A long time ago, in land a faraway land, a king and queen threw a grand party for their only daughter on her fifth birthday.
A truly grand occasion was it; one that was attended by the biggest names around the world and a night to remember for all. Yes, it was quite memorable.
Partially because of the grand ceremony but also because something else, happened there which never left the minds of all who were present on that cold, winter night.
Ironically, the birthday girl herself didn't seem too interested her own party, clear from the way she sat by herself in a corner. No one cared about her presence and her dear parents were too busy with the guests to notice.
Her day of joy had now been turned upside down.
But unknown to her, she had caught the attention of an unsuspecting young prince, ten at the time, who walked up to her and sat next to her.
He waved, but he received no response; she hadn't even noticed his presence. "Happy birthday" he said, same atmosphere though.
But he wouldn't lose faith.
Then he got an idea and instantly went outside. A few moments later, the princess was hit in the head with a snowball and the annoyed face she gave seemed to have caused a certain someone to chuckle from the stairs behind her.
Surprised as she was, she wasn't ready to lose to this new enemy. So, she began her journey upon the large staircase, running as fast as she could so he wouldn't get away while her overjoyed attacker had just thought of a new game, catch the troll.
He had found a nice spot in between the walls upstairs where he could throw snowballs at her without getting noticed so she was faced with a storm while climbing.
She was so angry, yet, he was enjoying it.
When she got upstairs, the snow rain had stopped. It seemed her attacker had begun to proceed with caution. She looked around to find any traces of snow she could use; unfortunately, she was dealing with a professional, no traces except on the stairs. A little bit towards one direction from the staircase and she got hit again, another few steps in the other direction, the same thing; just where could he be?
Then she remembered something, she played hide and seek with her dad in the same hallway. Daddy always had a hard time finding her, due to her unique hiding spot, he was never able to find it and she always won. It was a spot she discovered herself, a place she was tiny enough to fit into behind the wall. It
had two ends so you enter in one end and come out the other.
She knew that was where he was: inside the walls in-between the hallways
She got her own idea, went out, filled some containers with snow and came back to surprise the prince by dumping some snowball down his pants. At the end of all of it, they fell into a ball of laughter like the kids they were.
"How did you find me? I swear, this place is inconceivable." The boy said after he was able to settle his laughter.
"Whose hiding spot do you think this is genius? I hide here all the time when I'm playing with daddy. You really thought you could beat the master of the house" Eliza said, in a tone that suggested overconfidence as she was used to running around the castle to play. Then she threw a snowball at him again just to show that she won. The prince laughed: she was growing on him.
"It seems to me that you're big on adventures.
Wanna have some more fun?" the prince winked to the princess as he was held a snowball in hands. And she nodded in approval.
They both went outside to reload and came back bearing sacks of snow that they were going to use to crash the party. Princess Eliza and prince Tristan, both gave themselves confirmatory looks as they entered back into the ball room with their sacks of snow. They managed to find a table no one was paying attention to and hid behind it.
Then, their barricade of snowballs began, all aimed at the guests. It was a shocking and most outrageous thing indeed. But what's strangest is what happened next.
The sudden occurrence seemed to have had a grave effect because the once vibrant atmosphere was now occupied by a sharp silence that scared the children to their bones.
The guests looked to a man sitting by the fireplace. The man then whispered something to his servants that made them leave immediately.
They came back a few moments later rushing in chariots filled with snow. ""its Onn!!!" the man shouted as he picked some snow and threw it at the kids, making the crowd shout a loud war cry like that of the beginning of a battle. After that, the whole place became erupted in a big snowball fight.
Snow was everywhere, and when it apparently didn't sit right with a certain king and queen, they were greeted with the bathing of their lives with from a chariot filled with snow, set up by some very courageous kids of course. They just had to join in after this.
It was truly a nice night for everyone. Most of the people there were lords and leaders who hardly had time to themselves, the moment seemed to have awoken their longing for some fun and they couldn't just pass the opportunity.
As a token to the birthday girl, she got fistfuls of snow from all the guests together with the many gifts they brought as they sang her 'happy birthday' in the funniest of tunes.
Among the gifts brought that night was the cutest baby elephant one of the Arabian guests brought along from his kingdom. Eliza instantly fell in love with it from the sight. She gave her the name 'Mercy', her new best friend.
Although she caught a cold that night, it managed to become a very memorable moment in her life as it was the start of something wonderful: the great bond between Tristan and Eliza as Tristan kept visiting after the party. After all, he had made a new friend, a really 'special' friend.
