#sgetober

Tedros: ...So you're not going to share?

“Tell me more about your reader.” Dovey says. 

Lesso waves her wineglass. “She’s awful.”

Dovey waits.

“She wears pink, has a shrill voice, and her hair gets everywhere.” Lesso grumps. “Happy?”  

“She sounds like someone I know.” Dovey muses. Lesso snorts into her glass. 

“It was one time! And the dress was more orange-red then pink.”  

“Oh, stop being pretentious for one minute in your life.” Dovey responds, picking up her mug. “You like the other Nevers well enough, you just don’t like Sophie because she reminds you of yourself.” 

“Hardy har.” Lesso says sourly.   

“You know I’m right.” Dovey says calmly, taking a drink. 

“What about your reader? I hear she ate a fairy on the first day.” Lesso says with a grin. 

“She’s very charming, thank you.” Dovey says stiffly. 

Lesso’s grin widens. 

“Oh fine. She’s hopeless. The other day I saw her doodling a skull onto her Princess Handbook. We were reading a chapter on Princely Requirements.” Dovey says, very piteously. 

Lesso cackles while Dovey sniffs. “I suppose you think it’s funny, considering what a model student your reader is!” 

That shuts Lady Lesso up.  

“Well, despite the pink, I have great faith in her. The schoolmaster ought to have learned from… last year.” Lesso says carefully, watching her counterparts face. 

Dovey just slackens. “Let’s hope so. I am rather fond of Agatha, despite her shortcomings.” 

 “Think of them as cactus flowers.” Lesso suggests. 

“Do those even exist?” Dovey asks. 

“Oh sure. You see them all over in Shazabah and Thicket Tumble. They’re not very rare,” Lesso waves off. She finishes off her wine. “Maybe their prickles and thorns will guard a lovely flower.” 

The two ponder on this metaphor over the setting sun. The silver balcony has turned a lovely pink- purple shade. 

“That was rather sweet, coming from you.” Dovey teases, setting her stewing mug on the tiny stand between them. 

“Oh, do shut up!” 

“You love me.” 

“Doesn’t change the fact you’re on my last nerve.” 

SGETOBER DAY 20: GROOM ROOM

This takes place just after Princess Uma is evicted before AWWP. It’s not my best work but it’s something and it fits the prompt so...

Usually, if you had asked Princess Uma what her least favourite animal was, she’d reply that she loved all animals equally, and that she couldn’t possibly choose a least favourite because that would be cruel.

Right now, it was butterflies.

As another egg smashed against Uma’s cheek, she glared at the blue turrets of the School for Good - no, the School for Girls - just visible over the canopy of the trees. Two hours ago, she’d been roaming the halls of that school, ferrying students to their classes and marvelling at the sense of harmony between Evers and Nevers she hadn’t felt since she’d first started school. Then, without warning, she’d been evicted by Evelyn Sader and her stupid blue butterflies, with no plan further than find safety, fast.

But she hadn’t been fast enough, and something had found her first.

A mob of angry princes, rejected by their loves and cast out of their kingdoms. They’d ambushed her as soon as she’d set foot in the Woods. She’d tried to call for help from her animal friends, but the men were wise to her talents, and had gagged her immediately, tying her to a tree and trapping her hands behind her back so she couldn’t use her fingerglow. Now they were taunting her, throwing eggs and calling names.

She grit her teeth as the princes laughed cruelly. “You here to teach us a lesson, Professor?” jeered the red-haired prince who’d thrown the egg at her. Uma tried to suppress her glare and look frightened and helpless - she learned long ago that the element of surprise was her greatest weapon. She stood silently, head bowed but eyes peeking upwards, assessing her situation.

The princes had their own makeshift camp set up just outside the gates, which consisted of a few ragged tents in a small clearing. Their weapons were piled up in a big mess, and they had lit a small fire in the middle of the clearing, stupidly close to the largest tent. There was a blonde-haired prince standing guard beside her, but he was clearly very drunk, and there was an obvious weakness in his left knee when he walked. A hulk of a man whom Uma vaguely recognised as the Prince of Rainbow Gale kept making trips across the campsite, bringing tankards full of beer to his fellows. He had Uma’s crystal slippers strapped to his belt, presumably intending to sell them. Crystal...a plan began to hatch in Uma’s mind.

Next time the Prince of Rainbow Gale walked past, Uma discreetly hooked his leg with her ankle, tripping him. The slipper shattered against the ground with a crash.

Uma gave an embarrassed squeak, fluttering her lashes sheepishly even as she stealthily curled her toes around a shard of crystal. The prince swore as beer splashed all over his tattered breeches. He looked as though he was about to hit her, but thought better of it and and sneered at her scornfully. “Stupid princesses.” he muttered. “They’re probably running our kingdoms into ruin as we speak.”

The men all cheered at his words, and Uma used the distraction to curl her leg up behind herself, still gripping the fragment of crystal. She silently thanked Emma Anemone for her Groom Room gymnastics lessons as she sawed at the rope with her foot.

Uma tried not to gasp in elation as she felt the rope snap.

“Besides, what can princesses do on their own anyway? I mean look at this one! All we had to do was surround her and she didn’t even put up a fight-”

The man’s words cut off as Uma petrified him.

There was a beat of surprise, and then the drunken guard leapt for her, but she kicked at his knee as hard as she could, and he went down like an old oak tree. Lighting a barrier of magic fire between her and the princes, she whipped off her gag and gave a ferocious roar.

A big black bear bounded into the clearing, and Uma shrieked with joy, leaping forward to hug his neck. The bear grunted at her, telling her to hurry up, and Uma patted his nose one last time before going back to steal the Rainbow Gale prince’s boots and sword. She paused, then leaned in and smiled, a dangerous glint in her dark eyes.

“Now, what have we learned today, boys?” she flashed her teeth. “Never underestimate a princess.”

Then she leapt atop her bear friend and vanished into the night.