“You can’t beat me this time!” Aurora yelled from her spot
in the tree.
“Watch
me!” Snow yelled back, climbing higher in her tree.
In
response, Aurora climbed higher as well. The two girls were nearly at the top
of their trees, when the gardener found them.
“Girls! Come
down from there at once!” he yelled.
“But I
almost won,” Aurora replied.
“Come
down now!”
Sighing,
Aurora and Snow reluctantly climbed back down their trees.
“I’m
going to have to tell the queen about this again,” the gardener said, once they
were on the ground.
“You
don’t have to tell Mom about this,” Aurora said. “We came down right away. No
one got hurt. It’s all fine.”
“That’s
not going to work this time,” the gardener said. “Now come on.”
Snow and
Aurora followed behind him, looking at each other behind his back. Snow didn’t
want to look worried in front of Aurora, but she was. Her own father had sent
her here. What if they sent her away too? Aurora had never been as good at
hiding her emotions and she had worry all over her face.
The
queen, as usual, was in her solar, working on her loom. The girls knew that the
queen used to even spin her own thread, but now she bought someone else’s
thread and complained about it. The girls never understood why.
The gardener knocked on the door.
“Excuse me, your majesty,” he said.
“Yes?”
she asked.
“I
caught these two climbing the trees in the royal garden again.”
“I see,”
the queen replied, standing up and moving away from her loom. “Please, leave
them with me.”
The gardener
gave a small bow and left. Queen Emilia stood in front of the girls and looked
down at them. “You are both princesses and you know that such behavior shocks
the gardener.”
“Yes,
Mom,” Aurora said, looking at the floor.
Snow
nodded, her lips pinched tightly.
Queen Emilia
sighed and smiled. “Which is why you shouldn’t get caught. Now I’m not
condoning your behavior, but if two girls who sometimes forget that they are
princesses want to have some fun, there are plenty of ways to do it without
getting in trouble, aren’t there?”
Aurora
looked up and gave a small smile.
Snow
relaxed and one of the corners of her mouth turned up.
Queen
Emilia crouched down. “So, how high did you climb this time?”
“Almost
to the top!” Aurora replied.
“And
you?” Queen Emilia asked Snow.
“So,
you’re not sending me away?” Snow asked.
“Of
course not,” Queen Emilia said. “At some point your father will want you to
come home, but we would never send you away from here. We like having you
around, Snow.”
“Really?”
Snow asked.
“Of
course,” Queen Emilia replied, pulling Snow into a hug. “We would never send
you away. Especially not for something as small as climbing a tree.”
Snow
hugged her back tightly.
“There,
now,” Queen Emilia said, letting Snow go. “Now, I’m guessing that after such an
adventure, you’re both ready for a snack.”
“Famished,”
Aurora replied, using one of her new words.
Queen
Emilia smiled. “Then let’s head down to the kitchen and see what we can find
for you.” She took one of the girl’s hands in each of her own and they headed
down to the kitchen together.
~*~
“How come you’re so worried Mom or
Dad will send you away?” Aurora asked Snow that night. As usual, instead of
going to bed, they wound up talking in one of their rooms.
“Dad sent me away. Why wouldn’t
they?”
“It’s not the same thing!” Aurora
replied. “Your dad was worried!”
“Worried? About what?”
“Well, I overheard Mom and Dad
talking the other day.”
“And you didn’t tell me?”
“I wasn’t sure I should at first.
Dad was saying that your dad was still worried about his new wife and how she
might treat you. He said he would never have married someone like that. Mom
said it was political and important. I had to leave right after that or I would
have gotten caught.”
Snow sat in silence for a moment.
“I remember Dad’s new wife. I thought she just wasn’t used to our castle yet.
She always seemed so grumpy.”
“Well, your dad didn’t like how she
treated you, but he can’t get rid of her.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t know. Grown ups don’t
explain stuff like that to us.”
“You’re right,” Snow replied,
sullen.
