Not born to be a princess

Part 1

"What do you mean I can't keep her? You are being absurd Meridith!" I called over the chatter of the maids who were busy gossiping about me as they worked to clean up my room even though it was kept tidier than they knew what to do with. In my hands was the tiniest little hawk fledgeling I had found abandoned to the chilling air trying desperately to learn to fly on his own.

"It's a filthy bird and your mother would do anything but approve of it being inside at all!" She called back, making me grumble to myself under my breath about the fact she didn't need to know I had a companion other than the hundreds of rude maids and insultingly imbecilic teachers who couldn't tell the difference between a spell and a bind.

"He is not filthy! I'm keeping him no matter your idiotic qualms about his self cleaning habits." I sneered, my lower lip lifting over my teeth like so many hounds i'd seen do. She huffed oudly and turned to go tell on me to mother. Even she couldn't tell me no about keeping an innocent baby bird safe in my room if I so wanted!

"Let's take yout o my home now shall we?" I asked pulling open the door to the ;creative craft room' my mother had me made when is hwoed I was proficient with a pencil. I'd pulled a small bed in here and spelled the door to matche the wall perfectly so it was safe from prying eyes. My favorite part had to be the balcony looking over the garden. So well kept that I wanted to rip every perfectly planted tulip fromt he ground and plant a single weed in it's place so nature wouldn't curve to fit the gardener's demands. The ivy wall of this side of the castle though, that I approved of enough I ended up using a green spell to grow it over the entire side of the castle in thick ropes about as thick as my wrist in places. It made perfect for escape from this dull dreary castle.

I donned a ridding coat over my dress with a grin and turned it so the hood was on my chest and the front ot my back. The infant bird chirped as I lowered him into the warm hood, but quieted when he understood I was climbing and needed my hands.

None of the gardeners paid me much heed as I rounded them on the narrow paths between beds of perfectl planted flowers towards the back gate. Countried would pay the weight of a hore in gold for the secret of this back door, left with no guards besides the animals in the woods you had to pass to get here, but i wasn't scared much of them as they were to get on my angered side.

In a land of so few true mages or druids it came to everyone a surprise when they found that I am naturally an excellent charmer. The purple haze that seemed to flow around me with every spell winding to my every will even as i was a baby.

Speaking to animals only came to the elite of the elite of our family who dedicated their lives to magic and learning the ancient Charm we all were born controlling, but I was able to understand them with ease since childhood.

Every chirp of a bird was a short message across, and every chitter of a squirrel was a conversation. Even the tiny seemingly sporadic notes from the hawk in my palm was the babbling of a child wanting it's mama to hold him again.

"Princessa!" Several chipmunks chittered as I passed under their little gathering on a branch.

A low whistle as i shut the gate behind me alerted me that my friends were coming closer to find the reason I had left this time. Nymphs of the wood, beautiful ethereal creatures that twirled in the breeze like the petals of cherry blossoms in the spring that coat everything around in their sickly sweet smell.

"Oh my! Did you find another?" One of the green Nymphs questioned, an airy touch making the bird shudder with cold.

"I did, I was going to teach him to fly." I announced, making them all chuckle happily. I was a prficent shape shifter and when i began exploring the world outside the tall walls that withheld the wonders of nature and animals i had been a simple cat. Now i can become any small animal including birds.