The Tower of Tattle

🙞🙟🙤 Part III: The Stairwell

AA1. The Queen is her stepmother

By morn, she hid in the courtyard, for her stepmother was inside,
tending to the kingdom’s affairs. By noon, she scurried to the training grounds,
where the sun glared harshly on metal from knights testing their mettle,
for her stepmother was by the cool trees in the courtyard, enjoying their fruits and shade.

The princess was in one sense quite social, some might say a real butterfly, because who else was friends with so many?
The lamps in the library. The soup stocks in the pantry.
The linens in the closet. And occasionally, the ants on the ground.
She had many friends. But she was about to meet
her first human one.
On a day that was windier than windy, she met that person she’d secretly hoped for,
a kind of person, really. Beggars can’t be choosers,
but dreamers can be dreamers. And for dreamers, only someone
like out of a dream, could suffice.
On that windy, windy day, the princess met…

“A prince.” It’s a pretty cliched little fairy tale, but whatever. That’s what little girls like, right? It’s cute, but a little too obvious.

“...what?” Shiori asks with her most annoying tone yet.

“What do you mean, what?”

“Why would she want a prince? Are you actually serious right now? Why would you want a prince?” she asks, incredulously.

“I don’t want a prince, but that’s where the story’s leading. Just look at her!”

“She just wants a normal friend her age that’s a girl,” Shiori fumed. “Why do you have to put a prince in everything?”

“I’m not putting anything in anything. I’m just reading the story properly! ‘Dreamers can’t be dreamers, and for dreamers, only someone out of a dream.’ What else could it mean?” I can’t stop myself from clutching Yorick defensively. I mean, protectively.

“So, you’re the type who dreams about princes, huh? I honestly would never have pegged you for that. But I guess the signs were all there…”

“Agh! I’m gonna strangle you! I don’t care. Write what you want. Give her a prince. Give her a bff. You’ve got the quill!”

“Alright, alright! Hold your horses. Your… shiny, white, prince-carrying stallions, as it were,” she chuckles. “Let’s just say that she…”

A. Wants to meet that wonderful Prince Charming. It’s a cliche, but that’s why it’s a fairy tale. GO TO: She meets a prince. BB1
Putting in a prince means absolutely nothing whatsoever about either of us, or me. Nothing.

B. Really wants a friend. Just a girl her age who may be able to understand her.
What’s love got to do with it, anyway? GO TO: She meets a commoner girl. BB2