A Stream Through a Forest

Princess Minette, daughter of Queen Nephele and King Ludovic. She was, to say the least, a handful of a girl. The Princess was always running off, hiding from tutors and sneaking out of the castle.

“Princess, you can not avoid such duties. You must learn to handle responsibility!” That is what the everyone told her. And to such words, the Princess would always respond with the same thing.

“I don’t need to know all that. I’m not gonna be a queen!”

They all overlooked her reply. After all, there was no plausible way she could avoid her fate. Each and every person in the castle assumed that Minette would grow up eventually. That once she became of age, she would inherit the throne and embrace her responsibilities. 

And while she was growing up, there was a single occurrence that caused a ripple in Princess Minette’s entire path.

---

“Princess? Princess, where did you disappear to?” It was the voice of one of Minette’s many tutors. After a long enough time, most of them had quit. Teaching the Princess was more difficult than slaying a dragon. Those words belonged to that of the retired adventurer, Thentrum the Dragonslayer, who had been hired to teach Minette the way of the sword. He had given up as quickly as the rest. 

During this particular moment, Minette had been hurriedly climbing out of a window. Exploring the forest was far more fun than attending any classes.

She shuffled around in her dress, finally managing to undo all the laces and pull it off. Beneath it strung an array of much less dazzling and much more comfortable “commoner” clothes. 

And through the forest she went. Climbing trees, throwing pebbles, running through streams. Things that “a princess should not do”. 

Why she had such a fascination with things beyond the castle, no one knew. Not even Minette. All she knew was her great love for the outside world.

It was this day that she encountered another person in the forest. Her first thoughts were thoughts that she thoroughly regretted. She wondered if she should return to the castle. If the outside truly was as dangerous as everyone had told her. And yet, the person was merely another child. A boy even younger than the Princess herself.

Of course, with a stroke of misfortune, the moment she saw the boy, she heard her name called in the distance. Some of the royal guards were out looking for her once again. However, Minette did not wish to return. Especially not after seeing another child for the first time.

The boy turned to the sound of the guards. In doing so, he spotted Minette, standing beside the trees before him. Before he spoke, or even moved, she ran up to him.

“Shh!” she hissed, her small index finger making its way to her mouth. In a state of shock, the boy obliged. And she set her hand on his back, forcing him to the floor. The call of Minette’s name once again sounded.

The two children lay close to the floor, behind a set of bushes. They waited; a curious princess and a confused boy. Her heart pounded as she could hear the footsteps and clanking of armor approaching. She clamped her hands over her mouth and the boy’s, so as to prevent any sound from escaping. 

In a moment of suspense, heavy footsteps finally jogged past the bushes that covered the two. Still, the Princess held the boy in place and remained still. This lasted for a very long time.

And finally, the sound of the footsteps and voices faded. Minette sucked in a deep gasp. She had hardly realized that she was holding her breath. As the sun descended, both children rose to their feet.

At this moment, Minette realized that she was unsure of what to say. The Princess was unaccustomed to speaking to other children, after all. Fortunately, the boy acted first. He stuck his hand out in front of him, waiting.

She watched him, her eyes wide. “Wh… what are you doing?”

He tilted his head. “Nessa says that when you meet someone new, you’re supposed to shake hands.”

Cautiously, the Princess reached out as well. He took her hand and bobbed it up and down. She pulled away after the second movement.

“Who are you?” Minette had regained her courage.

“My name’s Crow. What’s yours?”

“Minette.”

The two regarded each other for a long moment.

“You’re the Princess?”

“Yes. I’m Minette.” She said that regretfully, as if she did not enjoy having to admit to such a fact.

Crow, despite being so young, was able to understand her tone. He was immediately able to comprehend her feelings and sympathize. He was an observant child.

“Should you go home to the castle? It’s becoming night.”

Minette stubbornly shook her head. “No, no. I’ve never talked to another child. I wanna stay here.”

Crow shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “It’s easy to get lost in the forest at night. Go back. I can come here tomorrow.”

She eyed him closely before giving in. “Fine. But you have to be here tomorrow,” said the Princess.

He nodded. “I promise.”

---

And so Princess Minette returned to the castle, each step flooded with her frustration. She had wanted to speak with Crow immediately, not wait another night.

She showed up on the doorstep of the castle, knocking viciously on the grand front doors. This wasn’t a rare occurrence, but every time the Princess ran off, the entire castle would worry. She would get lost or harmed or kidnapped. That was what they all believed. Still, time and time again, Minette would return unscathed, apart from the occasional scraped knee or splinter.

That night, Minette couldn’t sleep. An overwhelming curiosity seemed to envelop her. It was a feeling she had never experienced before, nor had she imagined such a feeling to exist. The Princess tossed and turned, finally giving up on sleeping. And so all night and all morning, she paced her large chamber. Step after step after curious step.

