Elsie Dialogue
I am sorry I lied to you when we first met. I don’t like deceiving people. But lying is the only way I know to get to the truth. No one says what they mean to Princess Elisaria. It’s all tiptoes and whispers around the princess. All I ever hear is “Yes, Your Highness,” “Whatever you think, Your Highness.” But then I put on a raggedy dress and comb the curls out of my hair and people suddenly start speaking their minds.
My mother would tell you I’ve been influenced by riff raff and disreputable people. But I picked up my fascination with costumes from her traditions. It was the court that wrapped me in silks and draped me in gemstones. They taught me how to dress before they taught me how to act. As if all those added frills would magically make me into the lady I was meant to be. And you know, sometimes it worked. And sometimes those frills felt like a lie.
Anyway, it’s not my fault that people look at what you wear and start to build their assumptions. I never said I was lowborn. Then again, I knew exactly what I was doing when I swapped out satin for wool. So maybe it is a lie… of a sort. But so is everything that goes on in a palace. The truth is out here behind wooden walls like these, not the marble ones back home.
Maybe if there were no expectations, we could all say whatever we want and act however we feel. We could even dress according to our moods. That’s when the world will really open up to us. [SIGH] But the world isn’t like that, is it?
But you have a different set of eyes than everybody else. You see through all these layers we heap on ourselves. I think you understand that beneath our chests the two of us aren’t so different. That’s why I need you on my side. I’m already on yours.