Settling In

After Prince Jake left me in my room, I ate the food that Ophie brought for me. I didn't know what else to do at the moment. I was out of my element at this point. Both in my real life and my current story book life. I didn't know if I should go to sleep. Find some clothes to get dressed. Or whatever else there was for me to do. I mean, what was a girl living in a castle supposed to do with herself?

I would probably spend most of my time reading and things like that. That was probably all that people in castles did when they weren't running the kingdom. This was probably a pretty boring existence. Man, I was really glad that I wasn't actually a princess in my real life. I liked having freedom and things to do.

The food was good, and it gave my body the strength that it needed. I felt like I could walk perfectly fine on my own now at least. And wasn't that a good thing?

I still wanted to end this story as soon as I could. And that meant that I needed to talk to the prince. And it meant that I needed to get married. Part of me wanted to say 'ick' and 'eww'. I never wanted to get married. Not that I was against it, I just hadn't had the desire yet. And now here I was, forced to marry someone.

"At least it's only a story." I whispered to myself. "Well, guess I need to get out of here. Also, I need to get dressed. Do I have any of my clothes here? What am I going to wear?" I was talking to myself like I was some crazy person. Yup, just what I needed. The castle staff was going to see me talking to myself and I would be locked away in a dungeon or tower somewhere wearing whatever medieval version of a straight jacket that this world had. Hello, cuckoo's nest, I have reservations for one.

Well, Prince Jake told me to pull the cord when I needed something, anything at all. I needed clothes. And I needed to see the prince. I was pretty sure that no matter what my recent health might have been, continuing to walk through the castle in my pajamas would be frowned upon.

"Hahh." Already the woes of castle life were getting to me. And I was just imagining it right now. None of it had actually happened to me yet. "Sheesh." I shuddered at the thought. "This is going to suck, isn't it?"

I pulled the cord and heard the faint sound of a bell tingling in the distance. I doubted that the bell was in the room. In truth, it was probably just the vibrations of the sound moving through the cord all the way back to my room. It was odd though, knowing that it was far away yet still audible.

It only took a few moments for someone to respond to the bell. There was a knock on the door and a voice called out to me.

"You called for assistance, Miss?" These people rarely used names, did they?

"Yes. Please, do come in." At my words, the maid opened the door and came hurrying inside.

"What can I help you with, Miss?" She was bowing to me and kneeling on the floor so that I was towering above her. I never towered over anyone, so this was kind of nice, even if it was just for a moment.

"I require something to wear. I do not know where I will find my clothes, or if any of them were even brought here for me. I also need to see the prince. He told me to come see him when I was ready. Now that I am finished with my meal, I am ready to speak to him." She had raised her head when I started to talk and was looking at me with observant eyes.

"Yes, Miss. I will get you something right away. I know that the prince and the king have ordered some clothes for you. Your father and a friend of yours brought clothes that fit you so that the seamstress could make something that fit you. I do not think that a gown is necessary at the moment, as there is none available at the moment. However, there have been some things finished while you slept." I wondered for a moment how she knew all of this. Was it required that all of the staff stay up to date on these things? "I am sorry, Miss. We staff tend to talk when exciting things happen. I didn't mean to surprise you." Apparently, my shock showed on my face.

"That is fine. What is your name?" I would rather know this woman's name than just refer to her as hey you. That wasn't nice or polite to anyone.

"Me Miss? I..I am Fria. I work in the kitchens. Now, if you will excuse me, Miss. I will go and fetch some things for you. Then I will take you to visit the prince."

"Thank you."

She bowed her head again and then rushed out of the room. She must know this place like nothing else, because she was only gone for a few minutes before she made it back with a dress in her hands.

"This should work for you, Miss." The dress in her hands was simple yet elegant. It was much like something I would see in an animated version of Cinderella, including the fact that it was blue. Was that a staple color of this story or something? Or was it picking that because of me?

"Thank you, Fria." I nodded at her. "I will dress myself and then you can guide me to the prince." I started to take the dress then remembered something. "Oh, Fria, I do not have shoes." I was actually looking down at my bare feet.

"Ah, yes, allow me to fetch you a pair of castle slippers."

I was already in the dress by the time that she came back. I was ready to go aside from the shoes. She presented the castle slippers to me then. And as it turns out, those 'slippers' were actually a pair of soft, black leather shoes with a flexible sole. I guess that they were more slipper-like than shoe-like, but I would have no problem wearing them outside. As long as I wasn't planning to walk on the gravel or something. They would do just fine in the summer.

Fria guided me from the room then. She took me down the hall and to the next corridor over. I remembered Prince Jake telling me that he and I were in neighboring hallways. This must be the hallway that his room was in. It's where his office was at least. Because when Fria knocked on the door and was advised to bring me in, I saw the inside of the office that the prince was in. It was very stereotypical of an office.

"Welcome, Ashenella, I am glad to see that you are well." I mentioned earlier that the people here didn't use names. Let me amend that. The people in the castle didn't. Not really. Prince Jake did though. He was always using my name like it was nothing at all.

"Thank you, Prince Jake. I am glad that you have been around to help me." I didn't know what else to say. I didn't know how I got to the castle or why I was here in the first place. I could guess, but that doesn't mean that I was right about it at all.

"Come in, come in. Have a seat here by the fire." There were two armchairs facing each other near the fireplace in his office. "Let us talk about things."

"Yeah. OK." I nodded, just glad that things were going so smoothly.

We were seated and facing each other, but that was about it. Neither of us seemed to be talking or wanting to talk. I didn't know why, but it was like we were both suddenly too shy to talk at all.

This had literally never happened to me before. I wasn't the type to get too scared to talk to someone. I might get too pissed off, but I was never too scared. What the hell was going on with me? Why was I acting like this?

"S..so, Ashenella, how are you doing now? Do you have more strength now that you have eaten?" Finally, the prince broke the silence that stretched between us.

"Oh, yes. I feel a lot better. And the food was very delicious."

"That is good." He smiled. At that moment, I had a sudden thought. I hated the name that this world had given me. I didn't want to hear it more than I had to.

"Prince Jake, can you please just call me Ash? I prefer that name." He smiled knowingly. It was like he knew what was going on before I said anything at all.

"I will only call you that if you call me Jake. I do not need the title from you." Well, I guess if we were to get married, I would have to call him by his name. Or rather, my character would. I would hopefully be gone before that would happen.

"I think that I can do that." I gave him a smile. It was genuine too. The words that I said, the attitude with it, the two combined made me want to laugh. This was not like me, but I wasn't feeling angry or upset. I was actually having a good time.