Sunshine

Caves

Summer wasn't exactly a normal six year old child. For one thing, she was a Princess. For another, she had pretty butterfly wings.

Mama and Papa weren't very happy about these things, for reasons Summer could never tell. They instructed her to keep her wings hidden, even getting a spell for that specific purpose. Her Mama said it was to keep others from being jealous of her gift. Her Papa said, when he thought she was asleep, that he wanted to keep her abnormalities a secret. Summer hoped he never found out that he heard him, even if she didn't understand what he was yelling.

All that it had taken was for her parents to shoo the child to her room, out of their way, for her to start seeing the wisps again. Her Papa said that she was seeing things every time Summer pointed the bluish fire beings out. On the other hand, she had heard her Mama whisper about old legends and magic. Neither one of them seemed to see or hear what the young girl did, so she had all but given up trying to tell them about the wisps. After all, that meant that Summer had a friend they couldn't keep her from seeing! So when Princess Summer was sent to her room, she didn't hesitate to follow the wisps out the window; the spell keeping her wings bound fading as it always did in the wisps' presence.

"Wait for me!" Summer called, scrambling over rocks and hills in her attempt to keep up with the wisps ahead. Their faint whispering voices hummed, their path unchanged. Summer broke into a full run, spreading her butterfly wings to jump for the wisps, and then she was falling. Falling, falling, falling, into a crevasse in the mountain she hadn't seen, the wisps hovering above her as she landed on the stone in a heap. "Ow..."

Summer couldn't say how long it was until she managed to sit herself up. Her body ached, but she didn't think any of her bones had broken, so that was good. The wisps had disappeared, her wings hiding with them, so that was bad. She rubbed at her arms. It was cold down here, the setting sun out of view of the crack she had fallen through. "Hello?" Her voice echoed back to her as she called into the empty cavern. Well, hopefully empty. She wouldn't be able to fight any monsters she encountered down here.

She sighed. There was nothing else for it. Summer stood, steadying herself against the cave wall as she wobbled. She was going to have to find her way out herself. "It's like a grand adventure!" She proclaimed, before pausing in thought. "I fell down, so I just have to go up to get out of here. Princess Summer has got this!" The young girl giggled slightly, choosing a path that led slightly upwards, unwittingly walking further and further away from her home kingdom.

---

Princess Summer was lost. She was fairly certain about that. She had been walking for a while now, following the dips and curves of the path she had picked through the caves. It was pretty dark, lit only by the faint light she gave off, even when her wings were spelled away. There had been so many twists and turns, and she couldn't even find her way back to the hole she had fallen from when she tried. It had to be nighttime by now, and her parents were going to be so angry to find her gone.

The girl finally gave up, slumping down to sit on the stone. She was cold, she was tired, and she was hurt. This wasn't an adventure anymore; it was just sad and scary. She didn't bother wiping the tears from her eyes, sniffling. There was no one here to see her cry, or to tell her parents about it.

"Hi. Why do you glow?" Summer startled at the sound of a new voice. It came from the darkness, accompanied by the sound of tumbling pebbles, and a snap. Not far in front of Summer, a turquoise stick started giving off light, illuminating something she never thought she'd see.

In front of her, was a kid about her age. He was also, if her tutors told her correctly, an incredibly dangerous goblin. Summer blinked. He didn't look dangerous. Sure, his skin was green, and his ears long and pointy, but he looked like a kid. His hair was almost the same ginger color as hers was, and he was wearing an overly large blue and gold coat. He was grinning at her, curious and mischievous, but with none of the malice she had heard of. Summer made the conscious decision to ignore her tutors and make a friend instead. At least, she would have, if she hadn't hiccuped as soon as she opened her mouth.