Sitting in her stone tower the witch queen looked down. The pretty princess played among the thorns. The witch queen's eyes glittered like sharp chips of coal. New coal, baby coal that had not yet turned to diamond. Innocent little princess playing among her rose thorns saw not the coal in the witch's eyes. Saw not her future in the depths of that sharp face, but the witch queen did. And so she watched upon her princess with those glittering pieces of coal.
The swirling black dress swished as the Moriana entered the room. The child held up her bleeding thumb.
"The thorn bit me, mother," said Shian.
"I told you not to play among the thorns, Shian," answered the Witch Queen.
"But the flowers are so pretty. I didn't know that pretty things could hurt you."
"Pretty things hurt you worse than anything, for they fill you will such longing and desire, that nothing, not even death will stop you from reaching them."
"It just bit me. I'm not dead, " said Shian, not understanding Moriana's words.
"There are pretty things all around you, Shian, your world is full of them, so why do you play with flowers with thorns? It is easy to see why you might think that roses are beautiful but beauty is everywhere if you know how to look," smiled Moriana as she fixed up the bleeding thumb.
"In the stories you have told me, the princesses always play with roses. Sometimes they wear roses in their hair, or have rose petal baths."
"And remember what happens in those stories. Those stories are not real," lied the Witch Queen, "but look at the way the light plays with the water in the lake or how each tree is a different shade of green and a different shape and you will see true beauty. Stories give you false promises and they blind you to the truth within the world," sighed Moriana. "Where will you play tomorrow Shian?"
"I don't know. I hope it snows. Then I will be able to play in the snow. It's so pretty. Why don't you ever play in the snow, mother?"
"It's cold..." answered the Witch Queen, her thoughts drifting away, to a place of once upon a time.
Once upon a time a beautiful little girl was born to ordinary peasants in a village. This little girl was taken away from them by a wicked witch as punishment for a petty crime committed by the child's father. The witch took her away to the ends of the world. There the beautiful little girl grew into a beautiful young woman. The witch, seeing the beauty of the growing girl grew jealous and locked her in a tower where nobody could reach her.
Shian felt the water flow over her body. Like cold silk it ran its fingers along her body, through her hair. She pretended that she was a princess, waiting for her love to arrive. But when she opened her eyes she only saw the woodlands of her childhood, her life. These woods had once enthralled her with their magic, their netherworld quality which all children seek for somewhere. Now they only bored her. Sometimes she wondered if the stories her mother told her about her past were real. After all she could not imagine her mother being whisked off by some dashing prince, but sometimes her face seemed to hold a faded kind of beauty. Like she had suddenly grown old. And that prince, her father, she supposed, where was he now? Why had he left and betrayed them? Her mother taught her that it was Story that betrayed them. But still so many holes. But if she didn't believe in that, then what did she believe in? If she wasn't who Moriana told her she was, then who was she?
Prince Enthralling held the white rabbit in his gaze. Drawing his arm back as far as he could, he loosed the arrow. The rabbit ran, startled, as the arrow hit the ground to its right. The Prince scowled at his miss and his thoughts were dark as he tugged the arrow from the grass. The King had sent Prince Enthralling to the End of the World so he could learn to Be A Man and prove himself. For how could he one day become king and care for a whole land if he could not care for himself in the wilderness.
Hearing a noise in the trees behind him the Prince hid, hoping to catch whatever animal it was by surprise. However it was the animal that surprised him. For it was not animal, but a young woman walking through the distant trees. She had not seen him, for not expecting him to be there, it did not occur to her to look around at the trees she had grown up with more carefully. She came close enough for him to see her face and he fought to make no sound for she was the most beautiful creature he had ever seen. She was not truly as beautiful as he thought but he saw her through the eyes of a Prince brought up on stories, knowing that a mysterious woman walking through the forest must surely be some beautiful lost Princess in need of rescuing. He wondered where she had come from and what she was doing here in this horrible land. And lost in dreaming of her beauty and her image he lost sight of her and could not find her again when he searched. Suddenly, his exile in this forbidden land was made much more interesting than expected. That night he dreamed of the beautiful princess that would be his.