It was a completely earth shattering moment the first time I saw her. The wind had been extracted from my lungs and the strength of my knees almost weakened. Her skin, peachy and soft. Her hair, shining like the ocean during sunset.
Her eyes were what caught me most of all. They seemed filled with compassion, understanding, and above all, love. Love for the people she cared about and knew, even some for the people she didn't. Love for all living creatures, love for other people's love. Love for everything she possibly could.
I never expected to feel the overwhelming strength of a first love again. And she was a first, with her being a female. I had only ever had a trickling of that emotion with another girl, but not as strong as it was for her. I was too young to even understand what it was the first time it happened. But what happened with the other girl did most likely draw me towards her. A past event somehow predicting the future.
The day I met her wasn't a pretty one. It had been storming almost all of the previous week. Even though the weather wasn't ideal, we were set to meet the king and queen from the slightly neighboring kingdom of Corona. They arrived some time mid-afternoon, one of the maids alerting me of their presence. I had been ready for the past few hours, expecting them to arrive earlier than they did.
I descended the staircase to the front door of the castle, smiling down at the wet king and queen. Eric was already with them, talking to the king. I walked over and smiled wider, getting next to Eric when I finally got to them.
"Hi, I'm Queen Ariel. I'm so sorry for keeping you." I gave a small curtsy and the king and queen returned the gesture.
"King George and Queen Katherine. We're so delighted that you've decided to invite us into your home and kingdom." Katherine smiled.
"We were hoping to find out the exact reason for that." George gave a small smile. Eric laughed a little, starting to become fidgety. "No talk of politics now please." He laughed again, this time a little forced. I caught his nervous glance towards me and clapped my hands together.
"If I was told correctly, I thought your daughter had arrived too." Katherine started to say something but Eric cut in "Yes, she has. Rapunzel's her name. She ran off to find Melody the second she walked through the doors." George chuckled.
"You'll have to excuse our daughter. For a while she barely interacted with anyone, especially around her age, so any chance she has to meet someone who is she sort of lacks in manners." He smiled, almost proud.
I was puzzled though, wondering what they meant when they said their daughter hadn't interacted with anyone for some time.
"What do you mean by a while? Was she ill or injured?" their faces dropped a little and both stayed silent as soon as I finished. The air stayed tense and no one said anything. I could hear a maid shift uncomfortably as she dusted. Eric cleared his throat and turned towards me.
"Honey, why don't you give them the tour of the castle?" he smiled and laid his hand on my shoulder.
"Oh yes, of course! I'm so glad you've arrived!" I cried, smiling as wide as I could. "Let us show you around!" I guided them towards the hallway, starting the same basic speech I gave everyone who stayed in or visited the castle for the first time.
We got to the hall of what consisted mostly of bedrooms. I opened the door showing them where they would be saying. They politely 'oohed' and 'ahhed' at certain aspects and items in the room. I couldn't tell if the were genuinely pleased or not, which sort of bothered me. I decided to not focus on it and directed them to the guest bedroom Rapunzel would be staying in.
Voices could be heard coming from behind the closed door. I leaned in to get a better listen and recognized my own daughter's voice. I assumed she was talking to one of the maids or butlers and wondered if she had left Rapunzel alone in the castle. She was still a little young, so it's something I expected she might do.
"Excuse me, my daughter's in here, let me get her out before I show you the room." I smiled weakly and grabbed the knob, pushing the door and quickly rushed into the bedroom.
"Melody, what in the world are you doing in here-" I stopped mid-sentence when I realized there was someone else in the room. The stranger was sitting in the bed with Melody. They both looked up.
That was the first time I saw her. Rapunzel. She had an expression of mild confusion, but as soon as her eyes looked into mine she smiled. Brightly, vividly, blindingly, she smiled at me. Something about her smile spoke volumes of what she was like. It showed that she was whole-heartedly honest and kind and compassionate.
Her tawny hair caught the light of a lantern, one I'm sure Melody had lit due to the darkness over the castle at the moment. Her skin glowed and almost seemed to shimmer as she laughed at something Melody mumbled. Freckles graced her perfectly round nose, right above her rose pink lips. She looked back over and smiled again, this time shutting her eyes for a moment.
I had only just met her and I was so enamored. We had never spoken and I just wanted to sit and look at her all day. I couldn't explain to anyone or myself why, but the feeling was there. The same feeling that got me when I saw Eric for the first time.
The last thing she did before she spoke to me the first time was stare. Not a judging stare, not a mean stare. She just stared for a moment, with those green eyes I could have spent hours looking into.
"Melody." I repeated her name in a stern tone. It seemed to get me away from slightly obsessive thoughts about Rapunzel. She gave me a slightly embarrassed look and got off the bed to walk over to me.
"I was just showing her her room before you did it in your weird 'queen' way." She meant the tour.
"You know you're supposed to let me know before you go into one of the guest rooms." I heard the bed creak and looked up to see Rapunzel walking towards us.
"Hello. I'm Princess Rapunzel of Corona." she curtseyed and smiled at me again. "Queen Ariel." I returned her gesture "It's a pleasure to meet you, Rapunzel." I spoke her name and my lips grew warm. I looked her up and down and caught the ring on her finger.
"You're married?" I asked, surprised since my own daughter was not. "Oh, yeah." she looked down at the ring and laughed "I guess I am." Melody laughed too.
"He couldn't make it, unfortunately. Wrapped up in some princely business I suppose. He wouldn't tell me." she fixed her hair a little.
"Well." I hesitated to speak more, still unnerved by the beauty of the foreign princess that was in front of me. "Your parents are waiting just outside the door. I'm sure they've been wondering where you are." I opened the door and turned my back to them.
Katherine and George greeted their daughter while I told Eric to finish the tour so I could get some water.