Chapter 1: Meeting Mariella

         The first rays of pink punctuated the dull pre-dawn gray as Mariella took leave of her home and walked quickly away.  It was the perfect day for walking; birds were chirping and a gentle warm breeze was blowing.  The cloudless sky promised to be at its bluest once the sun cleared the horizon.  Mariella made her was down the cobbled lane underneath the majestic oaks, humming softly and merrily, hoping that the life she was walking toward would be as magical and fulfilling as she hoped.  Of course, today was her 16th birthday and so her Fairy Godmother has appeared promptly at midnight and given her an old locket, saying that she should go to another Kingdom, hire herself away as a kitchen maid, and then when the winter ball arrived, put on the locket so that she would be a beautiful sight to behold that the prince would fall madly in love with and they would be married and live happily ever after.

         So she snuck away after just a few short hours of sleep and began her journey.  Her family knew of course, it was her 16th birthday after all, and tradition held that she should sneak away without saying good-by, but she did take the package she found outside her room as she left. She was sad to leave behind Arkenshire, yet excited to start her own journey.  Arkenshire was a properly traditional kingdom, with a kind but strong King, gentle Queen, and eight fair and beautiful princesses that all had proper traditional fairytale lives.  Mariella had watched her seven older sister find their princely true loves, all in very traditional ways of course.  Carried off by dragons to be rescued, locked in tall towers by evil witches, attending masked balls wearing glass slippers, and all manners of appropriate things.

         Her prince would be tall and handsome, he would have raven hair, and startling blue eyes that sparkled when they crossed her face and twinkled when he laughed.  He would be generous and kind, but perhaps unsure of himself, so that she could inspire confidence in him necessary for him to be a great and kind ruler, just like his father.  Mariella imagined how she would walk down a sweeping stair case at the Midwinter ball, perhaps just a little late so that everyone would see her and wonder, who is this beauty?  She is perfect for our prince!  The Prince would seek her out, and ask her dance.  Together they would waltz and laugh, and she would capture his heart, so by midnight, they would be in love.  She would be introduced to the King and Queen, and they would love her and treat her as their own daughter.  They would be married and live happily ever after.  Oh, it was so beautiful!  Mariella though of just how lucky she was to be a princess in a traditional kingdom, her life would be so perfect!

         As these musing passed through her mind, Mariella came to the village outside of the Arkenshire castle walls.  It was only then that she noticed that one of the palace cats had followed her.  It was the light gray one, almost a milky white, whom they called Mist. 

         The cat snorted.  “Took you long enough.  I though I was going to have to trail you the whole way.”

         Mariella blinked.  Of course, a talking to cat to be her guide.  She wondered why she hadn’t guessed it before.

         “I know what you’re thinking, oh look, the kitty will guide me to my new home, and tell me all about the prince and how to please him.”  Mist was remarkably sarcastic for a cat.  He continued, “But please, get over yourself.  That’s not why I’m coming with you.”

         It took Mariella a moment to recover from the surprise of an overly sarcastic cat.  “Well, then why are you coming with me?  And have you always been able to talk?”

         “Well obviously.  And it’s none of your business why I’m coming.  Why do you care?  That puffy pink women showed up and now you’re off cavorting into another kingdom without any though of where it will land you.”

         “My Fair Godmother wouldn’t send me off to harm me!  And that was horribly rude, you ought to apologize.”  Mariella made an un-princess like frown.  Maybe it was a good thing most cats didn’t talk.  Or at least not to her.

         Mist snorted again.  “Please don’t tell me you’re as much of an airhead as your sisters.”

         “My sisters all had traditional adventures and married princes!  They will all live happily ever after, and I will, too!”  Offended, Mariella started to walk away.  This cat was more trouble than it was worth.

         “Ok, ok, so you want a happily-ever-after.”  Mist was trotting to keep up with her. “Don’t we all.  But we can’t all have them.”

         “Why not?  Every traditional princess has one.  Now it’s my turn.”  Mariella replied, mildly affronted. 

         “I didn’t get mine.” Mist muttered.

         “But you’re just a cat.”

