[September 6, 2042]

“Well?” said Aina, her eyes glowing with anticipation.

Cal stared at her, his mouth dry. “What?”

She grinned arrogantly, showing a smile of perfectly white teeth. “This one still seems to be stunned by the emergence of my radiance, Bridget.” She spoke to her attendant, though she did not turn her beautiful face away from Cal. “Well, this is to be expected from the simple masses.”

“Excuse me?” said Cal, annoyance rushing into him all at once. “No, I was confused by the insinuation that you expect me to bow to you. I am not going to do that.”

The princess looked shocked for a moment, her small mouth agape in surprise. Then anger filled her green eyes.

“I am a princess of Luvinia, peasant.” Aina said coldly, stepping closer to Cal and puffing out her chest. “If I say bow, you do so. If I command you to bark for me, you shall. If I expect you to-”

“I’m not doing any of that,” shot back Cal. “And where the hell is Luvinia? I’ve never heard of that country in my life.”

“That’s impossible,” insisted Aina, “Luvinia is known throughout all the realms, so great is its influence and fame.”

Aina turned to her attendant, who was a few feet behind her, trying to look inconspicuous — as if just waiting for this tense exchange to be over. “Bridget! Do people of this realm not know of Luvinia? Is their ignorance so great?”

“No, my lady.” Bridget replied. “That is, they are ignorant, but only of the many realms. In aspects of culture and technology, they are comparable in advancement to Luvinia itself. They have no magic and monarchical rule, and this is why the gentleman will not bow to you. It is not a societal norm for him.”

She brushed a strand of her long brown hair over her ear, and cast her eyes downward to the grass. “I believe I made this clear to you before, my lady. It was why I insisted we forget the carriage and arrive more incognito, so as to not raise suspicion regarding our identities or exacerbate misunderstandings.”

Aina bit her lip in frustration, clearly resentful that she was being reminded about this past conversation. “Yes, yes! I remember it all. I stand behind what I insisted upon back then: that at the very least, a princess ought to arrive at her new lodgings in a style that befits her! And so I have. Besides, I wanted to take Ezekiel and Saun to see the place where I would be staying for the foreseeable future.”

“Yes, my lady.”

Aina shook her head, and then turned back to Cal. “I will forgive your rudeness for now, peasant, but from now on I expect to be treated with more deference. I am royalty, that of a distant and mighty nation, and expect to be waited on hand and foot accordingly.” She peered with disgust at the building that stood behind Cal. “Despite the… state of the accommodation, I will do my best to not complain too much.”

“How generous of you,” Cal replied frostily, “I assure you that the manor is cleaned regularly. However, if you have an issue with the manor itself and whether it is worthy of your presence, that is not an issue I can fix. If that is the case, might I suggest finding somewhere else where you can rest your royal head?”

Aina pursued her lips and narrowed her eyes. “Bridget!” she called.

“Yes, my lady?” came the automatic reply.

“Who is this cheeky peasant standing before me?”

“I don’t know, my lady.” Bridget said, “I have just arrived here, same as yourself, and do not know this gentleman.”

The attendant glanced up at Cal, and made an apologetic face. “I’m sorry, if I may ask, what is your name?”

Happy to address the polite attendant, Cal walked past a stunned Aina and outstretched his hand in greeting toward Bridget. With a look of clear relief on her face, Bridget smiled, and bent forward a tiny bit as she grasped his hand warmly and shook it, in an unsuccessful effort to make herself seem a bit smaller. Standing at his full height, Cal — above average in height himself — only came up to her shoulders.

“I’m Cal,” said Cal, releasing her hand. “I’m the caretaker of Otter Manor. I handle all the cleaning and food preparation at this accommodation.”

Bridget’s brown eyes widened. “Oh, I see. Mr. Frost mentioned you on the phone. It’s nice to meet you.”

“It’s nice to meet you, too. And you’re-”

“She is Bridget, my sworn attendant and protector,” came an angry voice from behind: the princess who was tired of being ignored. “You would do well to treat her with the utmost respect. As you would Ezekiel and Saun.”

Cal turned around to glance at the princess, who was standing with her hands on her hips. “Who?”

The princess pointed dramatically at the enormous sheep with the golden wool who were standing still and looking at Cal with dark eyes that almost seemed to have a suspicious look. As she gestured, the long sleeves of her beautiful dress flapped in the wind, and made her profile for a moment look slightly ethereal.

“Ezekiel,” the princess pointed to the sheep on the left.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

“And Shaun.” She pointed to the sheep on the right. “They are my dear friends and foremost protectors.”

“Right,” Cal said, disinterestedly, and began to ignore her again. Instead, he turned back to talk with Bridget, whose company he had already decided he found much more agreeable. “So you spoke with Mr. Frost?”

“Yes,” Bridget nodded. “He was very agreeable, and helped make all the arrangements once we assured him that we were able to provide adequate funding for our stay. I think he felt inclined because Lord Cormarc — that is, my lady’s grandfather — was a good friend of Mr. Frost’s own father, or so I’ve been told. To be honest, the details are lost on me.”

Her face took on a slight expression of worry, and when she looked at Cal, her brown eyes were slightly pleading. “Truth be told, things have progressed very fast the last few days. It has been… difficult for my lady, and for myself. I hope we can stay here. It seems like a lovely establishment.”

Cal shook his head. “You don’t have to worry, it isn’t really my decision to make. Mr. Frost owns the establishment, and if he has given you a room here, then it’s my job to help you settle in and make your transition as smooth as possible.”

Bridget nodded appreciatively. “That’s very kind of you, Mr. Cal.”

