Princess Elena's misadventures (For Silvery_Lady)

[justmedk]

* Early morning, Moonday, the third day of the month of harvest, in the 30th year of the reign of King Baltorus II *

Princess Elena, only child of the King, and heir to the throne of the Kingdom of Varsaria, woke up the thrid day of the week, and groaned as she stretched. She always loved the two first days of the week when there was no studying, and she could spend the days how she liked: Reading, watching performances at the palace's theatre, etc. She especially loved the recent production of "The Guardian and the Maiden".

But now it was the third day of the week, and her studies were to begin again. She got up and out of bed, taking a few moments before ringing the bell that summoned her handmaiden.

"You rang, mylady?", the handmaiden said - a woman in her mid-20s - said. She was still young, but to Elena with her 15 years, she was already on the verge of being old.

"Prepare my bath", she said, and then looked at the servant who'd curtsied and headed to do as she was told: "And don't make the water too hot this time! Gods above, I almost got boiled like a Catalo yesterday", she grumbled, comparing her experience the day before to the process where the palace's chefs threw the creature which had a semblance of a mix between crab and scorpion of it, into the pot cooking it while it was still alive.

When she'd taken her bath, and made sure that the servant had scrubbed her well and clean, and dried her, Elena picked out her dress for the day. Might as well look decent while being forced to listen to Morrigan all day.
It wasn't that she didn't like her governess, of course. Quite the contrary. She loved the woman like a mother. But she could also be so unbelievably infuriating! Elena knew more than anyone that it was important that she learn what she needed to learn. But what Morrigan apparently didn't understand, was that fun was also necessary, and the had so precious little time for that on the secular days of the week. And then on the first day she was forced to go to the shrine with her father, rather than sleep in. She loved spending time with her father, so that sweetened it a little, but she would much rather not have to go listen to the priest going on about the gods all day.

Elena sighed and stood up, ready to head down for her morning meal. It was time to get the day started.

[Silvery_Lady]

When the young Princess appeared in the doorway of her personal dining room, Lady Morrigan was already there, standing next to one of the windows and reading from a roll of parchment that she was keeping open with both hands...and she was smiling.
The woman received news from her family once a month, when the merchants from her birtland used to travel to the capital to sell their goods at the local market, the biggest of the whole kingdom.
And she used to cherish those letters, reading them over and over until the next one would come: Morrigan had spent the last fifteen years of her life serving the King and raising his daughter and, even if that had made her the most influent woman in the realm, she still was homesick, from time to time...

As soon as the girl entered the room, anyway, her Governess immediately rolled up the parchment again and she put it away inside a big pocket she had in her wide skirt, turning to look at Elena and smiling at her in the most loving way.
-Good morning, child.- she welcomed her, slightly bowing her head toward the princess and expecting her to curtsey, like she have been taught many years before: the girl was royalty, sure, but she was also very young and she had to pay her respects to her, being an adult and her guardian.
Manners and protocol were something very, very important, in Morrigan's opinion.
She knew that it would come a time when she'll have to completely bow to Elena, once she would become Queen, but for now the girl was still just that: a girl.
And she still had a lot to learn.

A moment later, the adult walked toward the table, while a few servants were starting to walk in with all sort of food and hot beverage in their hands, and she took a seat at one head ot the table, waiting for her pupil to do the same, so they could have a nice breakfast before heading to the classroom.
Morrigan was, like most times, wearing a very simple dark gown and her long, black hair was tied up in a braid that was laying on her shoulder, finishing on her chest.
Her green eyes stopped on Elena's face and she smiled at her once more, while gesturing a young vallet, ordering him to pour some of her favorite herbal tea in her cup: she seemed to be in a good mood, that morning.

