"Your Highness," he begged one night. "This chamomile will put you right and give you good dreams."
But the Princess wasn't having it. Not then, not ever. "You will bring me an oolong this instant and cease your foolishness," she decried.
The Apothecary could do naught but sulk from the room and fetch her Majesty's tea. And it wasn't long before the herbalist was back in her room with a loaded serving tray.
Despite her stubbornness, he was servant to the royal house...He gave his all to his Princess—in all that he did for her.
His service also included the ocassional disobedient act.
Though he'd only been gone a short while, the Apothecary had planned for such disobedience. Some weeks back, when the Princess had first woke from a dream with tears in her eyes, her servant and healer had begun to intermingle her preferred tea with chamomile.
And so this evening, just as the Princess was turning in, she took her first sip of pure chamomile tea. Her nose did not upturn. Her lips did not curl into a pout. The Princess gave a plaintive "mmm" as she handed her empty tasse to her faithful healer.
The herbalist then cleared his throat...
"My lady, I-I-I have deceived you," and she made no move to speak. He went on, "But not without good reason. Since your first night terror, I have been sprinkling a second herb, leaf by leaf, into your tea." He paused..."Your highness, your health is my health. If you are not well, nor am I."
The Princess yawned wide and her eyes glinted approval as she took in the words of her Apothecary. Her healer, she reminded herself. Of course, she had known all along of his "plot" to remedy her maligned dreams.
In fact, she wanted him to do just as he had done.
And when she closed her eyes that night, she knew, too, that her Apothecary would be by her side in the morning light...And every moment thereafter.
(No matter her taste in tea.)
The End
©2010 RA
And so this evening, just as the Princess was turning in, she took her first sip of pure chamomile tea. Her nose did not upturn. Her lips did not curl into a pout. The Princess gave a plaintive "mmm" as she handed her empty tasse to her faithful healer.
The herbalist then cleared his throat...
"My lady, I-I-I have deceived you," and she made no move to speak. He went on, "But not without good reason. Since your first night terror, I have been sprinkling a second herb, leaf by leaf, into your tea." He paused..."Your highness, your health is my health. If you are not well, nor am I."
The Princess yawned wide and her eyes glinted approval as she took in the words of her Apothecary. Her healer, she reminded herself. Of course, she had known all along of his "plot" to remedy her maligned dreams.
In fact, she wanted him to do just as he had done.
And when she closed her eyes that night, she knew, too, that her Apothecary would be by her side in the morning light...And every moment thereafter.
(No matter her taste in tea.)
The End
©2010 RA