After a moment of silence, Aurora
said, “Snow?”
“Yeah?”
“Even if you had to leave, we’d
still be friends forever, right?”
Snow smiled. “Yeah.”
~*~
As the years passed, the two
princesses grew older, a bit wiser, and much prettier. Queen Emilia did her
best to make sure neither of them became vain, but Snow almost wanted to hide
her beauty. She only wore makeup to important court functions and she was
usually in the plainest dress she could manage. Aurora, on the other hand,
liked to try different dresses and see which suited her the best. She would try
different techniques for putting on her makeup or styling her hair. When it got
to be too much, Snow would call her vain and Aurora would call Snow lazy and it
would either end in a fight, or a makeover for one of them. However, Aurora
always managed to have a plain dress at the back of her closet for when they
went on an adventure.
Aurora’s sixteenth birthday was
drawing nearer. Since she was the oldest, she was turning sixteen first, but Snow
was glad. It meant Aurora would have the big party and Snow could hide in the
background at least one more time. It was a little odd, though, because they
were planning Aurora’s party for the day after her birthday. It was almost like
they wanted to wait until after she turned sixteen to celebrate.
About a week before the party, they
got the news. Snow’s father had asked for Snow to come back home. Snow and
Aurora tried to convince the king and queen to let Snow stay until after the
party, but they said it was important that Snow go home before then. It had
been harder to talk to Aurora’s parents ever since they started planning for
this party.
“They’re just freaking out because
I’m growing up,” Aurora confided in Snow. “Once I’m sixteen, I’m a woman.”
Snow laughed. “I’ll never feel
grown up.”
“Honestly, me neither,” Aurora
replied. “They’re going to start having me sit in on days at court. I’ll have
to fight to stay awake.”
“Maybe you’ll be there on the
really interesting days,” Snow said. The girls had snuck into court a couple of
times when they were younger, just to see what they had been kept out of, but
it had always just been people talking. And never about anything interesting.
“I wonder what your court will be
like,” Aurora said. “You’ll have to write me all about it after you get there.”
“Yeah,” Snow replied. She looked up
at Aurora. “Do I really have to go? Dad didn’t want me around when I was
younger. Why is it different now?”
“Nobles foster their kinds out all
the time. It’s time for you to start learning how to rule your kingdom,” Aurora
replied.
“Don’t get so responsible with me,”
Snow replied. “You know that’s just an excuse, anyway.”
Aurora nodded. “I don’t know why he
wants you back now. Maybe that’s something you can figure out when you’re
there. An adventure you can have.”
Snow gave her a weak smile. “I
suppose so.” She was silent for a moment. “Aurora?”
“Yeah?”
“I don’t want to leave tomorrow.”
“I don’t want you to go.”
They hugged each other, as if it
might be the last time.
“But I’m sure I’ll come back to
visit sometimes,” Snow said, trying not to cry. “And we’ll write to each
other.”
“And I’ll come visit you,” Aurora
replied, trying to sound happy. “You can show me everything about your castle.
And maybe we can find some secret passages.”
Snow laughed. “There aren’t any
here, but maybe there are some there.”
“I’m sure there are. They’re just
too secret for us to find them.”
The two let their typical
discussion drop.
“I guess I’d better go to bed,”
Snow said.
Aurora nodded. Then she leaned
forward and kissed Snow on the cheek. “Good night,” Aurora said.
Snow’s had strayed up to touch
where Aurora had kissed her. “Good night,” she replied.
~*~
Snow and her group set out early
the next morning. Aurora’s sixteenth birthday was the next day, but King Grant
and Queen Emilia had been firm that Snow had to leave that day. King Grant had
sent his finest troops with Snow to make sure she got to her kingdom without
trouble.
Snow managed not to cry when she
said goodbye to Aurora, but she kept turning around, even after they left the
castle, just to get a glimpse of her friend one last time.