After waiting through a night longer than she could imagine possible, Minette had thrown open the doors to her chamber, dashing through the halls of the castle until she reached the bottom floor. 

“Princess? You are up early! Have you finally decided to act as proper royalty?” It was Minette’s language tutor. He had lasted longer than most did, but she was certain that he would quit soon enough. 

She refused to answer him, hurriedly walking right by him. To her annoyance, the tutor followed her. “Since we are both here now, perhaps we should begi—”

“Sir, I am very busy with my, uh, princessly duties, and I do not have time for such matters.” Minette held back a sigh. This charade would have the entire castle believing that she was going to start assuming the role of the Princess.

“Princess Minette, I am certain that our lessons are currently your top priority and—”

Minette ran out of the room before he could stop her. She promptly collided with one of the palace’s maids. 

“Princess, are you alright?”

The Princess began to shuffle into the next room, but the woman grabbed her arm. “Princess, I have told you many times not to wear such improper clothing outside of your chamber. Come, we shall choose a dress for today.”

It took another two hours for Princess Minette to successfully escape the grip of the castle. Wearing an unnecessarily puffy dress, the Princess finally succeeded in sneaking into the forest. She hurried along, yet after an hour, Minette was unable to find the spot she had seen Crow in the previous day. 

This was the first time she had wept since she had been a young toddler. Princess Minette had sworn, long ago, that she would never be the helpless princess who always cried. And since then, she hadn’t wept. Not until now.

The tears stung her eyes as she tried to force them back. She didn’t want to cry now. She had said she would never weep again.

Crow found her on her knees in the forest. Her dress torn, her hair a mess, and her head buried in her hands. “What are you crying about?” he asked nonchalantly.

She gasped, looking up at the boy standing before her. “I…” she scowled, “I’m not crying!”

He laughed and nodded.

And then the two began to speak. A princess and a young boy, sitting together beneath the canopy of a forest, talking and laughing. Minette was able to learn about Crow and his life and, most importantly, she was able to make a friend.

---

Every day, all afternoon, Minette would sneak out of the castle. She would run into the forest, wandering around until Crow would find her.

Time passed by. Minette would tell Crow about her troubles in the castle. About how she would never be a queen, and how she didn’t want to be a princess. He would listen and, in return, tell her of his own life.

“How is there room for a house in the forest?” asked the Princess one day.

“Nessa found a big clearing and built a house there. She said it’s a cottage.” He pronounced the word carefully. 

“A cottage?”

“It’s like a house, but a little bit smaller.”

“But if you live in a small house, where do your mother and father stay?”

“They live in a different house. It’s in another country. Nessa said that she’s gonna watch me until they can get enough money to come get me.”

“Does that mean you’ll leave one day?”

Crow had gone silent for a moment. Then he looked up at the clouds through the canopy, “Maybe. But that’ll be in a long time.”

---

Many years passed. In fear of the wrath of her mother, Minette had finally given in to some of her responsibilities. She allowed herself to learn more about her kingdom and, despite deciding she’ll never need it, how to be a queen. 

With less time on her hands, the Princess was unable to visit her only friend as often. Not long after they met, the queen had scolded Minette. She had been running off far too much, and it was a dangerous waste of time, apparently. 

On the day of the Princess’ twelfth birthday, with an uneven haircut that she had given herself and mere shorts and a tunic, she ran barefoot into the forest. It was nearly midnight. She had taken a great deal of trouble to finally sneak out of the castle.

“Crow?” called Minette quietly. She feared she would alert a nearby guard had she spoken any louder. A very short moment of wandering around passed.

“I keep telling you not to come into the forest at night,” the boy scolded jokingly. He stepped over to her.

“Well how come you can come out here at night? I’m even older than you!”

“It’s dangerous for a maiden such as yourself to travel in places like these,” he joked. They both laughed. Two children snickering in the night.

When they both calmed down, Minette averted her gaze to the grass beneath them. “Sorry I can’t come as much anymore. Mother keeps scolding me, and I’ve had a lot more stuff to do lately.”

Crow shrugged. “I’ll always be here, so just come whenever you want. All you have to do is walk around, and I’ll find you. But walk around with shoes next time or else I won’t.”

She giggled. “Fine.”

That night, right before she returned to the castle, Crow stopped her. “Wait, don’t you wanna see your birthday present?”

She eyed his empty hands and pocketless pants. “What present?” Minette was very aware of Crow’s situation. Nessa, his guardian, grew food for them herself and hand sewed everything Crow wore. They couldn’t have had enough money for Crow to buy her a gift.

