Before Eyan stood an elderly woman, hunched over a knotted cane and a hooded cloak draped over her shoulders. Those same burning eyes from the dragon peered from her wrinkled face. There was apparently not a scratch on her as she walked forward to Eyan and put a bony hand on his cheek, giving it two gentle taps. “There there. Come with me inside the tower, your princess awaits.” she said. Her voice was calming and playful, and though Eyan didn’t trust her, he did believe he was out of immediate danger.

The old woman waved her hand at the tower door, which promptly flung open. Inside was a luxurious room with a roaring fire, fur rugs, and cushioned seats. A table was set in the middle of the room, silver platters being brought in by invisible servants. “Take a seat, young sir knight.” At her word, a chair was pulled from the table, beckoning his weary legs to take a rest. He glanced at her for a moment, and she nodded, “You’ll need the rest for the journey home.”

Eyan took his seat, and a plate of food slid into place in front of him. Roast boar, fresh bread, winter vegetables, and a generously poured cup of wine. “Before I go, would you like to be cleaned up?” the old woman asked.

“Sure.” Eyan replied. She waved her hand in a swirling motion, and a bowl of warm water and soap floated in from nowhere. The cloth began dipping itself in the water and wiping away the blood, sweat, and dirt from all over his body, sneaking under his armor and clothes to get places that hadn’t been washed since he left home.

“If there’s anything else you need, let me know now. Once I go through that portal, you’re on your own until I return.” She pointed upwards. There was a spiral staircase at the back of the room that led all the way up the marble tower to a platform. Though he had only ever seen one during a visit to the Mage’s College, he recognized the multicolored glow of a gate portal.

“Where are you going? Where’s Princess Theadasia?”

“I’ll be right back with her, you just wait here while I go and fetch her.” Eyan’s head was swimming. He had so many questions.

“Who are you?”

“Bah!” the old woman exclaimed and turned into a crow. She flew up to the portal, and with a whoosh she went through, the bowl of water spilled to his lap and the cloth fell limp inside his pants. Eyan cursed a little and pulled the cloth out of his pants. Outside, the wind was still blowing hard, whistling. Alone at the table, Eyan’s stomach reminded him that he hadn’t eaten since starting up the mountain. He dug into the plate before him, scarfing it down ravenously before serving himself another from the banquet before him. As he ate and drank, he could feel his bruises easing and his cuts starting to close. After three plates he was full, and though the gouges on his back would trouble him for some time yet, he felt much better.

Then his thoughts turned to Frederick. It’s almost over, he thought, I’m coming home. My bastard father will have me married, but I’ll be in my own land, running my own life. His legacy for our freedom.

The portal above flickered and with a hsoohw sound, a starkly colored goldfinch emerged. It glided down gently, landed on the floor, and with a swirling of dust, took the form of a young woman with golden hair and blue eyes. She wore a simple grey dress, belted at the waist and a fur cloak trailing behind her.

“Princess Theadasia, I presume.” Eyan stood up and extended a hand. The princess shook it firmly before striding to the table and taking a seat herself. She waved a hand, and the plates began to float once again.

“Thea.” the princess started. “My grandmother says you are different than the others who have come after me.” her voice low and sure. “The fact that you are here, and not dead in the courtyard implies as much. Tell me why.”

Eyan had to shake himself to focus, “Why what?”

“Why are you here? As opposed to dead in the courtyard, or at home in your castle or manor or wherever it is you come from.”

Eyan thought for a bit. He hadn’t the slightest idea why that old witch had spared him, or why she took the dragon form to begin with. Thea looked up from her plate and raised an expectant eyebrow. Eyan did know why he came, though. But would he share it? Share the very thing that nearly got Frederick killed?

He looked into Thea's eyes. Blue as the sky, they still had in them that burning look, like they could pierce through any lie he came up with.

“I came for love.”

“For love? You love me?” Thea laughed. “You’ve never even met me!”

“No, not you.” Eyan hoped that would be enough. Thea softened her expression and studied his face. Her eyes darted around like guppies searching for food, an occasional spark glowed in her irises.

After an eternity, she exhaled and went back to her food. Eyan relaxed, not realizing how tense he had been under her examination. “What are your intentions with me, then? Am I to be your bride?”

“If it pleases you.”

“Does it please you?”

“No.”

“Tell me why.” Eyan gulped, hesitating to give an answer. “It’s okay, my grandmother wouldn’t have let you live if she thought what she saw would offend me.”

“A stable boy,” he replied shakily, “Frederick.” Thea’s eyes glowed with sudden realization.

“Ahhh. A forbidden love.” She said knowingly, smiling. “We know a thing or two about that.” Eyan’s heart skipped a beat. Was she…

“Are you…”

“No, but all the same, I know something of loves that must hide in the dark. I am the result of one, after all.” Eyan sank back into his chair, puzzled. “Oh don’t look at me like that. Have you seen the Queen’s hair? Brown as mud! And the other royal children? Hair like varying shades of turd!”

“That’s a bit cruel.”