~*~
That night, Queen Emilia had sent Aurora’s
ladies in waiting away and was helped her daughter get ready for bed instead.
“Mom, I know I’m growing up, but
I’ll always be your daughter,” Aurora said. Her mother was brushing her hair.
“Of course you will, sweetheart,”
Queen Emilia replied. “And I’ll always love you.”
Aurora turned around in her chair.
“Is that why you and Dad are worried about tomorrow? Because I’ll be a woman?”
Queen Emilia’s hands stopped.
Aurora waited for her mother’s
reply.
“Turning sixteen is a big
milestone,” Queen Emilia managed. “There’s a lot to think about.”
Aurora turned around to face her
mother. “If there’s something you’re worried about, you can tell me.”
Queen Emilia smiled, although
Aurora could still see the tears in her mother’s eyes. “There’s nothing to
worry about, sweetie. It’s just a big day.”
Aurora sighed. Her mother wasn’t
going to tell her anything useful after all. She supposed she’d see what all
the fuss was about tomorrow. “Why couldn’t Snow stay? At least until after my party?”
“I know you two are close, but her
father wanted her to come home,” Queen Emilia replied.
“I miss her,” Aurora said.
“It’s the first time you two have
really been parted,” Queen Emilia replied, going back to brushing Auora’s hair.
“You’re right.” Aurora paused for a
moment. “Mother, are you going to…that is. Am I going to be engaged tomorrow?”
“What would make you think that?”
“Well, you and father are so
nervous, and you sent Snow away…”
Queen Emilia finished brushing
Aurora’s hair in silence. She set the brush down. “We aren’t planning on
getting you engaged to anyone any time soon. Is there anyone you had in mind?”
For some reason, Aurora couldn’t
help but think of Snow looking sad when hearing that Aurora got engaged. “I
just don’t think I’m ready yet.”
Queen Emilia nodded. “Let’s get
through this party first. Then we can worry about who you will marry.”
“Okay.”
There was nothing left to do, but
Queen Emilia lingered for a bit longer. Eventually, she said, “Well, good
night. I love you.”
“I love you too, mother.”
It was hard for Aurora to sleep
that night. Clearly there was something that was going to happen tomorrow, and
why was she so worried about getting engaged? Maybe it was because she wanted
Snow to be here to hear the news first. Struggling with these questions, Aurora
eventually fell asleep.
The next morning, she woke up
early, just as she had planned. If there was going to be a big change, she
wanted to look out on her kingdom one last time before it happened. Barely
taking the time to put on her slippers and dressing robe, Aurora slid out of
her bedroom and rushed to the stairs of the tall tower. She was worried about
getting caught, but as soon as she started up the stairs, Aurora knew she was
safe. Almost no one came up here unless they were getting something out of
storage.
Aurora made it to the top, panting.
It had been too long since she had last been up here. Still, she was finally
here. Aurora gazed out the windows. Sunrise from up here was always so
beautiful. Aurora turned to look at the part of her kingdom that was still in
shadow and was surprised to see someone else up here.
“Good morning, princess.” The woman
looked old and unfamiliar. Aurora was about to ask what she was doing up there,
when the princess saw the strangest thing behind the old woman.
“What’s that?”
“It’s a spinning wheel. It used to
be your mother’s. She used to spin the finest thread with it. Finer than
anything in the world.”
“In the world?” Aurora was
transfixed and found herself moving toward it without even thinking about why.
“Some said it was finer even than
fairy thread.”
Something was wrong about how the
old woman said that. Aurora wanted to stop and look at her, but she found
herself almost being pulled toward the spinning wheel. Maybe she could make
thread for her mother. Maybe she could learn to do it as well as her mother
did. Slowly, Aurora reached out her hand to touch the spinning wheel. Her hand
slid over the wheel and onto the pointed bit. But she pushed down too hard and
she cut her finger. Aurora tried to pull her hand back, but all she heard was
the old woman laughing before she slid into darkness.
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