The Diary of Miss Aidyn Hall,
author
July 9
I Meet the Queen
I
made a crown of the greenest cedar boughs I could find in the mini forest,
interwoven with bright pink knockout roses from my garden. I added holly
berries and juniper berries and smiled satisfactorily at my work. It looked
like a jeweled crown meant for a queen. I hoped that Apple Blossom would share
my satisfaction.
This
morning after breakfast, I made my way to the magnolia archway with the tag in
my pocket and my gift for the princess in hand. The Grand Elder Guardian’s web
was not blocking my way today, and I guessed that what happened at the party
meant he now completely approved of me. I heard a series of running “slap-pat”
footsteps making their way through the brush. Sure enough, there was Apple
Blossom rushing towards me. “Hi there!” I called out, waving.
She
skidded to a stop right in front of me and bounced on her toes. “You came back,
Aidyn! Oh, yesterday I came here and waited all day for you to come back, and
when you didn’t show up I was so disappointed that I cried. But you’re here
now, and I’m glad, glad, glad!” She was acting just like a kid instead of an
esteemed royal princess, and it was delightfully endearing. It absolutely stung
to hear that I had unintentionally made her cry, but I had been so busy
yesterday with journaling, making the crown, outlining two tales for my short
story collection and working on the drafts for two others. There was just no
time in my day to nip off to the Greenwood .
“I am very, very sorry,” I told her. “I was
just so busy yesterday that I couldn’t find any time to head over. I promise I
didn’t mean to disappoint you and make you cry, and if I can make it up to you
today, I would like to know how.”
Apple
Blossom gave me a big smile, hugged me, and said, “Of course you didn’t mean
it. You’re too kind for that, Aidyn.” While she was hugging me, I took the
opportunity to place the cedar-and-rose crown on her head. “Oh!” she cried,
pulling back. She poked at it a few times before taking it off to have a look.
“What is this, Aidyn?” she asked. “Is this a wreath? Or is it some sort of
crown?” She looked at me quizzically.
“It
is indeed ‘some sort of crown,’” I told her. “In fact, it is a crown that I
made myself, with you entirely in mind (her eyes widened at this). I even
picked those lovely pink roses from my own garden. I had a great time at your
party, and I felt that you should have a birthday gift from me.” I placed the
crown back on her head. “It does look lovely on you. You look like a…”
Before
I could finish saying, “You look like a real little queen,” she wrapped her arms
around me again and hugged me tightly, pressing her face into my stomach.
“Thank you, Aidyn,” she said. “Thank you, thank you!” Surely, no other Jadeite
in history had received such a kind gesture from a human.
That
is why I will be finishing my account of the party this morning and spending
the rest of the day with my new little elf friend. Any additional tasks can
wait until tomorrow. I have much more important matters to attend to!
The
garden gate opened and in stepped a magnificently dressed elven woman who
looked so like I had always imagined Titania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. She wore a long white gown with colorful
seasonal blossoms sewn into it, and a cape the color of the sky. Her hair was
the color of a misty sea and curled into elegant ringlets that fell around her
pretty pink face like a picture frame. On her head she wore a thin, shimmering
veil that fell over her face. She was beautiful, elegant, and very imposing all
at the same time.
“Mother!
Mother!” Apple Blossom cried, leaping up from her seat to rush over and embrace
the woman. Lovingly, the woman returned her daughter’s embrace and lifted her
up to her shoulder. Then her face grew serious, and I had a feeling that the
commotion I’d caused had something to do with it.”
“Apple
Blossom, have you brought a human into
the Greenwood ?” the
woman asked darkly. She said the word “human” as if she was talking about a
pile of rotting garbage sitting out in the sun. My stomach began to churn.
“She’s
been tagged, Mother,” Apple Blossom assured the queen. “And she’s not like
other humans. She’s a good human,
Mother! Her name is Aidyn, and she has been very kind to me and my friends.”
“Why
did you bring her here, Apple Blossom?” asked the queen. She glanced at me, and
I had the feeling that she viewed me the way one might view a sewer rat.
“I
wanted to play with a human,” Apple Blossom answered honestly.
“You
don’t play with humans, Apple Blossom,” the queen said firmly. “You observe
them and nothing more. Do you know how dangerous it was for you to bring one in
here?” She had a good point; of course I wouldn’t hurt anyone or mess anything
up, but what if Human Number Five hadn’t been me? What if it had been someone
much less inclined to be friendly to elves?
I
spoke up: “I haven’t hurt anybody, and I won’t.” The queen looked surprised and
a little offended that I had spoken out of turn. She was looking at me, the
girls at the table were looking at me, Apple Blossom was looking at me, and I
wanted to shrink. “I’m sorry, Your Majesty,” I said in my most polite tone,
“but what I say is true. I am here in the interest of observation alone, and
not to create a disruption.” I hoped that was the proper way to speak to a
queen. It seemed to be, going by what I’d read in stories that involved queens.
