| i need you!

Earning a day's keep without her vocal cords and acting skills was, what Aurora realises, a real chore. The body of this Iris wasn't made for working her limbs to scrub off stains from coloured glass windows of the main hall. No. It was made to lounge about and observe the pleasant oddities of this world, a one-eighty contrast to her activities of the whole day. Aurora was ample with certainty that Iris was indeed, nothing but a Princess.

"Are you done?" A senior maid inquired coldly.

Aurora nods her head in agreement, tipping a foot out to elegantly yet subtly show off her outfit of the day. The maid, quick on taking hints, eyes little Iris up and down before scoffing. Her lips form a scowl as she snickers, "Ha! Now-a-days thieves are valued more by the Prince than all the hardworking maids."

Aurora's eyebrows meet in a twisted frown, nose scrunching in bafflement from the undeserved scorn. She puts back her foot before snapping, "Excuse me? Are you being jealous of a thief right now? All you can do is grumble about him whilst I..." Aurora pinches the collar of her white shirt and brings it to her nose. Sniffing it vigorously, she continues, "...can even wear his clothes. Clearly the fault lies in you." Aurora taunts, putting her hands on her waist and standing a proud ground.

The maid shakes her head and tsks slowly. "Shallow. Concieted. Obnoxious," she whispers to herself before turning her back to Aurora. "Follow me, I'll show you your new room. I cannot believe Ronne went to the Occido Prison because of the likes of you."

Aurora gasps defensively, stamping her feet on the marbled floors as she agressively follows the senior maid. "Well it was because she tried to kill me and Arc— the Young Master! She was evil!" Aurora grumbles back in her defence.

They climb down a spiral wooden staircase and it leads them to a dark hallway occupied with wooden doors on both sides. The wall was bricked, painted grey, and the lamps were dimly lit, barely lending a glow to navigate with comprehensive sight. The floorboards underneath their feet creaked with a few steps until the senior maid stops in front of a door.

The wood looked swollen and puffy, the once silver door knob had changed colours to a dirty gold. Senior maid knocks her knuckle twice against the door and it jerks open with the loudest creak known to Aurora-kind. A weak candle lamp, attached to a very untrustworthy looking ceiling, ignites itself. Aurora gulps, a vision of her past jerking her system to halt at the doorframe.

The chandelier of her green room, loosening and falling over her. Ultimately killing her.

The ravenette shuddered before looking expectantly in the eyes of the senior maid. "C-can I-uh, get a place without anything hanging on the ceiling please? I-um, I am afraid of them. I almost died once, because of them," Aurora stutters out, pointing at the candle lamp descending from the roof.

"Aren't you one with antics," the senior maid scorns, rolling her eyes at Iris' pathetic form demanding preferences. The woman kneels to maintain a form before shooting herself to the ceiling and gently tapping the candle lamp. She lands on the wooden flooring with a loud creak and the candle lamp above disappears into thin air.

Aurora, with wide brown eyes, gawked at the woman's acrobatic spectacle. Being inherently appreciative of art by nature, Aurora claps-awed-claps in appreciation of the senior maid. The woman, in return, flips her hair proudly and says, "Bring out your old stuff if you want to. This is where you will be staying."

Aurora nods vigorously, doe eyes sparkling for the senior maid's achievement. The older woman was about to leave when a thought makes Aurora grasp the woman's hand, in the most cheesy-rom-com stereotype, and utters, "Stay! I have something to ask of you!"

The senior maid turns, very unromantically, and with an annoyed frown but does not jerks Iris' hand away. "What is it?" She questions blandly. Much in contrast to Aurora tucking a lock of hair behind her ear and inquiring in the most coy tone possible.

"Would you happen to know where my old room is? No questions asked!"

The senior maid chooses now as the moment to jerk Iris' hand off and reply, "Aren't you an entitled brat. Depends. That'll be your usual servant quarters, underground Women's appartments." The answer is swift and precise, unlike the directions Aurora understood.

