The Princess & the Dragon

Chapter 14: Being a Lady

The wind blows through the sky like a bolt leaving a whistling sound echoing on the grounds below. I feel its softness brush against my cheek as I close my eyes and smile. Today, while I stand near the window in my room, I embrace the land I currently live in. Any girl would dream and wish upon all the stars to be here. I am fortunate enough to have parents that are related to Kings and Queens that rule lands that not many know exist.

As I stand in my blue dress with my hair pulled back in braids, I can't think of a time that I've been so lucky.

Then there's a small knock on my bedroom door. I turn around to see an older woman standing in the hall. She's dressed in a purple pencil skirt and blouse with her black hair pulled back into a tight bun. Her red, rosy cheeks are hidden behind thin black framed glasses. Her nose, round and petite, points upward. There is a black bag hanging from her shoulders. She carries it with much force and drops it down with a heavy bang. While she walks, her black heels click and clack against the wooden floor.

"Greetings dear, my name is Rosa Brooks."

Mrs. Brooks the woman Kerlin hired to train me to be a lady has traveled a long way to be here. As exciting as it might sound to Dila or Marie, I don't want to learn how to be a lady. I want to be outside under a tree on this windy summer day reading a book or picking flowers.

"I want to inform you on some things I will be teaching you during lessons. You will learn how to sit, walk, dance, and speak properly."

"Dance?" I lift my head to look at her. She pays no attention to my question and keeps her eyes away from me.

"Your first lesson will be with this." She reaches into her black bag and pulls out a leather book. It's big, maybe five hundred pages thick. She tosses it to me, and I catch it between my arms and knees. "Walk with that balanced on your head."

I set the book on the top of my head, drop my arms at my sides and begin to walk around the room. It drops instantly and she orders me to try again.

"Chin up, stop slouching."

I do what she says and walk around with my chin pointing up. The book wobbles and I lock my fingers around the binding to keep it from falling. The bottom of my dress catches on my toes and I trip. I almost fall but catch myself and the book from falling on the floor.

"Now, try to sit with the book on your head. Don't hold on."

I release my hold from the book and walk around the room with it balanced on my head. I sit down in the chair next to the window. The moment I'm fully in the chair I exhale, and the book falls off my head and hits the floor.

"Again." She yells out. I reach down to pick up the book. Before I set it on my head she grabs a pair of black heels out of her bag. "Wearing these."

She's got to be joking. I only wore heels once in my life and it was to a school dance. It was a complete disaster and the whole time I tripped. By the end of the night I kicked the heels off and danced in the gym barefoot. "I can't walk in those." I say to warn her.

"Learn to try Miss." So I do.

For the next hour I walk around my room wearing the heels attempting to balance the book on my head. I fail more times than I keep count of and as I sit in the chair the book falls once more. I sigh out, drop my shoulders and my head in exhaustion.

"That's enough for today." She collects the book and heels and puts them back into her bag. Just as she goes to walk out the door she turns to me and says. "Until tomorrow miss."

"Tomorrow?" I sit up. "I thought this was a one-time thing?"

Her mouth lifts and she smiles. "No miss, you have more to learn."