Kingdoms - work in progress

Chapter Three - Aspen

A/N: I couldn't post Kaltrina's part without doing Aspen's as well... 

I take a deep breath and cut it off. One side of her beautiful, long, wavy, blonde hair. Gone. I go to the other side and do the same. Then I trim the ends and take out the elastics. Her face widens into a huge grin and she turns, hugging me.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you! I love it Aspen! My mother hardly lets me cut my hair except for the occasional trims. When I was about eight or nine, my father took me to get my hair cut in secret from my mother. It turned out horrible in her opinion, and to fix it, it needed to be cut pretty much all off. No more than the occasional trim from that day forward, so thank you so much!"

"I- you're welcome." My mom lets me cut my hair whenever I want. She doesn't mind. I can't even start to imagine how it must be growing up royalty. Especially the heir to the throne. And Kaltrina's mom sounds horrible! Way too controlling.

"So, what's this hair dye you speak of?"

"You don't know what hair dye is?" I ask her, shocked. How can someone not know what hair dye is?

"No..."

"Well basically it's this type of dye made for your hair and it colors it. There's fun colors like pink and purple, but there's also more natural colors like brown or black."

"Ooh, can I get purple?" I laugh.

"That probably wouldn't be the best idea. Why don't we start off with a natural color, like b-"

"Black?" She cuts me off, asking hopefully.

"I was going to say brown. We can always turn it darker, but not lighter." I don't dare tell her that bleaching is an option. That damages your hair and I also don't dare tell her that permanent dye is an option as well. She might regret it, and I don't want to be blamed for that regret.

"Oh. I suppose you're right. So you have the dye already?"

"Yeah. I bought it to turn my hair darker than it's natural light brown."

"Oh okay. I'm ready."

***

A half an hour or so after I finish applying the dye, I put a plastic shower cap on her head and luckily the elastic is tight enough her hair won't slip out.

"Here, we can get something to eat in the meantime. The bakery is closed right now for lunch, and my parents should be out buying groceries. Your hair should be brown and dry by the time they get back home," I tell her.

"Okay," she agrees. Kaltrina is an interesting person. I've never met someone like her ever before. She reminds me of myself. I like her. I don't really understand her home life at all, or why she ran away really, but I can understand how annoying parents can be sometimes. My ex best friend - Ivy - was always having arguments with her parents about something or other. I could never relate, as my parents are as Ivy used to say 'so chill', which I guess they are. Kaltrina and I go down to the shop and I watch her jaw drop and eyes widen when looking at all the sweets.

"Anything you want? What's your favorite baked good?"

"I wouldn't know... my mother doesn't allow me to eat this sort of stuff except at banquets. And that is usually very fancy food that has way too many ingredients."

"Oh. Want me to describe each to you?"

"Yes please!"

"So this one here is a brownie. It's basically just chocolate. Lots of chocolate."

"Sounds perfect!" She exclaims.

***

Days pass, and Kaltrina is still staying with us. I don't mean that as a negative thing - not at all - it's just, I didn't expect her to stay this long. Ash is awful to her. Treats her how he treats me. Not the best. My parents of course love her, and welcomed her into our family without an hesitation. I lied and told them I found her while wandering the forest, and she doesn't remember much before she arrived and they bought that, which is a relief. I don't know how I would've had to explain that she's actually the future queen of Pelagia, a thought I still can't believe.