The Vista Below


“Princess Michella! You-“
“Oh, go away, Blanca! Leave me be!” Michella wailed. She lay in the open windowsill of her bedroom, a soft blue-white sundress covering her pale and flawless skin. Her legs were crossed, daintily hanging a leg out the window, the cool yet sunbathed stone walls of the castle and the gentle breeze with the salty smell of the far off ocean comforting to her.
“What troubles thee, my Lady?” The elegant entrance of the girl’s bedroom was pushed open, a young maid in a black dress with white apron in the doorway. Her hands were clasped before her, her wavy brown hair done up in a bun with a few stray spirals lining her youthful face.
The princess put the back of her hand to her forehead and looked out with window with her chin resting on her bare shoulder and a pained expression on her face. “Blanca, I grow tired of this! This royalty; this captivity! I long to be free to roam the streets of this beautiful metropolis, without the bother of my guards or the stares of the populace!!”
She gestured to the scenic vista before her with an open palm, as if in longing for it to reach back. She had the most beautiful viewpoint in all the city from her very bedroom; a horrid tease to her. The manmade canal cut through the two flats of land, as it did all around the city. The waterways came from the ocean in the close distance and met in the center of the city and made a square around the main plaza, a great bazaar where people came from the farthest corners of the oceans and then some to sell their goods. Gondolas filled the channels; they were the most efficient way of transporting things across the town.
Michella twirled a strand of her gorgeously flaxen hair about her finger. “Oh, whatever am I to do?” she whined quietly, bringing her other hand in a limp fist to her cheek and an exasperated sigh leaving her lips. She leaned slightly in the windowsill and a small, gentle smile crossed her lips as she peered across the canal.
“Ay, Princess, I know that look…” Blanca said with a knowing smile as she approached her. “Thy prying eyes are lustrous; who is it that you see?” Michella cupped her hand beside her eye to mask her reddening cheek and bit and her fingernail thoughtfully. “Eh? Who has the fortune to catch your glance?”
“Ay, pestering nurse! Thy curiosity will be my death!!”
The maid laughed and approached the princess, placing her hands on the windowsill and eyeing the streets. “And thy death will be disappointing to the young man you have eyes for! Come now, out with it!”
“Oh, curse-ed nurse!” Michella whined, though her cheeks were still stained the darkest shade of red and her chocolate brown eyes still glistened with glee. She turned her face away and out towards the shimmering deep of blue and sky. She spoke hushed through barred teeth, “The boy across the canal.”
“Which one, my Lady?” Blanca giggled and leaned forward slightly, trying to get a better look at the group of boys that were in the direction that had held the princess’s gaze for so long.
A smile crossed her lips as she continued to look away. “The one with hair as dark as a raven and dressed in a white shirt. He is called Royce.”
The maid leaned even closer when her eyes caught him. “…Oh, Princess! Thy knowest how to choose! Royce; such a handsome name for such a handsome man!!”
“Oh, hush…” Michella blushed as her smile grew wider against her will. She placed her fingers to her cheeks in a modest manner. “He rows a gondola and passes through the waterway at the break of day each morrow.”
“Oh, I see why he would catch thine eye!!” She once again gave her a knowing smile. “Me thinks you should-“
“Oh, nurse, I cannot!!” she cried. “I am a princess, and he is but a gondolier! People would negate such a thing! Cruel fate and poor my heart’s eye; it has chosen wrongly…!!” The girl placed her fingertips upon her forehead to hide her eyes.
The nurse watched her for a moment, looked at the handsome boy below, and smiled with cunning. She knelt beside the princess and placed a hand on her arm. “Princess… I have a plan, and it would behoove thee to listen well.”
She sniffled and looked at the maid over her hand. “You have my notice.”
“Well,” Blanca leaned closer to the princess, as if there were others listening. “Every morrow, the guards all go to the weaponry at the same time to prepare for the day. I suggest, that at that time, you steal away from the castle through the secret exit and you should come to pass at round ‘neath your very window. You can wait crossways from him and be able to address him directly when he passes!!”
“Oh, nurse!!” Michella jumped to her feet and tightly embraced the girl. “I can not thank you enough!!”
“But keep it hush, princess! If anyone was to find out that I informed you of this…” she cautioned.
“Oh, worry not! All will be well!!” Michella leaned her hands on the sill and looked out the window once more.
“Royce and Michella…”
“Royce and Michella…” The princess echoed dreamily. “…I cannot wait…”