The Hidden Princess (Book One of the Whispered Tales)

Prologue

A long, long time ago, somewhere at the edge of the world, when skies were closer, people lived simple lives, and magical creatures were not afraid to be seen by human eye, there lived a girl named Eliza. 

She might have been a girl like any other, if not for a tiny detail to set her apart from all the other girls her age — she was the miller's daughter. Well, you may think that doesn't make a girl special. But precisely because she was the miller's daughter, and spent so much time around the mill, Eliza was almost always covered in a thick layer of flour. Every night, before going to bed, she would brush the flour off. But in the morning, it was back on, like it never left. On her clothes, hair, and skin, the flour wouldn't go off. This wasn't such a peculiar thing since Eliza was keeping herself busy all day long, helping with unloading the wheat sacks, emptying them, and grinding the wheat. 

But underneath that layer of flour, however thick it might have been, anyone could tell she was a beautiful girl. Her thick chestnut hair was flowing down her shoulders, reaching her waistline. Her black eyes, blacker than the jackdaw's feather, were so cheery, that even the grouchiest people smiled at their sight. And her snub nose, as powdered as it was, made her look like a true lady, not the country girl she was. 

And there was something else Eliza was great at — straining the flour. The girl could winnow the flour better than the most skilful housewife of the village. And the flour coming out of her hands was the finest, lightest and whitest flour anyone has ever seen. The miller was proud of his daughter and people from far away villages and even the neighbouring country were coming to buy that special flour. 

And since Eliza was not the kind to sit around doing nothing, she soon found a new passion—baking bread. But not just any kind of bread. Hers was the fluffiest, softest and most flavoured bread in the entire world. And in between her chores, the miller's daughter always found time for her friends—Tommy, the spotted tomcat lingering around the mill, and Adrian, the forester's son. And so her life was going by without a care in the world. 

Yet Eliza had a dream that was quite unusual, one she shared with anyone willing to listen. She wanted to become a princess. A real princess, with a tiara and long, swishy silk dresses, with servants to attend her smallest needs, and a prince who would take her to his castle. On a white horse, of course. Eliza was dreaming about this all day long. The old miller tried to explain that girls like her could never become princesses. Maybe their attendants, at best. But to no avail. Even her friend, Adrian, kept telling her that princesses live either in fairy tales or some faraway places she'll never reach. 

But Eliza couldn't let go of her dream. Some womanly advice might have been useful. But the girl never knew her mother, and each time she asked her father, he would put off the answer, finding something to do, and leaving her puzzled. Eliza didn't want to upset her father, and soon, she stopped asking him questions about her mother. 

Thus, time was flowing by on its no returning paths. Eliza grew up to become more beautiful and more skilled in the milling craft. When she reached about sixteen years old, the word about her diligence and kindness was spread throughout the entire village and beyond. There was no shortage of young lads who wanted her to become their wife. One by one, they found their way to the old mill, trying to steal one smile from those rosy lips, glimpsed from underneath that thick flour cover. 

But Eliza was minding her own, not even sparing a glance. So the lads left as they came. This entire time, Eliza never gave up on her dream. She had no clue that her dream was about to come true sooner than she would have imagined. 

● 

One bright summer day which looked like any other, Eliza met a real princess. She was Mara, the King's daughter over those lands. It so happened that, right in front of the mill, the horses pulling the Princess's carriage got frightened by a poor rabbit crossing their path. So they toppled the carriage with the Princess, the coachman, and her nanny.