A/N: This is my new story. It takes place in medieval times. Several of the series' characters will make an appearance whether big or small. I hope that everyone enhoys this first chapter.
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One day a falcon soared through the sky high above the trees when he collided with another bird. Both birds fell to the ground in a heap. Getting his bearings, the falcon looked at the bird that had caused this and saw that it was a crane. It was one bird that he had never seen up close. She was beautiful and delicate. He couldn't be mad at her for causing him to fall. Stepping closer, he knew that he had found his mate. The only problem was that they were two very different species even though they were birds, they could never be together. Their families made sure to keep them apart. So the birds found other mates within their own species but they vowed the one day they would be together in another life. Their love was just too strong not to be joined one day. It was their destiny.
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"Zordon, tell me the crane story again." A six year Kimberly said from her pink bed. Zordon smiled and sat down next to the bed. The princess loved the old story and he enjoyed telling it to her every night. She was the only daughter of his King and Queen of Angel Grove but she was far more special than that. Zordon knew that she had been chosen though she did not know it yet.
"I think by now that you know the story better than I do but here we go." He started before leaning back against her headboard. "Once upon a time…" Once Zordon finished the story, he looked down at the sleeping princess and saw a pink glow around her. The pink glow had been with her since the day she had been born. No one else could see the glow except for him but then again he knew what to look for. He had been looking for that glow for a long time. Looking at the window, he saw the faint outline of a crane keeping watch. "Guard her well, my friend. Guard her well." He whispered before walking out of the room. He shut her door quietly and made his way to his rooms that little Kimberly liked to call the Command Center. It was a suite of rooms more than a bed chamber. His study/ library took up most of the suite and it was the place that he had found Kimberly more often than not. She liked to grab a book and flip through the pages because they held the stories that he told her every night.
Walking over to the window, he stared out at the night sky. He knew that the time would come that he would help Kim find her falcon because it was her destiny. It was finally time to right a wrong. It was time to join the falcon and crane once and for all.
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Twelve years Later
"Kimberly, what was wrong with this one?" Queen Carolina asked her daughter. Prince Gasket had all but run out of the garden a few minutes ago, his red cape flying out behind him. Carolina had known instantly that Kimberly had found something wrong with the Prince and had sent him packing just like all the rest. In fact she had been waiting just inside the palace doors to see how long it took for Prince Gasket to be sent on his way. It had been the same thing for the past two years and she was tired of it. They were running out of Princes for her to marry and Kimberly must marry a prince because she was the Crown Princess. It was her duty to marry and produce an heir to secure the throne for another generation. She would become Queen and would need a husband to rule at her side.
"He didn't like birds." She stated looking at her mother, waiting for the lecture. There was always a lecture and she could almost give it to herself with the number of times her mother had given it to her. She clasped her hands in front of her and waited for her mother to speak. She looked the very picture of a princess.
"What does that have to do with marriage?" Carolina asked suppressing a sigh. It was always about birds. She looked at her daughter and saw a beautiful young woman in pink standing in the rose garden just outside the ballroom. Why couldn't she just marry one of the princes without asking about birds, flowers, or whatever else she thought was important to marriage but wasn't really. All that was important was that he could rule at her side.
Kimberly sighed while turning away from her mother to face the garden once more. She knew that her mother just didn't get it. "I will not marry for anything other than love. I cannot accept anything less and I will not accept anything else." She said as Carolina walked away from her daughter leaving her alone. This had to stop. She was tired of prince after prince not being what her daughter was looking for. She was royalty and therefore not able to really marry for love like she wanted. Love wasn't the glue that made a marriage work and her daughter had to stop looking for it or she would be miserable the rest of her life.
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Kim sighed and made her way through the garden. Why couldn't she just meet her falcon like in the story that Zordon had told her every night when she was little? She wanted that instant spark that made her want to throw her family to the side and run away with her falcon or at least rule the kingdom with him.
