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= Alice, the queen of hearts was always a queen, and certainly never a princess. She was but a lioness that strayed too far from her homeland and found herself lost in the endless fenrir forest, a place no mountain lioness should ever had gone. For the mountain towers over the forest and the forest glares back at it's shadow.
Alice was the daughter of the mountain king but also the daughter of a forest lioness, eliminating any typical chance she'd have of ever being named one of her father's princesses, since the mountain queen was not her mother, she would never really be a true princess. This all mattered not to young Alice, she was young and in love with a young traveller who was apart of a travelling pride that stayed among the mountain lions for three moons, the typical amount of time a travelling pride remains in another's land. For those three months Alice was the happiest she'd ever been and possibly the happiest she'd ever be, for on departure day Alice had ventured into the fenrir forest, seeking out a rare flower that only grew within the deepest parts of the swampy rapids, a dangerous river that parted the land and gave way to musky swamp lagoon. But the flower that grew in these parts was a royal blue spotted with white and golden flecks, said to be a flower that holds the promise of eternal love inside it's golden flecks.
But the young lioness was not taught the stealth of a jungle cat, nor the limber lope of a panther so she struggled with the swamp bog's thick layers of mud. There a young slate prince came to her aid, pulling her from the sticky bog and retrieving the flower she sought after with ease. When the slate prince's ice blue eyes met with hers, she wondered who this strange dark lion was with the beautiful blue eyes. He was a prince, no, he was the heir of the land she'd trespassed on, thought his eyes met hers with a kind of brilliant soft light she couldn't explain.
When the two parted ways after the slate prince was kind enough to escort her home, she returned in the early evening and spent the remainder of the day with the lion she loved. When the sun came up, she had planned such a fabulous morning inside her head, she was to announce to her parents that she was going to leave with the travelling pride and her future mate, then present him with a token of her love, a tradition traveler lions and lionesses alike use to ask the other to wed. But a messager bird had come moments before her announcement and astonished the king and queen. Prince Rowen wished to form a unity between the prides, to stop a long aging battle over the territories and strengthen the two pride's numbers by joining. Even more surprising is out of the three princesses of the mountain pride, Prince Rowen was only interested in wedding 'Princess' Alice to form the pride unity.
Alice had never wanted to be queen, she always preferred being 'half' a princess because with this title she had no true royal responsibilities but got to reap all the rewards of being the king's daughter. In truth she was afraid to leave with her lover, she had wanted him to stay here, but this life was not for him. He didn't pressure her to leave with him, and promised they would only share happy memories together with the time they had, and in the three months he had been right. But now the bonds of royalty seemed to be placed upon her, as to leave her pride now would mean leaving her pride without a truce and on the brink of war, but if she stayed she could prevent the war and save her family from, in fact she would be doing them the greatest service she ever could, it was called royal sacrifice. Or so everyone wanted to believe.
"Our paths may one day cross again, Alice. Do not fret, I will always cherish the memories we've made together, and I could never forget the snowy princess of the mountains."
"I'm no princess, I'm just a cub in over my own head."
"Let your heart guide you Alice, it may be a risk and you may get hurt, but regret of the mind is much more powerful then a broken heart."
"Why must you always act so wise? Do you have to have an answer for everything?"
"Is this about me leaving, or about you staying?"
"I have to stay. But I would go with you, if I could."
"I believe that you believe that, but I do not think it has to be so complicated. You did not ask for this responsibility, you are free to choose your own destiny Alice."
"I wish it were that simple."
"Goodbye, Alice.."
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