How to be a Princess

     Violet slumped against the door to the library and sighed. She probably messed up her hair, something else for Rosaline to get on her case about. She would never live up to her sister’s expectations, never mind those of her people. If she could even call them that, she thought, she wasn’t really a princess after all was she?

      Everyone had laughed, so why was she so mad at her? Even their father had thought it was funny. Mother had laughed, and she was a queen. Surely, if queens were allowed to laugh than princesses were. Rosaline didn’t seem to think so however. She was a very proper ruki.

      It was one little, itty bitty, teensy weensy, mistake. All she had done was put her sash on inside out. She was in a rush, at least she hadn’t worn her training clothes to the table again. Rillian did, but that was to be expected of course. He was a prince. Princes were supposed to practice fencing and fighting, and all of those things that Violet loved.

      Of course, Rosaline pointed it out as soon as Violet entered the room. She laughed at her mistake good heartedly and the others joined in. Rosaline just stared at her disapprovingly, putting down her fork primly. After breakfast she pulled Violet aside and gave her a “sound talking to” about how princesses should act. It was a conversation they’d had a million times.

      The reason for these talks, however, were always different. Princesses shouldn’t have a female guard. Princesses should pick companions of noble blood. Princesses shouldn’t slouch. Princesses shouldn’t do any of the things that Violet did.

      Ever since she was little Rosaline and Rillian each tried to keep her under their wings, sometimes literally in Rillian’s case. She’d always known she was adopted and not a born royal, but that didn’t seem to matter to her parents or Rillian. It certainly did to Rosaline, who seemed to feel like Violet had to make up for it by being the perfect princess. Violet preferred Rillian’s teachings to her brothers.

      Rillian had never seemed to care about what was expected or not expected of princes and princess and everyone loved him. The royal uni cared deeply for his family and country but cared just as much about having fun and enjoying life. So if Violet liked something and found it fun, he made sure she had plenty of opportunities to do it. Rosaline made sure she tried to stop Violet from taking advantage of these opportunities.

           “So, are you hiding from Rosaline again?” Violet jumped when she heard Xander’s voice. Xander was her best friend, and the castles finest scholar as well as historian. The spotted lupe was also the libraries caretaker and he rarely left it.

      “No,” She lied as she poked her head out the door to make sure the ruki was no were near the library, at least not close enough to ease drop. “Why would I be hiding from Rosaline?”

      “Because Nessie told me what happened this morning, where is Nessie anyway?” He inquired, as he dusted the spines of the books closet to him. He took good care of the rather impressive library. Xander liked to boast that only Brightvale’s was more impressive than his, even though he’d never been to another library in his life. “You don’t want her to catch you without your guard so soon after that fiasco.”

      “I don’t need Nessie, I have you,” She teased. “Besides if Nessie is always with me than when is she supposed to train or have fun, or do anything other than stare at me? And any way I am perfectly safe in the library, the worst thing that is going to happen to me here is a paper cut.”

      Violet was startled to be awaken by a paw over her mouth, pressing down hard. She didn’t open her eyes, but she did bite down hard on the paw. Who ever it belonged to didn’t pull away but they did hiss in pain under their breath.

      “It's me,” The stranger in the dark growled, but Violet recognized that voice. She pushed the hand away roughly and climbed out of bed making as much space between her and the offending gelert and herself.

      “Give me one reason why I shouldn’t scream,” She threatened standing by the door.

      Violet had never liked Nyx. He was the captain of the guard, but he was also Rosaline’s shadow. She never went anywhere without him. If Nyx was training the guards or giving them orders Rosaline was there too. That was reason enough for her to scream, but still she hesitated.

      “There are intruders in the castle, and I don’t know how but they have taken out several of my guards, during the shift change,” Nyx explained running his paw over his face in exasperation.

      “Where’s Rosaline,” Violet asked in a low but accusing tone.

      “Your sister, her highness, is safe,” Nyx answered looking at her with one eyebrow raised. He studied her for a moment. “She is in the library and the rest of your family is in the treasury.”

      “What about Nessie?” Violet didn’t like the way he was watching her, she edged toward her wardrobe. She had her training clothes in there and more importantly, one of Rillian’s old training swords.

      “In the infirmary, the doctor has barricaded the door,” Nyx explained, starting to pace back and forth, but never taking his eyes off her. He didn’t move any closer to her. “Get dressed, I’m taking you to the library too, and grab your sword.”

      It was eerily quiet in the halls. None of the usual guards lined the halls, no servants passed by taking care of their nightly duties. Nyx lead the way with Violet close behind him, with a grip so tight on her wooden sword her knuckles had begun to turn white.

      Voices in the distance broke the silence. Nyx shoved her into a door way, and stood in front of her blocking her view. He drew his black cape more tightly around him to hide his teal fur, and make him blend into the shadows more.

      “I’ve found the older one’s room, she wasn’t there,” a deep voice said, it was growing louder as speaker moved closer. Violet’s sharp ears now picked up their footsteps.

      “What about the younger one?” A second voice asked, his footsteps joining the first. They were nearly on top of them now. Violet held her breath as they pasted.

