Chromatic

Anastasia

"Good morning, Princess Anastasia. What would you like for breakfast?" A woman asked as she opened the curtains to my windows, waking me.

The bright light blinded my eyes as it filled the room. I extended out my hand to try and block it but, It didn't help.

"Nothing," I yawned, stretching; she had grabbed a brush and a dark blue ribbon from the top of my vanity.

I swung my legs off the bed and looked at her. She was barely taller than me and her hair, a soft blonde filled with far too many white streaks for her age, was in a messy bun. I knew this woman well, her name was Daisy.

As she sat on the edge of the bed beside me, I watched in the mirror as she began to comb through the mess of my tangled hair. I noticed my light blue nightgown was wrinkled, and I had some drool in the corner of my mouth. I quickly wiped it from my face as I listened to Daisy speak.

"But your majesty, I do suggest that you eat something this morning." She told me, "The noble family of the north, Lahabiels, is to meet with you and King Alexander at noon for lunch."

"Daisy," I sighed, "do I have to?"

I watched in the mirror as she tied the dark ribbon into a simple bow. My hair was now a neat bun except for the two wispy tendrils of hair, one on each side of my face. I can never copy the hairstyle no matter how hard I try.

"Anastasia, I insist you eat something today or at the very least before the Lotor arrives." Daisy sighed; she got up to put my brush back on the vanity.

The thought of Lotor sent a cold shiver down my spine. It began to feel like my stomach had a thousand butterflies fighting for space and the floor was swaying beneath me. A pounding started inside my head as childhood memories began to flood my thoughts.

"Yeah, I think I'll skip breakfast today," I said, laying on my back staring at the ceiling.

Daisy sat down beside me, holding an outfit for the day.

"Anastasia," Daisy softly whispered, "how about you get dressed, then we go back to figuring out what breakfast should be?" She gently placed her hand on my shoulder.

I sat up and looked at the clothes. It was a set of different pieces. A long-sleeved light yellow shirt and the corset were the same color as the dark blue ribbon in my hair. The corset was to be put over my shirt and tied tight with a yellow ribbon.

The skirt was the same blue as the corset, but it faded into the same yellow as the ribbons. The petticoats under it were the color of the shirt. Blue and yellow the same as every other outfit I own.

Sighing, I stood up and grabbed the shirt. Anything was better than thinking about lunch today, but as Daisy helped me get dressed, she began to talk about it.

"Daisy, I know that today's lunch is about," I told her, annoyance slipping into my voice, "the Sova Trial, and how the Lahabiel family is in charge of it."

I slipped on the third petticoat to my outfit; as Daisy began to fit the corset.

"I just wanted to make sure that you knew," she replied, beginning to tie the corset. "You do understand that even though-"

"Even though this isn't an arranged marriage, it might as well be?" I interpreted, we slipped on the final piece of my outfit; the skirt.

"No," she looked me in the eye, "even though the Lahabiels and your father plan to rig the Sova Trial, so Lotor wins. Someone else could wind up winning."

"Even so, it's not very likely," I glanced out the window, "And talking about this has only made me lose an appetite I might have had to begin-" I felt a knock on the back of my head as I tried to finish my sentence.