"I was coming to that."
"Are you sure you are not Welsh?"
"Shut up and stop trying to kiss me."
"This is way better then the beating I just received."
"Sorry, just wish you would get to the good parts."
"I had been around a pretty long time before you came into the picture. It's not like we are like Rapunzel and Flynn (or whatever his real name was.) Anyway, Zel says she really liked Flynn better than Eugene... well except when she gets to call him Genie."
"Flynn is a good name, almost as good as mine."
"Shush. This isn't about you anyway- not yet."
"MMMRPH."
So where was I?
(you were 29 looking back at 9)
I did not transform into a princess overnight.... actually not at all.
for one thing I have never worn a dress in my life.
Sorry Merida, but I never had to. Unlike your mom and many of the other Queen Mothers in the 9 kingdoms (yes there are more but Dev and his fellow kings liked the sound of nine)
I only met Merida after she was quite a bit older, sometimes it's hard to imagine us all living in the same world, but as Ralph has said the world is a big place that is filled with many people, each with their own stories. One of the reasons, I bring up Merida is that she had her own kind of beauty.
In the end, it was her finding her own beauty that changed her story.
I find it odd, sometimes, that more of this did not occur to me as I grew older.
I wish I could say that I became an inspiration to the young girls of the Kingdom but the truth was that i never really stopped being a boy. It was ingrained into my psyche. I knew I was a girl and when I confronted my mother the morning following my 9th birthday, she just gathered me into her arms and laughed.
I did not realize how strange my mother was until I got to know some of the other queen mothers. Sam was the odd one out. She wasn't a great beauty, by comparison she was rather plain. Her face might have launched only my father's row boat, but like most daughters, I was in awe of her beauty.
It was her easy going personality and slow determination to make our kingdom more civil towards its citizens that won over the hearts of everyone where Sam was concerned. One thing said that would have to change now was that I was to call her Mom from then on.
It's funny, but at nine years old this made perfect sense. I nodded very seriously and said.
"Mom."
That was the closest I ever saw my mother come to crying until many years later.
It would have been a "Hallmark Moment" (something Ralph the Mighty says a lot), but then King Dev walked in.
"Morning Sam, Charles. How is my brand new boy today?"
"I am a girl." I said looking at him.
King Dev frowned at me and then looked at Mom.
"Is this some kind of joke?"
"No dear," Mom said (see I can call her Mom). "Your daughter has discovered that she is, in fact, a girl not a boy after all."
"If this is a joke- it's in very bad taste Sam." King Dev sat down at the breakfast table and took a bit of toast.
"King Dev- the charade is over. You are going to have to face facts." Mom said standing, she walked across the sunlit chamber to the table and took the buttered toast from her husband.
"Don't say it." sputtered Dev as he tried in vain to snatch back the toast. Mom was just to fast for him. "If you say it I-"
"You will what?'
"I- I will exile you to the North Tower." King Dev pronounced and held out his hand triumphantly.
Sam ate the rest of the toast, slowly, to the horror of my father.
It was Mom's first major act of defiance.
Mom finished and then licked her fingers and wiped them on her dress.
King Dev's eyes went wide. Sam had never done such an act of flagrant disregard for her clothing.
"Hmmm, the North Tower is better then this one." Mom said returning to her seat. "Especially since you just had it redone this year."
King Dev opened his mouth a few times and then close it.
I walked over to him. He stood and looked down at me with his most imperious stare.
"Son." he said with grim determination.
I punched him in the gut.
He crumpled over and took several deep gulps before looking at me.
I waited tapping my foot.
"Daughter..?"
I smiled broadly and tiptoed to kiss him on his forehead.
So, there you have it. well some more of it.
"So what happened next?"
"You mean other than growing up and meeting you?"
"That was kind of where I am headed."
"I figure that you are going much further into dangerous territory than that."
"Yes. Yes I am going to have to ask it again."
"Shut up and kiss me."
"Are you sure you are not Welsh?"