He stuck his hand out, as he had when they first met. But this time, rather than shaking her hand, Crow turned his palm to face the sky. Slowly, little lights appeared above it, one by one. They were arranged in variants of colors. None of it made any coherent shapes. Perhaps that was why Minette found it so beautiful. Dancing colors with no designated form. As if they had no destiny laid out before them.

“What is it?” she spoke breathlessly.

Crow snickered. “It’s magic. Nessa taught me. Pretty, right?”

“Yeah…”

---

Five years passed. With everyone preparing for the inevitability of Minette becoming queen, she was convinced more than ever that she absolutely would not let that happen. 

The Princess was beginning to turn to old habits. Sneaking away from the castle more and more often, avoiding classes and wearing less-than-royal clothes. She would go and see Crow any chance she had. And those in the castle had yet to know about him.

“Maybe I should just run away,” the Princess sighed.

“Then I’d never see you again,” Crow pointed out.

“That’s the only thing stopping me.” She rested her chin on her knee, “So what should I do?”

“You can’t run from fate. I guess... just accept what happens.”

Minette hated when he said that. She wasn’t capable of running a kingdom. She didn’t want to run a kingdom. So why did she have to?

Water splashed over her head, startling her out of her thoughts. “Quit spacing out and listen to me.” Crow laughed, squirting a stream of water out of his palm.

---

“Crow,” Minette called, wandering through the forest. As usual, it was the middle of the night. However, on this particular night, Crow wasn’t coming out. “Crow?” This shout was a lot more panicked than the rest. He had never taken this long before.

She ran through the forest, her feet once again shoeless. The Princess had been in the forest so many times before, but Crow had always been there with her. He had always known where everything was, leading her through it safely. She had never bothered to learn its layout.

And now she ran aimlessly, as she had when she had been a child. “Crow!” she called as she ran, stumbling over every stray root. 

Time passed. The Princess found herself in a part of the forest that she had never seen before. Crow had never brought her here. It didn’t look very different from the rest of the forest, but she knew that this was not the place she spent time with her friend in.

There was a splash as she slipped in a stream. It flowed into a glade. A larger clearing than the rest. And in the center was a cottage.

“A cottage?” the Princess breathed, remembering something from the past.

A woman opened the door, stepping outside and looking Minette over. A black witch’s hat sat atop her head, although her golden dress contrasted it.

“Princess Minette.” The woman bowed.

Without thinking, Minette held her hand out. The woman laughed, the edges of the hat bobbing around as she did so. “Crow must have taught you that.”

In the moonlight, she looked something like a goddess. A goddess standing above the small, fragile Princess. “Y-you know Crow?”

“I’m Nessa. I assume you know who I am?”

Minette beamed. “N-Nessa? Oh, wow… It’s, um, nice to meet you! Do you… do you know where Crow is?”

“Princess,” Nessa gazed up at the stars above, “Crow went back home. Back to his family.”

The smile faded as a shooting star dashed through the sky. “What? N-no… he…” There was nothing for her to say.

“I’m sorry, Minette.”

“Can you tell me where he is? I’ll go with him! I... I didn’t want to be a queen anyways!”

“Princess, you are a princess. It is your destiny to be the queen one day. You can not change fate.” Her tone was soft and cold. It was the tone of someone who had experienced enough of fate to understand it well.

“Don’t say that. I don’t have to do what fate wants me to.”

“You can not change fate,” Nessa’s expression darkened, “but you can destroy it.”

---

The sun was rising. Nessa and Princess Minette stood on a hill, far away from the castle. “Are you sure you want this?”

Minette crossed her arms. “Yes.”

“Very well…”

Nessa raised her staff into the air, both hands gripping it tightly. She muttered words that Minette could not understand. And as she spoke, lights not so different from Crow’s line up in the sky.

Nessa’s lights were larger than Crow’s, and there were so many more. They formed a circle in the sky, with unintelligible writing inside.

“Magic truly is powerful…” Minette muttered, not wanting to look away.

And faster than the Princess’ eyes could process, the circle emitted a beam of something that could only be described as pure darkness upon the land below it. The beam hit the floor, and the entire world seemed to crumble.

A wave of magic surged throughout the land, causing the ground to crack and erupt and buildings to crumble.

Minette fell to the ground as the wave collided with the two on the hill. Nessa dropped the staff, throwing both palms out. The same light from before swiftly flew around the two, leaving them unscathed within the destruction.

And, after what felt like a lifetime, everything grew quiet. Minette shakily stood up while Nessa fell to her knees.

Everything either of them could see was now a wasteland. Trees were uprooted and not a single building remained standing. The grass seemed to turn black from the darkness and the sky grew grey.

The kingdom. The castle. It was all gone.

“Mother… Father… I’m sorry. I told you I wouldn’t be a queen.”

After all, the only way to avoid being the Queen was to remove the need for one.