Chapter Text
The King of the Enchanted Forest was twenty years old and he lived in an old, maze-like, confusing castle somewhere around the middle of his kingdom.
Sometimes he wished he could say that the castle lay exactly in the middle of the kingdom, but it would be inaccurate because the edges, borders and sometimes even the terrain tended to move often and without warning. The ruler of a magical kingdom has to adapt to some small inconveniences, and the king tried not to worry too much about the location of his castle.
The castle itself was a huge building surrounded by a wide moat. It had six different towers, four balconies, and way too many staircases, installed by the behest of an earlier king who liked to trot up and down the stairs with his cape billowing behind him in a very regal fashion. There were many corridors going this way and that, rooms leading into other rooms, rooms inside other rooms, secret passages, hidden panels, and secret doors. There were several cellars, a large ground floor, and two dungeons; one of which could only be accessed from the sixth floor of the northern-southern tower.
“I think it's a bit impractical to climb up six staircases just to get in the dungeon,” the king said to his steward, not for the first time and probably not for the last. The steward, a very formal, uptight elf named Jenkins, raised his eyes from the list he was holding and frowned. “This is not a current concern of ours, Your Majesty,” he said dryly.
The two of them were in the king’s study, going through the tasks for the day. Jenkins was standing in the middle of the room, though there were several chars available. He was dressed in a very stewardly fashion, with a rainbow-colored bowtie that he referred to as ‘his flair’.
The king was sitting at a huge, oaken desk. He was leaning back in his chair with his arms crossed over his chest and his long legs stretched out under the table. Truthfully, he looked a bit bored but no one would dare to say that to his handsome face. Two ravens were perched on the back of the king’s chair, above his shoulders, and many more were scattered around the room. Ravens had been following the king around ever since he was born and everyone had tired of questioning it by this point.
The king wasn’t wearing a crown nor a circlet, and though his clothes were immaculate, they were mostly black and lacked the definite over-the-top glamour befit a ruler. He looked like a musical conductor if anything. His hair was black, in a definite need of a trim, with a bunch of black feathers that seemed to have ended up there somehow accidentally.
But despite this all, he somehow managed to look like a king. Maybe it was the look in his grey eyes that did it.
Jenkins cleared his throat. “As the center of Your Majesty’s kingdom, this castle-”
“The castle isn't at the center,” the king said irritably. “Only near it. And please call me Kravitz and leave all that ‘Your Majesty’ nonsense to formal celebrations.”
“We have no formal celebrations,” Jenkins complained, clutching the list in his hands like his life depended on it. “Your Majesty has canceled them all- the tree dance of the dryads, the bardic ballad-”
“Yes, I know,” Kravitz interrupted, “and I'm sure you have them all written down on a list somewhere so you don’t need to go through all of them with me now,” he said, waving a hand as if to dismiss the idea. The ravens sitting on the chair ruffled their feathers, expressing their annoyance. Or so it seemed, they were birds, who could tell.
“We don’t need that many dinners and receptions and whatnot,” Kravitz said leaning forward and resting his elbows on the desk with his head in his hands. Jenkins looked like he very much wanted to stomp his foot but he refrained from doing so.
“Now we don’t have a single one!” Jenkins cried. “Only because Your Majesty insists that formal occasions are boring!”
“Because they are boring, Jenkins.” The king said, lifting a hand to push away the strands of hair that had fallen in his face as he slumped over the desk. “Boring and tiresome. Like how you keep calling me ‘Your Majesty’ every third word when there are only the two of us present. It sounds stupid.”
“Your father-”
“Father was pompous, and you know it. If he hadn’t drowned in the Lake of Crying Dreamers three years ago you would be complaining about him as much as you are complaining about me now.”
Jenkins frowned. “Your father was a very good King of the Enchanted Forest.”
“I never said he wasn’t, but you can’t deny that he was pompous as well,” Kravitz said, wrapping a piece of his hair around his finger.
“Could we please get back to the matter at hand, Your Majesty?” The elf said stiffly.
The king rolled his eyes and stopped playing with his hair. “Could I stop you?”
“Your Majesty only needs to ask me to leave,” Jenkins said, dry as the desert, and adjusted his bowtie.
“If I do that, you'll sulk for days. On with it. What was it about the northern-southern tower?”
Jenkins started going through the items on his list with incredible thoroughness, and Kravitz immediately zoned out, letting Jenkins’ droning lull him into a pleasant haze, where he remained until he heard something very disturbing amongst the prattle. He stirred and sat up ramrod straight in his chair in a flash, scaring the napping ravens off the chair.
“The what now?”
“The- your wedding sire,” Jenkins said, unimpressed, with a clear emphasis on the word wedding.
Kravitz was too flabbergasted to realize that Jenkins had finally dropped the ‘Your Majesty’.
“What wedding?”
“Your Majesty’s wedding to a noble of good heritage,” Jenkins said patiently, in the same tone of voice he’d used as he went through the list. It was kind of impressive. ”I have made a list of appropriate options,” Jenkins said, pulling out a scroll from under his vest.
“You’ve made a list?” Kravitz grimaced. “Jenkins, please tell me you haven’t spoken to that terrible woman who has way too many sons and daughters?”
“Any one of Lady Sterling’s descendants would be an appropriate partner for Your Majesty,” Jenkins said, lifting his chin with a sniff of his pointy nose.
“Appropriate?” Kravitz repeated, standing up from the chair, his eyes wide as saucers. Even the ravens seemed disturbed. “Jenkins, the twelve of them don't possess enough common sense to fill a teaspoon! They’re dimwits!” Kravitz slapped his palms on the table and glared at Jenkins. “And so are you if you think that I would ever marry one of them.”
