Celia
After meeting the royals, my head was spinning. Too much had happened in one day. Here I was, just an average girl, in the palace.

Along with several other girls, I was shown to my bedroom.

I walked into the room to hear several gasps and hurried footsteps. "Hello, Miss!" Three voices chirped. The maids introduced themselves as Elana, Willow, and Anna.

They swarmed around me and began asking me questions about myself, and how my day had been. They asked me how I liked the princes, and I told them that the family seemed very nice.

I spent quite a lot of time in my room that afternoon, I was sure that this was because I had been one of the first girls to have my makeover and meet the royals, there were seventy girls here, which would mean that it would take a long time for everyone to be ready.

Elana seemed to be the one in charge of my three maids, she told me about the Women's Room, in which I had my makeover, would be where I was spending most of my time at the palace. It was where the Queen, her maids, and close friends spent their days and was strictly out-of-bounds for all men (even the king) without expressed permission by the Queen herself.

Elana told me that the selected girls would gather in the Women's Room to watch the report. There would be a special segment on it about our arrival at the palace, then we would have dinner together in the Women's Room so that we could get to know each other better.

Eventually, my maids had touched up my hair and makeup, before sending me on my way. They gave me directions to the Women's Room, but I assured them that I could remember the way.

I was wrong, I could not remember the way. I wandered through corridors that all looked the same to me, despite the unique art pieces in each that I was sure could not be found anywhere else in the entire world.

I was too embarrassed to ask any of the silent guards where the women's room was, so instead, I just kept walking, until I rounded a corner and ran straight into someone.

"Sorry!" I exclaimed, hurrying to help the person gather the things that they had been carrying.

"Don't worry about it," said Amelia Woodwork smiled at me, of all of the girls in this entire palace, it seemed that I was continually bumping into her, and now I could say that literally.

"Thank god, someone I can ask," I passed her the books that I had picked up, as we both stood up, "can you point me in the direction of the women's room?"

Amelia laughed, "the palace can be confusing," she said, "don't worry, I still get lost here too. I've just got to drop these off in my room," she gestured to the books, "then I'll walk with you to the women's room if you'd like."

"That would be amazing," I gave her a smile.

We chatted the entire way there. Amelia almost as friendly as she was beautiful. She had lovely long blonde hair that framed her petite features making her look both elegant and mischievous at the same time. I decided very quickly that I liked Amelia, she was friendlier than most would have been in her situation, sixty-nine girls had invaded her home and we're all trying to win the heart of two boys-one of which she had practically admitted to liking on our first meeting.

We made it to the Women's Room with plenty of time to spare before the report was to air. When we entered the room, Amelia seemed to catch someone's eye almost immediately. 

She turned to me with a grin, "come and meet my mum!"

"What?"

"If you're in the palace you're going to meet her sooner or later. Why not sooner?" Amelia asked with a laugh, before grabbing my wrist and pulling me across the room.

She wove seamlessly through the room, which was jam-packed with excited selected girls. In no time, we stopped beside one of the large windows. There was a window seat, on which perched two women, who were looking around the room with smiles on their faces.

"Amelia!" One of the women whom I recognised as Lady Marlee, Amelia's mother got to her feet, and swept Amelia up in a hug, "don't you look beautiful!"

"Thanks, mum," Amelia laughed as the two broke apart.

"And who's this?" Lady Marlee turned to look at me, "Ames have you already found yourself a friend?"

"This is Celia Gardener," said Amelia, "she's the other selected from Angeles."

"Nice to meet you," I smiled at Lady Marlee. 

Amelia made her way over to the other woman and gave her a quick hug. "Celia this is Miss Lucy," Amelia introduced me to her.

Lucy gave me a smile and a wave, she seemed much more reserved than Lady Marlee, but the smile lines around her eyes showed me that she was no less friendly.

There was quite a commotion among all of the other selected girls and a great deal of shushing. This was what tipped me off that the capital report was starting. The large TV in the corner was displaying the Illean logo, which quickly faded into a shot of Gavril Fadaye's smiling face.

"Good evening Illea!" he said, "today has been a very special day here at the palace, with the arrival of the Seventy beautiful women for the fourth and fifth selections. Before we take a look at their arrivals at the palace, let's see how the princes are feeling."

The camera panned over, as Gavril walked towards where the royal family was sat. There was a shocked moment, as the packed room registered the fact that Prince Shalom and Prince Aspen were alone on the set, their parents were nowhere to be seen.

"Prince Shalom, have any of our lovely ladies made a lasting first impression on you?" Gavril asked Shalom. 

Shalom smiled, "they're incredibly lovely ladies, and I can't wait to get to know them better."

Gavril's eyes moved to look at Prince Aspen, who looked very relaxed for someone who was live on national television, "Prince Aspen, did any girls jump out at you as immediate front-runners?"

"Just a few, just a few," he waved Gavril off, "between you and me Gavril, I think that some of the ladies might have a bit of a crush on me!"

Gavril laughed in a good-humoured manner, "thank you your majesties," he turned back to look at the camera, "now let's take a look at the daughters of Illea arriving at the palace."

There followed a twenty-minute narration of a mishmash of clips edited together. There were clips of girls smiling and waving at crowds of people, signing autographs and shaking hands. That was followed by clips taken during our makeovers, including close-ups of pieces of jewellery, painted nails and hair pieces. Then there were a few snippets of the short interviews that we had given, this was the first time that I spotted myself, "they gave me this gorgeous dress!" I said excitedly before it cut away to a girl showing off her intricate hair-do.

The overview ended with a few clips of the girls meeting the royal family. There was a clip of Prince Shalom and Amelia laughing hysterically, "Lady Amelia, having lived at the palace her whole life seemed very at home with the princes, and is already the favourite of many throughout the country," the narrator said. The very last shot was one of me being hugged by Princes Aspen, before the screen faded back to the studio.