Personal Maid of A Rebellious Princess

(Background info. The fairies have reclaimed the Firstborn Princess from a life of being lost on earth. After getting into crime and running her own gang, Stephanie is suddenly faced with having to live as a royal fairy; one who is next in line for the Crown of the Higher World).

With much skill, persistence and patient tactics, Vanessa eventually succeeded in getting the stubborn and troublesome princess to return to the banquet hall and embrace her parents. Stephanie did so rather reluctantly.

To their dismay, she refrained from smiling and instead looked suspiciously and coldly at them. She did love them deep down but she was still worried that they might somehow prevent her from going back to Earth and that was upsetting her significantly.

But everyone felt very grateful to Vanessa who had saved the Queen and her husband from any further embarrassment. At least Stephanie was now back in the Banquet Hall and had formally reunited with her royal parents.  

The Queen then addressed the attendants which consisted in a very large room of magnificently dressed guests.

Her voice was loud, classy and regal. “And now my dear loyal ones, let this Banquet commence. It is held to celebrate the return of Princess Stephanie Goldmaracynthia Bell. Hail to the Princess!”

There was a loud throng of voices that repeated the words, “hail to the Princess!” Most of them sipped on an expertly produced wine and everyone cheered for Stephanie.

A tall, ornate chair with small wing designs on the corners was then pulled back for her and she was directed to sit on it. But she remained standing for a moment while closing her eyes tightly and clinging to Vanessa.

“Come on my Lady. Don’t be afraid,” Vanessa whispered in her ear. She then gently forced Stephanie to sit down and called for Daphne to put her shoes on for her which she had previously refused to wear since she claimed they were hurting her. The young fairy managed to do this discreetly and then withdrew.

She looked around briefly at her new surroundings and saw an amazing looking dish of heated bread, stake and cheese cubes on skewers with an enticing creamy and herbal sauce next to them. The finely decorated silver, green and gold dish that featured swan and water designs, was sitting there among many other fancy dishes and on its own mini stove which was keeping it hot. It smelt extremely appetising and for a moment, she became a little less grumpy and irritable. She then nudged Vanessa who was sitting next to her and said, “hey, can you get me some of that please.” She then pointed at the dish.

“Oh, you mustn’t point like that my Lady. And always sit up straight. No bending over the table. Now, that dish is supposed to come after the starters and mains and it is reserved exclusively for our male guests, okay? Fairies and especially princesses aren’t supposed to eat dipped foods or tough, chewy stake, my Lady. At least not within a formal setting like this. Also, do you realise that the dip is a rare and expensive mouth heating sauce from Maracynthiavale?”

At that, Stephanie’s bad mood kicked in again and she said loudly, “oh, come on! Just get it for me! What’s the use of being a Princess when I can’t have what’s sitting in front of me at my own welcome banquet?!”

“Shh! My Lady! It is not right in front of you. There are many other dishes nearer to you than that one.”

But the Queen looked sternly at Vanessa, indicating that she should just give the Princess what she wanted. They would have to teach her proper table etiquette later on.

“Very well,” said Vanessa, “I will get that dish for you.”

“Thank you,” mumbled Stephanie.

“Oh, wait a minute my Lady. Let me just fasten your napkin. That sauce might spill on your dress. Only have a little portion.”

“Okay, hurry up then.”

After putting the napkin on her, Vanessa then gave Stephanie the fancy dish of dipped foods and she began enjoying it immensely while many other guests did their best not to show amusement or surprise. Some tried to speak to her and one asked if she thought the sauce was okay, but she signalled for them to stop distracting her because she was in the middle of eating.

She ended up having so much of the dipped food that she didn’t leave nearly enough room for the main meal or anything that came after it. She also began coughing profusely and drinking from another fairy’s cup because she had no idea that a sauce with that kind of texture would turn out to be so annoyingly hot and spicy. It was the kind of spice that only makes itself felt after some time. It was so hot that she started making hissing sounds while breathing in and out rapidly and experienced floods of tears.

