“You’re… You’re eating my friend.” Gale said in disbelief.
She blinked in surprise before removing the apple from her mouth to look at it and spying half a face.

“A valiant sacrifice by a loyal subordinate to keep his princess alive” she said with a playful flourish. Gale stared blankly.

“I even rewarded him with the kiss of a princess” She added encouragingly.
“You bit half his face off!” said Gale offended.
“Our lips still touched.” She shrugged dismissively.

She eyed him for a reaction but let out a giggle after a second.
            “Look, I can return him if you want but…” she trailed off, smiling at the chunk bitten out of it and then looking at Gale.
            “…No, its fine.” Gale sighed.

The girl finished the rest of the apple quickly as Gale got back to work.
            “So!” She said after hurriedly swallowing the apple “Was it you who grew all those dandelions?”
Gale looked up in surprise before chuckling lightly to himself.
            “Yeah, that’s me. I wasn’t expecting it to summon you though.” He replied.
            “Summon? The indignance.” She said haughtily, turning up her nose. “I’d be careful if I were you, it’s not just me you summoned.” She added, pointing behind him. Gale turned to see two slaves on the other side of the garden, quickly approaching. They were dressed a bit more elegantly than him, there was more shine to their uniform and they were decorated with a few gold elements.
            “Her Royal Highness, good day to you. You look as radiant as ever.” Said one, a tall slave with a square chin. The other with more smoother features, simply bowed.
            “Mmhmm” She responded dismissively, looking away. The slave turned back to Gale.
            “I’m on orders from His Royal Highness, we’re to find the source of the large number of dandelions seeds that were sent into the sky. Do you know anything of it?”

Nervousness welled up in Gale, but it was slightly lightened when he saw a slight smile on the face of the other slave when the dandelions were mentioned.
            “Uhhh, yes. That was me. Is that a problem?” Gale said, caught off guard.
            Wait, I can talk to them!? Gale thought to himself.
            “That’s up to His Royal Highness” he replied.
            “I mean, the Queen has definitely executed slaves for less” The other slave muttered idly.
            “Executed?!” Said Gale holding his breath.
            “That won’t be necessary. He grew them under my order.” Said the princess, piping up suddenly.
            “Your highness?” He said with a hint of suspicion. “With all due respect the King ordered me to find the true reason behind this. I’m not convinced that-” Said the slave apprehensively before being cut off.
            “My word, does father have you painting walls in your spare time? It was for entertainment. Fun. Is that so strange? Why do you even think I’m here?” She said flourishing her hands.

            “…Isn’t her highness supposed to be studying right now?” He said gingerly.
            “I am, and yet I am not. What of it? I’m a princess, that means I can do what I want.”
            “But the king-”
            “I do not care! I’m the princess, I outrank him!”

The two slaves looked at each other in confusion.
            “Oh you doubt me?! Tell me, in a crisis, who gets out first?” She said in her bossiest tone. “Correct” she said, barely giving them time to open their mouths. “The women and children, of which I am both. Furthermore, when I was being born, who waited on me? Correct, the King and Queen. In fact, all my life my needs were supplied by them and never the other way around. The king serves me; therefore, I outrank him.”
The two slaves looked utterly baffled, unclear on how serious she was.
            “Do you still doubt me? Or are you satisfied now that a teenage girl with infinite power might decide to put down a book?”
They looked at each other for input but couldn’t come up with anything. Nevertheless, they seemed convinced that she did in fact order this. Apologising for the disturbance they turned away. Gale breathed a sigh of relief as they left. The princess broke composure and giggled after they were out of earshot.
            “Maybe you’re not that bad after all. Thanks.” Gale said with a relieved smile. But she cocked her head at him and smiled sinisterly.
            “Ohohoh! Are you sure about that? I only did that so you can start growing those dandelions for me instead!” She said cockily, her wings flapping in place as she laughed.
            “Oh.” Said Gale, his smile fading.
            “And if you try to get out of it, I’ll say I was just covering for you to be nice!” She added sinisterly. Gale almost took the sentence as is, but then he squinted his eyes in confusion as he realised something.
            “…Can’t you just… order me to do it?” Said Gale, surprised. The girl laughed.
            “I could…” She said flapping her wings and sliding off the post to hover just above Gale’s eye level.
            “But orders are too easy….” She said reaching forward and putting his hands on Gale’s cheeks.
            “I’m a real princess, so I want real followers.” She spoke. There was a mystifying look in her eye as she stared into Gale’s.
            “And you’re going to get them with threats?” Gale mocked with a half-smile. She shrugged as if it didn’t matter to her before pushing back slightly and landing in a flourish.

Gale sighed and turned back to the garden, ready to continue work before he remembered something.
            “Do you know why I could talk to them? I’ve never been able to talk to anyone else before.”
            “Well, yes. They’re higher-ranking slaves. Once bottom rank slaves leave training, higher-ranking slaves are the only ones they’re allowed to talk to.” She said while stretching.
            “I don’t even remember being given an order like that…” Replied Gale, puzzled.
            “That’s because a lot of your orders were actually given to you when you were a baby.”  She replied matter-of-factly
            “That can happen!?” Gale said exasperated.
            “I suppose it makes sense you never talked to any higher-ranks before, we don’t much use the eastern quadrant. We hardly use any of this land really.” She said idly as she picked out a flower from the garden to put in her hair.
            “…This is the first time I’ve talked to anyone since training.” Said Gale reflecting on his loneliness.
            “You mean the royal family?” She said, looking around “That doesn’t surprise me. Mother and father hate lavender so they probably avoided this garden. Honestly, it’s a wonder how you managed to get a hold of so much of it.”
            “The lavender? Why? It smells so sweet, and it looks so unique.”
            “Can’t say I really fathom it either… At any rate” she said opening her wings and lifting herself into the air. She hovered for a few seconds, sending dust out from the ground around her.
            “When can I expect the dandelions again?”
            “Uhh I don’t really know, I kind of just grew them until they were ready? Wasn’t keeping track of time.”
            “Pfft. My, my, how unorganised.” She giggled. “I guess I’ll have to check back every now and then, won’t I? My new follower.” She smiled.
Gale didn’t really know what to think of her as she flew off towards one of the towers on the estate. She wasn’t the nicest, but Gale wasn’t bored, so that was enough.

