The Golden Guard carried the golden statue of Georgie Porgie to the trophy room where they would proceed to place him down. The Queen of Roses observed him and in that moment then gave him a golden trident for him to carry in his right hand as she smiled with satisfaction. She turned to the chest that was given to her and handed it to a cook that took it from her before staring at the queen that ordered for it to be cooked for her next meal. At that time, I was lying down on tiny little beds and sleeping away while the Puss in Boots covered me in blankets. He put on a kettle to warm water within and prepared a bag for tea within a large jug. The cat then turned upon hearing the sound of seven little figures moving throughout the forest. The Puss in Boots, seeing that, shrugged his shoulder as he carried a platter upstairs and then the door opened as a gushing wind carried it with it some snow inside of the cottage. The first to enter was a dwarf with a white beard and white outfit who immediately began to sing.

“Oh!”, he yelled out loud that it woke me up. “Old MacDonald had a farm. E-I-E-I-O! And on his farm he had a cow, E-I-E-I-O!”, then he stopped singing before he said. “Oh my, speaking of the bloody cows!”, he then ran out quickly and past another dwarf he butt heads with.

“Watch it, MacDonald!”, the dwarf that he butt heads with shouted before I could overhear MacDonald say. “Sorry, lad.”, as Old MacDonald then rushed away to attend the farm.

“You senile old fool.”, the next dwarf to enter was the one MacDonald butt heads with and he entered with a black attire as it seemed he had goggles over his head and a sheath on his back.

This sheath contained his rifle with bandoliers holding his bullets and he also had a white beard like Old MacDonald. He had a black parrot over his shoulder that he walked in with that immediately flew for the nearby bird feeder he had in the house. He then opened one of the cabinets to reach for more bird feeder while the cat that I saw before my eyes offered me a platter with tiny meals and what appeared to be some sort of red substance for drinks that I took from the anthropomorphic cat that then proceeded to shush me.

“Careful, careful!”, the third dwarf that then entered carried wood and he wore a brown attire as he carried a large axe with him, and he had a light brown beard. “Ah, it’s about time. We need a fire.”, stated the dwarf in black attire. “This is not for the stove, you fool!”, said the brown dwarf.

“This is for my beloved craft, my art, my finesse!”, the brown bearded dwarf sounded passionate and the one in the black attire sighed. “But the poll says! Gah!”, replied the Poll Parrot dwarf.

Upon all of a sudden, a fourth dwarf entered the room with a purple outfit and a sitar guitar with headphones over his head as his music was so loud that the Poll Parrot could barely hear…

“Turn that beat down!”, himself speak for how loud the tune was and he grabbed the dwarf.

The musical dwarf then lowered his headphones and stopped the tune as the Poll Parrot stared into his eyes, pointing at him.

“I said, turn it down!”, the musical dwarf then hit a chord and a tune played out. “Gah!”, that drove the Poll Parrot dwarf insane. “Whose turn is it to get the firewood?!”, the Poll Parrot then looked to the poll he carried on a sheath of paper and the purple dwarf replied.

“That would be me.”, Poll Parrot looked up at him and then the musician kept playing his instrument that levitated several pieces of wood from the snow towards the cottage.

“Gah…”, the Poll Parrot then gave up for now he knew why he is playing his instrument and I couldn’t help it but spy on them from the stairwell that lead to their rooms from above.

