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How to Make Friends as (Basically) a Princess
Diplomacy—which is basically just a fancy word for making friends—is very important when you're a princess. Even if everyone says you're not a real princess, you know you are, and you have to learn how to do princess things. Plus, it gets a little cold and lonely in the palace when the rest of the court goes home, and you can invite friends over after the day is over. This simple guide will get you started!
1. Go to Your Lessons
There are some tutoring lessons all the noble kids go to, like science and letters. These are usually in the main palace library—which is easy to find even if they don't tell you the lessons are there. As the daughter of the king, it's kind of your birthright—that's a word you learned in your lessons—to be there. Even if you're supposed to have different tutors all by yourself.
2. Introduce Yourself
You can't have friends if they don't know your name! This is also a good time to ask what their name is, and what they like to do.
- This doesn't have to be anything fancy. It's best to stick to, "Hi! I'm Niki!"
- You don't have to ask who your new classmates' parents are. That way, they don't ask who yours are. If they do, just say the King and hope they don't remember the King's other kids who aren't your siblings.
- Anyway, it's important court etiquette to know where someone belongs without having to ask. You can just hope your new friends haven't mastered it yet.
3. Hang Out in the Library
This way, you won't miss the next set of lessons. Unfortunately, it also makes it very easy for your own tutor to find you.
4. Find a Secret Passage
This will help you hide from your tutor. And maybe the other kids will think you're cool! It leads to a courtyard with a guard in it, but if you're really sneaky they won't notice you.
5. Go to Another Lesson
Say hi to the other kids and sit down with your workbook. When the kids you sat next to get up and move to other tables, you should follow them. If they do it a second time, though, they're probably trying to send a message.
- Pretend it doesn't bother you. Nobody likes a whiner.
- When your tutor shows up asking why you haven't come to your lessons, and you hear another girl mutter that she knew you weren't supposed to be here, try very hard to act like he's talking to someone else.
- Run off through the secret tunnel.
6. Hide in the Courtyard
Sit behind a pillar and don't cry. Definitely. Real princesses don't cry. Stay behind the pillar so that the guard doesn't see you.
7. Run from the Guard
She must be able to see through walls or something—maybe they teach that in guard school. She's probably coming to kick you out of the courtyard when she says hi to you, and using that soft voice so that you won't get mad. But you know grownups' tricks! You should run off before she sees that you're crying. Even though you're not. And if you were, you're being really sneaky about it.
8. Go Back to the Courtyard Later
Whenever you're feeling less like crying, you can go back to the secret tunnel and the courtyard. It's kind of a nice place, even though the garden is overgrown. You can say hi to the guard this time—it's been the same lady every day, and she can see through pillars anyway so there's not a point in hiding from her.
- Introduce yourself: say, "Hi. I'm Niki." Ask what her name is and try to remember it.
- You don't have to ask her who her parents are, because you don't ask guards and servants that and maybe they don't have parents at all. You aren't sure. She won't ask yours, either. Maybe she forgot that princesses have parents.
9. Talk About Your Lives
This is a great way to get to know friends, and now it seems like this guard is your best shot at those. You might tell each other about things like:
- What you learn in your lessons, like math and science and diplomacy. Kristin doesn't have to take lessons anymore, which is just another reason to want to be a grownup
- Kristin's husband. He's a blacksmith, which sounds like an awesome job, and he made her a cool ring. It's way cooler than the King's ring, because it looks like a snake, and way cooler than your mom's ring, because she doesn't have one. Realize a moment later you probably shouldn't have said that to Kristin. It doesn't seem like she minds, though.
- Your favorite flowers. Kristin likes Lilies of the Valley, and you like poppies. Tell her you aren't really sure why, and listen when Kristin explains that Lilies of the Valley stand for the return of happiness and look like little bells, but are also poisonous. Let her know that she makes things sound way more interesting than any of your tutors.
- How to be a guard. Turns out, Kristin isn't always in the courtyard! Sometimes she stands by the door of the main hall and sometimes she walks around the parapets to make sure nothing's coming from the sky.
10. Learn to Make a Flower Crown
After a few days of finding Kristin in her different posts and talking to her—you can't do that in the main hall because she's supposed to look like a statue there, and only sometimes when you can sneak up on the parapet, but she's in the courtyard a lot—she will ask if you know how to make a flower crown. You don't, but you want to, because you've always thought you should have a crown. Kristin says it's easy.
- You can use the flowers in the courtyard that aren't supposed to be there—a bunch of little yellow dandelions, mostly.
- then, you string them together into a circle by their stems! It takes some practice to make them work right, so your crown is a little wonky. It's okay though, because Kristin says it's unique, just like you.
11. Have Friends!
You've made it! Now Kristin is your friend, and you did diplomacy. Just ignore all the other kids and don't even go to the library when they're having lessons. They aren't good enough for you and Kristin.