The Unfortunate Peace Treaty

Chapter 7

Adiva Rasan unhappily watched her mother and Aunts discuss the details of her upcoming nuptials, which she wanted to stop at any cost. The last plan hadn't gone like she had planned. She had thought one attack would be enough to collapse this whole treaty. Oh how naive! She had forgotten that this treaty had stood the test of time and trial for centuries. She had to attack the opposition now, she thought and narrowed her eyes. What could she do to set them off? She racked her brains for some much needed plans and came up null. She sighed as she leaned back on her chair and worried her lip in irritation.

"How is this?" Her mother questioned her, as a girl modelled a wedding gown for her benefit. She shook her head in a negative. There would be no wedding anyways, if she had her way and she would... have her way that is.

Some of the ladies of her family had come to shop for the wedding. They were in a famous boutique, searching for a wedding gown for the bride and till now she had rejected atleast fifteen of them, without even glancing at them once. Her sullen face was affecting everyone's mood and everyone sat deflated on their chairs. They were watching her with thinly veiled anger.

The most frustrated of the lot was the girl who had been modelling the fifteen gowns for the past two hours. She had been prodded and paraded and turned in every way. She had been made to stand and sit and then asked to smile as she turned this way and that. Her hair had been twisted and turned into up-dos. She was now on the verge of tears. But most importantly, her hands were itching to kill the bride to be. She had heard about the princess of the Rasans, the one who was about to get married the very next month. She had heard about her carefree nature and 'I don't care' attitude. But this? This was beyond words. That girl hadn't spared her a glance, since she entered with the first gown. She had just shook her head when her mother had asked her opinion. And all the gowns she had modeled after that had met with the same fate, even though the rest of the ladies had done all the experimenting on her.

At the beginning of the whole fiasco, her day had been going fantastic, but then she had to jump at the chance of modelling for the Rasans. Who wouldn't? They were akin to royalty after all. But now if someone would have asked her to repeat the process for them ever again, she would just run for the hills. So would all the girls who worked there. They had witnessed the whole frustrating two hours of her life, and were now throwing her piteous looks. When their looks had turned from envy to pity, she didn't know. Maybe on the fourth gown. Adiva Rasan had gone on to reject the most beautiful masterpieces of their famous boutique. Anyone with a shred of common sense could see that she was in total disagreement with the wedding and the peace treaty. Oh how she wished she could bring this face of the Rasans in front of the adoring public. Her dull eyes suddenly lit up with that thought. Maybe she could... just to take revenge from this heartless ice queen. She sighed as she put on the sixteenth gown and readied herself for the same procedure before stepping out.

Ziera Rasan took one look at her moody daughter and knew instantly that there was another rejection coming her way. She bit her lips in disapproval and a tint of humor danced in her eyes, before it was snuffed out by the look that the attendant wore along with the Zariaro Panini gown. The attendant was looking haggard by then, even though her appearance looked quite put together. Her eyes were screaming murder as she watched Adiva, who was carelessly studying her nails. Ziera caught the attendant's eye and smiled placatingly. She was met with a blank look that screamed of exaggerated politeness. Ziera bit back a chuckle.

"Can you please give us a moment?" She requested all the attendants, who smiled at them. Their smiles though were strained to the point of pain. They bowed and withdrew from the Rasans. Ziera's eyes turned fierce as she turned towards her daughter. She quite enjoyed her fireball's rebellion but right now the Rasan reputation of centuries was at stake due to one irritated girl. "Adiva Rasan!" She hissed angrily. Her daughter turned towards her with raised eyebrows, her face screaming of feigned innocence.