The musician kept playing his sitar and placed the headphones back over his ears as he kept rocking that tune while pieces of wood came inside of the house that levitated from the outside. There were brooms that then got animated to life that swept the place from cobwebs and dust as well as even washed the dishes. He was certainly an Arca’nar mage and wielding the power of the arcane through music was one of the ways that most magi found balance in their work that helped them prevent their mind from deteriorating. He must have been one of those types of mages while Poll Parrot was most likely a Sharpshooter hunter considering his outfit was made from prized fur. I also saw the carpenter in the corner that immediately began to use his table with a saw as he began to saw wood in half and cut it so fast that he threw pieces of wood on the side beside a stove that made me watch in awe. Poll Parrot was staring at a sheath of paper and taking notes that made me think he was the man who kept track of everything. I then looked to see the Puss in Boots at the door that looked at me with its loving cat eyes before a dwarf’s hands reached for him and raised him from the ground only to snuggle him, and this dwarf seemed quite childish and his outfit was all red like his nose from the cold. He was the tiniest of the dwarves and also the youngest with the tiniest eyes and the smallest of beards that is brown. He would then lift his cat, run up the stairs and I panicked only for him to run past me as if I wasn’t even there to begin with that confused me so much. The dwarf did move aside though and I don’t know if he thought I was one of the dwarves or if he just didn’t care. It was then that a huge snow storm blew from the outside and pushed all the snow away that covered almost the entirety of the dwarf cottage. It was so powerful that it cleared the frozen river’s surface of snow and pushed it away before all of it gathered in the center of the cottage fields where it gathered only to form an elemental of water that took on the appearance of a dwarf figure wearing a blue outfit. He was the more serious of the dwarves with black hair, a short black beard with the tip of it frozen in ice and his eyes were icy bluish that showcased just how cold he was. It was then that a dwarf in a green outfit raised his staff that released pollen over the land that allowed pollen to spread all across it that helped the plant life be nurtured and grown once more. It was due to this distraction that I didn’t notice the musician who then saw me and hit one string over his guitar wrong that screwed up his sense of rhythm that dropped most of the pieces of wood including the brooms that were animated and the buckets of water all over the place.

“What the hell?!”, shouted Poll Parrot. “What in the hell is wrong with you?!”, he pointed his pen towards the dwarf musician whom he noticed stared longingly at the stairwell.

Poll Parrot then turned his head and his eyes widened as he spotted me along with the carpenter whose wood then splintered into as it ricocheted throughout the room. It was then that the red dwarf ran down the stairs past me and once more ignored me as he carried the Puss in Boots outside of the house seemingly careless. I stood where I was, uncomfortable, and gulped.

“Hey, what happened to the music?”, the dwarf with the green outfit and the white beard asked as he stepped inside of the cottage only to spot me as he lifted his sorcerer’s hat from his eyes.

“By the gods…”, said the dwarf. “A wandering elf and in a human attire!”, stated the dwarf who pointed at me. “Aye, this one is civilized.”, said the purple dwarven musician.

“And good riddance with her!”, said Poll Parrot that got up from his seat before pointing at me. “You, get out!”, I was startled. “Go on, get!”, shouted the dwarf and I immediately rushed down the stairs to go outside while the dwarf in green stopped my tracks.

“Now hold on there, lass, you can’t go back out there in the cold all by yourself!”, said the green dwarf. “Sure she can!”, said Poll Parrot. “We don’t need any leeches in here! No, no.”, he added.

“How can you be so unfeeling?”, said the carpenter. “This poor girl is clearly lost. The least we can do is take her back from whence she came.”, the carpenter explained and Poll Parrot sighed.

“It would be a waste of our time! We should be focused on the polls!”, said Poll Parrot. “To hell with your Polls already, Filip, can’t you see the poor girl is in distress?”, said the purple dwarf.

“What’s going on here?”, Old MacDonald returned in the company of the blue dwarf that remained silent and observed me with a serious unhappy look on his face the moment he saw me.

“What in the blazes?!”, Old MacDonald pushed the musician and the green dwarf away as he focused his eyes on me. “A little elfling girl?!”, he could then finally see what was before him.

“Where did she come from?!”, Old MacDonald asked. “Who cares?”, said the blue dwarf. “Get her out of our house!”, he raised his voice while leaning his head closer to me and the white dwarf would slap him so hard across his face as half of his face disappeared in front of my eyes.

