Fairytale: The Lady and the Knight, plus one

Once upon a time, there lived a boy who was in love with a beautiful fair-haired maiden. The young woman was in love with him as well, but as life would have it, another man, a crude and vile sort, had broken the girl’s heart but a couple of months before. Now, the pretty maiden knew of, and was friends with, the first man (who was, by the way, a knight in shining armor), long before the evil Prince Thomas (for that was the second one’s name) began courting Lady Alyse, the maiden. However, before the two were brave enough to confess their growing fondness for each other, Sir Thomas swooped in and knocked Lady Alyse off her feet with broken promises and a head full of confusing questions, and that was that, at least back then. 1

But when Lady Alyse walked in on Sir Thomas with another, she refused further contact from him from then on. Distraught and angry, Lady Alyse denied ever falling for any of Sir Thomas’ trickeries, and simply traveled far away, and made her new home closer, coincidentally, to her knight in shining armor. 2

In the few months that followed, Lady Alyse and the Knight became very close, but still he never made a move on her. He knew, of course, that he’d fallen in love with her, madly and deeply, but he also knew, as much as she denied it, she was horribly wounded by Sir Thomas’ betrayal. So the Knight did nothing, which turned out to be a good thing, because before long Lady Alyse, too, housed the very same feeling for him. However, once burned twice shy, and she kept it a secret. But things change and life doesn’t wait for anybody, so eventually the truth came out, and with that, the most enchanting and gentle courtship began. 3

But before long, Sir Thomas, who couldn’t stand to see an ex-lover happy, started playing cat-and-mouse with Lady Alyse again. This undid her, and made a well mess of things with her and the Knight, which was exactly what Sir Thomas wanted. This time, he was sure he had her at his beck and call, and that please the evil man immensely. Though, as luck would have it, the Knight, a strong, confident man, decided he would fight for what he wanted, which was the love of Lady Alyse. But he would not fight with words or swords, but rather with his love. 4

He told Lady Alyse that, if it were what she so desired, he wouldn’t stop her from going back to Sir Thomas. Sadly confident that she would do just that, he determined he would be Lady Alyse’s friend, and if and when Sir Thomas tried to shatter her, he would be there to make sure she would not break again. The Knight, with a set face, wrote what he’d do down in his own private log, and left his home to go to work at the Mill, where he was apprenticed. 5

Only a few minutes later did Lady Alyse appear on his doorsteps, wishing to speak with him one last time before she made her decision, right or wrong. But when she knocked, no one answered, so she decided right then that she would leave him a note. Opening the door, which had never been locked(the Knight was a trusting fellow), Lady Alyse went quickly to his desk and pulled out a piece of parchment from the drawer. On doing so, his logbook fell with a clamor to the floor. Cursing softly(Lady Alyse had quite the potty mouth) , she bent down to pick it up. As she got closer to the open pages, she saw what he had written, and it unscrewed something inside her, something that she’d kept locked up for a very, very long time. The reason she did not completely fall apart when she walked in on Sir Thomas and his conquest. You can never truly love anyone, if you put up a wall around your heart. A person’s soul is not at all like a caged bird- you cannot train it to sing on cue. And Sir Thomas only served to build the walls higher, dig the hole deeper, while her Knight wanted to help her fly free. So that she may sing, and heal others with the love that he helped her learn about again. There was no decision to make, really. 6

Lady Alyse sat quietly outside her Knight’s home and waited for him to return. When at last he rode into sight(on a silver horse, no less), she barely waited for the Knight to dismount before throwing her arms around him and kissing him. Together they felt all the love and passion Lady Alyse had buried deep inside of her... No, the two lovers did not live happily ever, and Sir Thomas never did stop trying to win her back, but Lady Alyse never doubted her self or her love again, and she and the Knight took their troubles (for they had many) by the balls and overcame them together.
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