The
queen set Apple Blossom down and curled her finger at me. “Come here.” I got up
from my seat and obeyed. She only came up to my shoulders and had to look up to
look me directly in the eyes, but she had a commanding presence all the same.
“My
daughter tells me your name is Aidyn?”
“That
is correct, Your Majesty.”
“You
have a tag?”
“I
do.” I pulled the tag out of my pocket and handed it to her. She turned it over
to look at the number.
“You
will have to come with me,” she told me, taking both of my hands.
“Have
I done something wrong?” I asked quickly. Without answering me, she began to
lead me out of the garden. Apple Blossom followed behind us, but the queen
turned to her and said, “Stay here, Apple Blossom.”
“Mother,
I want to go with Aidyn!”
“No,
stay here and entertain your guests.”
“I’ll
be back soon, Apple Blossom,” I assured her with a smile. I wasn’t so sure how
true that was, but I didn’t want the kid to worry her birthday away. “Save some
more of that pudding for me. It was phenomenal.” Raindrop smiled when I said
this. I waved to the girls as I was led away, and the five of them waved back.
The
queen led me out of the garden and through a side door into the palace, which I
would get to see at last! Secretly, I had been longing for that very thing
since I’d laid eyes on those majestic jade towers. I wondered if the queen
could feel my hands shaking in anticipation. If she could, she didn’t bother to
take note.
The
door opened into a sea-green-colored room with candy-pink roses painted all
over the walls. The showpiece of this room was a big navy blue wooden desk
decorated with all sorts of lacy things: a white lacy box, a clothbound book
trimmed with lace, a white lace desk skirt, and a pink jar tied with lace
ribbons, which held four pens that appeared to be carved out of tree branches.
The queen let go of my hands and motioned for me to sit at this desk. I obeyed,
taking a seat on a stool painted in the same rose motif as the walls.
The
queen took another look at the number on my tag. Then she looked at me in the
way a school principal might look at a troublemaker who had been brought into
his office with too many infractions. “Stay here,” she told me firmly. “Do not
go anywhere, and do not touch anything.” Then she left the room, and I heard
her lock the door as she went out. I folded my hands the way an obedient child
would and made up my mind to remain perfectly still, silent, and out of the
way. When she returned, she would be totally shocked that the horrible, brutish
human had not flipped her desk and
trashed her little office!
It
wasn’t so bad being locked in there. The room was pretty, and I liked the rose
pattern and the sea-green color. But sitting completely still and quiet had
never been any easy task for me, and I was growing increasingly curious about
what might be written in that book. It couldn’t have been a diary. You don’t
keep diaries in your study or home office in plain sight. You keep them in your
bedroom or in a very secret place that nobody is allowed to lay their eyes on. It
was more likely a record book, or a tome of some sort, or…
A
part of my mind was scolding me: No,
Aidyn, absolutely not! Don’t you dare open that book when you were told not to
touch anything! But another side of my mind was saying, If you steal a quick glimpse and then put it
right back down where you found it, there will be no harm done and there will
be no way for her to find out! It’s not like she’ll check your fingerprints. I
felt like a child locked in a battle with my conscience about whether or not it
was all right to sneak ice cream before dinner so long as I was sure to eat all
of my peas. But before I could decide which side to obey, I heard the door open
and resumed my “obedient child” stance.
It
wasn’t the queen who entered, but Apple Blossom. She looked behind her to see
if anybody had seen her enter, then she shut and locked the door. Her fist was
tightly closed around something, probably the key. “Apple Blossom!” I
exclaimed. “What are you doing here? Did your mother tell you to come here and
check on me?”
“No,
I told me to come here and check on you,” said Apple Blossom. “What did my
mother say to you? Did she tell you anything at all? Oh, I hope she didn’t say
that you must leave and never come back! I’ve grown so fond of you already!” Tears came to her eyes. “She was outside
talking to your tagger just a few moments ago, but I saw her go inside and I
think she might be talking to my father or…or the guards. Oh, will she at least
let you stay until the end of my partyyyy?!”
This last word ended with a howl, and then she erupted into sobs. As if a
switch had been flicked, she had gone from princess to typical overemotional child.
She cried and howled with such intensity that her face turned as red as a
tomato and the bodice of her beautiful flowery dress was stained with tears.
“Apple
Blossom, she didn’t…” I began, but realized that there was no way she could
hear me over her wild sobs. It stung to see her this upset; it was as if she
was my little sister, and all I wanted to do was comfort her and try to bring
back one of those big, bright smiles. I got up from the stool, kneeled down in
front of her, and wrapped my arms around her. “I’m not going anywhere,” I
assured her, stroking her hair. “Nobody’s told me to go anywhere. I’m staying
here.”
She
leaned her head against my shoulder. “Mother didn’t say you have to leave? She
isn’t going to have you taken out?”
“She
didn’t say anything about me leaving,” I told her, “and if she was going to
have me taken out, I’d likely be gone by now.” Then I wanted to try and make
her laugh, so I grabbed one of her springy green curls and tugged on it gently.
“Boing!” I cried when it bounced back like a spring toy.
“Oh!”
