The Truth About The Many Worlds Of Printed Pages

°•○•°Twenty-One°•○•°

After the swirling darkness, streaked with blurred, unrecognisable images this time as their jewels pulled them fast through the plot dissolved, Siena and James found themselves on a small crescent of a sandy beach stretching nearby a large and busy harbour.

The bright light that flooded them after the darkness hinted that it might be an early afternoon, hours, or rather days after their first stop, but the wind was just as strong as before.

"I'm glad that you suggested we arrive here rather than on the ship in the middle of the night. The wind would make that difficult," James told Siena as he let go of her, and she pushed her necklace, the stone pulsating eerily with its crimson glow, into her tight bodice.

She put a finger on his lips when she noticed they had an audience. The ship docked a few metres away from them wasn't empty; a couple of boys dressed in ragged clothes were looking their way curiously. She hoped that the wind did not carry their words to those curious ears-- anyone, even a couple of mischievous boys, might complicate their quest.

James followed her look, then nodded. "Thanks again," he whispered. With another quick look to the boys who were still watching them after they replaced the book in the bag, straightened their clothes and adjusted each other's hair, he offered Siena his arm, according to the current fashion, instead of taking her by the hand. "I think the wedding..."

Whatever he wanted to say was lost in the clamour of church bells reaching them from the town, distracting the boys, making them finally run from the deck, following the sound.

"The wedding ceremony is finished. There will be a banquet before the Prince's company will board the ship... Let us join them now; it might be easier to blend in with the guests before boarding," he continued, having to almost shout to be heard over the peal of the multitude of bells.

"I think so too," Siena agreed.

She let him lead her across the narrow beach to a short flight of steps roughly carved into a black, damp rock wall covered in patches of green moss, ending level with the cobbled street leading from the harbour into the town. Their eyes were drawn instantly to the place from where the sound of bells was raining down upon the town-- a white, many-towered palace set like a crown on top of a tall, dark cliff.

Siena looked in awe at the wonderful building, stunned by its architecture. Even though the story was supposed to be set in Denmark, she would never have guessed so after seeing this place. Andersen's Denmark was built from fantasy and imbued in magic, a figment of the writer's imagination. There were blooming orange trees growing in white pots along the meandering streets, swaying in the wind, their crowns teeming with exotic, rainbow coloured birds. The town's houses, just like the palace, had rows upon rows of slim white columns, sweeping staircases and vast balconies, the white stone they were made of glimmering in the strong sunshine, the strange architecture perfectly atypical for a country of Northern Europe.

"Beautiful," James muttered as if he read her mind. "The tale abounds in descriptions in some parts and lacks in others, and we weren't really shown this place in the book..."

"But it makes sense that it looks similar to the convent where the Princess was brought up; her parents wouldn't send her too far from home," Siena mused.

James only smiled in reply, wondering whether their own imagination and expectations determined the look of this place, at least in this version of this world.

It took them quite a long time to climb up the hill through the crowded streets but they blended well with the group of people accompanying the Prince, easily recognisable by their more sombre clothes, similar to what James and Siena were wearing, very different from the fashion of the people in this fantastical kingdom. They joined the guests as they followed the Prince and his bride out of the palace's chapel, with the Little Mermaid, dressed in silk and gold, weeping silently, walking behind the couple, carrying the train of the Princess' wedding gown.