Welcome to Gaia! ::

This was the day that many of her fellow maids and servants had been waiting for. The Prince was returning that day and, from the rumors that she had heard, all of the maids were more than ready to receive his attention. Some even dressed in their best clothes to see if they would catch his eye.

At this all Andromeda could do was sigh. Most of the ones making themselves look better were also the ones who had complained about him coming back. After all he had slept with them once and ignored them afterward. She could not wrap her mind around someone wanting the favor of a person like that, royalty or not. What ever happened to true love?

The brunette looked at the sprawling lawn of the palace, showing more interest in whatever weeds were going to try and pop up instead of what was coming down the fine path towards the illustrious castle. It seemed that everything was immaculately taken care of. Even the gazing pools and fountains seemed to shine more in the light of the sun than normal. At least, she mused, the servants hadn’t gotten too wrapped up in the idea of their beloved prince coming back.

A mousy haired servant girl came up next to her, pinning up her strait hair with a flower to make it more presentable.

“Before the Prince left, he said I was the most beautiful flower in all of the palace.” The girl waxed poetically. “You wouldn’t remember him, you were just little but I bet he is going to be happy to see me!”

Andromeda didn’t have the heart to tell the girl that she had heard the same story multiple times that morning. Unlike the rest, however, she decided not to stay on the lawn and instead decided to do some chores inside of the house.

When she walked in she heard the voice of a servant boom throughout the house. She scurried up. She had caught the last half of it but she assumed that some guest needed help. Upon entering she gave a respectful bow to the redheaded man being tended to by the oldest of them.

“Everyone else is waiting for the Prince but I will help. These all don’t seem too heavy.”

She picked up the bag he left behind, surprised that he had picked up a bag at all. Most guests left it to the servants to carry their luggage. Some even made an appalling game of it. Like any proper maid, she kept a few feet behind him. It was a show of submissiveness.

His comment made her lift a brow. He certainly hadn’t visited while she had been working beneath the care of Princess Rubi. She tilted her head, pausing a moment to examine him. He had similar red hair to the monarch, that was for sure, but his eyes were different. Maybe this was a cousin coming in for the return of Prince Nathanial.

“There are plenty of beautiful faces here, sir,” she commented as she continued on. “It is easy to forget one in observation of another.”

Her eyes widened a moment in shock as she came to the realization that the person talking to her was in fact the Prince. It was a few seconds before the loud servant relieved his identity that she figured it out. A scowl crossed her face at the deception and she wondered if he had intended to keep up the charade any longer than what he did before it was interrupted.

Andromeda couldn’t help but shake her head and scoff beneath her breath at the flirting. She wondered if he gave all of his tarts nicknames like that. Cherry Blossom, Lilac, Rose… she had heard quite of few cliché pet names flowing out of the lips of excited maidens.

“Cherry Blossom, huh?” she asked with a slight smirk. “Sire I do believe you are the corniest flatterer I have ever had the pleasure of meeting.”

“I am called Andromeda,” she told him. “Take that as you will.”

She knew that the name was associated with mythology somehow but, since she didn’t have proper access to things, there had been no way for her to do further study on it. Not that she could do much anyway; her reading level was low and she figured anything like that would be not only difficult but in a different language.

“I would prefer to be called by that name. I love flowers but I don’t think a flower would be an appropriate way to describe me.”

Princess? Her eyebrows shot up, hidden by her unruly bangs. Even if Andromeda was an ancient Grecian princess, the servant didn’t know if it fit her in the least. There was nothing remotely regal about her. Not with her plain clothes and worn shoes.

“Why don’t you simply call me Medea? It’s a nickname that the staff have called me since I first came here.”

A memory pressed on the edge of her mind. What was it? She had met the prince before, she believed, when they were smaller. Had he been the one to play with her when she first came to the palace? Was it he that she denied marriage and pretended to die for it?

“I am not your maiden,” she informed him. Her cheeks puffed out in annoyance and she blew air out of her nose harshly. Unlike the other girls in the palace she would not be wooed so easily and not by someone who made it a sport to bed as many girls as possible. “Dromeda is fine.”

At least he wasn’t going to force the name honeysuckle on her. That would have been more than the sweet girl could bear. She followed him into the room, intending to drop his bag and leave him quickly. Before she could make her escape, however, he had ordered her to sit on his bed.

So she did as she was told, crossing her arms over her chest. His searching garnered some interest and she peer over the side of the bed.

“What are you looking for, sire?”

Being informal with a prince did not set right with her but he had asked her to call him by his name and so she would oblige. Andromeda was already joking with him in a way friends did anyway so it only seemed like the next natural step. She wondered if any of the other servants had been offered that bit of informality and wondered how many more would kill for it.

“Close my eyes?” she asked. There was apprehension on her face but she did as she was told. “I pray to the goddess that I won’t open my eyes to something unpleasant…”