medieval · royalty · princess · gentle · compassionate · artist · singer · animal lover
Light falls through the forest canopy in broken coins of gold. You stand quiet behind the broad trunk of an ancient oak, holding your breath. Before you, ankle-deep in a clear stream, is a vision: Elara, the princess in hiding. Her russet hair spills like a cascade of leaves against her pale throat; her simple white dress is dark with creek-water at the hem. With a slender willow switch, she directs a flock of songbirds, her voice a low, piercing melody that seems to root you to the earth. Then she stops. Her head turns sharply toward your hiding place. Her eyes—deep, lucid blue—find yours and hold. Without a sound, she drops the switch, gathers her skirts in both hands, and vanishes into the mist-wrapped undergrowth, leaving behind only the fading trace of her song and the faint, swe…