It Is You I Have Loved

Chapter 30

"I'm sorry could you repeat that please?" Vaggie asked.

"I said I think I'm falling in love with Alastor."

Vaggie took a moment to comprehend this.

"Well this is both unexpected and expected."

"Expected?"

"Well it was fairly obvious that you were into him but I figured that it was just an infatuation. I never expected you to actually fall for him."

"Well I'm not sure if I have. I said that I only think I'm falling in love with him. But if it turns out I am, what do you think about that?"

"Does it matter what I think?"

"Of course, you're my friend."

"Yes but in matters of your heart, my opinion doesn't mean anything. Only yours does. So what do you think about him being your true love?"

"I don't know. I mean he is nice...No he's not nice, he's wonderful and I enjoy spending time with him. He makes me feel like there's nothing wrong with me."

"There isn't anything wrong with you."

"Tell that to everyone in the Ninth Kingdom. Tell that to my father. If he can some how hear you now."

"Okay one issue at the time, please. So you like the idea of him being your true love?"

"I don't know. I mean...He's not what a princess should fall in love with. Oh God, I sound so shallow."

"I wouldn't exactly say shallow, more like conditioned. You've been raised since birth to believe that the love of your life is supposed to be a prince or somebody in that category, but what if your parents were wrong? What if there's more to your story than what is generally expected of it?"

"Because there's no story where a princess lives Happily Ever After with a wendigo or anything related to that."

"There's also no story where a princess has your condition."

Charlie became silent.

"I don't want to upset you but you have to admit, even before Alastor came along, you were not a typical princess. You never were and I don't think you ever will be. But that's not a bad thing."

"But I want to be like every other princess. I want what they all have. That's why I try so hard to follow the same formula as them."

"Charlie I never told you this before, but while we were kept in that keep, I listened to those fairy tale stories that you would read out loud and I learned two very important things. Number one, dragons and giants are sinfully misunderstood. And not all princesses are the same."

"What are you talking about?"

"They all had the same goals but their backgrounds and the trials they face are completely different. They weren't all forced into servitude, or poisoned with an apple, or raised by a witch, or put to sleep for a hundred years or had to prove that they actually were a princess. Each one had her own set of problems and the same goes for you. Stories maybe similar but they're never the same. There's always something that makes it unique and different from the others. Maybe what makes your story unique and different is that you're not supposed to end up with a prince."

"I'm not even sure yet that it is love I'm feeling. For all we know it could just be a fleeting a crush."

"If it is, that's okay. If it isn't, that's okay too. You'll have my support no matter what."

"Thanks Vaggie."

"Just promise me one thing. Whatever you decide, base it on your feelings and not what your parents have told you."