I gazed in horror at what I saw as it seemed like the blue dwarf’s whole body was made out of water. His right arm suddenly transformed into a large frozen knife as he glared at Old MacDonald that crossed his arms as he stared stood between me and the blue dwarf.

“Go on, make my day, magian.”, said Old MacDonald. “The elfling is already turning us against each other!”, stated Poll Parrot. “We must get rid of her at once!”, he implied.

“Where do you come from?”, suddenly all the dwarfs turned to see the tiny red dwarf.

The red dwarf stood at the doorstep in silence and they all then shifted their gaze back to me as I gulped, the green dwarf held his left hand over my shoulder and nudged his head, gesturing for me to reply and I had a feeling he was trying to imply it was safe if I spoke my mind.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“From the Kingdom of Brangomar.”, I replied to the red dwarf. “Great, a Brangomarian!”, said Poll Parrot before the carpenter smacked the back of his head. “Would you shut the hell up and let the poor girl speak?”, the carpenter argued and Poll Parrot grunted to himself.

“East or West?”, asked the purple dwarf. “She’s a little girl, Schmidt, she doesn’t possibly know the cardinal…”, Poll Parrot once more interrupted and then I interrupted him. “East.”, I replied.

All the dwarfs now had my complete attention for they realized I had some knowledge for a seven year old. The red dwarf, however, stepped forth and decided to question me further.

“Are you a princess?”, he asked and I looked to the dwarfs with the blue dwarf sighing. “Yeah, right, as if a princess would wander away from…”, the blue dwarf spoke. “I am.”, I replied and this cut the dwarf off as they all now looked at me astonished by what they just heard.

“W…”, Old MacDonald was at a loss for words for a moment. “What did you just say?”, he asked and I lowered my head down, looking around and observing each dwarf carefully.

“I am.”, I revealed to the dwarfs of my position within the Brangomarian society. “And what happens to be your name?”, asked Old MacDonald. “Svetlana Brangomar.”, this caused all the dwarfs to have their jaws drop except for the red dwarf who clapped his hands excitedly.

“I always wanted to meet a princess!”, the red dwarf jumped up and down like a bunny rabbit. “I told ye!”, said Poll Parrot. “I told ye she’s trouble!”, Poll Parrot argued and the magian agreed.

“Then we should return you from whence you came.”, said the carpenter. “No!”, I panicked. “No, please!”, I begged. “I will leave, I swear it! You’ll never see or hear from me again!”, I rushed past the dwarfs only for Old MacDonald to grab me and prevent me from leaving.

“Let her go, MacDonald!”, protested Poll Parrot and the blue dwarf grabbed hold of the old dwarf’s arm before the red dwarf kicked him his leg as the magian’s leg split in two.

“Why ya little…!”, shouted the magian and I breathed heavily as I looked to the old dwarf. “Why are you so afraid to stay?”, Old MacDonald asked. “And more importantly, why are you so afraid of returning home?”, he further inquired as I broke into tears in front of the dwarfs.

“Because of my evil step-mother.”, I stated. “She’s trying to kill me.”, I said to the dwarves and Poll Parrot rolled his eyes, sighing and placing his right hand over his face.

“Well, I promise ya…”, said the old dwarf. “As long as you are with us, no one will harm you, child.”, I looked into the dwarf’s eyes and for the first time I felt a glimmer of hope, I felt like I was no longer alone and I immediately jumped into his arms to give him a hug.

The other dwarves observed with a smile with the exception of the blue dwarf that reformed his leg and the Poll Parrot that sat in his seat before placing both of his hands over his face.

“We’re doomed.”, before he said to himself as his friend once more smacked him over the back of his head. “Would you cut that out?!”, Poll Parrot argued with the carpenter.

“I am Nory MacDonald, the Volva Shaman of our group.”, the white dwarf said as I leaned back and gazed into his eyes. “This here is our Xiangling druid, Peter Piper.”, the green dwarf smiled and bowed his head. “That there is Henry Foster, our Magian sorcerer.”, the blue dwarf still was not quite happy with me and crossed his arms as Old MacDonald leaned forth to whisper.

