Princess to take thier own lives, and claiming that Para had killed herself after she confessed. On her way back out of the palace, a Nirdanese soldier, Neil, saved Kady from being discovered by other soldiers and told her that the King was planning to give the Kingdom (Canderon) to one of his twin sons, and give Nirdan to the other. Then Kady came back and, not knowing how to phrase what had happened, refused to tell Ashkyla what happened until her aunt came back.
There.

Ashkyla

Kady and I have been sitting at the kitchen table, waiting for her aunt to get back, for the past forever. I've learned that having the freedom to do whatever you want can be incredibly boring.

Had yesterday never happened, or happened quite differently, I would probably be seeing off various dignitaries and thanking them once again for long lists of gifts that I would've woken up early to memorize. Then there would be some sort of brunch for those who weren't leaving until later, and I'm sure that a number of people would just have to compliment me on some gift or other, most likely one from a friend of theirs(because mother always makes me wear some of them or use some of them or talk about some of them, or all three) and then obsess over my ring and quite plausibly I would have to invite a large number of my 'peers' to a walk through the gardens.

And when everyone had finally left, I would be given the rest of the afternoon to do with as I wished. Which, in reality, is limited to things I can do in my room or the gardens without getting my gown mussed or my hair blown about or any one of the other thousand things that made my life unutterably boring. Usually I would end up sewing (which is actually fun in small quantities) or reading some book with an extremely mundane topic, such as 'Carriage design through the ages'.

And the great excitement would go on until dinner time, at which point one of my parents would give me a speech about my new responsibilities, and my father would most likely have told me about my new engagement.

So perhaps this was more fun, now that I think of it. If I don't think, really, about yesterday. And, really, we hadn't been sitting here forever. After Kady and I finished in the gardens, I had tried to get her to tell me about her trip to the palace. She managed to change the topic to my new life. We had been figuring out the logistics when I remembered my original question and asked again. But right at that moment, Kari came back in from the mysterious nether, proudly dragging a poor little mouse.

It sort of saved Kady from having to answer me as we both became engaged in catching the rodent, for it turned out that he was still alive, just stunned, which became a problem when my darling cat set her prey down. And promptly forgot about him as he ran around the kitchen, looking for a place to hide. Ultimately he managed to find a spot right behind the flour sack, and we very nearly spilt the entire thing on the floor getting him out.

After Kady let the mouse into the backyard, we headed back to the kitchen and cleaned up the little flour that had spilled, then Kari came over and acted insulted that we had thrown away her prize and demanded to be scratched behind the ears. I obliged, and she crawled into my lap and refused to move, so I was pretty much stuck until she became bored with me and left, which took about three minutes. But that's what happens when you introduce a cat to something new. It's always more interesting than you.

Then Kady had immediately latched onto our previous topic. So for the past hour Kady and I have been extending my life story. I told her about my 'school for the little children' idea and she nodded reluctantly, saying that no one was actually likely to ask about the accent, although it was a bit more cultured than the average peasant, and that anyone who actually would notice I could simply avoid speaking around.

We finally decided that I was 15, as it's hard to discern a 16 and one-day year-old from a 15 year old. My birthday is September 23rd, because it's inconspicuous. July 16th is pretty, just sort of nice to look at and say. I suppose I could be saying that just because it's my birthday, and no matter how much it drags, it's always been sort of special to me. Like I suppose it must be for everyone. It's funny how much we don't really understand each other; how many things just sort of go unsaid, because you expect everyone to already know.

But whatever. Anyway, I have two brothers and a sister. My parents have fallen on bad times and sent me away to their distant relative's house, because they work at the Palace. I'm looking for a job to keep my family together. My father was educated (maybe his father was a school teacher or something; I'm rather stuck on that idea) and he made sure that we all knew how to read and write. Depending on whether or not I needed it for my job application, I could also reveal my further schooling, but Kady said that reading, writing, and maybe adding was pretty much it.

While I was growing up, I had a dog (not a cat because we're trying to avoid parallels to my actual life, but Kari got real uppity when we decided this and left the room again to go who-knows-where). But the dog ran away, or died, or something, when I was 7, just in case someone expects me to know something about dogs. Because everything I know about pets is from having Kari for the past 6 months, and that's pretty minimal, because most everything to do with her care had been left up to the maids.

But I sort of wanted to have a pet. When I was little, I always wanted a dog, so a lot of this was me making up my fantasy life, I suppose. But I'm definitely a cat person now. I think it was just the hype that got me when I was little; I'm definitely glad I didn't get a dog 6 months ago.

But, we still aren't sure what to do about Kari. Kady pointed out that my cat aught to stay in the Palace, because otherwise it would practically be proof that I was alive because everyone would assume that she had followed me out of the palace. Which would mean that I had to stay there. At the Palace. Which was, in fact, no longer mine.

