Can you tell I'm addicted to round robins? xD

Anywho, this is yet another private round robin between fishnet and me. Feel free to comment if you so desire.

But onwards to the chaos!

The girl put down the mirror and sighed. Not even a mirror could quite accurately reflect her beauty, she mused to herself.

The girl was a beauty. What, with her long, luxurious red curls; fair, unblemished complexion; large, lovely green eyes framed by elegant lashes...

She was also terribly conceited.

"Oh, Maria!" she called, paying no heed to the fact that it was the middle of the night and that her call would likely wake not only Maria but the entire household.

When Maria did not appear instantly, the girl pouted and fancied her pout was quite adorable, what with her plump, pretty lips.

Along with being terribly conceited, the girl also lacked an attention span greater than a goldfish's. Thus, she quickly tired of pouting. Instead, she settled for giving long, exasperated, exaggerated sighs. She fancied that she was quite the fetching damsel in distress.

However, she quickly tired of that too and was about to take to pacing the room, but the door opened and there stood Maria.

"Yes, Lady Sue?"

Sue frowned at the mention of her name. That was the only thing she could not stand about herself--her ever so plain and boring name. It did not even stand for Susan or Suzanna--it was simply Sue. That fact had simply galled at her, so she had devised a suitable nickname.

"I've told you, call me Lady Sullareira Eulyanna Zellesca." True, it was a bit of ridiculous grandeur, Sue admitted. However, she believed that she was such to be worth the grandeur.

This time Maria frowned. But then an idea formed in her head and she smiled. "Yes, Lady Suzalooria Yulenanoo Zelskaku. What was it you desired?"

This did not bode well.

"Maria, you know," lightly scolded Lady Sue, changing at once in tone and posture, "I am not to be blamed for your poor phonetics. Mother may punish you, but please be ever confident in the knowledge that I would never, never think to blame you for your own ineptitude." Sue cursed inwardly her own follies of over-kindness, constant forgiveness, and, most of all, great humility.

This reply, however unanticipated, was not altogether surprising, and Maria was forced to nod her head in acceptance. "Yes, milady," for it would be hours before the sun rose, and fatigue worked more wearily on Maria's skull than the incessant, vain little whines of a young girl.

"Good," smiled the lady, quite satisfied with her own natural capacity to tame the help. "Now please, fetch me a glass of water. I am thirsty, and my skin dries all the more as we speak."

Maria would have commented on the fact that drinking water would have done very little, that what the lady needed most right then was some Aveeno, but to do so would have not only surpassed the education of a servant girl in the humble castle of King Humphrey XIII but that of her entire time period. Instead, she would settle quite nicely for a "Yes, milady," as she shut the heavy bedroom door to cries of:

"Lady Sullareira Eulyanna Zellesca!"

How the young Prince Abel could possibly stand her for his lover was a concept quite beyond Miss Maria's comprehension.

Then again, Prince Abel was only twelve--and struck by the firey passions of infatuation.

An adorable child bowed ridiculously and knelt in front of Sue. "My lady, I have completed the quest you set forth." He proffered a napkin filled with cookies that he had pilfered from the pantry.

It would have been quite cute if Sue didn't encourage him so much.

She graciously accepted the cookies and smiled. "Why, what a noble quester I have! I should make you my knight."

"Milady, there is nothing in the kingdom, the ends of the earth, the seven spheres, or the long and never ending realms that could please my ever lonely heart quite so much."

For a twelve year old, Prince Abel was quite the exaggerater. But, unfortunately, he thought himself quite the charmer. Maria pitied the females he would talk to death when he grew up.

"Well, let us do it now then." Sue clapped her hands. "Do you have a sword?"

Prince Abel frowned. He did not have a sword. His two elder sisters had swords since they were three. After having to restrain the two from trying slay anything during their tantrums, his parents decided that Abel would be raised with soft pillows and fine clothes. This had suited Abel just fine. He had not mourned his lack of sword--before now.

"Milady, I am not worthy of your luminous beauty just yet. I must venture forth and go questing once more in search of a sword worthy of being in your most illustrious service."

Sue seemed disappointed. She sighed and tossed her hair, suddenly bored. "Oh very well."

------

Dragons. Why dragons--why always dragons? Abel knew great deal about the makings of knights, but it had never occurred to him that becoming one would prove so difficult in reality. A flourish of the sword, a shake of the shield, and the beast would fall. It was so very, very easy in the books of chivalry.

But this dragon, why, little Abel knew not what to do. With no sword and no shield, what could he possibly hope to achieve?

Abel gulped.

The great deadly creature reared its head in anger, eyes flaring as if inbued with crystal blue flames. Its golden mane shook as it roared, and the whiskers on its strong chin shuddered in agreement. In the dark, it seemed most at home--the blackness all about the beast seemed to bow to it, adore it--and, almost cowering, little Abel cried out, his fear swallowing him with tiny pin-pricks like daggers.

It would not allow its territory to be invaded. Oh Lord, as I walk through the valley...

Piercing the silence, the dragon spoke. A voice, a rumble like tumbling boulders. The castle nearly swayed. "Why are you here?"

Abel stuttered. "I..."

"Why are you here?"

"My quest--Sir, I--"

"Do you have any idea how late it is? And you're a guest, for heaven's sake! As a prince, how can you possibly believe it acceptable to wander strange halls in the middle of the night? It's insane! Pure madness! Child, if we were at home, I should--"

"But Father! My lady sent me! It is for her I sally forth into the unforgiving darkness of this place, for her I brave the unmapped hills of this land! It would be folly for me to stay behind and simply--"