A brooding figure sits staring intently at a scroll unfurled on his messy workshop desk. The parchment is crisp and important with a seal he had only seen on rare occasion in his youth. His mind is torn at the prospect laying before him and he is lost in it mentally, barely registering the familiar knock on his door.

"Mr. Zorander?" comes the sing-song voice of an adolescent girl as she tentatively opens the heavy oak door.

"Huh?.. oh yes, Princess Annaliese what is it?" He speaks to her but his eyes never leave that blue seal of wax that has entangled his mind.

"What's that?" asks the same small voice brightly. A delicate hand reaches to the table but, Annaliese always being a mannerly girl, does not presume to touch the paper. Only on seeing her stand in his peripheral does the spell of the seal break in Zorander's head and he truly notices her there.

"It's nothing!" he declares sternly and rolls the paper back into its original scroll form, tucking it to the back of his desk, out of sight of her prying eyes

"Oh well it just seemed important. My Father always pays special attention to anything with that seal."

Zorander the Sorcerer, stands and walks to another part of the room, busying himself with whatever half finished potion he had left when the scroll had arrived. "Did you need something, Princess Annaliese? I don't have time for idle chit chat you know".

She slides up closer to him with her hands clasped in front of her, full of that mock shyness he finds somewhat infuriating, knowing this girl does not really know what "shy" feels like. "I was thinking maybe I could work as your apprentice today. I haven't really had a chance to spend time here in a few days."

"Yes well you're not REALLY my apprentice you know. You are not required to keep coming."

"I know but I think what you do is really fascinating! I love spending time here." She smiles brightly and his resolve, as it always does, melts a little. A lonely world has made him socially awkward, even cruel at times, but this girl could be his undoing, simply with that sincere smile.

He tries one more path to argue. "Why don't you go play with your sister, Princess Ashlyn, or something."

Annaliese looks off to the side, her smile fading slightly "She's going on a date today."

Zorander starts "Good Gods a date? How old are you girls now anyway?"

"Ashlyn is 17, and Daniel is 19 now. I'm not quite there yet but soon." Annaliese was the youngest of the royal family, being only 15.

"And your Father approves?"

Annaliese nods her head "Oh yes he is very supportive. He says Ashlyn is ready to start finding a proper suitor and a good alliance. He thinks vetting the possibilities is a smart move."

Zorander affords a quick glance at Annaliese. Budding breasts, fuller hips. While he has been busy doing his best to never look too long, she has grown up before him. Distracted by his train of thought, and more than a little embarrassed, Zorander gives up his attempts to dissuade the Princess from staying and throws up his hands "Fine, you can stay!" (And silently chastises himself for looking at her at all)

Annaliese squeals a little and rushes to the wall to grab her hat and robes. Fabian, the passionately efficient advisor to the King and good friend to all, had installed a peg on the sorcerer's wall years earlier when she first took an interest in Zorander's work. It might not be "proper" for a Princess to get too involved with magic, but Fabian always seemed supportive when she wanted to explore new things that other people did not understand.

"What can I do to help you?"

Zorander turns a circle around the room. His dried potion ingredients? Alphabetized and labeled by Annaliese herself a year earlier. His wands and other "tools" of the trade? Neatly lining the wall in the proper places. His books? He turns to find them exactly as she had left them on her last visit: Carefully catalogued and lining his shelves, not only by title, but by category and author.

His back turned to the girl, he allows a small smile as he realizes how much time she really has devoted to his trade, and that if he is honest with himself, she is not bad company to keep. Supportive and sweet, how he had won the loyalty of a genuinely kind and caring person was beyond him. He wipes the smile from his face before turning to face her.

"Well, since it doesn't look like I have any real tasks for you, you can help me with this potion I've started"

"Really? I'd love that!" Annaliesescampers over to where his cauldron is boiling slightly and peers inside with curious delight. "What will it do?"

"This potion was requested by the Queen to help the gardeners keep particular weeds at bay while not affecting the flowers. Normal poisons won't work because the flower with which she is SO enchanted," he rolls his eyes and drawls out the sentence mockingly, "is technically a weed as well and would be killed along with the rest."

He mumbles almost inaudibly with deep sarcasm "important work for the greatest sorcerer in the Kingdom".

"Sounds great! Let's get to work!"

Watching her with so much excitement, undiminished after years spent begging crumbs of magic from him and getting really very little back, he smiles a little and hands her a vile. "Ok, Princess Annaliese, let's start with this one..."

Three, four, five hours tick by and the sun falls from view of Zorander's lone tower window. A swift knock shakes the door, startling both Zorander and Annaliese as they bend over his potion apparatus.

"Yes what is it?!" Zorander calls with annoyance.

Fabian opens the door with confidence "Ah, Princess Annaliese, I've been searching for you. Dinner is about to be served and your family is already in the dining hall."

"Oh I'm so sorry! I forgot the time! Mr. Zorander and I have been working on a potion for my Mom!" She beams with pride at the tall, grey haired man.

His demeanor remains proper and rigid but his face softens with fondness at her thrill. He glances at Zorander with eyebrows raised slightly.

"Yes well anyway we were almost finished and I have other things to work on now." He begins cleaning up the table and turns his back on Fabian's bemusement.

"I'll be right down in a minute. I just want to bottle a little of this potion and bring it to my Mother. Please let them know to start without me I don't mind." That infectious smile never leaves her face and Fabian can only shake his head a little as she walks away.

"Yes, Your Majesty. Please don't take too long." With that he was gone, shutting the door behind him.

Zorander thrusts a bottle in her hand "Here now go on before you get me in trouble for keeping you!"

"Thanks, Mr. Zorander! I had a great time today!" She bounds to the door and stops short with her hand on the knob.

Turning back to face him she says "do you think I could come back again tomorrow?"

With what was becoming over the years more mock annoyance than sincere, Zorander replies more harshly than he really means "It isn't as if I could stop you."

"Great! I'll see you tomorrow!"

The door shuts behind her and Zorander stares at it for a moment. His wonder at her positivity, her kindness, her... HER stunning him for not the first time. He shakes it off with a half smile and goes back to his work.