Upon noticing that Baxter isn’t by
her side when she wakes up, Blair goes to Baxter and slaps him awake.
“Huh? What is it, princess?”
“You left me when I told you to
stay with me until I say to leave.”
“Well, you fell asleep and your
parents don’t let us sleep in the same bed together.”
“They aren’t here so you shouldn’t
have followed that rule. I needed you here by my side.”
Leighton enters the room and says, “It’s
inappropriate for a princess to sleep with her butler, Blair.”
“I don’t understand why.”
“That’ll be a problem for you to solve
when you’re older. For now, just know that a princess must be comfortable by
herself even when she feels uncomfortable because there will be times when you
feel alone even with people around you.”
“Hmph. Okay.”
“Today’s lesson will have to do
with this bag of gold.”
Leighton gives the bag of gold to
Baxter who takes a look inside and is shocked.
“This can buy us a house and more!
What are we going to do with it?” Baxter asks.
“Nothing. Control your spending.
Don’t spend it on anything and focus on what’s really important.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Get dressed and walk around town
until you figure it out.”
Baxter and Blair do as Leighton says
and take a walk around town. They see the many businesses that sell various
exotic clothing, decorations, and other knickknacks that catch their eyes. Blair
looks at the exotic dresses through the glass and is captivated by their
elegance and beauty. A little girl who looks like Blair is trying one of the
dresses and spins in a way that makes glitter fly around her. Baxter stops her
before she enters the shop.
“You shouldn’t buy any dresses. You
already have plenty,” he says.
“Oh, that’s right.”
Baxter helps Blair walk away from
the dress shop. As Blair loses sight of the dresses, the thought of buying one
exits her mind, but the sight of the furniture store distracts her. She looks
into the store and sees a salesman presenting the furniture and looking
directly at her in an almost creepy way with his happy and frowning face
extending.
Baxter tugs on Blair’s hand and says,
“Come on. We don’t need it.”
“Mmmm. Okay.”
The salesman waves bye to Blair
along with the chair that appears to be waving as well. With one distraction
gone another comes again with an antique store. The masterfully made figures
dance in place and around the store with the flames from the candles in the
store dancing with them. This display of beauty captures the eyes and minds of
Baxter and Blair. Baxter manages to snap
out of it by thinking about the uses of the figures and his responsibilities
and tugs on Blair’s hand.
“Let’s go, princesses. We don’t
need them.”
“But…but I can bring them to my
parents! They can provide lots of entertainment for them!”
“We already have entertainers in
the castle and if we need more, your parents will hire them.”
“But we don’t have entertainers like
those figures!”
“We don’t need them. Come on
already.”
“Mmmmmm…”
Blair finds it harder to pull
herself away from the figures until she catches sight of the pet store with
various kinds of cats, dogs, and even tigers and lions in the window. The store
advertises them as servant pets, pets that act as normal house pets but can
also do the things a servant can do. She runs to it and can pet the docile pets
through the cages. Baxter also pets the friendly animals though he isn’t too
captivated by them. Again, he tries to pull Blair away from them.
“Why can’t I take at least one of
them, Baxter? Think about having animal servants in the castle!”
“We already have plenty of servants
in the castle.”
“But we don’t have servants like
these! These servants will do everything I say and will always love me.”
“But you already have servants who
do that for you. Servants like me.”
Blair slaps Baxter.
“No, I don’t! You don’t do anything
I say and that means you don’t love me!”
“I do everything you want me to.
Even the things you don’t tell me to do, I do because I want to do the best for both of us.”
Blair stops herself before she hits
Baxter again then realizes what she’s done.
“I’m…I’m sorry, Baxter,” Blair says
before hugging him.
“It’s okay. I forgive you.”
The gold in Baxter’s pocket melts and
forms itself into a golden heart. He takes it out of its bag and examines it.
“The gold turned into a golden
heart,” Baxter says.
“I wonder why,” Blair says.
Phillip comes out of the pet store
with two bags and says to the two, “I see that you’ve just been challenged by
gold. I remember going through that test multiple times before finally passing
it.”
“What does this gold heart mean?” Baxter
asks.
“It means that you’ve found what’s
really important. What’s more valuable than gold.”
“What’s that?” Blair asks.
“Do I really need to spell it out
for you? No, wait. Don’t answer that because I needed it spelled out for me even
though I found it. It’s compassion for one another. Loving the people around
you can be something you forget to do even if you devout your life to working
for them.”
