The Swan and The Pirate

The Blue Forest

The next day had gone per usual. Beautfication, Princess Etiquette, Animal Communication, History of Heroism, Lunch, Good Deeds and now, Surviving Fairytales (Group #3). The Nevers and Evers were mixed in these groups, and it was the only subject we had that was like this. To my great joy, Hort was in Group #3 as well, but to my great depression, Tedros was here too. I tried to avoid him and stand closer to Hort. "Hi," I whispered as Yuba the Gnome counted the children. "Hi," he replied. "I'm glad to see you again," he said. I looked up at him to see he was already looking down at me. "Me too, I kind o-" I began, but was cut off by loud yelling. I turned to see the angry looking gnome.

"I am Yuba!" he shouted. "The gnome of the Blue Forest, and today I am going to teach you how to survive the woods, because if you can't survive the woods, you can't survive a fairytale," he explained. "I have lived here almost all my life, and I haven't died once!" he proudly kept shouting. "At least.." he started laughing, "..not as I can remember." He found his own joke very amusing, and I had to admit, I caught myself snickering as well.

The Blue Forest wasn't called the Blue Forest for nothing. The flowers and trees were blue, and if there were any fruit around, that was blue too. Yuba said that the forest was blue because of an incantation used to protect the woods from outside dangers that didn't belong there. Of course there were dangers within the Blue Forest, and you could die, but the forest was a training forest for students, and no one went inside without a teacher beside them. Unless there was a Trial by Tale.

We had stopped walking, and were now a little inside the woods. As Yuba was telling us about the forest, Tedros moved silently towards me and stopped right next to me. "Hello beautiful," he whispered flirtatiously. "Hello Tedros," I whispered back. "Hey, uh. I wanted to apologize for last night. I was wreckless and full of myself, I shouldn't have been so forward. I'm sorry," he apologized. I noticed that this wasn't one of those unbothered apologies that boys tend to hand out like used napkins, this was a heartfelt one. "It's ok Tedros, I can understand the pressure of finding the perfect queen for your kingdom and all the pressure you must be under," I replied. "So, we're good?" he asked. "Yes, we're good," I nodded with a smile. He put his hand on my shoulder and patted it instead of hugging me. He didn't walk away, but he took away his hand. And that was fine by me.

But it didn't seem fine by Beatrix (who was glaring at me with a look that could kill) or Hort (who started at Tedros and looked as if he was plotting his downfall). Oh god, how did I get myself stuck in the middle of this?

"You will now be practicing on how to tell Good apart from Evil," Yuba instructed after his long introduction, meantioning a couple of times how much he adored the woods. He then picked out one student from Good and one from Evil that one of us were going to tell apart. He turned the children into black cobras that Hort was supposed to tell apart. This process was repeated a couple of times until it was my turn to be told apart from someone. Tedros was the one that was going to choose, but Yuba decided to switch it up a little this time. Tedros was blindfolded and Beatrix and I were pulled forward and turned into stinking, slimy hobgoblins.

Tedros' blindfold was removed and his eyes met me and Beatrix. Beatrix tried her best to bat her eyes at him and act cute to prove that she was Good, but she looked more like a constipated hobgoblin. Of course, it would have worked if she was human, but I guess hobgoblins don't work that way.

Tedros took his sweet time examining us, but finally he chose. "This is the one. This is the Ever," he said as he pointed to.. me. I mean, he was right, but this made Beatrix furious. She turned to me with eyes burning with hatred. "Why are you trying to ruin my life??" she roared. "I'm not! I'm trying to stay away from him, I know how much you like him!" I tried to defend myself. "Liar!" she shouted as she charged for attack. I screamed and ran for my life around Tedros' legs. Of course, no one understood what was being said. They only heard goblin yapping.

Tedros picked me up to protect me from the fuming princess that was trying to murder me. "Yuba, would you please?" Tedros asked the gnome, who was looking at Beatrix in great amusement. "Alright fine," he groaned. He swung his wooden staff and I and Beatrix grew back into humans. Now, Tedros was carrying me bridal style. I gave him a nervous smile before we turned to Beatrix who was red with fury. Tedros looked at Yuba with a displeased look in his eyes. "That's not fair." he complained as he put me back down. Yuba shrugged. Beatrix still looked utterly offended and angry as she walked off to her friends. I knew that it would be super akward if I went there too, so I walked back to Hort.

"That was hilarious," he whispered. "That was horrifying, and traumatic," I replied. He snickered. "Ok, everyone, class dismissed. Get to your dorm rooms," Yuba told, unbothered at the drama he just stirred up. I knew I would have to change dorms after this, and that I would not be liked very well by Beatrix and her minions after this. Because, as I said before; she's the type to choose boys over friends.