Star

The Beginning of New Beginnings

A series of loud knocks awoke Astara from her slumber.

Knock, knock, knock!

She groaned. "Ugh go away! I'm asleep!"

But the knocking kept coming, along with someone calling her name, though she couldn't tell who. She just buried her face in her pillow. Unfortunately she couldn't throw a pillow at the noise to make it stop like she would with her Wonder Woman alarm clock.

"Astara open the door! Astara!" The voice yelled.

She rolled her eyes. "Fine! I'm coming, just hold on!"

She was exhausted from staying up so late last night. But finding out that she could stay in Cornacapia permanently had made every drop of exhaustion worth it.

But, still, she grumpily walked over to her door and slung it open. "What?" She asked sharply, only to see no one there.

"Astara, down here." Said a squeaky, accented voice.

Astara's eyes whipped down to the ground and found herself staring into the emerald green eyes of Greta the gnome.

"Oh sorry, um, come in I guess." Astara let the tiny gnome in and then sat back down on her bed.

But Greta gave her a stern look. "No going back to bed! You have a busy day you know."

"Actually I didn't, what exactly am I doing? And what are you now, my royal advisor?" She joked.

But the seriousness in Greta's eyes made her pause. "Wait your not right?" Astara asked quickly.

Greta finally cracked a smile. "No, I'm not Astara. But I am in charge of making sure you're presentable for tonight."

Tonight? What was tonight? She decided to ask. "Ummm what's tonight?"

"An official dinner for a few select Cornacapians."

Confusion filled her mind. "Why would the King and Queen invite me to a select dinner?"

"Well you are a special guest at Castle BlueBay, I imagine that they want you to feel a part of things." Greta explained.

Astara considered this. "I guess that makes sense. Now, what's for breakfast? I'm starving!"

Greta clicked her tongue. "You may come down to breakfast once you're dressed appropriately. Astara I know you're not used to this kind of stuff, but you are staying in a castle, you need to try and fit in."

Her? Fit into the royal life? Yeah that wasn't possible. The only thing that she was able to fit into were size eight sneakers.

The gnome walked over to Astara's large wardrobe. "And the first step to fitting in is to dress the part. So, which dress would you like?"

Greta used her small mossy hands to fling open the doors of Astara's wardrobe, revealing many, many, many fancy and frilly dresses in multiple colors.

She backed away. "I have never seen so much frills and lace in my life. Yeah...this isn't really my style. I'll just wear what I came here in." She pointed to the jean shorts and blue tank top that she had worn back in Queens.