Percival Lombard's POV
"As you can see, your highness" Quin had gestured to the board, " we will be using the same color scheme for the Selected's rooms."
"I don't see why not, Quincy" Percy had nodded along, hand propped up on the table, supporting his head. Percy had been staring at Quincy's board of designs and ideas for the Selection for the past 10 minutes, and well he'd never felt so bored by a board. The rooms would be painted an off white color Quincy called cornsilk. How did it even resemble the color of corn? Percy would never know.
Quincy continued, his red laser pointer bringing Percy's attention to the accents of the room while one of the maids handed Percy a swatch of colors; all of which had different names and its corresponding use, Cornsilk for the walls, Blanched Almond (Isn't that a dessert?) for the curtains, Linen (Is this even a real color?) for the linen (surprise, surprise), and Seashell for the side table. In Percy's honest opinion? He couldn't tell the difference of every color presented to him on the swatch, as to him, every color looked the same- like the color of sand.
"We'll be using golden accents here and there to give the room a little sparkle," Quincy said as two other maids had brought in several golden pieces along with a cream colored skirt with gold lining and a comforter with similar gold lining as the skirt. Percy nodded along, trying to look impressed as he thumbed the silky comforter.
"As for dinners and such, Han has yet to give me a planned menu for the Selection, but do not worry!" Quincy said, putting down his laser pointer on the table. "It shall be finished no later than a week before your Selected arrive."
"What about the staff? Are we still having a shortage on staff?" Percy asked.
"We are currently offering jobs to some sixes who work as seamstresses in some of the less fortunate parts of Angeles." Quincy assured with a nod.
"Is there anything else-" Percy was interrupted by a blonde young man, with the most age defying face one could ever possess bursting through the door. With his bright wide brown eyes, his toothy grin, and his noticeably shorter stature (okay, not really that short, but Percy had an entire foot over him), it could be no one less than Patrick Mcdonough, the Scottish ambassador of Illea.
"Percy! There ye are! Huvnae ye heard?" Patrick said, giving Percy a light slap on the back. "Our good old cousin Miranda has finally arrived from Aussie!" Patrick grinned.
"I thought she was arriving tomorrow." Percy interjected, trying to recall what Miranda had told him the week before.
I'll be arriving on the 27th, she said, and it currently was the 26th.
"Your highness- Can we please continue this meeting" Quincy interrupted with an audible gulp, a little bit fearful of disrespecting the Prince of Illea or th Scottish Ambassador.
"She probably meant the 27th back in Aussie." Patrick chuckled. "I know yer hoachin' and all, but let's have this little reunion among us three."
"A little reunion you say?" A flash of red hair appeared by the door as Miranda Lombard had - in the very simplest term- strutted into the meeting room in a pair of dark sunglasses while carrying a purse with the smallest dog Percy has ever seen. Miranda smiled widely as she hugged both of her cousins, and proceeded to squeal at the sight of Quincy's board.
"Are you designing the Selecteds' rooms?" Miranda asked, hand lightly grazing the board full of fabrics, colors, and patterns that were the least of his concerns.
"Actually, " Percy paused as he gestured over to Quincy. "Quincy, over here has just presented to me a few details."
"Oh, I love the use of Ochre and Cornsilk! Just a darling combination, very very posh." Miranda exclaimed as she proceeded to look at the swatches that were on the table. "Of course, with my interior designing background, have you thought of adding any brown or earthy pieces into the room?" she asked.
"Didnae ye drop out of interior designing school?" Patrick said, with a bit of humor in his tone.
"That's not important," Miranda brushed off, though her porcelain skin began to blush. "what's important is that I have great taste."
"Sure, ye do. Remember that one time in one of those after parties with the newspaper, and the leaves, and the tape?" Patrick said sarcastically.
"Yesterday's news! My time in Australia has introduced me to better interests." Miranda scoffed.
"Yeah, like a certain Mr. Sinclair." Patrick teased.
"Hey, I have a joke! Why does Prince Sinclair need glasses? Cause he can't sinclairly!" Patrick bursted into laughter as Percy joined in the laughter.
"Ummm, your highness? And your Ambassadorness?" Quincy interrupted the banter.
Percy cleared his throat, as his grin morphed into a line on his lips. "Yes, Miranda, thank you for coming here in Illea to assist me in training the Selected for the Royal Court, and I understand that you've had quite the trip and are possibly jet-lagged. If Patrick here were to lead you to your room, I believe you'll get the rest you need." Percy said as he straightened his back, making him seem so much taller than his 6 foot and 6 inch frame.
"Thank you, Prince Percival for having me here for the duration of your Selection." Miranda replied as she grabbed Patrick's arm and dragged him out of the room.
