Nadine - The Beginning

19. Seashells

"I have ribs of beef here!"

"Do you need some silk for a pretty new dress princess?"

"Tre there's so many."

"Candlesticks!"

"Yes there are princess. I think this market area is bigger than the one back home."

"Pears!"

"Oh look at those jewels. They are so pretty."

"Pretty jewels for a pretty girl! Would you like to try one on?"

I just shake my head no and try to back away from a man with black teeth. I nearly step on Tre's foot and trip. He puts his arms around me and stabilizes me. "Thank you Tre. That man was different."

"Cinnamon and ginger here!"

Tre smiles at me and we start walking again.

"Metal here. Nails, horseshoes, armor, weapons!"

I walk over to the metal stall. There is so much stuff here. I just stand there looking around for a couple minutes. The man has a fire going in the back. Everything looks so interesting. I reach out and touch a piece of armor.

"This is the blacksmith shop princess. This man can make anything out of metal."

"Get your teeth pulled here!"

I turn around so fast. "WHAT?"

Tre starts laughing. "Humans teeth go bad sometimes. They have to have them pulled out."

"Apples!"

"That would have to hurt." I put my hand on my mouth and he starts leading me farther down the path.

"Get your pottery here!"

"Do you need a new bow sir?"

"Wow Tre look at that bowl. Those designs are so pretty." I stand there staring a bowl and pointing.

"What do you need a pretty bowl for princess?" Tre wraps his arms around me from behind.

I touch the broach. "To put my pretty things in of course." I smile and put my arm through his so we can continue our walk.

"What do you want for that bowl?"

"Three coins sir."

"Oh Tre you don't have to. I just think it's pretty."

"Thank you sir."

He takes the bowl and we start walking again. "Thank you Tre."

"You're welcome princess. I wanted you to be able to take home something from here that you picked out." He looks at the bowl. "And it is a pretty bowl." He wraps his arm around me. "A pretty bowl for a pretty princess."

I smile and lay my head on his shoulder. "You are so good to me Tre and it smells heavenly right here." I start looking around.

"It's the bakery princess. Lots of different breads and sweet treats here."

The bakery person comes up to us. "Try a bite of this princess. You will love it."

I take a little piece of some kind of bread and put it in my mouth. My feel my eyes about pop out of my head. "That was amazing. It's so sweet and puffy."

"I have entire loafs here for 1 coin princess. I call them cake."

Tre pulls 2 coins out of his pocket. "I would like 2 please. Those are perfect for her."

She takes the coins and smiles as she puts 2 in a sack. "Thank you. I knew she would love them."

Tre gives me a big smile when we walk away. "What are you going to do with 2 loaves of cake princess?"

"One is for us to sit and relax with. The other is for my parents to try. This is just amazing. I wish we would have brought the castle cooker to learn how to do that."

"Meat slabs here!" I look over and a man is standing there with an apron on and blood all over it.

"He's the butcher princess."

I just nod. Seems like an odd profession.

"Arrows! Get your arrows here!"

"FISH FOR TRADE!"

"Carrots! Cabbage! Onions!"

"Long beans!"

"Salts here!"

"There's just so many."

"I know and different ones come every day. Don't know what will be here tomorrow."

"Wow. Would you care for some cake and blood? I would like to sit in the shade for a bit."

"That sounds amazing princess. Let's walk over by my house and I can grab us some blood."

Mary see's us as we get closer to our little houses. "How is everything going little miss?"

"Great Mary thank you. Will you please put my bowl in my room and also ones of these loaves of cake."

"Of course miss."

"I will be right back princess. Going to grab the blood."

I nod at Tre as they both walk away. I look back and my guard is still following me around. I should give him some cake too. I'll wait until Tre's not around. Don't want him getting jealous again.

Tre comes back with two cups of blood. "There is a good shade tree behind the house."

I smile. "Lead the way."

He's not lying this tree is huge. We both sit with our backs to the trunk and rest on it while eating and drinking. "This is amazing Tre. I love it here so much."

"It is nice yes. But it's not the same when you're not here."

I scoot closer to him and lay my head on his shoulder. "Home isn't the same either."

"You go put the rest of this loaf in your house. I will tell the parents we are going to the sea for a few hours."

"They will let us go?"

"They should. The route is stable and secure. It's not to far. We'll probably have to take a massive amount of guards though." He starts laughing. "I'll go work on the details princess. I'll meet you in the front area of your house when I get it figured out."

"Ok Tre. I'll go freshen up and meet you there."

I walk around and go in the house. My guard stands outside. I open the door back up. "Come in."

"Thank you princess." He follows me in and shuts the door.

I look at him and realize he must have been baking out there in the sun this whole time. I pour a cup of blood and another of water. I put some cake and fruit on a plate and put it all on the table. "Sit here."

"Ma'am?"

"Sit... Here" I point at the chair and he sits down. "Eat and drink this." I push it all closer to him. I sit there and wonder for a second. What is so hard to understand about 'eat this'?

"You made this for me ma'am?"

"Yes. Put it in your mouth. You look like you need it."

He takes a bite of the cake. "This is really good. Thank you princess."

"My pleasure. I'm going to go freshen up. I will be down in a few minutes." I refill his water. This time all the way up. "Just get more if you need it."

He nods. "Tha"

"Do not say it anymore. Just eat and drink and stop saying thank you, or princess, or ma'am."

He nods again.

