An Adult Fairy Tale
Once upon a time, long, long ago there lived a beautiful young woman in a sparkling white castle. The castle was perched high on a hill and glistened in the sunlight. In days gone by it was a fortress who's ownership was envied by any who had ever had to defend a position. Those days are long gone though, today it is merely another beautiful castle in a land dotted with them. It is still occupied by the family SaintLoon as it has been for many generations past.
However, the only SaintLoon left is SaintLoon herself, beautiful, elegant, spoiled and blissfully unaware of her situation. Unaware that the titles, properties and monies can only be inherited by the male line. In the event that there is no male to inherit, all the above mentioned titles, money and properties revert to the crown. To make matters even worse, SaintLoon is well past the age of marriage. She was twenty her last birthday and most girls of her class were married by the age of fifteen. This situation was not entirely her fault though.
Saintloon had been betrothed, at the age of ten, to a duke who was thirty years her senior. This was not uncommon and she was not bothered by it at all. She intended to do her duty as the wife of a nobleman and this was to give him an heir or two and then have a series of romantic liaisons with the lesser, and younger, nobility. The fact that she wasn't already married was due in part to her parents who spoiled her terribly and finally to the duke himself. He died.......suddenly and without warning!! He died and left her without a fiancé, a dowry (although she didn't know this yet) and without any social standing.
Now throw in the tragic and unexpected death of her parents and as they say, "The plot thickens"! The king immediately moved to regain the properties and money of the family SaintLoon. He was as honest as he could be with SaintLoon, instructing her on what he considered to be her options in regard to her future.
His "sage" advice to her was that she must now consider herself a commoner and the very best she could hope for would be a position as a nanny or perhaps a dancing instructor. He even went so far as to offer her a "position" in his household, doing what he didn't say but one can only imagine.
SaintLoon exhausted all avenues of assistance from her friends, most of which would not receive her any longer. One even had the butler tell her to use the back door in the future. She was stunned, angry, hurt, you name it.............she felt it! It was about then she remembered a distant cousin in a far off, magical land . Had her life gone as planned she would never have remembered this relative but she was desperate. Even a working class cousin was better than no cousin at all. With this thought in mind she set out on a journey that would change her life forever.
She traveled a long way, she was cold, tired and hungry, oh God was she hungry!!! She ate roots, nuts, berries, anything that didn't make her sick and some things did anyway. She slept in the woods, in alleys, in deserted sheds, anywhere that afforded some relief from the weather. Although she was naive and gullible, she was also tough and resourceful, more so than anyone would have suspected. She traveled at dusk and again at dawn, so as to remain a shadowy figure, melting into the landscape. After a time she became so dirty and unkempt that it was easy to blend in, to become a part of the forest.
She spent several months on the road but since all journeys come to an end she was relieved to finally reach that land of elves and giants in which her cousin resided. She wasted no time in finding her long-lost relative who, as it turns out, is Alaina. Alaina was surprised, no.........make that stunned, to find SaintLoon on her doorstep. Alaina did what she could to make SaintLoon feel at home, she showed Loon her new house (Loon hated it), gave her gold for armor and food (Loon felt it wasn't enough) and showed her how to hunt (Loon was disgusted by this barbaric act). The Loon didn't realize that hunting was a necessity in this land of ogres, wolves and demons, it was not only a way of supporting one's self but it was also important to be able to defend one's self. It was after this that SaintLoon told Alaina what she expected Alaina to do for her.
It seems that SaintLoon expected, nooooo...........more like demanded, Alaina to provide a manor house, a small one or a townhouse, preferably a large one. The Loon expected it to be staffed with servants, furnished, stables and so on....... you get the picture. In short, she felt Alaina was her personal "Golden Goose" but still far beneath her in status. Now anyone who knows Alaina even a little knows she is kind, generous and fair but some few also know she has a short fuse and a vile, nasty temper. Alaina had been patient with SaintLoon but this was too much. Alaina already had two others depending on her and to take on one such as SaintLoon was out of the question. So she began to make inquiries of her friends, she was looking for a mate for SaintLoon. One that would be strong enough not to be intimidated by her attitude. One who would be willing to take on SaintLoon's training, her expenses, her inability to relate to ordinary people.
It was in this way that Alaina came across Nevar. Nevar was a giant warrior, an armorsmith, he was quiet, had never been married, he was a very simple man but strong and was willing to overlook SaintLoon's lack of abilities. Alaina arranged for Nevar to become SaintLoon's warder; he was to take care of her, train her, outfit her, and yes..............humble her if necessary!!! SaintLoon was furious at this turn of events; however, by the time she found out about it it was too late to stop it. Nevar had moved most of her things to his house and then went to get her.
Nothing Alaina had told him prepared him for his meeting with SaintLoon that first time. He thought it must be a mistake; this could not be the woman that was going to be his, for make no mistake about it, being a warder gave him as much power over her as a husband would have had. He was quite speechless and taken aback by her beauty. He had always wanted a human woman but never dreamed of one like this. He tried to speak to her but ended up mumbling and getting all tongue-tied, this amused SaintLoon and she laughed at him. He knew then it was not going to go smoothly with her. He also knew by then that he didn't care if it went smoothly or not.
Being a giant and a warrior Nevar had very little magic but he had a few of the common spells and he could have transported himself and SaintLoon directly into his house. He didn't do this. What he did was grab her by the wrist, noting her small bones, and drag her through the town in her shabby clothes. This was just the beginning of her "lessons", her "training". When she refused to walk he drug her, when she tried to kick him he dodged her small feet, she swung at him and missed, he laughed! She was spitting like a cat by the time they reached his house. He opened the door with a key, drug her inside and slammed it behind them.