"Freesia! Freesia!" I shout out the tower window.

The little butterfly floats to the sill and lands. She folds up her radiant purple, blue, and forest green wings. She rubs her antennae together and I hear that squeak, but I don't understand it.

I frown. "It's good to see you." Silent. "Are Pippin and Penelope alright?"

Squeak.

"Are they mad at me?" I ask. I get another squeak.

No, I just made a horrible mistake. I asked Lord Altrogge to make me completely human again, and by being that, I won't be able to communicate to all my forest friends anymore. The cricket's orchestra, the skunk's whispers, the chattering squirrels and singing birds. All of their words won't be recognizable to my ears. Oh my word, please say this isn't true. I was only thinking of myself. I was thinking of my benefits and my happiness. But I forgot that what made me happy was being able to talk to Freesia, the brother and sister, a friendly frog, as well as Juniper—that lovably bunny. What have I put myself into. I cry. I yell at the top of my lungs out that east tower window. Get all that pain out. All of it just erupting and emitting out of my heart and soul and into the evening air, and maybe it will be swept away by the morning breeze. A tear runs down my cheek and under my chin, and finally falls with a plop, on the stone shelf.

"Oh, Freesia…I'm so sorry." I say and I hide my face in my arms.

She tugs on a strand of my hair and I look up from my nest. She squeaks and points one of her tiny, skinny legs towards the lake.

"What is it?" I wonder as I squint to get a better view of the water.

I don't see a thing. What is she trying to get me to notice? I finally focus on a small black twig, it seems, that has just emerged from the forest's protection. It stands by the lake's shore, as if to admire it, before bending down to put his lips to the water to drink. Who was this man? Or woman? A stranger, is all I can classify it as. It lifts its head up from the water and falls backwards on its back. It just lays there, with its arms spread out at its sides. Freesia floats up to my ear and tries to tell me something I can not comprehend. Another down-fall on seeing the moon's face. I shake my head, hoping to signal to her to stop talking…it was no use. I fix my eyes on the stranger once more and my brain is dumbfounded with wonder. The lake's body starts to shine a little brighter. The sun is about to rise. I sink out of the window, trying to hide my body from its light. The second it started to flicker over the trees, I felt weak again. That odd sensation I can never place. A sensation of death. My viewing of this odd stranger will have to be postponed until tomorrow night—if that person stays that long.

"Princess." Came a knock on the door. It was Beryl.

"You may enter." I reply and remain sitting on my little mound of hay, just beyond the window's allowance of light.

"Sorry I wasn't here earlier." Beryl hobbles over to the window.

"No harm." I say as I watch her pin the sheet to some tacks in the stone wall, covering the window. "Thank you."

"'Welcome." She said groggily. It was after all very early. "I'll bring you up something to eat in about three hours."

"Thank you again."

She nods and then exits, slamming the large wooden door behind her. As I sit on my mound of hay, I think about the stranger I had just seen out that east tower window. His mysterious aura. I keep on wondering if I'll see him again soon, or not… if he has left. Then again, the thought of that stranger being my Ash comes up in my mind. If it was him, I'm run from this castle and into his arms, and wouldn't let go. What would I say to him again? Would we have the same conversation as last time? Would I say again how I followed him in the woods as a doe? His belief is questionable. Yet, I want to slap him. I don't know why. I'm so scared and confused. I hide my face in my hands, wanting to cry, but I don't. I must stare into darkness, that resembles my love so much. It has disappeared into the darkness.

Knock, knock, knock. "Princess?"

"My Lord?" I whisper. I quick throw the shade off of the window. Night as already fallen. How long did I sit there thinking about what I should do, and where I should turn? "You may come in." I finish.

Lord Altrogge opens the door and tosses me half of a loaf of bread. "Eat first, then we will talk."

I take a bite as my reply. The bread is so dry, yet I manage to stuff it down my throat. I lick the crumbs from my fingers and lips and I feel suddenly sleepy with such a content belly.

"I thought well and hard on your request, Princess. I thought of your benefits as well as mine. I tried to think like you." Lord Altrogge explains. "And it came to me that if you were no longer happy here, you'd find some way to escape, or eventually starve or kill yourself. If you want you to stay here and stay here peacefully, I will have to do some things that make you pleased as well as myself."

"Yes, my Lord." I say. I gulp.

He conjures up a giant ball of pale green light between his two outstretched hands. "My answer will take some pain, and I apologize in advance for your screams."

