that there was less weight to them. Feeling like a brand-new woman, she grinned nervously and slid the glinting dagger into the scabbard on the cowhide belt at her waist. The cut locks were promptly thrown into the fireplace crackling at the foot of her bed.
One last time, she tiptoed out to her marble balcony to glance down at the trees. The forest, Brocéliande, stretched on for miles, a juniper sea of shadow and lore. Frightening and full of tall, dark beings who would eagerly mangle and devour her. At least, that’s what she'd always been told.
Still, her stomach knotted in excitement. It would be a harrowing journey, but enticingly so. Especially for someone who hadn’t experienced a moment of adventure in her life for many years. She’d spent many an evening admiring the view. On clear nights, if she squinted hard enough, she’d spot the speck of vibrant color—
the kingdom’s charming market town nestled at the very center of the woods, in between the High Forest and Low Forest.
She'd only been there once with her mother, years ago. They’d stopped in the square on their way to a soirée at the duke’s sprawling estate, which sat on the far edge of town.
From what she could remember, Paimpont was not large at all. It was a cramped village, sandwiched between the local marsh to the north, moorlands to the south, the castle and High Forest to the west, and the forbidden Low Forest to the east. Lilac remembered the awe she’d felt as their carriage passed the ancient abbey and entered the heart of the town; a decent amount of pubs, shops, and framework homes lined cobblestone streets, each structure uneven and more dilapidated than the last.
They’d gone on a market day, when groups of villagers scattered the road; there were elderly women angrily chasing after giggling toddlers with their wooden walking sticks while the parents tended to the market.
To her pleasant surprise, the town had been run amuck with enormous, chestnut-coated horses that day.
With their aproned handlers, the magnificent brown beasts stomped through the market selling a wide variety of goods, while static carts lined the walkways with meats and cheeses from the fromagerie.
The short visit was more than enough time for her to realize that visiting the town wasn’t as bootless an errand as her parents had led on. Leading the kingdom one day sounded tedious, but if it meant interacting with the friendly townsfolk and spending time there occasionally, it didn’t seem so dreadful after all. Paimpont was not stifled with the same grandiose appurtenances of the castle, and the young princess admired everything about that.
Years later she felt the same way, even if the townsfolk had grown to fear her.
But a cure was out there. She'd always felt it, deep in her bones. A cure that would destroy the darkness inside her forever, making her the perfect heiress to the throne once again.
She’d quickly grown tired of the riots protesting her upcoming coronation; tired of her humiliating reputation of being wicked and wrong for the position, and the pressure it had put on her parents to surrender the throne to one of the other prominent families vying for power—waiting for the Trécessons to slip up just enough; some days, it felt like her parents were dangerously close to giving in.
The princess was tired of repeatedly walking in on hushed conversation, of which she unfailingly was the topic; tired of the alchemists her father hired on a sort of turn-by-turn basis in attempts to fix her. And some days, she felt like her parents were dangerously close to giving in. Some days, so did she.
That is, until that morning after breakfast. On her way back up to her tower, she’d received an unmarked gold-leaf envelope from the castle courier.
Dearest Lilac, the note read in scrawling, looping cursive.
I hope this letter finds you well.
My name is Ophelia, and I hold the key to what your heart desires most. I am not only able, but willing to conjure the remedy you require to return to normalcy. I offer this to you at no price but one: courage, for there is no timely way to reach my cottage in Paimpont except the direct path through Brocéliande.
Find any brook through the High Forest and follow it; this will lead to the main river. The only inn sits along the water, closer to your castle. There, you can take refuge early on in your quest if need be. Follow the river downstream,