The Hidden Princess

The sun seared my eyes as I woke up slowly. Aaron my ever loving husband must have opened the curtains again when he got up. No matter how many times I tell him, that man never learns. Grumbling under my breath I rolled over and slipped out of our bed. I stumbled over to my dresser to grab some clothes for the day. God, I hate mornings. Shuffling over to the bathroom I opened the door and climbed into the shower letting the warm water wash over me and wake me up fully.

Feeling much more human as I wrung out my long brown hair I remembered why I had been so excited to go to bed the night before. James was coming over to hang out today. James had been my best friend since I was 12 and had moved into this town. We had both been new to the town at the same time so we stuck together. That had made all the difference to actually staying in this town. We were so alike in the way that we both loved being in the forest and spending time outside.

Looking out the window made me start grumbling all over again. It had snowed last night and it looked like it would snow again today. Just my luck that the day I got to hang out with my best friend and go exploring it has to be cold as hell. I had just grabbed my sweater off the back of a chair when I heard his voice.

"Hurry the hell up Rin! I want to spend as much time exploring as we can!" James' voice carried through the house easily. Smiling at his antics I quickly left my bedroom and ran down the stairs taking them two at a time. Skidding around the last corner I flew into a bear hug that I knew was coming. It always came.

"Are we going to go farther than we have the last few days?" I asked quietly knowing my husband was only a few rooms away. He didn't know what I was doing and I was trying to keep it that way.

"Of course, we are Rin! We did make a deal after all. Let me guess you didn't tell Aaron what we were doing?" He asked following my lead and lowering his voice till I almost couldn't hear it any longer. He knew me so well that he didn't really have to ask that question.

"Of course not! He always tries to stop me! I am not a housewife and when I have a few days off from work I like to go and spend some time with my best friend and be outside. He doesn't understand that." I grumbled as I laced up my hiking boots. Looking up I saw James staring out the window of my front door. He always looked so sad when he was lost in his thoughts like that. I took a moment to really look him over while he was distracted.

He was taller than most men in town and was much lighter. He had blond hair and bright green eyes that made the women in town throw themselves at him. He didn't think that I noticed how unhappy he was here and I hoped that one day he could leave and find happiness. I knew that I was the only thing that kept him here. His friendship meant everything to me.

He glanced at me and smiled. I got up and looped my arm through his. Looking at how his face broke into a smile near me made me happy. I mean what kind of friend would I be if I didn't try to lighten the mood every once in a while?

"We are off to see the wizard" I sing-songed as we closed and locked the door behind us. He just rolled his eyes at me, his normal reaction. Snow crunched under our feet as we walked through town. Flakes danced through the air and around our faces. Neither James nor I liked walking through town because even though we have been living there for 11 years we were still mostly seen as outsiders. Or I was, at least, James seemed to be able to charm his way out of anything.

We quickly reached the edge of town and slipped into the forest. We started to follow the path that we had made the day before. I laughed seeing the snow glittering in the sun, throwing miniature rainbows everywhere. It took us about an hour to reach the farthest point of our trail. I leant up against a large tree to rest for a minute before we actually went exploring. We rested in silence for a few minutes and enjoyed the fresh air and the quiet.