Blair and Baxter look and smile at
one another.
“Oh, if only I can keep remembering
that lesson, so I don’t need to keep repeating the challenge. I’d also like to have
that kind of look with my servant. I don’t know why I want it though. Anyways, I
have to get this food back to my pet at home. We do have a meeting later today,
so I’ll see you two soon.”
Baxter and Blair go back to Leighton
and Lynette and show them the golden heart.
Lynette holds it up and says, “This
is amazing! Always look to the heart when you begin to lose sight of what
matters.” Before giving them back the golden heart.
“I trust that you’ve seen Prince
Phillip?” Leighton asks.
“How do you know we saw him?” Blair
asks.
“It’s all part of the plan. We know
everything that will happen except for what you will do.”
“That’s a little creepy…”
“We have only your best intentions
in our hearts. There’s no reason to be afraid except maybe if you don’t like
big falls.”
“Big falls?”
Leighton taps his foot and the
floor below Blair and Baxter goes away. Both of them fall down a large hole and
land a large pile of pillows in a large room that has red cushions on the
walls, floor, and ceiling.
“I’m getting so tired of falling!”
Blair exclaims.
“You’ll get used to it,” Phillip
says who happens to be in the room.
“Phillip, how did you get here?”
Baxter asks.
“This entire town has shifting
tunnels that move at the will of the adults. It’s a strange power that I hope
to get when I’m older. You won’t get it when your training is done though since
you’re just temporary guests.”
“So, what are we supposed to be
doing here?”
“Patience is a virtue they say, and
you’ll have to cultivate it here with me. Sit down and make yourself
comfortable if you aren’t already comfortable sitting on top of each other.”
“Princess, we-”
“I’m fine using you as a chair.”
“Yes, princess.”
“You two appear to be closer than I
thought. Why is that?”
“We grew up together. We were the
only kids in the castle, and even though our parents let us play together, they
told us never to be close because they said I could only marry royalty and umm…next
question. I’ll ask it. Why can’t we have powers like you?”
“Because you’re not tethered to
this place.”
“What do you mean?”
“You don’t know? The people here
were sinners who fell too in love with the riches, power, and everything associated
with royalty and high class, but at the end of their life, they repented of
their mistakes and God is letting them work their penance here as they teach others
the right thing to do.”
“Even you?”
“I was at the age of reason, so yes.
I would’ve been in Heaven if I didn’t fall to greed.”
“Oh. I guess you deserve it.”
“Princess.”
“No, she’s right, servant. We deserve
it and we’ll serve out our penance until we’re done. Now that you’ve asked your
question, I’ll ask another. I’m really curious as to whether or not you too
love each other.”
“We do.”
“Hold on. I mean romantically.
I’ve read dozens of stories of love affairs between royalty and servants, but
most of them were fiction. I’m wondering if this is real.”
“Ummm. That’s not for you to know,”
Blair says with a red face.
“Okay, I’ll ask your servant then.”
“Don’t tell him anything, Baxter.”
“I won’t.”
“Hmm. Since you don’t want to say,
then I guess I’ll leave it there for now, but that doesn’t mean I won’t ask
again later. We still have a little bit of time left together.”
“How much longer is this?”
“I can’t tell you that. I can tell
you more about the town and its people if you’d like.”
“Okay. Tell me about your weird
half happy, half sad faces then.”
“It’s a representation of wealth
and power. On the happy side, you have everything you could want in the world
and the means to get it. On the sad side, there’s a lot of responsibility that
goes along with it and the more responsibility someone has the more they are
punished if they mess up.”
“What about the powers the adults
have?”
“None of it can harm you and they’re
all meant to help us get to places and conduct our business. That’s all I know.”
Blair and Baxter make small talk
with Phillip for a little while until things go silent. Baxter and Phillip can remain still and composed while Blair fidgets and keeps looking around
while waiting for something the test to be over.
“How much longer do we have?” Blair
asks.
“I can’t tell you,” Phillip
answers.
“Can you tell me something else to
make this go by faster?”
“You’ll have to get used to my presence.
Did I forget to mention that? In your life, you’ll meet people who will annoy
you. Even if they aren’t doing anything to you, their presence will put you on
edge.”
“You aren’t putting me on edge.”
“If you say so. Your servant has
been still and calm as I have while you haven’t been able to stay still.”
