Once Upon A Time, in a far-away kingdom, there lived a princess named Katherine. She was very beautiful and all the people in the kingdom loved her. But not only was Princess Katherine very beautiful, she was also fearless. Her father, the king, had taught her how to shoot a bow and wield a sword, so all the thieves in the land stayed away from her kingdom.
Now, it came about that the townspeople started to worry about their princess, for it was approaching her eighteenth birthday and she had not found her true love yet. Many princes had come courting, but Princess Katherine turned them all down. She found them very dull.
"We must do something to help the princess," everyone said. "She works so hard, she should have a prince of her own." For Katherine's mother had died many years ago, and the young princess had helped her father run the kingdom since that day. So the townspeople fretted and worried and wanted very much for Princess Katherine to find her true love.
There also lived in the kingdom, a young bard named Richard. He spent his days writing poems and stories. All the children loved him and would often seek him out to ask for a story. Richard was handsome and funny and charming. Many of the young women in town thought it would quite a wonderful thing if he would notice them and several of them had enjoyed his favor at one time. But for several years now, Katherine was the object of his affection.
Richard watched the princess from afar, wishing he could approach her. Finally, his chance came. The king invited him to entertain at the Royal Ball. Richard spent weeks writing new poems and stories for the ball. He hoped to impress Princess Katherine and if he was going to do that, his writing had to be perfect. He wrote and rewrote and scratched out and tore up. Nothing seemed good enough for the extraordinary girl he loved.
Finally, the day of the ball arrived. Richard dressed in his best clothes and dithered in front of the mirror for hours.
"Do I look alright?" he asked his mother, Martha. "I mean, I want to the princess to be impressed."
"Darling, you look wonderful. Just be yourself," she advised.
Richard nodded, took a deep breath, and set out for the castle.
Meanwhile, inside the castle walls, Princess Katherine too was getting ready for the ball.
"This dress will look magnificent with your eyes, m'lady," her maid said, holding up a green velvet gown.
"Yes, of course," Katherine said flatly.
"All the young gentlemen will want to dance with you," the maid continued excitedly.
"Maybe I don't want to dance with them," Katherine muttered, staring out her window.
"What was that, m'lady?"
"Nothing," Katherine lied.
Her maid helped her dress in the gown and braided the princess's hair elegantly.
At that moment, there was a knock on the door.
"Come in," Katherine called.
The door opened to reveal her father, the king.
"Are you ready, Katie?" he asked. Her father was the only person allowed to call her Katie.
"Ready, Daddy," Katherine replied, forcing her lips to smile. She took his arm and they walked down the stairs to the castle's grand ballroom.
The space glowed with flickering orange candlelight and musicians played in the gallery above everyone's heads. Their melodies ricocheted off the stone walls and floated down to the dance floor, so it sounded as if the sky and stars were singing.
All the guests applauded as Katherine and her father entered. The musicians struck up a waltz and a handsome prince soon claimed Katherine's hand. He lead her around the floor in perfect time to the music. That's exactly the problem, Katherine thought. These princes were too caught up in perfection and rules and propriety. Katherine wanted someone who could make her laugh and sweep her off her feet.
The waltz ended and Katherine curtsied to her partner. Looking around, she saw another handsome young man make his way toward her. Katherine saw, however, as he got closer that he was not a prince; he did not wear a circlet of gold on his head and his clothes were not expensive enough. She recognized him. He was Richard, the bard from town.
"Your Highness," he bowed to her with a flourish, "though I am highly unworthy, I beg you, take pity on a poor fellow and grace me with a dance."
His flowery language made Katherine giggle and she placed her hand in his. Katherine prepared herself to have her toes stepped on, but Richard turned out to be a divine dancer. He twirled her around the floor effortlessly, like she was just a fairy in his arms.
"If I may say, Your Highness," Richard began, "your previous partner seemed a bit dim."
"I'm not even sure if he had a brain in his head," Katherine confided.
"Perhaps, a crazy alchemist stole his brain to make an evil monster," her partner proposed.
Katherine giggled again and Richard smiled. "Or a witch is controlling his thoughts and cast a spell on him that renders him speechless."
This time, Katherine laughed out loud and nearby couples turned to see what caused the princess to laugh.
Katherine blushed and Richard nodded sheepishly to the other dancers.
"You seem to have a great many outlandish theories," Katherine said.
"The curse of being a bard, m'lady," Richard said dolefully.
"You may call me Kate," she said.
"I would not dare take a such a liberty," Richard protested.
"In that case, I command you to call me Kate," Katherine replied imperiously.
Richard still looked doubtful.
"It's exhausting, being called 'Your Highness' or 'm'lady' all the time," Kate explained. "I want someone to call me by my real name."
"Then you must call me Rick," he said.
"Rick," Kate said, as though testing it out.
"Kate," Rick said. He liked the way her name felt in his mouth.
They danced closer without knowing it and they soon found themselves on the edge of the room. The music was faded here and Rick and Kate felt like the only couple in the world. The heat from their bodies mingled and their breath mixed. They stared into each other's eyes and felt themselves pulled closer still. Rick was just about to touch his lips to Kate's when someone nearby cleared their throat loudly.
They looked up to see the king glaring at them.
"Katie," he said sternly, "you're neglecting our guests."
"Sorry, Daddy," Kate stepped quickly away from Rick and curtsied to him formally. Rick bowed to her stiffly in return.
The king turned to leave and Katherine started to follow, but she turned to Richard and whispered, "Don't go. Meet me in the gardens."