“Cruel?” Thea’s eyes flashed anger, but she spoke coolly “Cruel is using a servant girl, filling her head with fanciful ideas, and then when she becomes inconvenient, banishing her from your kingdom. Cruel is taking the child away from her, pretending she doesn’t exist, and raising the child amongst siblings who hate her. Cruel is shunning the child of your love affair because it brings you shame to think about. Cruel is marrying the child off to some old bag of a lord to secure a few more troops in your army!”

Eyan simply nodded. He recalled the story they were told. On her sixteenth birthday, Thea was supposed to be married to a minor lord in Norcastor, but on her wedding morn, she was captured by a red dragon, supposedly taken as the crown jewel of its treasure hoard. That same night, the king received a vision. A marble keep with red roofs, the princess inside the tower, the dragon perched atop. It took three years to find the keep, nestled in the uninhabited parts of the eastern mountain ranges. Another year to assemble and launch the first rescue expedition. After the group disappeared, presumably lost to the mountains, the reward of the princess’ hand in marriage was offered to any knight who could slay the dragon and rescue her.

“I’m sorry.” the young knight said, looking downward.

“Don’t be, you wouldn’t have known.” Thea shook her head.

The pair sat in silence for a while. Thea picking at her plate, Eyan sipping on wine until he asked, “What about your mother? Where is she now?”

“Dead now. She used to visit me at the castle when I was young. Most nights she would come up to the window as a bird, then join me in my room. I remember the first time she spoke to me in that form. I was five,” she gave a soft chuckle, “I was so scared. But then she turned, and I knew it was her. I was only three when she was banished.” a sigh, “Started asking too much of the king. To see me more than just at meals, to hold me, to play with me, to tell me who she was…But it was too inconvenient for the king. To explain to the court why a servant girl wanted so much to do with his child…a blonde servant girl at that. And then one day, I didn’t see her at mealtime.”

“What about your grandmother?”

“Over the years, when my mother visited me, she would tell me about her mother. She told me how she was a powerful witch. My grandmother taught her how to shapeshift, and that’s how she could visit me. Eventually, two birds came to my window, and I met grandmother that way.”

“So she ran off to become a witch after she was banished? Somehow that seems even more dangerous than staying in the kingdom as a simple fugitive.”

“Oh it was. But that was the only way she could think of to see me. And for a while it worked. Eventually their coven was tracked down, though. The king’s men were on a witch hunt.” Thea let the words hang in the air for a moment, then resumed, “Anyway, my grandmother survived, and she would visit me. When my sixteenth was approaching, I told her about the marriage. She came back the next week with this plan; obviously, I agreed.”

“To get you away from the king?”

“Not just him. She didn’t want me to meet the same fate as my mother. She keeps me safe, two witches on the move are harder to spot than a whole coven. But she was slowing, and the witch hunters are bound to catch up eventually.

Eyan thought about the dragon he had just encountered and "slain", and wondered if, in he younger days she'd have been even more formidable. Certainly she didn't appear to be slowing down.

Meanwhile, Thea had gone on with her story: "So it’s back to the castle then. Only, she didn’t want me meeting my mother’s fate: that includes coven and castle. So she ensured that whoever took me back would not subject me to it.”

“You’re not a servant girl,” he caught himself, “apologies, but you’re a princess. I don’t understand.”

“Being a princess does not stop me from being used until I become inconvenient, then discarded. She did not want me to be the tool or plaything of some lord or king. I will not be helpless.”

“I think I understand.” Eyan said. Still whirling from the fight, weary from his trek, and now absorbing all this, he barely understood.

“Good. Now, do you still want to rescue me?” The old woman was once again at the portal, looking down. How long has she been watching, I wonder. Eyan thought.

“Just one thing.”

“I’m listening.”

“In the interest of honesty, I should share with you that I did come here out of love, it’s true. But there is another layer to this.”

“That your love can only be through some political maneuver, requiring me as your bride? Yes, quite.” A subtle raspy laugh echoed from the top of the tower. “And?”

“And...I thought it might behoove you to know that our marriage, and thus you, would be used to serve the ends of my father.” Then he added, “Were we to go through with this.”

“Then, if you wish to rescue me, deal with your father.” Eyan’s heart sunk low. He had planned to more or less hand them over to his father once the marriage was complete. That was the bargain he’d struck for Frederick’s life.

“I- I can’t.”

Thea sputtered and rolled her eyes, “So you can climb up the side of a mountain and slay a dragon, but you can’t stand up to your own father?” the princess said tauntingly, “You really are a different one.” She stood up and waved the invisible servants over to clear her plate. “It’s like I said, I won’t be used.” She started to dissipate into that familiar dust and shape into a bird.

Eyan shot up and shouted “I’ll do it!” The dust fell from around Thea and she looked at him, seemingly waiting for more. “I’ll think of a way to make this work. Come with me, please, if you’re still interested in being rescued.” Thea looked up at her grandmother, who gave a slight nod.

“One moment.” She flew up to the platform and entered the portal. There were a few minutes of silence: Eyan at the bottom of the tower, the old woman at the top, looking down. Thea reemerged with her fur cloak pulled tight around her, and a satchel over her back. She exchanged a few words with her grandmother that Eyan couldn’t hear before flying down to meet him by the dining table. “Shall we?”