“For goodness’ sake!” she snapped at Vanessa. “That sauce is like molten lava!”  Vanessa went red with embarrassment. “I’m so sorry my Lady. But I did try to warn you.”

All throughout the banquet, Vanessa did her best to help the Princess behave in a respectable manner but it was no easy task and at one point, Stephanie shouted at her. “Okay! I get it! Just leave me alone!” She then banged her drinking vessel down on the table so hard that some of the wine jumped out and landed in her eye and on her dress. The incident had to immediately be dealt with by another fairy, amid various loud and inappropriate outbursts from the Princess.

But gradually, Vanessa managed to get Stephanie to calm down, loosen up a little and even share a few short exchanges with some of the guests. She quietly reassured her that she would teach her how to contact her loved ones on Earth as soon as possible and she would also allow her to speak privately with the Queen and her father once the banquet was concluded.

Seeing an opportunity that he had been waiting for, a very finely presented and determined saltor spoke confidently to the Princess, “what an honour and pleasure it is to have you with us, Lady Stephanie. I am Marius and this is my son, Joyce.”

Stephanie cast an apathetic look in his direction.

“Truly, I am deeply glad and honoured to meet you my Lady,” said Joyce. He then added, “I very much look forward to dancing with you one of these evenings.” He ended with a smile and the twinkle in his eye was very visible.

He had been observing the ill-mannered Stephanie ever since she entered the banquet hall and couldn’t help finding her endearing, despite all the chaos that continually surrounded her.

After being strongly prompted to accept the gesture from Joyce, she finally gave a half-hearted smile. But she then made it clear that she wasn’t interested and wanted to leave. “I can hardly stand in this place, let alone dance. And I’m afraid I intend this to be no more than a temporary visit.”

At that, there was a sudden burst of laughter that was contagious enough to go around the whole table. Even Joyce laughed a little and remarked, “oh, I’m sure there’s plenty time for you to find your footing my Lady. One step at a time!” And again, all the guests burst out laughing again. Although somewhat annoyed, Stephanie couldn’t help enjoying the attention.

But she really was very different from these people and her mind kept wandering back to earth. What would Jane be thinking now? What about David and her stepparents? And what about Keltolkia, Gordan, and all her other gang members? She was especially concerned about Kel.

It also suddenly hit her how much she regretted being someone from the Higher World. What a shame she was a fairy. How she wished in that moment that she wasn’t. Would she really have to stay here and continue being made to go along with being a princess and learn strange powers as she prepared to replace the Queen one day? It was so hard to believe at times that she really was a fairy princess. Oh, how she wished things could just be normal, like on earth.

Dancing later took place which was indeed charming to look at. The dancers were so perfect in every step. Joyce showed deep disappointment that she couldn’t yet dance with him but she didn’t seem to care and kept looking away and doing her best to avoid his advances. In the end he decided that it would be wiser to let her be for the time being. She was clearly quite overwhelmed at such sudden and drastic changes in her life.

She didn’t even look at him when the banquet concluded and Vanessa took hold of her again and helped her out of the great hall.

The private encounter with her mother the Queen and her father became rather heated as she kept insisting that she wasn’t yet ready to leave her old life and badly wanted to return there as she felt far more herself there at this stage. But they kept insisting that she should stay where she was, adapt to her new life and one day inherit the Throne.

Vanessa helped her back into her own room afterwards and told her that she would be there the following morning to dress her and prepare her for her first full day.

But by the morning, Vanessa decided that it was probably time to let another fairy take over the taxing task of being her maid.

Assigning a New Personal Maid to Princess Stephanie

“Veronica?”

“Yes, Vanessa.”

“It’s about Princess Stephanie. Do you feel capable of being her personal maid?”

