Sleeping Beauty Prince Philip and the Forest Nymph

46

**Forest Nymph and Philip**

**Asleep**

The moon was larger than I had ever seen it. Bright with a yellow hue and glimmering down at me. Without provocation it dropped suddenly from the sky and began to sink into the lake still glowing as if someone had dropped a coin it glided toward the bottom. Then, to my horror, the stars followed it. Plummeting from the sky into the cool water chasing after the moon. I cried in horror.

**Awake**

It was one of the first warm days of the year and Rose left early in the dewy morning to make it three valleys away and back again with the light. She had found most of the beets nearby and so had to widen her search. The first spring beets, with their fresh greens still attached by deep rosy stems, are more tender than their larger brethren that are harvested later in the year.

Two thirds of the way to her destination, she found a nice smooth boulder to rest on and adjust her shoes. The boulder was exposed enough to not attract much moss growth, but short enough to easily climb. She heard a pounding and tensed. There were bears to be mindful of, but a mild enough winter suggested that bears should not be a problem. As she tuned her ears to where the sound came from, she realized that it was not a soft noise close, but a loud noise at some distance: horses' hooves. She left her rock and began heading in the noises direction.

She had seen horses before, but rarely. Men would only occasionally ride this deep into the forest when prey was scarce. She had been quick enough to see the men on them too, although the nuns discouraged any contact with them. Rose and the nuns she lived with weren't completely self-sustaining, but one of the nuns would always be the one to leave their house in the woods and venture for additional supplies. The first men on horses she had seen had mesmerized her. The way the men and horses seamlessly glided together, the way the men generated hair on their faces and the many diverse clothes and things they had on them. She had been severely punished by the nuns when she was found imitating their riding on a fence.

The horses seemed to be coming in her direction. And then she saw it, a large buck bounding through the trees. Of course, she realized, they were chasing the buck. An arrow landed squarely into the buck's right hip, throwing off its gate and causing it to trip and fall with an anguished continuous cry. Rose raced toward it, withdrew her knife and quickly, with great care to avoid the thrashing horns, slit the buck's throat. The screaming stopped.

The blood was still dripping from the buck's neck watering the fresh green ground. She wiped her knife on her skirt, as Rose grew from a child in the nun's care to a young woman, more of these tasks seemed to fall to her. She was still looking at the deer, when the hooves grew louder and she would have to try to hide. She was not supposed to interact with men, but this was such a large kill that she thought she had earned a right to some of it.

Her indecision proved to be a decision when shortly three horses and riders found their way to the carcass. They slowed their pace when they realized the buck was already dead. They held very bewildered expressions seeing a young woman, knife in hand, next to the deer. It is very dangerous to cut the throat of a wounded deer, although it may spare them pain, deer behave erratically especially when injured. They dismounted, tied up their horses, and walked towards her. Rose, who had grown to be taller than most of the nuns, was amazed at how tall two of the men were and the third was a stout man with a sunshine brown beard.

"Why Hubert, you have found the better prey here," the stout man joked.

"Bard, You would dare compare a lady to an animal? You shame yourself." Philip scolded. There was something about Philip's eyes; they did not stray from her, even when speaking to Hubert. It was almost an aggressive move. "Maybe men were evil things?" Rose thought.

"There aren't any ladies out here, these country dwellers are little better than the beggars." Bard retorted. As he grew closer he started miming and pointing to the deer. Pointing at Rose and then to the deer and bowing slightly, saying in a loud overly annunciated voice, "Thank you!"

"Sir, I demand a quarter of this deer for my assistance with this kill." Rose replied thinking she should have asked for more, but since there were four of them present only asked for a quarter. The three of them seemed a bit shocked by her clear diction and confident demand. Few would have Rose's confidence, she was one against three, those three were heavily armed and she had no knowledge of their intentions.

"See Bard from a peasant's apparel a lady's voice sprouts." Philip said. "Please stay and dine with us" Philip invited. His voice was genuine, he did not speak in mockery. Rose had packed some bread to snack on, but fresh venison, which she hadn't had for a season would be so much tastier. She nodded.

Embarrassed Bard barked out "Hubert, go get some wood." Rose then went to work, stepped toward the deer, and split open the stomach from below the ribs to the groin, careful not to cut too deep and pierce the guts. Philip and Bard stared in amazement. She began digging into the carcass with her knife, cutting the guts free from the cavity. Philip made a disgusted face as she pierced the diaphragm and additional blood flowed out. "Weren't they huntsmen?" Rose thought, surprised at their reaction.

When Hubert returned with wood he also began assisting Rose with the carcass, Bard began aggregating the wood together in no particular structure and Philip seemed to be sitting back watching the undertaking.

"Don't make the fire there." Hubert said to Bard with some annoyance. "We don't want to set up camp so close to these," he gestured to the guts and organs they had discarded, "they'll attract animals."

"Oh are you going to live here?" Rose asked inquisitively. Bard let out a little laugh as he began carrying off the woodpile to a different spot.

"Only for the night." Philip corrected and sighed. "We've gone too far in this time, it will be a long way back and those two are already ready to kill each other."

Hubert, finished yelling at Bard, focused all his attention on the carcass and indicated to Rose that he preferred to work alone so he could make preparations his way. Rose cleaned her knife and hands again on her skirt and walked over to Philip. She was taken with his wide shoulders; "he must turn side ways to walk through doors" she thought.

"How is it then that you speak so well, I'm sorry what is your name?" Philip asked.

"Rose. I was raised by nuns who took care to make sure I was well educated." She replied.

"And is a life in the nunnery one that you would choose for yourself?" Philip asked.

"What else is there?" Rose replied. Philip smiled at the response and thought it cruel to mention everything she might be missing. He started heading to the horses to unload the supplies for the evening. Rose followed. He carried a canvassed bundle that consumed both his arms in the process and with some effort made his way to where Bard had set up a new fire location. Rose had offered to help, but was also told to go else where. It was quite odd the nuns had grown to appreciate everything she took on for them, but these men seemed to not care for her assistance.

Bard was bent over his logs trying to light them, blowing profusely with out much success. Rose quickly grabbed some dead leaves and smaller twigs and added them to his efforts. The fire caught on the kindling long enough to light the wood.

"She's better than Hubert!" Bard pronounced, "Let's take her as our guide instead."

"You need a guide for the forest?" Rose asked astonished.

"Not all of us grew up in here." Philip replied as he was struggling with latching rope to a tree to lay the canvass over.

"What are you doing?" Rose asked him.

"I'm preparing a dry place for us to sleep tonight."

"You sleep in there?" Rose was shocked by their primitive practices.

"When you don't have time to build a house you make do." Philip replied. Soon the fire was at a steady temperature and Hubert had finished cleaning the deer carcass and brought the meat to roast. As the first pieces of cooked meat were declared done the men watched in awe as Rose ate the food with delicacy they offered her, even when it came off a stick. Although this was an early evening meal, the sun still set quickly in the early spring. Rose became conscientious of the late hour. She stood up abruptly, gaining the attention of all the men present. In a sweeping courtesy she said,

"I thank you all for your hospitality and generosity, but I must return home now."

Philip stood up as well, "You should not return to the nunnery alone at this hour, may we escort you?"

"I thank you no, I know my way quite well, I will be in no danger." She replied.

"Then take my horse that he might speed your return and know the way to the nunnery better." Philip offered.

"I thank you again, but no, I must go."

"A quarter of the meat is yours to take back with you." Hubert offered.

That gave her pause. But, given that she could not think of an excuse as to why she had only a quarter of a deer to tell the nuns, she declined the meat as well. She backed away from the ring of the firelight and then turned around and ran the rest of the way back to the cottage in the woods where she lived with the nuns.

She came upon the log cottage, very simple with a pitched roof for modest sized bedrooms above and just the essentials below. The warm glow and smell from the fire inside made it seem very inviting if only there were not three angry nuns inside. She opened the door to their cottage quietly, hoping they hadn't noticed her prolonged absence. All three of them, Merryweather, Flora and Fauna, were seated around the table staring at the door. If they did notice, she expected them to be slightly irritated, but they looked more relieved than ready to deliver rebuke.

"I'm sorry I…" Rose began.

"Its quite alright child. Just mind that you keep track of time in the future, now go prepare for bed." Merryweather instructed.

Rose proceeded upstairs relieved and perplexed by their response. Then she heard Merryweather say to the others, "she's a season away from 18, God will deliver her safely there" and this puzzled Rose further.

**Asleep**

Sweat dripping down her face Rose found herself running, running away from something, but she wasn't running alone. A man was running with her, not one that she had seen before, his name was Oswald, although his features probably benefited from her recent encounter with men. They were being hunted and they knew their lives depended on escape. They were going through the forest, running through a creek when Oswald was no longer behind her. She turned to see his pained face as he realized the arrow in his back would end his life. He was slinking into the creek splashing desperately, attracting the pursuers. Running past pangs of guilt she left him there. But they were still in pursuit. Rose reached a clearing and was able to fly up into the air, but not so much flying as the air grew thicker like molasses and by pushing up with her arms she could swim up into sky and escape.

