Her Royal Highness, Leonor

An Unroyal Hang-Out

Zarzuela Palace

Leonor

She was expecting the morning to arrive normally, but today, today is different.

She rose up from her bed and stared through the window overlooking the serene morning of Madrid, in its first week of November. 

From where she is standing, she can see the Palace gardener tending to the flowers and plants and all the staff are resuming their usual morning routine.

A few steps from the same spot where she met Philippa that night.

Leonor sighs at the memory of the writer and stares into the distance and remembers the night of her 18th birthday, the grandest of them all. Her mind wanders through the speeches, the dances, the guests, the princess and prince she has mingled with, all of them wishing her a good year to come. 

They all seem too wistful, endearing, and caring, and she was grateful for all of it. Yet it all felt incomplete without the person she has grown to be fond of in the past weeks.

Philippa.

She remembered how occupied her mind was of Pipa during the ball, asking Aurelia now and then, in little hidden gestures between conversing with the guests; and how relieved she was when she learned that Philippa was in the garden, waiting. 

She remembered, with her suddenly erratic heart, how she walked down the stairs and caught sight of the writer in her stark jacket, looking so normal - looking so different from all the people at the ball.

And how could she forget that compliment Philippa gave her about how beautiful she is - it has never escaped her memory since that night.

She has always been told she is beautiful - every time someone meets her for a handshake at events, even to articles she sometimes bothers to read online about her. She always hears it from the staff, who she believes were encouraged to tell her to lighten up her days, and most of the time from her dearest Papa, the King, when she's off to an event with them with her mother, Letizia, and her sister Sofia. She hears it all too often, it becomes a normal greeting she hears now and then.

Yet hearing it from Philippa seemed to have moved something inside her that she has not felt before.

She blinked rapidly at the memory of Philippa becoming more anxious after saying them, and she was, too, in mixed emotions. She would have asked her to stay around, but realizing Philippa wasn't comfortable around many people as she has mentioned then back in the kitchen, she resigned to the fact that they'll be sharing a birthday dinner together. She was glad that the writer had asked her to come with her.

A hang-out she was silently looking forward to today.

She can't wait to see Philippa once again.

Suddenly delighted by this, she turned back and called Aurelia through the palace's phone. Within minutes, the secretary was in her room, awaiting instructions.

She asked Aurelia if the bodyguards could take the day off.

"I beg your pardon, your Majesty?"

"Me gustaría salir con Philippa hoy, en un paseo por la tarde aquí en Madrid."
(TL: I'd like to go out with Philippa today, for an afternoon stroll here in Madrid.)

She firmly says, seeing the shock in Aurelia's face. "Deseaba poder salir con ella sin que nadie nos siguiera durante todo el camino."

(TL: I was wishing I could go out with her without someone following us throughout the walk.)