The Preparation

In the castle, the Queens personal maiden Ruth was preparing the basic stuff the Queen was going to need. Three days ago the Queen went to King Rufus her husband to ask for permission to visit her mother, she rarely goes on such journeys so the king allowed thinking that she has missed her mother since her mother hasn't been here for a while. Outside the castle the king prepared a large royal entourage for her. She didn't know about this preparation since her visit came at a short notice. Ruth had already prepared for everything when she rushed back the Queen to report the changes that has been made. She did not like the sound of it. She dismissed Ruth, thought for a while, regained her composure and went to her husband to talk to him . He was in the royal garden , where different kinds of flowers has been grown ranging the most beautiful to the one with the nicest smell. They both love the garden and she in particular, spends a lot of time there. It has been her safe haven, whenever she was troubled.

As she approached the king, she noticed he was with Jackson Wood , one of the king's royal advisers. She has always viewed him to be creepy and sucking up to the King to gain favour. She suspects he is the cause for the fall and dismissal of most the royal officials but she has not been able to figure him out.

"Your Majesty I'll take my leave now" Jackson said with a bow . Before leaving the King told him to hold on. " Her highness " he said as he bowed to the Queen as she got there . Though the King has a lot of concubines , he still loves his wife and treats her well. He never had a second wife despite the many beautiful women he has at his call. King Rufus stood up and held her hands and said affectionately " I have prepared a royal entourage for your travel, I don't want you to lack anything whiles on your journey and also ..." before he finished his sentence she interrupted. " My King, about that, I don't think that will be necessary, I am just going to visit my mother to have some quality time with her " there was a trace of disappointment on his face and the bright smile on his face began to fade. He raised his hand and signalled Jackson to leave with the guards around. He turned to her and argued " that's more reason for you to go with the royal entourage. I don't want you nor your mother to stress yourselves there." Seeing that she might lose this argument and didn't want to go with the entourage, she used their daughter as an excuse. She said " Dear husband, I will be going with little Yasmine , you know she has little contact with the outside world and has little knowledge about it except for what she reads, I want her to have some alone time with her grandmother too." He responded with a look of defeat, he sighed and said " Alright you can go alone but not without Garret, I wanted you to go with Jackson so he could report everything back to me but since you women want some alone time, I'll stop that arrangement but you have to write me and send a word when you get there also don't hesitate to call for help if you need any". He said this and placed a kiss on her forehead ,telling her to go get ready.