Minds

1

MAN

My love left me another letter today. She hid it well between under the brick wall. The guards have been vigilant and they have started to search the walls for letters now. They must've found out about us. I knew I shouldn't let others do my job.

Ah, my princess says she misses me and she cannot wait to be in my arms. She tells me she loves me very much and she misses my blue eyes and musky scent. I sniff myself a little and felt giddy as I continued to read her letter. This has been our routine ever since we discovered each other's letters within the kingdom.

We are not a regular couple you see. She is a princess and I am a lowly commoner. We leave our messages all over the kingdom because it is forbidden to speak with the royalty when you are a commoner. Rubbish, I say! She shares how she is lonely everyday in the castle, with only the maids and guards to see and the occasional princes who tell her what to do and make her eat weird white coins. I always wondered what those white coins were made off. She says they are bitter and disgusting and I should never try them.

I am a lowly village commoner working in the fields surrounding the kingdom. My harvest is abundant always but the princes sometimes come and bring me in for a meeting to speak about my harvests. Sometimes they are pleased and sometimes they send for their guards to stop me from my 'outbursts'. I get angry when they call my crops ugly and rotten. I told my princess about this and she says she is trying to do something about it.

At last, I finished her letter and placed it in a secret box I kept in my room where her other letters are. I have to work hard to make myself rich and become a prince so I could marry her. She says she is waiting for me. I'm so excited.

Time to write her a reply. I think the bucket by the well would be a good hiding place for it.

WOMAN

I tucked the letter safely in my breastpocket just as a guard entered my room to search for letters. He left when he couldn't find any. I do not know how they found out about the letters but they seem to be coming more often than before. I have to tell my beloved about that or else they'll punish him. I checked the door then began to read.

My darling never fails to make me smile with his letters. He always says the most wonderful things to me and I find that we are similar in many ways. He says he has blue eyes. None of the princes here have blue eyes which makes my darling all the more important and special. I'm the only girl in this kingdom born with blue eyes. If that does not prove that we belong together, I don't know what else will.

He says he is working hard for me to eat well. I feel very happy about that. I always thank him for his hardwork of giving me and our people the best food to eat. He says that the princes always gave him trouble despite all his efforts, however he does not mind as long as I am able to eat well.

I am excited for the day we finally meet. He says he can feel it getting nearer. I feel it to. I don't know if those bitter white coins are helping me in any way. The princes said I needed them to clear my mind. Why do I even have to clear my mind? My darling stays there and I am not going to make him leave so I always spit the coins out when the princes or guards don't watch. If they do watch, I will have to swallow and face a few days asleep and without letters. I hated those days because my darling says he couldn't receive my letters too.

I start to write back to him after keeping his letters in my special box. I have to hide this new letter carefully. It contains the plans of escaping the kingdom. I cannot bear to live here anymore. We will meet then we will live together in a faraway country and have many kids.