ACT III: Another Tale
"Once upon a time, there lived a maid in a castle, where a princess and her grandmother lived. The maid grew up along side the princess, and both became the best of friends. She was not as beautiful as the princess and did not mind, content in admiring her mistress and friend. She served the princess well, tending to her every need, in order that she pay the debts to the grandmother and princess.
She owed her life to them. No one would have taken her in, and she would have died, left alone out there, if they had not accepted her. For that, she would be in their servitude the rest of her life. She did not mind because she now had a place to eat and sleep, a friend, and a family.
One day, she brought breakfast to the grandmother and noticed something different in the her manner. Something cold and secretive. The old woman began to isolate herself from her granddaughter and the maid more and more each day. It was true she practice magic, but the girls saw that more as a hobby than anything remotely dangerous.
The princess felt hurt to be pushed away by her grandmother and confided in her friend, but the maid consoled her silently and continued to serve them as if nothing was wrong. In heart, she knew something big was going to happen, but she could not betray her own master, the person that raised her and cared for her.
Soon, it came to a point where the princess was suddenly locked away in the tower. The grandmother ordered the maid to feed her three times a day and not to let her free. Torn between her eternal debt to the woman and the friendship with the princess, she broke down in her bedroom.
For the next days, she obediently did as she was told by the woman. The princess did not protest and accepted her fate. It was that acceptance that finally the maid decided to set the princess free. On the night when the old woman left for bed, she stole the keys and unlocked the tower door. The princess hesitated to flee, but the maid insisted that they must escape together.
It was fate that it wasn't meant to be.
The old woman found out and recaptured the princess, locking her in the tower once more.
As for the maid, she was banished into the darkness. No one knew what happened to her after her life at the castle, but perhaps she had not gone too far away.
Perhaps she was biding her time.
END of ACT III.