"Shut up and stop trying to kiss me."
"This is way better then the beating I just received."
"Sorry, just wish you would get to the good parts.""I had been around a pretty long time before you came into the picture. It's not like we are like Rapunzel and Flynn (or whatever his real name was.) Anyway, Zel says she really liked Flynn better than Eugene... well except when she gets to call him Genie."
"Flynn is a good name, almost as good as mine."
"Shush. This isn't about you anyway- not yet."
"MMMRPH."
So where was I?
(you were 29 looking back at 9)
I did not transform into a princess overnight.... actually not at all.
for one thing I have never worn a dress in my life.
Sorry Merida, but I never had to. Unlike your mom and many of the other Queen Mothers in the 9 kingdoms (yes there are more but Dev and his fellow kings liked the sound of nine)
I only met Merida after she was quite a bit older, sometimes it's hard to imagine us all living in the same world, but as Ralph has said the world is a big place that is filled with many people, each with their own stories. One of the reasons, I bring up Merida is that she had her own kind of beauty.
In the end, it was her finding her own beauty that changed her story.
I find it odd, sometimes, that more of this did not occur to me as I grew older.
I wish I could say that I became an inspiration to the young girls of the Kingdom but the truth was that i never really stopped being a boy. It was ingrained into my psyche. I knew I was a girl and when I confronted my mother the morning following my 9th birthday, she just gathered me into her arms and laughed.
I did not realize how strange my mother was until I got to know some of the other queen mothers. Sam was the odd one out. She wasn't a great beauty, by comparison she was rather plain. Her face might have launched only my father's row boat, but like most daughters, I was in awe of her beauty.
It was her easy going personality and slow determination to make our kingdom more civil towards its citizens that won over the hearts of everyone where Sam was concerned. One thing said that would have to change now was that I was to call her Mom from then on.
It's funny, but at nine years old this made perfect sense. I nodded very seriously and said.
"Mom."
That was the closest I ever saw my mother come to crying until many years later.
It would have been a "Hallmark Moment" (something Ralph the Mighty says a lot), but then King Dev walked in.
"Morning Sam, Charles. How is my brand new boy today?"
"I am a girl." I said looking at him.
King Dev frowned at me and then looked at Mom.
"Is this some kind of joke?"
"No dear," Mom said (see I can call her Mom). "Your daughter has discovered that she is, in fact, a girl not a boy after all."
"If this is a joke- it's in very bad taste Sam." King Dev sat down at the breakfast table and took a bit of toast.
"King Dev- the charade is over. You are going to have to face facts." Mom said standing, she walked across the sunlit chamber to the table and took the buttered toast from her husband.
"Don't say it." sputtered Dev as he tried in vain to snatch back the toast. Mom was just to fast for him. "If you say it I-"
"You will what?'
"I- I will exile you to the North Tower." King Dev pronounced and held out his hand triumphantly.
Sam ate the rest of the toast, slowly, to the horror of my father.
It was Mom's first major act of defiance.
Mom finished and then licked her fingers and wiped them on her dress.
King Dev's eyes went wide. Sam had never done such an act of flagrant disregard for her clothing.
"Hmmm, the North Tower is better then this one." Mom said returning to her seat. "Especially since you just had it redone this year."
King Dev opened his mouth a few times and then close it.
I walked over to him. He stood and looked down at me with his most imperious stare.
"Son." he said with grim determination.
I punched him in the gut.
He crumpled over and took several deep gulps before looking at me.
I waited tapping my foot.
"Daughter..?"
I smiled broadly and tiptoed to kiss him on his forehead.
So, there you have it. well some more of it.
"So what happened next?"
"You mean other than growing up and meeting you?"
"That was kind of where I am headed."
"Well- I became this awesome warrior and Knight and then I rescued you from your certain doom."
"Well, that is one way of putting it, I guess."
"Yes. Yes I am going to have to ask it again."
"Shut up and kiss me."
"I was coming to that."
