Earth Nation

"CRASH!"
Croix sneered at the sound of the shattered glass. He really didn't want the first mistake he made to be in the beginning of the day.

"Boy, don't just STAND there gazing at the dishware! It's not going to pick itself up!"
"Sorry Ma'am...!" Croix replied to the woman that was in charge of the kitchen. He rushed to the other end of the room, picking up a washcloth and running back to the scene of the accident. He knelt down to the floor and tried to pick up the pieces with his bare hands, not aware of the hazards.
"Croix, Croix, Croix! You don't pick up broken glass with you fingers!" The woman shrieked, practically throwing a broom at him. Croix took the broom and began to sweep the remainder of the dishes up without a word. "Honestly Croix...every day you break at least something. I don't know what to do with you - the horse keeper doesn't want you, the blacksmith wont even let me mention your name, you destroy all the dishes in the house, spill the water while cleaning, what are you good for?!"

Croix hung his head at her words. "Do I even know myself? Has there ever been a time I was good at something?" He thought to himself sympathetically. You could see that his broom strokes got slower as he thought about his own worth. The woman stared at him for a few seconds, then sighed with a loud exhale. "Listen Croix, how about you leave this to me. The royal family is about to wake up and we have to hurry, so how about you just get some fresh air." You could hear the hesitation in the womans' voice, but something had to be done. Almost before she could finish saying anything else, Croix looked up at her with the most radiant smile, handed her the broom, and ran out of the kitchen. The woman watched him for a second, then turned back to the kitchen and directed the rest of the cooks in it. "Really, that boy is something else." She smirked while shaking her head.

Croix was heading outside where he always liked to visit, the patch by the small pond and the willow. As childish as one may think, Croix sometimes swung on the old and tattered swing that was hung on the old tree. But most of all, in the night he liked to gaze at the stars in the area. When he was here, he felt so free and calm. Before Croix could even begin to think about anything, he sat down on a soft patch of grass and lay silently. Then he started thinking.

Veta crouches on the ground, surrounded by an array of flowers - red roses. She is humming a tune to herself, oblivious to the dirt under her fingernails and the slight wind blowing her jet black hair around her face. This is somewhat of a tradition to the princess. She rises dutifully every morning at the break of dawn to work on her garden. Today happens to be planting day. Steadily, Veta turns the soil over, loosening it before she scoops it out in a neat hole just large enough for her to put her plants in. She started growing the roses in pots, enjoying their beauty each morning when she arose. It is time to let her children go, now, letting them grow freely into the earth that she loves so very much. With a satisfied pat, she plants the last of the flowers, whispering to them, "Grow tall and strong and beautiful."

Rising up, she gathers her skirts about her, brushing off her dirty hands. Her mother and father do not think it is dignified for a young princess such as herself to do a gardener's job, but her love for nature and planting overrides her desire to please her parents. "Apollo!" Veta calls, releasing a sharp whistle. Almost immediately, a rather large, light brown dog comes bounding around the corner, his lips turned up at the sides almost as if he is smiling. "It's time to go wash up," she says, patting him lovingly between the ears. "We wouldn't want to miss breakfast, would we?" Apollo just looks at her with that same near-smiling face that seems to hint at a higher intelligence than dogs are usually accredited with. The duo bounds off, heading back to the large, stone castle that they call home.

Azure chuckled and shook her head at the absolute disaster that seemed to be happening right before her eyes. It amused her that people put so much effort into treating her like a princess when she herself didn't bother give it a second thought. She lifted a hand and motioned for him to settle back down. "Calm down Porter. I don't need you killing yourself to pay respects to me." She placed her other hand on her horse's flank and stroked softly. "It's a stupid post anyway. If Anything I should be thanking you," she muttered.

Slowly she walked over to where the male sat and crouched down to play with the grass. "Because you do more work than I would ever be allowed to do. A princess should never learn to cook or clean or dress herself. It's all of you who deserve respect." And just barely she dipped her head to him with a small smile on her face and her eyes full of light. "Well, I should probably be getting back home before anyone realizes Dawn and I are gone. I hope to see you again soon.... Croix? May I call you that?" Azure stood back up and adjusted her blue hair in its ponytail feeling that it was too loose against the back of her head.

While she waited for his answer she went back to Dawn and stroked the mare's nose with a calm look. She absolutely loved her horse, it would be obvious to anyone. Yet, as much as her horse was gentle Dawn didn't like anyone. It was hard knowing that Azure would have to spend weeks getting Dawn to even think of liking someone but it was worth it. Especially knowing that she would soon be able to visit Marcus and maybe bring him back with her for a visit.