Apple Blossom grabbed the lock I’d bounced and looked at me in surprise.
“What’d you do that for, Aidyn?”
“To
make you laugh,” I told her. I bounced another curl and uttered, “Boing!” She
touched the top of her head and burst into giggles. “You’re silly, Aidyn!” I responded by
stretching another curl as far as it would go and bouncing it back, uttering a
drawn out “Bo-o-oing!” We both
laughed.
At
the sound of a key turning in the door, Apple Blossom disappeared under the
table as quick as a wisp, and I returned to the stool. The door opened and the
queen stepped in. Her expression had not changed from when she had left me.
“Welcome back,” I said, nodding my head respectfully.
“I
see you’ve managed to keep my office clean and orderly.” She spoke sternly, but
her eyes marveled at how I had not managed destroyed the place. “Indeed,” I
replied. “It’s far too beautiful to trash.”
She
raised a brow at me. “I trust that you would have refrained from defacing it
regardless of its beauty?”
“Of
course,” I answered truthfully.
“You’ve
managed to cause quite a stir,” the queen went on, “especially among my
daughter’s young party guests.” Apple Blossom shifted under the table. If the
queen had been out to the garden, she had discovered that her daughter was
mysteriously absent from the party table. Still, I didn’t let on that I knew
she was under there. “They seem rather fond of you,” continued the queen,
“despite your humanity.” She made it
sound like a cuss word.
“Your
daughter adores me,” I told her, smiling modestly. All mothers love to hear
about their kids, and I guessed that elf queens were no exception. “She’s
absolutely crazy about me. I don’t think she believed that a human could be
kind to her, and now that she’s seen otherwise, she is just thrilled.”
“I
think what she did was very foolish and very reckless,” said the queen, “but…”
She paused, then went on, “…I suppose I should be very thankful that she found
a human others can be so fond of, as opposed to a creature of selfishness and
destruction.”
I
didn’t know what to say. I was almost certain that I had made it to the queen’s
good side, but my only response was to nod and wait for whatever else she had
to say.
“After
careful and thorough consideration and discussion,” said the queen, “I and my
husband have decided that you may return to the Greenwood under very
careful observation. I hope that you will not display any behavior that will
cause us to retract that decision, especially if our daughter is going to be
involved.” She looked me right in the eye, equally awaiting my response and
daring me to oppose her.
“Of
course not,” I replied abruptly. I felt ready to break into song and dance! I
had been approved by the monarchy and was free to take in all that the land of
the elves had to offer—under careful observation, of course! I could immerse
myself in the Jadeite culture and gather all the information I needed
for…for…well, for whatever I might end up needing it for. But most importantly
for the moment, I was free to stay for the rest of Apple Blossom’s birthday
party!
“Thank
you, Your Majesty! Thank you!” I stood up and curtsied as best as I could. “I
appreciate being invited into your land, and I promise I won’t make you regret
it.”
“I
should hope not,” said the queen. “And…Apple Blossom?”
Caught
at last, Apple Blossom crawled out from her hiding spot. “Yes, Mother?”
“Return
to your party, and take the human with you.”
Apple
Blossom’s face lit up as if someone had flicked a switch.
So
I spent the rest of that day enjoying the garden with the flowers of all
seasons, eating pastries and more of that delicious pudding, and playing with
Apple Blossom and her four friends. Towards the end of the afternoon, the cake
was brought out and we had to line up and file out to the front of the palace.
Apple Blossom slipped her hand into mine, securing my place beside her at the
front of the line.
The
cake was the size of a baby grand piano and covered in swirls of cloudy blue
frosting. Clusters of pink and yellow flowers decorated its edges, and in the
center were ten small rods with a small purple globe lantern hanging from the
tip of each one. White swirls formed odd looking but clearly defined shapes
around the rods. “What’s written on your cake?” I asked Apple Blossom.
“It’s
my name in the language of the tree elves,” she told me.
“Are
you ten years old today?” I asked her.
She
nodded.
I
finally got to see the king, who momentarily glanced at me as he lifted Apple
Blossom to his shoulder. He kissed her and set her down on a high seat in front
of the massive cake. They cut the first slice of cake together, with his hands
set on top of hers. I expected Apple Blossom to serve the first slice of cake
to herself, as is commonplace at birthday parties (and more so for princesses).
However, she placed the slice on a stone plate and handed it to me with a
smile.
The
crowd erupted into whispers and murmurs, clearly just as surprised as I was.
Only a select few—Apple Blossom’s four friends included—smiled and clapped
politely. The king and queen looked at Apple Blossom and then at eachother, but
said nothing. I nodded, thanked Apple Blossom, and silently returned to the
garden and my place at the table. I may have been approved, but that does not
mean I was welcomed.
Apple
Blossom joined me in a few moments, and I asked her if she would be so kind as
to walk me back to the magnolia archway after we finished our cake.
“Yes,”
she replied brightly, “I can do that.”
And
so my first day in the land of the elves drew to a close. There will be many
more, and each one will be very well documented.