“He stepped on a puddle in a mine that was a water elemental and ever since then they have merged, conjoined, as one and he’s been quite grumpy ever since.”, explained Old MacDonald. “I heard that!”, said Henry Foster and Old MacDonald then turned to point at the red dwarf.

“This here is our tiny little Viking warrior; Robin Redbreast.”, Robin grabbed the paw of Puss in Boots and waved at me using his paw. “And our beloved android cat, Mojo, whom we like to call our little Puss in Boots.”, Old MacDonald explained before pointing to the musician.

“This here is John Jacob Schmidt, our very own Arca’nar mage musician, and we call him by his stage name; Jingleheimer.”, the purple dwarf bowed gracefully unlike most of the dwarves and he seemed the coolest to me as he wore black glasses with his stylish purple sorcerer’s robe.

“That over there is Yon Yonson, our lumberjack and carpenter.”, the brown dwarf bowed his head before the old dwarf would point to Poll Parrot. “And last and not least, the grumpiest dwarf among us all; Filip Parrot. He holds our variety of polls.”, explained Old MacDonald.

“Like what?”, I asked. “Like all in favor of getting rid of this little girl say I?!”, replied Poll Parrot as he and the magian would then say in unison. “I!”, before Old MacDonald sighed.

“We’re not gonna vote just yet. Because first!”, Old MacDonald then turned back to face me. “You will tell us more about yourself, won’t you, lass?”, I stared at all the dwarfs uncomfortably and came to a quick conclusion that it would be very fair for me to do so since this was their home and I was a stranger here, not to mention all the potential dangers I could bring.

Meanwhile, back at the Kingdom of Brangomar to the east… my father wondered where his beloved daughter was and kept calling for her with the weakened tone in his voice while my evil step-mother admired the golden trophy of the huntsman that she had double crossed. She eat her meal over the table she had set up in the trophy room for such just occasion as she feasted on the heart what she believed to be Snow White’s and then lifted her head to call for the mirror.

“Magic mirror on the wall, who now is the fairest one of all?”, the Queen of Roses asked the magic mirror that took on my appearance that was followed by a brief moment of silence.

“You’re mocking me, aren’t you?”, she smirked at the mirror that raised one eyebrow to her.

“You can’t be serious?”, said the queen who got up to stand. “Snow White is dead and the huntsman brought me proof. I am feasting upon…”, the Queen of Roses then looked at the heart of the boar on the silver platter before her very eyes and then gazed upon the golden huntsman.

“A heart of a pig.”, revealed the magic mirror as the Queen of Roses gazed up at the mirror. “It seems both you and the huntsman have double-crossed each other, and yet in his silence he feels far more victorious then you do.”, the Queen of Roses was furious and pushed everything off the table after what she had discovered from the magic mirror itself.

“No, no, no, no!”, she pushed and threw her own seat down over the ground, kicking the table over in her fury and rage as she could not believe the betrayal she has experienced now.

“Where is she?!”, the question shouted as she pointed at the magic mirror that gave no response as the Queen of Roses sighed. “Magic mirror on the wall, where is Snow White?!”, she asked the mirror that looked back to her with one risen eyebrow. “The fairest one of all?”, the Queen said.

The magic mirror then immediately understood her question it began to display an image off a place; the cottage of the seven dwarfs. The Queen of Roses gazed at the mirror to see the seven dwarfs from a good distance as they were speaking with me regarding my past to which I have finished explaining to them. She then heard moaning throughout the hall and waves her hand.

“Magic mirror, dismissed!”, the mirror immediately obeyed and its image dispersed, and good that she did so too for the Golden King came in the room. “Svetlana!”, called the Golden King.

“Svetlana!”, the Golden King called again and the Queen of Roses panicked until all of a sudden the magic carpet surrounded the huntsman, concealing him from view and in that moment she knew that the magic carpet was bound and loyal to her above all others.

