Princess Sarocha woke up groggy and spiteful. She could swear she had been awake the entire night, which was true. She only ever fell asleep when the sun was just about to rise up. She also had a mild headache and worse of all, she was hungry. 

Sleep deprived and hungry wasn't the best of combinations and every unfortunate soul that she would come across would be rendered a victim in the wake of her tumultuous wrath.

 

Luckily for Becky, she had already woken up, prepared clean water and laid out the basic toiletries for the princess's morning routine. 

 

Princess Sarocha absentmindedly stared at the now empty spot on the floor where her maid had been sleeping on a futon. Looking at that area on the floor came easy to her like a habit. It was probably due to the fact that she spent half of her sleepless night staring at the sleeping figure of her maid.

A low grumble resonating from her stomach made her get off of the very uncomfortable excuse of a bed she had slept in. 

 

 

 

It was well past 8 am and the village itself was already bustling with everyday activities.

 

 

 

 

 

Princess Sarocha opened the door to find one of her men already standing outside. 

"My L-Lad- Your Highne- I mean, Lady Freen, They're all outside waiting" 

 

"I believe my new name isn't really that hard to remember or pronounce." The princess spoke. "Make one more mistake and you're out of employment." She warned and strode through the corridor and then down the stairs.

 

 

 

They were all waiting for the princess in a shed. All laughter died down when the group acknowledged the arrival of the princess. 

They had really planned to move earlier, the princess herself had planned it but no one had the guts to wake the princess up. Usually the maid was entrusted with such a task. Becky just wouldn't dare try to wake the princess up even if God came and begged her to. She would simply not do it. 

 

 

 

"Shall we move, my lady?" One of the officials enquired.

 

"No", the princess curtly replied, eying a certain someone with an olive dress standing close to her brother. She noted that her maid had combed her hair and braided them and she somehow looked cleaner. That was good, the princess thought. Princess Sarocha was someone who couldn't tolerate seeing or being near dirty people or dirt of any sort.

 

 

"Get her a change of clothes so she can ride a goddamn horse on her own" the princess looked into the eyes of the official, who quickly looked down upon being looked at. "And most importantly, get her a horse too."

 

"But, my lady, that would take at least another twenty minutes. Please don't take it otherwise but we are already a little late."

 

"Are you questioning my decision?" The princess asked, her tone becoming a little dangerous.

 

"No, not at all. I will arrange a horse and a change of clothes right away."

 

 

"Send Mr. Pacha with some men ahead of us." Came the princess's further orders.

 

"As you wish, my lady."

 

 

 

 

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Looking at the full mirror, Becky felt like a cowboy and she liked it. The thing she liked best about her entire outfit was her boots. She knew a quality product when she saw one. The cowboy hat she was given the previous day went perfectly with the pants and white buttoned up, lose shirt she had changed into. She randomly tucked the shirt into her brown pants and admired the boots once again. The very brown leather boots came up a little higher than her ankles. It had some intricate designs carved on the sides and most importantly, they fit like a glove. She gave a satisfactory nod facing the mirror in the changing room and exited the shop. 

 

As soon as she was out and walking, she became a head turner. She made pants, shirt and boots look like a pretty lady's wardrobe. Had she been born three centuries later, she would have been featured countless times in fashion magazines. Effortless beauty could be used to describe the girl. 

 

 

Prince Non looked impressed when Becky twirled around to show her new look. He was grinning from ear to ear and clapping silently. "Oohh stunning! You should wear that more often." He commented. "Maybe, we can go bird hunting together. I'll teach you how to use guns." He continued enthusiastically.

 

 

The princess couldn't help but roll her eyes at the later suggestion. She wouldn't admit it out loud but she agreed the younger woman was looking quite nice. She thought Becky looked like a pirate, a very clean, harmless and pretty pirate. The thought made her chuckle softly. 

 

 

 

The only thing missing for Becky now was a horse. 

The princess dismounted from her horse and walked into the shade and stood facing the bustling village.

 

As they waited for Becky's horse to arrive, Prince Non tried and failed to crack several jokes. 

