𝙂𝙧𝙚𝙚𝙠 𝙏𝙧𝙖𝙜𝙚𝙙𝙮

3.

3. Friendships and dresses

The sunlight filtering through the windows woke me sooner than I expected, I was sitting in bed by the time Esmerelda came by to wake me, just like she said she would yesterday. I was occupied by the birds flying past the balcony to even hear her walk through the door, a bright smile on her face.

"Good morning princess, I see you are already awake." Esmerelda comments, her brown hair twisted into a low bun to keep out of her eyes. Her emerald green eyes sparkled as she looked through the windows, following the birds as I was.

"Good morning Esmerelda, and I thought I told you to call me just (Y/n)?" I say with a laugh, turning my attention away from the birds to my new friend. She smiles awkwardly, her hands trailing down her small frame, smoothing out non-existent wrinkles and other imperfections. She looked into my eyes with a soft expression.

"You did, it's an old habit of mine, (Y/n)," She says, coming to the bed and sitting on the edge as I lean against the wooden headboard. "I've never had a royal want to be my friend, so this is quite new to me."

"Well, I'm not the greatest at making friends, so this is new to me as well," I laugh, Esmerelda joining in as well. "We can learn how to be functioning people together."

"I'd like for nothing more." Esmerelda stays with me for most of the morning, asking some questions to get to know me better, as I do to her. I learned that the boy yesterday, Evan, was her younger cousin who wanted to be a painter when he grew up, but needed some money to buy his supplies. I learned she was almost 25, four years older than I was, I also learned that she was from the east, explaining her tanned skin. I never really noticed, I just paid attention to her eyes, the emerald green very intriguing to say the least.

She told me about the east after I told her I had never been there. She told me about the salty spray of the ocean and how the coral reefs on the east coast were gorgeous, along with the wide variety of sea creatures that lived there. Esmerelda told me about the sunken ship that she and her family used to swim out to every summer, how she got stung by a jellyfish while inside of it. I listened to every bit of her story, never letting my mind wonder from her words. Last night I said I wanted her to read me a story, and I was not disappointed.

She explained things with her expressions, her laugh contagious. Esmeralda's eyes would light up when she talked about her family, the things they used to do together when she visited home. She talked about her life before deciding to work for Tartarus, she explained how she came to this conclusion after her father fell ill and they didn't have the money for him to be properly treated by a physician. She described every detail with such passion, I felt like I was actually there, like I was experiencing everything with her. She kept telling me small stories while I got ready for the day, and I loved every bit of it.

Esmerelda helped me wash my hair in the bathroom, still telling me about her life upon my request. I couldn't see her face or her expressions, but her voice conveyed so much emotion, so much life that I didn't need to see her face to understand the emotion she wanted me to feel. I held back laughter as she poured the water over my (h/l), (h/c) hair, rinsing the soap from the strands. I was trying to not get water up my nose after she told a joke, that ended in disaster.

"I'm so sorry (Y/n)!" Esmerelda laughed, patting my back as I choked on the water and my own laughter. She helped me dry my hair with one of the fluffy towels after I recovered, all of the soap gone from my head, and I asked for more stories from her life. Esmerelda lived such an interesting life. had so many stories to tell, I found myself always wanting more.

"Then we slipped down the hill into the giant mud pit, my mom was beyond angry!" I laughed for what seemed like the seventieth time in the past hour, more so than I normally do in a week. Esmerelda had her hands tangled in my hair as I sat at my vanity, cutting apple slices with a knife on the tray from last night, splitting the fruit between the two of us. The brown haired woman behind me curled my hair up into lovely braid, the way she twisted the strands around her hands was like magic. I soon ran out of hair, and food.