She's Not Just A Queen

This World

It is as if she woke up "in a dream" and not "from a dream" when she saw the ceiling made out of wooden planks. She could see the termites with their tunnels all over the planks. Veandra sat up and stretched her back, for the bed is not the bed she is used to. It is a simple wooden bed and the bear fur does not have that much cushion. She just had these eyes of disappointment because she hoped that this is all a dream and when she wakes up, she will come back to her real world, where the ceiling is high, well-furnished, and there are no termites on it.

She rubbed her eyes and thought, "Ugh... This is really not a dream. I have to get out of here before my wedding day or everything I have come up and planned will be ruined. I have to know what kind of world is this." She stood up and yawned so deep. "I have to find books but first, nature's call."

She is sleeping in the attic and she has to climb down the rickety stairs that squeak in her every step until she saw her father working on a shoe.

"Good morning, father," she said and still looked awfully tired because she could not sleep well on the hard bed.

"Good morning, Veandra," he said while polishing the shoe on his hand with a rag. She nodded and went to the bathroom.

"Are you kidding me?!!" she blurted out inside the smelly bathroom.

"Huh?" reacted her father after he heard her.

The toilet was just a bucket and there are no toilet papers or water. The bucket is dirty and smells like urine and crap.

"This is impossible!" she thought. "How could people dispense their dump with this?! And there's no toilet paper or soap!!! I won't use that bucket even if my intestines burst!"

A few minutes later her "call of nature" over-powered her. She came out of the bathroom with a disgusted and disturbed face. She shivered as if snakes slithered up and down her spine.

"I have to get out of this world as soon as possible," she thought. "This is gonna take a toll on my mind and beauty! But wait, is this really my body?"

She went to her room in the attic and found a mirror made out of metal. It is heavy, the handle is rusty, and the mirror is not very clear. She looked at her face using it and was surprised by how gorgeous and young she is. "I look just like me when I was sixteen years old. My eyes! I can't believe it! They're grey!" she laughed. "And my lips, they're so juicy." She bit it.

Then horses neighed and hooves splattered on the mud. She looked at her window without turning her neck and looked at it in a suspicious glance. She put her mirror down and walked towards the window and opened it. It swung outward and she leaned out until her hips up to her head were protruding out of the window. Then everything is new for her since she couldn't see well last night when they walked in the street.

The houses were old-fashioned like in medieval times. Women are walking on the muddy street, holding baskets, wearing peasant dresses but others were gorgeously decorated. There are men with armors and swords, patrolling around the town, and lots of children playing around. There are carts, horses, and cows. Then there is this unpleasant smell that made Veandra retreat back into the room. Then she saw a woman through the high window of a house on the opposite street with a bucket in her hands.

"Watch out for the water!" the woman shouted after throwing the contents of the bucket.

"Ehh?!!!" reacted Veandra as she saw a brown pickle in the midst of orange juice, fell on an innocent man's head. The pickle got crushed like melted chocolate. Now she does not wonder why the street smells unpleasant.

"Watch out where you are throwing your crap, woman!" cursed the man as he showed her his fist.

"I have said the warning!" answered the woman.

"You are supposed to say before you throw it! Now look at me," he pointed to his body and head. "Your stink has ruined my body and soul!"

"Then wash it down the river!"

"Wash this stink? I would need thousands of rivers or thousands of waterfalls to get this stink eradicated!"

"Just go and find yourself a waterfall," waved the woman as she closed the window.

"I am not finished with you, you ugly woman!"

Veandra gasped, "You didn't..."

"Get out of here or I will have my husband crush your bones," threatened the woman as she held the window doors.

"Bring him out and I will bash your jaws against each other!" he threatened while putting a wimpy stance.

The woman narrowed her eyes and called, "Honey!"

The door just under the window where the woman is, has been knocked down and splattered the mud before the man's feet so some of the mud went to his face. Then came out a huge man that has to lower down his head and exit sideways just to pass through the door because he is taller and bigger than it. His hands were as big as a gorilla, his black facial hair was like a bush, and his bald head shined from the sun.

