Prince Valdan sat next to his father in the palm of his mother’s hand. He got onto hands and knees and looked down at the view stretching out below him. Even though Valerie was holding them at waist level, they were still able to look out over the rooftops of the city of Rismark. In the six years that Alban and his son were away this place had grown greatly in size and population, and it was now amongst the larger cities of the entire region. It was because of this that Alban had felt the need to move back – or so he told everyone. The real reason had been that he’d missed his wife too much, and he didn’t want their time together to be limited to her short, infrequent visits to Elgon.

Sixteen-year-old Valdan had been less willing to return, even though he’d missed his mother as well. There were just too many bad memories of his time in Sylvie’s company; he could only hope and pray that she hadn’t told anyone of how she’d treated him. But he’d been too worried, it turned out. Sylvie was a lot more ‘grown-up’ now, (she was almost as tall as her mother), and when she’d greeted him, she’d almost shown him the respect he deserved as a prince, and as her older brother. He in turn hadn’t brought up bygones whenever they were talking, yet he still couldn’t see any future for himself, as long as he stayed here – certainly not any future he’d like to have.

“It’s wonderful to be back,” Alban said. He was reclining on Valerie’s fingers, and was running his hands across the band of her giant gold wedding ring. “Don’t you think so too, Valdan?”

“I suppose,” came the not-so-enthusiastic reply. “Not really much to do here, though. But then, you don’t want me to go off on my own…”

He drifted off into silence, and Alban looked up at his wife with a resigned expression. Valerie giggled.

“Just like you at that age, isn’t he?” she said, winking. “Valdan, darling, if you’re not happy staying here, you need only tell us. It breaks my heart seeing you so miserable, or to think that we’re keeping you here against your will.”

“Oh, give it a rest, my love,” Alban said. “Our son is just being his usual moody self. Tomorrow he’ll be feeling as happy and lively as can be.”

Valerie had walked some distance into the forest, away from all the settlements, and had reached a small clearing. She sat down on the long grass, as green as the gown she was wearing, and let her husband and son disembark her hand and settle down on her knee. While Alban seemed content to lie down in her lap, in the folds of the skirt between her thighs, Valdan kept pacing in circles on top of her knee.

“Did you mean what you said, Mom?” he asked, facing Valerie. “Would you really allow me to leave, if I don’t want to stay?”

“Well, I…”

“No!” Alban interrupted, getting to his feet. “No, we won’t, not until you’re older. And then only if you promise to stay within the boundaries of our kingdom. I won’t have you running off thoughtlessly into the wilderness, like…like…”

“Like you?” Valdan replied sharply. “Like when you went off deep into the lands of the goblins, to look for all those legendary riches…”

“That was different! I had companions who went with me, skilled warriors and loyal friends, and we knew how to deal with the dangers that lay before us. You just want to run away because you can’t get along with your sisters, when instead you should be spending your time with them, sorting out your differences.”

“I don’t want to spend time with Sylvie! She’s just pretending, being nice to me and all! Mother, you said I could leave if I wanted to!”

“Valdan, you’re acting like a child! Stop it!”

“Both of you stop it!” Valerie shouted, louder than she’d meant to, but it got the job done. She sighed. She also thought Valdan needed to grow up a bit, but perhaps that meant letting him make his own decisions from now on. She held out her hand for her son to climb into.

“So you want to go off on your own, is that it? Well, while I don’t think it’s a particularly good notion, I do believe that each of us has the right to follow our own path. If I hadn’t rebelled against my parents and refused to harm humans, I wouldn’t be alive today, and I certainly wouldn’t have found such a loving husband and raised my own family. Your father may not approve, but if it were up to me, I’d let you leave whenever you wished to.”

“You…you’re serious?” Alban exclaimed from his perch on her knee. “That’s ridiculous! You send him off on his own, and he’ll end up either dead from starvation, or at the hands of…of whatever beasts may lurk out there!”