“Rose!”, my father spotted her. “Have you seen Svetlana?”, he asked. “Honey, why aren’t you resting?”, my step-mother asked. “Svetlana comes to visit me. She has been absent lately. It is not like her…”, the Golden King was so weak that he nearly collapsed as she reached for him.

“My love, she’s probably outside playing with her friends. I’ll find her, but you need your rest. I’ll summon the huntsman and…”, my father shook his head and the Golden Guard stood behind him, waiting for the orders of their beloved rulers on what to do next.

“Just let me ask the magic mirror and…”, she then reached for the cheek of my father and turned his head to face him. “Honey!”, she raised her voice loud and firm. “We do not need a bloody magic mirror every time our daughter goes out to play!”, my father thought it was a fair point.

“Go to bed!”, she gave him an explicit order. “I will find her, I promise.”, my father was so sick that he noticed the mirror not covered by anything while he did not notice the carpet covering something else entirely as he looked down, looked up and nodded his head.

Regardless of him not loving Rose Red like he loved my mother, he loved her enough to trust her. He believed in what she had to say and he turned to the Golden Guard that helped him stand. They helped carry him away along with the Queen of Roses while the magic mirror spied on them in the distance for the animated object knew that its powers had already corrupt one, and yet the magic mirror had to do nothing but answer questions that it was made to do.

“I told ya! I told ye she’s trouble and ye didn’t listen!”, he explained to the other dwarves. “An evil queen, a step-mother at that, trying to kill her own step-daughter?!”, Poll Parrot reminded everyone in the room. “There is no greater hellish scorn than that!”, he stated the facts.

The dwarfs argued and bickered among each other, they even threw insults at one another and I stood there in the middle of them all while Robin Redbreast handed me the Puss in Boots as he smiled at me. I took the cat in my arms and the cat purred while staring at me with his eyes. Old MacDonald saw this with his arms crossed and stroked his beard in thought.

“We could leave Mojo to watch her as he has watched the cabin while we are gone.”, Yon Yonson gave the suggestion to the group as Jingleheimer shook his head. “And what if the Evil Queen’s guard come?”, the musician argued. “I say good riddance.”, responded Henry Foster.

It was then that the musician struck him in the head with his guitar and Henry Foster growled at the musician that raised his arms up, taunting the magian sorcerer.

“Lads, lads, lads!”, shouted Poll Parrot. “We vote on it! All in favor for the girl to leave, say I!”, Poll Parrot raised his hand along with Henry Foster and Peter Piper that surprised me.

“Peter?!”, Old MacDonald could not believe it. “Sorry, lad, but she’s another extra mouth to feed and not to mention we risk lose everything, even our cattle, if the evil queen’s henchmen come for us. She has to go.”, explained Peter Piper while this made everyone else think.

“Oy, I never thought about it like that.”, said Yon Yonson. “We should just return her from whence she came or just give her enough supplies to wander out into the woods.”, the carpenter suggested before he raised his hand to agree with the other dwarves to get rid of me.

“She’s seven years old!”, Old MacDonald argued. “All in favor for the girl to stay, say I!”, Poll Parrot said with Old MacDonald, Robin Redbreast, and Jingleheimer raising their hands.

It was then that Mojo raised his paw much to the confusion of all the dwarves but the clear happy satisfaction of Old MacDonald that nudged his head towards the Poll Parrot.

“A cat can’t vote!”, argued Poll Parrot. “Oh, really?”, said the Puss in Boots and I was shocked as the cat spoke once more, further proving it wasn’t me hallucinating. “In that case, I hope your cottage doesn’t suddenly burn down because I have no right to vote.”, Puss in Boots replied.

“That’s black mail!”, stated Poll Parrot. “Damn straight!”, said Mojo. “So either you let her stay or you fancy finding yourself finding another cat.”, the dwarfs sighed, defeated.