"He said yes."
It was next morning when the news came.
"Saintess. He. Said. Yes."
Tish was sitting near the window. The spot had become her favourite place in her quarter. She held a mug of chamomile tea with the same important with which she held particular volatile magic diagram scrolls. The soft wet morning wind soaked with the scent of earth and forest was making her drowsy. Until then.
It took her some moment to absorb what was Saya saying and when she finally understood...
"He said yes?" Tish almost dropped the cup. Slowly carefully she lowered the cup, trying her best to look calm even though her hands were shaking visibly, "Details, Saya. Give me details!"
"The garden!" Saya cried, looking even more nervous than Tish. She marched to the wardrobe and threw it open. She started clawing through the clothes, "This evening! Once he returns from his hunting! He had said he would show you around ! Why are you still sitting there looking like that ?"
Tish looked at her hands and feet, unable to understand what that meant. She hadn't exactly expected the Prince to say yes. She had just wasted five hours mauling over the letter, wasted a bunch of papers and had finally wrote whatever the hell she felt and then had cried in her pillow for a few hours at night. That was all. But it had actually worked. Her deity mother Rāva must be working overtime to save her face from embarassment.
Saya marched to Tish and grabbed her face, "We need to do your upper lip and trim a little of your eyebrows," roughly she pushed back Tish's hair, "And the hair, we have to oil it!" She started dragging Tish towards the bathroom.
The large bathtub was filled with warm water by the maids within twenty minutes. Someone had put some local herb in it- something the name of which Tish didn't know. There was already rose oil and fresh towel sitting on a chair. Everything looked suspiciously pre-arranged. Like Saya already knew.
"Care to explain?" Tish demanded. Saya just smiled, "Care to thank me?" Tish had no comeback for that. She conceded by sitting into the bathtub letting Saya have her way with her.
Almost immediately, Saya attacked Tish's hair. She started to comb through Tish's hair, which has started knotting at the end from the weather and mostly her own lack of care. "Oww!" Tish complained.
"You should have oiled it," Saya scolded, "I told you to oil it yesterday!"
"I forgot!" Tish huffed.
"You didn't forget," Saya snapped, "You just didn't want to! You said you are a Saintess? What goddess do you worship? Goddess of laziness?"
"Hey!"
Tish felt annoyed but secretly very grateful. They fell quiet for a few seconds and then Tish asked, "You are not going to say anything?"
"About what?"
"About him saying yes?" She pressed. Saya didn't answer rightway. It was when Tish started feeling Saya was going to ignore her question altogether, Saya said, "I am not surprised he said yes."
It was the kindest thing anyone had ever said to her after coming to Benevia. And coming from Saya, it was literally a high praise. Tish couldn't stop grinning. Saya noticed ofcourse and slapped her shoulder, "If you have so much time, brush your teeth. Thrice!" She tried to sound sharp but it was becoming more and more evident she actually cared.
They spent most part of the morning choosing a proper dress- which was a complicated blue piece (Saya assured she would help), ate a hasty lunch before they started making the final preparation.
Atfirst Tish was almost giddy- he said yes. He said yes.
But as the heat of the sun started cooling, her courage started evaporating.
OH MY GODDESS, HE SAID YES!
Saya had produced a thread to deal with Tish's facial hair. She made Tish sit on a chair while she hovered over Tish, too closer and with too much concentration, it was slightly scary.
"Hold still," Saya ordered the Saintess as she worked on her eyebrows.
"I am holding still."
"You are blinking!"
"That's involuntary movement! Everyone's eyes do that!" Tish shrieked.
"Not those who literally has a plan to meet the Dragon Prince!"
Tish gulped.
After five seconds she asked, "He really said yes?" This time she didn't sound excited. This time she sounded scared.
Because Tish still remembered what Saya had said last night, "Last night," Tish swallowed, "You said the Dragon Prince will eat me alive."
Saya lets out a shaky exhale, her nostrils flaring like she was trying to hold back something,"And?"
Tish whispered, "Do dragons really have an appetite for human flesh?"
Saya closed her eyes.
"Saya?" Tish squeaked.
"I did not mean it that way," Says said carefully, her voice trembled with an emotion Tish didn't understand.
"Then you meant in what way?" Tish pressed.
"Wear your dress."
"....okay."
_____________________________________
The other maids handed her a small box, along with a spoon to carry to the Prince. It supposedly had rice pudding. A sweet comforting dish he apparently enjoyed almost every evening. Tish conceded, partly because it gave her an object of conversation and partly because it kept her hands busy.
Then she headed downstairs followed by Saya and other maids who fell into orderly formation behind her. Saya had insisted to keep Tish's hair open. The afternoon sun made her blonde hair stand out in a palace which had only seen black haired women. People turned their heads as Tish passed them. But Tish was too scared to see their face, to find out if they were repulsed or impressed.
The maids left her alone to fend for herself the second they reached the gate of the garden. Even Saya left. Traitor.
The garden was larger than she had predicted. It announced itself before she reached it. The smell of Jasmine came first, unmistakenly sweet and clean. It made Tish a little dizzy. There were other flowers- different colours, different scents - most of which Tish had never heard of, let alone see. A neat stone pathway- just wide enough for two people to walk side by side- separated the garden into two sections. Here, the plants weren't trimmed or cut. Rather, they were allowed to grow as they pleased till the edges of the pathway.
Further in, the pathway curved around a fountain. Tish spotted a tree- it's bark dark and deeply grooved, it's leaves small and narrow- stood taller than other trees. Tish didn't know it's name but it's bitter medicinal scent was strangely refreshing amidst the sweet cloying smell of other flowers.
And underneath it, on a stone bench sat a man- Rudra Azhdar.
The second Tish spotted him, she immediately just knew.
That this man. Would be end of her.