"Are you nearly ready?"

"Yes, yes," Prince Frederick called back to his vallet, Tobias. The ball was about to start and he was not with his mother at the royal entrance about to be announced. "I'm just finishing this…"

"Your Highness!" Tobias chided as he entered the room. "Leave the paperwork! This is a ball and you should be there." He hustled the Prince away from the desk, quickly rescuing a handkerchief for the Prince's pocket and doing up the vest buttons. "The Queen is waiting for you and you are expected."

"I know," Frederick replied with a sigh, "but being a Prince takes up a lot of time. Do you think mother would excuse me after an hour or two?"

"Your Highness," Tobias answered while ushering the Prince to the door, "going to balls is what Prince's do. I do not presume to speak on her Majesty's behalf, but I imagine she would wish for you to be present at the ball for the entire night."

"Oh of course," Frederick began to walk down the hallway to the ballroom. "I would have never dreamed that running a kingdom, albeit a small one would take so much work," he added, adjusting his cravat.

"That is why you need to attend the ball and find a Princess," Tobias reminded him. "Then she will help you run the kingdom."

"I don't think that finding a Princess is the answer," Frederick answered. "All the Princesses I've met have been close to useless and - "

"Your Majesty," Tobias bowed low as they entered the small room where the Queen waited.

"Oh Frederick," the Queen said, "at last."

"Hello Mother," Frederick greeted her with a smile and a kiss on the cheek. "How are you today?"

"Well, now that you are here," she answered tartly. "Your father was never late you know."

The King had died one season ago of a fall from his horse and Frederick had been fulfilling all of his duties since then, but all alone it was a terrible task.

"I don't know how he did it," Frederick murmured in reply as his mother straightened his jacket.

"No," she replied softly too, "but you are doing marvellously none the less." They shared a smile for a moment. "Now enjoy yourself tonight," she continued sharply. "Don't think about paperwork. Eat, drink, dance! You might even find a beauty catches your eye."

"Thank you Mother," Frederick replied as the curtains were drawn and the noise of the ballroom descended on them. They stepped forwards together, inclining their heads to the bowing masses.

"Her Majesty, the Queen and his Highness, the Prince!" declared the Herald.

The ball had begun.

***

Karalina watched the Queen and the Prince enter from her position in the balcony with the other maids who wanted to catch a glimpse of the finery of the ball.

"Isn't he handsome," sighed the girl on her left. Prince Frederick was tall and strong, with coal black hair and dark eyes.

Karalina rolled her eyes. Princes are always thought to be handsome, until they are holding you in their arms and they have bad breath she thought wickedly to herself.

Everyone below lifted from their bows and curtsies as the orchestra began to play and the Prince and the Queen danced the first dance. Others soon joined them on the floor, spinning and twirling with grace, the beautiful gowns creating flowers of colour when the ladies spun. It was wonderful to watch, but also much like the balls Karalina had attended when she was a Princess.

Carefully she stood and turned to leave.

"You aren't staying, Lina?" called one of her friends.

"No no," she replied, "a ball's a ball. Besides, I have to finish cleaning the rooms in the East Wing tonight and I may as well do it now while everyone is out of them."

"Fine then," her friend replied. "Come back when you are done though! We always have what's left of the food in the kitchens afterwards."

"Perfect," Karalina answered before she turned and slipped out through a secret panel in the wall. This castle, just as her own, had numerous passages between the rooms and walls. They helped the servants move through the castle more quickly than by the main halls, as well as being useful for escapes and secret night-time visits.

Tonight she was to clean the royal rooms in the East Wing, to get there it would be much easier to use the passages rather than the halls. Quickly gathering her dusting cloths and the fresh linen for the beds, she walked quietly through the deserted palace. It was very different without all the people bustling about.

Coming to the first room, Karalina did a quick check of the room to ensure the was no one there; it was always less awarkward to clean if the room was empty while she did it. Then she placed her dusting cloths on the fireplace and changed the bed linin. Even though Karalina was new to these tasks, she had taken to the life quite well, which was one of the reasons that she was now given the royal suits to clean. In each room she followed the same pattern; beds, washrooms, fireplaces and dusting.

Karalina enjoyed the work she was given, it reminded her of her Mother's lessons not to be idle; and there were always tasks to be done. The night was still young and Karalina wondered what she would do now that she had finished her chores. But as she finished the Prince's room and was pressing the panel in the wall to open the secret door, she noticed the door to his study was adjar. Usually when she cleaned this room, it was closed and she felt no need to open in, lest it be occupied by the Prince himself. Now though, Karalina knew the Prince was at the ball and the door was adjar.

Perhaps there is a fireplace in there that needs cleaning as well she thought to herself, carefully leaving the dirty linen by the wall passage she was about to leave by, she made her way to the study. First, Karalina peeked through the door and found that indeed, the room was unoccupied and there was a fireplace that needed cleaning. Gladly she set about sweeping the ashes into a bucket to be taken away and wiping down the mess it made. Once the fireplace was set again, she sat back and looked around the room.

There were a number of large armchairs around the fireplace, a bookcase that took up the entire wall and sizable windows that let the pale moonlight stream into the room. Karalina went to the bookshelf and ran her hand down the spines of the books while breathing in the scent of the pages. When she turned she noticed that by the door there was what could be a desk only it was so covered in papers, which also littered the floor, she couldn't be sure.

Well this won't do, Karalina thought to herself. How can he run a Kingdom if he can't even keep a desk clean? Going to the desk, she gathered the papers from the floor and began stacking them on the desk. It was hopeless, the more papers she put on the desk, the more fell onto the floor again. Unless she developed a system for where each paper should go, the desk would remain unusable for eternity.

Sighing slightly, Karalina sat down at the desk and looked at the first paper in her hand; a report on farmland produce. She put it to the left. Next page: Armoury Inventory. She put this on her right. Next page: A request from a neighbouring kingdom for flour trade. Karalina put this at the top right of the desk. Looking at all the papers and sorting to be done, she again sighed slightly, but smiled at the challenge; it would be a long night.

***

Frederick thumped down on his bed heavily. The ball was over, the guests were gone and he was exhausted. His body protested the movement of his legs as he tried to kick off his boots. Having no success though, he sat up to pull them off with his hands. Where was Tobias when you needed him? Frederick wondered to himself before remembering that he himself had dismissed all of the servants this night, lest they have to endure staying up as late as he.

Yawning Frederick stretched and walked to the washroom to wash his face. Wiping his face with a towel as he crossed the room again he caught a glimpse of his study through the open door. That's strange he thought as he approached the door and looked inside. His entire desk, usually covered with a clutter of papers was clean and clearly visible. The reports and other such papers were all in neat piles on the desk, with labels written in tidy script.

Who did this? Frederick wondered as he sat down in the chair looking at the desk in amazement.

***