No jokes were funny to Becky's ears when the princess was in the vicinity. She tried to at least play along and laugh a little so as not to hurt the sentiments of the prince but her laughter didn't sound convincing in the slightest.

 

 

Becky felt her stomach protesting loudly. Starving a night really had taken a toll on her. She prayed no one heard it but despite the noise coming from everywhere around them, the sound didn't escape Prince Non's ears.

"Looks like someone's very, very hungry" He joked.

 

Becky pouted. 

 

"Don't worry, cowgirl, we'll find the best place around here to calm your raging stomach." 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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They stopped by a fairly spacious and elaborate hotel for breakfast. It was somewhere the landlords and the merchants frequented. The princess went on ahead and sat at a table by herself. 

 

She looked around and saw only the court official sitting at a table a little away from her.

 

This meant only one thing. Her idiotic brother and her useless maid had gone off to eat at a different place together and she found it rather upsetting. 

 

 

 

 

__________________________________________

 

It was an eyesore what the princess was currently witnessing. Her brother was acting completely different, ignoring the task at hand and constantly flirting with the maid. The maid in question also went along, although subtly. The princess watched on with complete disdain, the two enjoying green coconut water in a stall nearby. Princess Sarocha knew she could look elsewhere or get back to doing what she was supposed to be doing, but she chose to look at the two annoying duo instead.

 

 

 

Becky was clearly distracting her brother from doing his job of acquiring information from the denizens. She couldn't have it. Something had to be done.

She would, for the life of her, not admit it but she too was affected. She couldn't pay attention to anything else and it was starting to annoy her.

 

 

She took out her watch from her trouser pocket to see it was only 12:30 in the noon. 

 

"We will divide our men in two. Half will follow me home. And we leave now." The princess spoke, loud enough to make one of her guards standing close by hear. "Call both the officials here now and inform my brother as well. Tell them I am not feeling well to go on." she commanded. 

 

 

 

 

 

No questions were asked. It was decided. The prince was to stay another day and complete the task along with some guards and the two officials. The rest of the guards will follow the princess home along with the maid.

 

 

Prince Non didn't look impressed and he stood crossing his arms. He could, however not voice his disagreement. He knew all too well that his sister's orders were absolute. Nothing he said or did would change her mind if she had made her mind up. 

He suspiciously observed his sister, who was casually stood in the distance. She didn't look the slightest bit unwell. She only looked annoyed at something. 

 

Prince Non had read his sister well. She was not unwell. She was, in fact, annoyed. But he was not to know he was the one his sister was annoyed at.

 

 

 

As for Becky, she was rightfully worried when she heard the princess was not feeling too well. It was also her job as a maid to make sure she was making the princess as comfortable as possible. 

She found the princess near one of the many stalls selling different items. As reluctant as she was feeling to approach the princess, she went forth. 

 

"Are you okay, your highness?" Becky asked, when she knew she was in the hearing range of the princess.

Becky received a hostile glare in return and she realised, although late, she had called the princess, "your highness". She momentarily closed her eyes and scolded herself silently. She was usually not someone who would make mistakes like this.

 

 

Lucky for them, no one was near enough to have heard her.

She cleared gently and composed herself. 

"I just heard you're not feeling alright" Becky continued further. "Is there anything I can do to help? Please let me know if there is". 

 

"There is." The princess spoke, "And you can start helping by shutting up." 

 

Becky nodded, and managed a little curtsy. She felt embarrassed and a little angry. Why was her polite concerns always met with unkindness? 

She had already half expected something like this would be the reply but it still hurt a little. 

What was she expecting anyway? 

 

It was always one step forward and two steps backward with the princess. 

But deep down, she felt the princess still cared. Was she mistaken? 

 

 

________________________________________

 

 

The moon was shining bright up in the sky. It was one day after the full moon. The plentiful stars above blinked on above as the princess, her maid and the guards headed home. They had stopped twice on their way. The princess had declared she wanted to get to the palace that day itself. They had slowed down their horses to a walking pace. And somewhere on the way, Becky had come right up beside the princess. They were riding their horses in comfortable silence. The only sounds they heard were the hooves of the horses hitting the ground beneath. 

