Her Smile

Levi followed Zina like an obedient child waiting for his reward up the magical stairs that led to the dining.

He showed much excitement, checking out the palace's decor as he wowed in amusement, having a feeling his dreams were coming true.

Different cuisines were placed before both of them, and Zina who was paying so much attention to Levi noticed he wasn't eating. She thought he didn't know what he wanted because of the way he stared at the table. After much observation, she noticed he was staring at the cutleries.

"Do you know how to use them?" Zina asked him sincerely in the calmest voice she had ever used. He seemed to have a worried expression on his face but when he noticed how sincere Zina was at that time, he answered her with the truth;

"There are too many cutleries, why do we need so many? One cutlery can be used for all these meals, Zina, I don't see the need for so many cutleries."

For the first time Zina smiled at his innocence; "Do you always have to be like this, you're always complaining. You said we should have… um… fun, yes fun! Now your face looks like a mashed potato.

"Don't worry about the cutleries, today is a day of fun and not formalities so you are free to eat how you like, just don't spill okay?" Zina spoke jokingly, she wanted him to be himself, not to care about the palace rules and most importantly to teach her what fun was.

Levi grinned lightly, He had always longed to see this side of the princess ever since he got to be the palace gardener. He gazed into her eyes, speaking softly to her, not minding what she just said;

"I finally got to see you smile, this is the best gift I have received today, Zina, thank you so much." He replied with so much happiness, looking at her dazzling face with so much love that could be felt from miles. His eyes softened and his care could not be hidden even from the one he was speaking to.

Zina gave him another smile before gesturing for him to dig in. To Levi this was the best time of his life but to Zina this was a new experience.

She doesn't normally have

commoners come into the palace for any reason because Ann always told her that those commoners could easily take advantage of people's kindness but she didn't see Levi portray any of that now.

Zina for the first time saw the true meaning of friendship. She kept smiling like a little child who had gained access to a candy factory.

After lunch, the two took a stroll to the palace garden but Zina didn't seem happy;

"I wish I could go out of this palace, forget my worries and just have fun like you said, I just want to be like every other person except I'm not everyone, I'm royal."

Her confession made Levi's emotions drop. He looked at her and then asked her if she wanted to go out of the palace right now. She smiled as her eyes widened in shock. She couldn't contain her joy so she jumped up. Levi was able to give her a twirl which caught her by surprise. When he carefully placed her down, she felt ashamed. She cleared her throat as she tried to adjust her gown and hide her face that was already looking like a tomato;

"Please umm young man let me go change into something more comfortable, I'll be back soon." Zina excused herself quickly, trying to get away from Levi so the situation wouldn't get weird.

Levi was merry, Zina had agreed to go out with him, his long awaited dreams had been set in motion and he couldn't wait for it to yield good results. His thoughts were interrupted by Zina's shy voice.

"I'm ready…" she said, calling out for Levi's attention. Her gown was simple and creative . It was a blue knee length flare gown having strapped hands and a slit in the middle which made the gown to be parted into two places. She wore it with a white long sleeve, a pair of black leggings underneath and a pair of blank ankle boots to match.

"You look amazing!" Levi exclaimed, not wanting to look away for even a moment,

"Shall we?" Zina asked while smiling. She was trying not to be too curious but she really wanted to know where they were going,

"Where are we going," Zina asked in a gentle tone,

"Anywhere the wind takes us", Levi answered back with all sincerity. He wanted everything to be a surprise so he tried avoiding her questions.

Levi took Zina out of the castle walls to his farm where the two already saddled horse were waiting for them to ride on;

"Do you know how to ride horses?" Levi asked Zina to make sure she could so she wouldn't be involved in an accident.

"If you can't, you can always ride with me." He gave her a much easier suggestion so she wouldn't miss out on the ride.

"Yes I can, it's part of my royal training. But I still ask you, where do you plan on taking me?" She persisted to know where they were going. Her eyes were pleading with Levi so much so he couldn't resist her charms.

"Since you care to ask, we're going on a ride then we'll stop by the kingdom's waterfall. I want you to experience how lovely nature is and how your beauty can't be compared to it because you're more than what nature brings." Zina's face flush red, she placed her hands upwards trying to hide her face behind them,

"Thank you young man, shall we ride the horses now?" Xena said this as she gently stroked the horses. She loved animals and couldn't wait to get on this one. Hearing her statement, Levi quickly gave her a hand to help her get on the horse. As soon as she was properly seated, Levi got onto his horse and they took off.

At first, their pace was slow until Zina came up with an idea to race with Levi. Levi grinned as he took on the challenge, he looked at the princess with so much passion that he lost track of when she had said the words for the race to start. In an instant, Zina was in the lead. She held the horse tightly as the rushing wind blew her loose hair wildly, her eyes were closed because she feared for her life. She had never gone this fast while riding a horse before.

"Oh dear, I pray this ends soon…" Zina screamed in her head. Levi on the other hand was surprised, he wondered how someone who got trained in horse riding would get this scared of going so fast. Knowing she wasn't alright, he increased his pace to finally catch up with her. He glanced at her only once to notice her eyes were closed;

"Zina!" Levi screamed, he looked at the way she held the horse and his heartbeat increase,

"Zina please, I need you to trust me on this one. Do you?"