After that day Linette grew irritable when her parents said she had to stay home and watch Alice. This had never happened before so they were puzzled-she had always been eager to help in the past. But they had categorized it as the natural rebellious nature of someone her age. Sage had left for the week and all of Linette’s efforts of giving over the responsibility of Alice to Isabella were in vain. And so it had been a full week since the impeding butterflies had flown around in her stomach. Every time she thought of him, the way his brown eyes had looked into hers, a smile crept upon her face and she’d let out an uncontrollable giggle.
Even in the depths of her slumbering mind her thoughts had turned to him. The curiosity magnified with each day she didn’t get an explanation and her image of him grew paler and faded until she could barely remember what the incredible stranger looked like.
Nonetheless on one violent summer night when the humidity broke momentarily under the angry reign of the thunder she had a dream.
She was high above the ground, over the trees. She looked at the forest beyond and the small buildings scattered throughout it. Past the woods was a tiny town. It was adorable.
“Princess!” called a voice from below her. She looked past the window’s ledge and at the ground. There, Tristan smiled up at her.
She laughed, “And what, may I ask, are you doing kind sir?”
“Well, I am here to ask this wonderful princess to grant me permission to visit her so I may be honored with her presence and try to explain to her the vastness of her beauty and loveliness.”
She blushed but continued the charade. “You must then prove to me your worthiness.”
“I have come from across the country, on foot, set up camp and slept in the bitter cold weather but had never lost hope for you were at the end of the journey. When with you I live in joy but when I live without you I live in hope that I may someday see you again.”
With that declaration Linette awoke, she was blissfully happy from Tristan’s speech in her dream but slightly puzzled by the parody the dream had played out in. She, the princess in the tower of the ruin, and he the loyal subject. If anything, reality was the reverse.
But the echo of a feeling-almost substantial like a memory prickled in the back of her mind. It seemed right, him addressing her exactly like that. Then it came to her, was that not the very speech Isabella would say their princes would recite when they played as princesses as children? Pleased with her logical and satisfactory explanation Linette got out of bed, happy to solve the mystery of her dream at least.
When Linette entered the kitchen she was greeted with an even happier surprise. Her mother was moving around the kitchen quickly, in a rush. Perpetually tardy, Linette’s mother was continually rushing around during the day. The sound of the horn was a welcomed noise to her, even though it was a daily lament to the ephemeral sunlight. It meant she could relax, but only to those who worked excessively as she did was it a good sound. To Linette it was a reminder of time passing and life becoming shorter and shorter. She knew it was a cry of sadness, what else could such a wail be? It was crying for the time that had been snatched away, never to be returned or relived only existing in foggy memories later forgotten as everything would be. In any case, her mother was hurrying and surprisingly, Alice was up. Her happy smile shone up at Linette as she devoured her food.
“You’re up early,” Linette commented. Everyone was up excepting Isabella who was still sprawled across her bed softy snoring.
“I’m going to Sage’s today,” Alice said gleefully.
Linette’s heart soared, “Really?”
“Yes!” she replied, “I’m so happy she’s back, now I can spend time with my friends again!” Alice’s joy was infectious paired with promise to see Tristan once again and soon it took all of Linette’s self control to not dance across the kitchen.
