Once upon a time, in a land far away, an enchanting girl stood looking out on her kingdom of Corelia. Well, technically her father's kingdom, as she was only the princess. She sighed, longing for the day in which it would be hers, and she would take her rightful position in this kingdom as the ruler.
"Your Highness," a servant called, as he bursted into the room without so much as a knock, "your father wants you to come down to the throne room. There is someone he wishes you to meet."
The girl sighed again. Her father was always calling her down to meet some young, handsome prince, who cared nothing for anyone or anything but himself. Ok, so maybe she was stereotyping the princes a little bit, but in reality, most she had met were like that.
"Tell my father that I will be down in a minute. I need to… um… put my crown on," the princess replied.
The servant gave her a weird look and then dashed out of the room. The princess walked over to the mirror and looked into it. She already had her crown on.
"Oh Sarah, what have you gotten yourself into now?" she moaned.
Sarah glided down the stairs that connected her home in the ivy-covered tower to the rest of the castle and headed toward the throne room.
"Good morning, Father. I heard that you wanted to see me?"
Sarah looked up at her six-foot-tall father. He certainly made an imposing sight. His tall broad shoulders, large strong hands, lilting smile and reddish blond hair contrasted with Sarah's five-foot-four tall slight form, delicate hands and waist, deep blue eyes that sparkled like the stars, and honey blond hair that went down to her waist and shimmered like gold.
"Ah yes, Sarah, my daughter, so glad you could join me. This is King Fernando and his son Prince John," the king replied, broadly smiling down at his daughter and the two men.
"It is an honor to meet your Majesty," Fernando and John chorused in perfect unison.
Creepy, Sarah thought, I wonder if they practiced that?
Sarah looked at the two men. It was kind of scary how alike the two men looked. Both were tall, and relatively young, the king was most likely in his late forties, but he looked like he was in his mid twenties at the latest. Although that couldn’t be possible because his son also looked to be around twenty. They were both black haired, and had an air of permanent annoyance about them.
"Nice to meet you," Sarah echoed coarsely, "if you'll please excuse me, I have a busy day planned and must get to it."
Sarah turned and walked off after, with head nods and grunts she had been excused. She sighed to herself, inwardly hoping that her very brief meeting with those two men would be the last she would see or hear of them.
Must Father always try to find me someone to fall in love with? Sarah wondered as she hurried in the direction she had last seen her friend. When I fall in love, I will do so because I’m in love, not so my father can have the satisfaction of knowing that I am ‘well cared for.’ I mean, sure, marrying some prince will make him happy, but what about me? My life, my choice, right?
She abruptly turned a corner to see her friend Rose Maltrea walking at a leisurely pace just ahead of her.
“Hey, Rose, wait up!” Sarah called.
Rose turned, and a big smile grew over her face. She waved vigorously at Sarah as she approached, and when Sarah caught up with her, Rose threw her arms around Sarah in a big hug. The two girls laughed, and pulled apart to get a good look at each other.
“You’re looking lovely as always, Rose,” Sarah said with a grin.
“Why thank you!” she replied, “ and you are looking just as beautiful as you did when I last saw you. What have you been doing lately?”
“Oh you know, just this and that.”
“I see. Find another excuse to not be around a handsome prince who likes you?” Rose asked.
"You know me, Rose," Sarah carefreely replied, "always busy. You just happen to be who I am busy with. Did you forget we were supposed to go into town today for a shopping trip?"
"Nope! See, I have the baskets right here."
Rose held up two baskets, but when Sarah looked into them, they were both full.
“Um, Rose, why are the baskets already full?”
“Because one has my mom’s lunch and the other has the five hundred tiny paper swans Mr. Evans asked for.”
“Really?”
“Yep.”
The two girls burst out laughing, then linked arms and walked towards the market giggling. Sarah smiled to herself. She loved Rose like a sister, and they had been best friends for as long as she could remember. The two knew each other inside out, and Sarah was glad they were that close. She hoped it meant that their friendship would truly last forever.
