The Writings of a Dreamer

This is a three chapters in one post. Since I haven’t been posting much. Here goes:

The girl squirmed. She was being fitted for a ball gown to go to a ball in her honour. Luckily, the dress was to be blue. Unluckily, it had too much lace, in the girl’s opinion. The girl wasn’t used to being fitted for dresses. She usually made them herself.
“Stop squirming!” Sidanea, the dressmaker, hissed.
“Sorry. I’m just not used to this.”
“Oh?”
The dressmaker had a distinct Tthayjan (t-thay-yan) accent. Tthayja was a very stylish country, if you know what the author means. Many of the royal dressmakers and tailors came from there. The only problem was, they weren’t very friendly to newcomers.
The girl felt like squirming again but she braced herself so she wouldn’t. Little did she know, bracing herself in that dressmakers’ room, what was to come.

Chapter 8

What was to come came soon. The thing that was to come came-and it was terrible. What came was the Surrounded war. And the returned princess was to become a hero in it. The enemies came one by one. First it was Mmyranne, then Giloto, then Makali, and, finally, Tthayja. All of the Tthayjan dressmakers and Tailors were accused of being spies and were executed. All families who were even distantly related to someone from one of the enemy countries were either executed or exiled. Soon, only 1% of the population was from an enemy country. The girl begged her mother to let her join in the forces. She was a good fighter, she said, she had been fighting bandits since she was 2. She just needed to be trained in a few more weapons and she could go. Her mother kept saying that she didn’t want to lose her again, for good. But the girl insisted and her mother relented. And the girl started to train in spear and sword. After a year of training she left for the fighting, at the young age of 12. Nobody thought she would last even the first five minutes of battle. Especially because she was a girl. Nobody knew exactly what kind of girl she was. Nobody knew that she was a strong and persistent girl and even she didn’t even know that she was to last long beyond the end of the war.

Chapter 9

Even though she was a soldier, Princess Tralonia got to ride a horse because she was the queen and king’s daughter. Many men gave her snide comments saying a girl could never be a soldier, let alone a 12-year-old girl. The girl just ignored them. On the 19th day of the 5th month in the year 783 after human beginning, the girl rode furiously into her first battle. Most expected for her to fall after the first moment but most of the strong men would die in that terrible battle, were as she would not. She started with her longbow, for it was good for long distance. Then she switched to spear and finally to sword. In that whole 6 hour-long battle, she killed 28 men. Most some of the most experienced of the whole opposing side. The enemy was embarrassed at the losses of their side to one twelve-year-old girl. The Tralonian side was amazed and astounded at the skills of this young princess. Their comments became less snide and she gradually made some friends. It was three weeks until there was another battle.

Tigger

The next day, after she had had breakfast, she headed to the library, carrying her laptop, several notebooks, and her math workbook. She avoided Ryan, who she wanted to ‘run into’ the next day so she could tease him about her being homeschooled.
When she got to the Library she went upstairs where she could get an internet connection. She logged onto her email and looked at her mailbox.

From                                 Subject
Ryan.Bradley@gmail.com   Glad you’re back!
Leah Holm                            Welcome home!
Rhyanna Holm                      Welcome Home!
Judy                                       Hi!
Lucy                                      Hi!
Maggie                                  Hi!

What was that top one? Uh-Oh. Ryan had emailed her. Puh-leeze! She deleted it, not caring what he had to say. She read the two from her friends, Leah and Rhyanna Holm, welcoming her back and suggesting possible playdates. They new she was homeschooled. They had emailed back and forth and had read each other’s weblogs.

