blue butterfly (IZANA WISTARIA ◎ akagami no shirayukihime)

12; The Living

Just out if curiousity, how old do you think I am?

•••

"A party?" I asked Shiina as I put away a book, swaying a bit to reach its shelf, since the ladder I was on was quite far from it.

Shiina nodded and handed me another book. "It's for the nobles that Lord Izana invited. I hear even the prince from Tanbarun is coming."

"Tanbarun and Clarines are allied, right?" I ask.

"Yeah, so I suppose that isn't much of a shock," she sighed the shot up. "But..."

"But...?"

"But I also hear that the queen of an unallied kingdom is going to also attend. I think Lord Izana is going to try to make a bond between the two countries."

"That's sounds exciting," I say sarcastically as she hands me another story.

"I'm going to go spy later and see who it is," she smirked and looked at me with a devilish look. "Care to come?"

I don't think it's a good idea to piss this girl off, I grimaced. "Sure," I say hesitantly.

"Good good...that's good..." She cackled like a witch.

"Shiina, please calm down..."

"Oh, right right!" She smiled and waved a hand. "Let's just finish this pile and we and can get going."

•••

It was only just another half an hour until me and her finished running back and forth to put the stories in their organized spots. I didn't rush, but Shiina surely did. She has a split personality, for sure.

She had taken my hand and led me towards the door when a maid walked in. "Oh! You two are perfect!"

"Huh?" Me and Shiina synced in our confusion.

"We are in need for someone to just help bring the food out for the first prince's banquet, can you two do it?" The maid asked us.

I felt a chill and looked to the woman beside me. Shiina grinned maliciously—a plan obviously forming in her mind. "This is perfect," was all she said and linked her hands together as if she was some evil villain. "We'll do it."

I took a step away.

"Oh, thank you both so very much!" The woman clapped her hands together. "Let's head for the kitchen, then."

I nodded and me and Shiina followed behind the lady.
We made it to the kitchen in no time. The maid explained to us what we had to do; we are just bring foods and drinks out onto the tables in the garden and that would be all.

I could hear the people around me in the kitchen chatter about my hair. It's blue! No, really? I mentally sighed. I pulled up my hood—thank goodness I had brought it with me today.

"Alright," the maid spoke. "You can take the drinks—" she handed a platter to Shiina then turned to me, "—and you can take the snacks. Make sure you come back and get more to bring there."

I nodded and took it from the lady's hands. I looked at Shiina. "Let's go," I said and walked towards the doors out of the kitchen.

Whilst walking down to the gardens, I looke towards my...'friend'? "Would you consider us friends?" I asked her.

She choked on her spit and threw her head back in laughter. "Would you consider us enemies? Acquaintances? You're speaking out loud to me, for goodness sake," she said in a fit of giggles.

"I understand—we're friends," I smiled.

"Aw~ You are the cutest thing when you smile~"

I looked away from her, thrown off balance by that comment. Though, I continued to smile. I have friends... Oh god, that sounds like I'm some sort of hopeless friend-maker kind of person. Oh wait...

We stood outside the gates to the garden, a guard watching over it. He saw us and stepped aside, opening the gates and nodding to us. I dipped my head as we passed as a sign of thanks. That would be a force of habit. "So, the nobles and such are coming out here?" I asked my friend since she seemed to know much more than I did.

"Precisely," she said. Just as we put our platters down, we heard chatter from outside the gardens along with the gateway opening. We walked forwards, towards the entrance and stood aligned to each other and bowed as these rich and fancy people passed.

One woman caught my eye. She held such beauty to her. The long black hair, striking blue eyes, her clothes even showed how elegant and beautiful she was. She didn't notice me, but boy did I notice her and I squinted my eyes.

Izana came in last and saw me. He stopped and looked down at me. "What are you doing here, Umi?" He asked softly.

I looked up slowly. "We just came to deliver the food and drinks."

He nodded. "I see." With that, he walked away to converse with others. It wasn't a very long conversation, it wasn't even a conversation. I don't blame him—he can't be seen making good talk with a commoner like myself, people would gossip about it.

I turned to Shiina who raised an eyebrow. "Ohoho, I see what's going on here~"

"Shut up," I glared.

She giggled. "Let's go get more snacks for these people."

We walked out, but I had to take one more look at the woman.

•••

We made our way back to the gardens after grabbing another tray of food each. "Did you see that really pretty woman, earlier?" Shiina asked me.

I nodded. "Yes..."

"Have you met her before?"

I jumped at the sudden question. "No! I mean, I've heard of her..."

"Oh, it's just because when she came in, you had one of those I remember you kind of looks," she noted. "She's the Queen of Tredosand. That one kingdom that has yet to make an alliance with us?"

"Uh-huh."

"Uh-huh," she mocked with a grin.

I took this chance to change the topic. "I want to get payed for this."

"Same. This wouldn't be fair if we didn't get payed for this," she laughed.

We walked back inside the gardens once the guard allowed us in. As we began to make out way the table, someone approached me from behind. "Excuse me," said a smooth feminine voice. "May I have one of those cakes you are carrying?"

I turned and there stood the beautiful woman. We made eye contact and the lady smiled softly as I awkward nodded.

"Thank you," she said gratefully.

Could this get any worse? was my only thought as the wind blew the hood off my head.

She gasped and dropped her cake.

•••

WHO COULD THIS WOMAN BE?

Sorry if I made any mis
Damn typos