Once Upon a Time...

...there was a princess.

And she was lost.

As she wandered around the forest, weeks stretched into months, and months into years. And even though she kept trying, the princess began to doubt there was a way out of her wooded prison.

One day, when she was gathering roots for a stew, she came upon a part of the forest she didn't recognize. The trees were thicker here--they blocked out the light so that it no longer looked like daytime. But squinting just so, she could see a path ahead of her.

Putting down her basket, she drew the knife she used to cut the roots and pushed farther into the forest. It's just another path, she told herself. Just one of the hundreds of paths she'd followed before, only to find herself more lost than when she'd begun. But as sunlight began to creep through the branches around her, she allowed herself to hope. Maybe this is the one, the way out. Just as she thought this, the branches gave way completely, and she found herself in a clearing. In the middle of the clearing stood a single tree.  Tied to the tree was a man.

No, not just a man. A prince.

The princess wasted no time running to his aid. "Who did this to you?" she asked, as she took her blade to his bindings.

"Dragons," the prince said. "You have to leave--now! It isn't safe for you." But even as he said it, his eyes widened, and the princess knew it was too late. She whirled to face the creature, its snarl turning up the ends of its mouth. It was laughing at her.

Well, the joke was on it. Back in her kingdom, the princess was a Level 5 Dragon Slayer. As the giant lizard opened its mouth to deliver a fiery geyser, the princess chucked her knife at its soft underside, piercing its heart. The dragon fell over, life pouring out of it in an oily, black river.

"The beast is dead!" The prince said. "Come, we must get out of these woods before his brethren return."

"You know the way out?" For the first time that day, she felt faint.

In answer, the prince grabbed her by the hand and led her away from the clearing. They didn't stop running until they reached they edge of the forest, where the princess fell to her knees and wept at the sight of her kingdom in the distance.

...Long after the pair were married, the prince liked to retell the story of the time his wife slayed the dragon and saved him. And the princess would always smile to herself as she recalled her favorite part of the story, the part he never remembered. That he'd saved her, too.




Happy anniversary, babe. Love you.