Chapter 5: A Stroll Through the Forest

Elsewhere, several miles away from her mother's castle, Lapis was happily strolling through the forest, coming across many types of fresh berries, and adding them to her basket.

"These will be perfect for any occasion," the princess said to herself.

To keep herself entertained during her walk, Lapis started to sing. Her angelic voice chimed throughout the forest, so much so that many of the forest's birds and creatures were captivated by the princess' singing and began to follow her.

As she went further into the forest, Lapis began to feel exhausted and decided that she needed a short rest. Up ahead she saw a fallen tree log laying ideally near a stream.

"That looks like a perfect spot to relax," she thought as she walked slowly to the stream.

Once Lapis had seated herself comfortably, her new animal friends gathered around her, to which she was smitten by how many there were. Suddenly to her surprise, a little bluebird came down from its perch and nestled itself into the princess' lap. Bemused by the bird's curious nature, the princess couldn't help but smile and gave the small creature a few pettings.

"Well, aren't you the most curious little thing," laughed Lapis as she looked at the bird. "You remind me of myself, always curious about everything."

Then, the blue girl had a quick look around to see if anyone else was in the forest, but all was quiet, other than the noises her new friends were making.

"Can you all keep a secret?" she asked quietly to the creatures, to which they nodded in agreement.

"As much as I am enjoying my birthday so far," she spoke. "For the past few days, my heart has been feeling empty."

Lapis began telling the animals about her deepest desire, the one that she kept hidden from both her mother as well as the castle staff. The animals were quite interested, listening closely to what the princess was discussing.

"You see, I have this dream, that one day I would meet someone who would sweep me off my feet, and we would dance for hours on end," the princess expressed dreamily. "But then, I would wake up and realise that it was just a dream."

Lapis' smile soon disappeared and was replaced by a sad frown. The creatures took note of this and began to feel sorry for her.

"I've told my fairy guardians about it, but they all think I'm talking nonsense," the blue girl continued.

However, she then remembered the one person who believed in her dream.

"Although, I have told my friend Steven about my dream," Lapis spoke as a smile slowly came back to her face. "He told me that no matter how long it takes, I will eventually find the one that I can call, my true love."

With the encouraging words of her friend in mind, Lapis decided to continue her berry search. She began lifting herself from the log, but not before letting the bluebird fly off her lap. Soon the princess was on her way again and she continued her singing, with the mesmerised animals following in succession.

Meanwhile, in another part of the forest, a young stable boy was escorting a horse that had escaped from its pen back to the stable he worked at. The young man's name was Jamie. He was a hard worker and was friendly to those he met. However, he was quite a hopeless romantic and hoped to someday find a special someone for himself. Just then, he heard a beautiful sound coming from within the forest.

"Did you hear that, Onion?" Jamie asked the horse, who responded with a simple snort. "It sounds like a fair maiden; and from the sound of her voice, she must have come from the heavens above."

Bewitched by Lapis' voice, Jamie looked to the nearest tree and tied Onion's ropes down to prevent him from escaping again. Then without hesitation, he made his way to the singing maiden as quickly as he could.

"Perhaps today will be my lucky day," Jamie thought to himself. "Today will be the day where I'll finally meet the woman of my dreams."

However, the stable boy wasn't paying attention to where he was going, and he ended up tripping over a tree root. With a splash, Jamie landed face-first into the stream and became lightly soaked.

Hearing the splash along with a sudden cry of "Ouch!", Lapis went to investigate where the sounds were coming from, with some of her new companions following closely behind her. She eventually made it back to the stream, where she saw a soaked Jamie trying to pick himself back up. The princess was concerned for the young man but was also bemused by how soaked he was.

"Are you alright, sir?" Lapis asked innocently, trying not to chuckle.

"Yes, I'm fine," responded the stable boy. "Just a little drenched that's all."

Lapis soon reached out her hand and helped Jamie out of the water. "How on earth did you end up in the stream?" the blue girl asked.

Jamie explained that he was fascinated by a maiden's voice, to which he wanted to find out where it was coming from. Lapis told him that it was her who was singing, to which the young stable boy admired how beautiful her voice was. Whilst the princess was flattered by this compliment, she also reprimanded the young man for not being aware of his surroundings.

"Take better care of yourself," she said. "It's dangerous to not look where you're…"

But before she could say anything more, Lapis began to feel a strange pounding in her chest and found herself looking deeply into Jamie's beautiful black eyes.