His shadow crept over the complaining man. "Oh, look!" said the wimpy man while pointing far to the street. "There's a river, I better wash, myself. Good day!" he said and skipped on the mud while the children looked at him in disgust before he ran like an ostrich away from the huge man.

Veandra chuckled as she leaned out the window to see the wimpy man go. Then the huge man waved at her. She grinned confusingly as she waved back until he turned and fixed the broken door.

"Good morning, Veandra!" called the woman after noticing her. "You are getting beautiful by the day!"

"Uh... same goes to you, madam!"

"Huh?" asked the woman after she got confused about why Veandra is acting a little strangely and she did not say her name.

"Gotta go!" she smiled and closed the window. The woman found her strange but then shrugged before closing her own.

Veandra is leaning against the closed window and was sighing in anxiousness. Then the dark fox appeared. "Good morning, my darling," he said while hopping on her bed. "Did you have a good sleep on this bed?"

"Just shut up and don't even try to trick me to waste my three questions for you. Although I don't know if asking you would help me get out of here."

The fox laughed and lied sideways on the bed. "I would never do that, my darling. And besides, I told you that this is my world, didn't I? So I can assure you that I can answer anything that you might ask as long as it is about or happening in this world. In the other world? I know just a little, my darling."

"Stop calling me darling like we have some kind of bond."

It sat up and grinned. "Oh, I do think that we have. After all, you have been talking to me and I was listening to you since the day you started to climb your way to become a queen. And it warms my heart after you said that I make you calm in your most difficult times."

"And now that you have said it after you brought me here in this stupid world, I despise you now."

"You can think of me in any way you like but for me, you will still be my darling." She narrowed her eyes in anger. "And perhaps as a bonus, I should tell you more about this world I made."

Then her eyes flickered in curiosity as the fox spoke another poem:

"

The faces of the people are the same,

In this world compared with the other, without mistake.

But each has a different memory and name,

In this world compared with the other, without mistake.

"

Five Kingdoms and five thrones,

The Five Kings and five choices.

Choose wisely, for confusion it brings,

The Five Kings and five choices.

"

Akin to the time seven hundred years ago,

The time of Kings and Queens.

A time when you plant not with machines but hoe,

The time of Kings and Queens.

"

Unreal things could be real,

In this world, I have created.

Some things are dealt with the same deal,

In this world, I have created.

"

The fox bowed as Veandra narrowed her eyes. He said, "There's a parade of knights today. They will be passing this street in a second. Let's watch them together."

The fox jumped off the bed and walked towards the windows as it opened by itself. He jumped on it and sat while Veandra is looking above him. There are armored knights on armored horses that walked in the middle of the muddy road. Their armors shined from the sun like diamonds. And like falling stars, they came down the road for they shined like they are. They smiled on their horses as the women looked at them in awe and the men looked at them with respect. For they are the protectors of the Kingdom, or perhaps walking symbols of might.

"Someone's got their eyes on you," said the fox to her.

A knight spotted the fair maiden at the window. He is a knight that led the group so they all stopped as he did. He came down from his horse and his boots met the mud with a splatter and another splatter as he clicked his lips as he puckered.

Veandra raised her eyebrows as the people in the street turned to look at her but she was not impressed because she is used to be the center of attention. The other women were excited and their hearts fluttered after seeing the knight with the blonde hair have his eyes unblinking as they gaze at the maiden.

"What a lovely dark dog you have, fair maiden," he said with exaggerated expressions and lots of smiling. "And may I ask from the fair maiden with the lips that as soft and gentle as the rose, eyes that are as bright as the sun, and skin that is smooth as the snow... a kiss?"

The women squealed in excitement except for Veandra. And the other men were agreeing how lucky the fair maiden is with her beauty that captured the heart of the brave knight.

The fox chuckled as he asked her, "Will you look at that? On the first morning of your time here, you already have a suitor."