When the girl was ready she rang the bell. Her mother appeared almost immediately. She had obviously been waiting outside the door.
“Come now, come now. It’s time to meet your Father. He is in a meeting with his advisors right but I’m sure he has heard the wonderful news of your return and will be happy to meet with you immediately.” The Queen hustled her along several bright hallways that were filled with portraits, battle scenes, mythical scenes, and tapestries. The girl looked at them in awe as she passed by. She was speechless. The queen led her to a room where she could hear voices behind the door. The queen knocked briskly and waited. A tall man in a cape came to the door. He also had a crown on his head and the girl realized that he must be the king, aka the girl’s Father.
“Well my dear, why have you come?” He addressed the Queen.
“Our daughter is here.” The Queen replied.
“Why did you bring our daughter? I am busy.”
“But, my dear husband, this is Princess Tralonia! She has returned!”
“Tralonia? The long-lost Daughter?”
“Yes! Didn’t you hear the news?”
“No” The king looked puzzled. “She does resemble you quite a bit…”
“She does, doesn’t she?”
“Yes”
The girl squirmed. The king was acting as if she didn’t think she was the real Princess. Then a thought struck her. Hadn’t the queen called her “Princess Tralonia”? Then she remembered that the guard had also called, as running into the palace, “…The Lands Namesake has returned!” Did that mean that her parents had been so sad that they had named the land after her?

The Queen led the way through many corridors to a bright apartment that contained a bedroom, nursery, and dining room. The bedroom was white and the duvet was white also but had little blue flowers on it as well. The pillows and the curtains on the four-poster bed matched the duvet. There was a pretty window-seat and a blue bookshelf. The closet contained beautiful dresses that looked like they might fit the girl.
“These rooms are to be your rooms,” The queen smiled. “I hope you like them.”
“Theses are to be my rooms?” The girl said questioningly. “Am I to sleep in a bed?”
“What do you mean?” The Queen exclaimed. “have you never slept in a bed before?”
“Never.”
“Where did you sleep?”
“Why, I slept on the ground!”
The queen looked astounded. “The ground?”
“Yes. Living in the forest, where else could I sleep. It would also be hard to escape bandits with…”
“Bandits? A princess chased by bandits?” The queen interrupted. “Outstanding”
“They didn’t know that I was a princess…Mother”
“Oh. I suppose that’s all right, considering I wasn’t sure if you were dead or alive.”
“Am…Am I to meet my father?”
“Yes, of course! But you will have to change your dress first.”
“Which one? I shan’t wear the fur dress in summer.”
“Fur dress? No! You shall wear one of those dresses!” She gestured toward the closet.
“Those are mine?” The girl stared.
“Why yes! Of Course!”
“Oh.” The girl walked over to the closet and pointed to a blue dress with little white flowers. “May I wear this one?”
“To meet your father? No! It isn’t good enough. Wear the silk blue one instead of the satin.”
“Ok.” The girl liked that one almost as much.
“I’ll leave you now to change. Ring that bell when you’re done.” The queen pointed to a bell on a table. “I’ll come when you ring it.”

The 16th of April, 1790. Still in the caverne.

It is late at night and we are still in our little caverne. Papa had idea that we could sneak to the English channel and take a rowboat across but then he realized we got out on the wrong side of Paris and we would have to walk in the open considering that there aren’t any woods. Papa didn’t know if that would work. We would take une grande riske by doing that.

Later

Papa just had a great idea! We could escape to Allemagne! We are close enough to the German country. We could walk there in a matter of weeks. 2 or 3, maybe, walking only in the nuit. I am so excited! Finalement we will be able to depart these horrible Rebublicans. And their leader, Napoleon.

They had travelled for 3 hours before they stopped in a wood for breakfast. It was another 5 hours after that before lunch. They travelled in silence, only talking when they were thirsty or needed the bathroom. By evening they were very close to the capital. The Guardian had said that they wouldn’t travel in to the city until the next day. They had supper and slept.

