Awakening

Chapter One

         I looked over her as she slept. Her breathing was soft and regular. Ever since I had seen her when she was a child she had intrigued me. Asking my father for her hand, my father had laughed at me. He said that the young girl had already been promised to someone else, someone whom the humans valued highly.
         I've seen him. He's a man of twenty and some, a handsome blond man. However, I do not think that he is the type of man for my young princess. He seems to prefer the company of men in his bed rather than anywhere else. Though he does like women as well, he seems to prefer them as subservient and less than himself. I had a feeling that my little princess would not take to that well.
         She may have been taught to be obedient, but she is rarely quiet. As time passes I've seen her mature from a cute and sweet little girl to a young woman of hidden strength and complicated emotions. She's no longer the simple girl I'd thought her to be.
         As the Guardians of her Tribe, my tribe's members each have their own family to protect. As my father's family and the chieftain's family were allies, it was only natural that I, the first born, protect the eldest and only child of the chieftain.
         She knew of me but she had never met me. Her father had kept her away from most of the villagers by sending her out on errands and keeping her inquisitive mind busy. That worked, up to a point. Once she understood basic concepts and was able to reason, that was it. She no longer listened to her father, but wandered far and wide to search for those that would satisfy her thirst for knowledge. Often she surprised the elders at Council Meetings by what she had learnt. The man who was to be her husband was not pleased.