princesses

For some reason, my sisters thought I was scared of everything. I wasn’t ever really scared, but I was occasionally paranoid. And in this case, I had every right to be.
I had been taught all my life how to be a lady; how to dance gracefully, how to sew, how to speak eloquently, and how to conduct myself properly. This I did cheerfully and optimistically around everyone but my sisters. We all got along fairly well, except for me and my oldest sister, Gwyneth. I hardly ever do anything right, according to her. We have always had very opposing views, but she usually won every argument because she was older. She never really said much to me unless we were arguing about politics or she was telling me, "be quiet Kiara!", but I usually ignored that. Then on one of her nicer days, which also happened to be my 14th birthday, she and my other sisters decided to let me in on a little secret. During the festivities of the day, they presented me with a beautiful, flowing gown and new dancing shoes. When nighttime came and all was settled we all sat in a circle in the middle of our enormous bedroom. Gwyneth proceeded to tell me this story:
A few weeks before, my three oldest sisters were desperately bored and could not sleep. Gwyneth had slammed her hand down hard on her top left bedpost in utter frustration. She was shocked to see that after she had done so, her bed slowly sank into the floor. A staircase came into view, and the curious sisters descended it.
They would tell me nothing more except for that the bed would only sink at precisely midnight, and that I would soon see for myself what they had discovered. I assumed it could only be something wonderful because of the ecstatic looks on their faces. At that time we proceeded to get into our elegant satin ball gowns and dancing shoes. All the while my curiosity about this mysterious place was growing stronger and stronger. Midnight approached and the anticipation grew higher. The moment came and Gwyneth tapped lightly on her top left bedpost, having found a couple of weeks before that she didn’t need to smack it to make the bed sink. We descended the staircase, and as we emerged from the passageway, I saw a most magnificent sight. Standing in front of me was an entire forest comprised of trees made of silver! My sisters smiled at me and said, "just wait, it only gets better". Our dresses whispered as we wandered through the silver forest. After a time we came to an even more beautiful forest. These trees were golden. Our lithe feet made indistinct sounds on the golden forest floor. A short while elapsed and we came to a forest made of glistening diamonds. This was by far the most beautiful of the forests. We finally came to a wide stream of sapphire liquid, on which its shore waited twelve splendid vessels, along with twelve of the most handsome young men I had ever seen. I was introduced to Rhys, the young prince selected for me, and we got into our boats and sailed across the river. We reached shore and there was a gorgeous olive green field. There we danced for hours and hours until our shoes were worn through completely. Our princes escorted us back across the river and we sauntered home in a blissful state.
I had been dancing every night for about a week when my father became suspicious of our constant need for new dancing shoes, since we wore holes in them each night. He locked our door at night, but in the morning our shoes were still worn through. He hadn’t the faintest idea of what to do, so he sent out a royal proclamation that said whoever could tell him where his daughters went at night could have one of them for a bride. We weren’t too thrilled about that. No one ever found out thanks to Gwyneth’s persuasive powers and a potion she put into each man’s wine to make him fall fast asleep. Well, no one until the soldier. All the rest of my sisters thought he was just like another suitor. Somehow he tricked us. I knew something was wrong from the beginning, but my sisters didn’t believe me. As we went down the staircase that night, I couldn’t help looking over my shoulder every few seconds and jumping at the slightest sound. I was sure someone had stepped on my dress as we were coming out of the stairwell, but when I looked behind me, nothing was there! When we got to the shore, Rhys commented on how much heavier our boat seemed tonight, which flung me into a panic once again. I knew there was someone following us. When we got to the emerald field, I slowly forget my unease, and immersed my self in the pleasure of dancing with my beloved Rhys. On the way home I started to worry a little more but Gwyneth pounced on my observations by calling me a silly goose and saying I was scared of everything, so I sulked all the way home. We got back to our room to see the soldier sound asleep outside our door and Gwyneth turned to me with a little smirk that seemed to say "I told you so".
The next morning, my father called us into the customary meeting that was always conducted after a suitor spent the night in our hallway trying to figure out our secret. My sisters thought nothing of it, but I was still a little anxious. At the meeting, our father asked the soldier if he had found out where his daughters go every night. To the King’s surprise, the soldier said that he had found out. But he made our father promise not to be angry with us. The King complied and the soldier proceeded to tell him where we had gone every night for two months. Apparently he had followed us the night before, just like I had suspected. I stole a glance at Gwyneth, who was furious that I had been right. I grinned until I looked over at my father who was brimming with rage. Then he remembered his promise to the soldier and suppressed his feelings with difficulty. "So which one of my lovely daughters do you wish to marry?" my father asked the soldier through clenched teeth. The soldier replied that after seeing how much we loved the princes we danced with each night, he only wished for us to be able to marry them. My father consented, but insisted that the soldier come up with something for himself too. The soldier, after much consideration, said that he would like some farm property and a title for his name. So everyone got what they wanted in the end and hopefully we will all live long, happy lives.