Chapter 28

One evening, The Prince took a stroll around the palace. He was happily reminiscing on the little moments he had had thus far with Buhle the 'Missing maiden'. He kicked stones and chuckled, walking alone in the semi dark. Of course, there was some amount of light, thanks to the lanterns placed on the pathways and the stars in the vast sky.

The Prince went to Lwani's chambers. Lwani let him in, and offered him a seat. He wondered what had brought The Prince to him that late in the night.

"Is there something wrong, My Prince?", Lwani asked.

The Prince shook his head. In that moment, he began wondering if he should go ahead and talk to Lwani.

"Lwani", The Prince said. "There is this girl…"

Lwani listened on.

"Well, there is this girl", The Prince repeated.

Getting impatient, Lwani blurted out, as if annoyed; "What girl?"

He wanted to know what The Prince wanted to say about a girl. He noticed that The Prince seemed shy, so he guessed that it had something to do with romantic feelings. In all his life, he had never heard The Prince talk about girls. In fact, he was never interested in them. The Prince's focus had always been on improving his battle skills. He was a late bloomer.

The Prince got taken aback at Lwani's irritable mood. Lwani looked away, ashamed.

"I keep thinking about her. Memories of her keep intruding my mind. She comforts me… When I am down, she comforts me, in my mind, Lwani", said The Prince.

Lwani listened on intensely.

"Could this… be", The Prince paused, wondering if he should say it. "A crush?"

Lwani's mouth opened. He stared at The Prince. He had never thought that he would ever see The Prince actually converse about a girl, and have feelings for a girl. And The Prince looked very embarrassed.

"Or is it love?", The Prince asked.

Hearing The Prince talk about a girl, seemed to be an interesting topic to Lwani. He was glad to hear his lifelong friend, The Prince, finally grow to crush on a girl. As a matter of fact, Lwani himself was late bloomer too.

"I-I do not know", hesitantly said Lwani, slowly succumbing to the contagious feeling of embarrassment.

Having that conversation with The Prince gave Lwani the courage to speak about his own deep thoughts. Shyly, he said;

"Actually, I too seem to be unable to neglect thinking about someone. She lives in my head, day and night. I think about her when I wake up and wonder what she is doing in that early morning. And at night, I reminisce on the moments I got to see her on that day. It is almost like a closing ceremony that takes place each night."

The Prince looked at Lwani and smiled, kindly.

"I fall asleep late every night, because I visit her in my mind… till late in the night", said Lwani.

The Prince scoffed and said; "And still, I wake up energized the very next morning. I guess knowing that; by getting up, I will get to see her, gives me the enthusiasm to rise."

The two young men smiled with each other.

"By the way," said The Prince, energetically. "Who is she?"

Lwani choked at the sudden question. Lwani stammered before finally diverting; "W-What about you?" Lwani asked; "Who is she?"

The Prince smiled and said nothing. When the two finished chatting, The Prince left Lwani and returned to his stroll outside. While he strolled, he saw Buhle. She seemed to be walking in a sneaking manner.

Buhle had an oil lamp with her, lighting her way. She disappeared into the trees and shrubs.

The Prince followed behind. She kept walking until she reached a very beautiful garden. It had flowers of different colours and kinds, there were trees and shrubs. There was also a small pond, it had water lilies. The garden was dark and had overgrown grass, that was because no-one ever went to that garden for generations. It had been abandoned, and Buhle had been taking care of it, and had been finding refuge in it, on lunch breaks, during her stay at the palace.

On that night, Buhle had gone there to enjoy the stars. The Prince was behind her, a bit far away. He stared at her sitting peacefully by the pond, looking up at the stars. Buhle began to transform.

The Prince saw the same green glow he had seen during the night of the bandits. On that bandit situation night, he had not seen where exactly the light came from. But on the present moment, he got to see. He saw it coming from Buhle. Buhle was glowing.

The Prince watched on, curiously. Her hair flattered and danced in the wind. The Prince watched the whole transformation. He could not see her face though. Thus, he had no idea how she looked after the transformation.

Buhle got up and turned around and went to sit on a stoop of a small house that was in the garden. The Prince saw her face. He caught his mouth and tried to suppress his surprise.

The Buhle that saved his life was, actually, the same Buhle titled the 'Missing maiden'; it dawned on The Prince.

The next day began. The Prince had spent the entire night trying to wrap his head around what he had seen in the abandoned garden. Thus, in the morning, he decided to transfer Buhle to serve him in his palace, to study her. Buhle was to take on the duty of bringing him his food from the kitchen and to run little errands whenever The Prince wanted her to.

In the kitchen…

"Buhle", called the kitchen supervisor.

