A Pearl Of Wisdom (#Wattys2016)

Chapter 6: Beautiful?

Without thinking I steer Buttercup away from them and start galloping towards home. I hear yelling after me, but I feel terrified for some reason and I just keep galloping towards home. I hear people chasing me, I ignore them and feel like they can't catch up anyway. I get Buttercup into the barn and brush her down, feed her, and give her water. I start walking towards the house and see the fancy carriage by our house. Shit! I forgot that we are the only house around for miles so of course they could easily figure out where I lived. If I think about it, why do I need to be scared I have done nothing wrong. I mean running away from strangers is nothing to be getting in trouble for. I start walking towards the house when Wren comes out and finds me.

"Some people from the royal court are looking for you," He says excitedly.

"What, why in the world are they looking for me? I mean I met this carriage on the road earlier and they wanted me to stop but I kept riding"

"Well, they do not know who you are, but they assumed you are the person they are looking for from the road earlier."

"I mean I have done nothing to be in trouble with royalty? I have never even left the province."

"I do not know what they want, they are not saying until you come in, so hurry up."

We walk in together and we hear some people talking in the living room. I take a deep breath and walk in.

"Anise, this is Jack; he is from Tyrian's royal court." My mom says.

"Hello there Anise, I am Jack and I work for the royal court, I am in charge of finding beautiful women for the concubines of Ren the Prince of Tyrian."

"Hi, nice to meet you." I reply.

"I am finding concubines for the royal court because Prince Ren is going to become King and he is going to need a wife. He will first collect all the beautiful women from all over the kingdom and within that group they will have a chance to become Queen."

I smile and nod, "And what does that have to do with me?."

Jack lets out a tickled laugh. "Well of course you are going to become a concubine at the royal court because when I saw you on the horse, I thought I have not seen such a beautiful women before!"

My gathered family and I let out a roar of laughter and Jack looked stunned.

"Well I am sure you hear that all the time?" Jack asked confused at our reaction.

"No, I can't say that I have heard that one before? I mean has the views on beauty changed recently?" I ask quizzically.

"No of course not. You have just such a aurora of beauty coming from you. You look like you are glowing with radiance."

My family all look at giving me a once over.