The Two of Us

Settling In

Alice stretched her arms out, letting out a yawn. She quickly rolled out of bed, and changed from her nightgown to a dark red dress. There was a knock on the door, and her maid quickly rushed to open it. It seemed like breakfast was already here. Good timing. Alice sat on the bed as the maid brought her the tray full of food. "Here, Your Majesty. Your breakfast."

Alice smiled, taking the tray and resting it on her lap. "Thank you, again. And, oh, by the way. May I ask for your name?" The maid nodded quickly, as if it was a command. "It's Sarah, Your Highness."

"Sarah? What a nice name. Would you like some of this toast, Sarah?"

She quickly shook her head in disapproval. "Why, I can't, Your Majesty! I-It's your breakfast!"

Quite clearly, it would be odd for a royal to offer food to a servant. This was actually quite normal in Valhalla. Alice shrugged, "There's too much here for me. It's enough to feed an army of soldiers. Here, I insist." Sarah slowly took the bread with hesitance, thanking Alice over and over. "Just call me Alice, please."

After a few minutes of eating and chatter, there was a knock on the door. A little more harsher than last night's knock. It was probably not Susan. Alice decided to open it, since Sarah was busy folding the bed sheets. Alice opened the door to see a dark-haired boy with some freckles distributed across his pale face. He was quite handsome. Alice had recognized this boy to be Peter's younger brother, Edmund. He was handsome like Peter, but they had differences with their appearances. Peter had blonde hair, and Edmund had dark brown. Peter had kind eyes, and Edmund had an intimidating stare.

"Peter wants to meet you by the stables as soon as you're ready." Edmund quickly left after giving her the message. "I'll be off then, Sarah." Alice notified her of her departure, before walking out of the room.

Alice would not be good with a shield and sword, but she was quite skilled with riding horses. She had been riding since she was a young girl, and would often go out riding with Susan whenever she visited.

With help from castle servants every now and then, Alice managed to find her way to the stables where they had kept the horses. There, she had found Peter brushing the mane of one of the horses. Probably his. Hearing Alice's approaching footsteps, he turned around and smiled, greeting her upon her presence. "Oh, you came," he started, "Did you sleep well?"

"Of course I came.. And I slept quite well, thank you." Alice simply replied, slightly raising an eyebrow. She was a little confused with his tone when he had said "Oh, you came." It sounded as if she had to force herself to make an appearance.

"Sorry. I just thought you might not want to see the man you're forced to marry." Peter stated whilst chuckling a little.

"It's not like that at all..." Alice defended, letting out a soft giggle. Peter shrugged, "Well today, I thought we should get to know each other properly. You know, before we get married to each other. I thought going for a ride might lighten the atmosphere."

Alice nodded in agreement, as Peter stepped forward to help her get onto a horse. Coincidentally, the horse she was on looked similar to her own horse back in Valhalla. It was a beautiful horse given to her by her cousins. It was a dark brown horse with a stripe of white going down between its nose and forehead.

Peter's horse started moving ahead, Alice following behind him, soon riding side by side. They rode on the horses far from the castle, and came to a stop when they came across a flowery field. Peter hopped of his horse, then helped Alice get down from hers. He lifted her from the waist, and gently placed her down on the ground.

Peter sat down, as Alice took a seat beside him on the soft grass. She couldn't help but look around her as the colorful flowers danced with the gentle breeze. The differing colors of the flowers had made it seem as if they were almost fake. How could something be so naturally beautiful?

"You know, Susan told me you were good at riding. I didn't know you were that good, though." Peter let out a chuckle, as Alice joined in with the friendly laughter. "She told you that? Well, you can say that horseback riding is just something I really like."

"Is there something else you enjoy doing?" Peter asked, turning to face Alice, who was looking out across the field. "Well, I kind of enjoy archery. I'm not very good at it, though. Susan taught me the basics, but I'm quite the failure." Now, Peter was laughing along with Alice. "I bet you're not as bad as you say you are. Let's go shoot some arrows."

Alice nodded, mounting her horse once again, riding alongside Peter's horse. They arrived, dismounting their horses, and picked up a set of bow and arrows. Peter raised the bow and arrow, aiming for the target carefully. Almost immediately, he had hit bullseye. Alice looked at him in awe. "I'm guessing your family is full of great archers."

Peter shook his head, smiling quite proudly. "It took me a lot of practice, trust me." He passed the bow and a single arrow to Alice, who nervously lifted the weapon up in position. She almost jumped when she felt Peter's very close presence behind her. He was helping her hold it out in the right position, giving her a few tips on the aiming. She was too nervous to hold the bow and arrow still.

She released the bow, almost hitting bullseye. She lets out a sigh of relief, turning to face Peter with a slight frown on her face. "I'm much worse than I remember."

Peter argued that she was actually quite good at it, and it only needed a bit of practice. After a couple of hours of archery, they decided to head back before it was time to dine for the evening. It was quite dark, but the sky was still a bit bright. The pale sky was painted with streaks of pink and orange, along with an alluring sunset.

As Peter and Alice left the stables, Peter lead the way to the dining hall. "In a weeks time, Susan and Lucy are planning to host a grand event here for Susan to find a King to marry. A King from a foreign land."

Alice looked up at Peter, a little shocked. "S-Susan's planning to get married?" Alice had wondered why she had not heard much about any of this from Susan. If Susan was getting married to a King from a foreign land, would that mean separation? Alice's thoughts were interrupted as the doors opened to the dining hall. There were two main chairs sitting across each other on parallel sides, and multiple seats on the other sides.

Peter took the large seat, sitting across his Aunt. Alice sat in a seat reserved for her, between Susan and Edmund. Lucy sat beside Edmund, legs dangling below. Peter's Aunt, Lady Helen, smiled at Alice, kindly welcoming her to the family, already.

"I trust that Peter is taking good care of you." she eyed Peter before turning back to Alice. "I'd like you to feel comfortable here in our Castle. After all, it is soon to be your new home, too."

Alice smiled and responded with a joyous tone, but in the inside, she was homesick. She wanted to go back and check on how things were going back home. It had been more than 5 days since she left Valhalla, and already, she had been worrying about the security and safety of her people.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"I'm sure they're doing fine, Your Majesty. We've got the best knights all around." her advisor reminded, as they walked down the empty hallways. "You should have more faith on the people back home, Your Majesty."

"You're right." Alice nodded, a little guilty for all the negativity. "They'll be fine." Her advisor kindly left after he had noticed that Peter was approaching them. "Mind taking a walk with me?" he asked, offering her an arm whilst smiling.

"Sure." Alice took his arm, and walked along side him in the dark evening. The sky was dark, but the whole garden was lit up by beautiful fairy lights. It had looked like the stars had fallen into the garden.

"It's so beautiful." Alice complimented, looking around the garden. Her grip on Peter's arm loosened, as her mouth went slightly agape. The beauty of the garden was unbelievable.

"Thank you. Lucy was the one who decorated the garden." Peter said, leading her towards somewhere. "Another thing Susan told me about you is that you were great with flowers."

Alice followed Peter's gaze to a bunch of dead flowers, surrounded by well-grown flowers. "This was my mother's favorite flower. Ever since she died, though, these flowers have never bloomed. Not even the best gardeners could figure it out." Alice recognized this flower straight away. She, too, used to grow these flowers in her garden. They were flowers that were very hard to take care of, though. Alice let go of Peter's arm and bent down to the level of the dying flower. "I think I know how to fix this."