The Switch

Ship

*Raina's P.O.V*

Despite my best efforts to stay awake, I ended up falling asleep again. It was so hard not to when my bed was so comfortable and the fact that the sun was barely up didn't help. Plus I kept saying that I would get up in five more minutes which was just me lying to myself.

By the time I woke up again, the sun had risen much higher in the sky. That wasn't the reason I woke up though. No, the reason I woke up was Catiline being noisy while moving around my room. Despite my best efforts of pretending to still sleep, Catiline seemed to realize that I was awake.

"You can not sleep all day," Catiline said as she closed the curtains slightly to make it slightly more bearable for me to get up. I groaned softly as I sat up, rubbing my eyes with the back of my hand with a small huff escaping me. I quickly perked up though when I realized that Catiline had brought breakfast to my room.

As I dug into my breakfast, Catiline finished picking out my dress for the day. It was a loose and flowy dress that went just past my knees. I picked at my food when I saw the dress, my nose wrinkling slightly at the sight of it.

"What are my plans for today?" I asked as I looked at Catiline. I hoped it wasn't anything schoolwork related, I really wasn't in the mood for doing anything learning wise.

"Your mother said that today was a free day," Catiline responded, making me grin. That was great, I could probably go out of the castle then as long as I had an adult accompanying me.

"Can you ask Tristan if he'd be willing to take me out of the castle today?" I asked Catiline. While technically her job was to watch over me, sometimes she would deliver messages for me. It looked like today wouldn't be one of the times that she was willing to.

"I'll have a maid ask Prince Tristan to accompany you today," Catiline agreed. I grinned as she went to the door, stepping outside to go speak to a maid. I hurried to finish my breakfast before I got up. Instead of putting on the dress that Catiline had laid out for me, I dug through my closet to find a plain white shirt and a pair of trousers. It was a lot harder to find either of those things then I thought it would be but I knew they were in here somewhere.

"Ah ha," I grinned as I found both of the items stacked at the back of the closet. I hurried to get dressed in them before I left my closet, going to study myself in the mirror.

"What are you wearing Princess Anastasia?" Catiline asked in mild horror when she entered my room again.

"I want to go to the docks, there's no point in wearing a dress to the docks," I said simply as I fidgeted with the end of my braid.

"So we're going to the docks today?" Tristan asked as he peeked into my room since the door was still open. I looked at him hopefully, beaming when he simply nodded his head. "Let's go then, I'm not getting any younger," he said. I hurried to put on my shoes as Catiline protested.

"I haven't even done her majesty's hair yet," Catiline objected as I slipped past her. "Your mother would kill me if she saw the princess going out like this," she said.

"Then we'll make sure she doesn't see," Tristan said with a grin. I giggled at the expression on Catiline's face as Tristan hurried both of us away from her. "She's not wrong though, Mom will kill us if she finds out that your hair isn't even done," he teased as he tugged the end of my braid. I turned my head and tried to bite him, his arm jerking away when he realized what I was trying to do.

"Hurry up, I want to go see the ships before they set out," I said as I hastened my pace. Tristan kept up with me but seemed pensive on something.

"You like ships?" Tristan asked, seeming surprised. I nodded my head, huffing when he suddenly stopped walking. "Come one, I have to show you something. Hop on my back," he said as he crouched down in front of me. I was going to protest but I also wasn't going to give up a free piggyback ride.

As soon as I had my hands resting on his shoulders, he took off running. He was quite quick and before I knew it, we were out of the castle and heading down a side street. He clearly knew the streets quite well because we reached the docks in record time.

I took in the sight of the ships with a small smile, breathing in the sea air as Tristan had finally slowed down. He was panting for breath but still continued on, heading towards the end of the docks. He finally stopped in front of a giant ship, the shadow of it stretching out to swallow most of the dock it was at.

"Ta da, the Royal ship," Tristan said as he made his way up the gangway. He let me down off of his back when we reached the deck of the ship. I grinned in awe as I immediately darted to the side of the ship, looking over the water with a grin.

"It's beautiful," I whispered as Tristan stood beside me. He ruffled my hair causing me to turn and glare at him.

"You have to be nice to me, I showed you the ship," Tristan said as he stepped back. I stuck my tongue out at him before I took off, planning on exploring every inch of this ship. Tristan followed me at a more sedate ship, waving off a few of the crew members that had clearly been left to guard the ship. If I had my way, I would never be leaving this beautiful ship.