      “No, not yet, to bad we put that sleep ray on all those guards so early, we could have found them so much quicker if there were still guards outside their doors,” the first replied. “We have to find out where they are before the ray wears off. We don’t have any more batteries.” The voices started grow softer as the started to move away and Violet let out her breath slowly.

      “Eh, that peophin was pretty easy, who say tyrannians are so tough,” the second one laughed.

      “Only because we snuck up on her,” The first replied. “Stop fooling around, we need one of those princesses or this whole plan will be a bust. That sleep ray wasn’t cheap.”

      “Cheap?” the second replied as their voices began to fade away. “You didn’t even pay for it.”

      “Let’s move,” Nyx whispered as soon as they were out of earshot. He slipped out into the hall and Violet followed right on his tail.

      Rosaline was hysterical when they reached the library, Violet was surprised that the intruders hadn’t heard her. Xander stood beside the arm chair the ruki had thrown herself it (very primly of course). She was still wearing her night gown and their were curlers in her honey blond hair. That almost gave Violet a slight satisfaction her own periwinkle hair was naturally curly.

      “Where’s Nyx?” Xander asked, as she slipped in the room. She didn’t notice Nyx slip away from her as she entered.

      “Well I imagine he went after the intruders, as far as I can tell there were only two of them,” Violet explained.

      “Oh Violet!” Rosaline sobbed rushing to her sister, and embracing her roughly. “Are mother and father okay? What about Rillian? Is Nyx coming for us? How did you find us?” It was clear she was to busy being hysterical to have listened to Xander and Violet’s conversation.

      “”Yes, they are all fine, and no, Nyx is the one who brought me here. He won’t be coming for us for a long time. Now help me barricade the door,” Violet shook her sister off. “They have a sleep ray and they are looking for me and Rosaline.”

      “Oh, no,” Rosaline began to cry harder.

      “Take her to your room Xander, please, barricade yourselves in there and I’ll work on blocking this door,” Violet sighed. Xander nodded and lead the older princess away to his quarters leaving Violet alone.

           Violet had decided her next move when the library door opened suddenly. Nyx feel into the room holding his side. She rushed to him and pulled him into the room checking quickly that neither intruder was in the hallway as she did so.

      “Nyx, are you alright?” She whispered to him as she pulled him out of sight of the two great oak doors.

      “They caught me as I was leaving the infirmary,” Nyx said in a husky voice. “They are alright. I made sure they pursued me but I lost them a few hallways ago. As far as I can tell there are only two of them. We’ll just have to wait till the effects of the sleep ray wear off.”

      “Nyx, we can’t wait that long,” Violet replied. “If they find the armory….what did they use on you.”

      “All they had with them was a wooden sword, but they might have other weapons, Violet, you can’t go out there.”

      “I thought I was the princess,” She retorted. “Stay here, Rosaline is safe, she’s with Xander, they’ve barricaded themselves in his quarters.

      Violet woke up to sunlight streaming through the curtains on to her face. The pervious night felt like a dream, but the pain she felt told her it was all to real. She wasn’t sure how she had ended up in the infirmary, the last thing she remember was hitting one of the intruders with her sword and knocking him down. Although she’d already taken care or the first, or so she thought, she’d felt something hit her in the back of her head before she woke up here.

      “You know Rosaline insisted we go after you,” She opened her eyes and saw Nyx laying in the bed next to her. Beyond him she could see her own guard sleeping peacefully in the bed next to his, and to her surprise in a chair sleeping by the door sat Rosaline. “She thought that they three of us together could take down any opponent you couldn’t.”

      “Apparently, she was right,” Violet sighed. “How’d you convince her to do that?”

      “I didn’t,” Nyx laughed. “Don’t you know how much your sister loves you? She is incredibly jealous of you. How much everyone loves you, even though, you make so many mistakes.”

      “Rosaline’s jealous of me?” Violet asked in disbelief. “Now the bit about mistakes, I believe that.”

      “Violet, Rosaline made all the same mistakes you did,” Nyx explained. “And way before you did, she tried, tries so hard to make others love her as much as they naturally seem to love you. The people they do love you, they’ve always loved you.”

      “They love Rosaline, too,” Violet argued.

      “Not in the way they do, you make everyone feel comfortable, everyone is always so aware that Rosaline is a princess, the princess, the first princess. Hers is an important role, not that yours isn’t but you have a lot more choice than your sister. Her path is all laid out before her.”

      “Not that I don’t love being a princess,” Violet was surprised to hear Rosaline’s voice. The ruki girl stretched and rose from her chair. She sat on the edge of her sister’s bed. “I just, sometimes wish I could be as carefree as you…and I wanted, I don’t want people to see you as anything other than a princess either, I know how you worry about it even though everyone loves you.”

      “You know I was always jealous of you,” Violet replied. “You make all that stuff look easy.”

      “Do I now, well then I must being something right,” Rosaline laughed.

      “You do everything right.”

      “I always thought that about you.”

      “Maybe there’s more than one way to be a princess,” Violet answered. “Thank you for coming to look for me.”

      “You should thank her for hitting the other guy over the head,” Nyx interjected sleepily. “It wasn’t me who took him down.

      The End.