Jenkins sighed. “I was hoping Your Majesty would at least consider…”
“Then, obviously, you don’t know me at all,” Kravitz said sternly. “You may leave, Jenkins, and take that cursed list of princes and princesses and whatever with you.”
“Yes, Your Majesty,” Jenkins said, obviously offended. His whole being radiated disapproval as he bowed deeply and left the room.
As soon as the door closed, Kravitz fell back into his chair and hid his face in his hands with a miserable sigh. After all the problems the kingdom had been having (and that Kravitz had been solving, thank you very much), talk of a wedding was the last thing he wanted.
“I need a day off,” he mumbled into his palms and immediately realized that he really did need a day off, that he hadn't had one in a while and he sure as hell was going to have one. Right now in fact. The ravens didn’t seem as excited, most of them already in deep sleep now that Jenkins was gone.
Sneaking out without getting caught by the maids or other castle inhabitants was surprisingly easy, even without the use of any kind of invisibility spell. Once Kravitz had crossed the moat and arrived at the treeline of the Enchanted Forest, he allowed himself to relax a little, but not too much. The forest had its own weird set of rules that even he, as the king, had to adhere to. He still remembered how hard it had been getting rid of the black-feathered wings he had gotten when he was eight after he accidentally ate the wrong kind of strawberry.
But of course, as a king, he also had some privileges. He could tap into the forest’s magical reserves directly, which made him stronger than three wizards combined and equal to most mages. Magic was inherent to all kings of the Enchanted Forest. It had to be, it would be difficult to rule a kingdom as magical as this without having any magic of one’s own. The forest always chose its king with the help of a certain sword and bestowed upon him the ability to feel the magic that reached every corner of the forest and the skills to use it.
Kravitz decided to stop by the Pool of Green Glass. He hadn’t been there in a while and it was one of his favorite places. He considered using magic to get there in a blink of an eye but decided against it.
“I wanted to walk after all,” he said to himself. “And the pool isn't that far.” He started walking briskly towards the direction of the pool.
After an hour he still hadn’t arrived at his destination and he was growing irritated. The forest had moved twice and both times the location of the pond had changed so that it was not only farther away than before but also in a completely different direction. It was almost as if the forest didn't want him to find it. If Kravitz wasn't the king he wouldn't even have known that he was headed in the wrong direction.
Kravitz frowned. “Strange. I wonder what’s going on.” Kravitz touched the scabbard at his hip and made sure that he could pull his sword out quickly if need be. Then he raised his hand and touched the strand of magic that was invisible and floating next to his shoulder. A gray mist appeared and then very quickly disappeared. Kravitz blinked, shook his head and looked around.
He was where he wanted to be, on the rocky brink of the Pool of Green Glass.
“Oh!” Someone cried out. ”Who might you be?”
Kravitz jumped at the noise and almost fell into the water. He quickly regained his balance, turned around and right away any trace of his good mood was gone. A girl was sitting under one of the huge oaks and she was obviously a princess with her wide, sparkling blue eyes and long flaxen hair that tumbled over her shoulders.
“Who are you?” The princess asked again. She scrutinized Kravitz very intensely and didn’t seem to be afraid at all. “And how did you get here, to this awful , lonely and abandoned place?”
Kravitz tried not to look offended by the insult to his kingdom. “My name’s Kravitz and I was just going for a walk,” he answered curtly, then realized that he was being rude. He grit his teeth and took a deep breath through his nose. “Can I help you?” He asked and hoped he didn’t sound as reluctant as he felt. The princess hesitated.
“ Prince Kravitz?” she asked hopefully.
“No,” Kravitz answered.
“What about Lord Kravitz? Or perhaps sir Kravitz?”
“No, I’m afraid not,” Kravitz said, realizing what was going on and fervently hoping the process wouldn’t ask if he was a king. Luckily he wasn’t wearing a crown. Ambitious princesses (and princes, to be fair) were even worse than the regular ones and he didn’t want to have anything to do with either.
The princess frowned, obviously thinking if it was appropriate to ask Kravitz for help even if he wasn’t a prince, or a lord, or an honorable woodcutter. Kravitz quickly interrupted her before she could ask any more questions.
“How did you get here, by the way?” Kravitz asked, trying to be polite. He hated saying no to princesses because they always cried and moped and wouldn't give up. They always asked for stupid things, such as ‘bring me a white rose from the Garden of the Moon’ or ‘kill a dragon in a duel for me’.
“Oh, ‘tis a story of great trial and tribulation!” The princess wailed, pressing the back of her hand to her forehead dramatically. “My evil stepmother threw me out of my father's castle while he was in the war. After that, I wandered for many days all by my lonesome until I no longer knew where I was.” She fluttered her eyelashes purposefully.
It sounded rehearsed. Every shred of empathy that Kravitz had been feeling towards the girl disappeared. He was pretty sure that the princess had conspired with her stepmother and they had both concluded that the fastest way for the princess to get married was for her to go off adventuring and get rescued by some unfortunate fool of ‘noble status and appropriate heritage’.
“Finally I found myself in a vast desert,” the princess continues, looking down demurely and pressing one hand to her expensive fabric-covered chest. “After I used all my wits and power to cross it, I sat here beneath this tree to rest and-”
“Wait,” Kravitz said, frowning. The princess looked affronted, her tale of woe rudely interrupted. “You crossed a desert? That can't be. There are no deserts around the Enchanted Forest.”
“You insult me!” The princess huffed indignantly, her hands flying to her hips.“Why would I lie to someone like you? But go ahead and look, if you don't believe me.” She said, gesturing towards the forest behind her.
“Thank you, and I will,” Kravitz said and quickly walked past the princess, ignoring the dumbfounded look on her face. He disappeared into the trees before the girl had time to call him back and demand he explain himself.