**Awake**

Rose woke up sad that morning, as if having really felt the loss of her dream friend. She went through the forest as usual the following day and found a strange aspiration in her subconscious, hope, hope to see the men again. It was intrigue. She head in the direction of where they set up camp. When a rider came into view; alone without the other two riders flanking him, Rose realized it was Philip. He slowed his horse as he approached her, then dismounted.

"I'd been searching the forest for some time in hopes of coming upon you." He said, "You left so quickly I was tempted to believe you a wood nymph."

Rose's chest cavity contracted at the thought that someone should desire to see her.

"I would like very much to be a nymph, so in tune with God's creation." She replied.

Philip smiled, "come walk with me." He extended his hand in invitation. Rose hesitated, and then took it. With his free hand he tied the reins of his horse to a branch, then brought her hand to rest in the niche of his arm. He faltered on the uneven terrain and she steadied him, being more used to forest floor. "Perhaps it should be you leading me." he admitted a bit embarrassed.

"How did you sleep last night?" Rose asked. It seemed like a polite question, but she also didn't understand how they managed out in the middle of the woods.

"Fairly well. Bard has a great voice for music, but unfortunately that seems to mean he sings all through the night as well. But after four days of this trip we've gotten used to each other."

"Where are you traveling to?"

Philip laughed a little, "Well we're, uh, just traveling for fun. Us city dwellers need to get out every once in a while. Of course Hubert knows his way around the forest, he's our guide."

"Are the cities really very awful?"

"No. They can be fantastic. Thousands of people working, walking, laughing, playing. It's as if instead of trees around us now they were human beings."

"It must be hard to know all of their names."

Philip chuckled. "Well that's a difference too, when there are so many people you don't know their names, they are strangers, you know your friends and that's about it. In some ways cities can be more lonely places than forests." and his tone got more somber.

"I would like to travel to a city some day. But I do not like sleeping on the ground."

"They have beds in the city. You can stay at an inn for a decent price."

Rose stated in a matter of fact way, "Oh, I don't have any money."

"You don't seem too concerned by that fact."

"Well we give what ever money we make back to the nunnery and what ever I need the Lord will provide." As if to illustrate her point she left his arm, cut a branch loose with her knife and then hatched a hole into the side and let the clear fluid liquid drip into her mouth. She made another notch, and offered the refreshment to Philip, who took it gratefully.

Their conversation continued into the early evening. "Look at that sky. The nuns say that the sunset is God's way of displaying his artisanship." Rose explained.

"Look there at that first star." Philip instructed leaning toward her so that their eyes had a similar perspective. "That is the star of my people, Borealis, when men are at sea all they need do is follow that star and it will return them to our shores. Of course my people live much further away by the sea."

"Then this is not your country?" Rose asked, in partial dismay.

"I am visiting some family friends and should have already been returning, but I think I shall extend my business here." Philip replied.

Rose led him back to his horse; he took no shame in his dependence upon her knowledge of the woods.

"It will take me four days time to go to the city and return, but if I were to return should I be so fortunate as to find you again Rose?" Philip asked as he mounted. She nodded as a flash of heat entered her cheeks and then she retreated to the cottage as he rode away.

The euphoria that had engulfed her wore off as she opened the door.

"Where have you been child that you wander home past sunset when God alone can guide your footsteps safely home?" Merryweather questioned on the edge of anger.

"I met several gentlemen in the woods who invited me to dine with them as they ate their kill." She replied, feeling as if she should at last be honest, especially if their visits were going to continue.

"And there were no ladies among them?" Fauna inquired.

"No," Rose replied befuddled by the question, "it was a hunting party."

The nuns seemed more at ease.

"Go and prepare for bed." Flora instructed, "and never entertain the company of strangers again."

Surely Philip was no longer a stranger. She did know his name after all.

**Asleep**

"We have a good report for you" the official instructed.

"Yes, well let me see it." Rose replied and the man handed over a sheet of paper.

"Ah yes it seems like I slept three hours on my right side, three hours on my left side and two hours on my stomach." Rose handed the paper back, "Seems like an even distribution, keep up the good work."

**Awake**

Prince Philip, now of 22 years sat at the royal dinning hall with King Stephen and Queen Lisbeth, the Bard at his side.

"We are so sorry that you will be leaving us soon." the Queen said.

"I have come to get to know my future bride your majesty and I intend to remain until I have met her." Prince Philip replied.

The Queen shot a weary glance over to the King. Philip was well aware that there was some mystery surrounding Princess Aurora's location, and if he capitalized on it he might be able to dwell longer in the company of a forest nymph.

For the next four days Rose always returned punctually back to their cottage, had found plentiful amounts of beets, maybe even bringing back some that should have been left in to grow longer, to make up for her recent absences. She also did several loads of wash so that her favorite clothes, although all were pretty meager, would be available to her in four days time. The nuns also seemed to catch Rose's good spirits and spoke enthusiastically about the spring, the emerging fruits, the visit to the nunnery, and even decided to give Rose a break on school lessons.

On the morning of the fifth day Rose got up with a bolt and then tried to force herself back to sleep because it was not even light out yet. There was no point in waking this early; Philip would not be there yet. After a few more hours of tossing and turning she finally awoke at a reasonable hour. The night before she had moved everything she would take by the door so she would be sure not to forget anything. She had picked out a blanket, her knife and bread she had made the day before.

On the way back to their former camp site and not a sign of him and fear began to hit her, what if something had befallen him, what if he encountered a bear, he clearly did not know how to defend himself. Or what if he did not want to come, what if there was something about her, her simple ways, her simple clothes? Maybe a man who had walked in cities and villages had seen and done a great many other things, what would draw him back here?

She sat down in their former campsite and tried to meditate; breathing slowly and clearing her mind. With each breathe expelled tried to expel her desires that were selfish, her fears that were unfounded and her perspective that was only focused on this moment's pleasure. Almost as an award for her respite the sound of hooves approached. And soon Bard, Hubert and Philip appeared again.

"All three of you have returned?" Rose asked in surprise.

"Well Philip needs some entertainment, which is why I'm here and with out Hubert we'd have gotten lost in the forest and had to eat our toes so that's why he's here." Bard said as he dismounted, seeming very grateful to be off the horse. Hubert immediately began surveying the area to see what resources remained from their last visit and what would need to be acquired for this evening. Philip dismounted and made his way to Rose.

"Perhaps we could venture on another walk?" he asked.

"Definitely." Rose replied and she began leading him into the forest. As they were walking Philip began to share his thoughts from his trip to the castle.

"King Stephen is getting old."

"He's only fifty." Rose replied. "His father, King Pearson, lived to be seventy eight, and his father, King Stauten, was sixty seven. Of course his brothers and uncles haven't been so lucky, but murder tends to shorten one's life." Philip was shocked at her knowledge.

"How do you know that?"  
"It was part of my schooling. Don't all the school children learn about their history?"

"All that can afford to. But maybe nunneries are an exception."

"Why were you interacting with King Stephen?" Rose inquired.

"Not really interacting with him," Philip back-peddled, "more like saw him at a distance." he said distorting the truth.

**Asleep**

Rose was on the second floor of a château approaching an interior open-aired courtyard. All along the balcony were giant barrels, the size that could fit a whole person into and people were sitting in them. All around the balcony seated in the barrels were people, not just any people, dead people in purgatory. Their bodies no longer needed to eat, drink, or anything of that nature. The people just sat in their barrels fully conscious, decomposing. Fully aware of who they were and where they were, but with no activity but to feel their flesh decay and turn into dust. A man walked around the barrels and monitored each person's progress noting that one had turned to dust and was truly gone. "What was his name?" I asked.

"I don't know and it doesn't matter." the man replied.

**Awake**

Waking up back in her room the next day she began grouping things in front of her door; four long ropes, a few belts, some candles, and some beets. She packaged them up and proceeded out to their campsite. She could hear the campsite before she saw it; Bard was strumming on his mandolin. He had a beautiful sounding voice, harsh like the sound was being rolled over gravel, but beautiful still. The hammering that Hubert was doing occasionally interrupted the singing. Rose entered the clearing just as Bard put his mandolin down and was walking over to Hubert to complain about the noise.

Philip was writing in a leather bound book, but quickly looked up when he heard Rose. Bard and Hubert also seemed to quiet their argument. Philip took notice that Rose was carrying more today.

"I thought I would show you all something that is not at all like a city." Rose replied to his glance.

"Great. Are you two ready to go?" Philip called into their spat.

"Yes!" replied Bard.

"I'll stay here." replied Hubert. He was eager to separate himself and make more thoughtful structures for them to sleep in, since living in the woods for the spring seemed like Philip's intentions. "Don't forget to ask her what I mentioned." he called.

Rose lifted a quizzical eyebrow at Philip, but he brushed off the comment. Bard took care to put his instrument in safe spot then joined them.

"Great. Let's go." Rose instructed. She began leading them to the base of the nearest mountain. The terrain got rockier and less hospitable to plant life, but also surer solid footing. She handed her bag over to Philip.

"Take this I need to watch out for snakes." she instructed. Philip then handed the bag to Bard as Rose grabbed a stick the length of her legs.

"That stick is supposed to protect us?" Bard complained.