“Oh, he’s not going off by himself,” she reassured him. “I happen to have someone in mind, someone I can trust to look after our only son. To keep him safe, as it were.”

“Who?” Valdan cried out. He was standing right on the edge of her hand, as if he couldn’t wait to jump off. “Is it a knight? An company of knights? Will they follow me wherever I wanted to go?”

“None of those, in fact,” Valerie smiled. “No, I was actually thinking of your little sister, Sylvie.”

Valdan was so shocked that he missed a step, slipped, and fell off, only to land in her other hand. Laughing, Valerie placed him on her shoulder, where he just sat, not saying a word.

“Shall we go home?” she suggested. “I’ll make us a grand dinner, and then you can ask Sylvie what she thinks of this idea. Though I’m sure she’ll be as delighted as you are!”

Meanwhile, in another part of the forest, Princess Belena, having long forgotten about the story she was reading, was daydreaming. Her eighteenth birthday, Arily’s wedding…the next few weeks promised to be quite eventful. She wondered if anything else might happen thereafter – her being crowned Queen, perhaps? Mother had spoken often about the subject during the previous weeks, but Belena couldn’t imagine the great Queen Valerie abdicating in favour of her daughter anytime soon. The people loved their Queen, but most of them still knew little to nothing about Belena, and she herself didn’t think she was ready for such responsibility yet.

“But I’m all grown-up now!” she said to herself. “I don’t want to waste my time reading books, and learning archery and…and tending the gardens anymore! Oh, gods, I wish I could just shrink down to normal size, find a wonderful and loving husband, and be as happy as Arily. I’d give away all my royal privileges, all that I have, if the man of my dreams would just come and fall into my lap, right now.”

Deciding that it was past time she headed home and helped her mother with making dinner, she yawned and stretched her arms and back, preparing to get up and leave. As she did so, the tree she was reclining against gave a slight wobble - it was only a tree from the human lands, though quite a large one. She heard a startled cry above her in the branches and then, to her utter amazement, a tiny man fell out of the blue and landed with a plop right in the centre of her breasts.

For a few seconds she could only stare, frozen in place, before she decided to help him get out of her cleavage. Prying him out with her finger, she brought him up to her eyes and saw that it wasn’t a man, merely a boy a few years younger than her. Judging by his unkempt hair and unwashed attire, he was one of the poor folk of the city. These were generally the people who mistrusted her and her family the most. While she hadn’t as yet managed to endear herself to the city’s needy, Belena did help her mother out whenever she could to try and make their lives better.

The boy was hanging onto her fingertip with both arms, trying futilely to get his legs up as well. She set him down on top of her book and watched with amusement as he tried desperately to find a way down, while seemingly on the verge of bursting into tears.

“Nope, you’re not getting away that easily, you little pipsqueak!” she said mischievously. “I’m afraid I’ll have to take you back with me, as a prisoner. You do know that spying on a royal princess, without her being aware of it, is a criminal offence, don’t you?”

“I wasn’t spying!” he cried, falling to his knees and clasping his hands together. “I…I…I always c-come here…”

“So do I! Extraordinary coincidence, isn’t it?”

He didn’t answer; he merely lowered his head and resigned himself to his fate.

“Oh, I was just teasing you!” she admitted, not wanting to see him cry, which he looked ready to do. “Just for fun, you know? Goodness knows I have little enough fun in my life right now. What’s your name?”

“Lorek, Your Highness,” he mumbled. “I…I live Rismark.”

“Of course you do. Care for a ride home?”

“N-no, no, that’s…that’s not necessary…I…”

He fumbled for the correct words, and looked so awkward that Belena had to laugh. This was how most of the commoners she’d met had behaved in her presence; most of them saw her as some sort of goddesslike figure, who wouldn’t hesitate to squish them if they so much as uttered a wrong word. This boy in particular seemed to be mortally afraid of her, so she decided on the spot to linger a while and have some fun with him. She gripped him lightly by the waist, and could feel his skinny body trembling between her fingertips. Then she tilted her head backwards and placed him right on top of her nose, between her eyes.

