Disclaimer: All stories are individuals of themselves and are unrelated to each other.

Madge sat in the windowsill of her tower, staring down at the picturesque scene before her. She loved to read and had a pretty vast library in her tower, but none of the books she owned could string together a sentence that properly described the view she had. It was lovely with a small stream, patches of flowers, and green grass lush and thick. She couldn't even imagine what experiencing it would feel like. Oh, how she ached to feel the grass between her toes.

"Margaret," her mother called. Madge tilted her head but made no effort to move from her spot. The breeze was lightly blowing and it raised the hair on her arms. "Margaret, please," her mother sighed. "Get away from that window. You've got no business there."

"I like to sing to the birds," Madge said.

Her mother frowned, "You've got no reason to sing to the birds. Mockingjays are awful, Margaret."

"They're just songbirds," Madge murmured under her breath. Beautiful birds that would echo whatever tune Madge sang. The most interaction she had with the outside world. But it upset her mother, and seeing this made Madge feel bad. Finally she pushed herself away from the windowsill and crossed to where her mother was sitting and waiting for her.

Mother Alma was a beautiful woman with wispy gray hair that hung straight down her back. Her eyes were cold and silver. Her smile, though rare, was the nicest part about her. But she loved Madge, no matter how closed off she seemed, and wanted to raise her correctly. Mother Alma gestured to the piano and Madge took her seat on the rickety old bench quickly.

"Your favorite?" Madge asked.

"Please, Sunshine. I'm feeling tired."

There was a chair by the piano that Mother Alma sat in, close enough that she could reach Madge's hair. Now, that was the thing. Madge's hair was incredibly long, so long that it could reach the bottom of the tower when lowered out the window. It was special hair, hair that healed and gave strength to her mother or to whomever needed it. When Madge sang a special song, the one her mother had taught, her hair would begin to glow. Having so much time alone in the tower Madge created a piano tune to go along with it.

Darkness fills the land
But you will always shine
Your light will give me hope
Your light will give me time

Pain and fear are gone
And Fate has no design
Change the past for good
Bring back what once was mine
What once was mine

Madge finished her song and looked back at her mother who has been fiddling with the tips of Madge's golden hair. Her skin looked fresh, her eyes were bright, and Mother Alma smiled beautifully at her daughter. Her gray hair was no longer thin and frail, but thick and dark.

"I'm already feeling so much better," Mother Alma hummed. Madge smiled and looked back at the piano. "You give me life, my Sunshine."

Madge rested her fingers over the keys and let out a deep breath. It was best to catch mother in one of her good moods, if she was going to ask she might as well ask now.

"Mother," Madge started. "You know my birthday is coming up soon, right?"

"Of course," Mother Alma nodded. "Do you want something?"

"Yes," Madge admitted. She looked back at her mother who was lounging in the chair. "Every year on my birthday there's a music festival in the kingdom." She only knows this because every year on her birthday the mockingjays would flood the tower with beautiful songs of cheer and hope. Some of their warbles reminded her of piano music, a soft song she felt in her bones, a song that was reminiscent of a memory she couldn't remember. Soft, like a lullaby. "I'd like to go."

Mother Alma scowled. "There's no music festival in the kingdom," she snapped. "And if there were I wouldn't permit you to go, anyway. The outside world is too dangerous and you're much too fragile."

"I'm not, Mother, please, I'm turning 18 and have never left this tower!"

"And you never will!" Mother Alma stood abruptly and Madge lifted her hand to wipe her eyes. "Men out there will find you they will use you. They'll cut your hair off and it will lose its power, and then they will use your body and leave you in the riverbed."

"Mother—"

"My answer is no." Mother Alma crossed the room away from her. "I am your mother and I know what's best for you, no matter if you think I'm being cruel." Madge continued to swat at her eyes. It was such a simple request, a trip into the kingdom for a day. "If there is something else you'd like, I can consider it, but you may not leave this tower, Margaret."

Madge sniffled and looked back at her piano. She wasn't going to fight her on this, there was on point. She would lose, and then her mother would be mad at her. If she wanted a decent birthday she would accept defeat and try again next year.

"Okay," Madge whispered. She sniffled again. "Okay, then I guess some new books of piano music would be nice," she said. "And some strawberries." Mother Alma watched as she wiped her eyes.

"The piano sheets I get you are a few days away, you know I only get you the best." Madge looked up and saw Mother Alma with a frown. "Alright, Sunshine. If that's what you want." Madge dipped her head but wouldn't look at her mother. With a sigh Mother Alma crossed the room back to her daughter. She stroked Madge's hair gently and tilted her chin up. "I'm sorry to be so harsh, I just want to keep you safe."

