The Secret Prince: The Story of Galen Nightwater

Harvest Festival

The Harvest Festival came and went and Galen and Jade had a wonderful time. They played all of the games and tried nearly all of the food. In fact, Jade had too much food and got a stomachache so Aunt Mary took her home. Galen tried to enjoy the festival with the other children, but then one of the boys started making fun of him because he was friends with Jade. The evening ended pretty quickly after that. Galen had gone to Jade's house to see how she was doing. Aunt Mary had let him in and told him that Jade was lying down near the fire place. The fire cast a warm glow round the room. He found her lying there staring at the flames. She hadn't noticed him yet and he took a moment to look at her. Her face seemed so tiny. The scar seemed to have grown and covered her whole left cheek, giving her a disfigured look. But he didn't care. As he stared at her, he didn't know why he had felt the need to be her friend. She was younger than him by two years. She was a girl, and boys his age didn't normally play with girls unless they were tugging on their hair or shoving them into mud puddles. It was hard to explain, but he felt like she needed him. He didn't think he could bear to see the look on her face again if another group of children decided to taunt her. When he had stood up for her, he hadn't thought about friendship or that fact that she was a girl. All he had thought about was doing what was right. And it was not right to make fun of anyone, no matter what the reason. That's what Marcus had taught him and that's what he held to. So he had rescued her. And he felt good that he had done it, and when he saw her blue eyes peek at him, scared that he would turn away once he realized what she looked like, he had wanted to prove to her that not all people were like that. There were some people that saw beyond the physical and looked into the heart. And he was proud to be one of those people. He pitied those who were shallow enough to believe that beauty is found in the outer shell.

And in becoming friends with Jade he realized that she was a great person. She loved to read books and discover new things. She could eat almost as much as he could, tonight had proved that, maybe almost a little too well. She even had a sense of humor, although she didn't often show it. But when she laughed, it was a wonderful sound; soft, yet it struck you and make you feel proud of making her happy. She was also very caring. On the days where the kids would taunt her and Galen was itching to have an encounter, she pleaded with him not to start a fight, claiming that she didn't want to see anyone hurt because of her. He could never understand how she could think that when she was the only one being hurt, but yet she did every time. Sometimes he heeded her request, but sometimes he didn't. And on those days, she would make sure that any wounds or bruises he got would be taken care of by Marcus or Aunt Mary. She would stand there looking at him all worried and pale as he told her that his battle wounds didn't hurt all that much. She never believed him. All in all, he felt really privileged to be her friend, and if she was the only friend he ever had, he would be just fine with that.

"What are you doing here?" Jade's soft voice halted his thoughts and she realized he was standing there.

"I just wanted to see if you were ok." Galen said. "The Festival is almost over and it's not really fun anymore." He had wanted to say, "since you left" but he felt that would be too sappy. Even if it was true.

She smiled, she had never had a friend to come and see if she was well. " Well Aunt Mary says I should be right as rain tomorrow morning."

"That's good." Galen replied, unsure of what else to say in that moment. "It was a fun Festival wasn't it?"

"Yes! I've never enjoyed anything more, except for books." She exclaimed. " I've never had so much fun. Even though I got sick."

"Well I had fun too, and next year we won't eat everything in sight. Maybe then we can play more games." He said.

She nodded. " I don't think I'll be ready to eat anything until next week." She said, as she felt her stomach roll again.

Galen laughed. "I'll bet you'll be starving by first thing tomorrow morning."

"No. Don't even mention food." She moaned.

"Ok ok..." He looked thought the window and saw that the sky had darkened. "I should be going, Marcus will be expecting me soon. Will I see you tomorrow?" He asked.

"Aunt Mary and I are going to church." She replied. "But I can play after lunch."

"Ok, I can come over and we'll go to the hill. If you're up to it." He said.

She nodded eagerly.

He smiled one last time, and walked out the way he came. She heard him say goodbye to Aunt Mary and then she heard the door close. It is good to have a friend, she thought to herself. It felt really good.

AUNT MARY'S P.O.V.

Aunt Mary smiled as she heard the children laughing in the sitting area. It warmed her heart to think of how Galen had saved her niece. She knew that it was more than just defending her from the bullies. Oh yes, it was so much more. She had been growing worried as she saw Jade draw back into herself. She had tried to talk to the teachers and the principles but they never seemed to do much. She knew that with her being and widow did not give her much authority in the town but still, she thought, couldn't someone see how wrong it was to encourage children to put down others? Before Galen came around Jade would come home and barely talk or eat. She was thin, pale, and always seemed to be tired. She could see her niece losing hope in life. She could see it draining out of her a little more each day. And she felt helpless. That was why she was so surprised to see Galen walking with her that afternoon. After that she could see how Jade started to perk up more. She could see her color returning and thanked the Lord each day for Galen. She didn't know what Galen said to Jade but whatever he said or whatever he had done, was working.

"Good bye Aunt Mary." She heard Galen say.

"Good bye dear. Oh! Wait." She said as she hurried round the kitchen. "Take this to Marcus and tell him to enjoy. I know that the sweet stuff isn't really helping his health, but I figured in light of the Festival spirit, he could stand to cheat just this once." She said handing him a good section of Apple pie.

Galen smiled. "Thanks Aunt Mary, he'll love it. But I think you should know, he cheats more than we realize."

She laughed. "Well that's his secret. Good bye dear and be safe."

He waved and walked out into the night.

Thank God for Galen, she thought. He's good for all of us.