Soul Collisions

A Maiden's Wish

         A frail white-haired woman sits curled up against the wall of a castle’s tower, her back pressed against the cold stone as she stares at the floor with blank eyes. The room is frigid, but she’s long since grown accustomed to it’s biting air. The only sound that caresses her ears being the whipping winds outside her chamber, thrashing and beating away at the castle’s outer walls. Her thoughts seem so blurry now, she can’t remember the face of the last person she saw anymore. Suddenly a new sound intrudes upon her thinking as the ground beneath and all around her shakes. She bolts up when the tremors cease, almost falling over from the woozy feeling that sets in as she makes her way over to the only window in the room. There isn’t much trouble in getting there since the room is rather barren, having been ransacked quite a long time ago.
         As she goes to pull open the hinged door it swings and nearly knocks her over with the force of the gusts pushing on it. Her chilled fingers hold tight to the snow-covered windowsill as the room fills with the wintry winds of the land outside. She squints through the painful gales, looking for any hope of what could have made that intriguing sound. Suddenly it rumbles again, once again almost knocking her back, which by the looks of the height that the chamber is at, would seem to be the better alternative. She listens closely, trying to hear over the force of the blustering gale, hearing a voice grunting out in the storm before the sound is drowned out by a fierce roar. Looking below her, she can see a disturbance in the snowy landscape, a large mass moving about in the great white tundra. With each disruption of the constant howling of the wind that she’s come to know, it seems to abate, almost submitting to the louder sound of whatever is occurring in the snow patch.
         As the winds die down so does the snowfall, a clear view finally becoming possible. She pushes back the long hair that falls into her face, no longer kept back by the stormy gusts, looking down at the ensuing commotion. What she sees makes her heart skip a beat, she would shed a tear if not for the fact that it would freeze to her cheek. Below her stands a man in shining armor facing off against the mountainous icy beast which keeps her here. It roars and thrashes its tail, clearly enraged at his intrusion into its territory. The man does not falter though, brandishing his sharpened blade to the creature in a show of resistance. This angers it, causing the beast to charge forth with the intent to kill him. However, the man moves faster, shifting to the left at the last moment as he lets the creature’s momentum carry it into the blade he wields at his side. It raises up, shrieking in pain at having sustained more injuries, looking as to have gained some in the time she hadn’t seem them battling. While it is suffering the knight takes a hold of the opportune moment, charging forth with his sword and plunging it into the beast’s raised belly. It lets out one final roar before its voice trails off into a rumble, the snowy creature having finally taken its last breath. The sword is pulled from the beast’s hide as soon as the knight know it has been killed, resting his boot on the slain monster’s side in victory.
         In an instant, stronger winds begin to blow, but they don’t seem to carry more snow with them. The woman covers her face as they whip around her before she opens them once more, squinting through the harsh rays that assault them. For the first time in her life since being imprisoned here, the sun is shining down upon her skin. The dam breaks inside as she cannot hold it in anymore, tears starting to well up to fall across her cheeks as she just stares up at that blue sky. No more clouds, no more snow. She holds her cheeks, able to feel the warmth of them as the bright star’s warmth heats her skin. Her moment of relief is broken however as she hears doors creaking along with the sound of heavy footsteps.
         Whipping around, she runs of towards the door, opening it just in time to almost bump into the man who slayed the beast. She’s stunned and ashamed, the handsome man captivating her as she stands there in tattered clothes and frostbitten skin. She can’t even speak a word, too afraid to be pushed away by the first person she’s seen in so long. But she must repay they for their deed as she grasps their hand with her frail fingers, leaning down to kiss the gilded metal of its glove. As she is doing so however, they lean down in turn, kissing her pale cheek. She looks up in surprise, not expecting anything more than a farewell, but is greeted with a warm smile that melts away the last of the frost clinging to her form. With that, they gently guide her by their held hands, pulling her away from the dreary depths of the castle that she has been kept in to a life outside these frozen walls. She tries to smile in joy but can’t help sobbing quietly, she’s never been so happy.
