The Maid and Her Princess [On Hiatus]

Emergency Meeting (Spm 8)

VIII.

As she requested, Madoka made her way to the princess's chambers, hurrying along. It has been days since she's seen her dear Princess, so Madoka took the risk. To her luck, the guards recognized her and let her through when they saw her cart with tea.

The beverage, apparently, was an idea made by the princess herself. Its popularity became widespread across the Palace, so the servants would prepare it for everyone. Madoka did not like the taste of it but was happy to serve it to the princess to make her happy.

She knocked on the door.

"Come in," the princess's voice beckoned her. She was standing at the windowsill when she first arrived those years ago. With a glance at Madoka, she smiled, making the maid blush. She looked as if she was not just locked away sick for some days. "Well, well, well. If it isn't the woman of my dreams."

Madoka always wondered why Princess Fiara said that to her. She often wondered how she got placed in this situation in the first place. Why was the princess so interested in me? She wondered.

"Sit! Sit!" princess Fiara pointed at a pillow on the ground.

"But, Your Highness," Madoka knew servants never sit before anyone. They hardly sit at all. Princess Fiara was having none of it, waving her off.

"This royal-maid relationship be damned. It was over the moment you stepped in the damn door," she laughs. Madoka did not. "If we are to have a go at this secret sleepover business, then let us be equals for a moment. Please, sit!"

Madoka reluctantly set the tray of tea on her cart and nervously sat down on the ground. The princess paced, looking at her and put a hand to her chin in thought.

"No, this won't do," she folded her arms. "Chairs. We need chairs."

She peered out her chamber's door, before pulling two chairs out along with hefting a table over to them from the hallway. She dragged them all the way to the windowsill. Madoka looked on with horror at the sight of her princess doing manual labor. Madoka knew it was wrong and would offer to do it herself, but she shook her head as if reading her thoughts.

All Madoka wanted to know is why? Why was she causing trouble for her Father? When will she end her foolishness?

"Okay, now sit," the princess said, satisfied with her work. She was out of breath from just moving a table. Madoka did not get to look after her when she collapsed after the King yelled at her. Madoka would have groaned audibly because she knew she would have to move the furniture back and clean them. Still, she sat. "I'm going to say things that are crazy and won't make sense at all, but I just want to vent, okay!"

"That does not sound like—"

"Okay? I'll explain everything," Princess Fiara repeated her request, with a renewed desperation in her voice. Madoka reached into her cart and placed the tea down in orderly fashion before her. Then she sat down again as if to brace herself. This calmed her down, so she continued. "I am going to drop a bomb on you, like, a big one. I am not Princess Elise Fiara. Yeah, sure I look like her and maybe I am her but still, I am not from this world. I'm Audrey Dalion from a planet called Earth. I feel like I'm in a videogame and I've been freaking out ever since. I think I was killed, and oh god, this just might be my final delusions compressed in slow motion before I.... Oh, you look like your head is going to explode. Just like my Father's."

She sighed.

"Are you feeling unwell, Your Highness?" Madoka asked politely. Of course, she expected nothing less than strange talk from her. "Shall I call the healers?"

"No, no, I'm already in deep shit as it is, Madoka. Are you crazy?" Princess Fiara sighed again, taking a sip of her tea.

"That's a lot, coming from you."

The comment earned Madoka a glare, but the princess smiled afterwards like an apology.

"I just wanted someone to lend me their ears. I feel a lot better saying that, you know? Now, onto the main reason I brought you here."

She leaned in, so Madoka had to lean closer.

"I can see the future," the princess said. Her dear princess was truly mad, but serious. "And everyone in this palace is going to die."

Madoka silently got up, unable to understand what became of her friend and dear princess. Has she truly become a witch?

"I know you don't believe me yet, Madoka," the princess spoke as she opened the door. "But you will see in time."