“Mmmmm. Fine, I’ll stay still.”
Blair tries to stay still and as
calm as possible while keeping Phillip out of her mind. His smiling at her
doesn’t help, so she holds onto Baxter’s hand whenever she’s feeling tempted to
do anything. Eventually, a door opens itself behind Phillip.
“Oh, it looks like you’ve done it,”
Phillip says as he gets up and leaves.
“We did it!” Blair says as she hugs
Baxter.
“We did or rather, you did. I think
you were the one who was tested the most.”
“What are you talking about? I have
the patience of a saint. Now, let’s go. I’m hungry and I want to make one of
your special meals for our victory.”
“Yes, princess.”
Baxter and Blair go up a long
series of stairs and see Phillip waiting at the top of them with an adult man.
“This is the princess and servant I
was training with today,” Phillip says to the man.
“Oh really? They don’t look very
impressive,” the man responds.
“I know. Let me introduce you two
to my father. He’s going to teach me how to use powers.”
“I’ll give you a display right now.”
Phillip’s father taps his foot and
the stairs fold into the ground, which makes Baxter and Blair slide all the way
down back into the cushioned room. The door then shuts on them locking them in
the room again.
“That little brat! Uggghhh,” Blair
says.
“Don’t worry about it, princess. I’m
sure this is just another part of our training,” Baxter tries to assure her.
Blair punches the wall of the
padded cell and starts feeling the walls.
“What are you doing, princess?”
“You know how in stories there’s a
secret switch activated by a book or something in the wall. I’m looking for
one.”
“Maybe there’s one behind the big
pile of pillows or underneath the chairs or desk.”
“Nah, that’d be too easy, but you
can check.”
Baxter checks under the desk and
chairs and finds nothing, however, when he goes through the pile of pillows, he
finds a hidden elevator.
“I found an elevator,” Baxter says.
“Oh, good job. I know I can rely on
you,” Blair says.
The two get in the elevator and
Baxter pulls them up until the elevator no longer goes up. Blair sees a nearby
lever that she pulls to reveal that they’re on the top of the hotel with
Leighton and Lynette along with Phillip and his father eating dinner together.
“Ah! You’ve made it just in time
for dinner,” Leighton.
“Sit down and relax. You’ve done
good today,” Lynette says.
“He-he and his father trapped us in
the basement!” Blair accuses.
“That was part of your training.
Learning how to deal with betrayal and finding hidden ways out of situations is
a constant lesson.”
“You two seem better than I
expected. Here I was thinking that we were going to eat without you,” Phillip
says.
“Well, aren’t you two going to join
us? Or do you need training in proper manners too?” Phillip’s father says.
Phillip laughs and Blair holds
Baxter’s hand to control herself before sitting down for dinner. While eating,
Blair looks around at the town below her. Her eyes focus on two people below
them who are watching them with multiple eyes on their head like a spider along
with their happy and sad face. The sight of them gets her to drop her eating
utensils.
“Is something wrong, princess?”
Baxter asks.
“Do you see those people down there
looking at us? They have so many eyes on their head like a spider.”
“Oh, I do see them. Who are they?”
“Those will be your instructors for
tomorrow. If you pass their tests, then you can leave. If you don’t, then you’ll
have to take more tests,” Leighton says.
“So early?” Baxter asks.
“I’m not complaining,” Blair says.
“Who says the real training stops
here? Life constantly trains you to be the best you can be. We’re giving you
the essentials in our own special way.”
“We can pass the last tests with no
problem. Right, Baxter?”
“If you say so, princess. I don’t
think it’s going to be that easy though.”
Blair slaps Baxter’s hand.
“Don’t think like that. Think positively.
We will pass the last tests.”
“Yes, princess.”
Blair slaps Baxter’s hand again.
“Don’t just agree with me. Say it!”
“We will pass the last test.”
“There we go.”
“He’s right, Princess Blair. Your
positive thinking will help, but it’s going to be more challenging than you
think. Half of the people we train don’t pass them the first time through. Your
parents didn’t.”
“Hmph. I like those odds. We aren’t
like our parents, so we’ll pass it. Right, Baxter?”
“Yes-I mean, we will pass the last
test, princess.”
Blair feels confident about her
abilities while Baxter tries to draw from it. Meanwhile, their final test is
being constructed and will be ready for them when they wake up in the morning.