"So Prince Gasket didn't make you fall in love with him?" Lady Trini asked from behind her.
"No, he did not." Kim said with a smile. "I thought that your husband told me that you were not feeling well today." She questioned. She and Trini had come up with the plan to have Trini at her side while Prince Gasket was there. It would at least have made it more bearable.
"Actually I have felt fine all day; Jason just didn't want me to sit with you while Prince Gasket was here. What did he look like?" Trini asked walking over to the bench to sit down.
"Handsome but a little robotic but I didn't feel anything when he took my hand. I didn't feel that spark. It was just like holding a piece of metal." She said sitting down next to her best friend.
"Kimberly, we have talked about this. You are held to another standard than anyone else. You are supposed to marry for power and influence not for love." Trini said trying to reason with her princess. It broke her heart though because Kimberly deserved to marry for love more than anyone. She had a big heart that was made to love the man of her dreams.
Jumping up Kim started pacing. Why did everyone keep telling her that? "I don't care for the standard. I want to marry for love and nothing else." She said before storming off. Trini watched as Kim ran out of the garden and sighed. She couldn't really blame Kimberly though. She had married for love along with Ladies Aisha, Tanya, Angela, and Katherine. They had each married the knight of their dreams over the past year. Kimberly had been left behind on that score though which was sad. She had met dozens of princes over the past two years but none of them were her falcon that she claimed she was searching for. It was beginning to look like she would never meet this falcon. She knew the story that had inspired Kimberly's dream. Zordon had told it to the Princess at a young age and that's all that Kimberly looked for now. She was thinking that maybe Zordon should explain to Kimberly that it was only a story and that she couldn't be like the falcon and crane from the story that she loved so much. Standing up, she made her way back into the palace in search of Kimberly.
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"Wow, how many is that now?" Adam asked as they watched Prince Gasket jumped into his carriage and drive away. It was like he couldn't leave fast enough.
"Way too many to count." Zack said polishing his axe. It was his specialty in the ring. All the guys had trained with different weapons and all were the best with those weapons.
"Okay so I won the bet, pay up Jase." Rocky said sticking his hand out.
"No, dude we all knew that Kimberly wasn't going to choose him and I didn't bet against you." Jason stated placing his sword at his side. They were all on break for the moment. Training for the King's guard was hard work but they were the youngest to ever join the ranks. It was an honor for all of them to share this experience as well.
"You know the probability of Princess Kimberly finding a Prince to marry is very low considering she has gone through the majority of the royalty in the nations." Billy exclaimed. He wasn't in the guard instead he worked closely with the King's consult, Zordon. Jason wasn't sure what he thought of the old man but Kimberly loved Zordon. He personally thought that Zordon was a wizard from another time. The old man was always around when Kim needed him. It was like he knew the moment that Kim was in trouble.
"Uh what?" Rocky asked looking at Billy bring Jason back to his friends.
"He said that Kimberly doesn't have many people left to choose from so she may not get married." Trini said from behind them.
"How do you know what he says all the time?" Jason asked looking up at his wife. She was dressed once again in yellow. It was her favorite color and she wore it like every day like Kim wore pink. Actually it seemed that all the girls wore one color more than most. He wasn't sure why especially since his family's color standard was red. She had refused to wear red though for the most part.
"Well we did grow up together." Trini said with a smile as Billy nodded. It was clear that they were close but it didn't bother Jason though. He knew that his wife loved him.
"How was Kim?" Jason asked as all the guys looked over at her. They all wanted to know apparently. She was their future queen and they all wanted to look out for her. It was like they were the older brothers and needed to protect Kimberly from everything.
"She is okay, I guess." She said looking at them. "She still claims that she wants to marry for love and nothing else."
"I think that she should. I mean its her life and she deserves to be happy." Adam stated quietly. "We all got to marry for love." He finished.
