<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: bold">Date: December 25th, 1536<br/>Place: The Royal Palace</span><br/><br/>The preparations for the Christmas celebrations were almost ready, as there would be a feast for all those who had been invited to the palace at night, in the Throne Room. Many nobles had been invited, from England and other kingdoms, and it seemed like it would be a merry evening. Queen Esther was happy to share this moment with all the people they had invited. Some of them were mere acquaintances, but some were relatives and dear friends, and having her sister in the Palace made everything much better. It was a point Esther had made since she had moved to England, to invite Isabel to spend Christmas with her whenever she could, since the sisters were very close. After little Cosimo had been born, Esther had made even more of a point, as it was her chance to spoil her nephew as much as she possibly could. <br/><br/>Of course, some of the people around them were not exactly desirable. But those should be tolerated, in the name of tradition and politics, and as a means of keeping the peace. Politics. That was the worst part of being a Queen, in Esther’s opinion. <br/><br/>Tradition didn’t really bother Esther. She had been raised by her parents - mostly her father - to respect traditions, and they were a part of her life. The ones in England were slightly harder to navigate, as she had needed to learn them, but having lived in the country for a few years, Queen Esther could say she had gotten most traditions down. <br/><br/>Christmas wasn’t too different from the celebrations back home. There was a feast, gift giving, well wishing… it was all very cheerful. Esther loved picking out gifts for friends and family members, and the one for the King was always her favorite one to pick. For this year, she had picked her mind for a long time, and decided on a falcon for hunting, as she couldn’t think of anything else he didn’t have already. And, as had become a personal tradition, she always loved to surprise him with his gift before it could be seen by the public eye.<br/><br/>With that in mind, Esther had woken up early. Not that she did not often jump out of bed early, but this morning, she was up before the sun was even out. With the help of one of her favorite ladies in waiting, she picked out a dress and got dressed, having her hair braided with some small white flowers as ornaments, and made sure she looked as well as she wanted to look for her husband. Since she could not give him a child - at least as of yet -, Esther had decided she would be the best wife she could possibly be. She didn’t want to be cast aside, after all. Having seen what had happened to other queens who couldn’t provide heirs, that fear was always present in Esther’s heart, and she did the best she could to make herself valuable and lovable for her King, as she loved him too much to accept being cast away without putting up a fight. And choosing to please him at any chance she got was a part of that. One day, she would be able to give the King a child, she was sure. For now, though, she had to choose other ways of making him happy.<br/><br/>Once she was happy with how she looked - in her lady in waiting’s words, “like a rose”, with her dark green dress accentuating the color of her hair -, the Queen stepped out of her room, her other ladies now accompanying her. Tradition had to be kept, after all. Once she reached the King’s chambers, as was proper, the Queen had one of her ladies knock and ask the servant who had come to the door if the King was already out of bed, and waited, anxious to spend time with him before anyone else got to.</div>