kitchen_maid | (no subject)

(no subject)

The Queen's Rooms in the palace in Amber are very grand, very golden, and very un-Amy. But they've only been hers for a month and a half, and she hasn't been here most of that time. She'll get around to getting them changed to suit her. What matters to her is that she's found the door to Milliways at the back of her wardrobe.

Which means she can have guests.

And who better to bring as a first guest in Ambergeldar than her princess protege?

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"Yay! Let's go!" She tugs Amy's hand as she pulls her through the door and back into the hallway. Ingress leads the way until she remembers she has no idea where the ballroom is. She falls back to walk side-by-side with Amy. "Is it far from here?"

Castles are big. It's different when you go through paintings - less hallways to walk down.

"Not too far," promises Amy. "All the formal rooms are more or less together."

And by castle standards, it's not too far.

It's a huge and very grand room. Amy goes to the far end to pull back the curtains and let some light in.

"What do you think, Princess Ingress?"

"Wow!"

There is a ballroom in the House of Arch. It is nowhere near as grand as this.

"And I can run if I like?"

She's already taking off her slippers.

"Of course," says Amy. "Run, jump, hop, skip, slide, dance, twirl, wobble, anything you like."

Pause.

"I think flying might be out of the question, but anything else."

She runs and then sliiiiiides.

Unfortunately she slides right into a suit of armor, knocking it over with a huge clank and clatter.

"Oh no!"

"It's all right, Ingress," says Amy. "It's an especially silly place for someone to leave a suit of armor anyway."

The crash and clatter bring a couple of footmen running, and Amy puts them in charge of collecting and removing the pieces.

"What shall we do next?"

She looks over her shoulder as the footmen take care of things. Poor footmen. Tom would have set it right with magic.

"Um. I know! Can we have a little snack before tea?"

"Of course we can," says Amy. "We can go back to my rooms, or out to the garden . . ."

They can't go to the kitchens, though. It's best not to run the risk of someone recognizing the former fourteenth assistant kitchen maid.

"Garden! Do you have roses?"

"My dear Princess Ingress, what would a palace garden be without roses?"

Amy has a few words with one of the footmen about having cake and cider sent out to the garden, then takes Ingress' hand.

"I think we'll have a snack in the folly, if that suits you. It's near the roses."

"Why's it a folly?"

That's a word Ingress doesn't know.

"It's almost like a very tiny ancient temple, only it's not meant to be a temple, but it has columns and a roof, and this one has a table and chairs in the middle of it, so it's a lovely place to have a snack or play games."

Amy grins.

"It will probably make more sense when you see it."

"Oh, okay! Can we play games? What games do queens play?"

She holds Amy's hand as they make there way through a few more hallways, her head swiveling back and forth to take in the large portraits and tapestries as they go. Finally they walk outside into the fresh air.

"It's a pretty day! I'm having fun, Amy."

"Mostly I play chess," says Amy. "But we can always make up our own game."

A very warm smile.

"I'm so glad, Ingress. You're my first guest in Ambergeldar, so it's very important that you have a marvelous time."

"I am."

She points to a conveniently placed croquet set. "What's that stuff?"

"Croquet," says Amy. "I'm not terribly good at it, and I don't know the proper rules at all, but we can whack the balls around, if you like."

"That sounds like fun! I want the blue ball." She takes out a croquet mallet and a blue ball and begins whacking. She whacks it pretty far. She runs to it and then whacks it even farther.

"You're supposed to try to whack it through the little arches," says Amy, laughing.

They might be called wickets. She can't remember.

She knocks the red ball neatly though a . . . whatever it is.

"Oh, that's cool!" She whacks the red ball through the wicket and it knocks against Amy's. "Oops!"

"No, that might actually be what you're suppose to do," says Amy. "Knock other people's balls out of the way. I do wish I knew how to play properly, Ingress."

"I think this is proper just like it is. Let's use all the balls now!"

She takes out the green ball and knocks her blue one out of the way.

"All right," agrees Amy, and sends the yellow one skittering into the mix.

It's only vaguely like a game of croquet, but they enjoy themselves a great deal, and are still laughing about it when the footmen arrive with their cakes and cider.

"Oh yummy! Thank you very much, kind sirs," she says to the footmen.

Then she sits down and happily eats cake (which crumbles all over her borrowed finery) and slurps cider (which leaves a little mustache, but she remembers to use her napkin).

The footmen bow and take their leave. (Later there'll be gossip about the new queen and her guests and their odd behaviour, but Amy expects that. It's what servants in palaces do -- talk about the nobility.)

Amy settles into her chair comfortably, and nibbles her own cake, with slightly fewer crumbs.

But it's a crumbly sort of cake, really.

Ingress also settles in happily. "We're lucky we get to live in castles and houses like mine. I like having fairy stories come true."