         “Just a cat!  Just a cat!  Honestly girl, don’t you have any respect for other intelligent creatures?”

         Mariella was puzzled. “You should address me as Princess Mariella, not ‘girl.’ That’s peasant-like and vulgar.”  She almost thought she saw Mist roll his eyes.

         “Fine, Princess.  If you call me Mistari.”  The cat retorted.

         “But your name is Mist.” Finally fully realizing that she was arguing with a cat, Mariella couldn’t remember the last time she was so puzzled.  Maybe the time that her cousin Kiriley had come stay.  Kiriley was the High Crown Princess of all of Estovina, the Great Kingdom that Arkenshire was part of.  Mariella had been so excited to meet Kiriley, who was a few years older and the most fair and traditional princess of them all, Mariella and her sisters were sure.  Except that Kiriley wasn’t.  She showed up, perfectly polite and beautiful, and it wasn’t as if the red-blonde hair or the dark, stormy blue eyes were her fault.  But then she wanted to be called Riley and didn’t shield her face from the sun so that very unPrincess-like freckles popped out on her face.  Why, she behaved like an extra proper peasant girl!  Kiriley was ever so polite, which made her odd behavior even more confusing.

         “Hey Princess, did you hear what I just said?”  Mist growled, adding the same sarcastic emphasis on ‘Princess.’

         The affronted Princess scowled, which was, of course, very unPrincess-like.  She needed to be careful, a cat shouldn’t be able to upset her so! “My deepest apologize, I did not.  Would you be so kind as to repeat was you just said?” Mariella requested in her most prim and polite voice.

         Mist made a choking noise.  Was he…laughing?  “My name is Mistari, I’ve been letting you call me Mist for short.”

         “But we named you Mist, because that’s what your coloring looks like.”

         “You only named me Mist because I suggested it.”  He retorted.

         “How would you have suggested it?  I’ve never heard you speak before.”

         “No, because I’m smarter than that.”  Mist dismissed her question.  He sighed.  “Let’s make a deal.  I’m coming with you whether you like it or not.  I’ll help you when we get there, if you help me.”

         “Help you how?”  Mariella asked.  She sensed that she should be carefully what she promised to Mist.

         Mist assured her, “You’ll see.  It’s nothing bad, I promise.”

         Mariella considered the offer.  Stalling, she asked, “Where do you suppose ‘there’ is?”

         “Arleden.”  Mist replied with an air of certainty.

         “Arleden?  But they’re horribly untraditional there!” Mariella cried.

         Mist let out yet another snort, “That’s not entirely true.  If it was, it would be even better there.  You’ll come to like it.”

         Mariella considered for a moment. “How do you know that that’s where we’re headed?” 

         “I just do.”

         “Because you’re a cat?”  Mariella hazarded a guess, only mildly returning his sarcasm.

         “Unfortunately.”

         Mariella opened her mouth to reply, but quickly shut it.  That response had made no sense, and she took a moment to review their conversation, trying to see where it had turned.

         “Well, do we have a bargain?”  Mist prompted.

         Still musing about Mist’s previous response, Mariella replied absent minded, “Certainly.”

         “Excellent.  Then how about you buy us some bread from that baker on the corner?” Mist trotted over to the baker and mewed up at him with wide blue eyes and gently waving tail. 

         Mariella walked over with a gentle sigh.  What had she just gotten herself into?  She bought several freshly baked roles, offered one to Mist and kept one in her hand, storing the rest in her pack for later.  Mist finished his role in several quick bites and headed off once again.  Mariella stared at the road ahead of her.  They had come to the edge of the village while they had talked, and now she was about to leave the place she called home, by herself for the first time.  Nerves jumped slightly in her stomach, but the biggest surprise of the morning was a fresh sense of adventure that had rooted itself in her. 

         The sun had risen and the sky had turned a pink-tinted blue.  The breeze tugged her forward and the road beckoned.  Early morning sunlight glinted off of Mist’s coat, turning him silver-pink as he walked out into the wide world.  Mariella smiled slightly to herself.  Here it was, right before her, and while it was already diverging slightly from the traditional path, it was an adventure all her own.