A Story of a Prince and a Princess

This is a story of a prince and a princess. The prince lived in one kingdom, and the princess lived in another kingdom far away. One day, the prince happened to meet this princess through a mutual friend, who happened to be a princess at the nearby kingdom. The two began communicating by homing pigeon - that was the best form of communication back in the day - and they kept in frequent contact.

This prince liked the princess in the nearby kingdom - however, she did not like him very much. Upon discovery of this, the prince was very sad. He was very mad, thinking "who would not want me - I am the prince!" However, with help of the princess of the far away kingdom (by homing pigeon, of course), he was able to realize the folly of his thinking. For several weeks, the friendship continued. Then, something bad happened.

One day, the prince was preparing for his day when a homing pigeon arrived. Attached was a long note from the princess of the far away kingdom, saying how her betrothed prince had returned from a campaign in the far region, and had stated that he had no intentions of marrying her. The princess of the far away kingdom did not take this very well (well, okay - she was heartbroken), and told the prince (not the betrothed one) that she was going to jump from the tallest tower in the kingdom.

The prince, greatly distressed, sent a long letter back to the princess. The homing pigeon was fast - so fast, that the first recorded instance of the sound barrier being broken occurred at the wings of this pigeon. It was that fast. Anyway, the princess received the letter, read it, and reconsidered her stance.

However, in order to fully calm down the princess, the prince continued constant correspondence with the princess. This continued for two weeks, but not a lot of progress was seen by the prince.

After those two weeks, the prince had to go defeat a dragon terrorizing a nearby settlement. He figured it would only take a weeks, so he advised the princess of this and told her to consider her position on the subject. Oddly enough, the prince ended up slaying the dragon on day 1 and was bored for 6 days.

After this "week off," the prince checked up on the princess. She had thought about all that the prince had said, and realized her initial position of borderline suicide was not the best position in the world. The prince was greatly relieved, and their friendship continued to grow. There was a special element to their friendship - both of them had been there to pick each other up during some of the roughest times in their life. After several months of continued homing pigeon correspondence, the prince decided to meet this princess. After making arrangements between the two kingdoms, the prince began the long trek to the far away kingdom.

The trek was very long, and very straight, and very flat. The terrain was some of the most uneventful - but that's irrelevant. Back on topic.

Eventually, the prince arrived at the far away kingdom. The princess was returning from business, and was not home when the prince reached his destination. So, the prince accompanied the princess' brother (who was not a prince - kinda weird, but there's some technicality in there somewhere) to the outpost where the prince would be sleeping during his visit. After dropping off his belongings, the two began returning to the castle. On the way back, a homing pigeon arrived with a note from the princess - "where are you?" The princess' brother sent a note back saying "we're dead - sorry." The princess was not amused.

Once the prince returned to the castle, he met the princess for the first time. At first he didn't know what to do - he was so used to the homing pigeons that this whole "in person" thing was somewhat odd. After a few hours, though, the awkwardness was gone, and the visit was going quite well.

The two attended various social functions together, and spent most of the time talking and doing prince and princess kinds of things. One day, near the end of his visit, the prince began thinking. The friendship he had with this princess was one of a kind - and he thought he might be starting to like her.

However, the prince had had troubles with princesses in the past, and was wary about this. He began to pray, and then continued talking to the princess. It became clearer that this was no ordinary princess. So, he sent a homing pigeon back to his home kingdom with a letter detailing his visit so far, and the feelings that were beginning to take hold. The prince received a letter back, stating that the king and queen gave their blessing on his feelings.

So, the prince continued praying, and thinking, and praying. This occurred throughout the night - the prince didn't know when he got to bed - he knew that he stopped for a moment, closed his eyes, and opened them several hours later with severe stomach cramps and a sore jaw. He believed that this princess was the one - and decided that he would ask the king and queen of the far away kingdom for permission to court this princess. He arrived at the castle, and asked to talk to the king. The king, being fond of the prince, welcomed him to the throne room [not the lavatory] eagerly. It was there that the prince asked the king for permission. The prince, in later retelling of the story, did not really remember what he said - he just remembered the king saying yes before he was even fully finished asking for permission. The prince was excited, but scared - he still had to ask the princess.

It was a long walk from the throne room to the princess' quarters. Once there, he asked to talk to the princess alone. Again, the prince didn't remember what he said - but he did remember that smile slowly forming on the princess' face, that sparkle in her eyes... and that "yes." The prince didn't know what to do at first - his world had changed in the blink of an eye. From my research, it would seem the princess felt similarly.

The two spent the day together, but the prince had to return to his kingdom to take care of business, and the princess had to return to the school south of the far away kingdom. Needless to say, the prince and princess were very sad. It was a very long ride home for the prince... but then he found out that the princess would be coming to his kingdom in a matter of weeks. This made the prince very happy. He loved this princess, and was overjoyed to know she would be coming soon. (As one historian said, "When it comes to love, homing pigeons just don't cut it.")

And so began the story of the prince and the princess. Chapters will follow soon... <3