Every day the prince grew fonder of Lila. Her sad eyes begged him to love her. "You are such a sweet and kind girl," the prince told her one day. They were on one of their horseback outings and had stopped for a light lunch. He sat Lila down, their escorts watching but out of earshot. "Let me tell you of a girl I love but will never meet again." Lila just looked up at him with her begging eyes. "The night the sky saw fit to attack my ship and the sea carried me back to shore, I was delivered to the shore near a small temple. There was a girl staying at the temple, and she found me there on the sand in the morning. She saved my life, and helped nurse me back to health the first few weeks; but soon after the temple sent her elsewhere."

It is unfortunate that he doesn't know that it was me who saved him; that I saw him fall into the sea and that I carried him to shore and sat with him all the night. I saw the maiden that he speaks of. I saw the girls find him that morning. He thinks she saved him! I am ever so lucky he will not be seeing this girl again. It would be a pity to have given up my life for him if she had stayed by his side.

"My dear dumb* girl, the only girl I could love has gone away. But you remind me of her in your kindness and sorrow." The prince continued, "It has become time for me to marry. I am being sent to see a maiden from another village. A grand wedding ship has already been built. I must travel and see the village there anyway, but none can make me marry this girl. I cannot love her. She can be nothing like the girl who saved me. If I am to be forced to marry, I would rather marry you." Lila smiled and blushed at the prince; he placed a small kiss on her delicate fingers then ran his fingers over the texture of her braid.

Weeks passed and Lila became closer and closer with the prince and he told her many personal things about himself. He taught her of the world; of forests and deserts, of different kingdoms, and animals. But then he taught her of the sea. I wonder, if he knows ever so little of the sea, does that mean that he knows so little of the forests and deserts and animals too? And the boats were prepared for the trip while the prince and Lila had their things packed for them.

The trip there took many days, but there was not much walking to do on the ship, for which Lila was glad. Her friends followed her along and watched her by night. All the while, the prince spoke to Lila of how he did not want to marry this girl, while his resolve to marry her grew.

When the ship made harbor early in the morning, Lila had to acknowledge that this kingdom was even more glorious than the one where the prince ruled. The castle was perched high on a hill, and the entire kingdom was high up on cliffs topped with high guarded walls lined with colorful flags and banners. The harbor was entered by a series of large gates through a channel between the cliffs and opened to a large protected bay and docks full of grand ships. They were greeted by forty uniformed trumpeters, each shiny horn finished by a small banner bearing the coat of arms of the prince to greet him.

The prince and his small private group were loaded into large gilded open top carriages, which were lined with mother of pearl instead of wood like Lila had expected. They were escorted by forty soldiers marching with polished swords raised in front of their faces. The trumpeters led the group from the harbor to the castle where the prince and his massive party would be staying. Lila had heard there were near one hundred that had come with the prince and once you counted everyone with their escorts, the kitchen staff and maids that had come on the ship with them, and all the sailors it was even more. The church bells all rang their welcome as they passed and people lined the streets to see the visiting prince.

Much like Lila's first week ashore, there was a week of festivities, only there was a ball each night. The entire week of the festival and nightly balls wore Lila out and left her escorts tending to her bleeding feet at the end of each night. However, the maiden that the prince was to meet had still not showed herself. Lila was not overly worried, as she knew the prince did not want to marry the maiden, but she did want to see if she was prettier than she was.

Lila and the prince were told that she had spent the last several years being raised up under the royal church in order to be well trained in all royal virtues and knowledgeable in all areas. She should have arrived home the day the prince did, but had been held up for there were storms where she had last been. After three days of resting at the palace, for which Lila was very grateful, the maiden appeared. Lila and the prince were in a nook in the library near a small fireplace enjoying a game of chess when Lila felt a presence behind her.

Lila turned to see if they had been brought more of the lemonade which Lila was quite fond of. Instead there was a mound of soft yellow curls near her face. The girl raised herself and looked at the pair with deep, blue eyes. She is quite lovely, but I am ever so much more than she, the prince has already said he would marry me. All he has to do is tell this poor gir-

"Helga?" The prince nearly choked on the name.

"Arnold," the maiden seemed familiar with the prince, "you remembered me?" Lila saw a small tear of joy glaze over the maiden's blue eyes.

"Your eyes are like two diamonds, shining brightly amidst a sky of pale blue heaven. **" Arnold stood up and bumped the table, knocking over their game pieces. He walked right past Lila, paying her no mind. He reached out and pulled Helga in to himself and held her tight. "It was you; you saved me and nursed me back to health. I could not be happier than I am now to have found you again. All my hopes and dreams I now know can be accomplished because you are here with me."

*Definition of DUMB

1A- lacking the human power of speech dumb animals
1B- of a person often offensive : lacking the ability to speak

2- temporarily unable to speak (as from shock or astonishment) struck dumb with fear

3- not expressed in uttered words

**Please watch the episode "Married"