The next day the girl and the Guardian flew over and around the town, searching for a good place to enter on foot. They found an alley and landed at the entrance. The girl waited for the Guardian to turn into a pigeon. The Guardian flew overhead as the girl hurried through the alleyways.
“The Palace is ahead! Be careful!” the Guardian cried in pigeon.
“Ok!” The girl replied, also in pigeon. She clung to her bow and arrow, in case she needed it. Her quiver hung loosely on her back and she tightened it. She didn’t know if these guards would attack girls or not. The bandits did.
As they approached the castle, the girl became more and more nervous. She tried not to show it, though, by walking proudly, with her head high. The guards spied the girl quickly but did not put themselves on their guard, though she had her weapon. The girl strode up to the gate-and the head guard.
“May I come in,” the girl said sweetly.
“Your name,” The guard growled
“I don’t have one,” The girl said calmly. “Tell the queen that her daughter from eleven years ago has come to meet her.”
The Head Guard gasped, bowed and ran into the house shouting, “Princess Tralonia has come! The namesake of the country has come!”
The Girl looked at the guardian, puzzled. “What was that all about? Tell me!” She asked the Guardian in Pigeon. The Guards stared at her. What was the Princess saying? And why was she squawking like that? The girl saw the puzzled looks on the Guards’ face and said, in the language of her people, “I grew up with this bird. I know the language of the birds.”
“Oh” Said one of the Guards.
Suddenly, a beautiful lady with flowing red hair and a crown on her head came rushing out of the palace-the queen. The girl bowed before her mother as she approached. When she stood up again, the queen stopped, all of a sudden, and looked at the girl, noticing a startling resemblance in the girl to herself. The Queen exclaimed “My Daughter has returned!” and gave her daughter a hug and started to lead her inside. The girl stopped her. “Wait. I must bring my adopted mother with me.”
“Adopted Mother?” The Queen asked.
“Yes.”
“Where is she?”
“Over there,” the girl pointed to the Guardian. “She brought me up, fed me, and taught me how to defend myself. I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for her.”
“That pigeon brought you up?”
“Well, there’s a bit more to it than that, but I will explain that later.” The girl beckoned to the pigeon and it flew over and landed on her shoulder. Then she followed her mother inside.

The 15th of April, 1790 Outside of Paris!

Papa has found an alley that we can use for escape! We snuck down it last night. We are now hiding in a little caverne that we found until night. Maman says she is scared. She does the rosary about ten times every day! Papa does not know where we will go next. Mon Dieu I am afraid. What have we done to deserve this? What did Marie do to deserve this? Or Louis? God, help me! I am off to do my rosary now.

Maybe I should tell you a bit about Maggie.

Maggie O’Brien is an 11-year-old girl who recently moved to Canada for reasons that will be described throughout the book. Maggie plays the fiddle and her mother does Irish dancing. People would come to love their talent and would crowd around their porch on warm days to watch the merrymaking. They made many friends in this way, even though Maggie was homeschooled. Altogether, Canada worked quite well, thanks to a plain brown fiddle and a pair of flying feet.

Lucy could not believe what she was seeing in front of her. She had never known such things existed in the world. The top was a head of some really cool creature that had thin eyebrows and huge wide eyes. The figure had deep, dark, flaring nostrils and a very wide grin with a huge tongue sticking out.

Lucy giggled to herself.

This creature had short arms with long claws. Squeezed in between the claws was most of a mans hat. Under the hat was a man’s face and shoulders. The man had a grim look on his face. The spirit had drained out of his face, unlike the creature above him.

That was it.

This is the most wonderful thing in the world, Lucy thought, I’m going to sketch it.

So she took out her sketchbook and began to draw.

Tigger

The next day the girl packed her things in her sealskin bag and grabbed for her bow and arrow. It was early morning and there wasn’t much light. The Guardian Bird had said that “we must leave early for the capital is over 3000 wing-beats away”. (foot-note: And, if you didn’t know, 3000 wing-beats is a long way.) When the girl climbed onto the Birds’ back, it was a swan. As they soared into the sky, the girl became nervous. They barely spoke. In some places you could see signs of life. Most places, though, people were still asleep. This was lucky. It made it easier not to be noticed when the bird and child stopped for a drink. It wasn’t until after a few hours of flying did the girl notice figures moving outside. The first person the girl saw was a young girl a few years younger than her. She had blond hair that hung down her back — all the way to her waist. There are other girl humans then, she thought. I thought there were just men humans.