"Why yes." Rose replied. And she approached an unsuspecting fern. "You see a snake, misdirect it with the stick," she bent the fern and then began entwining it with the stick like a finger curling hair. "And then you whack it." she said and gave the fern a decisive smack. "you're quite safe." Despite the demonstration they continued in single file behind her.

"When I was little my friend Mico and I were chasing baby rabbits in the fields near the monastery. Just like here the snakes like the stones that aren't obstructed by trees, they get nice and warm in the sun. Mico was chasing me, but then he screamed and fell, I ran back and he had been bitten in the calf by a snake. I held his hand while the doctor operated on him, all the nuns and children prayed for him. His flesh turned black and the doctor cut away the poisoned flesh, the weirdest part was that it also turned the bone black."

"How is he now?" Philip asked.

"It's been a long time since I've seen him, but he can get around, not the best runner, but can still play net ball."

The full size of the mountain was becoming clearer as they neared. What looked like it could be easily mounted revealed a sharp incline. Rose pointed up to a dark patch near the base of the mountain.

"That's where we're going. The mountain's mouth." she replied. Their eyes widened with understanding of where their walk was going. She nimbly jumped from one rock form to the next, while Philip and Bard proceeded with outstretched hands that caught edges and gave added balanced.

As they neared a near vertical rock face, but short climb to the mouth's opening, Rose requested the bag from Bard. "Stay here a second." Rose instructed, taking the bag and tossing it over her shoulder. She scaled the rock face, grabbing a handhold, then extending her leg out away from the rest of her to get a push off of another fold in the rock, and then disappeared out of view. Suddenly an end of a rope came falling down and they both jumped out of the way. The end was just a little short of the ground.

"Now start climbing." she instructed. They both gave a quizzical look. "Put your feet against the rock and stand up and pull yourself up using the rope. Start by leaning back." Philip didn't move it seemed very difficult to maneuver his feet to where they should be. "Philip trust me." Rose encouraged. He leaned back against the rope; he was able to pull his legs up so he was nearly perpendicular to the rock. "Now I need you to walk, quickly and don't fall." Rose instructed.

"Walk?" Philip began to protest, but then the tug on the rope propelling him upward made it clear where his feet were supposed to go. He gripped the rope and kept them moving til at last he was nearing the top and the angle of the rope was making it difficult to remain standing.

"Rose I'm running out of room."

"There should be a good spot for your feet now." Rose instructed and sure enough toward the top the smooth surface broke up a bit and enabled him to put his feet down, no longer relying on the rope. "Alright Bard your turn."

"I think I'll stay here." he replied.

"There is a great singing spot." Rose offered. And he gave it a go with Rose and Philip offering a hand to get him over the edge.

At the top of the rock they were hardly near the top of the mountain, but they were clearly at what was the base of a large cave opening. They could feel the cold air from inside venting out as if winter had been uncorked. Rose pulled from her bag a candle and matches. She lit it and continued. As they walked inside it was like opening a present, moving in deeper and discovering a better vista of its true height and depth. It was moist slick to the touch and even Rose found herself with her hands out to steady her movements as they maneuvered around stalagmites.

"Hello!" Bard yelled, but the echo was not particularly satisfying. While Philip meandered touching the wet, mineral-rich surfaces, Bard began singing to the drops of water falling from the ceiling.

"Plop! goes the skies to the grateful mouths below" and then another drop fell. "Plop! goes the sound to the depths down below."

"You used 'below' twice." Philip complained.

"Song writing is an art, it takes me weeks to craft the perfect lines, you can't expect them in an instance."

"This way." Rose instructed. She tied the rope they used to ascend to the cave to a stalagmite and carried it with her like a guide.

"Where are we going?" Bard asked.

"Further into the cave." Rose said, as if it weren't obvious based on the rope and candle. Dutifully the two men followed. And as the light from outside diminished and the candlelight became more valuable, they followed even closer.

"Here." Rose said and handed the candle to Philip in the middle so that the light could be distributed to all. The ceiling got lower as if they had entered in through the mouth and were now migrating down the esophagus.

"Where are we going?" Bard asked.

"Some where were you can really make some noise." Rose replied. The path continued to twist and turn and at last the ceilings opened up again to a more spacious pocket. The dripping rock formations seemed exaggerated in the small candlelight.

Rose said in a whisper, "Go ahead, say hello again."

Bard took a deep breath, "HELLO!" The sound seemed to reverberate and there were so few other noises that it seemed to echo in you as well. Philip with the light began to move it closer to a stream when something caught his eye. Sure enough there were little fish swimming in it. Ghost like fish with out color and dark black eyes.

"Can you eat them?" Philip asked curiously. So void of predators they made easy prey to any thing that came across them.  
"I haven't tried." Rose admitted. "Such a small fish isn't worth the effort." Rose gave the rope a tug and then gestured for them to sit down on a dry ledge. Philip sat in the middle of them still clutching the candle.

"What are we doing?" Bard asked.

"Meditating." Rose replied.

"Meditating how?" Bard asked.

"By being in complete darkness." Rose said and with a quick gesture snuffed out the candle.

"Eeepp!" Bard yelled and the sound reverberated, as it had done before.

"It's so dark." Philip commented. "I can't tell if my eyes are open or closed." there was the sound of fumbling, "Ow!"

"They're open." Bard said evidently having poked Philip in the eye to find out.

"You don't meditate often do you?" Rose asked.

"I don't like to think on my problems or they will cripple me during the day." Philip said, honestly relaying a coping strategy.

"The point is not to think 'on' anything, the point is to not think, to truly empty your mind. Try being silent and emptying your thoughts, listen to your breathing and realizing that you are another body standing on a great world."

Philip stood and for a moment he was able to not feel the guilt of not being in his own kingdom, not feel the fear of being united with this unknown princess, not feel the intrigue of the forest nymph beside him, and just be.

**Asleep**

Rose bit into an apple and instead of a chunk of the flesh detaching; she retracted her hand to find that some of her teeth had implanted themselves in the apple. She bit down within her own mouth and could feel other teeth move independently from the pressure, they were all loose, she bit down in her mouth again and crack they began to shatter in her mouth and she began spitting teeth fragments into her hand as if they were bones she had found in her soup.

**Awake**

In front of her door that morning Rose laid out an axe, some nails, and a shovel.

She came upon them easily enough although the tools slowed her progress. Philip seemed to be working some eggs over a fire, Bard had his instrument out and was strumming the start of a stanza over and over, "she runs like the water over the hills and grass, she's got a very pleasing..." a smile is stretching over his face, but he stops as he sees Rose enter.

"Good morning." She said, "Where's Hubert? I have some things for him."

"Grabbing some more wood, it was a bit chilly last night so he woke up and lit another fire for us."

"We shouldn't have too many cool nights anymore." Rose said sympathetically. And began eyeing their structure. In the few days they had Hubert had put together what looked like a fairly sturdy roof that was wide enough to cover them all and would funnel the water away from their encampment. "But you could use some walls."

Hubert walked back into their encampment zipping his fly and not carrying any wood. He seemed less concerned about the polite pretenses that Bard and Philip were maintaining around Rose. She found Hubert's behavior familiar; he resembled most of the men she had encountered while at the nunnery, cut of the earth, good people. She found Bard and Philip to be very kind, but they appeared to be utterly useless.

"Great!" Hubert lit up and walked towards Rose. "Thanks for the tools." She admired how Hubert knew how to handle the tools and didn't waste time.

"You should really build an elevated structure, the ground will heat up during the summer and the breeze under will cool it off. Unless you plan to stay through next winter..." Bard gave a look over to Philip. Who took a slow inhale through his nose.

"We should venture back into town in a month's time." Philip began, "but I do not know how long our business will take or if we can return." he looked down at the ground lost in an unpleasant thought of what that business might entail.

"Well without an auger I don't think I can make a proper stilt, so it will be ground-based construction." Hubert assessed, poking his foot at the unfriendly dirt below. Rose had helped with the construction of their cottage, but that had been a good 10 years ago so she was excited to assist with another construction project.

"We need to find about 20 soft-wood logs to build a 12 by 14 cabin. Poplar, hemlock, bass or pine." Hubert handed Bard the axe Rose had brought and pointed to the forest. He held it awkwardly and started walking towards the woods. "He's going to need help." Hubert suggested. And Rose and Philip quickly followed in step to assist him.

Suddenly when faced with a multitude of options of trees they began to get picky. The pines have too many branches, another bowed too much in one direction, finally Rose said, "we haven't got all day, let's get this one." Hubert, who had been half dragging the axe behind him, picked it up, stepped toward the tree, took a swing and planted it a few inches into the tree diagonally.

"You've never actually cut anything in your life have you." Rose said thoughtfully looking at the axe he was now struggling to remove.

"Does cutting strings count?" Rose took the axe from him, bobbed the head of axe a little in her right hand, feeling the weight, while grasping the handle in her left.

"First we create a face notch," she gave the axe a good whirl at a downward angle into the tree then she hacked away in an upwards direction, so that it met the previous chop and a triangular chunk of tree fell off, a third of the way into the trunk. "Now all we need to do is make the back cut." She said lifting the axe to Philip.

