Sheng would often sit in her normal eating chair watching the sun slowly move as it sent it's rays through the refracting glass painting pictures for Sheng's eyes, right about now and think about how if she had any talent she would have loved to be an artist and repaint all the visions she saw just sitting there in the dining hall watching the sun paint on the hall floor. Alas, she had promised to meet up with Avira and be given a small surprise.
Back at the gazebo, Sheng was pulled up onto the dance floor and Avira shook her head the entire way. Sheng felt so awkward there for she knew not what to do, but all her friends began twirling around her in their ballet uniforms of blacks and whites. Sheng was determined to do something at the least, so she began twirling with them as the tears flew from her face and eventually stopped falling altogether because laughter had taken their place. Then they all lifted her into the air and spun her around, and she wanted the moment to last forever, but often with such moments they are either halted or shattered by someone in a position of power or sometimes even a stranger.
A slow clapping started and the women began to see that there was indeed a stranger in their midst. His mouth was chewing and one of the servants saw right away he had been there long enough to begin munching on the spread of food at least three dishes of crackers, cheese, and bread had been touched.
"Splendid. Bravo." He said with an accent Sheng had heard, but only a few times.
Sheng looked into his eyes and saw a brutishness she had never seen before. It was not quite something she could explain yet. She then remembered that she had seen it before, in the eyes of some soldiers, but she was still unsure of what it was. He had an almost golden radiance to him, though with a tan that exposed that he was not from their land or he was a peasant of some kind and it wasn't just that the sun was shining down on his helmet reflecting sunbeams into the gazebo. He was dressed with a steel breastplate of armor on his chest and she found that he had a dagger stashed in his belt. His legs were crossed sporting a nice pair of red and blue pants that were hideous to some standards of fair in their land. It registered to her that these were the type of pants she saw on sentries from a different land, so it registered to her that he was a soldier of some sort, but given that he hadn't a sword he was not a very successful soldier. Swords made the man, whereas daggers were often weapons not of choice but of necessity and sometimes considered a womanly weapon.
He smiled at all of the women individually and then rose and bowed. The women all bunched up together, most of them trying to hide their exposed bodies before such a foreign uninvited visitor.
He then moved forward and kneeled before Avira, kissing her hand as he said. "I come to see the queen."
Avira pulled her hand away. "I fear you are mistaken, my Lord, I am not she, for she is much fairer than ever I could dream to be."
"Oh then I beg your pardon madame, then I would like to find her."
Sheng was unsure of herself, but she stepped forward trying to take command of the situation as a princess and as the daughter of the queen. "What is it that you need?"
"I apologize but I cannot tell my news to servants. If the queen is not here..."
"How dare you!" Sheng wasn't quite sure what he meant, but Avira was quick to defend her.
"This is no servant, this is the beautiful lady Sheng, who is the current heir to the throne, the daughter of the queen, and you shall address her as 'your Majesty' and nothing else. You shall also bite your tongue and wait for her to speak to you. My lady let this man be given what he deserve."
"And what is it that I deserve?" At this point he stood in disbelief.
"Why have you ceased kneeling?"
"I am confused. Which of you ladies is the Princess?" He looked around inquiring as if earnestly searching.
"If you know that the princess is in your midst does it matter who it is? Your knees should still be bonded to the ground."
"Prove it, and I shall bow before her. For now I see that I am in the midst of servants and damsels. I think I shall take my leave."
"No!" Sheng stepped forward to take charge. Actually she didn't know but Avira had guided her forward with her finger. "You shall bow before the Princess or not see the Queen."
He chuckled, then looked over and spotted the youngest damsel there and winked at her. She jumped from fright and hid behind all of them. The rest of the ladies began wincing and scowling at him despite their fright of him. He was taller than the lot of them, and many were scared of his dagger, but they did not back down for fear that a fight might commence and that they then would have to protect their mistress.
"If there is a Princess in this midst then let her come out."
"I am the Princess." Sheng pressed a step forward more to confirm herself as the princess. Her knees shook like the earth, and her hands wrestled themselves behind her back, as her stomach began flapping around like the tail of a stallion.
"Then take to me to see the queen, otherwise then I shall never have proof that you are not. For I am not some silly servant or savage peasant, I am of pureblood and noble prestige, I bow only before kings and queens and no one else, whether whatever stature or look they may have to their eyes."
"Then ye shall never be blessed to see my fair mother the queen. Off with you now, for you have disrupted my birthday celebration." She felt like the words weren't coming out of her mouth, but as if Avira was channeling some kind of psychic spirit through her mouth.
He stepped forward and examined her closely, pressing his nose just in front of hers, peering deeply into her eyes. Everyone screamed from fright, and a loud ruckus commenced and did not die down until several guards proceeded to the disturbance in the castle grounds.
Wait to see what will commence in the next part....poor princess Sheng
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