Becky absentmindedly stared at the beautiful display of stars above. 

 

 

"Oh, a shooting star, look" one of the guards excitedly exclaimed, "make a wis-"

 

"Hush-" one of the guards silenced him.

The 17 year old guard gave a shy nod. He had forgotten he was accompanying the princess in his excitement. 

 

 

The princess witnessed the shooting star and she almost scoffed at the idea of making a wish. She didn't need to wish on a shooting star to make her wishes come true. If she wanted something, she got it, with money or by force. Though she thought the burnt remains of the comet was pretty to look at. 

A thought suddenly struck her out of the blue and she quickly looked at her maid riding alongside her only to see Becky closing her eyes as if she was making a wish. The princess wasn't expecting Becky to look at her the moment she finished wishing at the shooting star. When their eyes met, Becky awkwardly averted her gaze and pretended to be interested in the moon above. 

 

And soon after, they fell back into a comfortable silence again. 

 

 

 

 

The princess recalled how her and Becky used look up at the night sky from her wide window in her room. Her memory stopped at one moment back when they were little when they spotted a shooting star. She recalled how excitedly little Becky folded her hands to make a wish. When the princess asked what she wished for, Becky had whispered in her ear that she had wished her hair would grow as long as the princess's. 

 

 

 

Princess Sarocha discreetly looked at her maid's hair. That wish really did come true. Now, Becky had long hair that seemed to stop just above the small of her back. And currently, it was braided, so it looked shorter. 

The princess wondered when exactly was the first time Becky had grown her hair out that long. 

She had only ever seen her small maid with short, shoulder-length hair. 

 

Recalling all that had both warmed and stung her heart. 

 

 

_______________________________________

 

It was very late when they reached the place where they left their fancy horse-drawn carriage. 

Without a word, everyone quickly went and changed back into their clothes. 

 

When the princess came out of her changing room, she saw Becky sitting in a corner, holding her cowboy hat and lazily tracing the top rim with her finger.

 

Only then did the princess realise Becky cannot change back to her own clothes. She probably left her olive dress in the changing room when she changed into her pants. She did not recall Becky coming out of the shop holding anything. 

The princess resisted the urge to yell. It was very late and she didn't want cause any drama. And the maid couldn't go back in the palace in a cowboy dress. If anyone in the palace saw, they would have too many questions to ask. 

She was the princess and she knew she shouldn't be worrying about these. She knew she had her spare silk dress and some of her spare nightdresses in her carriage. 

 

"You" The princess called, "Follow me"

 

 

The inside of the carriage was lit with two fancy lanterns and the light from the moon also helped illuminate the inside. The princess rummaged through a cupboard from under the seat and pulled out a nightdress. She kept it on the seat instead of handing it to the maid that was dumbfoundedly standing outside the carriage. A princess shouldn't simply have to lift a finger. Princess Sarocha didn't know why she was taking out the garment for the maid. Last time she checked, she was the royal. 

"Come take this before I change my mind and abandon you here altogether", came the princess's impatient order. 

 

Becky hesitantly climbed onto the carriage and took the nightgown and ran towards the changing room. She folded her trousers and shirt haphazardly and bolted out. She was afraid the princess would leave with the guards before she could come out. When she saw the guards hadn't left, she caught her breath, keeping her folded clothes over her horse. 

 

Now she was in a predicament as she inspected her dress. Now she was clad in a nightgown and she was wearing her boots. How in the world was she going to ride the horse in that state? It wasn't undoable, she reasoned. She could ride a horse wearing a short night gown. Only she didn't want to as it would give a very nice view of herself to every onlooker. 

As if things couldn't be any worse, she remembered her cowboy hat was missing. 

 

"You, insolent brat! How much longer are you going to stand there like a dumb statue? Get over here. We leave the horse here." The princess poked her head out of the carriage and spoke through clenched teeth, loud enough for Becky to hear.

 

"But, my hat" Becky said, looking back in the direction of the changing room. 

