Crowned Prince | hendery

31: The Stubborn Lady

At the northern part of Maha'ali were towns where war had simply passed like a wind. There was no consideration for the people the war had left behind- and that it came with the consequences to ensure that their land would remain their own. Towns over towns were devastated, but ever so slowly people were trying to get by, get food down their mouths and water down their throats.

A knock interrupts the meal of a rather large family. One daughter gets up on her feet and makes her way towards the door to open it.

"Am I interrupting your supper?" Once the door swung open there was a woman- almost unrecognized as such- she was wearing pants and kept her hair up tight while she carried baskets of food possibly twice her size.

"No!" The little girl shakes her head as she catches a glimpse of forest forages that the lady had probably collected herself. "Come in!"

"Oh, you know I can't stay for too long, there are more people who I have to give these to." She leans down and puts the boxes in her hands down to meet the little girl eye to eye.

She had lost her father in the war, just as a number of families in this area. Some lost a lot more family members than just one, while others lost only their fathers, others lost their mothers, siblings, and even grandchildren to this war. They were lucky that both their parents were not drafted for the war- had their mother not been pregnant during the start of it all.

"How about warming yourself by the fire, it gets cold during the evenings." The pregnant woman tries her best to stand up from the floor, where their makeshift dinner table sat.

"There is no need to worry about me." She stops her from standing up. "The skin I hold is a lot thicker than what it appears." She puts her arms up and hits her forearm making the children around her laugh. "Not to mention there are still people I must meet tonight."

"Is it true?" One of the older girls called out her attention.

"What is?"

"That you shall be leaving the village upon dawn?" All the heads of the rather full house await her answer.

Taeha smiles at them and approaches the eldest daughter. She held out her hand and waited for her to put her hands in Taeha's. "I will not be going tomorrow, that I can assure you, but I must leave before people get to know me too well."

"Are you a fugitive then?" A boy much younger directly asks the princess.

"I?" She blinks a couple of times.

The child wasn't wrong.

"Jun!" His mother hissed at him.

"No worries!" She smiles at the mother. "Do I appear to be a fugitive?" She turns towards the little boy to ask him once again.

He shakes his head.

"What is it that I look like then?"

"I heard some aunties talk about how you're the reincarnation of the princess that disappeared years and years and years ago!" He threw his hands up in the air and moved them back in a circle the same amount of times he said the word 'years'.

Taeha giggles at the odd rumors going around about her. Of all the people she might be associated with it is with the mother of her husband, but she can't seem to take it against her. It appears the people adored the princess deeply even years since the day she has gone missing she remains to be in the minds of her people.

"And why do the aunties think that?"

The mother coughs.

"If it is not rude of me to ask?" Taeha turns towards the mother. Unlike a lot of pregnant mothers, she was probably a few years older than her age and might be able to answer her random questions to entertain her son.