Shades Of Your Warmth

6 of Cups

I will tell the world I will sing a song

It is a better place since you came along

Your touch is sunlight through the trees

Your kisses are the ocean breeze

Everything is alright when you are with me.

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Princess Sarocha jolted up in her bed in a cold sweat, breathing heavily as her hands clutched onto her eiderdown comforter. It was still midnight but now she was wide awake. It was the same nightmare that had been haunting her for years. It felt just as if she was reliving the moments that happened years ago. It was the same nightmare every time: the floor beneath her feet would tremble, and the ceiling would crack with a loud, menacing sound, sending off plumes of dust and cement mixture in its wake. "Becca," she would call out in her dream in panic, she would see a terrified pair of eyes locking onto hers, everything else the girl yelled, muffled by the noise of the crumbling building. She wouldn't run away to safety in her dream, no, she would run to the little companion of hers, embracing her into her protective arms, and then a moment later, something hard and heavy would hit her from behind, and she would feel her life fade away. 

It was the same nightmare but it was also a memory. Princess Sarocha had never been that afraid in her life. She had experienced death, having had her entire life flash before her eyes.

It was an earthquake, the magnitude and intensity of which had not been recorded in more than thirty years at the time. And the two children, the princess and her little maid had been in an ill-advised environment: a dilapidated, crumbling two-storey building.

Sleep wouldn't come back to the princess for the rest of the night.

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It was late in the evening and Becky had just made a friend. It was the goofy gardener who liked to joke around. Becky almost instantly felt at ease with him. Every other maid was seemingly doing their own chores and Becky was here sneaking out in the garden, yet again. She really was a risk taker and a daring one at that.

"I can arrange a beautiful pink rose for you to hold and admire," Heng said, pointing in the general direction of the patch of pink blooms on the side.
"Why pink though?" Becky asked teasingly.
"I don't know. You look like someone who likes pink. I mean don't you like pink?" Hang asked, scratching the back of his head nervously.

"I do. But are you really allowed to cut roses to give to maids from this garden?"

Heng nervously laughed again. "Well, I haven't given any other maids any roses from here if that is what you are trying to know. But I am pretty sure no one will notice one rose gone. And besides, as long as it's not from the Princess's personal garden, I won't be beheaded for one rose." He joked.

"The princess has her separate garden?" Becky enquired.

"Oh yes, she does, one she protects like it's going to be her tomb site when she dies."
Both Becky and Heng turned to see none other than the prince.
"But I have managed to sneak in a couple of times when she wasn't around. It's fun and peaceful in there." The Prince continued.

"Your Highness" Becky and Heng greeted in unison.

"Becca, will you accompany me?, I will show you around the royal garden." Prince Non extended his arm for Becky to hold.

After a reluctant little nod, Becky gently held onto his arm and both set out to tour the garden, leaving a very confused Heng in the background.