In the previous days she had been impatient with these city dweller's lack of knowledge, but now coming to expect it, she tried to be less judgmental and began looking affectionately at them like younger children at the orphanage. Philip took the axe in his hand, but clearly didn't know where to attack the tree. Rose grabbed his arm and led him to the opposite side of the tree to where she had made her face notch.

"Now you're going to cut at the tree trying to get to the spot where I made the notch, but not all the way because we need to leave a little hinge." Rose instructed. And Philip took his first swing, it made good progress but not as deep as Rose's cuts. She came up behind him and mirrored her arms to his arms. He jumped slightly and she backed away afraid she had done something wrong. She approached again more slowly.

"You try to make it one continuous fluid motion when chopping so that the full force hits right at the tree." Rose said. And moved his arms in a circular fashion. When she was doing so she was struck by how large he was compared to the petit nuns she lived with. She let go of him so he could take another swing. Bard was standing by the face notch.

"Bard move out of the way. The tree is going to come right to you." Rose instructed. And with a few more fluid chops, the tree bent on the hinge and fell forward into the face notch and onto the ground.

"WoooHooo!" Bard yelled in excitement. They carried the tree back to the clearing, regretting a bit for having been so picky and strolled further away from the campsite. Hubert had dug into the dirt to clear away the softer less stable topsoil and looked pleased to have a log to work with.

"I need to return now." Rose said, "the ground has warmed up enough and I need to begin planting the peas and beans today."

"Don't worry my lady," Philip said, "we are expert wood cutters now." Rose made an exaggerated courtesy to Philip, who responded with an equally exaggerated bow and then she departed.

Bard and Philip ventured out into the woods and picked a closer tree this time. Bard made a face notch like Rose had done, although it took him a few more swings and Philip made the back cut. They both stepped back in eager anticipation to see the tree fall, only to watch go down and get caught in the branches of another tree in it's path.

**Asleep**

The woods by the river were suddenly filled with a warm mist and everyone present knew what that meant: a title wave was coming. Rose quickly scampered up a tree, but it was slightly on a bank and some of it's roots were exposed, she feared that her weight would cause it to give way when the wave hit, but she was also afraid to seek alternative shelter at this point when the wave was so near. Then from up the river the wave came and people came tumbling down the river in terror as they were scooped up in its path. For some reason the wave, though as high as the tree canopy, was contained to only the surface of the river and Rose's weak tree was not the least bit touched.

**Awake**

When Rose arrived in their encampment there were 4 logs tilted in on each other, carefully cleared of branches, Hubert had apparently abandoned the idea of a cabin and resorted to a tepee structure instead that would require less logs given the canvases they had with them. Hubert was tending to the horses and Bard and Philip were warming their hands on the porridge bowls in front of a small fire.

"I think it's much better if we strip the wood first." Rose said.

"That will take another's day work." Hubert complained yelling from by the horses.

"If you don't bugs may get into the wood and then you'll have a larger problem." Rose said from experience having to pull off bug-infested portions of her own home. Hubert gave a look over to Philip for a final decision. Rose could not understand the dynamics of this group, why they always deferred to him even though he may know little of the subject matter; perhaps Bard and Hubert were in his employ.

"I'm sure you are right Rose, but as we barely acquired 4 logs I daresay we'll finish by the time we won't want to be indoors anymore." Rose didn't push it, they seemed tired from one day's work, the poor city dwellers.

"Come have some porridge." Bard offered; while a bit of porridge lay nestled at the base of his beard. He gave Hubert's bowl a quick dip in a bucket of water, which in his eye's made it ready for reuse.

"Philip may I have a word with you?" Hubert called, done with the horses, but remaining by them. Philip got up still carrying his porridge and headed over to him.

"You have to ask her." Hubert said in a little above a whisper. "I told you there's something off about her."

"Can I sing you the start of my new song?" Bard asked Rose who was now sitting beside him.

"Yes please!" Rose said with gusto. She had few opportunities for new songs and new singers. Bard put town his porridge and began strumming.

"HmHmmm HmHmmm" Bard started warming up his voice for the morning,

"For it was the tree's time

to fall to the other side

give way to man's pride

and be on it's way

For today was its day

and tomorrow it will be

next to it's brother trees

and build our home

build our home"

Rose clapped emphatically. And Philip echoed after she had begun. Seeing her enthusiasm reminded him of Bard's talent, which after their long trip he had started to take for granted. He came and sat himself next to Rose.

"Rose it might be rude of me to ask, but you mentioned your friend Mico, were you both orphans at the nunnery?"

"Yes" Rose replied taking a sip of porridge.

"Hubert said the nunnery was quite a ways away from here. How is it that you are still living with nuns, but are so far from the nunnery?"

"Because she is a forest nymph." Bard replied, "you will hurt the song I'm creating if you reveal otherwise." Bard said trying to give her some leeway.

"The nuns I live with and I do occasionally go back to nunnery, the nunnery supplies us with the things we cannot pick or grow for ourselves, flour, rice etc and we bring them anything we may have grown in excess of what we need. I find the best berries and the children always look forward to our arrival. Although I haven't been allowed to deliver them myself in recent years." Rose said sounding a little sad about it. "When I was 12 it was necessary for Merryweather to live apart from the nunnery due to how easily she gets sick from the children. She's like my mother and needed me so of course I and two other sisters followed."

"Surely you're old enough to become a nun yourself." Philip asked.

"I have wanted to be a full member of my family, but the nuns say that I am not yet ready to endure the trials and insist I must study more. Most of my sisters from the orphanage have taken vows, others have moved on to towns and cities. I'm told that our education enables us to find employment easily. But I am apparently lacking in some way. I can neither leave Merryweather for the rest of the world nor can I fully seem to become a nun." Rose said and spooned around her porridge to distract herself from her disappoint.

Philip felt bad about prying, Hubert was still suspicious and Bard wanted to know what the nun trials were, he pictured women dressed in black trying to hit as many children as possible in 60 seconds.

**Asleep**

In her head Rose composed a song and it was beautiful play on words and clever melody, but when she woke up despite how hard she tried she could not remember it to share it with Bard.

**Awake**

Rose was actually glad they switched to a teepee structure in the end. Being familiar with log cabins she was excited to learn new techniques. It developed with each passing day til in a weeks time it was quite livable, Hubert still wanted to make some cut outs for windows, but Bard was reluctant to give him the deer skin that he wanted to keep as trophy.

"Good morning!" Rose said, bursting into their clearing alight with enthusiasm. When they heard her call Philip emerged from their teepee. Hubert was sharpening three swords by the fire.

"Morning!" Philip greeted back, rivaling Rose for who had the larger smile, but then it faded as she drew nearer.

"I have business in town." Philip explained.

"Again?" Rose said disappointed.

"I'm sorry I can't just stay here and be your friend all year, I have things to do and places to be. You can't have everything you want, it doesn't fit together like that." Philip said going off at her, but also the universe. Bard stepped in before Rose could tell him to grow up.

"Perhaps I could go and make inquiries. I might be able to address the issue on your behalf." Bard offered. Philip considered.

"It's a simple enough matter, but you would need Hubert to get you in and out of the forest." Philip said. Hubert looked unenthused about the prospect of a long trip with Bard. Philip turned to Rose, "If I were to linger here instead of joining them, would you be able to help me? Like if I run out of food and such?"

Rose's head began to weigh possibilities, it would be easier to take care of him if he stayed with her and the nuns, but the nuns would likely disapprove of this stranger. And maybe she didn't want to share him with them. Or did he have some sort of malicious intention; was he trying to get her alone? She settled on assuming the best.

"Of course." Rose replied.

"Fantastic." Philip replied.

"There what do you think of that?" Hubert asked, handing off the sword to Philip. Philip took it and gave it a good spin for Rose's benefit then attacked a nearby fern, which almost didn't separate because the cut was so clean.

"Excellent." Philip replied appreciatively. "Would you like a lesson?" Philip said to Rose.

"Definitely." Rose said.

"Ok great, let me go grab something else first." He began searching around for some appropriately sized sticks. He returned with two and Rose took hers and removed extraneous branches.

"Well first you want to start with a good stance..." Philip began about to look at his feet to figure out how to explain it, when Rose lunged at him.

"Ahh!" His reflexes were good and he deflected the unexpected blow. They parried back and forth until there was some distance between and they both decided to take a break.

"How do you know how to fence?" Philip asked between deep breathes.

"Merryweather is an excellent swordsman."

"Why in the world would a nun be swordsman?" Philip asked.

Rose shrugged. "Sometimes nuns have interesting pasts they left behind."

"Is there anything you don't know?" Philip asked in amazement. As he was still recovering his breathe. Rose's eyes diverted over towards the horses. He followed her gaze.

"Tomorrow then we'll show you how to ride a horse."

**Asleep**

The painted face of a woman popped into Rose's vision and startled her to nearly to the point of actually awaking. No more scary thoughts before bed she decided.

**Awake**

Rose had a blissful three weeks with Philip. She learned how to ride his horse and with the extra legs they were able to go and forage to the farthest corners of the forest. They would read some of the literature that Philip had brought with him to study. His historical information was geared to his country and Rose appreciated hearing a different perspective on history, which also made for heated conversation. His more poetic literature he read aloud as she prepared food for their meals.