"Oh that would be nice wouldn't it Dawn? You'd love him. He's different like us," she whispered to the mare who seemed to understand every word. "Oh you will love him. I just know it."

It had been about half and hour since Azure passed by, taking her morning ride on Dawn. Croix picked up a strand of grass, twirling it as he lay still by the old willow tree. He looked upon the landscape, and it was tempting not to run away from the castle itself. He began to think of all the places he could visit, and the people he could meet. He'd have to leave the castle, but what exactly was keeping him from leaving? “The castle...” he thought. “...The castle!!” His body jerked upwards, he moved his legs and stood up in a matter of seconds. Immediately he began to run towards the back door, where all of the servants usually made an entrance, and rushed in, already smelling this morning's breakfast.

Peering into the small window that connected the dining room, he saw the royal family eating their divine meals. He gazed around the servant kitchen, and saw a plate with leftover eggs and some potatoes. Croix was never picky with his food, and didn't care as much to what it was, as long as it was food. Gently picking it up, a strip of paper fluttered down to the concrete floor, stating simply, “Croix”. The woman in the kitchen almost always saved some food for him, since he usually was never there in time for any of it. He quietly ate the meal right on the counter-top, and it didn't take him an elongated amount of time. Peering through the small window once again, he noticed that some of the servants and handmaidens ate in the room with the royals, but Croix never had that much confidence to do something like that. When he was finished, he simply waited in stuffed kitchen, wondering when some of the other servants would return to give him another job, that was, if he could.

Veta was not herself today. She felt out of it, drowning in her thoughts no matter how hard she tried to focus on the here and now. Though she knew what was coming, she knew she couldn't stop it, she couldn't stop her mind from racing, trying to find a way to stop the war and stay with her family and her gardens. How could she go to the wind nation where there were no flowers or trees? How could she be forced into such a horrible fate? Veta barely even noticed when Evelynne and then Azure came in. She stared down at her eggs, watching them get cold, only slightly listening to the conversation around her. Azure had been out riding, though she knew that much already. Did Azure know their fate? She had thought that one so independent would be a bit more worried about what was coming. Since there were three princes of the wind nation, neither of them could get out of the marriage. Though, of course, if there were only one prince, Veta would still be the one to go. She would go gladly, of course. It was not in Veta's nature to wish misfortune on others to save herself from a similar fate.

Is there anything you wish to do today?

Veta lifted her head slowly, blinking up at her beautiful hand-maiden with a slightly confused look on her face. She had always been a bit envious of Evelynne. Veta was a homely, rough girl, while Evelynne was a beautiful, sexy diamond. The men were drawn to her - everyone had noticed. Veta loved her dearly, but how she would love to have that kind of beauty. "I'm sorry," she said, a blush rising into her pale cheeks, "I wasn't quite listening. Could you repeat that?" She picked up her fork, pushing her eggs around her plate, feeling ashamed that her family would realize she wasn't paying attention. A faint noise from the kitchen grasped her attention and she looked up, glancing through the window. Her eye caught the profile of a thin, pale young boy. "Who's that?" she asked, rising slightly to get a better look at the boy. He seemed unfamiliar, and although Veta didn't necessarily pay attention to all the servants in the castle, she felt certain that she would have seen him before.

Veta was still peering through the window, staring at the new servant, Croix. There was something about him that made her want to speak to him, though she rarely spoke to servants besides Eve and Mae. "Someone should call him in here," she said, turning to Eve with a smile. "I should like to meet him, I think." Perhaps she felt that she had a kindred soul to the servant boy. After all, both were put into a position where they were not exactly what people had hoped them to be. Veta knew her parents had wished her to be a bit more like Azure, and although people said Azure was the different one, Veta could not help feeling like the outcast, spending all her time in the gardens, sometimes even making up excuses to stay there after dark. And although Veta loved her family and Eve dearly, she counted her dog, Apollo as her best friend. What a sad girl she was.

"Veta, when you've finished, if you have nothing else you wish to do this afternoon I think it would be best if you came and tried on some of the dresses I brought you."

