Chapter 1
Three months after the wedding
The prince had returned to his daily habits and Ella was left alone in the palace day after day. Used as she’d been to working all day long, she roamed around the palace looking for something to do. Every time she found something to straighten up or clean, a servant would rush over and do it for her.
“Oh, your majesty,” one of the palace stewards scolded her, “If something isn’t to your liking, let one of these maids handle it.”
“But I’m so bored. I was looking for something to do,” she groused.
“Well, you’re can go down to the music room and listen to our harpists or cantors or, if you want, one of the minstrels will teach you how to play the lute or flute.”
Ella nodded, still not satisfied with her options.
“Or you can go down to the reading room. There are lots of old books and pamphlets there, and you do have your own drawing room right down the hallway from your chambers.”
Ella heaved a deep sigh. “I suppose,” she said as she walked away.
* * * *
One afternoon she sat in her drawing room looking at all the drawings she’d started in the week past. Lady Kathereen, one of the young ladies-in-waiting in the court, entered the room.
“Good afternoon, your Highness. I’ve brought you more parchment for your drawings. You work so quickly that the king has had to have several trees cut down to make more paper. I can’t remember anyone working as fast as you.”
Lady Kathereen looked around at all the drawings spread out around the room. “I especially like that one of your hand. It’s so lifelike!”
“Really?”
“Oh, yes, your Highness.”
“I have to admit that I traced my hand to make sure it was the right size.”
“But it’s perfect!”
“Oh, Kathereen, it’s not! I have no idea why I even have a drawing room. I’ve never been artistic in my life. Actually, I hate drawing!”
“But your Highness!”
“And I hate that term, too.”
“But you’re higher than everyone else. You’re the third most important person in the whole kingdom.”
“Then what am I supposed to call everyone? Your Lowness? Are you your Middleness? That seems ridiculous.”
Kathereen broke out laughing. “Yes, I guess it is. Would you rather I call you your Grace? Or your Majesty? Then what should I call you?”
“Ella!” Ella said. “That’s the name my mother gave me.”
“Oh no, I could never be that presumptuous.”
“Sure you can. You call me Ella and I’ll call you…what? Do you like Kathy?”
Kathereen shook her head.
“Then Kat?”
Again she shook her head.
“Reen?”
Kathereen grinned shyly. “My mother called me Reeny, but I’ve always wanted to be called Reno.”
“Reno? I like that. From now on I’ll call you Reno.”
“But…what will everyone say?”
Ella thought about it for a moment. “It will be our little secret. No one else has to know.” She gave her friend a big smile.
“That sounds wonderful…Ella.”
“Yes, it does, Reno. Now, let’s get out of this drawing room. And I do not want to go to the sewing room, or the music room, the dining room, the reading room, or any place else where you have to do something specific. What I’d really like is to go outside. I haven’t breathed good open air in weeks.”
“But we have to get so dressed up to go out in public!”
“Then we won’t go out in public. We’ll sneak out a back way and go ambling in the fields.”
“Really?”
“Sure. Gundy does it all the time. He’s been doing it for years. If he can do it, I can, too. We can, too.”
“Oh, this is so exciting!”
“Let’s put old clothes on, so we won’t have to worry about getting anything dirty. Go and change and meet me in the hall behind the kitchen.”
Reno nodded.
“And, let’s wear peasant clothes. It’s so much nicer walking in the woods and in the fields without worrying you’re going to rip something or trip over your long skirt.”
“Oh, Ella!”
“Wear sturdy shoes, too. Hurry now so we’ll have the entire afternoon.”
Ella hugged Reno and they both dashed off to get ready for their adventure.
* * * *
They met in the hallway a few minutes later. Ella was dressed in a drab old shirt and a long skirt that she’d borrowed from the laundry. Her long honey-colored hair was fanned out across her shoulders. Reno was wearing one of her brother’s old school outfits and had her hair tied up under a dirty drover’s cap. They looked at each other with laughter and mischief in their eyes.