"Kimberly is the Princess though and as such is required to marry a Prince." Jason stated. He knew the rules better than anyone and those rules needed to be followed.
"No, her only requirement should be is happy and in love." Trini said before walking away. She still had to find Kimberly before she got mad at her husband. He knew Kimberly better than anyone including her. He knew that Kim wanted to marry for love but he refused to bend from the rules that governed the country.
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Kim looked over the courtyard and watched as Trini spoke to the guys. Throwing the rope out the opposite window, she made her way down the palace walls. She just needed some time to herself and this was the only way to do it. Shifting the hood over her hair, she walked down the alley that led into the market place. Hopefully Jason wouldn't find out that she had escaped again. He was such a pain in the butt sometimes. He wanted to keep her in the palace so that she couldn't get hurt or captured. There had been one attempt of capture but she had used some of the defense that the guys had taught her and she got away. The would-be captor had suffered more at the hands of the princess than in the palace dungeon.
Walking down the street, Kim marveled at the men and women selling on the sidelines. They came out here day after day to sell to anyone who would stop at their carts. She almost wished that she could be one of the people that came to buy every day but atlas her life was so far removed that she didn't know if she could survive the normal.
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"Kimberly." Trini said once she saw the rope. This was not good but she didn't know if she would tell her husband or not. Kimberly would be in the market before heading to the orphanage. It was something that Kim did for herself. She loved those children at the orphanage and often made her way there so that she could help out in way that she could. The nuns who ran the orphanage knew that she was the princess but they said nothing to the children. It was Kim's secret and one that they would keep. At least they did take extra care when the princess was there; they didn't want anything to happen to her.
Turning Trini made her way outside. She would watch over Kimberly today instead of Jason. Kim would at least welcome her to walk with her unlike her husband. Kimberly and Jason were close but with Jason's appointment to Captain of the Guard approaching, they were drifting apart. He knew that it would be his job to watch over the princess and he was taking it to the extreme in Trini's opinion. Grabbing her cloak, Trini went in search of the princess.
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"K!" The children screamed as Kim walked into the walled garden of the orphanage. It was her favorite place in the kingdom. These children had brought her down from her palace walls to the real world. They also accepted her for who she was not a princess but a normal girl. She had told them to call her K so that she could keep her real name a secret. She really wanted to protect these babies. Walking the children inside, she grabbed a book from shelf and sat down with them in the sun room. This is what gave her pleasure just watching the joy on the children's faces as she read to them.
She remembered all the times that Zordon had taken her outside in the palace garden just to read to her. Sometimes he would tell her stories of her parents before they had gotten married. Her parents had fallen in love within seconds of seeing each other for the first time. It was what she wanted and she really didn't know why her mom couldn't understand that fact. She had gotten to marry for love.
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Trini searched the village for Kim but couldn't find her. She had to be around here somewhere. She slowly made her way to orphanage but when she got there, Kim had apparently already left. Where was she? Jason wouldn't be happy if Kim didn't turn up soon.
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"Should I even ask if Prince Gasket is still in the palace?" King Pierre asked walking into his wife's private office. He had just gotten back from visiting some of the farmers to listen to their problems. It had been a long ride but at least his horse was faster than the carriage that Carolina had wanted him to take.
"Ugh, no apparently he didn't like birds." Carolina said looking up at her husband. She was seated at her desk with her quill pen posed above the parchment.
"Birds? Does Kimberly know that this is about a wedding not animals?" He asked sitting across from his wife in one of the wingback chairs that they had gotten in Paris.
Shaking her head, she dipped her pen in the ink well and finished her letter. "At least I have a plan since Prince Gasket did not work out." She said with a hint of a smile.
"Who are you writing too?" He asked as she looked up.
"The Queen of Phadoes, she has a son Kimberly's age." She said finishing her letter.
"Phadoes? They are not known for marrying outside of their country, dear. Also I'm not sure if I want my daughter marrying this prince. We don't know anything about him." He said as his wife really smiled.