“Oh… well, for you Vanessa, I am willing to do my best. I confess to being a little frightened of her. She did push me on her first day when Selena was with us. I nearly fell over. And well, perhaps you are a little firmer and better at the task. But I understand, she can’t just have you all the time.”

“That’s the problem. I am Head of the Royal Spokespersons Unit and the Queen’s Righthand. I cannot do my duty if I am always at the beck and call of the Princess. And her sister, Selena is the top warrior of the province, being Head of the Elite. She is not suitable at all for this role. Go and tell the Princess that you will be resuming the position as her personal maid. She might resist at first, just because she is so rebellious, but just do your best. She’ll probably end up liking you, Veronica. I will be so grateful. As her maid, you’ll need to be near her and dress her, take her to meals, take her outside for walks, get her to read, study, socialise and make sure to give her walking practice as well as Princess Etiquette training. In return, you will have an upgraded room that will be located nearer to the royal quarters. Oh, and one more thing. She will also need to learn at least the basics of Luminenya, but don’t worry about that for now. We can arrange for her to see a linguist for that purpose later on.”

“She already knows some Luminenya, remember? Raymond started teaching it to her as she was growing up. But very well Vanessa. I will go and speak to the Princess now.”

“Thank you, Veronica. Let me know how she takes it. If you truly feel incapable of being her maid, I will train another fairy up to the task. And yes; how could I forget? She does know a little of our traditional language but not nearly enough.”

Veronica then made her way to Stephanie’s room, feeling nervous and slightly afraid. She came up to the door and timidly knocked. It was after breakfast and the next activity was supposed to be taking her for a walk in the stunningly beautiful Palace grounds. Later, she would learn to meditate, during which it is sometimes possible to communicate with humans if the fairy is trained to do this and if the human has also trained themselves to contact the Higher World. The hope was that Stephanie would eventually learn to communicate with her young stepsister, Jane and let her know that she was safely home with the fairies and currently being prepared for the Throne. At some later stage, she would be able to visit her but not for the time being.

For a moment, there was no response from the other side of the door, so Veronica knocked again and said, “would you mind letting me in, my Lady?”

Stephanie finally answered, “yes, just open the door! I can’t walk properly, remember?”

Veronica then entered the room and made a quick gesture of reverence. She saw Stephanie sitting at the desk and looking out the window. She also had some stiff, cream sheets of paper and a highly ornate gold-plated pen with a large, light green feather attached to its nib. She was writing down a priority list of things to ask for and matters that she wanted to discuss and explain to the fairies.

Veronica paused for a moment. But Stephanie ignored her.

Still a little timid, Veronica spoke in a fairly low and soothing voice. “Good morning, my Lady.”

Stephanie looked at her rather annoyed and asked bluntly, “what are you doing here? Veronica, is it?”

“That’s correct my Lady. Veronica Garlandwood at your service. Now, I’ve come to…”

“Where’s that other fairy? Where’s Vanessa?”

“Oh, um, well, that’s what I’m here to talk to you about, my Lady.”

“No, no, no. Just tell me where she is and then call her here, please.”

“I would gladly do that my Lady, but I have different instructions.”

“What instructions? And from whom? I’m expecting her, not you.”

“Listen my Lady. Vanessa has assigned me as your personal maid from now on, okay? She’s held up with other duties because she is the Queen’s most trusted Advisor and Head of the Royal Spokespersons Unit which is a governmental body that communicates with the other provinces here and with people on Earth. You see? She cannot do everything at once.”

“Veronica? I’m only going to say this once and I don’t want you to brush it aside because I’m very serious. Now, I want Vanessa to be my personal maid. She’s been doing a good job so far and I’ve just got used to her. She will have to leave those former duties to other competent fairies. I’m going to go to my mother the Queen if she refuses and see to it that she gives me back Vanessa. Now, can you please just go back out that door and tell this to Vanessa.”