Mary walks in laughing. "He'll understand eventually. It takes time for the new people little miss."

I smile. "Have some cake. Going to wash my hands. It makes them sticky."

"Oh I need to help you change princess. Your momma said you need to wear a nurse uniform to go to the sea. She doesn't want your good gowns getting ruined."

"I REALLY GET TO GO?"

Mary starts to laugh. "Yes. Your mom and Asa, Tre, and Clay are all going. Let's go get you fixed up miss."

I hear the guard pouring more water as I walk out with Mary.

"You really do need to try that cake Mary. It was amazing."

"You could bring it in your carriage. They are putting lunches in them now." Mary takes the veil off and starts untying my gown.

"Does Tre get to ride with me?"

"I don't know for sure but, I believe everyone has their own carriage."

I give her a sad look as she tightens the new dress.

"It would be to much for one cart with servants and personal guards and things."

I nod. "I was just hoping."

She puts the veil over my head and pins it down.

We get back downstairs and the guard is standing in the living area.

"Feel better Gunner?"

"Yes ma'am. Th"

I put my hands on my hips and he shuts up.

Tre walks in. "I guess going to the sea was to good of an idea. Everyone is going to join princess. Servants are loading the carriages now with foods and drinks."

I smile at him. "I'm sure it will be fun regardless. It will be lovely to see. Will you ride with me?"

"I can not. We must each have our own carriage." He looks as upset as I feel.

"How long is the ride?"

"Half of an hour princess."

"Not long. We can eat something and rest a bit. Then walk by the sea together."

He looks at me with those amazing eyes and then smiles. "You will able to walk in the sea princess. I will walk with you of course. You may want to grab a second dress, should this one get to wet."

I gasp and look at Mary.

"Already packed. I'll grab your opened cake though."

"Did you want some of the cake for your carriage Tre?"

"No thank you princess. You enjoy it. It was to sweet for me."

Some weird noise cuts through the air.

"What was that?"

"It's an instrument of some kind. The humans sold us one. Now it just alerts us to things like the carriages being ready." He smiles and holds out his arm for me.

I take his arm and the 4 of us walk outside.

I hear my dad and Dracul talking as I get closer. "I assure you Miculai, the path is secure and heavily guarded."

"Good. Good. I would like to check out the dungeon areas next."

"Hi daddy."

"Hi my princess." He gives me a hug. "You enjoy the sea. Bring me back a seashell."

I nod and give him another hug. "Thank you for letting me go daddy."

"Anything for you princess. Enjoy your afternoon."

I nod and walk to my carriage with Tre. He opens the door and I get in. "See you soon Tre."

"Very soon. I'm one carriage ahead of you if you need anything."

I nod. "Thank you."

He walks to his carriage and Mary and my guard get in mine.

"You're right princess this cake is amazing. You should take some home for our baker. He could try to match it." Mary grabs three saucers and starts dishing out food.

"I do not know how long it will stay good."

"I can try to get one in the morning before we leave. If you would like."

"Yes please Mary. That would be amazing to have at home."

We all sit quietly and enjoy the food and the ride. I watch out the window and soon the scenery starts to change. There are less trees and more birds. Different kinds of birds that I have never seen before. The air smells different somehow. I look into the distance and I see water.

"Mary look! Water!"

"Oh that was a quick journey." She puts her fabric back in the bag.

We pull up closer to the water and I see my mom and Asa already on the sand. They don't have shoes on and are putting there feet in the water. I don't say anything I just push the shoes off my feet and try to hide them in the carriage. My dress goes to the ground anyways. No one will notice.

Mary and the guard get out before me. I put my foot out to step down and I know the guard see's it. But he doesn't say anything. He just turns back around. I climb out and Clay is already running to the water. Tre comes over and offers me his arm.

"It's just so big."

"Yes it is princess. Shall we?"

We walk to the water and then right into it. The sand was so hot and the water so cool on my feet. I just stand there digging my toes into the wet sand for a moment.

"We can go farther if you would like princess."

I look over at Clay and he is up to his neck in the water. I just smile and run in. I notice the farther in I go, the closer my guard gets. By the time I'm in water up to my waist, he's an arms reach away. "Am I in danger?"

"Water like this is always dangerous ma'am. You could get pulled under and taken to the middle or a large fish could try to swallow you. It's just better if I stay close."

I turn to walk closer to the shore and a wave hits the back of me and throws me under. I feel my guard grab one arm and Tre grab the other. But it doesn't matter. I jump up. "Again. Again." I make a run for Clay and start splashing him.

He just smiles and jumps towards me. He uses his entire body to splash me with water. Me, Tre, and Clay play like that for hours. It is so fun. All the water and splashing. It's perfect.

I hear mom yell from the shore that we have a half hour before we leave and I run to get a sack from Mary. I still need to get some shells.

Clay goes and grabs a pole to fish with. He grabs one for Tre too. I smile and just watch the two of them fish in the sea. Then I remember the shells again.

I look down and there are so many. I start picking up the prettiest ones I can find. I just keep walking and picking them up.

"Princess this is a big one." Gunner has one and is looking at it.

I walk over and we both see something stick it's foot out. I scream and he just drops it. We just look at each other and laugh. "Don't believe I'll be taking that one."

By the time we get back to my mom, my sack is full and it's time to go. Clay is yelling about something big he caught and mom is just smiling at him as he packs it in his carriage. We all pile in our separate carriages and start the journey back.