Sorry for getting it out so late. I had tried to do it earlier, but it didn’t get done till last night, so here it is. I hope you like it. If you have any suggestions or questions, please tell me. I will try to put the next one up soon. ENJOY!!!

“You’re late,” was the first thing
that met Christina’s ears when she sat down at the lavishly set dinner table.
Christina sighed quietly to herself, knowing full well that she wasn’t late,
that the queen herself had arrived only moments earlier. If she was too loud,
she could easily get herself into bigger trouble with the queen. Helena (notice
I changed the queens name, for story line reasons) was almost always angry at
Christina for something or other. Sometimes it was because she was late, others
it was because she was too loud or soft. The queen’s moods were as
unpredictable as the weather, occasionally it was obvious but usually clear
skies could be hiding thunderclouds on the horizon.

Christina’s father, King Charles,
cleared his throat. “Now that we are all here, shall we say grace?” he asked.

“Yes please do,” Christopher said
enthusiastically, “I am starving!”

Queen Charlotte quickly jumped to
correct him, “You are not starving! Hungry, or famished maybe, but not
starving! Please use precise language.”

The family bowed their heads together for the blessing.  Each meal the children took turns praying.
Tonight it was Chelsey’s turn. She prayed, “Dear God, thank you for a good day.
Thank you for the food, and help it to be good for us so we can grow up good
and strong. Amen”

                The
children quickly dug into their meal of spaghetti and French bread; enjoying
every bit of food they were served. It was a favorite meal among the royal
kids. Although they often discussed why an Italian dish is served with a French
side, they never were quite able to figure it out.

                Christina
sighed as she walked quietly up the stairs. Her stomach was so full, she was
sure it might pop out at any time.  Christina
swiftly changed her clothes into something way more comfortable, and much less
princess like. As she plopped down on a chair, another sigh escaped from her
lips. What a day she had had. Riding Silverflash really been a blast. It had
been so long since she had galloped through the woods like that. It had been
raining for the past week or so, and Christina didn’t want to risk Silverflash
getting sick or hurt. 

“Ahem,” someone cleared their throat.

“AHHH,” Christina shrieked as she quickly stood up and took
a step forward to balance herself. She stepped forward, realized she was
standing on someone’s foot, and jumped rapidly backwards. When she realized
that she was falling, she reached for the chair beside her. Although she was
not quick enough to catch herself, she was fast enough to catch the chair, and
bring it down along with herself. A loud thunk, along with a yelp, echoed
through her spacious room as she fell rather ungraciously to the floor.

“Oh,” came a small gasp from the person standing next to
her, “Oh dear.”

“Who are you?” Christina asked seeing a girl standing next
to her, “And what are you doing here?”

“I am the princess’s new maid,” the girl’s voice trembled
slightly, brushing aside a piece of her obsidian colored hair. Do you work for
Princess Christina too?”

“I had been wondering about you,” Christina said brushing
aside the question, remembering she didn’t really look like a princess in the
clothes she was wearing. “I saw you earlier,” she added.

“You did?” she inquired, “I don’t remember seeing you.”

“No, I don’t suppose you did.” Christina replied, “I didn’t
want you to see me.

“Where you spying on me?” the other girl exclaimed, raising
her eyebrow.

“In a sense yes, and in a sense no.” Christina countered, “I
didn’t want you to see me because—”

“So you were spying on me!” the maid retorted, “Why were you
doing that?”

“If you don’t interrupt me maybe I can explain,” fired back
Christina, beginning to become a little exasperated.

“Well go right ahead, I am listening,” Lilliana snapped.

“If anyone saw me as I was, I would have been in big
trouble.” Christina began.

“You would? Why? What did you do?” the other girl
questioned.

“So much for listening,” Chris grumbled under her breath.

“Oh yeah, I am sorry. Go ahead,” the maid apologized.

“Well anyways, as I was saying,” Christina went on, “I had
been out riding my horse, and–”

“You have a horse?” the maid interrupted again, “I have always wanted a horse! Do you think I could ride it sometime? I really want to ride a horse! Will you–“

“Hold your horses!” Christina interrupted, “I didn’t finish explaining.”

“Oh well,” the second girl replied, “I guess I forgive you for spying
on me anyways.”

“Now that we have that settled, what is your name?” Chris asked. 

“Lilliana!” a voice yelled, echoing through the halls of the
palace, calling for Christina’s friend.

Christina recognized it as the
voice of Eileen, head of Christina’s staff. Of all the times for someone to
call, it had to be now. She was just getting to know her new maid. Now she was
going to have to find a new way to introduce herself, without making Lilliana
scared of her. Everyone new to the palace always treated her as a princess. She
used to have a good friends, but they had all left to work at different parts
of the castle, and their paths rarely crossed anymore. Now was her chance to
make another best friend, and Christina hoped nothing went wrong. Although she didn’t know anything else about her, at least she knew her name.

 “You had better
hurry, or she will be angry!” Chris advised her new found friend before walking
through the door into her dressing room.

“Wait, what is your name?” Lilliana called out after her.

Christina didn’t answer, so
Lilliana turned sadly away. She had hopped she could make a friend on her very
first day. Lilliana had just moved to Vendara. Her orphanage said she was old
enough to work, and found this job for her working as the maid to the princess.
She had never seen the princess before. She had heard that the princess was
wild, but she didn’t know if that meant rebellious or crazy. Only time could
tell, but that was the last thing Lilliana wanted to do— wait on time.