[justmedk]

When she saw Morrigan, Elena couldn't help but smile a little. The woman had been her governess for as long as she could remember back, and she always felt better when she was around. This had even been true many years ago when she'd felt the business end of Morrigan's large wooden hairbrush. She still blushed when she remembered the last time that had happened. It was many years ago, she couldn't have been more than 10, but she remembered that day like it was yesterday.

On this particular occasion, however, Elena managed to push the thought from her mind before it changed the color of her face, and curtsied as she knew Morrigan expected.

"Goodmorning", she said. It was clear that while she'd been up long enough to have had her bath, she was still not entirely awake. She seemed to be able to sleep whenever, whereever. And she felt that she was getting overworked, having very little time for herself.

She sat down at the end of the small table opposite from Morrigan and waited for the servants to put breakfast before her.

"Thank you", she said when she was poured a large glass of ice cold olerry juice. The taste was sweet, but not cloying, and with the barest hint of sour as well.

Elena gave Morrigan a bit of a cheeky smile once they were alone, and said:

"So, what do you plan on torturing me with today?", as she grinned, before taking a drink from her juice.

[Silvery_Lady]

The older woman smiled too, when the girl teased her, asking how she was planning to torture her during her daily lecture; she could be such a cheeky brat, sometimes... but it was just one of the many reason that Morrigan loved her for.
-To be honest, i was just planning to have you reading out loud for me, today, to improve your diction, but maybe we could work on your math instead, since you seem so eager to work.- she answered, teasing her too, knowing that there were very few things that the young princess hated more than math -Oh, and by the way, i received two new books from the market, this morning. One of them is about fairies, apparently is the journal of the last human adventurer who dared to visit their kingdom. If you will be good this week, maybe i'll let you borrow them.- she added.

She knew that the girl was always searching for new stuff to read and that she was very curious, so her Governess often used books to "bribe" her and to make her do things that she didn't want to do.
After all, Alena was still a teen and, like all teens, she could be very stubborn and a bit of a rebel, from time to time: she was going through that part of her life where having to obey to adults was pretty hard, sometimes.

Morrigan remembered very clearly how easier it was to have her doing something when she was younger.
When the princess was a child, to see the governess frown was more than enough to make her obey and one little scolding was enough to have her asking for forgiveness... plus, when it was really necessary, the woman had the habit to bend the little girl over her lap, lifting up her skirt and smacking her little bottom to make it cherry red.
After a good cry, Elena was always the most well behaved girl in the realm, at least for a while.

But now she was much older and her governess had stopped to spank her years ago, finding new ways to keep her in check... but the thick wooden hairbrush was still on her dresser, even after so many years, just in case.

[justmedk]

Elena couldn't help but groan when Morrigan mentioned math. That was indeed the one part of her studies which she absolutely hated. She knew that she had to be able to do basic calculations, but the reason for the advanced stuff was beyond her.


"What do I even need that for?", she sulked. "I mean...I know that I need to be able to add and subtract and stuff like that, but that's something I learned years ago. Leave the advanced "Why is a circle round?"-stuff to the Magisters", she said, referring to the intellectual elite of the capital's famed university, as she took another bite of her breakfast.


But when Morrigan mentioned the new books, Elena's attention was once again firmly fixed on her governess. The woman knew her charge well. A little bit too well, sometimes, for Elena's taste. But the prospect of a new book - and SUCH a book no less - was enough for the moment to reign her sulk a little bit back in.

When she'd finished breakfast and headed back to her quarters to prepare for the day's studies, she passed a number of guards and servants, who all bowed reverently to her. Elena smiled at them. Not condescendingly, but still with a firm idea of why they did it, and a certain pride in that. She was the heir to the throne. One day everything would be hers.
The fact that this would only take place once her father was dead, was not something that occured to the girl. If it had, she would have dreaded the day like the plague, rather than take pride in it.



She eventually managed to get to the schoolroom, with the scrolls and books she would need, and sighed as she waited for Morrigan to arrive.

"Work work. I wanna do something fun too, for a change", she mumbled to herself as she waited.