I suppose that staying right under his nose would keep King Gandon from seeing me, but who really knows? Kady also pointed out that I didn't have any really redeemable skills (which I realized last night, but hadn't really mentioned) and that most of the jobs in the city would have required some sort of a skill. Her plan was to get me a job as a Fifth Assistant Cook. I would pretty much run around delivering spices and carrying pots and stirring. The salary 'isn't great', to quuote Kady, but the work was easy.

And that was another thing. I had never, in my life, handled money. I've held it, sure, but only when I was learning the values and faces on each coin, and the time one I had to make a big show of donating to a fund for poor children. It was for a good cause, and everyone mentioned it glowingly for the next few months, but it hardly counted.

I had visited the market a few times, but only what was probably the really expensive part, with clean, paved streets and fancy store fronts, and high-and-mighty salespeople who looked down their noses at anyone who wasn't wearing embroidery. And that had only been for parades. It hadn't involved me actually buying anything.

Most of the things I'd had in life I'd barely had to ask for. Some I hadn't even asked for. Like the 20 mirrors. If I ever wanted something I didn't have, I would simply ask my parents and someone (presumably a servant) would buy it for me or have it arranged. I had no idea where most of it even really came from.

I didn't mention it to Kady; it was rather embarrassing, the longer I thought about it, and I already felt like I was being a toll on her without asking for financial assistance.

But, anyway, that's what's been going on for the past half hour. In an extremely long winded explanation.

"Names of your family! Wow! I can not believe that we forgot that!" Kady practically yelled. I would have jumped, except it wasn't the first statement she had yelled recently. She was a rather excitable person once she really got into something. I was beginning to regret bringing the topic up.

"Um… let's see, we have to name… my father, my mother, my two brothers, and my sister." I listed. "I've always wanted to have a sister named Rose."

Kady nodded. "Ok. And, let's see. Your father can be… Paul. Paul and… Jenna. Jenna can be you mother."

"Ok, and… I'm stuck on Robert, but I don't want to have two siblings whose names start with R."

"Try S or something. I'll think on T."

"Um… Sssss… st… steven. Steven?"

"Sure. And T… how's Trevor?"

"Ok. Paul and Jenna, my parents. Steven and Trevor are my brothers and Rose is my sister."

"I thought you didn't have a sister." We looked up in time to see Winny enter the kitchen, carrying a heavily-laden basket. Kady got up quickly to help her aunt.

"No, my made-up family. Kady and I have been making up my life." I explained.

"Really? You'll have to tell me all about it!" Winny giggled.

"That reminds me! Kady, your aunt is back, you have to tell your story now." I could tell that Kady didn't want to tell me. She had turned a suspicious shade of red when I'd mentioned it earlier.

"Right." Kady let the basket fall onto the counter with a loud thump. "Well."

She briefly described her trip through the palace and the scene in the ball room. Then she began on King Gandon's speech. When she got to the part about Para I nearly exploded. They were blaming the entire thing on Para. Para, my nurse, my maid Para. It was ridiculous. I made do with squeezing the edge of the table – I probably left nail marks.

And then… I utterly deflated when Kady, practically whispering, came to the part about Para's death. Just… there was no way, now, that she was innocent. It wouldn't even matter if someone proved it. And… she was just, just gone. It didn't seem at all real. It's so much easier to understand something being there than something not being there. And… I guess… it must just be that everyone close to me seems to have died recently. There was less of the aching emptiness that happened before. It was just a hollow sadness, one I could deal with. I knew it would come back later, worse, when everything had sunk in, but for then I let it fade to the back of my mind. I didn't want to think about it just then.

Kady paused for a moment, watching my face, and then carried on when I suppose I looked calmer. She explained that everyone was, temporarily, being held in the Great Hall and that Gandon had assumed Kingship. This I swallowed easily. It wasn't surprising, or that awful. Eventually, after he had put on enough of a show and enough people had accepted his rule, he would let everyone out. Within two days everyone would be heading back to their respective properties. I wish I could.

Well, I suppose I sort of will…

Kady stopped again

"And, well, I suppose that's it." She pondered something for another moment, then "King Gandon is planning on giving a country to each twin. That's basically his entire motive."

Winny's eyebrows went way up. "He's a rather odd man, isn't he? And he admitted this to all the nobles?"

"Well… no… I heard a soldier talking about it." Kady shrugged.

"Ah. Well, how do you know they were telling the truth?" Winny asked.

"I… don't… I suppose..." Kady blinked a few times.

"Well, it doesn't matter much, anyway; it doesn't matter too much what his motive is: he's done it already, and there's no mystery about who it was. But we do know that I won't be able to apply for a job at the palace for a few days, at least. We can only hope that no one notices Kari's absence," I cut in. We were moving away from the problem at hand.