At Eve's remark, Veta gave a girlish giggle, glad to have such a good friend. She wondered if she would be able to take Eve with her or not. Oh, how she wished she could. How would Evelynne even feel about such a move, though? She had served the royal family for as long as Veta could remember - would she want to leave it? "That sounds lovely," she said, nodding. "I hold your advice in fashion far above anyone else's." She looked over Eve's beautiful figure and the dress that showed it off. Veta was never bold enough to wear the things Eve wore, preferring long skirts, and although the hand-maiden was not technically supposed to wear such revealing garments, Veta never said anything, for she admired her friend for her forwardness.

Croix was wading out the chatter and the noises from the meal in the kitchen. Looking around, the woman seemed to be occupied with the cleaning, and none of them seemed to notice him standing there, or at least wanted to notice him. He gazed out the window, wanting to drift off into space again. However, he shook his head. “Not this time, Croix.” he thought, with a light grin across his face. “Today I'm going to focus! On whatever it is I'm committed to do today...” He mumbled, but then realized that there really wasn't much to do. Then there was a break in the atmosphere. Someone entered the kitchen, and Croix turned around...

"Croix!"
He heard his name being called, and swiveled his head in several angles of the room. It was Azure, to his surprise. He hadn't the slightest clue why she was here...or even why she was calling to get him.

"Hey. I have a mission for you." She nodded her head as if to solidify her words and took hold of his hand. "Now come on," she said as she pulled him along behind her.

Before he knew it, hr was being dragged into the main areas of the castle. He'd only been in these chambers a few time when he just started out – before they found out he couldn't do very much. That's when some of the servants who managed decided to put him in the kitchen.

"My older sister would like to meet you if you were wondering what this is about," she stated. “Her older sister...?” Croix pondered. Then he gulped a few times, realizing that he would have to meet another princess, for whatever reason it was. “If anything was broken, I'm quite sure it wasn't me.” Frowning a little, he tried to get his point across, just in case he would be scolded.

"Someone should call him in here," she said, turning to Eve with a smile. "I should like to meet him, I think."

Eve raised her brows at Veta and glanced over her shoulder at the young boy again, wondering what interested Veta so much about him. He was a nice kid, she had spoken to him on a few occassions, but he was a disaster waiting to happen. Everything he tried to do usually ended up destroyed. THe poor kid...

"I'll go get him," she offered begging for a way to get out of the room

Before anyone could say anything else, Azure had raced from the room and into the kitchen. Eve smiled to herself, "Someone has a crush." She observed under her breath with a chuckle, "I hope she isn't too attached to him... you'll be leaving in a few hours for the royal ball and then to the Wind Nation." Evelynne said with a sigh, honestly hoping Azure wouldn't put up too much of a fight when it came time to leave.

"That sounds lovely," she said, nodding. "I hold your advice in fashion far above anyone else's." She looked over Eve's beautiful figure and the dress that showed it off.

Eve's smile returned in full force and she gave Veta a thankful nod at her comment and then turned to leave the room, "I'll meet you in your chambers when you're ready. I-"

The door swung open at that moment, revealing a tall middle aged man dressed in browns and greens. It was Thomas, one of the King's messengers, and he was staring directly at Eve. "The King wishes to speak with you immediately, regarding tonight's departure." He said formally, nose stuck in the air, making Eve want to ask him to pull whatever stick was up his ass out. He sneered at her outfit for a moment before exiting back through the door he entered in.

"Pretentious a...." Evelynne began, forgetting who was in the room with her, and then quickly stopped herself with a laugh, "I mean, isn't Thomas such a gem? Certainly my favorite." She said quickly, moving towards the door with her long golden curls bouncing behind her, "I'm going to go and see your father then, and I'll see you in a bit." She gave one last smile to Veta and then turned to Lucian "Have a great rest of your afternoon, your highness." With that, she moved swiftly from the room and into the hallway.

What would the King want to speak with her about? Why would she need to be talked to about tonights departure? She knew very well when everything was happening and who was to be where, and so on. Her stomach turned nervously as she approached the doors to the great hall... Taking one last deep breath, she knocked sharply on the door three times and waited for a response.

As Eve was leaving, Veta wondered vaguely what her father could possibly want to talk to her about. It's true that the two had come in contact since Eve was her hand-maiden, but to call her personally, unaccompanied by the princess? She found it rather odd. Croix's appearance did not leave Veta much time to ponder over it, however. The appearance of the boy spread a grin across her face and she waved him over, sizing him up.