         Suddenly that world fades away as she feels a sharp pain in her scalp, “Ow!” she turns around on the stool she’s sitting upon, frowning at the servant girl brushing her hair, “Please, don't tug so hard.” They immediately bow to her, apologizing profusely, “I’m so sorry, Lady Mari, it won’t happen again.” They stay like that as she sighs, pulling her long pink locks around to check for damage. She’s more upset that they roused her from her wandering thoughts, but she can’t really fault them for messing up on their first day in the castle, especially since they can’t exactly touch her. Her eyes stray back to the servant as she finds that nothing is amiss in the roots of her luscious mane. “You are one of the new maids, aren’t you?” she asks, turning away to face the vanity mirror sitting on the table she’s at. They stay bowed but look up since she’s no longer looking down upon them, “Yes, Princess.” Her hands are busy behind her head, pulling back the wild hairs that want to stay unkempt, “Well if you want to make it up to me, there’s only one thing you can do.” They swallow nervously as they remain bowed still, “What is that, Miss?” They flinch as she turns towards them with her hands still behind her, but she only smiles down at them, “Please, just don’t tell them that I’m doing my own hair.”
         They look up in confusion but all that meets them is a warm and patient smile, “Um,” they don’t know what to say. She giggles softly as one of her hands lowers to gesture for them to stand, “I’m sorry if that sounded sort of menacing, I don’t get to see many new faces around the castle.” She covers her mouth with the free hand as she giggles at their stunned expression. They just stare at her in awe before they remember their place and quickly jolt upright as she motioned for them to do. “I-it’s alright, Miss,” she stammers as she tries to compose herself in front of the giggling princess, she must look like such a fool. When she looks back at her however she seems to have already moved on to fixing her hair again, “I don’t get to do this often, so I hope you will keep it between us.” “Of course, Princess,” they reply swiftly, not wanting to make any more mistakes. Mari just smiles, happy to have control of some small part of her monotonous daily life. She reaches a hand back without looking as she gestures to a table on the opposite side of the room, “Could you hand me some of the ribbons on that table. The light blue ones if you would, please.” Her ears are quickly met with scattered thumps as she hears the young maid stumble behind her, she decides not to look back and just concentrate on the task at hand.
         Just as quickly as they left though, the girl is back, placing the ribbons in her hand as fast as she can, “Just as you wished, Miss.” She ignores the incident and simply goes on to tie back the hair she’s gathered up in her other hand, “Yes, thank you.” She sits back and admires her handiwork, looking happily at her cute visage in the large mirror. Giving herself an internal pat on the back, she thinks she did a pretty good job considering she only learned from watching the other maids do it so much. Suddenly she twirls in the seat to her servant’s surprise as she enjoys the moment, before coming to rest facing the large mural that adorns most walls of the castle. Stopping, she sits there in silence and stares at the beautiful woman who is centered within it, the servant girl stands awkwardly and messes with her short brown hair as she does so. “Um, she was your mother, wasn’t she?” she finally says, unable to stand the intense quiet. “Yes,” she says softly, her eyes trained on the painting, “She was so pretty, don’t you think?” They immediately respond, “Yes, absolutely, Princess,” then their eyes go from the painting to her, the silence returning.
         A sudden noise bursts forth though, breaking the room’s peace. A bustling group of maids busting into the room, startling both the maid girl and the princess this time. She’s quickly shooed out of the dressing room, but not before she looks back at the girl and smiles, “Oh, wait, I didn’t get your name.” They look at her blankly as they ask, “My name?” that didn’t seem like something she needs to really know. “Yes, your name,” she says with a frown and a bit more sternness in her voice, prompting them to respond immediately, “It’s Ani, my name is Ani.” The smile returns as soon as she answers, “I’ll make sure to remember it,” and with that last exchange she’s whisked out of the room to some other chamber of the castle, leaving the young girl confused.