Sleep came easily enough that night for both me and Gigona. The bed was comfortable beyond comfortable and I did like the idea of another monkey sleeping close to me as she had happily curled up next to my pillow as if she belonged there. She was more princess than I would ever be. I slept deeply and awoke to fresh morning light feeling as if I could take on the world. Gigona was already up, perched on the vanity and inspecting her fur in the mirror. Half-terrified Queen Patricia would send a flock of servants to dress me I took first look at my wardrobe. The beginnings of a proper closet was more clothes than I had ever seen in a lifetime.
Gigona only looked at the dresses with disdain. "Humans are so vain. So much effort in covering yourself."
"I grew up wearing clothes." I still didn't know what dresses would look good on me so I grabbed the first one I touched. Pale blue and not too frilly.
However, I was incapable of tying the dress' laces. How was I to know how complicated dresses could be?
Gigona laughed so much she fell from the vanity. "Strings!" she shrieked. "You keep on dresses with string!"
I twisted my arms behind my back as much as they would go. "I have never worn any such thing!"
"You picked it out."
"I didn't know!" A knot had formed under my clumsy hands. No wonder the queens had insisted on dressing me. They were protecting me, bless their hearts. And, oh, how I envied Gigona's quick little monkey hands. "Gigona, would you be so kind as to help me?"
"And tie myself up with it?" She shook her head. "I'm afraid you are on your own."
Keeping a monkey on the premises was going to be much more irritation than I had predicted. Useless little princess monkey.
Curses. I walked to the door and peeked into the hall. Not a soul. Why had no human warned me about such dresses and the necessity of servants?
"Hello?" I called, stepping out from my room. Never in my life had I remember Queen Flore in such an undignified situation.
No answer.
Maybe I should just go put on a different dress. Except with the knot of the lacings I didn't think I could get the dress off.
I took a deep breath. I was being ridiculous. I was the new princess of the palace, I was to be the adopted heir of Queen Patricia. And I was the famous Babiole, for heaven's sake! No matter how humiliated I was I was going to have grace and demand help. I started down the hall in a march I'm sure a proper princess would use.
I'm sure I looked just fine until my toes caught on the dress' hem and sent me stumbling into a wall.
At least it was loud enough to draw the attention of a servant, a tiny snippet of a girl who was hardly strong enough to pull my tangled body to my feet.
By dinner time everyone had heard about my dress fiasco. Not a servant said to my face, but I could hear them whispering about it. The best part was that I no longer felt humiliated about it. Perhaps it was the newness of my body but it were as if it were not me that had been caught in such a ridiculous manner. I bore the incident with pride. Yes, the new princess had certainly made a statement.
Queen Patricia wasn't nearly so amused. "You wait for a servant! Have you forgotten how to be nobility? That's the only explanation I can imagine, you silly, silly girl. Why do you think I hire servants? To stand around? Hardly."
Then, as if to punished me, she put me to work the rest of the day.
My childhood had been full of similar things. I had been an educated monkey, graceful, polite. One incident did not mean I was a clumsy bumpkin. Or maybe I couldn't blame that. Perhaps I was merely an innocent victim of Queen Patricia's lack of a daughter to whom she could teach everything I had already learned.
She introduced me to the library and showed me every book it held complete with a not-so-brief summary. She gave me a detailed tour of the entire grounds and made me repeat the histories until she was satisfied. Then, when daylight began to fade, she put me to work on all manners of grace as if I did not know them. I supposed my human body wasn't so wonderfully familiar, and there was a certain fascination in training my human body to do what my monkey body had known so well. It all came easier than I had expected.
At last I collapsed into bed, sickeningly tired, only to find Gigona perfectly relaxed after a day of sneaking around the palace.
When was Mirlifiche going to tell the tragic story of her death?
The following days were exactly the same way, minus a hallway tumble. The stricter the rules and lessons Queen Patricia forced upon me the happier she seemed.
"The people will love you," she said joyfully as she made me practice a waltz for the twentieth time. "You will be the princess they never had and I do think every kingdom needs a princess."
"I thought you were happy just being the queen," I said as I tried to remember the footwork. As a monkey I had never learned to waltz.
She gave the briefest of frowns before she laughed. "Oh, I was and I am. But you… you will be wonderful. As soon as you learn to dance properly."
I enjoyed the schooling most. My tutor was Marius, an old man who didn't seem to hear but seemed to know all things that had happened under the sun. I listened to every word he said and poured through every book he gave me.
Then one day it happened. I was in the middle of an archery lesson when Queen Patricia announced she would be presenting me to the entire kingdom. A ball in my honor.