As soon as Hubert and Bard left, Philip would let his hand linger on hers. She became instantly aware of the prolonged contact and her senses were on high alert, but he continued talking as if nothing out of the ordinary was occurring. And it eventually became normal for her too. To take his hand as they moved through the forest, to sit closer together for warmth and greet each other with a kiss on the cheek.

Then Hubert and Bard returned.

As their horses pulled into the clearing, Rose began to move further away from Philip, but he didn't let go of her hand that he was holding and so she did not venture any further.

"Welcome back!" Philip called out to them. They hitched the horses and walked over and plopped next to them by the fire. "What news from the home front?"

"They loved my new song about the forest nymph!" Bard said gleefully.

"Terrific." Rose replied encouragingly.

"Why don't you tell him the useful information." Hubert said dryly.

Bard sighed, "You are needed by the end of the week." he said to Philip.

Philip dropped Rose's hand.

"Would you be gone long?" Rose asked, scanning his face, which revealed nothing then to Bard's, which looked concerned.

"I can never return to this place. My responsibilities begin midsummer." Philip replied. "You can't just spend your life here." Philip said, now pivoting to face Rose, "There's other people, other places, if the nuns don't want you then come with someone who does." he took both her hands now.

"Can't I have responsibilities?" Rose replied.

"What possible responsibilities could you have? You run around tree tops and collect roots all day?" Philip said angrily, more about his own responsibilities.

Rose was shocked and hurt by his harsh tone more than his words and dropped his hands and left, unsure of how to respond, unsure of how exactly she felt. Just that ill words from him were some how much worse than from anyone else.

As she returned to the cabin she heard the approach of a horse and rider. She was relieved, just Philip's effort to see her would already undo some of the injury. Her instincts did not leave her and so quick was the pace that she came to doubt that it was Philip. She ascended up a tree out of view. With in minutes a rider passed, Rose could see that upon the black steed sat a woman with long raven hair and pale skin. She picked up speed and headed in the direction of the cottage.

Nothing about her appearance indicated any connection to the nunnery. Nor did her manner indicate some sort of personal distress or a lost traveler. Rose could not deduce any probable reason for her presence. Rose pursued the rider as fast as she could, making knowledgeable shortcuts to the cottage. When she arrived she saw the horse was strung up outside the door, the woman must be inside. Rose climbed up a tree and entered into her attic room through a window, the floorboards cracked under her weight. She could hear the conversation bellow.

"Awfully large mice you must have here." The strange woman inquired.

"Not mice," Fauna replied, "Just the wind, we leave the upper windows open for ventilation and the breeze rattles this old structure like creaking bones." Rose was shocked that Fauna didn't mention her and took that as a sign to stay put. Peeking through the floor boards she could see Fauna and Flora sitting opposite the woman at the table and Merryweather at the kitchen counter cutting up some of the beets Rose had brought home.

"So, old a structure indeed," the woman began, "one might wonder why several nuns would leave the nunnery to inhabit it. The mother superior did not mention this place when speaking of the affairs of her sisters."

"You have been to the nunnery?" Flora asked in surprise, "Do you wish to become a nun?" The woman threw her head back in laughter.

"I'm afraid not sister." She replied.

"Our main reason for separating ourselves from the convent was that we three wished to partake in a more traditional form of worship." Merryweather explained looking up from her cutting. She smiled sweetly as she held up the knife dripping with the pink juices of the beets.

"Naturally sisters," the woman replied, "I heard a new song from a bard just the other night of a beautiful forest nymph. Did God create nymphs as well or have you seen this Lady they speak of?"

"I'm afraid we do not venture far from this cabin, but should God have created nymphs I doubt he would have wasted time revealing them to drunken bards." Fauna replied.

The woman smiled, "Thank you for your hospitality sisters." The woman got up and left.

When Rose could barely hear the trotting of the horse's hooves she ventured downstairs. The nuns looked pensive. Rose longed to see Philip again so she ventured to the door, but then Merryweather shot bolt upright, "Rose you may not go out again." She said. Rose's heart sank. She glanced at each for an explanation, but none was provided, and so she returned to her attic space, where she could still hear the nuns' discussing.

"Praise be to God our secret has been kept safe thus far, but now I think we must look to an alternate course of action." Fauna said.

"Indeed if not even the nunnery is free from evil than perhaps she would be safest if returned to her parent's side." Flora suggested.

"We should leave tonight, Rose knows her way through the forest and we can get help as soon as we are out of the forest." Merryweather said. The other nuns nodded in agreement.

"Fauna, go and wake her, its time she knew everything." Flora instructed.

Rose heard Fauna's footsteps making their way up to her attic room and pretended to be asleep. When she came down all three of the nuns looked very grave, but Rose looked forward to finally having some answers.

"My dear, our time for rearing you is almost up in a few days it will be your 20th birthday." Fauna explained.

"My birthday is in January." Rose protested.

"No my dear that is when you came to the nunnery. And was thus the day we celebrated." Flora replied.

Fauna continued, her voice was slower and lower than usual, "You are the Princess Aurora of this land and the sole heir to the throne and tonight we must return you to your real home." The words plummeted into her consciousness like stones into a river, slowly sinking to rest on the bottom.

"If I am what you say, why then would I be brought to live here?" she asked. And along came an explanation, which she would have traded for ignorance.

"There was a vision of your death, at the hands of the woman who came here today." Merryweather explained, "She's been scouring the country and beyond looking for you." Rose looked at them dumbstruck for a while, but one thing that was as constant was the nun's honesty and love for her.

Fauna continued, "As one of many orphans at the nunnery you would be cared for and loved with anonymity, but as the future queen you would need special training and if you were singled out at the nunnery that would raise suspicion. So we brought you here to give you the training you would need, and keep you safer still. Flora is a nun, but Merryweather and I have never actually taken any vows. We are teachers who have been in the service of the king and queen all our lives. Merryweather is your bodyguard and self defense teacher and I was in charge of your historical knowledge and manners. Your mother and other kin wanted desperately to pretend to be nuns as well and a part of your life, but their faces were too well known. The king and queen love you very dearly as do we and we have worked very hard to keep you safe. If we can for a just a few days more we will have broken the prophecy and there should be nothing else to fear."

There were pieces of a puzzle falling into place that now made sense. Older kids in the orphanage bragging that they never had to memorize the royal lineage. Nuns frowning at sword play in the cloisters. And why her training on an individual basis continued all alone in the cottage long after the other children had finished their studies. It had been only Flora who knew how to plant and harvest and scavenge.

"What must I do?" she asked.

"We will secretly return you to the castle tonight where every guard will stand watch at your chamber door, if you see the sunrise of your 20th Birthday, Maleficent shall be thwarted." Fauna explained.

Rose nodded, but all she could do was start to think about Philip; "he was now even more foreign to her as a non-noble child from a rival kingdom. But how could she reach him before they departed for the castle? Did it matter if she did, he was about to leave and never return as well. Or were men evil things? The sickening suspicion started in the back of Rose's mind. It was Bard's song that had led the woman here. They were from the rival kingdom and had no apparent purpose for spending this much time in the forest. Her birthday just days away their timing was perfect for a last chance hunt. Philip so sweet, so useless and so bitter."

Her fear were causing her to doubt everything. Doubt him. She did not want to think anymore or know which conclusion to reach so she let the nuns carry out their plan to get her safely to the castle. They made it out of the forest to a safe house, slept on a few blankets laid over hay, quite comfortable, as Merryweather kept watch.

**Asleep**

Rose dreamt she was pregnant. Felt the extra weight from her protruding belly and would talk with Fauna about the upcoming baby then one morning she woke up and her stomach was empty again but next to her on the bed lay a round sack in the shape and size of what her belly had been. It was an egg. Fauna came over, cracked it open and pulled Rose's child out from inside.

**Awake**

The castle stood out in the landscape like a distant mountain. Proud and tall, and making up the descending sides were the structures of the town. And like with a mountain Rose became surprised by the enormity the closer they got.

Initially they had been surprised at how easily Rose could ride a horse for what they thought was the first time, but their urgency didn't leave time for a thorough questioning. Then hours of dull riding caused her initial fear to subside, Rose thought again on Philip and how she left without even saying goodbye. She led her horse next to Fauna.

"Fauna can I still become a nun?" Rose asked. Although no one wanted to stop, everyone slowed down to listen to the conversation.

"No my dear that is not the path God has for you." Fauna said. "Your country needs you and you will have to serve God by serving your country, not by a life of quiet obedience." The answer wasn't unexpected, but still a confirmation that a future she had so long desired lay dead on the side of the road for all to see.

They continued further in silence, and then Rose ventured another question, "And say there was a boy from the orphanage, my friend Mico, could I see him again?" Of course she was thinking of Philip.

"There maybe an opportunity for him to come and visit, but you will have a new set of friends and cannot dwell too much on the old." Fauna replied.

As the castle neared, like a towering mountain, Rose was taken in by the feats of men to make such a structure. She wondered how people could scurry by and go about day activities and not be stopped by the sight of it. Merryweather now led the party to a particular less-trafficked entrance. And conversed with the guards in such a manner that commanded authority and urgency. Rose stared at her in shock. Though Merryweather was never the timid type, her alteration frightened Rose; "I do not even know this person," she thought.

