For my seven-year-old self:
Joyful and hopeful despite her alienation.
Who wanted nothing more than to go on adventures far from the ordinary,
To find understanding, rather than banishment, for her whims and peculiarities,
And a Yowler to call her very own.
I only hope to do you justice.
Part I: The Wishing Tree
Many years ago, in the Land of Yore, in a place that is now called Scotland, a princess was born, and her name was Saga. Although beloved to her parents, the King and Queen of Elves, Princess Saga's childhood was lonesome and filled with despair. Magic and grace were common traits amongst the elves and it was expected that a child of such stature would both possess and model those attributes for everyone in the Kingdom of Sylvan. Before she had the chance to fully metamorphose from baby to child, it became clear that the young princess was not an ordinary elf. In fact, she was not an elf at all. Saga was a girl, a human girl.
What the King and Queen knew of humans was that they were greedy, corrupt, fixated upon invading every land they entered and claiming it as their own. Their dealings with humans were few and they preferred to keep it that way. They kept their daughter hidden away, out of sight and out of mind, loving her and teaching her as best they could from within the confines of their mighty fortress. She grew quickly, surprising her parents around every corner as she wove through that lonesome maze of years. She became her own person—noisy, outspoken, horrifically clumsy and as far from an elven princess as anyone could venture to imagine.
One day, when Princess Saga was seven years of age, her wish of exploring the world outside of the castle finally came true. In a beautiful carriage ringed with guards, she ventured with her father to the place where the land met the sea. Together, they explored the vast, empty countryside and Saga experienced for the first time in her life, the prickle of the tall green grasses against her fingertips and the squishiness of sand between her toes. She longed to stay there forever, breathing the pristine air and watching the changing tides and churning waves within the ocean that could not be glimpsed from her castle, not even in its highest tower.
Voices trilled and grumbled in the neighboring woodland and it wasn't long before Saga was forced back into the carriage and rolled from this new plain of isolation to her old, familiar one. Her parents only sought to protect her. She was a child of both worlds and yet, she belonged in neither. All that they could do was watch her grow and dread the day when they could no longer contain her. Her father felt badly for Saga and would visit her at night with storybooks. The curious little girl would ask again and again if he could teach her how to read and the Elf King saw no harm in this. At night, Saga would dream in words of the tranquil shoreline and wonder if there were worlds beyond that misty blue void, worlds where she could do so much more and be so much more than silent and confined.
An elven boy around Saga's age also lived in the palace. He was the son of the king's most esteemed knight and, as one might expect, was drawn to the restricted corridors and towers of his spectacular residence. The allure of a princess, locked away from all the world was too much for the young boy to bear. So, he climbed the spiraling staircase that led to Saga's room, speculating all the way. Perhaps she had been placed under an evil sorcerer's spell that caused her to be hideously deformed or to turn into a frightening winged beast every time she sneezed! Oh, what endless possibilities the situation presented!
He knocked on the door and when there was no answer, he pushed it open and looked inside. There, perched atop a mountain of discarded parchment and books that had been read over and over, from cover to cover, was the strangest creature the elven boy had ever seen. That said, Princess Saga was not a hideous beast or deformed in any way, but gangly and wayward with disheveled hair the color of the sun. No ring of light surrounded her, no magic blood flowed through her veins. But there was something special about her, something that he could not quite place. As she raised her hand to wave "hello", he saw that her fingertips were smudged with black ink.
"A guest!" Saga exclaimed, scuttling gracelessly to the ground. "Welcome to my tower! Which do you wish to experience first, Good Sir? A recitation of my complete works of poetry or a three act play in which I play all of the characters and provide the sound effects?" The elven boy was baffled, and it showed. "Or has Father finally heeded my request and sent up an additional player for my company? Do you know how challenging it is to play every part in a play all at once?! Costume changes and all?!"
"You are Princess Saga?" He asked, steering away from this obscure banter of recitations and plays.
"I am, indeed!"
"Any mention of you is forbidden throughout the Kingdom of Sylvan," said he, staring with wonder at the perfectly friendly girl, "but I have heard rumors amongst my father's colleagues from time to time. You are a," he hesitated, but the word could simply not escape his lips.
"A human, yes."
"And as a… human, you have no magic?"
Saga grinned. Beamed, even. "May I ask what your name is?"
"Auberon," he replied, recoiling when Saga extended her inky hand for a shake. Though he would not admit to this, he feared that his own magic would be wicked away by the touch of the human girl's hand.
