Nixiesocean: I think I am liking the Fairy Tales section of FF.N. It gives you more room to maneuver. Wink . Anyways, onto the story!

Chapter 1: Random Encounters?

Princess Ditri was to be escorted back to her new homeland tomorrow. She had no worries. The prince, Prince Perhin was vain. He ruled a large and wealthy country, Auszin, which was why Ditri d'Zelun was to be married. For money. Ditri was not happy about such shallow reasons, but complied to please her parents. She was the only child, and only heir, to the throne of Guen. But, there was a second issue to the marriage. The king and queen of Auszin had only barely not threatened her mother and father about Auszin invading Guen.

"Mother," Ditri called softly down the hall. "Mother!"

A tall, elegant shape appeared in the passageway. "Yes, Ditri? What did you want?"

"I cannot find my dress, you know, the pale pink one, well, its not here." Ditri had never been spoiled and was the perfect example of a young lady. Her parents, however, never knew of her nightly (sometimes daily) escapades into the city.

"Sweet, I do not know where it is." Her mother turned to leave; Ditri caught her hand.

"I do. I wanted to come tell you. I'm scared, what if he's mean? Or if he doesn't like me? Or-"

Her mother touched her shoulder. "Come, sit with me on your bed." They sat; Ditri leaned up against her mother's breast. Moving her hand up and down Ditri's back, the queen managed to soothe her fretting daughter. "Did you know I never knew your father until we met here in Starfall (that was Guen's capital)?"

"No, mommy." She was almost sixteen, and she still, in private, called Mother, 'mommy'.

"Well, when we first met, I hated him because I was dragged away from my home to marry him without option. We had to stay around each and we gradually learned to love each other."

Ditri remembered she was sixteen and not five. "But, Mother, he is terrible, he's arrogant, vain and rules a huge country that practically threatened to invade Guen if I didn't marry him!"

"I know sweet one." She whispered. "I know."

-later­-

Ditri had often gone into the city, she was always curious about the common folk. When her mother had caught her escaping one night, she had told her that it was a good trait, though, Ditri really didn't think about the common folk, just what they did.

She pulled out a brown dress and put it on. She pulled out the red-gold bun in her hair and brushed it, pulling into a ponytail, she looked at the mirror. Still to similar, she thought to herself.

In her drawer was a rag, she pulled that out and drenched it with water from the water basin. She wiped off the make-up that was still on her face. She picked up some dirty clothes that were in a basket. Opening her door, Ditri slipped into the corridor. She silently moved past the guards and they never noticed the maiden.

When she got outside the castle, she dropped the basket and scooped up dirt and rubbed some on her cheeks and forehead. Ditri had been outside fairly often, so she was a decent shade of brown. She walked into town; the leather slippers she wore served as shoes.

Normally, she might serve off to the river to wash the clothes, but since they were nothing more than old rags, she dropped them in an alley. With an empty basket, Ditri weaved her way through the crowd; it was slightly past noontime.

She stopped at a baker's shop and bought a small muffin. She was sure, this time, to buy with copper coins. She had learned. Once, her first time escaping, she tried to pay with a gold coin, everyone had thought her a thief.

She exited the baker's shop and sat on a barrel, munching on the muffin. A small girl with her brother came up to the princess.

"Ma'am, may I have some?" she asked, Ditri looked at the young girl and her brother.

"May I ask your names?" Ditri asked while handing the children her muffin.

"I am Serlia and this is my brother, Meroz." Serlia said, she was dirtier then the princess, and much skinnier. They were dressed in familiar-looking clothes; the clothes were too big for either child. Then, it dawned on Ditri, they had found the clothes she had so casually thrown away.

"Such pretty names," she replied. "I am Poien." She had to think quickly to come up with a commoner-sounding name. 'Ditri' was the princess; 'Poien' was a commoner with a smudge on her nose.

