Tangles in the blood
Mother Nature, at one point in time, decided to gift the world with something amazing. It was a flower that possessed an unbelievable quality. It's necter, when injected into blood, cured any problem from the common cold to cancer. It was a dull orange color with a dark green stem that sunk into the dirt. Over all, it looked ordinary.
A woman came along by the name of Excella Gione. She had been betrayed by the man who was supposed to be her partner. He had injected a horrible virus into her blood. She was slowly dying. But she found the flower. She saw the qualities it posessed and knew how to use them.
She hid the flower away at the edge of the kingdom, and slowly cured herself of the virus using the nectar.
At the center of the kingdom was the castle. Within, there was the king and queen. Both were generous to their people, and in return were loved. But the queen, who was heavily pregnant, grew sick. The king sent guards out to search every inch of the kingdom for a cure.
Excella had been out collecting the nectar from the flower when she heard the guards approaching. She paniced and ran. In her haste she forgot to cover the flower as she left.
She hid and watched as the soldiers uprooted the flower, her source of life. The soldiers returned to the castle, bearing the hope for their queen and her child. The flower did it's work, saving the queen. She gave birth to a beautiful little girl with soft brown hair and crystal blue eyes. And her name was Jill.
Proud of their new daughter, the king and queen released a lantern into the night sky to celebrate. But their happiness was short lived.
Still suffering the effects of the virus, Excella snuck into the castle. She found the babe, asleep in her cradle. The child stirred, looking up with sleepy blue eyes. Excella slipped her arms under the baby and began to hum before escaping through the window.
When morning came and Jill was gone, panic spread. The king sent out his guards again, searching for his precious little girl. But after months and months, there was no sign of the lost princess. For every birthday that passed for the lost child, the king let go of thousands of lanterns, praying the princess would come home.
Deep in the forest at the edge of the kingdom, there was a tower. Excella had brought Jill there, and hid her away.
Jill's blood had a special attribute do to the flower. It acted as an antidote to any poison, a cure to any cancer. If one were to place it on another's cut, the cut would heal in seconds. But most importantly of all, Jill's blood was what fought back the virus that plagued Excella. With Jill's blood, the virus began to slowly recede.
Excella raised Jill in the lonely tower, never letting her see the outside world. Jill grew up, knowing Excella as her mother and the tower around her as protection. Excella taught her self defense, cooking, and anything else she thought might be necesary.
But every birthday, Jill would sneak down and watch the lanterns float up in the sky. She didn't realize that each lantern was a secret message from her father, asking for her to come home.
Jill smiled as she cracked an egg into the frying pan before her. After a moment, she scooped up the finished product, a mixture of potatoes, peppers, onions and eggs, onto her plate.
The chameleon on her shoulder butted his head against her neck and grumbled.
"Hold on! I'll get you your breakfast in a second!" she laughed, scooping him up and placing him on the table. The chameleon's name was Josh. He was the only animal that had made it to the top of the tower and planned to stay.
Jill took a knife from one of the drawers and proceeded to cut up an apple. She placed about half of it on a plate, and put a few grapes next to it. "Here." She placed it infront of him.
Josh squeeked his thanks and grabbed a grape.
"So, what should we do today?" Jill asked him before taking a bite of her breakfast. Josh used his tail to point to the window. "No, you know we can't do that. How about... hide 'n seek?" she suggested. He rolled his eyes and pointed to the window again. "Hide 'n seek it is."
Josh huffed, and then made an annoyed noise.
"I know you always lose, but that's not my fault! You're a chameleon! You should be able to hide better!"
Josh replied with another mixture of sounds.
"Fine. We won't play."
After breakfast, Jill got to work. Every morning, she did her chores first. Sweeping, cleaning, and the dishes. But that barely took up anytime. Next, she went to her bookshelf and grabbed two of her favorite books. One was The Wind in the Willows, and the other was simply titled Science.
She had already read both multiple times, but when alone in a tower there wasn't much else to do. After reading, she would try and find something else to do. Josh wasn't very fond of hide 'n seek, so that was out. At least for today.
Suddenly, Jill was reminded of what happened in a day. The lanterns!