- PREPARATIONS 1

Heidi and Rosie looked at each other and followed sir Gideon.

"Had he finally found out how the buns kept missing?" Heidi thought but shook her head at the thought.

They followed him into the slave quarters where all the slaves had already gathered waiting to be addressed.

The slaves who were murmuring amongst themselves hushed the moment they saw sir Gideon.

"Listen up everyone" sir Gideon started, "I believe the rumors about the first prince's return must have reached these walls. There are a lot of preparations for his return as the queen mother wants a grand party. The duties will be shared amongst you all and failure to carry them out properly leads to death. I'll be in charge of cleaning the prince's room myself"

He paused to let the words sink before he continued, "the Queen mother has ordered new clothes for all the slaves for that day, your measurements will be taken at midday tomorrow. Is that understood?"

"Yes sir Gideon" the slaves chorused excited about the new clothes.

They all left to their respective posts giggling with excitement.

"More work!" Rosie muttered as she flopped on the bed that was in the room she was assigned to clean.

"You shouldn't sit on the bed Rosie, what if you get caught?" Heidi asked soaking the towel in water.

"Whatever" Rosie muttered, "I heard the first prince was ordered to return in the next five years but he choose to return on his own"

Heidi chuckled, "you gossip a lot, don't you Rosie?"

Rosie smiled and began to clean the window panes, "how else do we slaves survive other than the daily gossip"

"True" Heidi said with a sly smile, "I'm sure there's more to it"

Rosie nodded and came close to Heidi, "I heard the first prince is cursed" she whispered close to Heidi's ears.

Heidi sighed and hit Rosie, "that's just rumors"

Rosie shook her head and said, "you disappoint me Heidi, who doesn't know that the bloodstone rejected the first prince"

Heidi shrugged, "that doesn't imply that he is cursed, does it?"

Rosie laughed soaking her own towel in water, "what else could it be? I also heard his mother was a slave just like us"

Heidi furrowed her brows as she looked at Rosie in wonder, "at this point, you should be given a gossip award" Heidi said moving on to dress the bed"

Rosie laughed and said, "I also heard that the first prince is extremely good looking and well built but has never touched a woman"

Heidi clicked her tongue and said, "I guess the women over there are not to his liking"

Rosie rolled her eyes at Heidi's words, "I think he scares them away. The slaves in the inner palace say the queen mother plans to set him up with a noble lady during the celebration"

Heidi placed her hands on her waist, "how come you know all this and I don't?" She asked a little marvelled.

Rosie smiled and answered, "it's simple, I'm Rosie and you are Heidi... Innocent Heidi"

Heidi laughed and said, "I won't call myself innocent"

Heidi's eyes fell on a pile of old clothes at the corner of the room, "what are these?" She asked walking towards the clothes.

Rosie shrugged and said, "old clothes, sir Gideon wants us to dispose them but you will help me do it right?"

Heidi sighed as she looked at Rosie who pouted her lips and flickered her lashes, "fine, I'll take them away"

With a sigh, Heidi gathered the clothes and carried them out to the slaves quarters. As she packed them in a bag her fingers brushed against a soft white gown. It was plain, with no embellishments whatsoever, yet something about the gown drew her in. She pulled it out and a small note fell out carried by the breeze. Heidi gasped in curiosity on seeing the note and she instinctively picked it up.

Slaves were generally not permitted to learn to read and write. Since they were slaves, the skill was considered useless to them.

However, Heidi was a lucky case. Mrs Doris had taught a little before she was abducted as a slave so she had secretly taught Heidi to read and write.

Heidi opened the note to read but was interrupted by the sound of someone coughing.

"Oh no!" Heidi muttered and quickly folded the gown and note and kept them neatly at the side.

Heidi's eyes widened as soon as got to the room she shared with Mrs Doris. Mrs Doris was coughing blood!

She hadn't thought much about the illness but now she was coughing blood. Mrs Doris had quickly become a shadow of her old self. Her eyes had gotten bigger and sunk inside even more and her lips were pale purple.

Heidi has no name for this illness only that it was a rare one and the cure was in the inner palace.

"I'm ok Heidi, I think I'm getting better" Mrs Doris said slowly and coughed out more blood.

Heidi shook her head and said, "you're getter worse Mrs Doris. We have to find that drug"

Mrs Doris smiled and patted her head, "that's a rare drug and it is stored in the main palace. The royals wouldn't waste such precious drug on a slave...an old one at that"

Heidi clenched her first as her mind thought quickly "I'll find a way, I won't let anything happen to you"

Mrs Doris smiled and said "I'm old Heidi, don't get into trouble for my sake, I'll be fine"

Heidi shook her head,"I'm not letting you die in pain"

Mrs Doris coughed even more as she placed her hand on Heidi's face, "promise me you won't do anything."

"But..."

"Promise me", Mrs Doris countered.

Heidi sniffed in sadness, "I promise "

Heidi felt her eyes water as she cleaned the blood at the side of Mrs Doris mouth.

Mrs Doris was a mother and guardian to her so how could she not try to save her.

"I'll be back" Heidi said and left the room to continue her duties totally forgetting the note she was going to read earlier.

Heidi spent the rest of the day thinking about the rare drug, her mind racing with possible adventures.

Genevieve walked stealthily towards the throne room. She had received a message that the queen mother had called her to the throne room. The slaves and guards stopped to bow as soon as they saw her.

She knocked on the door and the queen mother's voice ushered her in.

Queen mother Emilia was sitted at the head of the throne room. There was a pot of tea and tea cups in front of her.

"You called for me mother" Genevieve said as she bowed.

"Indeed" the queen mother said and offered Genevieve a smile, "tea?"