Kira wanted to look at the clothes whereas Avy wanted to try and spot some royals while I wanted to go home but obviously, we all had to be in attendance, so I went to look at the flowers as they always captivated me. It was hard to get to the front but once I did I was not disappointed, they sold all different types of flowers, small trees, and plants to make medicine with.
I gazed in awe when I did not notice that the person next to me wearing a cloak with their hood up commented. "beautiful are they not?" the first thing I noticed about the girl's voice was how well spoken she was, I then questioned why she would speak to someone as lowly as me.
I did not want to appear rude so I replied. "yes they are, I love the Elanor, it is my favorite" I smiled whilst looking at the golden star-shaped flower. The stranger barely moved before responding, "I agree" was all that she said, I could still not see her face or her hair, it was tucked away yet she could see all of me.
She was just a little bit taller than me. She lent over and asked for one Elanor and handed over some coins, I could see a gold bracelet on her wrist as she stretched her hand out to pay. Well, I guess that was our conversation over with her blunt response.
The owner of the stall handed the flower over to the stranger, the stranger seemed to be looking at the flower closely, I decided it would be best if I kept walking to look at the other flowers but the stranger stopped me.
"Wait" she said.
I turned around to see the stranger facing me as I had been unsure if she was calling to me. This was a strange turn of events, I would usually go to this and not speak to anyone yet here I am conversing with someone far above me. The stranger came closer to me, pulling her hood back a little, I could now see her face.
Her eyes were nothing like anything I had seen before as if she was from another world. She could clearly see I was taken aback by her.
The stranger reached her hands out to me, "I want you to have this, your favorite flower", I was very confused by this gesture, I didn't even know her. I shook my head. "I cannot accept this, I do not even know you". It had crossed my mind that I was being tricked, but the look on her face told me something different.
The stranger pressured again, "Please, go on, take it", I raised an eyebrow at her persistence. This to-and-fro conversation had given me a chance to take her face in even more, I was trying to figure out where she stood, was she an aristocrat, a warrior, or even an elder, I thought that would be silly that an elder would give me the time of day let alone buy me and expensive flower. But still, it made no sense.
Her hand was still outstretched to me and I could see the golden bracelet resting on her wrist once more. "I will not take no for an answer" she quipped. It was always hard to tell how old an elf was just by looking at them and a million thoughts crossed my mind at how old she might be, but it was futile guessing.
I knew this stranger would not give up and it would be perceived as extremely disrespectful if I did not take the flower.
I reached my hand out and took the flower not taking my eyes off the stranger as I did so just in case she did anything, it was always good to be prepared. "Thank you, I am extremely grateful, is there anything I can do for you in return?" the stranger would have known that I did not have money to pay her back and was therefore offering my services to her in other ways such as a maid.
The stranger shook her head and then offered a devilish smile. "yes, dance with me", I was beyond confused, why would she want to be seen with the likes of me.
I followed her to the dance floor hopelessly, wanting this to be over already. "If I am to dance with you, I need to at least know your name because this is quite frankly freaking me out, first you buy the flower and..." I rambled on. "Lily" her one-word answer threw me. She held her hand out to me, "and you are?" she carried on wanting to know my name. "I'm Gabi" I spoke quietly.
The more I saw this woman and spoke to her the more captivated I was becoming by the second. She had pulled her hood back over her head a little more, as if not wanting to be seen.
She seemed to mutter something under her breath but it was spoken so quietly I could not understand. "Well Gabi, I believe you owe me a dance", she held out her hand and it took me a minute to gather the courage to take her hand, I felt this pull almost like she was pulling me in with some magic or mind tricks, it was like I could not say no.
I took her hand and immediately felt everything else fall away, Lily the stranger pulled me closer so that only I could see her face whereas everyone else around us could not. Lily inhaled discretely and kept looking into my eyes, studying me, she was quiet as she twirled me around the dance floor.