Upon returning to the garden the following morning, Gale was surprised to find the girl already there. She had a violin bow in her hands and was ducking in and out of the overhangs of the mangrove tree, randomly smacking the surrounding plants and overhanging branches with the violin bow like it was a two-handed sword.

            “Hey careful with that.” He said raising his voice a little. The girl stopped but didn’t apologise, it seemed more like she got distracted instead.
            “Good morning.” She said cheerfully.
Upon getting closer, Gale realised she was covered in little surface scratches and light bruises. Gale asked her what happened, but she looked at the bruises on her arm and giggled knowingly.
            “Sorry, I shouldn’t really explain it. We keep secrets from our slaves for a reason.” She said, winking at him. Gale blinked in confusion before looking at the bow.
            “Is the sword a secret too? It’s not like any I’ve ever seen” He asked.
            “This is a violin bow.” She said, dumbfounded.
            “…Did you not have any arrows?” Gale replied, also dumbfounded.
            “…No its not a…Wow, you really have been alone this whole time.” She said blankly      “Oh my word, have you ever even heard music before? Or dancing?” She said, genuinely fascinated.
            “It’s not something I ever learnt in training.”

            “We don’t typically teach it; musicians and entertainers are some of the few jobs we import people for. But music is… music is like…”
She averted her gaze to think, lightly smacking the palm of her hand with the bow

            “Music is like… Well, when you use this with its other half…” She said brandishing the bow. “You can recreate the sounds birds make. And ‘dancing’ is when people spin around and move their bodies to match it” She concluded. Gale’s expression filled with whimsy. But her expression changed in response.
            “Guhh, not you too? It’s so boring! I’m sick of being dragged to those lessons.” She grumbled.
            “But it sounds so beautiful…” He said, still in awe.
            “Who cares? I’m sure if it had any use, father would train me himself. I wanted to learn to fight with my brother but noooo, I can’t, I’m not the youngest!” She ranted. Gale opened his mouth to question why being the youngest would matter but suddenly her expression changed to enthusiasm.
            “But that’s why I’m here! You know how to use a sword correct?” She spoke. Gale nodded.

            “So, you’ll train me instead, simple!” she said pointing the violin bow at him.
Bad memories welled up in Gale as he thought back to all the wolves he killed.
He looked at the girl seriously. This time it was Gale who tried to explain a concept that the other wasn’t familiar with.
            “But...Fighting is painful, and it can be frightening. And even if you don’t die, eventually… parts of you won’t work anymore. Are you sure you want to fight?” He said solemnly.
It looked like this caught her off guard, almost frightening her. She became reserved and lowered her head to consider it for a second.
            “Mmm. No, perhaps not.” She replied weakly.
            “Then why?”
She paused for a second, but it didn’t seem like it was to think. It was as if something was building in her. When she finally looked up again, she looked at Gale with deep mystifying eyes. The leaves and plants around them began to rustle as if blown by a wind that wasn’t there, and a flock of finches and other small birds suddenly took off from nearby bushes.

            “I want to prove I can. Because I don’t like being told ‘no’.” She said plainly.

Something about her demeanour was almost intimidating, eerie even. It caught Gale off guard, but he chuckled after a second.
            “Hahah, perhaps we have that in common. I’ve been told ‘no’ my entire life.” He smiled. She lightly smiled too.
            “What’s your name?” He asked.
            “Puffrel.” She replied curiously.
Gale took the violin bow from her, holding it between a thumb and a forefinger he swished it around, but never moved it too far away from in front of his chest.
            “Try using quick and controlled motions, you’ll leave yourself open swinging a short sword like a club.” He lectured. Puffrel’s expression lit up at this.

Taking the bow back, she began to practice with occasional input from Gale while he did his own work. She had practiced some stances, holds and basic drills before it got be around midday and she realised she had to leave for lunch.

“If you meet me at sundown, I can show you the drills with a real sword.” Said Gale.
            “As expected.” She said pompously, warming up her wings for take-off. Gale scoffed.
            “Not the most grateful, are you?” he said dryly.
            “What’s your name?” She asked, suddenly turning back around but seemingly ignoring his comment.
            “Gale.”
            “Next time, I’ll bring the other half of the violin, okay Gale?” She smiled sincerely.
A surprised Gale smiled back.
            “I’d like that.”

As Gale watched her disappear behind one of the surrounding towers, a fluffy blue bird landed in the weeping willow and started to sing. Thinking back to Puffrel’s description of dancing, he placed one foot behind him and tried to spin.
But he froze. His body wouldn’t let him. He clenched his fist.
            What kind of cruel person would order me to not to do something as innocent as dance?