As if reading her thoughts, Tomas said, “Don’t worry. Your clothes won’t get dirty if you wear an apron.” Acting as though she had already said yes, he smoothly finished his preparations and sat her in front of the pottery wheel.
Finally, Fielle began to feel good about this. “O-Okay,” she said, “but only just a little...” Just a little what she had no idea, but her mind was made up—she wanted to try making a cup one more time. Lynette would probably be coming back any minute now, so this was her last chance.
She was a little nervous. Tomas told her, “The first thing is to relax, okay? Don’t let your shoulders tense up. When you’re calm, it’ll come through in your work too. Try taking a deep breath.”
“Okay,” she said, and she followed his instructions. She let her shoulders relax just the slightest bit. Then, with Tomas guiding her, she dove into making a cup once again.
“That’s right, gentle hands. You don’t need to put any force into it. Go ahead and spin the wheel a little faster, okay? You don’t need to be scared. You’re doing just fine.”
“Right.”
Fielle spun the wheel with a serious expression on her face as the clay took shape.
“Watch your posture,” Tomas warned. “You’re getting a little crooked.”
“Right!”
Tomas’s instruction style was thorough and polite, and Fielle found it easy to let him guide her whenever she was about to mess up. Finally, after twenty minutes of learning and working, a beautiful cup lay on the wheel before her.
“I did it!” she cried. Her cheeks were red, and her voice was more elevated than normal, but in her excitement, she didn’t even notice. The finished cup was nothing out of the ordinary, but Fielle was happy enough that it looked like a proper cup. She couldn’t believe she had made this with her own two hands. As she looked it over, a smile crept onto her face.
She didn’t notice Tomas watching her with fond eyes. “Is the Priestess of Healing happy now?” he asked.
Hearing the teasing tone in his voice again put a damper on Fielle’s excitement. She looked down. “Um, you know...” she said.
“Hm? What’s up?”
“I have a name, you know. It’s Fielle.” What in the world am I saying? she thought to herself.
But Tomas only looked puzzled for a moment before smiling at her again and saying, “Oh, sorry, Fielle.”
The moment he said her name, she felt a strange, warm sensation blossoming in her heart. Yet before she could wonder what this meant, she heard Lynette’s voice calling from the corridor. “Princess Fielle! My lady, where are you?”
Oh, shoot. She was supposed to be in her room. Lynette must have been worried sick. I have to go, she thought, but just as she stood up, she stopped in her tracks. The cup was shaped, but it wasn’t done until she fired it in the kiln. Fielle looked back at her cup, this cup she had made purely for herself, before Tomas picked it up gently.
“Don’t worry,” he said. “I’ll fire it and send it to you once it’s done. It’s yours, after all. You worked hard making it. Be sure to wash your hands before you go, but hurry. That maidservant is worried about you.”
“Oh, yes!” Fielle washed her hands in the sink and then raced out into the hall. She dashed over to Lynette and said, “I’m so sorry. I went for a walk and lost track of time.”
“Really? Oh, thank goodness; I was afraid something had happened to you. They’ve prepared a new carriage for you, so let’s be off to the church, okay? It’s the one that runs the orphanage.”
“Yes, let’s.” As she set off for the coach, she turned one last time to wave and flash a smile at the odd, apron-wearing prince and her precious cup cradled in his hands.
Two weeks later, Fielle returned to Daeman. As a famed princess with healing powers, she received an endless stream of presents to her room from her parents and from princes in neighboring kingdoms, nigh on every day. The presents were usually precious jewels, beautiful dresses, and the like, but truth be told, Fielle didn’t really appreciate any of them. If anything, having to memorize the endless list of who brought which gift to what party and writing countless thank you notes was a complete hassle.
When today’s pile of presents arrived, the maidservants went through and checked who each sent each one. One maid picked up a small white box and read to Fielle, “It says it’s from His Highness, Prince Tomas of Vorland, Your Highness.”
“Vorland?” another maid repeated. “We don’t have anything to do with Vorland, do we?”
“What is he thinking sending a gift to our Princess Fielle? Perhaps he’s trying to curry favor with her.”
“And what a tiny box at that. But I suppose we can’t expect much from such a poor kingdom.”
The maid finally looked up from the box and almost jumped out of her skin. There, standing right smack dab in front of her, was Fielle. Granted, the maid served Fielle on a daily basis, but having her mistress suddenly appear right under her nose almost made her heart stop.
“Um...can you...? Give me... Please!” Fielle was normally quite well-spoken, but today she tripped over her words in her own excitement as she extended her hand.
It took the maid a few seconds to register that Fielle was asking for the box. “Uh, here you go,” she said and awkwardly passed it over. Fielle immediately spun around and speed walked back to her seat, whereupon she tore open the box. She looked like she thought even the simple act of opening the box was too slow for her, which alarmed everyone, even Lynette. Fielle had never shown this much interest in any of her presents before, to say nothing of the fact that she never opened her own gifts. Just what could be in that box? The maids gulped as they watched Fielle lift out a...a...a teacup? Yes, it was a perfectly ordinary teacup.
The gossipy maids broke out into whispers. “It’s just a teacup!”
“It doesn’t even look that expensive.”
“This Prince Tomas must have a lot of nerve to send our princess such a shoddy gift!”
This couldn’t possibly have been what Princess Fielle was expecting. Yet before the maids’ very eyes, Fielle looked at the teacup reverently and then threw herself on her bed, giggling. She kicked her feet back and forth and rolled all over the bed in a manner highly unbecoming of her graceful image.
“Your Highness?” one of the maids asked.
“What happened, Your Highness?” the other chorused. “Are you all right?”
They had never seen her act like this before! The maids began to panic. However, Lynette was the only one among them who understood that Princess Fielle was fine and, in fact, wildly happy. Lynette’s eyes grew wide with shock. No one else but her realized the princess was finally expressing her joy just as any other teenage girl would as she held the pretty, white cup close to her heart.