"Thank you, Miss Poien." Serlia said, Meroz was quiet, though he had eaten the part of the muffin Serlia had given him. They started to walk away.

"Wait." She said, jumping up. They looked gaunt. "Why haven't you eaten?"

Serlia looked sad. "Mother is dead and Father left after Meroz was born." She intoned. "We have to beg for food nowadays."

Ditri felt guilty, she was never hungry. Sometimes, she was sent to bed without food, but the next morning, she was fed. "I'm so sorry." She looked down and saw the lining of the basket. She picked it up. "Come with me." She held Serlia's hand. They walked back into the baker's shop.

"Hello again. Can I buy some bread?" Ditri asked. The baker looked at Ditri, then at the children, he shrugged and went to get the loaf.

"How much of it ya want?" the baker asked.

"The whole loaf." Ditri said. Then she added, "Please."

Meroz whispered to his sister, Serlia looked up and Ditri. "Miss, why are you buying bread?"

"Shh." She whispered back. "It's a secret!"

The baker handed her the loaf wrapped in a cloth. She set that in the basket and left. Serlia and Meroz followed. Ditri and the two kids walked to a butcher's shop. They stopped and bought some dried meats. Lastly, they went to a cobbler. Ditri bought to two children shoes.

When they had left the cobbler's shop, Ditri turned to Serlia and Meroz. "Here you two go. Eat it slowly, you want it to last."

Serlia took the liner stuffed with food and looked at Ditri. Thanks exuded from the little girl. "Miss Poien, are you an angel?"

Ditri was taken aback. "No, little one, just make sure not to eat it all at once."

"No Ma'am!" Serlia said. Meroz came up to Ditri, she leaned down to his height, and he kissed her on the cheek. Ditri felt good after such a day. She stood and watched the two siblings disappear into the dwindling crowd.

She turned and started to walk away. She bumped into a man. All the food he'd been holding tumbled out of his hands and onto the ground. He was dressed like a noble, but spoke with the accent of a commoner. She detected something foreign about him.

"Sorry." She said. She leaned down to pick up the food. He was down on the ground as well, smiling at such an odd encounter.

"That's alright." He said. They stood, Ditri handed him the food. She wiped off her hands on the dress. She held it out.

"Poien. I am so sorry, is there anything else I can do?"

He shook it. "Tristan. And yes, want to help me take this to my inn? I'm from Auszin and we are to pick up Princess Ditri-" She stared at him. "What?"

"Oh, nothing," she lied. "I've just never seen the princess and I was wondering about her. Continue." This was her escort? The guy she bumped into on a street? She held out her hands and Tristan placed some of the food in her arms. They started to walk down the street.

"Well, we are to pick up Princess Ditri and take her back to the castle in the capital of Auszin. We arrived early, and didn't want to bother the king and queen."

"I see." Ditri said, they found the inn; it was one of the nicer ones. "This yours?"

"Yeah, you want to come in and have a drink with me?" he asked, Ditri had never been inside a tavern, just outside one.

"Uh, sure." They took the food to a room and returned to the front.

They sat on some stools (they were very hard). "What do you want?"

"Do they have wine?" Damn! She cursed; no inn would have wine! "Or some, uh, beer?"

He smiled when she spoke about wine, obviously he had tasted it before. "Beer it is! Bartender," He shouted. "A mug for the lady and I!" The bartender looked at Ditri, he then gave Tristan the mugs of beer. "Drink up, my lady." He joked.

She looked at the beer, it seemed more like gruel and smelled just as bad, but she had never tasted, so what could the harm be? She took a mouthful and… spit it back out.

"Hey!" Tristan said. "Never tasted beer?"

"Um, no, not really." she said truthfully, her mother and father had just recently let her drink wine! She drank more; it tasted terrible. Night fell quickly and she realized she had to get back to the palace. "Oh, I'm sorry Tristan, I have to go." She rushed out the door.

He followed out the door, stumbling slightly from the beer. "Wait!"