 

"I will send you to the torture room if you make me wait another minute.", came the very clear warning form the princess. 

 

Becky defeatedly walked Upto the carriage and joined the princess inside. She sat across the princess, clutching her pants and her shirt close to her chest and avoiding any sort of eye contact with the princess. 

 

Becky heard the princess sigh frustratingly. 

"Throw them out, now" commanded the princess, looking at the clothes in Becky's hands. 

Without the energy or the will to disobey, Becky threw the garments out immediately. She could hear her heart drumming loud in her chest. She was truly afraid. A second or two later, the carriage driver picked the garments off the ground and went off, possibly to dispose of it in the nearby bin.

 

Now that Becky was alone in silence with her perpetrator, she was feeling all the more conscious. She was literally clad in a short, thin, yet very comfortable, baby pink nightdress which could very well have been the princess's. 

 The most uncomfortable aspect of the entire situation was the fact that the princess was calmly staring at her. Becky felt exposed and vulnerable. She tried crossing her legs and prayed the journey to the castle would be short and fast. 

 

As for the princess, she was quite enjoying the sight that presented itself before her. Despite still being angry at the girl, the princess had been ready to offer the girl a shawl she had in the drawer  to cover herself but now she decided against it. The princess found the outfit combination of the girl amusing. It was her very own nightdress she had given the girl. Usually she never liked to share anything that belonged to her but she let it slide this time. And said nightgown surprisingly fit Becky's frail frame perfectly fine, revealing too much of her milky white skin. The brown boots contrasted against the light pink nightgown and the equally light skin. The whole arrangement would be deed very inappropriate for outdoors but she decided it looked rather cute. The princess had never quite seen someone look so endearing yet infuriating. 

 

Poor Becky squirmed in her seat. The discomfort she was feeling was evident. She was aware of the furtive glances the princess was giving her. She felt like she was being mocked. She never felt this level of discomfort with Prince Non. She noted to herself to never agree to accompany the Prince and the princess on their out-of-the-palace ventures. 

 

 

 

They had finally reached the palace. It's was very late, the palace was quiet except for the hushed murmurs from servants serving night shifts and the few guards assisting them as they parked their wagon. When Becky got down, the cold wind sent chills down her spine and she fought her urge to hug herself. 

 

Before she could worry about the prying eyes of the few guards outside, a folded shawl came flying towards her and hit her face. She was quick enough to catch it before it fell. She swallowed hard on a curse that threatened to escape . She couldn't use curse words, of course not, not to the princess of all people. She was not ready to be guillotined anytime soon. 

 

She bowed a little and mumbled a quick thanks to the princess, which to the princess was unacceptable as mumbling was disrespectful. Besides, the princess had to get the shawl from the drawer to give it to the maid. No princess was allowed to take care of the needs of a maid. 

 

Becky wrapped herself with the shawl, which was thin yet very soft and warm. Becky felt the fabric between her fingers. She was no fool, those type of fabric was only ever exclusively reserved for people with the highest birth order. She felt unworthy of the shawl as she walked past the guards and the servants on the hallway. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Becky followed the princess as the princess ascended the stairs that let to her chamber. 

On sensing the younger girl still following her, she swiftly turned around, and looked down at the maid. " You are excused. You can go rest." She declared calmly. It was the only time that day the princess said something to her without hostility.

 

Becky quickly took off her shawl and carefully folded it. An amused princess crossed her arms and watched the maid fold the shawl. 

"Keep it" the princess spoke. Becky looked up in confusion. "Miss Patricia, you really didn't think a princess would use a shawl after a servant had used it, did you?" 

 

"N-No, your highness. I- I apologise." 

 

The silence that followed after weighed heavily on the both of them. 

 

"May I go now?" Becky enquired.

 

 

The princess didn't answer, nor did Becky look up or move from the spot. She only heard the princess climb further upstairs. The last thing she heard was the princess ordering the head maid to bring her food in 15 minutes. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**********

Okay. You guys probably know what Becky wished. The shooting staaaarrr 

 

You may expect another update on 25th. Bye yall