A Peasant and A Princess

Chapter Sixteen: Sightings

I was being sewn into some yellow lacy monster of a dress with a weirdly shaped hoop skirt and a petticoat that probably weighed as much as me. There was a ton on itchy white powder in my hair and a servant was starting to pile it on top of my head. Some sort giant feathery jeweled thing was sitting on my vanity that I could only assume went in my hair, and my feet were hurting already from the awkward position my oddly shaped shoes held them in. It was Asmor's national day, and I was three hours into dressing in rococo type fashion of when the day was first established.

The parade would be in a few hours, and I'd have to sit in a carriage and smile and wave at people while they all fixed their gazes at Louisa. Followed by awkwardly sitting on the side of a stage in the Cloraton square with my mother, Henry, Louisa, and Peter while my dad gave a speech in his rococo clothes, and then get back in the carriage and follow the parade for another couple hours.

Usually I didn't mind it so much. The clothing was interesting, and it was warm by this time of year, and I didn't care too much about all the people, but everything was just different now.

Obviously, I wasn't wearing black. Having worn nothing but that colour for almost a full year, it was definitely strange. Although technically it was spring, the ground was still solid and frozen, and all the plants were still dead. And then, of course, there were the people. Mallory was going to be somewhere in that crowd, I was sure of it. Everyone in Cloraton went to the national day parade. The only thing worse than not seeing Mallory, would be her seeing me in clothes that probably cost more than her house, waving like an idiot, not able to say anything to her. Even if I saw her, I wouldn't be able to say anything.

I closed my eyes and imagined the scene that would await me in town. People wrapped up in their coats and scarves with their families, some waving flags, some shivering from standing outside too long, children eating apples that had been thrown to them. Mallory wearing the coat she had given to me the night of the fire, a scratchy wool scarf around her neck.

By the time I was fully dressed, as I was tired as I was coming home at dawn after visiting Mallory.

*****

My toes were so cold I could have sworn they would snap off at any moment. The day was dreary and grey like all the days were lately. People looked bored, children grew restless, and everyone was cold. I wished I had a coat top pull around my itchy dress, or a hat to pull over my crazy updo of powdered white hair.

My father's droning voice was turning into white noise, as I examined different people in the crowd, making up little stories about their lives. The little girl in the blue coat's name was Delilah, and the coat used to be her mother's. She was the oldest child, but she only had a baby brother. One day she would grow up and become a seamstress, and she would never fall in love with anybody but a boy who could be her husband, and she would be happy. Once I was content with one story, I would scan the crowd for another unique person.

I was looking for someone to be the protagonist of my ninth little story, when I caught a glimpse of green. I thought I was seeing things for a second, but when I looked closer, I saw that it was her. Her hair had grown out and became sort of curly, she must has gained half and inch, but it was Mallory, standing in the crowd in the coat that she had given me the night we met, her eyes as green as ever.

Obviously, she had seen me, and for all I knew she had been trying to catch my attention for the last hour. I stared at her so intensely that I thought someone would have noticed it by now.

I wanted to yell her name, to tell her that I was sorry, that I hadn't meant to storm away so many months ago.

But I couldn't. I had to sit here on a freezing cold bench with my family in a giant dress, and wait for this to all be over.

And then Mallory noticed me. I saw her smile. My eyes grew, and for a second, I forgot everything, and I was warm inside. I was laying in the forest, with the setting summer sun on my face, with Mallory leaning on my should while we talked about all sorts of things.

And then she stopped smiling, as if she remembered me yelling at her and storming away. She tilted her head like a confused puppy and narrowed her eyes at me.

I blinked as if to make sure she wasn't some sort of mirage.

I felt my lips move.

"Mallory-"

"Shut it." Louisa nudged me.

When my father was finally done with his speech, and we had all held hands and smiled and bowed. We got back in the carriage to ride around the city and wave come more. My mother and Louisa alike told me multiple times that I looked like an automoton, but I didn't particularly care.

I knew that I needed to see Mallory again, and I hoped she knew it too. I was allowed to leave the castle again next summer, a year after my sneaking out, but I could just wait the spring away.