Afternoon Tea
Part Two of The Seven Knights of Princess Snow White
Hi!
This is Part Two of The Seven Knights of Princess Snow White - a seven-part story in The Red Riding Hood Saga!
If you missed it, here is Part One: Caliburn!
Part Two: Afternoon Tea
"My dear Caliburn," Princess Snow White had said to me one day, as we were having tea and apple slices, "I've been meaning to ask... Could you please tell us more about dwarfs?"
Puzzled, I looked at the princess, "About dwarfs?"
It had been a few years since my fellow dwarfs and I had saved the princess's convoy from bandits - would-be abductors, as we would later find out.
Alongside knighthoods, my fellow dwarfs and I had also been offered positions as part of the princess's personal guard, which we gladly accepted.
Of course, in practical terms, the princess didn't really need all seven of us here to guard her - especially not with the rest of the royal guard here at the castle as well.
And so, as the years went by, each of us would leave the capital to do good deeds in the princess's name.
In her younger years, the princess barely understood what this meant, but would happily agree to it when told that we would be helping people.
As she got older, she would not only agree to it, but would also actively request us to go aid the people when troubles arose.
It was through these efforts that we would become known as the princess's Band of Seven.
I, however, had found myself more at home here at the capital.
And so, while I have left on occasion, I ended up being the one who protected the royal family the most, rarely leaving the princess's side.
On this day, I found myself having afternoon tea with the princess and her lady-in-waiting, when the princess had posed her question to me.
"O-Only if you want to tell us, of course," the princess said, "It's just... You've been with us for a while now, and I only recently realized that I don't even know where you come from, who your family are, or why you and the others in the Band of Seven decided to become our knights - especially for a kingdom of humans!"
I raised an eyebrow at the princess's many questions. To her side, her lady-in-waiting giggled at the princess's embarrassment.
"Hey, don't laugh!" the princess blushed, "You wanted to know too!"
"I-I'm sorry, my princess," the young lady bowed, a little nervous.
Before she could leave her seat to kneel though, the princess touched her hands to stop her.
"No, don't," the princess said, "we're friends, right?"
The princess gave her lady-in-waiting a warm smile.
"Y-Yes, of course, we are," her lady-in-waiting replied, returning a nervous-but-genuine smile.
I took a sip of my tea, before smiling at their blossoming friendship - the two of them would grow quite close over the next few years.
For now, though, the young lady had only just joined the court a few months ago, and was still learning all that entailed from her new life.
"So," the princess said, as the two children turned back to me, "will you tell us?"
I smiled, "Of course, princess - your wish is my command."
"Not you too, Caliburn!"
I laughed, "Apologies, princess - I couldn't resist."
And as the princess blushed, I ate a slice of apple before I began...
~~~
We, dwarfs, are birthed by the earth itself from the rocks of the caverns below.
Because of this seemingly magical birth, humans like to ask us why we were born, as if the earth had given us some great purpose.
To this, I would laugh and say, "Ha! I could ask the same of you!" and point out that we, too, have no greater purpose than those born of flesh and blood.
As only a few of us are periodically born, we tend to wander from place to place until we find a home - usually amongst the humans.
Though, given our long lives compared to theirs, many of us will have had several homes over the years.
Since our numbers are small and our kin widespread, we do not have a place to call our own.
However, this does not mean that we are disconnected.
Our long years means that we shall sooner or later find each other, and many of our elders have taken to writing down our stories.
I fondly remember the elder dwarf who had helped me grow accustom to living amongst the humans during the first decade or so of my life, and I hope to pay his kindness forward in the future.
Living amongst the humans does mean picking up many of their customs - these include things like their language, clothing, and gender.
Though we are born sexless, many of us will tend to adopt a gender after living in human society for a while.
I, myself, am a woman - and though I haven't always called myself such, it just felt so right in a way that I cannot explain.
There are, however, human customs that we tend not to adopt, with two in particular that come to mind.
Firstly, as we are birthed from the earth, we cannot have children the way that many humans do.
And secondly, while many humans will find this thing called 'romance', many of us will not. That is not to say that we do not love - we just tend not to ever love romantically.
Though seemingly inconsequential, I have found that understanding this to be immensely helpful in societies where having children and romance are seen as the norm.
Lastly, do be aware that there are humans with a condition that causes their statures to be shorter than the average human and similar to us in height - this has caused some people to confuse them for dwarfs as well. So, do not assume that all those with a similar stature to ours are our kin.
~~~
I took a sip of my tea as I finished telling them what I would eventually write down for my kin who would come after me.
"Thank you for telling us so much!" the princess said.
Her lady-in-waiting nodded, "Y-Yes, thank you, Lady Caliburn."
I smiled at them both, "It was my pleasure."
"But why then," the princess asked, "out of all the places that you and the Band of Seven could have called home, did you choose to be here with us?"
"Well, I can't speak for the others," I said, putting my cup of tea down, "but I made a wish on this sword to give me the power to protect."
I unsheathed and held my sword out across both of my hands, and the two girls leaned in to marvel at Caliburn.
"Over the long life that I've lived so far," I continued, "I've found many things to be fleeting - to be ephemeral."
"So when I find something that I want to see grow and blossom, I want to protect them," I said.
"Like the princess," the lady-in-waiting said, looking at me.
I smiled at her, "And you too."
She blushed and turned away, as I sheathed my sword once more.
"And because the kingdom and its people are dear to you," I said to the princess, "they are dear to me as well, and I would protect you all with my life."
The princess smiled and took my hands into hers, "Thank you, Caliburn - it makes me happy to hear that!"
***
I remember that afternoon fondly, even now.
Soon after, the princess's lady-in-waiting would come to me, hoping to learn sword fighting so that she, too, could protect our beloved princess.
We would grow close over the years, as teacher and student.
Little did I know, though, that both the princess and my student would be gone too soon.
Poisoned by her own stepmother, Princess Snow White would be cursed by a magic poison that could only be held at bay by sealing her into a deep sleep in the Glass Coffin.
Meanwhile, my student would set out on a quest to find a cure for the princess, abandoning her name to become known as Red Riding Hood.
Having failed to protect the princess, the Band of Seven would fracture - while the others left the capital indefinitely to help those in need, only I would stay behind to protect the king and the prince.
However, as the dragon Fáfnir crept ever closer to the capital, I would be reunited with the Seven Knights of Princess Snow White once more...
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Part Three will be out on May 8th at 9AM EST!