Princess Iris

Bridgette takes her hand around me; I put my arm around her neck as Ri leads us out of the room. They both help me down the stairs carefully as we make our way to the grand hall and finally we reach the ballroom door. "Alright, this is it. Why don't you seat over here, while I go in," Ri says taking me to the seat at the corner. "No, not yet. It will only make standing up difficult. You shouldn't take much time checking your present," I say.

"Alright I will be fast about it."

As Ri lets go of me, I hold Bridgette for more support. I watch as she carefully opens the big door and closes it quietly after her. "Bridgette."

"Yes, Your Highness."

"Have you heard back from Constantine?" I ask.

"Yes Your Highness, he said it is ready. But he seems to be having trouble looking for a proper box to put it in," Bridgette says. "Really?" I ask.

"Yes, Your Highness and he won't consider my opinion."

"What was your opinion?" I ask.

"A white box of course. Although I couldn't think of a perfect ribbon for the box," Bridgette says.

I smile thinking of Bridgette and Constantine bricking. It doesn't take one to see they like each other. I did confront them about it but they denied it.

I laughed thinking about the memory. I remember being so flushed about the topic.

"Just have him put it in a white box and a gold bow ribbon will suffice," I say.

"That's, that's very brilliant Your Highness. Now I can see why he rejected my options. Gold happens to be Princess Adrianna's favorite color so it makes sense that..." Just then Ri opens the door.

"She is out early," I say to myself.

"Ri? I wasn't expecting you to be back so soon," I say.

She walks to me with a worried face. I observe her for a while.

"Ri what's wrong?" I ask.

"There was no present Iris. The ballroom was empty."

"What do you mean the ballroom was empty?" I ask.

"I checked the whole ballroom and found nothing," Ri says.

"The throne seats, last year mother hid..."

"Nothing is there either," Ri says.

My legs start to get tired.

"Bridgette, the seat," I say pointing to the seat in the corner.

She takes me to the seat and helps me sit.

"Why don't you go help Juliette with my gown and see to it that everything is ready for the ball tomorrow?" I say to Bridgette.

"Yes, Your Highness," Bridgette curtsies and walks away.

Ri joins me afterward.

"Oh, Iris there will be no presents for us this year."

"We don't know that. Mother must have had the presents taken somewhere else, out of our sight."

"You think so?" Ri asks.

I want to say yes but my mind takes me back to the conversation I had with Ri earlier about mother and father acting differently. It's normal for Mother and Father to act differently with me but not with Ri and that is something I cannot ignore. "Father and mother never act differently with you," I say.

I watch Ri's face as she tries to understand my statement.

"No they never do," Ri says.

"Hmmm," I say.

I turn behind me when I hear footsteps but the footsteps seem to fade away.

"There is not much we can do right now to figure out what is going on. Mother and father have been clever enough to leave no clues," I say. Silence stretches.

Ri stands on her feet, she helps me up, and supports me as we make our way down the grand hall.

"Emm Ri, where are we headed?" I ask.

"To the garden," Ri says.

"The garden?"

"It's been a while since I drew some butterflies. Veronica is probably waiting for us out front with my drawing book," Ri says.

I don't say anything until we reach the front door. The young servant girls are holding picnic baskets and carpets. And then it hits me.

"A picnic?"

"You had all this planned?" I ask.

"Of course, my sister hasn't been outside in three weeks. I had to think of something to celebrate the occasion. I mean it was a hurdle trying to get you off your bed," Ri says. "Three weeks isn't a long time."

"Well, it was for me," Ri says.

"Your Highness."

I turn to Veronica as she curtsies.

"Hello, Veronica," I say.

"I am so happy you are on your feet. We all missed you," Veronica says.

"Thank you so much, Veronica, I missed you all too."

She smiles at me warmly.

"Veronica please have them take the baskets and carpets to the spot we picked out," Ri says.

"Yes, Your Highness."

"Can you stand alone for a while?" Ri asks.

I nod at her. Ri rushes to the coat stand and gets our coats. She quickly wears hers and helps me put on mine.

"Alright, here we go," Ri says as she supports me.

"Adrianna."

We both stiffen at the voice.

"Where do you think you are going to and who are you with? I can't remember receiving any visitors," Mother asks.

I start to get angry.

"Mother can't recognize me?" I say to myself.

Ri looks at me but I don't look at her. She slowly turns us to mother and her eyes immediately land on me. I look at mother angrily. I was hoping I wouldn't have to see her until the ball tomorrow. "Iris? Oh my God, Iris, it is you," Mother says.

Mother walks toward me and I take a step back. She stops in her track surprised. I feel Ri look between both of us as the silence stretches.

"I... Emm... I was just taking Iris to the picnic I put together for us. It's been a while since she's been outside so I thought we could have a picnic in the garden," Ri says.

Mother takes her eyes off me and looks at Ri. She finally nods her head at Ri and looks back at me. I watch her eyes go soft.

"It's good to see you on your feet Iris," Mother says.

I don't say anything. She nods her head and walks away. We watch her walk away until she goes out of sight. "Iris..."

"Not the time Ri."

Ri turns us out towards the door and we head outside.