I had forgotten my love for dancing, but then I had never been asked to dance before. As the dance ended she was still holding my hand, I wanted to go but I also wanted to stay with this stranger. "tell me something Gabi", I gave her my complete focus, "why have I not seen you here before?" she asked.
I furrowed my eyebrows at the odd question. "I come here just like everyone else, I guess there are a lot of us here and I leave as soon as I can"
That did not seem to please Lily. "do you not like the market?" I didn't want to offend her, anything could happen if I got on the wrong side of someone like her. "It's not that, I just prefer to be at home by myself", Lily seemed to understand the longing to be away from the hustle and bustle as she gave me a knowing look. "Well thank you for the flower and um dance, but I must really be going" I tried to step away to leave as Lily watched me with the purest eyes I had ever seen.
Just as I turned I bumped into someone and that someone did not take kindly to it as he shoved me to the floor, "you stupid elven bitch" I stayed down not wanting to cause anything further but the man then punched me. Lily did not take kindly to it. "How dare you push her to the floor" She took a step forward furiously. The elven man scoffed at her, "she deserves it, what are you gonna do about it" he challenged her.
Just as he was about to make a move, she dropped her hood, as fast as the eye could see everybody there dropped to one knee. All they had to see was her golden hair to know. "I am so sorry Princess Lily, if I had known it was you, please forgive me" The guards were next to her in a flash.
I couldn't believe this was happening, what had I gotten myself into, this was going to make my life worse being seen with her. "Get out of my sight"
She began to calm down as she once again stretched her hand out to me. "are you okay?" she pulled me up and checked my face once over. "yes, it happens all the time" I responded pulling away from her, she could see how uncomfortable I was, everyone had been watching, no doubt annoyed that the Princess was paying me attention.
It was very clear that people like me should not be associated with people like her and now I did not know how to get out of this situation. "Can I escort you home?" the Princess asked. I just wanted to escape, I could see Kira in my peripheral vision watching, "No thank you, your highness, my friends are waiting for me" I began to bow.
This confused Lily to no end but she did not show it, to her it was like Gabi was no longer interested, she had realised that Gabi did not know who she was at first and she liked that.
People try and use her for power or money or wisdom, and even worse to get close to her father.
But this girl clearly wanted nothing to do with her. "Okay," Lily accepted the situation and realised I was only trying to protect myself from these unusual circumstances.
Without a second thought, I headed in the direction of the exit closely followed by Kira, Princess Lily watched as she walked away before turning herself and heading back to her place.
She did not live with the King like everybody thought she did, she wanted to live in her own place and had found somewhere more rural recently, which happened to be not too far from Gabi.
Kira managed to catch up to me, "are you okay?" she asked her friend. "Yes, it's just I didn't know who she was and she gave me this flower, why would she stand up for me" I didn't want to overthink it.
Kira placed an arm around her. "It's okay, at least she stopped that guy from messing with you, sometimes we don't know why people do things, but that was very kind of her, try not to worry about it too much" she spoke cheerfully. I gave her a half-hearted smile and said goodbye as I carried on my journey back to my house.
I was so relieved to get through my door and into bed. I reflected on how my day had gone, I couldn't believe that I had met the Princess and didn't realise it, but then again her hair was braided.
I did not know much about her, not really anyone did but I still could not understand why she bought me the flower, the one that I had now placed next to my bed, I smiled at the thought. I thought about how we danced together, the pull I had felt over her before I knew who she was.
It crossed my mind whether I would ever see her again, which was unlikely, our paths would never cross under normal circumstances.
The next day I woke up later than usual and got ready putting on an old dress because I knew it would be muddy in the woods, I put on my cloak that I had been wearing yesterday but this time I pulled my hood up over my head.
I walked out of the back of my house, inhaling the fresh air, and swiftly jumped across the river. I disappeared into the treeline and ran through the forest for a while, it was very freeing and I had come to know the forest very well.
I came to a stop at my usual place to collect some berries, only taking a few at a time and putting them into my bag, I was feeling more hungry than usual because I had barely eaten. I smiled at the birds chirping away, it was more peaceful here than in any other place.