***
As Rose looked at fine silk dresses in the market that most twenty-one year olds could just gawk at and have no hope of ever buying, or touching for that matter, Sarah was buying flowers. Sarah loved flowers. She put them all over her room to brighten it up, which it did, a little bit. After all, a stone tower can only become so homey.
Sarah was walking towards the next flower booth in a daydream of her newly flower-covered bedroom, and didn't see the tall, manly knight walking toward her in a removed way, as if he wasn’t even in the market. They collided with a bang, Sarah fell backwards, and her flowers flew into the air, scattering everywhere.
Stolen story; please report.
"Oh my gosh! Are you ok?" the knight asked.
He held his hand out to her to help her up from the floor, but she ignored it, picking herself up and brushing off the dust on her own.
Rose ran up, babbling incoherent words of worry.
“Rose, take a deep breath,” Sarah counseled, “then tell me what you were gonna say.”
Rose nodded, took three breaths, and then dived into the conversation."Princess Sarah, are you alright?"
"Yes Rose, I'm fine," Sarah declared as she bent down to pick up the roses, daisies, and poppies from the road after sending a quizzical glance after Rose.
Rose never called her a princess in public. The knight meanwhile was stammering, in an attempt to come up with something that would make up for just having accidentally bashed into the princess, and sending her tumbling to the floor.
"The princess!? Oh, I'm so sorry, Your Highness! Let me help you with those."
He proceeded to alternately pick up flowers, drop them, squish them, and then start all over again trying to help her clean up. Once all the flowers had been cleaned up, (and most thrown away) Sarah stood up and looked the knight straight in the eye, about to say something along the lines of "It's ok, I was going to buy more flowers anyway" when the knight stopped her with an apology.
“I’m so sorry, please, allow me to buy you some flowers to replace the ones I ruined,” he said
The threesome all fell into an uneasy silence. The knight, Andrew, was worried. The princess could easily have him killed for this, or imprisoned. He stood quietly and hoped she would be merciful.
"Alright," Sarah suddenly agreed, quite decisively.
"Alright?" Andrew questioned.
"Alright, I will let you buy me new flowers," Sarah replied.
Andrew nodded and walked over to a flower booth, whipping nervous sweat from underneath his helmet in a surreptitious motion.
"Pick whichever kind you want, even if they aren't the same kind as before," he said generously, gesturing across the flower venders with a grand sweep of his arm.
Sarah gave Rose a discrete signal, and the two fanned out between the booths. Working together they picked their flowers quickly and soon a beautiful bouquet was formed. But as Andrew moved to pay for them, the squat store owner stopped him with a wave of her chubby palm.
"I'm sorry, but I will need you to take off your helmet. I need to make sure I'm not selling to an outlaw or some other lawless individual," the store owner said with a determined look in her eye that clearly said they were going nowhere until they complied.
Andrew looked uncomfortable but he slowly lifted off his helmet and looked at the store owner.
"Are you satisfied, shopkeeper, that I am not a robber and merely someone who is trying to buy some flowers?" Andrew asked politely.
"Yes," she replied. She gracefully began wrapping up the chosen flowers into a bag, and I am sure your girlfriend there will greatly appreciate them."
"Girlfriend?" Sarah and Andrew said simultaneously.
"No, I’m not, we’re not," Andrew stammered.
"We’re not dating," Sarah finished.
“Sure,” the store keeper said, giving them a knowing look and a wink, then handed Andrew the flowers he had selected.
Andrew set a few coins on the woman's stand to pay for the flowers, then turned to look Sarah square in the eye.
"I hope this will be enough for you to forgive me,” he apologized, “and maybe we can start over, you know, pretend this whole escapade never happened?"
Andrew watched Sarah with a hopeful expression. He was dying to know if she’d been pleased with the apology and flowers, and he suspected the other girl, Rose, wanted to know as well. However, Sarah had paid no attention to what Andrew had said. She was too busy studying his face. For some reason she held a certain fascination for him. He was strange. His features were exotic, like nothing she had ever seen in this kingdom before, but they were also strangely familiar.
