Growing Wings - 2 - Raleene the Eighth

It was completely silent in the room. The only audible things were the breathing of the present people and the slight rustling of a paintbrush sliding over the canvas. The artist constantly looked from the painting to his models and back, putting in as much effort as possible in it. After all, it was a rare event that someone was allowed to paint the princess of the Overizon, along with an almost identical looking daughter of a landlord. While the daughter of the landlord looked relaxed and was happily smiling, the princess seemed to have all problems to keep up a smile.

Raleene was already forced to sit and smile like this for over an hour and for her, it seemed that time had stopped moving on its own. Still trying to hold still, Raleene gave in at one point, when her nose began to twitch and she couldn’t suppress a sneeze. Surprised by it, the artist, as well as the daughter of the landlord clenched, which caused the artist to drop the paintbrush and realizing, how much time had already passed.
“I-I’m terribly sorry, my lady. I haven’t looked at the time. Ehm… sh-shall we take a break?”

The princess scratched her nose and let out a yawn, which she also had suppressed for way too long. However, she gave the artist a smile, trying to calm him down, since he was nervously shaking.
“It’s not a problem that you lost track of time. It looks like you’re putting your heart and soul into the drawing, so I’m fine with waiting. However, I would appreciate a break. I need to make some steps and get a feeling for my legs again, so let’s say a ten minute break, okay?”
The artist quickly bowed and left the room, allowing Raleene to drop the smile she had put up for the artist and looked with an annoyed expression at her friend. She stood up and carefully tried to make one step after another, suppressing a slight curse each time she realized that her dress got caught on furniture.

“Oh for… I can’t believe you managed to make me agreeing to this, Johanna.”, she said while looking at her friend, who stood up and gracefully, as well as casually walked around in her dress, similar to Raleene’s. Even her expression barely had changed, since she was still smiling, except for the fact that it was about Raleene’s reaction right now. With a slight giggle, Johanna walked over to Raleene and span around, as if she was dancing, “Come on princess, you promised that we would do something together and since her highness is still not fond of you leaving the palace, our choices are limited.”

“I know, I know… But seriously, why this dress? The skirt is too wide and touching the floor. I worry every time that I step on it and fall over! Why couldn’t you let me pick my self-made uniform or at least something more comfortable, like a tuxedo or a blouse in combination with a vest?”, Raleene complained, only causing Johanna to giggle even more.

“No offense Raleene, but you’re probably the exact opposite of what the people would expect from a princess. You’re not enjoying tea parties, you’re not listening to operas… No, you prefer to train your body day in and out and you like to tinker and create things like armor or mechanisms. I bet you could challenge every technician or soldier in their topic and still win. Hehehehe…”

Johanna made some steps away from Raleene and began to spin around while starting to sing randomly, “Behold princess Raleene, someone like her no one has ever seen! She creates machines and trains her body to perfect success, but fails horribly, if she has to wear a dress! Lalala La Lalala!”.

Provoked by that, Raleene tried to catch up. “Alright, that’s it. Come here you little-“ However, she didn’t came really far. After the third step, it exactly happened what she had expected from the moment she had put on the dress. Raleene accidently stepped on her dress, causing her to tumble and hit the ground, resulting in Johanna to burst into laughter when she saw it happening.

Slowly trying to get up, Raleene’s eyes focused Johanna, while her mouth showed a mixed expression of anger and joy. Right now, accepting to chase her friend was a welcomed change of pace. Once she got up, she signaled Johanna to listen to her. “How about the following: If I manage to catch you, while wearing this horrible dress, you will do me a favor and help me out on something, okay?”, Raleene said, before waiting for a reaction.

“Alright, I accept. However, if you don’t manage to catch me, before the break is over, I’ll get to decide what you have to wear for the next portrait!”, Johanna responded, before she continued to leisurely walk away from Raleene. The moment Johanna looked away from Raleene, she quickly put off her stilettos and hold them with one hand, while she raised her skirt with the other hand. That way, she was able to close the gap slightly. However, she didn’t expect that Johanna could walk even faster in a dress with stilettos, so the gap remained even.
When Johanna was taking a turn around a table, Raleene saw her chance and tossed her stilettos, letting them slide over the ground and in the end, making Johanna trip over them. Trying to keep her balance, Johanna started to wave around with her arms, but was eventually about to fall backwards. However, Raleene had been able to close the gap and catch Johanna, before she hit the ground. With eyes widened and a surprised reaction, Johanna looked into Raleene’s face, which had a successful smile on it.

“Caught you.”, Raleene merely said, which caused to Johanna to blush in embarrassment, while still hanging in Raleene’s arms. Right at that moment, the door opened and the artist went back into the room but froze instantly, when he saw Raleene holding Johanna. “A-a-a-a-am I c-c-coming back a-at a b-b-b-bad moment?”, he stuttered. Raleene simply shook her head and smiled at the artist and then looked at her friend, who was still hanging in her arms.
“Not at all! Let’s continue for now. Oh, two things please.”, Raleene said before she put Johanna back on her feet and both of them went back to their chairs.
“Y-y-yes?”
“First, I would like to make a second appointment for another picture, preferably within this week.”
“A-anytime, your highness! I’ll keep my schedule clean for any time you want. W-what would like to see drawn?”, the artist asked, while picking up his tools again. Raleene merely looked at Johanna, who still seemed to struggle to get the smile back, she had earlier, which caused Raleene to grin widely, before she got back into position.
“Exactly what you have seen, when you got in. I only want to wear something else next time.”

While Raleene burst out in laughter, Johanna’s face became bright red and the artist took at least a minute to say that he would gladly do that. In an instant, Raleene felt much better and the following hour passed by in no time at all.