“Don’t give the peasant a title, Bridget.” Aina said, though not very forcible. Her attention had been divided, as she had ventured onto the portico of the manor, and was peering tentatively inside as if expecting to see some wild animal. “Goodness, it seems damp in there. I can practically see mushrooms growing in the corners.”

“Okay,” Cal pocketed his cellphone, and turned to the two girls.

They were standing in the entry hall of Otter Manor, between the leather chairs and the central staircase. While Cal had spoken on the phone, Aina and Bridget had been looking around the large room cautiously, studying the wooden pillars and red carpet, eyes wide like two lost woodland creatures in an unfamiliar environment.

“I just finished talking with Mr. Frost,” he informed the pair, “he says that while he was only expecting one new tenant, the amount you forwarded and assurances from Lord Cormac have made him amenable to the new situation.”

He nodded at Aina, who was standing in front of a chess set that had been untouched on one of the wooden tables near the window, looking at it with interest. “You can take the room in the loft as originally planned.” He turned to the other. “And Ms. Bridget, you can take the pick of the other empty rooms. Rooms 04 and 05 are still available.”

“Oh,” Aina said, with uncharacteristic uncertainty. She glanced at Bridget with wide eyes, and then back at Cal. “I see… well actually… what I mean is…”

“You don’t have to worry about that, Mr. Cal.” Bridget jumped in energetically. “I am perfectly fine with sharing the room with my lady. It won’t be a problem.”

“Are you sure?” said Cal. “There’s only one bed.”

“It won’t be a problem, peasant.” Aina said, moving beside Bridget and squeezing her arm as if to signal silent gratitude. “Any one of this manor’s quarters will be infinitesimally small in comparison to my royal bedchamber, so it won’t make comparable difference to-”

Aina stopped, and looked down the leftmost hallway. Cal followed the princess’ gaze, and saw that Ellie was standing there. She was wearing her fizzy pajamas that were decorated with space-symbols, and in her hand she was carrying a bowl of cereal.

“Heya- mgh.” Elli coughed, as she still had some milk and sugar puffs in her mouth. She deliberately swallowed, and carefully laid her spoon back into the cereal bowl. “Sorry, I was just getting breakfast. You’re the new tenants right? Carry on with what you were doing, don’t mind me. And welcome!”

Ellie walked into the entry hall, stopping in front of Aina to look at her with wide eyes. “Wow, that’s an awesome dress.”

Aina blushed, as if she hadn’t been praising her own appearance just minutes before, her cheeks flushed with an appealing soft redness that complimented her hair. “Thank you,” she said in a small voice. “I… also like your sleeping garments. Are those stars? And… ships?”

Ellie smiled brightly. “They’re super cool, aren’t they? My dad got me this pair.” She nodded, and patted Aina on the shoulder affectionately “I think we’ll get along great. We can talk some more, but I need to finish eating breakfast and take a shower first. I’m a little all over the place this morning.”

“It’s past noon,” Call clarified to her, shaking his head disapprovingly. “I cleaned up breakfast over two hours ago.”

Ellie winked at him as she went towards the stairs. She turned and made a mock salute. “I appreciate you, Cal. Oh, it’s alright if I take this up to my room, isn’t it?”

“Sure, sure.” He waved his hand dismissively, used to Ellie’s easy-going attitude. “Just bring the dishes down when you're done eating. If you leave them by the sink, I’ll clean them before I start prep for dinner.”

“Thanks boss, love ya.” She made her way up the stairs, but then stopped when she noticed Bridget. “Woah sister, you’re even taller than me. What are you? You have to be bigger than 6.2.”

“Um,” Bridget blushed as well, scratching the crown of her head nervously, perhaps not fully understanding the question. “I’m not sure...”

Well,” said Ellie, taking another mouthful of cereal, “you look strong as hell. I bet you could princess-carry Cal like it was nothing. Well, see you later.”

Then she was gone in a flash, as if making an escape from the drops of milk she had accidentally spilt on the red carpet.

There was a pregnant pause among the three remaining in the entry hall.

Aina looked at Cal, too surprised to act condescending. “Who was that? A fellow tenant?”

Yeah, that’s Ellie.” Cal gently smiled, despite himself. “You’ll like her, would-be-princess, if you decide to get to know her. You might have been able to tell, but she’s the type who gets along well with others.”

“What! I'm not a ‘would-be-princess!’ I’m an actual princess.”

“Uh huh.”

“Ugh! Forget it, peasant.” Aina adjusted the ends of her sleeves in anger. “There is one other tenant here, correct? Why has she not made a point to pay her respects to my arrival, as that courteous other girl did?”

“Who Ram?” Cal asked, a little confused. “She’s not here today, she’s off doing some sort of errand. I’m not sure of the details. She’s a little shy, so it might be a time before you actually get to see her in person. Why do you know about her?”

Aina's green eyes narrowed. “Ah, I seemed to have misunderstood something, though perhaps it’s just your underdeveloped speech. I assumed the girl who was by the entrance with you, as I and Bridget approached, was another tenant. Who was she, then — the one with the short dark hair? A visitor? Though I’m not sure why anyone would make a point of visiting a place like this.”

“Oh, you mean Mel.” Cal began. “She’s not a tenant, she’s just-”

He stopped, struck all at once by what Aina had just said.

Aina, taken aback by the look on his face, glanced behind herself, as if to make sure there wasn’t some horrible threat entering the room. “What is that face, peasant? Are you just now realizing that the disrespectful way you’ve been addressing me is worthy of the gallows? I am a magnanimous princess, do not be alarmed. You may still earn your way into my good graces with gifts and unquestioned servitude.”

When he still didn’t answer, her preformative arrogance faded to be replaced with discomfort. Her voice became smaller, a little less haughty. “Seriously, what did I say?”

Her voice seemed to echo in the quiet, spacious room.