Am I the Hero?

Chapter 2

Ugh, I am so tired. I have been in Kira's tailor shop for I don't know how long. Her shop is a quaint little thing, wall to wall covered with different dresses and fabric types. She has a small dressing room in the back and three mirrors that cover one corner surrounding a spinning platform. She has a few chairs scattered around and a sewing machine in the other corner, that is where she spends most of her time making the dresses. I have been in here many times before but each time I come in here there are new dresses and plenty more fabric.

We have finally got the dress fitted and I have to admit the dress she made me isn't horrible. The dress was made with the piles of extra fabric Kira had lying around, or so she says, but I don't think I have seen many dresses made with these materials. Kira said that she made this dress with me in mind. She made sure everything would hide my normal clothes she knew I would insist on wearing underneath. The high collar made of a dark red fabric, she made it so that it would be able to hide my locket. The puffy shoulder sleeves made of the gold fabric she used for the royal clothes, could fit the sleeves of my shirt. The torso of the dress was another gold fabric she used with the royals' clothes. The skirt was almost floor length, long enough to hide my boots but not to drag on the ground. The base was made with dark red fabric with all the accents made in gold. She made a hoopskirt for me so I could move easily without crinoline interfering with any running I might need to do. She even made me gloves that matched the fabric of the torso, they were longer gloves but they didn't go up to my elbow.

In all my time there, Kira even showed me her dress. I must say, my dress looks much fancier than hers but she also had to adapt to my conditions of wearing my clothes underneath. Her dress was light pink with gold accents like mine. Her neckline was a low v-cut. Her sleeves were short, not puffy, and clung to her shoulders. The dress was skin tight, except for the skirt that was layered with seven different crinoline. It puffed out but not to the extent of mine. Her gloves were much longer and went higher than her elbows. She even had shoes especially made for her dress that were super shiny and sparkly and the same shade of pink as the dress.

"You are going to look so beautiful, like the missing princess herself," Kira said as she hung up my dress. I leaned on the chair next to me. I knew it was there but I was so tired I fell to the floor. I didn't even get to eat anything before I left the house, she rushed me out of there so fast.

"Ha, like I could be the missing princess," I laughed.

"You very well may be. You did arrive on our doorstep only hours after the last time the royals saw the princess."

"Yah I remember hearing the whole adoption story twenty times over, but it doesn't matter because I am a full year older than the missing princess."

"But you do have the same birthday. We just might have gotten your age wrong."

"Mom guessed my birthday due to my age."

"That she might have gotten wrong."

"And besides, I look nothing like the missing princess, she had blond hair remember?"

"Most babies are born blonde and their real hair comes in after a year or so."

"Even then my hair is purple, not dark black like the King's."

"The sun."

"My eyes are purple. The princess and the other royals' eyes are green. The sun can't explain that."

"No, but magic can."

"Oh please don't go on about that again."

"What? I am just saying that it was rumored that the princess was taken by a person with the ability to harness magic. It could have been that the magic infected you and gave you your purple eyes."

"Ugh."

"What I am just saying is that you might be the missing princess."

"Yah and you have been wishing and telling me that I was for eighteen years now. When will you realize that I am not her?"

"When will you realize that you are?"

"I am not!"

"Mother even thought that you were her."

"Yeah right"

"She told me herself."

"Sure, then why didn't she try and return me to the King and Queen?"

"She didn't want them to think that she took you."

"Sure she didn't"

"And besides, she called you our little miracle."

"And why is that?"

"She knew you were special when she first laid eyes on you."

"What was so special about me?"

"For one, you arrived in a very fancy basket that looked very regal. You even had a note with you. Most babies that arrive on door steps don't have a note."

"How do you know that?"

"I just do!"

"What did the note say? Free?"

"What!? No! It said 'Take care of little miss Victoria here. She is very important to somebody.'"

"Wow, not ominous at all. You ever think they put that note with me so that you would take care of me and not leave me out there to die?"

"You also had your locket with you."

"Yeah, a locket without a key so I can never open it. Such a great clue to who my parents are."

"Just admit that it is compelling."

"What is compelling?"

"The evidence that you are the missing princess!"

"You are insufferable, can we just move on? You are starting to give me a serious headache."

Kira sighed and leaned her head toward the glass door to look at the giant clock outside. "We better.." She said, "It is nine o'clock and I should probably open up shop for all those with last minute dress repairs."

"What! It's already nine?!"

"Yeah why?"

"My training today! Kira, how could you? I am going to be late! And to think we spent so much time arguing about me being the missing princess! Wasting so much time on a useless argument we have every year!"

"Oh sorry hun. Look, if you hurry you might make it in time. You have to admit it is a bit of a heated debate topic."

I jumped forward and ran out the door. This would be an excruciating early run on an empty stomach. Hopefully this run will help me get my mind off of Kira's theory that I am the missing princess, as if.