"Well, Auberon," said Saga, sifting through the pages on the floor for an ideal scene or sonnet, "there are many different kinds of magic. Surely, it does not end with the Magic of the Elves. My eyes have seen very little of the world, but the marriage of my imagination and words has helped me create realities of my own design. Is that not a form of magic?"
The clinking of armor rang from downstairs. Auberon knew at once that the guard who was not present earlier had returned. He looked at Saga with fear in his eyes.
"The door beside my bookshelf leads to the castle's library," she told him, "it is rarely guarded. Knowledge needn't be guarded and accessible to all, don't you think? You may use it to escape tonight and perhaps," a shrug, "to return, too. This is a lonely place for a child. You are welcome to visit me if you ever need a friend."
Auberon and Saga did meet again. In fact, they met daily and in secret for many years. New knights and guards would come to the castle and bring their children, too. When Saga was eighteen, her heart underwent a change and she felt a strange and tender longing for Auberon's presence. She understood this sensation, having read about love many times in her books. Meanwhile, Auberon's interests gravitated towards the inflow of companions who shared his dream of fighting off the waves of humans who were invading their land. He followed this path and without so much as a warning, vanished from Saga's view like a constant friendly star that has fallen from the sky.
Hurt and confused by his absence, Saga retreated back into her world of words. She would move from her tower to the library and sit there alone each day, hoping beyond hope that her dear friend would return to her. He did, but not in the form that Saga had so desperately wished for. One day, when she was sitting on the highest tier of the library, she heard Auberon's voice rising from a lower floor. It was accompanied by others, young elven boys like himself who were searching for knowledge on the enemy's many weaknesses before heading off to battle. His words were cruel and when he brought up Princess Saga's name, they turned brutal and mocking. She could not believe that her only friend would betray her so.
This was the tipping point, the greatest pain the human girl had ever endured. She had always known deep down that she did not belong in the Kingdom of Sylvan and it is for that reason that she left her home one moonless night. She knew the guards' routines like clockwork and managed to slip past each one every time they were relieved. Inch by inch, corridor by corridor, she navigated her way past the walls that had kept her contained and severed from her destiny for so long.
No words could express the freedom that Saga felt as the tall spires of her castle in the trees faded into darkness behind her. She ran without stopping, charting out the road that she and her father had taken to where the land ended, and the sea began. She searched but could not find the sandy beach that they visited but with a bit of determination, Saga did eventually find the shoreline. The green countryside flattened out into a row of cliffs. Had the fog been denser, she might have tumbled off the edge and to the jagged rocks near the swirling waters below. But the smell of the sea and the sound of the gulls gave her all the warning she needed.
On the cliffside, there stood a single tree. It was tall, strong and covered with thick, green moss. Saga pondered what she might see from the top in several hours when the sun rose. New lands in the distance? A mighty ship with billowing sails that would carry her far, far away? She wondered as she climbed the sturdy limbs and she wished- oh, did she wish, for a place of her very own where she would never have to feel the breaking of her heart inside her chest again. The mist should have thinned when she reached the top. Instead, it had thickened as though she had climbed through the earth's atmosphere and straight into the clouds.
A rumble from below came next. It shook the branches and the stony earth itself wherein the tree had taken root. Saga held tightly, so tight that her hands and arms grew numb. The terrible noise of splintering earth filled her ears, the waves whipped angerly below her and Saga fell, not into the sea, but backwards. The tree eased her fall, trapping her and holding her away from the gusts of wind. But when she reached the ground, her golden head struck hard against and stone and even the tempest that surrounded Saga darkened and silenced.
When she awoke, she noticed many changes to the world around her. The cliff had broken off from the land, leaving just enough room for Saga, the tree and a mighty white fortress that had not been there before. She was now on an island, surrounded entirely by the slowly calming waves. She had seen this place before, in a story that she, herself, had designed. It was filled to the brim with books, fresh parchment, wells of ink and sturdy feather pens with fat plumes. After a bit of exploring, she even uncovered her very own grand theatre with a glistening stage and beautiful costumes. Lastly, there was no one there to break her heart. There was no one there at all.
Saga did not want to remain alone on the island. Everyday, she climbed the tree to the exact same place that she was when first she made her wish. She would ask the tree to send her a companion. Someone to tell her stories to, someone who would never leave her or make her feel unwanted. She would watch the horizon for their arrival and awaken every morning in hopes of finding a smiling face and welcoming arms beside the tree. Her wish remained unfulfilled for months, then years, and just when Saga was beginning to give up hope and grow content with only the company of her books, the sun rose on the day that her dragon arrived, and Saga's great adventure began at last.