Once upon a time, in a kingdom far far away, there lived a young princess called Karalina. She was fair with tumbling brown locks of hair, which were never in place. Her eyes were a shade of green, which was not found in the grass or the trees. The King and Queen loved their daughter very much, and spent much of their time with her when she was young, taking walks in the garden and picking flowers to decorate her hair.
As she grew older, her father taught her how to read, write, and to shoot a bow and arrows, for all ladies should know how to defend themselves. He taught her how everyone in their kingdom relied on each other, and how even Kings and Queens must work as hard as the peasants. Karalina's mother taught her how to dance, how to have polite conversation with others, even when they had a different perspective on an issue, for ladies should know how to disagree politely. She taught her how to sew and to keep busy during the day, so as not to be idle and wasteful of her time.
Karalina learnt all of these things with eager anticipation, for she knew one day she would be Queen of the beautiful kingdom that she lived in and wanted to be a good Queen. She loved her parents with all her heart and listened to everything they told her. There was only one thing that Karalina didn't agree with; one day her parents would marry her to a Prince who she did not know.
Karalina knew that she would never marry someone she didn't know or like. She wanted to be a good Princess for the people and a wonderful daughter for her parents, but she also knew in her heart that if she tried to do everything for everyone else, and left nothing for herself, it would all be for nothing, because she would never be truly happy.
So as Karalina grew older, and was approaching her eighteenth birthday, and her parents talked more and more of eligible Princes who could marry their daughter, Karalina made plans to escape. At first, it seemed as if the King and Queen would allow their daughter to choose a Prince. A steady stream of them came to the castle, and there were endless balls and parties, but as Karalina said no to once Prince after another Prince, her parents began to assert pressure on her to choose someone.
Finally, the day came when the King and Queen told Karalina she would have to choose someone to marry before the summer season and Karalina knew it was time for her plans of escape to be put into action. That night, she changed into some clothes she had ready and crept out of the castle. All night she walked, and in the morning, when the village was waking up, she bartered passage on a cart out of the kingdom.
Karalina had never intended to go far in her escape, just to the neighbouring kingdom, but her parents searched far and wide. Even those in the kingdom sent messages to their relatives in other parts of the world looking for the Princess, but she had successfully disappeared.
Karalina, assuming the simple name Lina, dressed as a humble kitchen maid with her tumbling brown hair hidden under a white cap and her fair face smudged with dirt and coal soon found herself a position as a serving maid at the castle. She had a room to share with three other maids and was allowed to eat with the other servants in the kitchens after the work was done. One day every moon Karalina was allowed to leave the castle. She would walk to the village and listen to the news crier on the corner for news of her parents and her home.
Days turned to weeks and weeks turned to months and Karalina settled into her new situation, wondering when things might change and when she would know it was time to go home.