I didn't expect this. I didn't expect this at all! The large sphere just kept on growing and growing in Lord Altrogge's hands. The brightness of it made me feel unbelievably weak. Has he forgotten that he made my human body feeble to intense light? My head is nothing but a balloon now, light and lulling from side to side, because of the person who carries it is tugging on the string. I hear the lord groan slightly in the effort of his magic. He then, and finally, lets go of the enormous globe of green shining mass and it crashes into me. I feel my body explode, my chest erect and my head back against my spine. My fingers are long sticks reaching for something far away. Oh, the pain. This is worse then when he first cursed me. Excruciating horror and eye-bulging effects. What one man could do to a simple Princess is amazing. A Princess that is only in search of that special someone. I don't know how long I screamed. I don't know how long I sat there excepting the pain. I don't know how long Lord Altrogge and Beryl were my audience. All I do know is my answer was a yes or a no. Again, I crash through my flight of fantasy and into harsh reality—a world of love, hate, and magic.

"Princess?" Came Lord Altrogge's deep voice.

I moan my reply and open my eyes slightly.

"Good, you're awake." Is all he says. "Just so you know, it is finished."

I open my eyes wider and look over at myself (who was sprawled out on the floor). I had hands…still. I quickly sit up and look out the window. Pure Sunlight. I stand on my wobbly legs and put my head out of the window. I felt no weakness. He had granted my request! I turn to him and only smile. "Thank you."

He only nods. "Don't think you're getting away that easily, Misty."

I look at him confused. "What? I don't quite understand…"

"You being human again lifts the part of you dying if you don't make it to the water. So, naturally, you could go wherever you want, whenever you want. So I had to make some adjustments so you don't just go running home to your daddy. You aren't free yet." The Lord replies. I truly haven't thought of that.

"What must I do." I ask.

"I have restricted your wanderings to a four mile radius from the lake in all directions. If you exceed this distance, believe me, you will definitely know." Lord Altrogge almost smiles. Great…more pain is to be expected.

"Okay." I nod.

"Go now…get out." Lord Altrogge waves and I am hurried down the tower steps by his assistant and practically thrown out the castle door without breakfast.

My new life begins now. I remember telling myself that just before I left, three years ago. Now, and finally, I will deliver my promise. I run down to my home—the lake's shore—and prepare for the beginning of a myth. I will be known by the wanderers of this forest as none other then a Wild Child, Mistress of Trees, or Goddess of Wolves. I travel my trails and find my new supplies. A large rod of wood and a brick of limestone. Upon my traveling I run into an unexpected visitor.

"Human…get away." It moans.

I can understand his language. But I am human. Yes, Lord Altrogge made a miscalculation in his doings. I can comprehend the animals words now. It is still day, and their sentences can form in my ears. I smile to myself. "I won't harm you." I hear the voice of a deer come from my throat.

The animal to which I speak is a buck; a male deer. He is shot in the side and is bleeding terribly. "Get away."

"I won't leave you like this. I want to help." I kneel to his festering body.

"I suffer, nothing can stop that." The buck groans.

"I have suffered. Don't talk that way. I made it and so will you." I say as I try to pick him up. "The lake's water will cleanse your wound." He is too heavy.

"Let me die…as revenge to the man who killed me." The buck said.

"How is that revenge?" I ponder.

"For he will know what he has done and live with the fact that he has killed one of Mother Nature's creatures. He is no longer her son." The buck tells. He rests his head down on the mossy dirt and finally rests in peace.

"May you part with ease and with happiness." I say and then take his antlers to drag him back to the lake.

First duty of the day, make a weapon to defend myself. That is what the brick of limestone is for. I am actually glad I ran into this unfortunate deer…for he will come in handy. I will use his tendons as string. I will use his hide for protection from the wind. His meat, I will dry, and use for my own food. I take another stone and start chipping away at the brick of limestone. A spear is what I am making. I chip away chunk after chunk, sharpening the point. I use the point I have now to slit open the deer's stomach to clean. The smell of blood fills my nostrils but I heed it not. I make a deep hole by the water's side and bury the organs that I don't need. I hate doing this. I really do. I am no better now then the man who shot this buck…but I must survive on my own. I will no longer want the aid of Lord Altrogge and Beryl. I want to be my own person. It takes hours, many, many hours. By tomorrow I should have all the muscle set out for drying as well as the fur and hide cut. The rest, I shall bury again. Late evening, I groom myself to new potential. I roll my long hair up into a ball on the top of my head. I take my washed, limestone dagger and slice it off. The rest of my hair then falls down to about my shoulders. It if kept it that long, it would only get in my way. I take one of the dried tendons from the buck and tie my spear to the wooden rod I collected earlier. It fits well. I take the hide and make a cloak out of it. A cape of nature itself. I take some of the hide and make a little pouch out of it. Sewing the tendons into the top as a noose to close it. Another to make a band around my waist so it will be easier to carry. My ensemble is different, new, and certainly grotesque to what my father would have wanted. I stuff some of the dried venison into my hide pouch and watch the sun slowly rise in the eastern sky. A new day, and a new me. I am finally born. Mother Nature has a new look and a new babe. She had given birth to a wild child.