Part One
I finished my breakfast with no thoughts at all. I dressed myself in my favorite green dress, thought my family often told me I looked like a commoner in it. My cat, Link, came up to me and tried to climb all over me when I sat on my bed. Her sister, Zelda, was asleep by the window as usual. The only similarities in them are their eyes and black and white fur. Link is tiny and has thin fur, while Zelda is fat and fluffy.
I had forgotten about any plans for that day until a servant told me I had a visitor. Curious, I walked to the parlor where my guest waited. To my great surprise, my visitor turned out to be Jon. Then, I remembered my plans.
My surprise must have shown because he asked, "Do you still want to go to the menagerie? You look like you forgot and made other plans."
I recovered quickly and admitted, "I had forgotten but I didn't make other plans." Thank God, I thought. "We can go now if you want." I grabbed my sunflower yellow cloak and we left. The menagerie wasn't far, so we walked.
The menagerie held both common and exotic animals. My favorite creatures are tigers, dragons, and unicorns. There were also centuars, griffins, horses, fairies, elephants, lions, and many others. Mermaids were few because they actually could talk to people and thought for themselves. The few that were there were beng protected from hunters and greedy seamen.
"Where do you want to go first?" I asked Jon.
"Let's go see the unicorns. I love how they are so graceful and beautiful."
We walked to the unicorn pasture, where we saw a newly born unicorn colt. He was gray and had a bump on his head where his horn would grow. It was a beautiful sight. My happiness showed with tears in my eyes.
"I know, they are beautiful." Jon said looking at me.
We strolled in silence to the dragons. There were three that were outside the cave. My favoritee was a silver dragon with blue eyes named Link. Yes, I named my cat after that dragon.
"My favorite is Pacific, the green-blue with green eyes." Jon told me. "Which one do you like?" I told him Link.
"Ah, good choice. For some reeason, the most popular is the jade-green with yellow eyes, Jade. My father said if I wanted a dragon, he'd get me Jade for my fourteenth birthday, but I stubbornly refused. I told hi I wanted Pacific and he said that it was either Jade or wait until I was married to pick my own. You can guess what I told him," he said smiling. He just stood there contemplating for a minute. Then he said, "Let's go to the tigers." I swear he could read minds because he knew exactly where I wantd to go next.
The tiger area wasn't far away so we walked quietly. Tigers are my secnd favorite of the cat family. My favorite are cats, but you already know about them. When we got to te tigers we saw the aadults were eitheer sleeping or lying down and watching the cubs. The tiger cubs more than made up for thier parents' lack of enthusiasm. The cubs wrestled so playfully and forcefully, that it looked as though they were actually fighting. They're so funny to watch because you don't know whether to laugh or to worry about them.
We walked around the rest of the menagerie and talked. I told him that I was to leave for finishing school next week and would be goone for an entire year. He respondes with anger.
"Why do you need to go to finishing school? You're fine from what I can see, and so you don't need anymore elegance or you'll become like everyone else-- dull and gossipy!" He paused. "Oh, well. I suppose if you have to go it's best that we are leaving at the same time. That way we have a good reason for not communicating with one another." He had calmed down now. "I leave to Celestia to visit Royal Courts and such for a year, also. I ahve to go with my father because future monarchs need to watch and learn how othere monarchs think and act."
We spent about fifteen minutes in silence, becuase I didn't know how to react to his conversation. He was also at a loss for words. We had started back towards my home during this silence.
"What is your favorite flower?" He asked suddenly.
"Daisies. Why?" I answered automatically. Sometimes I could jsut kick myself because of my mouth.
"So I can sen you a going away present." I blushed slightly. "Of course, I could give you jewelry or something else to be quite showy, but I think your father might think you've been seeign somenone in secret. So flowers should be safee to send you. Look for a note in the flowers, though. My new address will be written on it so you can write to me while we are both gone. In your first letter, you must tell me your new address because yours won't change as mine will."
We had reached my house and we said our farewells after I agreed to send him my new address. I went inside to look and see if anyone was home yet. There was no one except the servants; Sophie, my friend, was among them.
My father disliked my conversing with the servants, but I didn't care. They were people, more real than those my fater approved of. I could talk to them, and Sophie was among teh bravest to even talk back and express emotions.
Sophie was in the kitchen, cooking today because it was the cook's day off. I went to tell her of my day so far, but she was too busy with supper.
"Mistresses Lydia and Dianis and Master Joshua will all be home within two hours time," she said. That's something that annoys me about her. She may talk back but she's always polite and always gives you a title if she talks about you. The other servants only use titles when talking directly to you. Sophie is an odd one, she is.
As soon as supper could be left on it's own, Sophie would be free to talk. I asked if I could help and she told me to put the potatoes in the largest pot and fill it with water to boil. I did this and waited until she was done chopping the vegetables for that night's salad course.
