- Roused

- Chapter 035

~ Where Briar Rose Met Phillip

"It was here that I met Phillip. I was wasting time with my friends. My aunts had asked me to pick berries, and my basket was full, but I knew it was my birthday and they were up to something. So I was giving them time to make, what turned out to be, the cake and the dress." Sadness and pain shadowed her face.

"I told my friends of my dream, of a prince that would dance with me and take my in his arms. Some of my friends had found Phillip. My friends had taken his hat, cloak and boots to make me a dance partner. They've done that before on washing day, they are such dears. He followed them and found me and he was touching me, holding my hand." Briar Rose said with a happy sigh, and some pats on the nearby friends.

"I take it that felt good." Rapunzel had a innocent smile on her face; being held by Eugene and her parents was always a good feeling.

"It felt amazing." Briar Rose felt a shiver of delight just from the memory, "He felt warm and wonderful. But I was so scared; someone had found me. I wasn't allowed to talk to strangers and I mustn't ever tell them my name, that's what Aunt Flora had said. But he was touching me, holding my hand and it felt so good, I could feel the warmth of him moving up my arm. It was like warm sunshine on my skin, it took everything I had to let go of his hand. Fairies don't feel the same as humans. Just trying to get my hand free was hard, because I didn't really want to let go. It was scary, but it felt so wonderful. And he was talking to me, singing to me." She was looking dreamy, remembering the experience.

"But he wasn't exactly a stranger either, he was the prince from my dreams, the one to take me away. I was trying to get away, but then he said we met once upon a dream, could it be true? I looked, really looked, into his eyes, the eyes that filled my dreams."

"It was him, my prince. He was dressed as a woodsman and not a prince like in the dream. I was so confused. Was he a stranger or not? Should I run or not? Should I go with him or not?"

"I should have run, but I needed to stay, he was my prince. He was singing to me, and then we were dancing; it felt so beautiful. He put his arm around me and I just wanted to stay there forever, it felt so good and right. Being in his arms was like being wrapped in all the warm blankets in the world. Then he asked my name and I thought, "Why is he asking my name? We've always known each other." I almost told him, but I came to myself, I realized I was talking to a stranger and I ran."

"He wanted to know when we could meet again, we never could, but I told him he could come to the cottage in the evening, and told him where the cottage was in the glen, because I so desperately wanted to be with him again. I ran all the way home and told my aunties all about him and then everything went away." Briar Rose finished sadly, petting a bird on her shoulder. She may never see Phillip again. He was gone, but she felt so much better here in her real home. She'll be okay here, her real friends were here.

- End of Chapter 035

Author's Note: Most of what we see in Sleeping Beauty of Briar Rose is her just wasting time with her forest friends to give her aunts time to make her birthday presents. She tells her aunts that she picked berries just the day before. She must have had to remind them of things she has done rather often, but they didn't just accept it. She figured out they were up to something rather quickly. She is far from stupid and kind enough to allow them to do what they could and she would love them for anything they would make for her.

Briar Rose meeting Phillip the first time was so bizarre. The animals steal his clothes, and she's fine with that? She's trying to get away, but after he talks about once upon a dream, she stops and looks into his eyes and everything changes. When Phillip, oh so casually, asks her name and she is all confused sounding... And then telling him to come to her cottage. How utterly crazy that all was. This tried to make some sense of all that.

Briar Rose doesn't want to go back to the castle does she? ...Review!