The woman coldly backtracks her footsteps and Aurora is left to sit and wonder if she'll ever be able to spy Iris' room and unveil the framed five-year-old's Princess secrets. Her shoulders slump for a microsecond before her head jolts up in an epiphany.

The jobless prince, her fairy Godfather, Arcel Maynard!

Aurora skips her way over the creaky flooring and jumps two stairs in a row to climb up and jog out into the open, in search of Arcel Maynard.

.

.

.

.

The Young Prince brushes the back of his hair, an elf pop stuck in his right cheek. He had been searching for Iris and Vasil ever since his grandmum Arabella had retreated to her chambers after a being overcome by a coughing fit.

"It's a pity grandmum could only play for so long. Maybe if she had agreed to play Dragons, she'd be less tired," Arcel pouts to himself, not-so-discreetly being followed by a trail of maids. His cyan eyes chase the winds, high and low, wondering if he could accidentally witness one of his friends flying with it.

Though, in all rationality, he knows that Vasil wouldn't show himself with all the maids following him and Iris was probably busy working somewhere. But where?

He stops abruptly, crashing his maids' trail amongst themselves, and turns to face their frenzied selves. "Where is Iris? Bring me Iris!" He demands, as he should have probably quite a while ago.

Dusk had embraced the skies in hues of pink and purple, seeping darkness made the blanket of stars shine bright overhead. Arcel stands with his hands behind his back, head held high and tongue playing around with the elf pop in his mouth. He raises an inquisitive eyebrow whilst his maids converse in concerned, hurried, and hushed whispers amongst themselves.

"Who is Iris?"

"Oh? The thief?"

"Didn't they jail her?"

"Why is our Young Master looking for that lowlife?!"

"You say they are friends —?! How disgraceful!!"

"No, did you see her in the Keep?"

"I thought they kicked her out."

"What- promotion?!"

Arcel rolls his eyes at the commotion. "I said, I want to find my frien—"

"ARCE— NO, YOUNG MASTER! I NEED YOU!"

An excited squeak of a shout cuts Arcel off in his speech of defence. The boy tilts over his toes and spots the bouncing mop of Iris' raven hair racing toward him. As recognition seeps in, a bright gummy grin replaces the prior frown of his face and his legs immediately rush toward the blobbing stick-like-person.

"IRIS!" he calls out, raising his hand and waving it agressively at her. The ravenette copies the gesture, running faster with a toothy smile that made her eyes crinkle into crescents and popped dimples on the either of her cheeks.

"Young master! A Prince mustn't run!"

"Maintain your dignity, Young Master!"

"Oh dear Virae, what would Madame Crimson say!"

"Young Master! Do not make haste!"

"Fairy Godfather!" Iris pants, placing her hands on either of Arcel's shoulder and panting with all of her upper body weight surrendered to his shoulders. "I need you for something!" She gasps through deep pants and groans.

"You need me?!" Arcel's question is rhetoric with exasperation, cyan eyes searching for honesty in Iris' bony face. "Are you certain?" He questions again, when Iris' wouldn't stop panting all over him. A circle of disapproving maids surround his back, muttering harsh comments against whatever they were witnessing.

Iris nods agressively in reply. "Certainly!" She breaths out, looking up to face his cyan eyes lit up against the night sky. She leans closer, caging her lips behind her palm and whispering in Arcel's ear. "I need you for an adventure!"

As soon as Iris pulls back, the grin never leaving either of the duo's faces, Arcel intertwines his hand with hers and shouts, "Then we'll have to run! It'll be fun!"

And the Young Prince pulls the lanky maid with one hand as they run in the opposite direction of the maids, laughing under the now night sky, racing away from toxicity toward what they believed was right.

Arcel pulls Iris round Keep and they run past the night guards with a humours salute from Aurora. The brunette drags her over a grassy slope and they slip and stumble their way inside the Watch Tower. Arcel places a finger on his lips, narrowing his eyes on all the guards present on duty, daring them to snitch.

They all salute their loyalties instead and let Arcel and Aurora catch a breath inside the tall bricked tower. Aurora twists her hand off Arcel's grasp and smiles, "That was fun."