"Prince Percival, was that who I think that was?" Quincy had asked, as he gathered the swatches in his hand.
"Yes, my cousin, Miranda," Percy paused , "or as most of the world knows her as Duchess Miranda Lombard of Cambridge." Percy nodded ahead, trying to ignore the sound of Patrick's distant laughter in the hallway.
Miranda Lombard's POV
Words couldn't explain the melancholy Miranda experienced when she was walking down the Illean palace's hallway on the third floor. To Miranda, the Illean palace was more home to her than Buckingham or the Cambridge estate. Heck, Hanna Beth and Elsa were more mothers to her than her own. Memories of her living in Illea as a child, growing up with Percy and Patrick, breaking the occasional vase, all making Miranda smile just a little.
She strolled down the hall to the women's room, where she heard the sound of piano playing, to see the sight of her Aunt Elsa- or formally known as Princess-Consort Elsa Schreave- playing the piano in a blue wrap dress.
Her Aunt Elsa was never one who enjoyed the formalities of Royal life though it was thrust upon her the day she was born as the Princess of France. Lucky for Elsa, she was the youngest in the family and never really had the responsibility to be Queen of France, allowing Elsa to pursue her own passion for music and the fine arts.
Miranda admired Elsa endearingly for her grace, even after she and her aunt Hanna Beth had revealed that they were a couple even before Hanna Beth had to marry her uncle-Percy's father- out of alliance and the continuation of the Schreave line. When people questioned Elsa for staying in the palace as Hanna Beth's paramour, she all took it all in stride- and in Chanel, of course.
Elsa's green eyes lit up as her hands stopped playing the piano. "Miranda,cheri!" she exclaimed, as she stood from the piano's seat to embrace Miranda in a tight hug. "I heard you were coming here tomorrow!"
"I meant tomorrow in Australian standards, Auntie!" Miranda said noting the difference of height she and her aunt had, the last time she was here, they were exactly the same height and now, Miranda could see the top of Elsa's head. She couldn't have been gone that long, right?
"You've been gone for too long, Randy! Spending all your time with the Prime Minister's son!" Elsa joked as she offered Miranda a seat on one of the couches.
"Don't worry," Miranda assured as she took a seat on the couch, " I'll be spending quite some time here in Illea. I feel so sorry, for not being able to see Percy's First Selection."
"Oh, a lot of the girls were lovely, especially Zamantha, she was a gem." Elsa replied. "Would you care for some tea?" she offered.
"I haven't heard much of Zamantha," Miranda shrugged, "but from what Patrick told me, Percy was head over heels for her."
"He was, I thought she was going to be the one to win-"
"Until the rebel attack?" Miranda interjected.
"Yes, and now Percy has to go through the Selection process all over again." Elsa replied.
"That's why I came back here, he needs the emotional support." Miranda stated.
"Look at the time! It's almost time for dinner!" Elsa noted, taking a look at her watch.
"Would you like to go to the dining hall with me or are you resting back in your room?" she added along as she stood up, smoothing her dress.
"I'd love to have dinner with you, Aunt Elsa," Miranda replied with a smile as she stood up from the couch, "I'm dying to have some diet endangering Illean food!"
A/N: Heeeeeyyyy Guys! It's sparky, back at it again with writing another chapter. If some of you don't know, I usually write status updates for the story on my profile and some info regarding the fic like whether or not I'm writing updates and stuff (yessss, by stuff I mean the pinterest boards which you can see in my profile : thesparklyjewel or you can use the link : "tinyurl dot com slash queenstrial" for bonus content and story references. )
I'd like to thank all of you for your support for this fanfic whether it be through submitting a Selected, a follow/favorite, or even through review writing! I didn't expect that my little story would catch on so much! So thank you all! If I could bake you all cookies, I would~ so virtual cookies for all of you!
So we meet four new characters in this chapter! Miranda, Percy's cousin from England and Duchess of Cambridge, Elsa, former Princess of France and current Princess of Illea, Quincy, the head of planning for the Selection, and Patrick, the Scottish Ambassdor!
Here's a quick Lexicon for Patrick's speech as he so often speaks in Scottish slang:
ye- you
yer-your
huvnae- haven't
didnae-didn't
hoachin' - very busy
Thank you for reading this fic, and I'm almost going to close the submissions soon since I've received a lot of characters that would make my decision making harder than I expected. So to any of my possibly new readers, please submit your characters in soon~ :)
Tell me what you guys think of Elsa and the rest of our new characters in your reviews? Were you guys surprised to find that Hanna Beth and Elsa are married? Let me know what you think~!
~*Sparky out*~