They played in the castle, exploring and pulling pranks on the entire palace household. It turns out the old castle had a few secrets of its own and they were ever so eager to learn them. Secret doors, secret passage ways, old dungeons with skeletons were what they always had their eyes out for in their adventures and in a few years, they were exploring the kingdom outside the
castle. They became quite fond of themselves, perhaps maybe too fond because, the occasional looks they started giving each other from time to time seemed to have said a lot to everyone. Their parents already started planning their marriage in secret.
Sad to say, things didn't remain blissful till the end.
Tragedy struck one day when the princess fell mysteriously ill from a strange disease whose cause and cure were unknown.
A seer was consulted, and it was revealed that the nature wasn't that of a disease but of a curse and a fatal one, one that was going to kill her the day she turned nineteen, unless a way was found to break it.
But as to how she got the curse, nothing was found.
The prince however, stayed by her side and visited her more often. The condition wasn't serious at the time so she was still very much her vibrant self the only thing that differed was the occasional weakness and the bloody coughs plus the loss of skin color.
And it was going to get worse as the final day drew nearer and she grew paler.
She had to stay indoors a lot due to this and Tristan was always there to keep her company.
They had a lot of time to themselves and as a result, their bond grew much deeper.
However, they remained in denial until the night that decided it all, the night of her fifteenth birthday.
She came out since a long while to attend the party and she was received with warmth from all the guests. Her condition was not hidden from them, they too shared the grief she and her family were facing.
Then she saw him:
Tristan who was now twenty and had managed to steal the show
from her with his entrance.
He had the gazes of everyone at his mercy because he was stunning from head to toe.
The moment they locked gazes, he winked to her and she was left smiling, remembering the moment from their childhood.
She was then greeted with a hand from him, asking her for a dance as he bowed; she did the same and then they started their waltz on the dancefloor.
She was quite the elegant dancer; she had the best teachers from around the world but she couldn't deny that he was a lot better. She had never seen anyone with such a flawless technique.
The course of the dance made them stare deeply into each other's eyes but his was so intense, she became red.
A pair of golden yellow eyes with long white hair and a perfect face were all Tristan needed to keep her gaze locked on him.
"You are quite the great dancer" she commented.
"Yes, I'm a natural but I must say, you look gorgeous; way more than you do every other day." He commented with a sincere smile.
"I know, today's a special day so I wore make up. What about it?" Eliza said, ever so nonchalant.
"i like it that's what, so much that I would like to you to appear like this each day at the castle back home. Mom and dad would want nothing more." He said which made Eliza focus more as she knew what he was about to say.
"Eliza, when I become king, I want you to be by my side as my queen." his expression turned serious and he too became more concentrated.
Tears started trickling down Eliza's face when she heard him. He understood the reason for her reaction perfectly because he quickly patted the back of her soft, maroon hair. He took some time to stare into her big, blue eyes to comfort her.
''you are not going to die Eliiza, who cares what that old seer thinks? We are going to have our happily ever after just like the stories. Just focus on the good things in life, like me, and you would never cry"
"So, princess Eliza, will you marry me?" he said with the brightest smile.
"If I say yes, will you stop staring? I'm so embarrassed'' she said as she wiped her tears and Tristan drew her in for a big hug. The dancing continued like that, with the two of them holding each other tightly and just zoning out into the music. A sweet moment indeed, one that felt like it would never end.
Unfortunately, tragedy was waiting for Tristan that night as he returned back home with his parents. They and everyone with them were involved in a horrible accident, one that took the lives of all except Tristan. A truly strange occurrence indeed as not even Tristan was able to identify how he survived, it was like he just appeared in the kingdom and heard that his parents died on the way. As for his kingdom, the absence of its rulers drove the kingdom too a series of civil wars and in a bit, both Tristan and his kingdom were never seen or heard from again.
The light of this new discovery drove sadness to the hearts of all and it was worse on Eliza but however, she didn't want to believe, even when Tristan never came back.
She wanted nothing more than to confirm Tristan's disappearance herself but her parents would have nothing of it.
For her safety, they locked up the palace, only they and the castle household were allowed in, bringing an end to all the lavish parties they threw. The curse grew worse each day and her fate seemed grimmer. Yet, she remained ever true to her belief that Tristan was still out there and they were going to be united as king and queen. Which was what gave her the courage to keep on living each day despite the many challenges she faced, that she would someday leave the castle to find Tristan herself.