"I understand," Madge nodded. Mother Alma bent down and pressed a kiss to the top of Madge's head. "Thank you, Mother."

Mother Alma quickly made up a basket to take with her on the journey. It would take a day and a half to get there and a few days to get back, the journey would be five days long total. Madge had been alone longer than that before so this would be no trouble, she'd just be alone on her birthday.

Madge let her hair down and let Mother Alma out of the tower, waving goodbye as she exited their small space of land. Madge curled into a ball when her mother was gone and stared out the window. A mockingjay flew up and sang a beautiful song. Not all was lost. She whistled back a tune that the mockingjay repeated perfectly.

"Just you and me," Madge sighed as the bird perched on her windowsill.

Gale doesn't remember how long he'd been running. There was a turkey slung over his back and a group of men on horses following him at light speed. Apparently poaching on the king and queen's land was illegal. He'd never been caught before, he didn't expect today to be any different.

That probably wasn't the only reason they were chasing him, however.

With the lost princess's birthday coming up the whole kingdom must've been tense. She was turning 18 this year, if she was even alive. Many speculate she was killed the night she was kidnapped. There are more guards out than usual in hopes to find her, or at least some knowledge of her. And while Gale was hunting a whole troop approached him.

So he began to run. He heard them at his back but he had an advantage. He knew the woods like the back of his hand and could easily maneuver through the trees and vines. Just as he thought he was safe, resting on a patch of vines, he fell through. Gale stumbled backwards and realized he was in some sort of hole, the vines were just a patch that covered it. Gale could still hear the men after him but if he disappeared back through here they'd never find him.

Quickly he sprinted down the away from the men and through this little cave. After a few minutes he found himself in a small enclosure. It was beautiful from the start, secluded and full of lush grass and colorful flowers, but what really threw him off was the giant tower in the center.

"Holy shit," he muttered. Gale shoved his turkey into his bag now that he had time to stop running and zipped it carefully. He knew it would take a while to reach the top but it was his best bet at completely avoiding the guards that were chasing him. That, and he was incredibly curious.

Madge was in the upper level of her tower, which contained her bedroom, when the mockingjay on her windowsill whistled the tune it always does when Mother Alma is here. Madge furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, how could mother be back already? She paced from her room to see what was going on, to look down the window to for her mother, but froze in her doorway, slinking back into her room before a quiet scream crawled up her throat.

It wasn't Mother Alma who had been near the tower. She usually called for Madge to let down her hair anyway. Someone had climbed the tower all by himself and was currently in Madge's living room.

"Alone at last," he murmured, dropping his bag from his shoulder and looking up at the tower. The boy, whoever he was, paced over to the piano and pressed a few keys. Madge slunk backwards into her room. "I could get used to this," he said.

What should she do? Mother Alma had told her all about boys and men and how awful and terrifying they were. Was he here to take her away? To cut off her hair so it never worked again and lost all of its power? He didn't seem much of a threat, he was just walking around. It wasn't even as though he was looking for something, looking for her.

Madge fiddled with her hair and took another quick peek out, finding the boy sitting in Mother Alma's chair rifling through his bag. She inched closer and got her first real look of him, and was frozen once more. He couldn't be evil, he was much too good looking.

The boy was tall, she saw that when he walked in. His skin was dark and so was his hair, his chin was chiseled and his face was beautiful. Madge watched him for a moment before he pulled something out of his bag and stood tall, pointing it in her direction.

Madge yelped, retreating into her room. It was a bow and arrow!

"Who's there?" the boy called. Madge hid behind her doorway. How did he know she was here? She was so quiet! "Come out, now!"

"This is my home," Madge called back, her voice shaking. She watched as he lowered his bow and arrow but kept it in his hands. "Please, I mean you no harm. I live here. What's your name?"

He hesitated. "Gale. Come out so I can see you and we can talk like civil humans."

"Drop your weapon," Madge cried. "I have nothing, I swear!" She heard his weapon clatter to the ground and took a deep breath. Madge removed herself from her room and stood out on the staircase where he could see her. Gale's eyes widened, his lips parting as he saw her. Immediately he was overwhelmed with her beauty, her golden hair and her incredibly blue eyes. Her skin was fair, her lips soft and pink. She had on a purple dress that fit her wonderfully, she must've made it herself. "My name is Madge," she said.

He held up his hands. "I didn't mean to alarm you," Gale said in a breath. "I thought I was alone here." Madge stayed on the staircase, too scared to go any closer. "I won't hurt you."

"Why are you here?" Madge asked. "How did you find me?"

