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______People used to tell me that I was a quiet child. Obedient to her elders, a girl without complaints, the silent daughter...all those things. Maybe I was, maybe I wasn't. It's hard being the middle child. You don't really get that much attention that way. Maybe that was the reason why people seemed to think that I didn't speak up; they never really listened anyway. They would pay attention to Malena. Of course, she's the eldest and the prettiest among the three of us. And others can't help noticing Millerna too. She is, after all, the youngest and one of my father's favorites. And me? Well, I was a plain child. Long, straight, mousy brown hair, sad eyes and basically plain features. Everyone who used to see me would always ask me what was wrong 'cause they always said I looked so sad. Even when I wasn't. Sometimes I even wondered whether or not I was adopted. I just seemed too plain for my own family.

______During my father's parties, every guy would come up to our table and ask Malena to dance. Every single one of them. She'd give in to them in the end but she saved most of her dances for this one guy. His name was Allen Schezar. I hardly see anything special in him. Well, I hardly see anything special with guys in general anyway. Of course, a few would come up to me and ask me to dance but that was usually after Malena would tell them to. I rarely accepted, and so I got known to most boys as some kind of snob. But then, who would want to accept something from anyone that was being given to them out of force? That was how I felt. Like an ugly little duckling that needed help from her sister, the swan. Both of them were swans. Her and Millerna. Don't get me wrong, I love them both dearly; I respected Malena and took very good care of Millerna. But somehow, I can't help envying them for being, well...them. Maybe if they weren't as pretty as they were, maybe I'd catch a lot of guys' attentions too. But I don't really think so. I'd still be the same boring, uninterested, serious girl that I am now. After all, that was who I was born to be. And maybe I'd accept dances if I found a boy who was, well... worthy of it. Not that I think that I'm too high up for guys to be worthy of, but even most girls have their fantasy knights in shining armor. And I know I have mine. I just haven't found him yet.

______So I remained the boring, uninterested prude that I was. Until of course one day, that fateful day that my father decided to visit the other neighboring kingdoms around Gaea. The sun was out and the fields were in bloom. It was a beautiful day when the carriage dropped us off at the palace of Fanelia. Malena had stayed behind. I think she wanted to spend more time with Allen, so Millerna was left to go with me. We paid our respects to the king and queen, curtsying all the while. I had to drag Millerna down with me, hoping the royal couple wouldn't think her hesitation to bow was quite rude. Millerna wasn't all that well trained in the rules of royal etiquette, and even so, she was a very rebellious child. After the introductions were made, they allowed us to wander outside since they had some serious business to conduct. Queen Varie mentioned that she had children outside that we could play with. I figured she meant children as young as Millerna so I dragged my little sister with me and we went around searching for some playmates for her. The castle had a lot of large gardens and Millerna and I found ourselves lost in one of them. Millerna was delighted with all the beautiful flowers and ended up picking a bunch of them, to my extreme horror. I was a bit scared that we would get scolded for it, my obedient instincts sounding warning bells in my head and I tried to make her stop but when Millerna wanted something, she almost always got her way. I was able to weasel a large bunch from her hand and she was almost about to cry until she found a new patch of flowers to pick from.

______Looking around I tried to find a large bush to dump them in, hoping the royal gardener would not see them till we were well on our way back home. I spied a large hedge and decided to dump the bunch in there, wondering how I could convince Millerna to do the same after she tired of the sport. Pushing the flowers in neatly, I looked around to see if anyone was watching and my breath caught short. There before me was the most handsome boy I had ever seen. He didn't notice me, as he was busy playing with his younger brother and all but I didn't mind. In fact, I was glad he couldn't see me so I could stare at him to my heart's content. He was a bit tall, muscular and judging from the way he carried himself, he looked around the age of thirteen or fourteen. My heart was pounding rapidly and I cursed myself for liking him, and yet, I couldn't seem to tear my eyes away from him. I had forgotten all about Millerna, who had crawled up to me at that moment and pushed her bouquet of flowers into my face.

" Mrpgh," I said, pushing them away and glaring at her. She smiled back. " Aren't they pretty?"