The horses were led away and they were led through the winding stone interior. The steps were a solid marble each coming to a crisp edge. It looked so perilous to fall that Rose took every step carefully, making sure her feet were firmly planted before proceeding to the next. The matching stone railing was so cold to the touch that she almost wanted mittens. Rose had never seen the castle, and it seemed cold and alien to her she longed for the soft texture of the forest. The nuns escorted her to a room and bade her sleep, as they went to inform the King and Queen, for she was surely safe now.

As she sat alone she imagined taking her beating heart out of her body, and while it still pumped and remained attached, holding it in the nook of her left arm and stroking it with the opposite hand. Soothing it like a frightened child about to fall asleep. She moved to the bed, grateful to be done with the day, laid down to sleep and clutched the second pillow in her arms, as if it was her heart-child and she could comfort the pain away.

**Asleep**

Rose toss and turned all night, never comfortable enough to dream.

**Awake**

The morning came and the door crept open. In stepped a woman carrying with her a spinning wheel, the door closed behind her. Rose knew that this was Maleficent, the woman she had observed two days before, who had been trying all her life to find her. Rose leapt out of bed and grabbed a candlestick to arm herself. Maleficent seemed to ignore her and just sat the spinning wheel down and pulled up a chair next to it, she weaved some yarn into the spindle and began to spin. She seemed almost grandmotherly sitting there spinning. Rose took her face in a little longer then relaxed and took a seat on her bed, candlestick within arms reach.

"Surprised are you to see that I am a beautiful maid, like yourself?" Maleficent asked in friendly tone.

"Lucifer was said to be the most beautiful angel in heaven." Rose said her courage unfailing, partly because she felt indifferent to the outcome, indifferent about the rest of her life that would be absent all of her former dreams.

"Of course, you and I are not as different as you think, we've both loved something we can not have."

"What are you talking about?" Rose asked.

"You are your father's daughter; you've already fallen in love and yet by birth you are destined to marry another." Maleficent said.

"No, that can't be." Rose said, every sense awakened as if plunged into cold water.

"Did you really think the princess would be allowed to marry who she wanted to? But don't fear I am here to help you. I will help you find the true love that your father wishes to take away from you." Maleficent said kindly. Outstretching her hand to rest it on Rose's knee.

Rose didn't quite know what to say the only love she'd known, besides that of the nuns, was for Philip, which she would do anything to keep.

"Why would you help me?" Rose asked.

"Stephen loses his only heir, his line of kings is dead. That is my prize. While your happiness will extend to your dying days far away from the castle. Do you love the father that abandoned you at birth and pulls you away from love now?"

"It was his duty to do so." Rose responded.

"What could you possibly know about being a queen? Why would you want to imprison yourself in a life that you are unsuited for? If your father has never met you, you can never be a disappointment to him."

"What would be the fate of the nation if I were to abandon my duty?"

"Stephen's line would die, but a new one would be established. I think you are probably aware of some cousins that have long laid claim to the throne in your absence. The country will go on with its tradition of monarchies, I can not presume to destroy all that." Maleficent said.

"Why do you hate my father so?" Rose asked.

"Hate is made more potent when love is involved." Maleficent responded, "Yes I loved him, he abandoned me for duty and that is why I will help you, who should have been my own daughter, to abandon him and the life that would ruin you as well. You have never known your mother, let me be a mother to you now."

"And what can you swear by that if I do as you say I will be with my love and that order and prosperity will be maintained?" Rose asked.

"By my blood and by my flesh." Maleficent said and with that she pulled out some cutting shears from her cloak and pricked her finger upon it.

"What must I do?"

Maleficent stopped sowing, "See the spinning wheel, all you need do is prick your finger upon it." Maleficent said. Rose gave her a quizzical look and then stepped toward the spindle, should it in fact kill her, she thought, it would not matter, she was already dead.

"Father forgive me."

She touched it; the needle pierced her skin. She watched her finger as the little red bubble of blood began to form and was surprised that nothing seemed to happen. Then she felt it a shadowy loss of control began to creep over her like a diminishing fire and she fell to the floor.

Maleficent took the shears and cut the string running through the spinning wheel. She left the room unnoticed.

**Asleep**

Rose woke up in the forest lying on a nice mossy patch of ground. She existed there and did not remember where she had existed before there and did not have much time to wonder for she could soon hear the sound of an approaching horse. She stood up and could see Philip upon his steed galloping toward her. Rose's heart swelled up with joy and all worries were gone from her.

He descended off his steed and took her up in his arms. "I am so sorry we quarreled. God obligates you to forgive me."

"And so forgive you I have." She replied and she moved her lips within range of his and he met them.

**Awake**

As the sun dawned on the following day, Aurora's 20th birthday, the guards parted as King and Queen followed by the nuns processed into their daughter's room. They opened the door to see her sprawled upon the floor in front of a spinning wheel. The Queen gasped in horror; the King could only stare wide-eyed at his daughter; the nuns rushed quickly to her. They lifted her head up and Merryweather put her ear close to Aurora's chest.

"I can still hear a heart beat." She proclaimed to the room and hope swept through the room. Some guards assisted in carrying Aurora and placing her gently on the bed. The nuns examined her thoroughly, but could not figure out why she could not be awakened. After some time passed every doctor in the land examined her in turn to no avail; she was finally left in peace to sleep, while the nuns kept a constant vigil.

Prince Philip was still a day away from completing the journey back to the castle, unaware of the commotion occurring there. It was one of those long journeys that you no longer care about the scenery around you, no longer want to talk with your friends beside you, but just take one step further and then another. He had not yet placed on his princely attire, but through any material it was clear he was distraught. Tomorrow he would meet his future bride and be separated from Rose and he had not even been able to find her before he left.

They found an inn for the night. There were modest little towns that popped up a long the roads that weary travelers could frequent. Not feeling as jolly as his companions Philip took a room to himself and went to bed early.

The door opened and a middle-aged woman entered.

"Good morning young prince." She said.

"Who are you?" Philip asked.

"Although you are not Stephen's son, I can't help but feel you resemble him a great deal, in fact I'm sure he looked much the same the day he was presented to his bride." She said, "Although I can not stop Stephen I can stop you, his adopted son that might have replaced his lost daughter."

At this Philip gave out a laugh, "Stop me? Pray tell woman what crime am I about to commit?" he asked.

"You are about to abandon love for duty," Maleficent said, and Philip stopped laughing. "So I have a curse just for you. You shall dwell in a tower prison until duty will abandon love."

"What…" the Prince began, but before he could complete his statement he found himself with a manacle around his foot chained to the wall of a stone cell. The older woman stood before him just as she had in his bedroom. She gave a large grin.

"The only way you will ever see the outside again is if the sleeping Princes Aurora chooses to free you, and I can safely say that will never happen." Maleficent said, "Enjoy your stay." With that she turned on her heels and began to exit out of one of the two doors in the cell. Philip ran toward her, but reached the end of the chain, had his foot pulled out from under him and fell to the ground.

King Stephen and his Queen much more recovered from the morning's trauma prepared to greet Prince Philip in their daughter's absence and at last explain to him the nature of her condition. When Prince Philip was sent for he was not to be found. The King and the Queen presumed that he had heard the story through people in the castle and had returned home, although this grieved them more, because if he were to seek a different bride their alliance and safety would be compromised.

**Asleep**

Philip now lived with Rose and the nuns in his own separate room. She enjoyed being able to wake and see him there. And so the days passed where they worked beside each other performing chores, wandered the forest and at night Rose would gaze with Philip upon the stars. One day as they traveled through the forest on a horse. Philip was trying to reach around Rose without becoming unseated for a kiss while she was sitting in front guiding the horse.

"You're eyes are a beautiful brown-gray." he said, "My people say that it depends on where a baby was looking when it was born. Brown if you're looking at the ground, blue the sky, green the trees..." he gave up trying to kiss her and sat back down.

"The nuns told us the baby picks and chooses from their parents. There were a brother and sister in the orphanage, Ibola and Coba, and she became a talented drawer. She would often mix her features with his in her pictures. Her nose, his ears, to make a new portrait and try to figure out what their parents looked like."

"Have you ever wondered about your parents?"

"They must have had a hard life. I pray the Lord takes care of them if they aren't with him already." It looked like a man-made structure was ahead of them and Rose guided the horse to it.

"We should probably steer clear of strangers." Philip suggested.

"Just a little closer." Rose insisted. They came upon a tower with one door, whose pinnacle reached high above the tree tops allowing an ample view of the kingdom.

"In all my travels I have never come upon this before." Rose said to Philip

"Is it possible that you have not traveled this far?" Philip asked.

"No, it is not, I'm quite sure I've been here and likewise every inch of the forest, this wouldn't have escaped my notice." She replied, "Lets go inside."

"NO! You mustn't go inside." He replied not like himself much more harshly, than more softly said, "I don't trust it."

She did not wish to displease him so they ventured in another direction.

**Awake**

In the third week of the nuns' vigil, they noticed that her face seemed to change with the passing of night and day. She seemed, at night, as if she was earnestly sleeping but during the day, her face was glowing, almost, and she seemed happy.

