The King's Memory

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He had been scaling the walls of the castle again and had heard a group of girls giggling off in the distance. He followed the sound, curious to know who was in the copse of trees near the castle's eastern wall. He climbed over the wall and into the trees, going from branch to branch until he got close enough to see them. The girls were getting ready to leave but it was clear to see that they had been having a picnic near the small stream that ran through the clearing they were in. The natural clearing was nearly a perfect circle, surrounded by the towering trees that formed a full canopy to block out nearly all the hot summer sun, the bubbling of the stream and the chirping of the birds made for a soothing melody. The five girls that had gathered were giggling and chatting excitedly as they prepared to leave.

"I love coming here to have lunch, it's so peaceful." One of the girls said, her voice was sweet and melodic.

"I just wish one of the princes would come out here one day, Danby said he sometimes sees them over here, but we haven't seen them at all, not once." A whining voice replied.

"Grace you are too obsessed with the princes, why can't you just enjoy the beautiful picnics that we have here and the lovely conversations. This has been fun for me."

"Vivianne, you're too naive, we are sixteen years old now, we need to be focusing on our futures, and I am determined to marry one of the princes." Grace laughed in response to the girl with the melodic voice.

"Well, I think you're just silly, the whole lot of you." The girl named Vivianne, the one with the enchanting melodic voice said in response to Grace's declaration. The other girls giggled at Vivianne's retort.

"Come on girls, let's head back, I think Vivi wants some more time with her lovely view." Grace said mockingly as she and the remaining girls left the clearing.

Tobias had stayed motionless and silent during their exchange, he wanted to remain unseen by the gaggle of girls. He knew if he had been seen they would have been overly excited to see one of their long-awaited princes at last. He had never actually been to this clearing before, and he was sure his brother hadn't either, so he had no idea why this Danby person would say that he or Tomas had been seen here. Soon the only one left in the clearing was the one named Vivianne, the one with the melodic voice that seemed so enchanting and made him want to move closer.

As he inched forward to see her he told himself he was only doing it to test his ability at sneaking around, he really never got an opportunity to test his skills on someone who wasn't paid to be nice to him or told to ignore him and pretend they didn't see him so he could sneak by. Even if that was when he was five years old and he was much less skilled at sneaking and skulking. But he knew old habits die hard. So he could never really trust if the staff in the castle simply pretended not to notice him when he snuck up on them to scare them or if they really were frightened when he popped out of seemingly nowhere to startle them, oh the woes of a prankster.

He inched forward bit by bit until the girl in the clearing came into view, and the sight of her stopped him in his tracks. She had beautiful golden blonde hair that shone even in the dimness caused by the natural canopy, her vivid emerald green eyes shone and radiated a warmth that seemed to warm him by several degrees even from this distance. She had a beautiful golden hue to her complexion, and she seemed to shine as if a bit of the sun had settled inside her and radiated a sense of calm and warmth. Her face was soft, sweet, and shaped like a heart. She was easily the most beautiful girl he had ever seen.

As he stood there in the branches staring at her in amazement, the branch he was standing on began to creak. Realizing what was going on too late he didn't have the time to react. He tumbled as the branch swayed forward, it dumped him, lying flat on his back, right into her lap.

"Hi," he said once the shock of the fall wore off, "I just thought I'd drop in."

"Quite literally I see." Vivianne said smiling despite the awkward situation. Tobias could do nothing but grin at the girl above him.

"Would you mind?" Vivianne asked as she gestured for him to move.

"Oh right, I'm sorry, please do forgive me." He said as he hastily sat up and removed himself from her lap.

"It's quite alright, besides, I don't believe you fell on me on purpose, if you had that would be a different thing entirely."

"No, no, it was quite by accident."

"As I had guessed, but might I ask why you were sneaking around in the trees above me?" She asked with not one hint of anger in her voice.

"Oh, err." Tobias shuffled his feet nervously. "Well, I had been climbing nearby when I heard you and your friends laughing. You see, there's never usually anyone this close to the castle walls so I was curious. I am sorry for spying on you." He looked her straight in the eye with an apologetic look upon his face.

"It's quite alright, we were not doing anything private, just having a picnic. Would you like something to eat there's plenty left over? I always pack too much." The smile she showed him then was enough to freeze time for him again, her face was already beautiful but with a smile she looked like an angel sent just for him.

"Uh, uh, um." Tobias stammered as he tried to reorganize his thoughts, this made Vivianne giggle, oh how he loved that sound. "Um, n-no thank you." He finally said, forcing his tongue into submission so he could speak once again, Vivianne giggled again.

"Who are you, sir? If you do not mind my asking."

"My name is Tobias." He said, finally something he could answer without needing to think about it first. However, his quick answer made Vivianne gasp slightly.

"Would you happen to be Prince Tobias?" She asked a little fearfully.

"Yes, that would be me." He answered with a smile.

"I'm so sorry my Prince." She exclaimed quickly as she bowed before him.

"Please don't do that." He said pleadingly. "Please do not bow to me, not right now, I was enjoying my time with you." Vivianne looked at him perplexed.

"I'm sorry, I do not understand my Prince, should I not bow to you, and please forgive me for my rudeness before."

"You have nothing to apologize for, I am the one that dropped in on you, quite literally. I am the one who should apologize. So please, Vivianne, stand up." Vivianne looked perplexed.

"How do you know my name?" She gasped and put a hand to her throat reflexively.

"Please forgive me, Miss, but I heard you and your friend Grace speaking before, I knew which you were because of your sweet voice that sounds like a melody." This made Vivianne blush, not quite a red but a slight orange tint to her beautiful golden complexion. The sight of that blush nearly knocked Tobias off his feet, he thought it the most adorable blush he had ever seen from anyone, anywhere and that would likely always be so.

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