“Ever feel like the life you are living isn’t your own?”

I looked up, startled out of my own ponderings.  The look on her face was so earnest, I felt the need to answer – but how? My life has been much more complicated than the princess would ever know. Between wars, betrayal, fights, deceit, my life hadn’t been of my own choosing in a long time.

“I believe you are asking, are we in control of our own lives, as opposed to letting someone else dictate them for us, Highness?”

Miranda scoffed. “Please, call me Miri when it’s just us.” She sighed. “I feel the need to get away and just be Miri sometimes. With you, I feel that I can let everything else go – the kingdom, the war – and just be myself.” She smiled, a shy, small curving of her lips. “Whoever that is.”

What to tell her? Not that I could tell her anything, really, for fear of losing place – my life – whether due to our innocent chattings or to my mission.  But there she was, staring back at me with her grey eyes full of…hope. Need. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

Staring into the fire, I began my story.