"I wasn't looking," he mused. Katniss always told him that the best things came when no one was expecting them too, he guesses this makes sense. "Listen, please, come down so we can talk." Madge had never done one risky thing in her entire life. She had spent almost all 18 years of her life doing whatever her mother said, but her mother wasn't here. So she came out of her room. "Holy shit," Gale's eyes widened. "Is that…" hair? It wasn't too thick, in fact her hair was rather thin in comparison to how much of it was there, but it was all straight and golden.

Madge awkwardly brushed a strand of her hair behind her ear. "Please don't ask," she blurted. Gale shook himself out of staring and looked away. "You need to go," Madge said. "Please."

"Madge, you said?" Gale asked. She nodded. He approached her slowly, extending his hand in her direction. She shuffled away but when she realized he had no weapons and just wanted a handshake she moved forward. Her hands were soft and smooth compared to his, small. "It's nice to meet you," he said softly.

Her cheeks flared up. "Thank you. I mean. You too."

Their hands dropped from one another but Gale didn't move away. "You live here? All by yourself?"

"My mother, but she's… she'll be back." Gale nodded, glancing around the inside.

"Do you ever leave?"

"Never," Madge shook her head. He paused, returning his eyes to her. "It's not safe." Gale's eyes returned to her long flowing locks that spanned across the hardwood floor. "My mother said men are dangerous."

"Many," Gale agreed. Madge eyed him warily. "I mean there's no one here to vouch for my character but I promise I'm not dangerous. At least, not to you."

"That doesn't make me feel any safer," she admitted.

He laughed, then smiled, and Madge felt warmth flowing through her body. It was a sensation she had never experienced before. "I'm sorry," Gale shook his head. "I don't mean to make you feel unsafe."

"You were pointing a bow and arrow at me."

"I'm a hunter," Gale shrugged. "I hunt animals. I've got a turkey in my bag now, if you'd like me to prove it." Madge dipped her head and Gale crossed back to his bag, pulling out the feathered creature. As he extracted it from his bag something else fell out that he quickly tried to conceal.

"What's that?" she asked.

"Nothing."

His hands were full and she was too quick. Madge crossed the room, her hair dragging on the floor behind her, and picked it up before he could put it away. It was a crown.

"What's this?" she asked him. Gale fumbled for words, unable to answer her. "Why do you have this? Are you royalty?"

"No—"

"Then you stole it," Madge concluded.

"No," he answered immediately. "A man I know did and I've been trying to return it but it's a little complicated when the guards think I'm the one who took it." She held the crown firmly in her hands, studying the beautiful blue jewels that adorned it. "I swear to you that I'm not a thief."

"Whose is it?"

"The lost princess," Gale told her. He kept his distance as she held up the crown. "She was taken from her room when she was a baby, they kept this waiting for her if she was to return."

"She hasn't?"

"Many believe that she's dead," Gale said. "They hold a musical festival in the kingdom every year hoping one day she'll hear it and return. The mockingjays, the kingdom's birds, carry the songs all across the nation. A lullaby her mother used to sing to her. They hope it will help her find her home."

"I knew there was a music festival," Madge murmured, thinking of how her mother lied to her this morning. "Will you take me?"

Gale blanched. "Excuse me?"

"My birthday is soon and I've always known there was a festival in the kingdom. My mother refused to take me." Madge gestures to the piano, "I love to play. I would love to hear others play as well." He reached for the crown but she held it out of reach. "Take me or I'll turn you in."

"Excuse me?" Gale repeated. "Who do you—"

"You said guards are looking for you, I'll turn you in if you don't take me."

He scoffed. "And how do you plan to do that?"

"I know this tower like the back of my hand," Madge said. "I'll lock it up, you won't be able to get out. I'll lead them here." He shook his head, not quite believing her. Her voice was shaking, "Do you really want to take that risk?" Gale continued to stare at her. "I've never been out of this tower and all I want is to go into the kingdom once. Please. I've been dreaming about it ever since I was a child."

Madge held the crown out of sight and waited for Gale's response.

He weighed the options in his head. This girl had never been out of the tower before and the kingdom was a place everyone should get a chance to see. She was beautiful and closed off, but deserved a chance to see the world. However, Gale wasn't welcome in the kingdom. If he was caught they'd surely kill him. But if he didn't help her he'd be taking the risk that she would turn him in, and then when they caught him they'd still kill him.

Gale sighed and held out his hands. "Okay."

"Okay?" she repeated.

"Okay. I'll take you to the music festival." She grinned, bouncing on her toes. "But!" Gale ended her happiness immediately with a stern look. "But no funny business. If I think you're going to go back on the deal at any time I'm out. You got that?"

"Got it," Madge agreed. "Wait here," she said, "I have to go change."

She took the crown with her to hide it for safekeeping. There was no way she was going to let him turn back on this deal.