The Painting

Chapter 3: Preparations(Pic of Annalise)

Annalise walked down the hall grumbling under her breath about all these preparations needed for for the festival. Walking up to her room she dumped all the scrolls on her desk. "Why do I have to do this. I know on the lady of the house but still, they could at least help a little bit." She grumbled. With a sigh Annalise sat down in her chair and started looking through the scrolls in front of her.

Just over an hour later, after Annalise had already looked through most of the scrolls, her maid, Namiavuh, came up to see how she is doing. "How are you doing milady?" Namiavuh asked, her thick accent soothed Annalises tense shoulders.

"I'm doing alright, but there are a lot of scrolls to look through. They are also very boring, and stressful." Annalise sighed.

"How bout you take a break, we can look at how the decorations and town preparations are going. If you're up for it that is" Namiavuh suggested.

"That sounds like a wonderful idea, I sure could use a break and stretch my legs." Annalise stood from her desk and turned to Namiavuh. The two of them walk together down to the lobby. They told the guards their plan and left for town.

Annalise added a skip to her step as the two neared town. She could feel the excitement for the coming festival in the air and as they entered the maze of houses a smile bloomed on her face. All around her were copies of her house crest, on flags and streamers and she even saw some people draw it on the brink wall of their home. It made her think of her brother and just how proud she was to be a part of his family. "The people are really lucky to have such a great king." Annalise finally spoke.

Namiavuh nodded her head with a smile. "Yes, your brother does have his way with the people. They adore him and your whole family so much." Her face darkened a bit as she thought but it quickly disappeared when someone called out to them.

"Your majesty! Princess wait! Your majesty!" Annalise turned to see a young girl, about the age of 10, run up to her. The young girl stood with her hands on her knees as she panted.

Squatting down to her level Annalise smiled brightly. "What can I do for you miss?" She inquired.

"Me and my," she paused to take a deep breath, "sister. We made you," another pause, "some biscuits." one more pause, "If you could... stop by our bakery... it would be really awesome!" she finished excitedly, finally catching her breath she smiled brightly up at the princess.

Annalise laughed softly at the girls expression and she nodded her head, "It would be an honor." She replied. "Please tell me where your bakery is and Namiavuh and I will stop by as soon as we can." the look on the girls face was priceless as she quickly, and excitedly, told them where her parents bakery is. After they thanked her and she ran off the Princess turned to her maid. "I think that's my favorite part of being Princess."

Namiavuh raised an eyebrow, "The free food?"

"No!" Annalise laughed. "Although that is a plus. I love how people can come up to me like I am another person, you know, I love how the people here don't treat me like royalty."

"Ahh, yes. I should have known." she teased. Just then the two women arrived at the village square and they were thrilled to see it teeming with activity. Annalise looped her arm with Namiavuh's so that they wouldn't be separated and walked up to the different vendors setting up for the coming festival. All around different people would come up to the princess and she would take the time to chat a little while with each one. Every once in awhile, though, she and Namiavuh would sneak off into a side shop to get away from the hustle and bustle of the road.

Eventually they found themselves in the bakery of the young girls family. It was a small bakery and had a little cafe set up in front. The place was on the corner between the main road and another side road. It had a large hand painted sign out front reading; "Howly's hometown bakery!" and then had a crest of some sorts painted underneath. Lots of the shops in the town had them, they were usually the family crest and the businesses trademark so to speak.