I hate being noble, thought the young and spirited Lady Assana of Dracolis – or just Lady Assa for short – with a glum look out the window to the beautiful summer day. The blossoms on the fruit tree outside her window were just flowering and it was truly beautiful. Assa sighed; it was like she was a bird in a very small cage. I don't want to be a simpering lady and do needlework until the day I die, she thought somewhat violently.
“And the worst thing about it,” Assa said in a weary tone looking down at her hound, Ash, “is that I happen to be the only daughter of the greatest and oldest noble family in all Sonalas; the family that built the very foundations of our fair land!”
As Assa brooded over her distressing life as a noble lady there was a commotion down in the courtyard. She paid no mind to it but Ash lifted her head and tilted it questioningly. There was a knock on the door that startled Assa out of her thoughts. She jumped up out of the window seat, startling Ash, and ran to the door. She yanked it open and when she saw her mother and her maids standing just outside the door she nearly screamed at them.
“I'm not going down to greet them! You can't make me! I wont do it!”
Lady Tanjada was a patient woman, but when her daughter refused to dress and go down to the hall to greet the king, queen, and her future husband, she lost her temper. “You will go down to the hall whether you like it or not. You are to be the future queen of Sonalas. Would you not see our house restored to its former glory? Would you not see us returned to royalty, our rightful place? Our house once gave birth to kings and queens – the greatest ever seen! - and it will do so again if I have to drag you down to the prince by the ear! You behave like a sullen child who has been refused a treat. You ought be ashamed of yourself!” Assa looked down and mumbled her surrender. No one could fight with words against Lady Tanjada and win, not even her daughter and her husband.
“Your Grace,” said a maid hesitantly. Assa wondered where she had come from, for surely she had not been there before?
“Yes?”
“I have the dress you requested for Lady Assana,” she bobbed a curtsy in my direction. “would you like me to dress her as well?” Assa gasped in indignation.
“I do not require a maid to help me dress!” she exclaimed.
“Begging your ladyship's pardon, but with this dress you do. This dress has a corset and other things trickier.”
“Fine. But don't go thinking I'm a helpless lady without a thought in my head.”
"Wouldn't think of it m'lady," the maid answered meekly, bobbing another curty
Assa stood back from the door to let her mother and maids in. The maid who had arrived with the dress set the box it was in down on the bed and lifted the lid. Assa gasped when she saw the gown; it had to be the most beautiful gown she had ever seen, and she had seen many beautiful gowns. The skirt was a forest green silk with vines embroidered in light green silk thread. The bodice and sleeves were a soft, light green silk, embroidered with a leaf pattern in dark green silk thread.
“Hmm....You like the idea of becoming queen a lot more now, don't you?” the duchess inquired of her daughter. Assa turned to glare at her mother before turning to her maids and ordering them to help her dress. As the maids rushed to do as she said, Duchess Tanjada slipped out and walked down the halls to her own chambers.
It turned out the maid was right about Assa needing help to put the gown on; it took almost an hour even with three maids helping. And then they had to prepare her face and hair. Assa's hair was very long. When it was loose it hung down her back almost to the backs of her knees in glossy chestnut waves. The way she most often wore it up was in a long tail. She tied it back with a leather thong and covered that with a silk ribbon, leaving her hair to tumble down her back as it pleased. Today however her hair was was braided and tied off with – surprise surprise – a green silk ribbon. As the maids tied off Assa's braid the duchess returned carrying three boxes; one of them long and narrow, another short and narrow, and the third was long and wide. Duchess Tanjada laid the boxes on top of Assa's vanity while her daughter stared curiously at her.
“Well open them!” her mother exclaimed when Assa just stared at the mysterious boxes. She jumped at her mother's voice and instantly began untying the ribbon that secured the first box. This one was long and narrow. When she lifted off the cover she merely stared in wonder at what lay before her: a jade leaf with silver vines entwining it hung from a silver chain. It was a simple thing but it was more beautiful than the dawn. Assa lifted it carefully from it's little bed of satin and gazed at it wonderingly. She looked up at her mother with a quavering smile and unshed tears in her eyes threatening to spill. “Go on, open the other two,” the duchess said in a gentle voice as she lifted the necklace from her daughter's hands and fastened it around her throat.
Assa turned to look at the other two boxes and chose the smaller of the remaining two. This one held a pair of emerald earrings shaped like tiny flower buds not yet opened. These she put on herself without her mother's aid. At last Assa turned to the last box. She undid the last ribbon and took off the last cover and revealed the last beautiful jewel. This one was a silver tiara. It wasn't a regular tiara with a simple silver circlet decorated with a single jewel. This tiara was made of silver vines winding around each other to make the appearance of silver twigs wound together to make a children's play crown. It was decorated with jade leaves connected to the occasional vine standing away from the rest, up in the air. This, Assa's mother took and placed on the top of her only daughter's head.
The duchess leaned in toward her daughter and whispered, “You are a Queen among queens, my Assa.” When she straightened she motioned for the maids to color her lips and cheeks.
Assa waited patiently for the maids to finish her makeup. As she waited she thought about what her future would be like. When the monarchs left to return to the capital, she and her mother and maids would go with them. Once there, she would begin the wedding preparations with aid from the queen and her own mother. The best dressmakers in the country would start work on her wedding dress and on the prince's suit as well. After the wedding she would be a princess and the future queen of Sonalas.
When the maids finished Assa stood up slowly. She turned to her mother with a look on her face that told the duchess her beloved, brave daughter was frightened. Tanjada gathered Assa into her arms and lightly kissed her forehead before sending her out of the chamber and down the corridor.
Assa strode down the corridor to the great hall like a queen. She paused for a moment to collect herself in front of the great double doors. After this my whole life will be different, whether for better or worse I can not tell, I just know things will never be the same again. She thought. Well, here goes. Assa motioned for the guard to open the doors and she strode into the hall to meet her prince.
