The Kitty and The Bard

Chapter Two: Enter the Fairy Tale

On the edge of the very dull, lifeless estate where Lexandria lived, there was a dark and expensive forest. The autumnal trees shed their leaves, causing Calliana Turkey Bacon to scream at the local gardeners. Lord Bacon tripled their pay out of sympathy, and to permit them to see an Otolaryngologist so that they might recover from the damage the mistress’ yelling had caused upon their ears.

The expanse of trees deterred many a hunter away from its’ depths. Fear of the unknown kept everyone else from daring to tread past the border. It was rumored that terrible monsters lurked within the forest, and very few ever thought to challenge the myths that surrounded the forest. Everyone in the village avoided the so-called cursed place. All except for one.

Lexandria had not been bothered by the legends surrounding the forest. For her, it was a sacred place. A place where she could hide when she felt the urge to run away, or avoid her duties as a noble’s heiress. As a child, the dark forest had held many curious wonders that had enchanted a young girl seeking a story to share.

As an adult, the forest held many close friends and beloved companions.

One of them was a red-haired, yellow cat-eyed elven guardsmen named Ren. With stereotypical bow in hand, and plenty of arrows in a quiver strapped to his back, he made quite the striking figure. Thin blue lips that often found themselves in a tight line over whatever his friend had done to frustrate him at the time, and a regal facial structure that often had him confused with storybook Princes inspired many of Lexandria’s tall tales.

Despite claiming to hate being caricatured by Lexandria’s stories, the elf was secretly flattered by Lexi’s storytelling, and had become quite attached to the young bard. Not in a romantic manner mind. Ren was more likely to be caught staring his fellow guardsmen, then take fancy in any women. It was a trait that brought many a mischievous smile to Lexandria’s lips, and quite a few scowls to Ren’s after she teased him about his interests.

Though the elf’s gender preference was hardly of the greatest importance at that moment in time, despite his very interested glances toward a new arrival in the small village hidden within the forests’ depths. No, far more pressing was the matter of his dear friends’ wedding.

A wedding he fully intended to crash. Loudly, audaciously, and as flamboyantly as possible. For Ren was in quite a gay mood. It wasn’t often he was able to cross over the border to the human village just outside of the woods. Nor had he gotten much of a chance to explore the world outside of his homeland.

Ren fully intended to take advantage of his close friend’s plight. Yes, he would rescue Lexandria from the strange Master Gamble’s clutches, but only after she began to walk the aisle. He considered it revenge for the time she had not informed him that a rather gaseous pixie had been resting on top of his head, and had been letting off noxious fumes for quite some time. He would not have noticed the poor creature had it not fallen from his hair after a tree nymph playfully brushed it off.

Speaking of tree nymphs, “Hadyn, where are you?” Ren asked, poking the redwood closest to him. One could never tell if a tree was occupied by a nymph, but often enough, if you bothered enough trees, they would hear you. “We’ve got to hurry. The ceremony begins soon!” He said loudly enough for his voice to be caught by the forest ceiling, causing it to echo amongst the branches.

“Calm down boy!” A deep voice rumbled. It belonged to a very old nymph, one whom Lexandria had encountered when she had fallen from the top of his tree in her haste to escape a very angry bear. “Patience. Once the people begin taking seats on the pews, then we may go.” Hadyn was considered strange, even for a tree nymph. His unusual habit of interacting with any who dared to walk by his tree, and occasionally hang them upside down from the branches, had long since isolated him from his fellow people. The bard’s somewhat tenacious, if not downright insane, personality had won Hadyn over after several hours of lengthy conversation, most of which involved Lexi dangling by her ankles, grinning like a fool the entire time.