A Second Chance

Chapter 21

Emma sat in her bedroom and pondered the strange strange rumors that had started at a mere-

"Did you hear? The king is said to be courting!"

To a rather terrifying-

"A friend of a friend said that the king is to be married!"

Dropping her head in her hands, Emma groaned. The rumors had gotten absolutely out of control. And to make it worse, a lot of people were assuming it was her. She couldn't go anywhere without receiving strange stares.

"Emma, you need to come out!" Miri whined from the other side of Emma's door.

"I can't! They won't stop staring!" Emma flopped dramatically back on her bed. Miri growled and opened the door. Ignoring Emma's feeble protests, Miri plopped on the bed next to her.

"What do you feel like doing... besides wallowing in your misery?"

Thinking for a moment, Emma sighed, "Pranking Legolas."

A moment of silence passed.

"Then we'll prank Legolas."

oOo

Legolas was having a relatively good day. He had been able to sleep in, he and Tauriel had gone for a morning game of tag in the woods (it had taken him a while to persuade Tauriel to do it) and then he had shown Gimli a bit more of the palace.

Strangely enough, he had seen nothing of Emma today. Of course, this occurrence was becoming more and more common.

Five minutes later, as he stood inside his room, soaking wet, he wished he hadn't wondered where she was. Turning around, he observed the bucket on the floor. "Ah. the classic, bucket on the door trick." Opening the door to his room, he stuck his head out, and ignoring the strange looks yelled, "THIS MEANS WAR!"

\(*o*)/

Emma was heading to the greenhouse, finally, for her first lesson in her odd botanical power. One thought running through her head was, I feel like some awesome version of Poison Ivy!

Her thoughts moved to a few days ago, when Legolas had screamed the declaration of war for all to hear. Giggling and lost in her thoughts, Emma missed the trip wire strategically placed in front of a mud puddle.

Emma clambered to her feet and lunged at the chuckling bush. Unfortunately, she was too slow, and Legolas got away. Grumbling, Emma trudged towards the greenhouse, attempting to ignore the stares she was getting.

The first thing she said as she opened the doors was, "Ignore the mud. Please."

"Uh... Of course..."

"Nylan!?" Emma gasped. She couldn't believe it. Ohhh.. this is going to be so awkward... she thought miserably.

"Emma? So you're the one I'm going to be training? Well.. now I know I won't be bored to death," Nylan flashed a charming grin. Emma blushed furiously.

Nylan gestured to her clothes, "May I ask.. ehm... what happened?"

"Prank war."

"I'm going to pretend I understood that," he said breezily while turning and starting to walk towards a flower-bed. Emma giggled as she followed him.

"We should get started. You probably want to leave sooner than later." Nylan cast a meaningful glance at her muddy state.

"What have you managed to do so far?"

"Um... Really all I've done is make the flowers on Mr. Sassyface's crown look presentable."

Nylan looked confused, "Mr. Sassyface?"