Kanaya brushed through the princess' long black hair, its usual raven waves had once again managed to tangle themselves up. Kanaya assumed the princess had been running down the beaches again, or doing something equally ridiculous on such a day when she was required to look her best. Luckily she at least had the common sense to not go running about in her new gown. Kanaya had taken months to design it to perfection, and she would not stand for anyone to be making a mockery out of it. She continued pulling the brush through the princess' hair, which was a task in itself as the girl would not stop squirming.
"Feferi, would you please stop moving? You are making it extremely difficult to untangle your hair." The girl looked at her lady in waiting with a slight smile
"Sorry Kanaya, Ill try to stop" Kanaya just sighed at the overly giddy girl. She wished that Feferi had simply been this excited over the prospect of meeting her fiancé, but she knew that wasn't the case. That was probably the only thing she had every seen Feferi cry over, her mother the current empress, was rather cruel towards her daughter, though this was not one of the times she had plotted specifically to make Feferi's life miserable, though this was perhaps the only truly successful scheme on that aspect. Try as she might Feferi could not forget the boy she had fallen for, his own heart was still unable to open up to hers, but she had hoped on day it would. But now with her upcoming engagement, Feferi was stuck, she could not break it off.
Kanaya finally finished brushing the princess' hair and pulled the sides back expertly, pinning them in place with an decorative comb that had been designed to match the new gown.
"Feferi are you ready to change" Kanaya's articulate voice pulled Feferi from her daydreams of the sea and back into reality.
"I suppose I am, the dress you designed is reely pretty!" Kanaya blushed at the sudden compliment, though she could tell the princess was desperately forcing her cheerful demeanor. Kanya grabbed the gown, and placed it in Feferi's hands, the girl quickly moved behind her changing screen and slid off the day dress she had been wearing that was slightly damp from the salt water. She pulled up the imperial purple dress, and tried to slide her arms into the sleeves, it was more of a challenge than she thought it would be.
"KANAYA! I REELY NEED SOME H-ELP!" Her voice echoed through the room, Kanaya quickly approached the girl, almost giggling at the sigh before her, the dress was on backwards, and somehow Feferi had managed to turn the sleves inside out as well. Kanaya expertly moved the dress around flipping the sleeves and helping Feferi Slide her arms into them. She then turned her attention to the corset, which was currently unattached to the dress. She put it in its proper place and began to lace the strings up quickly pulling them tightly and causing Feferi to let out a gasp of air.
"That is a bit tight Kanaya" The princess pouted, she disliked corsets, but Kanaya insisted on them, apparently they were the best thing fashion if you would believe Feferi's lady in waiting. Instead of listening, Kanaya simply tugged the strings a bit tighter, before finally looping them into a bow. Kanaya stepped back to appreciate her work. Feferi was simply goregous when she finally allowed herself to be dressed up, she was cute before, but standing before Kanaya Feferi was the essence of what royalty should look like. Noticing something missing from her perfect picture, Kanaya strode towards the vanity and opened the box. she pulled out the circlet that the Condesce had ordered for that day. It was beautiful, intricately woven gold wires supported little jewels that matched her dress perfectly. Kanaya placed it gently on Feferi's head, to the princess discontent. Feferi preferred her simple gold circlet that her nanny had given her, before she had passed away, but she would not be allowed such a privilege as to wear her normal garb on a special day as this.
One of the dangling jewels hit the center of Feferi's forehead. It was bothersome to the girl, she blew up attempting to remove it from her, but once the stream of air stopped the obstruction returned to her forehead clicking against it.
"Leave it be, You don't need to make a mess of it" Kanaya chastised Feferi, the girl had issues when she was required to behave.
With a loud crash a girl came bounding into the room. "Your guest has arrived Feferi!" She sounded breathless as she spoke.
"Haha Thank you Nepeta" Nepeta's antics always made Feferi giggle, Kanaya on the other hand was not as happy with the spastic tendencies of the young guard. A tall man entered the room slowly behind nepeta.