"Yes it was! We needed to get away from them so that we could meet Vasil. We cannot have an adventure without Vasil!" Arcel explains through his own pants, huffing out large breaths of air.

Aurora scowls.

"No Arcel! Vasil is not going on an adventure with us! It is OUR thing!" Aurora points her between the them, keeping her voice a hushed whisper from the guards stationed in the Watch Tower.

"But where even is Vasil? I have—"

"Vasil. Doesn't. matter. You need to get over him. He's suspicious, slimy and a real thief!" Aurora counters with vehemence in her tone. She folds her arms against her chest, frowning as Arcel doesn't seem to get the memo.

"No Iris! You mustn't speak ill of your friend—"

"He might have been a friend of yours but he has abandoned us now!" Aurora exclaims, cutting in to Arcel's words yet again. All the guards now start frowning at her. This is not how this was supposed to go.

"But- he's our friend...and friends don't abandon, right?" Arcel asks, shoulders slouching and tone dwindling into murmurs. The guards now glare at Iris for making their Prince upset.

Aurora, suddenly, did not have the heart to tell him that 'Friends' are the first to abandon. The ravenette laughs a bland laugh, eyes wandering around the place as she hesitantly pats Arcel's fluffy brown head. "No, Arcel, but friends take time, okay? They don't abandon per say— but they ghost us—"

"Do you mean Vasil is dead?!"

"No, oh my lord, not THAT ghost! It's like - they temporarily disappear for personal reasons and come back when they feel...um- mentally better? Yes, that. Vasil is doing that now. I think he was overwhelmed by your... richness!" Aurora explains, as eloquently as she can.

"Are you certain?" Arcel questions, raising his head to face Iris again with tears now brimming his cyan eyes.

Aurora's eyes widen in exasperation. "No no no! Young Prince! You mustn't cry in vain! Take them back up! We'll be saving those tears for— uh- Excuse me! Do you happen to have an empty vial?" Aurora address a guard when Arcel couldn't gravitate his tears back into his eyes. It made Aurora panic.

"Yes please!" Arcel seconds Aurora's word, for no guard replied or even moved in acknowledgement of her presence. But as soon as Arcel provided word, two guards ran somewhere upwards the tower.

Aurora sighs again in realisation of whatever she had achieved here. Amounting nothing, to be precise.

One of the knights walks back down with a tray of two purple liquids and another runs in with small glass vial.

"Siren sherbet!" Arcel exclaims, grabbing a glass and gulping down the liquid in three large sips. Aurora's jaw hangs, witnessing Prince Arcel in his natural wild habitat. She wastes no time in scooping Arcel's big tears from his chubby cheeks into the vial and closing it up.

"Ha! First Success!" She holds the vial up in the air and grins at it. Arcel picks up another glass of Siren sherbet and places it right next to Iris' face.

"Drink up! You need to tell me all about your adventures later!"

"What even is this?" Aurora scowls at the sparkling purple liquid. She narrows her eyes and sniffs it, only to find nothing suspicious other than a mesmerizing aroma that she couldn't place her finger on.

"It was mum's favourite drink! or say grandmum Arabella says, it's Siren Sherbet made up of a sick Siren's vomit! It's really delicious, you know!" Arcel explains, sniffing and smiling at her drink.

Aurora, mildly disgusted after hearing that it was some sick Siren's vomit, pushes the glass to Arcel instead.

"There you go, have at it," she urges and it took Arcel no seconds thoughts to modesty to steal the glass from her hand and gulp it down.

"Thank you," Aurora awkwardly whispers to the guard who was holding up the tray, waiting for them to be done with the drinks. The man doesn't even looks in her direction.

Everyday finds a new way to bruise Aurora's ego here.

"So, what is our adventure going to be?" Arcel questions, giving back the glass and leaning against a bricked wall. The circular place lacked any or all that could be termed as furniture.

"Ah, we are gonna find a Princess!" Aurora excitedly fist bumps the sky.