Buhle stepped forward.

"From today until further notice, you will be serving at the palace", said the supervisor.

The other servants gasped in disapproval. Serving closely to The Prince meant less work. And it meant spending the whole in the presence of the handsome young man. Thus, that duty was the most favoured among the servants. Ignoring their gasps, the supervisor continued;

"Your tasks involve taking food to The Prince in his palace, and to his guests if he has any. You will be running little errands for The Prince. These involve, but are not limited to; transferring messages between The Prince and another person, flapping a fan for The Prince to cool down, standing beside The Prince or sitting if he allows it, and anything else he asks you to do, provided it is moral and in accordance with the rules", the supervisor explained.

"But, supervisor!", cried one servant. "She is new here. How is she granted such a leisurely role?"

The supervisor shrugged his shoulders, and told the servant; "The Prince requested her. So, I have no power in this."

"Maybe I too should have been born weird-looking. Maybe then I would be receiving such perks", said another servant, rolling her eyes, with a pout on her lips.

Buhle was escorted to The Prince and officially introduced as one of the servants working closely to him. When Lwani found out about this, on the spot, he was not pleased at all. Meanwhile, The Prince was battling his shyness. He stole glances at the young lady. He was happy to have her in his presence, but he hid his joy. He felt like he was meeting her for the first time.

After the formal introductions, Lwani asked everyone to leave him with The Prince.

"My Prince", he said. "What is your obsession with that maid?"

The Prince did not respond. He simply humbly listened as Lwani scolded him.

"Are you still trying to prove to her that you are not a monster? So that she should want to marry you?", said Lwani.

The Prince glared at Lwani. "It has never been about that. Ever", disputed The Prince.

"Well, tell me what this is, then? And also, you expect her to serve in your palace when she looks like that? She will scare away your guests", said Lwani.

"Stop it!", yelled The Prince, angrily. "Don't you ever speak of her like that again."

Seeing The Prince genuinely get angry made it clear to Lwani; he should speak politely of the maid.

"But then, you should have told me about this sudden change", said Lwani.

"Had I told you, would you have simply said 'Ok'?", The Prince responded with a retort.

As of that day, Buhle was serving in The Prince's palace. She stood beside The Prince and flapped a fan to The Prince. She was doing that with another maid on the other side of The Prince.

The Prince could not help it, his eyes kept drifting towards Buhle. From time to time, he stole looks at her, unintentionally. When Buhle became aware of that, she began to feel uncomfortable. She awkwardly avoided those unexpected eye contacts with him. At some point when their eyes met, Buhle dropped her fan. She bent to pick it up, but The Prince's hand was already on it.

Startled, she jumped back. The Prince felt awkward, but he tried to ease the air by handing the fan to her. And smiled. She hesitantly took it. After a while, the other girl blowing air to The Prince signalled Buhle that it was time for The Prince's lunch, and thus they should got escort the servants bringing his meal. They went away.

Although he knew that Buhle would be back after a short while, The Prince felt a little sad. He wanted her by his side at all times. Seeing her leave put some sadness in his heart. He frowned.

Shortly, the girls returned. The two girls were walking in front of four other girls carrying food trays. The four girls stopped outside The Prince's door. It was Buhle and the other girl's job to escort those four girls from the kitchen to The Prince's palace. And after that, they were to bring food into The Prince's palace from the four girls waiting outside The Prince's door.

When The Prince saw Buhle walk in, he felt so much joy, it showed on his face. His smile was big and his eyes shined. He seemed like a little puppy happy to see its favourite person.

'Why is he smiling?', Buhle wondered to herself. 'He has been acting strange all day.'

One item at a time, they brought food to The Prince's dining table. As the day went on, The Prince realized that he needed to do more if wanted to be even closer to her.

'Plus, with all these people, how am I supposed to be left alone with her. Only her?' The Prince wondered to himself.

The time for The Prince's bath came, The Prince requested to have only Buhle serve him during that hour.

In the entire royal family, Prince Abasi was the only who washed himself and put lotion on himself. But sometimes, he would ask the manservants to help him with his back. And he would ask female servants to help him with washing and styling his hair while he remained dressed. But he mostly did all those things himself. Inviting people in his personal space made him uncomfortable. The one thing that he willingly let his servants do was to have them bring his clothes to him in the bathroom while he stayed covered up in the water.

Buhle entered his bathroom. The shy Prince said to her, as he avoided looking her way; "Come help me with my back."

Buhle felt hesitant. She stood there, far behind him, twiddling her fingers.

"Buhle", The Prince called with his warm, gentle voice. He tried so hard not to show that he was nervous. "Come to me", with a breathy whisper, he said.