WC -- 1546

Cherise was bouncing on her little toes while waiting in line for the maze that had been set up at the carnival. She had begged and begged and begged for her parents to take her and they had finally given in.

“Are you excited, mon petit?”

Cherise only grinned up at her mother, Diana, and snuggled into the frock she was wearing -- an adult-sized version of her own midnight black frock lined with matching lace. Her mother had made them both herself with indispensable and immeasurable help from Cherise of course. Who else could have pinned fabric and lace so perfectly? Her mother's hand, warmly wrapped in black satin from fingertips to elbows, came down to tuck Cherise’s curls back into the complex arrangement of curls and ribbons.

On her other side, Cherise’s father stood in silence, taking in his own surroundings.

“Papa,” Cherise called out, tugging on his shirt-sleeves. Almost as though being shaken from a stupor, Gregory looked down with wide eyes the color of the ocean that she had visited once before. She didn’t remember much of that visit, but she did remember the colors. And how her dad’s eyes had matched the color of the water.

“Papa, what do you think is in the maze?”

Her father fell silent again, turning his attention back to the maze in front of them.

“Maybe it’s a castle,” her mother chirped,” dusting some newly fallen snow off of her hat and shoulders.

“Like Elsa,” Cherise gasped, clapping her pudgy little hands in excitement.

“Yes, just like Elsa. And I bet that castle is waiting for a pretty little princess to live in it,” her father continued, kneeling to be eye level with Cherise.

“To watch over the people,” her mother corrected warmly.

The people,” Cherise questioned.

Diana nodded knowingly, her brows suddenly knitted into a serious line over her baby-pink eyes. “Oh yes. Every castle has a township or a village or a city to watch over. And if there is a castle at the center of this maze, it will be no different. And it will need a princess to live in it for sure, but also to rule. To know when to be firm and just. And when to be soft and merciful. To make the hard choices and love her people as her own. To be wise and loyal and kind.”

“To protect her people with everything that she can,” Gregory continued, taking his wife’s hint with a warm smile. “Do you think you can do that?”

It did seem like a big job… Cherise watched both of her parents, biting her lips as she thought about it. She was very young… she couldn’t even reach over the counter… how could she make choices for a whole town of people? Suddenly Cherise felt very small as she twisted her hands together.

“Will you… be able to live there with me,” her voice was suddenly trembling and she didn’t know why. Was she afraid? Afraid of what? “Can you help me if I have to be a princess?”

And then her parents were laughing and she didn’t know why. She was scared, after all, and that wasn’t very funny. Whenever she saw a friend afraid like this she felt really bad.

“Oh, of course, honey,” her mother cooed, lifting her from the ground and cuddling her into her arms. The fear died away from Cherise’s mind from both her position so close to her mother and her mother’s words.

“And if they tried to keep you there without us… we’d storm the castle,” her father said with no small amount of uncertainty. Cherise gasped suddenly, her own little hands coming up to cover her mouth. Her own two parents against all of those guards?

“That’s right,” her mother agreed. “We’d march right up to those gates and say ‘that’s our baby. And we demand her back right this instant.’”

“Do you think they’d give me back?”

“Do you think anyone would dare say no to your mother?”

Cherise shook her head, knowing her own consequences for disobedience. Timeout was always the worst -- well… second worst. The worst was the look her mother gave her when she did something she knew she wasn’t supposed to be doing.

“We’d rescue you from the castle, Duchess, my love,” her father continued, “or we’d just… move all of our things in with you and refuse to leave.”

Now that seemed like something Cherise could work with. Suddenly, without the prospect of leaving her parents and having to do this alone, the idea of being princess seemed pretty good. She could be strong like her mother. Kind like her father. They would teach her all about leading and ruling and she would be the best princess ever!

“Then what are we waiting for,” Cherise suddenly exclaimed, excitement quickly replacing the fear that had previously taken over her. And before her parents could ask what she meant, Cherise had wriggled out of her mother’s arms, hit the ground, and taken off running. Without the burden of her mother’s bustle and floor-length skirts, speed was not an issue and though she could hear her parents behind her calling her name and telling her to wait in line, Cherise was incapable of stopping herself. After all, what if there was someone else finding her castle and moving into it? Would they be strong and fair and kind like she would be?

There was no time to risk it. She came to the attendant at the front of the maze and exclaimed, “You have to let me in I have to be the princess!”

By this time her parents had caught up to her and scooped her up, beginning apologies to the very confused attendant standing at the gate of the maze. But soon, the confusion on his face gave way to a smile and then a laugh. Cherise’s parents stopped apologizing and laughed alongside him as he explained, “I have one about that age at home, too. Go on ahead folks. That is if the family behind you doesn’t mind?”

The family of four behind them smiled and nodded, gesturing them into the maze ahead of them. Cherise’s parents smiled their thank yous and entered the maze with Cherise tugging on their hands as she led the way. She knew there was a castle at the center of this maze, she just knew it. There had to be. Why else would this maze be here? She would find it and she would move in with her parents and she would be the best, fairest, and most honest princess the people had ever seen.

Dead end after dead end and Cherise was no closer to finding the castle at the center of the maze.

“Mon petit, honey, don’t you think we should slow down? There are a lot of really pretty statues to look at!”

“If I don’t find the castle then someone else will and they won’t be as good of a princess!”

“She has a point Diana,” Cherise’s father said with a sly grin, only to be met with a hard sideways glance.

“See, I have to -- ”

Cherise stopped short when she turned a corner and was met not with a castle, but with someone else. At first, she had thought that she had seen a really beautiful woman, but soon it became clear that she was seeing a statue, not a living person. That didn’t stop her, however, from being shocked into silence at the beauty of the statue. Seconds later, her parents arrived at her side, but Cherise didn’t really notice them. She moved forward, slower than she had moved in the maze, but with child-like swiftness still.

The way the light hit the woman… it almost looked like she moved. And the fairies around her did the same, almost dancing in the light. Occasionally Cherise would swear that one winked at her.

It wasn’t a castle, but it was no less amazing to look at. She looked like a real woman despite her transparent skin… was that all ice? Cherise reached out to touch her hand, outstretched in greeting only for her fingers to come away cold and slightly damp.

She was all ice.

“I’m sorry about the castle, Duchess,” her father sighed, coming down to kneel next to her. Finally, Cherise peeled her eyes away from the statue and said, “That’s alright, Papa. Being a princess sounded hard anyway.”

“Do you want a statue like her fairies, Mon Petit,” her mother asked from her other side. Excitement bubbled inside of Cherise again. From behind her back, her mother produced an exact replica of one of the dancing fairies around the icy woman. She appeared to be in flight, standing on one barefoot, lifted onto her toes. The other leg was elegantly bent to point with her foot behind her and her arms extended the same way. Her legs were upright, but her torso was tipped forward. Her face, smiling serenely, was tripped upwards.

“Oh, momma, I love her!”

Carefully, almost reverently, Cherise took the little fairy from her mother and cradled her against her chest. All through the ride home and even into the night, Cherise hardly put the little fairy down.