"Porter," she said, looking at Azure's lack of form with distaste. Though Veta was as sweet as they came, she was most certainly a princess. Her relationships with the servants only stretched so far. She was close with Evelynne and she joked and laughed with Mae, but at the end of the day, they were still the help. How could Azure swing her arm around him so easily? Perhaps Veta was secretly jealous of her casual friendship with the servant. Since Veta did not allow for much of a relationship with her servants - she would speak to Eve about her problems and life, but Eve never spoke back. In fact, she barely knew the girl at all - Veta had grown rather lonely. She wanted to friends to share things with instead of just unloading all her problems and getting little to no feedback. She didn't dare tell her family how she was feeling about anything for fear of disappointing them. She was already enough of a disappointment.

"I'm glad to meet you," she finally continued, nodding to him. "Mae has told me much about you, but I'm afraid I didn't realize that you were such good friends with my sister." The smile she gave to Azure did not quite meet her eyes. "I'd like to speak with you alone, if everyone doesn't mind?" A plan was formulating in her mind. Perhaps there was something she could do to ease the homesickness she was already starting to feel.

She then continued to the hall, and waited there for Eve to arrive. In a short amount of time, she heard a few knocks on the huge doors, and responded with, “Come in Eve.”

Eve was shocked to hear the voice of the Queen respond to her knocks and suddenly felt very nervous. While the King was intimidating, more because of his power than anything else, she had always thought the Queen didn't like her. It wasn't as though the Queen was exactly best friends with any of the servants, but she never seemed to give a damn about Eve. Though, if she really thought about it, there was no reason for the Queen to care about someone like Eve...

Evelynne pushed open the door and screwed up her courage before walking into the room. The Queen looked gorgeous as usual, but clearly not thrilled to be delivering a message, "Good afternoon your majesty. I was told the King had something to tell me." Evelynne said, lowering her head in respect, with her long golden hair spilling over her shoulders.

“The king has ran away with business.” She said, rather monotone. “So he left me to deliver a message to you.” The queen arose from her chair, and moved closer to Eve, that way the conversation could be heard easily.

Evelynne forced herself not to look directly at the Queen, long curls of gold cascading around her face and hiding her expressions.

“The King wants you to accompany Veta to her travel to the wind nation.” She tried to say it clearly, but her voice hesitated, just a bit. “He respects your family very much, but also figured you would fit the role the best. You're a perfect candidate.” Elvira then sighed, and said “Pack your belongings, and you shall leave with Veta when the time arrives.”. Then, she made perfect eye contact with the servant before her.

Evelynne felt her entire body tense at the Queen’s words and she felt the sudden urge to tell the Queen she could find someone else because there was no way she was leaving the Earth Nation to become a servant not just to the Princess but inevitably to the Princes of the Wind Nation too. It had been in the back of her mind that maybe, just maybe, with Princess Veta gone she may be honourably dismissed (if that was the right way to say it?) and could finally live. That didn’t look like it would be the case.

Eve raised her chin and met the Queen’s gaze steadily. Her emerald eyes were bright and her cheeks slightly flushed from the news, but otherwise she looked perfectly fine.

“And a word from me...please watch over her, Eve. A mother has to worry, of course” Elvira managed to throw a light smile across her face, and was almost ready to leave the room. She didn't have to wait for a reply – the girl was a servant, after all.

“Of course, you majesty. Thank you.” Evelynne replied, without really knowing what she had said. Then, she bowed her head and turned on her heel before quickly slipping from the room.

Without even knowing how she got there, Evelynne found herself back in her room sitting on the edge of her bed. Her eyes refocused and she saw that she had thrown her shoes across the room, where they had collided with a glass water pitcher, causing it to shatter across the dresser and floor.

She was being sent to the Wind Nation. She wasn’t going to be free to live and do what she wanted when she wanted. She would have to leave everyone she knew and start from scratch. Evelynne knew that this must be what Veta was feeling but then she reminded herself that Veta got to marry a Prince and live freely in the castle… while Evelynne would inevitably end up bringing the royal couple breakfast in bread and cleaning up after them.

“Fucking ridiculous.” Evelynne hissed under her breath, emerald eyes narrowing at her reflection. They were leaving in just a few hours and she would never have enough time to get into town and say goodbye to everyone. She wished she would have had at least enough time to say goodbye to Nathaniel, Cohen, and Silas (her current flames who had proved to not just be great lovers but great friends) but that didn’t look possible.

Eve began packing as quickly as she could, using the old suit cases that the Princess wouldn’t ever use again. She packed all over her clothing, shoes, and accessories in the first two bags and then filled the third with her own personal things like photographs, letters, journals, books, and other things.