**Asleep**

It was approaching mid-summer. With the changing of the weather came a change in Rose, she was growing fearful, irritable even, for she remembered what Philip had said to her that he would be leaving. One night they were staring at the stars,

"Are you cold?" Philip asked positioning his arm a top her shoulders like shawl.

"A little."

"My nymph why do you seem upset?"

"Because you shall be leaving me." Rose replied.

"Bard has settled my affairs. I never have to leave you again." He said and took her in his arms, her heart tensed up with joy such that she felt the organ in her chest was much larger than expected.

**Awake**

It now became clear, through communications with Philip's father that Prince Philip had not returned home. His traveling companions reported that he had been abducted in the night. Two months after Aurora's birthday, Philip's father declared war upon King Stephen and his country for the presumed death or entrapment of his son. There was no corner of Stephen's Kingdom that was free of fear, for Philip's kingdom upon the sea had unlimited access to what ever weapons and men for hire they need.

Every day like the one before Maleficent would descend to the basement of the tower, where Prince Philip was held captive and give him the news she had acquired from her faithful vigil atop the tower.

"Good afternoon your highness." She said as she entered his prison with his daily meal.

"Tell me, for you are probably the one of the few who really know, what is Aurora like? This Princess that I've never seen, but need now?" he asked.

"She is very beautiful like her mother, she would bring what ever man she were to marry great joy. And I have given her the greatest gift."

"What is that?" Philip asked.

"Unadulterated love. She is trapped in a dream, where she is perpetually with those she loves and who love her and she will not forsake the dream for a man who would take her away from that." Maleficent said, "Her body will age, but in her mind she will be ever young and beautiful. Her body will know decay, but in her mind she will know no pain, but only the joys of this life."

"Is she so selfish that she would hide in a dream?" Philip replied.

"She is smarter than any of us. The world will only disappoint." then more casually added, "The dream of peace is now over, your father has declared war upon Stephen's Kingdom." With that Maleficent left.

Merryweather entered the room with a sword in hand, the other two nuns looked alarm.

"She is under an evil influence, we must pray to help her, but she is fighting a war. So, I will put this sword in her hand so she can remember her training." Merryweather proclaimed, walked over and uncrossed Aurora's arms. She placed the sword in her hand and Aurora's face in response looked almost perplexed.

**Asleep**

Philip took to tending to the garden quite well. He was very proud of the green beans that were collected and Rose loved the long horse rides to other parts of the forest. The long summer nights allowed them even further area to explore. They made it to a lake. The shoreline was stony and difficult to navigate, but once they were in the water they splashed and swam to a small little island just off shore with a few trees on it. The layer of pine needles made a soft landing for their bare feet. Philip motioned for her to sit down on a rock.

"Rose I want to ask you something." he said and then took in a sigh. "Will you marry me?" She wasn't sure what to say she stared stupidly back and then yelled, "Yes!"

They embraced and kissed and quickly swam back to shore to return to the cottage. Rose was filled with dread with what the nuns would say. Were her dreams of being a nun now over forever?

Hair still wet, they found Flora, Fauna and Merryweather seated inside and announced their engagement. To Rose's relief, they showed as much joy as she herself felt. When the initial excitement subsided, Fauna spoke up,

"You know there is special order of married nuns. They have children and husbands and live at the nunnery as well." This was better news than Rose could ever have expected.

**Awake**

Merryweather no longer watched Aurora as every able soldier was needed for defense preparations, especially someone of her expertise. Philip's father's forces had crossed into their kingdom and were speeding quickly towards the castle, with a large force of foot soldiers.

"Seal the gates your majesty." Merryweather instructed King Stephen. "We cannot take on more peasants; they will not be of any use to us if we are under siege and they'll likely starve or die if they stay."

"How am I to be a King if I do not protect my people?" he replied.

"Tell them to make for the forest. There is only one reason our enemy has come here and that is to attack this castle."

"Very well." Merryweather began exiting the throne room. "I think after 20 years as a nanny Merry you may be the only one excited by the prospect of a fight."

"Much to my disappointment, I am hoping we can stop them at the gate your majesty."

**Asleep**

It was a warm night and although the moon was too bright to see the stars well, it was still pretty enough for Rose and Philip to gaze at while it popped in and out from behind the clouds. Rose shifted uneasily.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Something's wrong." She said.

"Nothing's wrong everything is perfect." He replied and drew her to him for a kiss. She the sensation of was no longer new, but her thought was. And she pulled away.

"That's what I mean, I mean this is what I wanted to be with all of you, and you're all together, but you shouldn't be." She said.

"My nymph you're not making sense come lets go back to the house and we'll forget all our troubles then."

"We have no troubles! Don't you see it?" she asked and then something hit her, what if Maleficent had bewitched Philip.

"You're upset. Let's race back and who ever loses has to sing like a duck to Fauna." He said a wide grin across his face.

Almost in a whisper she replied, "No"

"What did you say?"

"I'm not going back with you, I'm going…I'm going…to the tower." She said.

"Don't be ridiculous. You can't see a thing. "

"Not for me." She said and she began taking off.

She headed in the direction of the tower with Philip complaining behind her.

"Ok maybe there is something there, wouldn't it be better to check there in the morning."

"You can head back if you like." Rose replied.

They continued walking Rose could sense they were just upon it when she heard a crash and crack behind her.

"Ahhh…I think I've broken my leg." Philip cried out in pain. Rose turned around and went to his side.

"Let me take a look at it." She said, she began to touch his leg when he gave out another yell of pain.

"We have to get you back." She said. She helped to hoist him up to his feet and placed his arm over her shoulders and they hobbled back to the cottage.

"Rose, Philip I'm so glad we were getting worried." Merryweather said as they entered.

"Philip's broken his leg." Rose explained. The nuns took over getting Philip over into a bed.

**Awake**

Bard sat in a guarded room of the castle with Hubert. Their testimony that Prince Philip just "disappeared" was not very informative, and they could be not be trusted to roam freely in the event that they did have some involvement. Bard began singing,

"A prisoner I may be.

But my heart will always be free.

To look upon a beauty outside this place.

But all I ever see is your ugly face."

Hubert dropped his whittling and began chasing Bard around the small room attempting to break his instrument.

**Asleep**

The next day Philip was bed ridden and in pain. Rose made every meal for him. He seemed to enjoy all the attention that his injury caused, but his pain was still evident. Rose welcomed the chance to care for him and was exhausted by the end of the day. But her curiosity did not wane. When they were all asleep, Rose slipped out again. She opted to walk, not being completely comfortable on horses yet nor cause suspicion. The clear moonlit night clouded over and a warm and heavy summer rain began. The entirety of nature seemed against her, when at last she saw a structure that was definitely not of nature, the tower.

She circled it once and realized there was only one door at the base, she began to approach it when the rain stopped and someone called out her name.

"Rose," she turned to see Philip standing beside her, "Stay with me, if you go through that door we will be forced to part forever." A lump caught in her throat.

"But you are not yourself." She forced herself to say, "You usually don't have any practical skills, and yet you boss people around, and you get mad at people for interfering with your duty when really its just you not wanting to do it. You are annoying, but you always look out for people, all people. And the person standing before me only cares about me." She reached out and grasped the handle and Philip changed into Maleficent.

"Aurora when you leave, you can never return and you can never be as happy as you are here. If there's something wrong we'll fix it." She said.

"There is something wrong, but I'm the one who will fix it." Aurora replied, looked once more in hopes of seeing Philip, but only Maleficent returned her glance, turned the knob and entered the tower.

**Awake**

She found herself in a stone room like that of the exterior of the tower, with two doors, one of which she had just entered from.

"Where am I?" she said aloud.

"Who's there?" a voice replied, directing Aurora's attention to a chained figure lying on a bench. He looked grungy, his hair was disheveled and he was covered in stubble. She took a step closer toward him. Her eyes widened as she realized who this was, it was her own Philip.

"Philip what are you doing here?" she asked.

"Rose! Rose is that you?" he asked and his eyes wandered widely around the room not resting on anything. He sat up on the bench.

"What's wrong with your eyes? Why do you not look at me?" she asked and went and knelt before him.

"Because I do not see you my nymph." He said, Rose put her hand up to touch his face, but her hand passed through his head as if she had swiped it through air. She was a ghost, had she died?

"What does this mean?" she asked.

"I do not know." He replied.

"Who has done this to you? What has happened?" Aurora asked.

"Maleficent, an evil sorceress, imprisoned me here for the past three months." Three months? Aurora thought, it had been three months since her birthday.

"I must get you out of here." She replied.

"You must lower your voice my nymph or she will hear you," He warned.

She tried to grab the chains but it was to no avail her silvery hands moved through them. She went to the second door and tried to grab the knob, but couldn't. In frustration she tried to pound on the door but her fists flew through the door. This intrigued her, she recoiled her hands, bit down on her tongue and then attempted to pass through the door. She found herself beside a staircase leading upwards and when she looked around longer, she saw that beside the door were keys suspended on a peg. Aurora tried to grab the keys, but again she passed through them like air.

