Dancing in the moonlight

Once upon a time deep in the darkest and biggest forest of the land laid a kingdom called oura. It consisted of a village hidden in these dark woods and a castle so big it almost touched the tops of the trees.

Outsiders were never sure where to travel to when they wanted to visit the kingdom and the king held it that way. Every time someone wanted to visit they had to send a raven with a request, then the guards would pick the person or persons up at the beginning of the forest in a closed of carriage and transport them to the village. Many people that return after a visit to the magical kingdom say that it's beautiful but at night there was something strange going on and people went missing. Every time a neighbouring kingdom voiced their concerns the king would dismiss them.

In this mysterious kingdom lived a princess called clarice, she was the first daughter of the king and queen and every ball she went to since she was sixteen was filled with meeting suitors as she was expected to take over the kingdom one day. When the suitor of the ball was introduced she would only dance that night and say to her father 'I do not like him, he stepped on my feet and can't dance' The king, whom loved his daughter very much, would always agree 'very well, maybe next time'. This went on for a few years when something changed, one night while a ball was being held the princess wouldn't dance or even talk to the maids. When the night came to an end the princess calmly stood up from her chair and walked over to the king. 'Father' she said in a calm tone, 'I have been thinking for a very long time and I want to find my own suitor, someone I can connect with' as the king had choosing the suitors over the years the princess got fed up.

The king turned to his wife and asked with a pained voice 'did you know about this?'. The queen looked difficult and admitted that she knew about it for a year and never said anything because their daughter asked not to. 'please Richard give clarice a chance to prove that she can find her own suitor, you know as well as I that she would never be happy without this change' the queen pleaded. With a heavy heart the king agreed, 'you have a week to find a suitor and if you can't find someone you will marry the next one, this has gone on for too long now'. Pleased the princess left the ball room and went up to her room and looked at one of the only maps in the kingdom.

The map was filled up with every place in the village, with that in mind the princess started planning where she would go looking for a suitor. 'And if I don't find someone there I can always ask one of the maids' the princess thought out loud thinking about how she already knows one who would marry her in a heartbeat. Taking a quill and parchment in hand she started writing down the 'fun' places in the village and with that she felt like nothing could stop her from meeting the love of her life.

The first day of the week the king ordered guards to go with her to the village and guard her 'you will be left outside of the gates if she's not back by nightfall' the king said.

So together the guards and the princess went into the village. At first the villagers were shocked to say the least, the princess never comes just for anything. Walking through the village to her first stop, a local bookstore, the princess heard the rumour mill starting to run.

'what is she doing here? Are they finally helping us' 'I heard that she's finally getting married to that bloke from France' 'no, I heard that she will never settle down and is going to doom us all' 'you are all wrong, I know because my cousins' friend was at the ball last night, she's looking for a suitor' Signing clarice walked into the bookstore, not knowing she was watched by the local hunter.

As fast as she went into the store she went out, stomping up to the guards she said annoyed' what does father think he's doing, sending you guys with me. You are scaring everyone away' the guards, whom did not want to angry the princess, looked at each other and the head guard said 'let's make a deal, you meet us here BEFORE night fall and we will stay at a distance'