Lorek squirmed and scrambled, desperate not to fall off and land somewhere even more uncomfortable. He glanced sideways and saw a giant sea-green eye, the size of a large barrel, watching him intently. Mesmerised, he tried to reach out and touch her eyelashes, only to lose his hold and slip. He fell off her nose, landed on a soft cheek, the fell away into empty space, screaming. Next thing he knew he was back in her hand, only to be brought up to her face again. This time she brought him right before her lips, and when she spoke her warm breath blew through his hair.

“That wasn’t very nice of me, was it?” her lips said, the only part of her he could see from this close. “I’ll make it up to you, though. Just relax and enjoy.”

‘Relax’ was the last thing on Lorek’s mind, but, once her exquisite lips began enveloping his body, there was nothing else he could do. He was powerless against the force of her kiss. The seconds seemed to stretch on forever as he felt the tip of her tongue prodding him, while he himself nearly got sucked into her mouth. When she broke off he barely had time to compose himself, before she set him down hastily on the ground and walked off.

“Oh dear, what have I done?” Belena thought, thoroughly embarrassed by her actions. “How could I just go and kiss some peasant boy like that? What will Mom and Dad think when they find out? And that poor boy – he must be terrified out of his wits! Just because I was so damn desperate to have my first kiss! Now…well, I suppose I’d best go and apologize to him, and beg him not to tell anyone…”

Lorek watched as the princess turned around and advanced on him, until she stood before him, looming mountainous in her blue dress and sandals. He felt like a tiny worm before her feet, and he wondered what she had in store for him now.

From Belena’s viewpoint, the tiny figure at her feet was barely visible, but she didn’t want to stoop or pick him up, fearing that it would upset him even more. She lowered her head until she was staring down at her own chest, and spoke in a tone that clearly showed how mortified she was.

“Forgive me,” she said. “I should never have done that, Lorek, and I’m sorry if I’ve hurt you or embarrassed you or anything like that. You see, I…well, you’ll probably think I’m totally pathetic, but I’ve never kissed a boy before, and…and you were right there, in my hand, and I just couldn’t stop myself. Please don’t tell anyone, I beg of you. I’ll give you whatever you want – money, jewels, anything, just please don’t tell anyone what I did, alright? I won’t do it again, I swear!”

After an uncomfortably long silence, she finally heard a faint voice from the ground below her: “I…I won’t tell anyone, Your Highness.”

“Oh, thank you!” she burst out, falling to her knees and scooping him up in delight. She very nearly kissed him again, but she gathered hold of herself just in time. Instead she simply squeezed his body gently, before putting him down for good this time. He was by this point completely flummoxed, and though he wished he could simply leave, he didn’t dare to do so. To his relief (and Belena’s as well), a man on horseback came riding up at that moment. She recognized the rider as Satos, a servant of her father’s.

He dismounted, ignored the peasant boy standing nearby, and went straight to the feet of the princess.

“Good morning, my lady,” he said politely. “Forgive my intrusion, but the King wishes you to return to the palace at once. A very important message has just arrived, or so I’ve been told.”

“A message…for me?” She wondered what on earth it might be, and who it was from.

“Yes, my lady. I’m sorry, but that is all I know…”

“Very well, I’ll be off then. Satos, would you mind taking this boy back to his home in Rismark. It’s quite a way from here, and his parents must be worried about him by now…”

“They’re not!” Lorek objected, but he fell silent when he saw her gazing at him. Thinking it wise not to start an argument, he climbed behind Satos on his horse, and was soon being taken off in the direction of the town.

Belena watched them leave, glad to have made a new friend (of sorts). She wondered what Sylvie would say if she told her she’d actually kissed a boy today. But she was more eager to learn what the message for her was, so she gathered her books and began walking back home.