Chapter 4: Princeton
A light waft of tangy sweetness engulfed my nose as I turned to see Snow pouring more Goose berries into the large metal pot which hung over the fire. I looked back at the task at hand. I was covered in flour; it seemed to dig into every crevasse and curve of my tunic and skin. Snow had even lent it a helping hand by dusting a dollop on my nose just moments previously. My hands were stuck in a sticky mass. This being my third attempt at a pie crust, I now knew why men weren't allowed in the kitchen and how every woman had the right to complain of the work they preformed. "I just can't do it, it's impossible!" I shook my head trying to comprehend how women did this without going crazy or getting dirty. I looked at Snow as proof of my idea she was spotless, no flour, no stains, not even a little bit on her apron which looked newly laundered instead. She turned to me smiling and said "Well I think that the Prince should find this maidenly task quite simple, but of course I will help you." Her smile seemed to reach even her eyes: every ounce of emotion she had seemed to crawl up her face, I doubted that you could every call Snow expressionless. She dumped another cup of flour over my hands and the dough; she then took my left hand with her uninjured hand and slowly kneaded it. Putting pressure just light enough to for me to get goose bumps up and down my arms, but hard enough to really see the dough start to move. She instructed me to push and fold and push and fold until I actually had an elastic like ball in my palm. Then she handed me the largest rolling pin I had ever seen, it was a light wood smooth and solid in my hands. This part I actually enjoyed, rolling the dough out took effort and strength, no wuss could do this easily! Two hours later I collapsed exhausted on to the chair—Snow still working away on some new recipe. Along the back sat seven little baskets full of various treats and provisions; Snow had truly out done herself making everything from gooseberry pie to seven garnish hens with a loaf of bread to go with each. When she finally finished the last batch of pastries, she looked down at me and remarked "Well now this should feed them for today, but I also want to bring the ingredients to make a stew for them." My mouth sat a gaped looking at her with wide eyes, I swallowed and finally said what I had been thinking "Snow, I think that just seeing you would be enough for them any day without such a hullabaloo. I mean we could have any maid do this work instead, we need not do this ourselves!" She stared at me like I had just told her that bunnies were repulsive or that flowers smelled foul. She countered my remark with one as cold as winter itself "Princeton, these men cared for me, they kept me safe and thirdly they didn't burry me alive! I owe them my life a few times over and you wish me to just show up like I am a gift to the world. I may not be strong or as smart as a man of your stature, but I at least have honor to my friends. So if you wish me to be a disgrace to all who truly honor friendship then I am sorry, Princeton." She spat out my name with such fluidity it sounded like a hiss "I just can't meet your demands!" She turned on her heel and ran up the kitchen stairs, presumably to her bed chamber tears rolling down her cheek. If I had any self control I would have kept my mouth shut, but no instead I made the women I love cry. I was beyond moronic; I was on the same level as livestock— dirty, filthy and completely brainless!
I walked down the hallway, I felt like a scolded dog returning to his owner with my tail between my legs. I knocked on her door, saying in my most apologetic tone "Snow, darling, I'm sorry. I know what I said was offensive and incorrect so please can I come in and apologize properly?" She didn't reply or even make any noise that she had heard me. "Snow, please can I just come in and say what a fool I was?" Still nothing came through the door: I started getting a little uncomfortable. Why wasn't she responding? Was she really that upset with me that she wouldn't even grunt in my direction, that didn't seem like her to be so standoffish. Even when she thought me a scandalous mannered playboy she still had the courtesy of opening her door to speak with me, then I started worrying. What if she was hurt or what if Kane had come back or my mother— what if my mother had decided to have another "talk" with Snow. My fist banged against her door, I felt like a beast hammering away at this maiden's door trying to receive passage through. "Snow please let me in, I just want to know your ok…PLEASE!" my voice steadily started rising. But no matter how hard my fists pounded the door no response came from inside the room. I got so frustrated I just grabbed the handle and ripped the door open. I walked into the room and my head turned left and right trying to find her, but she wasn't there. The room was empty. I scrambled around yelling her name "Snow! Snow, where are you?!" that's when I stopped short of the door to see her staring at me like I was a lunatic. Her eyes wide, and her eyebrow furrowed she looked at me applauded and commented "Why, dear sir, do you bellow for me?" I just put my hand to my head shaking and said "I just realized that in the grand scheme of things I truly was a fool, and I came to beg for your forgiveness and when you didn't answer I got worried that Kane had returned or something so I, well by the way you are staring at me I assume you know the rest." When I looked up a small smirk of a smile was reaching the corners of her eyes: "Princeton, I was mad at you because you belittled my very existence and mocked my favorite things in life while telling me that my friends meant nothing to you, that their help was nothing. I am sorry for my very forward argument and my rash response. But please try to understand that when all one has done since birth is cook and clean for others, and finally finds friends who care for you, it is difficult to hear your life mocked." Another wave my idiocy washed over me, "Oh." Was all I could choke out. I was less then pigs and chickens I was the gruel that animals didn't dare consume. My hatred for myself rivaled that of my anger towards Kane. I hurriedly apologized for what felt like the millionth time and then excused myself, telling her that I hoped she got lots of rest because we had a long journey in front of us.