"I doubt the King will rate Kari's location as something of top importance – if she suddenly appears after a few days, they'll probably just think she was scared away by the ruckus, got lost or something, and only just returned. Or maybe she was locked in a closet. You know what cats get into." Winny waved her hand a bit. "And I won't let you into that palace for at least a week. You've been through too much of a shock to simply dive right back in so soon."

I thought about it. It was true; it tied right into what I'd been thinking before. No one would notice Kari not being there half as much as her sudden appearance. So that was another thing that would have to be planned. If Kari showed up the same day as Lara, it might look rather suspicious.

"I wonder… if there is any way… we could convince Kari to return to the palace without me." I checked around quickly to make sure she wasn't in hearing distance. Sometimes it's like she understands everything we say.

"We probably could… but why?" Winny started to unpack her basket.

"Well, it would be rather strange if she suddenly appeared the moment I walked into the kitchens."

"I doubt anyone would notice. Unless she was with you. And I'm sure that she'll be distracted by the gardens or something. Or you can take her into your rooms through the passageway, wait a few hours, then come to the kitchens for your interview." Kady put a loaf of bread in a drawer.

"That would work." I got up to help them, and accepted some apples bound for the bowl in the corner.

After we put away the groceries, Winny made lunch – tomato and ham sandwiches, and some ham for Kari, who appeared the moment she smelled food, I suppose. She seems to have forgiven Winny for closing the door on her before.

After lunch, she brought out some old dresses of hers, covered in patches, but seemingly from her shorter, thinner days. They were still a little big, and a far cry from what I had been wearing yesterday, but they were better than the page's uniform.

The next week passed quickly. Kari learned to use the bathroom outside, to judge from the little piles of dirt in the far corner of the garden, near what I found out is carrots. It never occurred to me that they were all the way in the dirt like that. I mean, they're roots! I sort of knew that, but it didn't occur to me at all what that really meant.

It became my chore to water the plants and Kady gave me a crash course in spices and their uses. She said that I really wouldn't need to know most of them, but who knew? They could be helpful. I could move up the ranks – maybe to a real cook one day. I told her that renegade princess was good enough.

Four days after my birthday – that's what time seems like now, before and after my birthday – the nobles poured out of the Palace, almost at the same time. Kady had managed to talk to her father on the second day after my birthday and arranged to meet him at the same time every day. On the third day, she watched as one by one, each Noble Family sent a representative to pledge loyalty to their new 'King'. I asked about the Duke of Ranselle. He was next in line to inherit the thrown. Kady said that she didn't quite know who was who, but it seemed as if the order of pledges had been related to rank, and the first man to come forward had said the words slowly and deliberately, glaring into the King's face the entire time.

I was surprised – the Duke was a large, red-faced man who had seemed glad that there were two people – my mother and I – between the kingship and he, should my father die. He was my father's cousin, my second cousin, and was one of the few people who didn't present me with gaudy things each birthday. His last present was a set of toiletries scented with the perfume of the treasured few Ranselle Roses. Something I would actually use, as the scent is notoriously rejuvenating - a property that could come in handy during long history lessons. It is not on the market because of the work it took to grow the roses – only three bushes were alive, and so the flowers had to be harvested carefully and perfume built up slowly over time. It was said that there were only six cups of it, total, stored in the Perfume houses, although the area was famous for perfumes made from its other flowers.

But, regardless of the gift, I never would have guessed that he wouldn't quiver in fear in front of such a King. I realized that he must think that he was the new King now. I couldn't see him taking it himself, but perhaps he was thinking of his son.

On the Fourth day after my birthday, they had all left. Kady went to the Palace that day and came back to tell us that the staff had been, for the most part, re-instated. A number of people had quit, either out of loyalty for their King or because of the King's Guard, who were still walking about the Palace as if they owned it and harassing any servants they came upon. There had always been rowdy guards, and there always will be, but the King's Guard was generally made up of a higher class than the average servant, or at least a richer class, and Nirdan had a much stricter caste system than Canderon. The King was considered a great exception to their views of who could and could not be in certain positions.

Anyway, Kady told me that it would be easy to get a job as almost anything right now, although I told her that I would prefer something small. I have been thinking about my future past that job. I don't want to be a servant forever. Even though I was hardly looking forward to being a Queen, it was too big a fall to be a servant forever. I wasn't sure what I was going to do about it, but I did want time to think about it, and to actually do it. A small job would be convenient.

Kady suggested that I wait to interview, as well. King Gandon was planning to leave at the end of the week. His brother's widow and her two daughters were coming to live in the Palace, to act as the royal family until his twins were old enough to inherit the crown. There would be perhaps a week between the King's leaving and his sister-in-law's arrival. Kady suggested I get my job then, when there was no one around except a few guards to notice.

And tomorrow morning I'll be going back.