Aurora bent her head and closed her eyes, "Father please help me," she prayed and she gradually stuck forth her hand and moved it behind the keys and although she could not completely grab them she could move them like a wind and they fell off the peg and onto the floor. She couldn't pick them up, but could only push them along the floor. She pushed them under the door and this time when she passed through the door, it rattled, she was beginning to take form. She looked up at Philip and he looked back at her.

"You look like a ghost a beautiful apparition, please tell me you are not dead." He said.

"I do not know." She bent down and continued pushing the keys toward him, until at last he could reach them. He hastily grabbed them and unlocked his manacles. He stood up proudly once more, then looked at Rose.

He tried to touch her, but his hand passed right through her face. He looked solemn.

"I was worried you wouldn't find me." He said, "that you wouldn't look for me."

"I'm sorry it took me so long." She said. "How do we get out of here?"

"I think through this door." Philip said. Rose was a little weary of going back through the door she came in through, but no other option presented itself. The door opened. As they walked outside the tower the landscape changed drastically than from when she had gone in; they were no longer in the forest. Where they were Aurora did not know.

"Tarturus." Philip said aloud.

"What?" Aurora asked.

"It is an unfruitful plain which divides Stephen's kingdom from mine." He replied, but his eyes stayed longer on Rose, "I can no longer see completely through you, I can see the different colors of your robe even." He outstretched his hand to her face and it stopped at her cheek and did not go through. He gently felt the side of her face and then reached down and gave her a kiss. There was a sensation of touch, as if he had tapped her asleep foot, but not wholly there.

"I must go to Stephen's kingdom" Rose said sensing the concern of the nuns and her parents.

"Yes as must I, to stop the war."

"War?"

"Our Kingdoms are now at war with each other." He replied. Rose's chest

tightened, this was her fault. Something odd happened she felt a strange weight in her right hand as if she were holding something, but nothing was there. They stole a horse stabled next to the tower and both prince and princess rode as quickly as they could.

The night turned into day and they were nearing civilization. People may have stared at the man riding a horse with a ghost-like girl seated behind him, but the hamlets appeared to be deserted. During the heat of the day Rose could feel the warmth of the sun as they rode, but when Philip stopped to drink from a well, she didn't appear to need any water. At dusk they could see the spirals of the castle and a backdrop of smoke behind it, the castle was under siege.

Fortunately they were approaching the backside of the castle while Philip's father was attacking the front, but they still had no clear way of entering the castle or reaching Philip's father situated behind an onslaught of soldiers.

"How do we..." Rose began, but then their problems got exponentially worse. Both of them fixated upon a figure between them and castle. Philip still led the horse forward, but slowed the pace. They dismounted and walked hand in hand closer to it still, by now there was no doubt that the figure was Maleficent.

"This was not suppose to happen!" she shrieked in a deep voice such that it felt as if frigid water was washing out all the warmth with in your body. Rose stood beside Philip, not trembling, but afraid nonetheless. All the while Maleficent's eyes were probing them trying to fathom how this could occur, when at last it hit her. Aurora was the maid he had loved and he the man she had loved. "So, congrats to both of you for coming this far, but no further shall you go. I summon to me the evil to work through me to accomplish my end." Her voice magnified and seemed to reverberate to the peak of the mountains. And then she fell down, prostrate on the ground. Rose hoped, let her be dead, let her be dead, but her hope was not fulfilled. Her body arched in the middle and expanded, grew so large that she burst from her clothes to reveal scalely black skin. The black mass was growing as large as the castle wall when two short arms sprout from either side, with talons at the end of each. Half as large as the castle and all its many towers, Maleficent spun her neck up showing her dragon head and billowing throat. Her wings expanded stretching the width of the castle and then recoiled back into a relaxed position. Rose for a moment caught in amazement, realized her senses, and began to turn to run, but Philip held her hand fast and did not move.

"Come let us retreat to the forest, there's no time." She pleaded longing to take a confrontation to somewhere she knew.

"This is where we were meant to be my nymph, this is what we were meant to do, you have taught me to have faith." There was such courage in his voice, that she resumed standing beside him.

The dragon seemed to be smiling if it could do such a thing and then it spread its upper and lower jaws apart and released a fire cloud toward them. Aurora stepped in front of Philip and shielded him from the blast not feeling it herself. She turned back to look at him, he squatted and was cowering behind her.

"Come on faith-man, I'll protect you." And he got up and inspected her.

"You are unharmed and you're getting more like you." He said in surprise and relief. Maleficent too was inspecting the situation before another attack, trying to assess what was happening. And for the first time Rose looked down and in her hand, which almost seemed normal, had appeared a sword.

Merryweather was pleased her initial defenses were small in nature, but effectively slowing the advances. Tons of thorn brush around the entrance, sugar berries on the ground kept attracting wild dogs and boars to raid the encampment, and hay barrels dowsed in kerosene could be lit at random by her archers - all tactics she had developed while living in the forest. It made the siege unpredictably unpleasant. Day three of the siege was ending with a bang, the enemy forces were ramming the gate with a tree trunk. "Get those fires going stronger!" Merryweather was yelling at the guards a top the wall. They were heating cauldrons of boiling water in order to scald the attackers below. When Merryweather heard a sound. It was a very peculiar sound, like that of a wild animal, but too loud to be one. Then the flare went up from the backside of the castle, the rear guard had spotted activity. "I want the first bucket on them in 2 minutes. Then keep them coming as soon as they regroup." she instructed, then ordered a dozen archers to come with her. They ran along the top of the castle wall surveying the outside. Merryweather caught glimpses of something black as they rounded the corner. And then it reared up and she stood mouth open in surprise, it was a dragon. How did they get control of a dragon she wondered. She pulled an archer aside, "get all the reserves to me at the backside now." He went running down a staircase to the ground floor and Merryweather and the rest of them continued. As they stood directly in front of the dragon to their amazement it seemed to have no interest in them. Instead it was fixated on some people. And there she saw it a blueish, faded figure of a woman holding a sword, "Rose!" she said aloud.

"I'll block you jab." Rose instructed handing Philip, who, with a quizzical look, gladly accepted the sword. He brought it upward perpendicular to his arm, with Rose standing, looking forward at Maleficent, in front of him. The dragon's spiky tail swung around, Rose took the brunt of the hit, Philip cut the tail open and then took a hit from the tail as it whipped back sending him flying and feeling it. The dragon prepared to crush him under a paw when a volley of arrows pierced at it's hind quarters. Painful, but not deep the arrows could not incapacitate, but the dragon turned its attention at last to the soldiers gathering on the wall. Rose and Philip regrouped.

"Get those grappling hooks on that harpie now." Merryweather instructed and ropes flew into the air and pinned the dragon's wings to the wall as the dragon released a breathe of fire that vaporized four of the men.

Rose and Philip charged toward the dragon, with Rose in front. The dragon's head whirled around and Rose deflected the blows of fire while both her and Philip dodged the blows from Maleficent's claws. Maleficent, unable to fly away or burn them now had Rose and Philip beneath her belly. Rose cried, "Strike now!" And Philip thrust the sword up into her tender underside. As Rose took the blow from a claw and was thrown away from them. The dragon reeled back in horror and pain and crashed into the wall, crumbling it beneath its weight.

From the place where the sword entered the dragon seemed to implode upon itself diminishing to a dead haggard woman.

Philip rushed to where Rose had landed. Rose turned to Philip, "I must go now."

"What?" he replied.

"Our time…my time has ended." Rose said and he could see that she was becoming more translucent, more ghost like. Not willfully she began to float toward the castle quickly all the while looking back at Philip.

"No!" he cried and scrambled after her. She crested over the broken wall and Philip followed the soldiers were too stunned and confused to stop him. A tear could be seen streaming down her silver face. He followed her image inside the castle and up several staircases. When all that remained of her was an outline he found himself in a corridor, he heard a last whisper of his name in front of a door. Philip burst the door open to find the queen and two nuns surrounding a bed. He hastily approached the bed upon which Rose, her true form, lay sword in hand.

There was the same tear upon her cheek.

"No!" he screamed and pound on her chest. "Live!" he breathed in deeply and kissed her, exhaling into her. He pounded once more on her chest.

Her eyes fluttered and her mouth cracked open as she inhaled on her own, her chest rose and fell on its own. She dislodged her hand from the sword and set it beside her and sat up. She looked over to see Philip and gleefully embraced him. He stood up with her in his arms and brought her off the bed and to the floor. Rose looked away from him and saw her mother, and remembered; she had chosen to give up the dream, now she would have to do so.

A little sadness reentered her eyes as she stepped back from Philip, after his initial exuberance Philip too seemed to remember that he was standing in front of the Queen and stood up straighter, as if that could compensate for his scruffy appearance caked over with mud and blood.

"Go quickly now to your father Prince Philip." the Queen instructed, "you must intercede on our behalf and end this war. Fauna take him to the front gate and have them draw up a white flag."

"Prince Philip?" Rose said confused.

"I'm sure Princess Aurora, will not mind if you are gone for an hour." the Queen responded.

"Princess Aurora?" Philip asked in surprise. "That would explain why you are so beautiful." he said taking a step toward her again.

"That would explain why you have very few practical skills." Rose replied, before he pinned a kiss squarely on her lips.


End file.
