In Wellmore, the villagers are angry and on edge. They’re complaining about a tax hike and a food shortage, having cleared the forest of food. The market stalls are only half-laden with edible goods, from which I steal some apples and a loaf of bread. I sit down on a bench, and eat an apple, storing the loaf of bread in the hessian bag I kept from my first visit.
Standing on Vivian’s doorstep, I knock on the side window and wait patiently for her to come to the door.
‘Maia! I’m so glad you’ve come to visit us. Come in,’ she says, smiling and standing aside so that I may go in.
‘You’ve come at the right time. I’ve just boiled a pot of tea,’ Vivian smiles.
‘Oh. That sounds lovely. What is tea?’ I ask her, and she pauses.
‘Have you always been homeless and alone?’ She asks, pulling out a chair for me to sit in.
‘No. I live with my friend Ember,’ Vivian places a warm drink on the table in front of me.
‘This is a cup of tea. Be careful. Sip it slowly. Don’t burn yourself,’ Vivian cautions.
‘Thanks,’ I say, folding my hands around the warm cup and taking a sip.
‘Tell me more about your friend Ember. Perhaps next time, he can come with you?’ Vivian says.
‘It would be too dangerous for him. Someone might capture him and skin him,’
‘What do you mean?’ Vivian is confused.
‘Ember is a fox,’ I say.
‘A fox?’ Vivian repeats with disbelief.
‘A fox?’ Ella and Grace ask excitedly.
‘Yes, a fox,’ I repeat.
‘Where does one live with a fox?’ Vivian asks.
‘We live in a cave, in the forest,’ I answer.
‘You’ve lived with a fox your whole life, in a cave, in the forest?’ Vivian asks for clarity. Hoping I haven’t said too much, I just nod.
‘That is interesting,’ Vivian says, raising a brow and staring intently at my hooded face as if trying to figure something out.
‘Have you heard the story of the Enchanted Forest Princess?’ Vivian asks.
‘The Enchanted Forest Princess?’
‘Mamma, it’s our favourite story! Please tell it to us again,’ Ella pleads happily.
‘Of course. I will.’ Vivian says, smiling, placing a hand on Ella’s cheek.
‘Yay!’ Both girls chorus, before sitting back down politely in their chairs, repositioned next to Vivian’s.
‘This story has been popular these past few days. Some villagers believe it’s a true story and claim they have seen this girl with their own eyes. Others say it’s just a fairy tale. In the forest lives the most beautiful girl in all the land, so beautiful with eyes of violet and a voice that mesmerises the coldest of hearts. She lives in the forest and claims the forest as hers. Anyone blessed enough to lay eyes on her swears she is a Goddess, a Princess of beauty and power, who manipulates elements and magically casts storms that knock the strongest of men over.’ She says, smiling. The story is mine.
‘Thank you. That was a beautiful story,’ I say, sipping my tea.
‘Have you met a girl like that, Maia? Vivian asks. I pause.
‘No. I have not,’ I say.
Vivian looks at her daughters, who are enthralled.
‘There you go, girls, just as I thought. Tis just a fairy tale, but a very good one.’ Ella and Grace are disheartened, clearly hoping it’s true.
‘Vivian?’ I start.
‘Yes, dear?’ She says.
‘I heard the villagers talking about a food shortage and a tax hike. Do you think this war in Moon Crest Valley will be a hasty one? There is no food near my cave, and it will be weeks until food sprouts and grows. The villagers have taken everything, and my friends are being hunted for their meat. I don’t know how to save my friends and my forest,’
‘Your forest? Oh, of course. It makes sense now,’ Vivian’s eyes are alight with excitement.
‘What does?’
‘You’re the Enchanted Forest Princess,’ Vivian announces.
I pull my hood down, knowing I’ve been found out, but I feel I can trust Vivian. She looks at my violet-coloured eyes in awe and takes in my soft pale skin, rosy-tinged cheeks, small nose, and plump, pink lips. My midnight hair flows down to my hips. Ella and Grace are stunned. A real-life princess sits at their kitchen table with them, drinking tea. I undo the clasp on my cloak and untie the olive-green strings, draping my velvet cloak over the back of my chair.
‘Mamma! Maia is the Forest Princess!’ Grace yells.
‘The fairy tale is true!’ Ella announces. They jump up and down excitedly before pulling me down to their level and squishing me in a hug. They inspect me closely, their faces a pinpoint from mine.
‘You really are the most beautiful girl in the land,’ Grace says, and I blush.
Vivian sits silently in her chair, with her mouth agape, taking it all in. She lets out a breath she has been holding.
‘Vivian?’ I ask. ‘I’m sorry I didn’t tell you…’
She stands and comes over to me with the broadest grin.
‘It’s okay, Maia. You were just protecting yourself,’ she says before pulling me into a hug.
‘Maia, you can trust the girls and me. We will never tell anyone about you until you’re ready,’ she says. I smile.
‘Thank you,’ I say, my hands poised calmly in my lap. I feel extremely comfortable in Vivian’s home.
I tell her my life story, how I have no parents, how the animals have been my only friends, and how I have lived my whole existence isolated and alone. I tell her how the hunters have stripped my forest bare and how I was left with no choice but to venture outside the forest edge when a woman picked the last circle of mushrooms, leaving me starving.
Vivian tells the girls to go and play, and they leave the kitchen and skip to another room.
‘I’m so sorry, Maia. King Fenris demanded we donate half our food to the soldiers. I had enough food just to get by, and then he demanded more. Villagers entered the forest to harvest fruit, crops, and seeds. And hunt wildlife for their meat and fur to sell.’
Vivian pulls a handkerchief from the neckline of her dress and dabs at her teary eyes.
‘It’s not your fault. Please don’t cry. How could a king let his people starve?’ I ask. My eyes are watery with emotion. Vivian’s tears dry, and she looks at me again.
‘If we don’t obey his commands, the werewolves will win the war and kill us all. They’re ferocious creatures,’ Vivian says.
‘King Fenris’s guards told us werewolves rip children apart in front of their mothers, roast them over fires, and eat them. That won’t be Ella and Grace’s fate,’ she says.