" Yes, yes Millerna, they're very pretty," I said crossly, wanting to return to my staring. " But they're not ours so you'll have to stop picking them." Millerna made a face.

" But I want to! They're very beautiful flowers!" she said stubbornly. I sighed, putting a hand out for them.

" But they came from the king's garden. He might get angry that you picked them out without permission."

" BUT I WANT THEM!!!" she screamed, on the verge of tears. I tried clamping her mouth shut but she continued wailing. I took a peek at where I thought the guy and his brother were and found it completely empty. Biting my lip, I turned back to Millerna and tried to calm her down.

______" What's going on here?" a low male voice said behind me. Turning around, I found myself looking deep into the eyes of the boy I had been staring at. I opened my mouth to answer but found that no words were coming out. Millerna stopped her crying and looked wide-eyed up at the boy. He smiled at her.

______" That's a lovely bouquet of flowers you have there?" he told her softly," Did you gather it yourself?" Millerna nodded and finding my voice, I put in quickly," I'm so sorry, sir. She didn't mean to pick your flowers. She just thought that they were so pretty and..."

______" It's okay," he said, turning to smile at me. My body began turning into mush. He had such a beautiful smile! " The flowers were getting lonely out there anyway."

______I smiled gratefully back at him and turned to Millerna but found an empty place beside me instead. Looking around I saw her running off to chase some butterflies. The boy decided to sit down beside me and he smiled again. " My name is Folken Fanel. What's yours?"

______" Eries," I said nervously," Eries Aston." He looked at me in surprise. " Oh, you must be the lovely daughter of King Aston then!" He slapped a hand to his head. " How could I forget!"

______I blushed hotly. " No, you must mean Malena, my older sister." Folken shook his head. " No. I don't think so. I met Malena at one of your father's parties. She isn't half as pretty as you are." I looked down, my cheeks growing redder and redder every second. " Really? You were at one of my father's parties? How come I've never seen you before?" I wondered that myself. It seemed impossible for me to have missed such a nice, handsome boy as he. Folken shrugged. " I saw you though. You were sitting by the corner reading a book, I think. I wanted to walk over and um, ask you for a dance but you looked busy and the boys said you'd just turn down the offer so I... uh..."

______I was sure I was as red as a tomato by then. And if it were possible, I felt my cheeks grow even hotter when he mentioned what the boys were saying about me.

______" No, I wasn't busy," I said quietly then looked away," Just waiting for someone to save me from the monotony of the book I was reading." He laughed then smiled, no...beamed at me.

" Does that mean I can have a dance with you next time?" I smiled at him shyly. " If you still want one."

" Yes!!" he said happily, looking almost like he could jump with joy," I mean, of course I want one! What guy in his right mind would pass up the opportunity of dancing with the most beautiful girl in the land." I couldn't help smiling as I turned to him.

______" You know you're the first person who's ever said that about me," I confessed. He gave me another incredulous look. " Then all the guys you know are completely blind. " He looked up as someone began calling his name. His brother was waving at him from inside the castle.

" Onii-san!" he called out," Oka-san's calling you. We better get inside right away!"

______Folken stood up with regret and extended a hand out to help me up. " I guess we have to part ways here," he told me then smiled. He picked a rose out from one of the bushes then handed it to me with a deep bow. " Till next time then?"

______I placed it in my hair, eyes shining. " Till next time," I told him softly before he turned around and left. I stood there watching him till he had finally gone inside, then turned to look for my sister. By this time she had a gigantic bouquet in her arms but I could care less. I dragged her back to our father and we prepared to leave. In the carriage my father smiled and touched my cheek softly, taking note of the rose in my hair. " You look very pretty today, Eries. And your cheeks look pretty flushed too. Did you have a good time?"

______I smiled at him, nodding. " And did you meet King Fanel's sons? Were they nice?" he asked me as he stroked Millerna's hair who was busy sleeping on his lap.

______" Oh very nice, Father," I told him, an image of Folken's smile crossing my mind. " Very, very nice." He nodded and proceeded to give the driver orders. I sat back and recounted the day's events. And finally, after some thought, I realized what that funny feeling I was experiencing deep inside of me really was. It took me a while but after all, it was my very first time to fall in love!