“I see,” said Veronica. “Okay, my Lady, but are you sure you won’t let me take you for your walk first since all that other business will probably take quite some time to organise.”

Stephanie sighed. “Just call Vanessa please, Veronica. How dare she not even tell me herself that she wants to suddenly dump me on another fairy like this.”

“Oh, well… okay my Lady. I’ll do my best to bring her to you.” Veronica then did as Stephanie asked and went back to Vanessa.

Vanessa had some documents under her arm and was on her way to a large room where many other high-ranking fairies were waiting for her to commence a meeting with them. She saw Veronica approaching and said, “well? How did it go with Princess Stephanie, Veronica?”

“Well, I tried. I really did.”

“And she insists on having me?”

“Yes. She’s very serious about wanting you to be her personal maid.”

“This isn’t good. She can’t be allowed to think that she can have whatever she wants.”

Suddenly, they both heard a bell ringing. It was Stephanie calling for her maid.

“Please go and see her, Vanessa,” pleaded Veronica. “I don’t want to go into her again on my own.”

“Okay, okay, come on then. Let’s go and see her together.”

The two fairies then made their way back to Stephanie’s room. “I know how to handle this,” said Vanessa.

When they entered the room, Stephanie said, “there you are! Why are you trying to get rid of me, Vanessa? And without even telling me yourself?”

Vanessa said, “come now, my Lady…” But Stephanie continued, “and as if your other duties are so much more important than me?”

Vanessa then went over to her and Stephanie felt that radiant, warm and loving presence that she had become accustomed to. Sensing that she liked having her near again, Vanessa slowly ventured to give her a hug.

Stephanie stood up to receive the embrace and was heard to say, “don’t leave me, Vanessa.”

But Vanessa said, “I’m sorry about this Lady Stephanie, but your new personal maid will be Veronica Garlandwood.”

“But I want you, Vanessa.”

“I know you do, Stephanie. But I’m afraid that is not possible. No one else is adequately equipped to replace me as Head of the Royal Spokespersons Unit. But I will keep an eye on you through Veronica and will hear daily reports from her about you. I will also come and see you now and then when I get time, okay?”

“Humm. Well, you realise I could go to my mother the Queen and get her to make you come back to me?”

“I know the Queen very well. She will not approve of that because she needs me where I am. Veronica here is well capable of being your maid.”

Stephanie held on to Vanessa and hugged her more tightly for some time. Vanessa didn’t want Stephanie to get too attached to her and simply said, “you’ll be just fine my Lady. Let go now. Be a strong Princess for me.”

At last, Stephanie loosened her grip on her and sat back down in a sulk.

“Well done, my Lady. Now, I’ll leave you for now in the competent hands of your new maid and will speak to you before the midday meal. I will begin training you and some other fairies on how to prepare your inner voice so as to communicate with humans.” Vanessa then made a gesture of reverence and swiftly turned around and walked briskly out of the room. She had a look of concern on her face because she was late for a meeting.

Veronica approached but Stephanie said, “this isn’t going to work. You being my maid. I want to talk to the Queen. I still think Vanessa should be my personal maid.”

“Oh, please my Lady. Give me a chance with you. We are going for a walk now. Let’s discuss it then. I know for a fact that the Queen is seeing some representatives from another province this morning.”

“Okay, take me out on the walk then. But we are going to the Queen as soon as she is ready.”

“Very well, my Lady. And if I take you to the Queen, will you let my brother, Joyce sit outside and chat with you for a while?”

“Joyce? Oh, him. Pfff. I don’t know. I’ll see. Come on. Take me outside.”

Veronica then took the Princess out into the breathtaking and highly decorated palace grounds, where further mesmerising views of the distant mountains and nearby forest could be seen. She would do all she could to be a good maid for the Princess and hoped to eventually convince her to stop insisting on having Vanessa. But so far, Stephanie was still determined to get what she wanted. And secretly, she was always pondering the idea of escaping to earth once again.