The Princess and the Dragon

Long ago, in a faraway kingdom, lived a little princess. Born to a brave and noble king who was loved by all, and surrounded by loving and talented sisters, the little princess had every material comfort that anyone could possibly need. 

But alas! Material comforts are not all that one needs to live a happy life, and unfortunately, for this princess, they were all that she had. Her voice was a little too loud, her movements were a touch too erratic, and her disposition was a tad too peculiar - and the other nobles, because of these traits, found her to be quite tiresome. 

The princess was aware that the others found her nature more than a little exasperating, and she tried everything that she could do to win them over and change their mindset towards her. But every time she tried to help, it would only blow up in her face, because she couldn't really help being who she was, and she couldn't really change her true nature (even though she really, really wanted to). 

"Go away! We don't want your help!", they said.

"You're only making things worse!", they complained.

"Leave us alone! We don't want you around!", they said.

And this made her very unhappy. Every night, she cried and wished and prayed that she could be likable, that she could be wanted, that she could be adored. And, because this princess was also a dreamweaver, she stored these wishes and prayers as motes of dreams that accumulated and grew steadily in her dreamcatcher.  

It is said that your wishes and dreams are the seeds that, with the right amount of nurture, would grow tall and strong and eventually become reality. It is also true that the fruits of our dreams are not always what we expect - or sometimes even want - to be. One night, as the princess lay in her bed, crying into her pillows as she would every night, she found something unexpected. Her dreamcatcher began to glow with a brilliant golden light, and she watched, awe-struck, as the motes of her wishes and her dreams fused together to form the shape of a beast of unimaginable resplendence and majesty.

"Who are you?", asked the princess, even the tears on her cheeks frozen in place.

"I am born of your hopes and your dreams", replied the dragon. "What is it that you wish for?"

"I wish to escape. I wish to go somewhere far.. far away from here."

"Then so be it."

And so, the dragon hoisted the princess atop his pearlescent ridges and took her away to a tower that was very, very far. And there they lived, the princess much happier than she had been her whole life, learning many new subjects, including the arcane and the forbidden. Using the magics she learned, she surrounded her tower with a powerful spell, hiding it from sight (now no one would come to mock her or hurt her again!). 

The dragon, having been born of the princess' dreams, wanted nothing more than to see her happy. And therefore, at her request, he wrapped himself around the tower - and there he lay, guarded and watching.

The people of her kingdom were unconcerned, and even a little relieved, at first. They did not know what had happened to the princess, but she only caused problems anyway. But gradually, they forgot about her loud voice, her flighty movements, and her strange mannerisms, and they grew to miss her (or rather, the idea of her). And so they sent search parties out for her, far and wide, across the Basin - but the magics surrounding her tower were far too strong, and they successfully hid her from their sight. 

But all good things must come to an end. And soon, the princess grew careless and let her magics falter, and she was found, gazing out of the highest window of the tower, and guarded by a magnificent dragon of ruby scales.

"Our princess has been captured by a wicked creature!", they proclaimed - for at this point, she was nothing more than a trophy - a prize to be won and a damsel to be rescued. And the dragon, likewise, was reduced to nothing more a bounty, a hindrance - a villainous symbol that needed to be slain. 

And so, one by one, the knights arrived, to save the princess from the dragon's claws. And, one by one did the dragon take care of them all - for the dragon was brave of heart, strong of form, and powerful of spirit. He had to be, because he was formed of the strongest matter in the Universe - the stuff that dreams were made of.

But strength is not without bounds, and endurance is not infinite, and slowly, gradually, the dragon grew wearier and wearier. 

"It hurts my heart to see you suffer in this way!", lamented the princess, who had grown quite fond of the dragon. "I don't know how to make them stop.."

And, indeed, she didn't. She had screamed and cried to be left alone, but the knights - the same ones who had previously complained about how loud she was - pretended that her voice was now too soft. For none of them were after love, or friendship, or a happy ending - they wanted only power, glory, and riches promised.

"Do not fret, my lady..", the dragon replied. "I was born from your hopes and your dreams, and it is my duty to protect you. It is my destiny to ensure your happiness.."

"..and I will continue to do my duty - follow my destiny - until they stop."

And then, one day, it happened. A knight arrived, assured of self, strong of disposition, his mind filled with visions of glory. And bravely he fought the wearied dragon, with decisive blows and calculated slashes, until, at last, he plunged his sword deep into the dragon's heart.

The dragon hissed desperately, trying to land one last blow on the man as he plunged his enormous saurian head towards the knight and breathed, with his last breath, a stream of magical fire. But alas! The knight had come prepared with his resistant armour and his shields, and even this did not result in much more than burn scars on the exposed parts of his skin. 

And then did his golden eyes grow dim, and his scales lose their glow for one brief moment, before the dutiful dragon perished, his form scattering into millions of golden motes that soon dissolved into the air.

Triumphantly the knight climbed up the winding stairs of the tower, eager to capture his trophy - but when he reached the top, he was only greeted with the limp and lifeless body of the princess.

There was one mistake that the warrior made - for he was only after glory and power. And he did not realize that with the dragon was slain the entirety of the princess' hopes and dreams. Without hopes and dreams, there is no life, and likewise, without the dragon, there was no princess. 

Disappointed, but not by much, the knight carried the body of the dead princess back into the kingdom, where she was buried with much pomp and ceremony - and the warrior was rewarded with the riches and glory and fame that he had dreamed of. 

The warrior had gotten what he had fought for - and, curiously enough, the princess had also got what she had wished for all her childhood. 

"What a beautiful little princess she was!", they said.

"She looks so adorable, even in death!", they whispered.

"She was such a charming princess", they said to her corpse. "Such a shame that she had to pass.."