It was the next morning, and I stood staring at the horse who in the beginning was all we needed to carry her and a few items, now we had two horses and a cart fallowed by a mule. Our small trip to the dwarf's cottage had become more of a fiasco without even setting a foot off the castle grounds! But either way at least Snow was talking to me again: but when ever she did her voice carried an edge much like an icicle: sharp and cold. I led the caravan down path after path while Snow sat, silent, on the horse. When we stopped at a stream to take a drink and let the horses' rest, she resumed her statue like pose on a rock near the water: but the whole time remaining deadly quiet. I got so frustrated that I walked straight up to her and spoke "Snow, I know that I made a fool of myself and I am terribly sorry for my blunder; but please I still would like you to enjoy yourself on this trip! What could I do to show you how much I regret what I said, I would anything!?" She looked back at my and a smile cracked across her pale checks, "hmm" she seamed to be thinking of a punishment "ah! I know, to prove you are lament you must go to the hill over yonder" she said pointing up a foothill easily an hour walk to the peak "and pick me a bouquet of wildflowers." If that was all it took to gain her forgiveness it was doable even if it was a little out of my way I would do it make her happy "Ok," I replied "I will pick you the loveliest array of flowers possible!" She started to sake her head "No, I wish to have red primroses— twenty to be precise." She said the smile now turning slightly devious. I hesitated and then smiled back, hopping she noticed my pleading eyes that yelled in my head "RED!! They are one of the rarest shades, this women is good. I'm never going to get away with anything again!" I started up the hill groaning as I looked at the ever shrinking caravan behind my shoulder. As I climbed I noticed the speckles of flowers, most being lavender or white primroses. Once I neared the summit I noticed that the grass grew lush and the trees had given way to a marshy plain and as I turned a curve in the trail I found the treasure I sought: a sea of blood red flowers. I picked at least 3 dozen of the precious flowers amazed at my fortune to find so many, then I turned to run down the hill back to the assembly. Once she had accepted the flowers and apology we were once again on our way. When it was around supper time we reached the dwarf's little cottage.
A little dwarf immerged from the entrance, his face so happy it looked animated he ran up to Snow and I and yanked on her skirt without any word. "Dopey!" Snow exclaimed as I set her on the ground. "Oh sweet Dopey, I bring presents and food! Where is everyone else?" As she asked other dwarves emerged from the cottage. She bent down and kissed each on the top of their heads, just as she had done the day we left. I sent my men to set up a shelter for us to sleep in because I doubted there was room for us in the small house. I told her of my plan and headed off to help, she went to work preparing stew and bread for everyone. All the while humming to herself. After everyone had eaten and the dwarves had given a musical performance joined in by Snow White on vocals— it was time to retire. One of the dwarves, oh what was his name, Doc? Well the dwarf with glasses offered up their room for Snow to sleep in but she politely declined because she knew that I had prepared a separate shelter just for her, so as she wouldn't have to sleep in the company of any men. The candles in her tent lit her silhouette as she fussed about with her nightdress and such. I couldn't believe that this beautiful woman I watched would someday soon be my wife; it seemed like that first time I had met her when she was just a newborn and me four years, oh I remembered how I thought she beautiful even as a babe. The brightness from the candles dimmed and faded as the encampment feel into restful slumber. All I could think was of my purpose in life, and how it had always been Snow. My father had devised a plan— two kingdoms united by love. He had befriended Queen White when they were adolescent, many knew of their friendship though few knew that they loved each other. They never acted on their love, because both knew their place as figure heads for their countries, so I guess Snow and I were filling out the love that was lost between the two. I was told even as a youth that love was just as important as my kingdom, and ever since I first heard her sing on her seventh birthday, months before her father's marriage and my father's death, I knew I loved her. But tragedy after tragedy seemed to occur, keeping me at arms length away from her. I departed to my tent, and slept haphazardly across the cot. I woke to the smell of bacon and eggs: Snow cooking away happily in the cottage. The next few days were full of smiles and laughter on all the dwarfs, even the Sour one seemed somewhat content, and Snow's Part. My men seemed more then pleased to eat all her food and listen to her sing as she cleaned and cooked. I was surprised to be having a nice time myself; I even surprised Snow with a bouquet of flowers and a beautiful necklace one day. A red ruby forged by the little men, was the centerpiece, it hung on an emerald silk fabric and looked just flawless against her porcelain skin. Overall the trip seemed to go off without a hitch. And finally it was the day we departed, Snow, once again, kissed each dwarf on their head and crying said her goodbyes. We rode off, the caravan had departed the day before, leaving just a horse for Snow to ride on and enough food to last us the ride home. She smiled back at me as I asked the question that had been burning in my head since the first moment we arrived "Snow, were you happier in the cottage with the dwarves then you are in my palace?" She stared, wide eyed back at me, "Why, Princeton, I love my friends they are kind generous and beyond all wonderful people. But I know that my future does not lie in a cottage; so I would say that I find it pleasurable to be in both places but for different reasons." Her logical answer annoyed me— I mean sure she was supposed to be with me, but I wanted her to be with me, not feel like it was her duty!
Hours had passed with silence between us, the sky above us darkened and clouds rolled across them, threatening the unenviable. Thunder cracked across the clearing and lightening sought ground as it streaked across the sky. Snow shuddered and jumped, silent tears running down her checks as she huddled into the horse. I found a large tree that could shelter us for the moment, and made a small fire. I looked up at her and remarked "Snow, my dear everything will be ok. We're relatively safe here, and the storm will pass, and soon we will be safe again in the castle." Tears continued to run down her pale face as she nodded to my voice. She shivered alone near the base of the tree as I tried, fruitlessly to keep the fire going. When at last all my kindling had been soaked through by the pouring rain, I gave up. Instead I cradled Snow in my arms— like I had the day we were riding in the garden. I softly sang to her, old lullabies my godmother had taught me. The thunder shook the ground beneath us and the lighting illuminated the sky in flashes. Snow just snuggled closer to me as her head lolled onto my lap, I stroked her raven curls, twisting and twirling a ringlet around my finger. She drifted to sleep; sitting motionless I waited for the storm to pass.