Reliving History

"Your majesty? Are you in there?" A woman called from outside the princess's chambers. "Your Majesty, open this door immediately!" She began to rap on the door, and seemed to have no intention of stopping until the door was opened.

"Just give me but a moment Maila!" the princess called back as she crawled through the open window. She winched with pain as her blistered hands gripped onto the cold stone window ledge. "I'm just getting ready. Is there something wrong?"

Maila was the princess's nurse, but over the years, had become more of a messenger and personal assistant to the king. "Your father demands a word with you my princess. Please hasten, you cannot just keep a king waiting, even if you are his child." The nurses voice was anxious and shaking, yet in her own rushing, the princess failed to notice.

Another girl followed closely behind the young princess, and with great difficulty, attempted to crawl into the room. "Zelda?" she whispered, "Can you help me?" She clung desperately to the ledge, standing on one of the thick vines that had made their way up the castle walls. A loud "epp!" escaped her lips as the vines began to shift.

Zelda nodded and held out her hand to pull the other girl up. "Ayren, you have to be more quiet," She whispered, "Maila has incredible hearing."

"Princess? What's taking so long? Is Ayren there with you?" Maila began to pound on the door even harder as she demanded some answers. Each and every knock harder and louder than the one before it. "Princess? Open this door right now!"

"She's here, don't worry!" Zelda said cheerfully.

Maila sighed. Zelda assumed she was also shaking her head. "It's when Ayren is with you that I worry princess."

"She's just relacing the back of my dress."

That was a lie, as Princess Zelda was still sporting the sky blue tunic that she'd worn when she had snuck out of the castle. It was supposed to be only for horseback riding, but it certainly had it's other uses. After all, it was very similar to the kind of tunic a commoner would wear. Rather plain, and very durable. For obvious reasons, she couldn't wear it around the castle. Ayren quickly crossed the room, threw open the armorer, and pulled out one of the princess's favourite dresses.

"Why does the dress need to be laced again? Which one is it?"

"Which else? The one with the pink bodice and white shirt of course! The lacing was a tad crooked, don't worry, I fixed it." Ayren called. She then leaned over Zelda's shoulder and whispered, "change quickly."

This wasn't the first time Zelda had snuck out, and it most certainly would not be the last. Almost like magic, the girl pulled the tunic off and slide into the dress within a few short seconds.

Ayren just stared and shook her head. "You are getting way too good at that you know."

A proud smile crossed Zelda's fair face. "I know." She then turned to the door. "Come in Maila!"

Maila hadn't so even opened the door when Ayren gasped, realizing that they hadn't hidden all evidence of their escape. "Zelda, your arm!"

Midway between the princess's left elbow and shoulder was a long, swollen gash. Though it wasn't deep or painful, it was a fresh wound, there was no way of denying that.

Zelda wrapped both arms around herself, and covered the wound with her small hand.

Maila didn't fail to notice the princess's attempt to hide it as she came into the room. Her eyes instantly went to the suspicious grip the girl held on her upper arm. "Princess, what's wrong?"

"Nothing Maila, absolutely nothing!" Zelda spoke quickly, wanting the conversation to end even faster than it started. Her eyes darted around the room, trying to find a way to distract her nurse.

Maila, on the other hand, wanted to drag the questioning out, almost as if she were trying to torture the panicked princess.. "Why do you hold your arms so Princess?"

Zelda shrugged, and forced herself to shiver. "I fear I may have fallen ill with a cold ma'am. I find it very chilly. I've been shivering since dawn."

"A cold? In the hottest season of the year? Do you really expect me to believe that princess?" Maila rested

"Yes..." Zelda sighed, feeling rather defeated. "No."

"Then put your arms down."

Zelda let her arms drop to her sides. Her eyes turned away from her nurse, who's own green eyes were glaring at the gash.

"What did you do?" Maila asked. She gripped on to the princess's forearm and examined the gash more closely.

"I must have brushed a tad too close to a sharp edge and received a scratch from it. Please do not concern yourself too much with it, Maila, in no way is it painful." Zelda explained.

Maila didn't believe it. "That's a nick from an arrow. You two were at the archery range again, weren't you?"

The two younger girls let their heads hang. "Yes."

Maila turned to Zelda first, a anger shown in both her face and in her face. "You know the king forbade you from leaving the castle, much less going all the way to the archery range! We're on the verge of war, can you imagine what chaos would break loose if a potentially dangerous foreigner recognized our princess?" Zelda remained silent, so Maila moved on to Ayren. "And you! Don't you even realize that helping the princess go against the kings orders is treason?"

Ayren's green eyes widened with fear. "What?"

Maila let out a sigh and gentle shook her head. The fear that she had caused in the two young girls was punishment enough... For the time being, anyway."Don't worry. This one last time, I'm going to let you both go off with a warning." Maila said. She walked over to the dresser on the far side of the room and pulled open the top drawer. From there, she produced two long white gloves. "Princess, put these on, they should be long enough to just cover the scar."

The princess took the gloves and carefully pulled them up her arms. They almost reached to her shoulders, completely covering the wound. "Perfect. Thank you Maila. I should go find Father now, shouldn't I?"

"You should." Maila pointed to the door. Wanting to get out of the room quickly, Zelda ran out the door and turned down the hall towards the Great Hall. Once the princess was out of sight, Maila took Ayren by the wrist and began to lead her down the corridor. "Now, there is someone needs to know of the trouble you've caused."

"The king?" Ayren asked hopefully. The king was kind and forgiving, he'd understand.

"Of course not," a wicked grin crossed Maila's lips, "our mother of course."

Ayren struggled to get away. "Please anything but that!"

"Come along Ayren. I'm sure this is a story she'd love to hear.""

"You are the worst sister ever."

"I know, I know."