"Don't worry; I feel that this is right." She stated. "My gut is telling me that he is the one for our daughter."
"Okay whatever you say, I'm sure that Kim will find something wrong with him no matter what we want." He said as she sighed.
"Hopefully he likes birds." She said folding the letter and sealing it closed with the royal seal. Standing up, she handed the letter to the servant for him to take to the carrier.
"Well Phadoes' standard is the White Falcon but you know that that letter will take over a month to get there, right?" Pierre asked his wife once she sat back down.
Smiling, she answered him. "Yes and that is why I have already sent one letter. This one was merely relaying my support of Queen Dulcea's idea."
"What idea is that and really shouldn't your King and husband know about this?" He said taking her into his arms.
Carolina smiled. "The idea is to get her son and our daughter married and united the two kingdoms. She had great plans for her country but she knows that she will need powerful allies to cement her country's future. Just think about it, Angel Grove and Phadoes joined through marriage, it would be even more powerful than we can imagine." She said as he nodded.
"It does sound like a good plan the only problem will be Kimberly." He said as she nodded. She prayed that this Prince of Phadoes would be what Kimberly was looking for.
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Kim eased back into the palace later that day. Everything looked normal so that meant that no one had noticed that she was gone.
"At least you made it back before Jason noticed you were gone." Trini said behind her.
"Oh! Trini you scared me." Kim said lowering her hood and slipping the cloak off.
"I hope so since I have spent the last two hours looking for you. Where have you been?" She asked slipping her cloak off.
"The orphanage, why? No one knew that I was gone except for you." She stated walking towards her suite of rooms.
"I looked at the orphanage but I didn't see you so where were you?" Trini demanded. She was worried about where Kim had been.
"After I left the orphanage, I walked to the lake. Nothing happened so don't worry. No one saw me and there was no one at the lake." She said stepping into her rooms. Trini followed close behind. She shut the door before speaking.
"Kimberly, what were you thinking? Jason would lock you up forever if he knew that you were that far away from the palace." She said sitting down in one of Kim's chairs.
Sighing Kim looked out the window, to the courtyard below. The knights were training like they did every day at this time. "Trini, I am fine and your husband doesn't need to know." She stated.
"Okay fine, I won't tell him but please be careful." Trini said before leaving Kim alone with her thoughts.
Kim heard the door closed and had to smile. She had had the best day after one of the worst mornings.
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"Are you sure that this is the best course for Phadoes?" Alpha asked his queen. He had been her most trusted assistant so long that he thought nothing of point blank questioning her.
Dulcea looked out the palace windows and saw her kingdom laid out before her from the snow-capped mountains to the gravel beaches. "This is the best course for my son and my kingdom. Angel Grove is one of the most powerful kingdoms in the nations and we need a powerful ally. They are after all our neighbors to the East." She said without turning around. "Also I had a dream about my son's future with Princess Kimberly. She will make him a fine queen."
"How do you know?" Alpha asked clearly worried about what his queen was saying. They knew nothing about the Princess.
"She has turned down every prince that her parents had set before her. She had a spirit and fire within her that will more than match my son. He needs a strong woman to stand at his side and I know that Kimberly is that woman." She said turning to face him.
He looked at his queen and knew that she had to be right. He had heard about the princess rejecting every suitor that had come calling. It was unheard of for a princess to turn down so many men. Kimberly was obviously looking for something that each prince had lacked. The big problem now was did the Crown Prince of Phadoes possess that thing that she was looking for?
Dulcea saw the questions float through Alpha's eyes but she knew that she was right about Kimberly. She had heard rumors that Kimberly was even more special than a princess. Only time would tell though if she was the chosen one to help secure peace to Phadoes at the Crown Prince's side.
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Okay so what did everyone think? Please let me know. This idea has been on my mind a lot for the past few weeks. I hope that everyone enjoyed this first chapter.