"Princess Feferi" He bowed deeply before the girl. "Lady Kanaya, I am terribly sorry for my apprentices lack of etiquette. I will take any punishment you wish her to receive upon myself." Nepeta looked ashamed as she heard his words. She never wanted to disappoint him.
"m don't worry! Nepeta is fine, I think she is wonderful!" Feferi enjoyed the company of the imaginative girl, nepeta was 2 years younger than Feferi though Kanaya thought they both acted like they were 3.
"While I must disagree with the Princes on the statement that Nepeta is 'Fine' no punishment is necessary for her behavior today" Kanaya felt Equius was far to eager to accept any form of punishment.
"Thank you Lady Kanaya, Princess" He bowed again in their direction. Feferi was typically amused by Equius' persistent bowing, he seemed like a bobble head constantly bowing and showing respect. At times Feferi found it tiring, she hated when anyone constantly reminded her of her stance, yet Equius managed to be amusing, probably due to such a massive man, bowing down to such a petite girl.
"Equius when did the guest arrive?" Kanaya asked the guard, trying to return to the issue at hand.
"He arrived a few minutes ago, He barely had time to introduce himself before Nepeta went running" Equius wiped the sweat from his brow, clearly exhausted from chasing down his apprentice.
"Very well, Thank you for passing on the message, I suppose you must apologize for your guards rudeness in running from one of our honored guests." Though Kanaya spoke to Feferi, she stared at Nepeta.
"I will Kanaya, I will." Feferi's disappointment in the guests arrival was extremely apparent.
"Feferi, I would appreciate it if you would mask your feelings right now, we can not have Lord Ampora thinking you to be a miserable girl now can we?"
"Very well Kanaya. I will be a gracious host, it is the least a princess can do, right?" Feferi smiled weakly. "Bye bye Kanaya, I will see you later, Nepeta, can you take me to our guest?"
"It would be my pleasure your highness!" Nepeta grabbed Feferi' s arm and began walking, Feferi was a few inches tallied than the girl, but Nepeta was still growing. Equius followed behind the two girls, assuring their safety whilst Nepeta chattered away trying to cheer up the watched them go, knowing her time with Feferi was limited, and soon Feferi would leave them all for good.
"Feferi, Lord Ampora is an interesting character" Nepeta giggled
"What do you mean?" Feferi was honestly curious, she did not want to be engaged, but she did like meeting new people.
"Well, he wore a large cape, which apparently are in style on Regille, and he had an expression on his face like this" Nepeta scrunched her facial features over exaggerating an expression of disgust.
"Nepeta, it is not polite to gossip" Equius stated, he had issues when his apprentice believed it to be okay to mimic the nobles that it was their duty to protect.
"Sorry, But I think Feferi deserves to know"
"Its okay Equius, I don't mind knowing her opinion" Feferi smiled at the guard knowing her opinion would be enough to silence his dislike.
"He is waiting in the throne room, Her Royal Condescension is entertaining him right now" Feferi was not happy her mother was the one who was speaking to him, it meant that she would not only have to do her best to appease a complete stranger, but also her mother, who was never pleased with anything Feferi did.
"Oh, I thought she was away on business"
"She returned today, she wanted to be able to preside over tonights ball." Equius always made sure he was aware when the condesce was back in the kingdom, he had to assure that all the palace royalty was safe, and he respected their power, but that did not guarantee that he liked them, and the condesce scared him more than anyone else. He liked to keep tabs on her location whenever he could.
"I suppose I must greet her then, and my guest" Feferi stopped in front of the throne room door.
"Allow me to introduce your arrival princess," Equius bowed slightly and entered the throne room.
"Good luck your highness" Nepeta smiled at Feferi. "Im sure it will all go well!"
"Thank you Nepeta" Feferi returned the girls smile. The door opened.
"Your highness, they are ready for you" Feferi grinned nervously at her guards and gently picked up her skirt walking through the open door.