The man was tall, broad shouldered, and had a kind face that was dazzlingly handsome. His smile was cunning and brazen but strangely comforting, his eyes were the color of a misty gray sea, and his hair was reddish brown. He had a definite look of mischief and an air of confidence hung about him in a thick cloud. It was strange, but Sarah felt drawn to him. That feeling alone made her want to turn and run, but then again, there was always the chance he could be trustworthy.
"Your Highness?" Andrew asked.
He looked down at her, his gaze filled with concern, his hands fidgeting nervously with the bouquet of flowers he still held.
“What?” Sarah replied harshly.
She couldn’t place where he had seen men like him before. It was like she had seen them in a long ago dream and the memory was just surfacing now.
"Are you ok?" he prodded.
"Oh, yes, I'm fine. We, um, I definitely forgive you, and I thank you for the flowers. If you wish too, I, uh, we can start over. But that will have to be later, it's getting dark and it's not safe to be out then," Sarah said as Rose pulled her away.
"I hope I will be able to see you again, Your Highness," Andrew called after her.
"Me too," Sarah whispered back even though he could not
have possibly heard her.
The instant after she whispered it, she felt her mind screaming that it wasn’t right. She couldn’t be this attached to this man after knowing him for thirty minutes.
***
"You like him, don't you," Rose observed.
Sarah gave her an odd look. “No, I don’t.”
She nonchalantly snuggled deeper into her bed, holding one of the small throw pillows against her chest. She loved being in her room. Sure it was a tower, but it was her tower, the one she had chosen, and the one she had made her home. Plus, her bed was super comfy and was amazing when you wanted to sit and think about something. Rose gave her a look that said, “spill, I’m your best friend, you can trust me.”
Sarah sighed. "Alright fine,” she finally admitted, “so I like him a little bit.”
Rose laughed triumphantly. “I told you!” she shouted.
“Rose, as a friend and a human, yes I like him, but more than that," Sarah added, "no."
Rose wilted temporarily, but then perked back up in an instant of thought. She gave a mischievous smile and winked at Sarah. "Oh come on! You can't tell me that you didn't think he wasn't just a little bit handsome," Rose teased, "I could see it in your eyes!"
“I can think he’s handsome and not like him, can’t I?” Sarah said with a dismissive wave of her hand
“I guess.”
There was an awkward silence between the two of them, which was something that hadn't happened to them in years. Rose cleared her throat. Tentatively she asked, “Sarah?”
“Yes?”
“Do you think you could ever fall in love with a human seeing how your, well, seeing how your a, um...”
“An elf?” Sarah finished.
“Yeah,” Rose said sheepishly.
Sarah sighed and patted the spot beside her on the bed. Rose clambered up next to her, and they sat in peaceful silence as Sarah contemplated what she was going to say next. With a deep breath she dived in. “I hope,” Sarah said quietly, “that I fall in love one day, but I know most humans, once they find out who I am, are automatically disgusted with me.” Sarah sighed and pushed back the locks of golden hair behind her ears, uncovering a long held secret. “Rose, be honest,” she continued, turning her pleading gaze toward her best friend. “Do you think anyone will be able to see past this,” she gestured to her ears, “and see that I’m not evil?”
“I don’t know, Sarah,” Rose responded sadly, “but I do know that I will always be your friend.”
Sarah smiled and hugged her friend tightly. “Thanks Rose. You’re a great friend.”
“I know. But Sarah, are you excited for the ball tomorrow? I heard all the highest royals will be there along with some of their knights. Maybe you’ll be able to see a certain someone while you’re there.”
Sarah bopped her friend with a pillow and Rose fell off the bed laughing. “See you tomorrow, Sarah. Try to spend some time with me instead of all of it with Andrew.”
Rose laughed as Sarah tossed another pillow at her, but Rose dashed out of the room just in time.
Sarah smiled and shook her head, laying her head down to sleep. She quietly slipped into dreams of dancing with friends and knights while her heart longed to dance with Andrew, all night.