The Daughters of Merlin

When Virgil arrived at Merlin’s cottage, Merlin was tending to his garden, while Zana was nowhere in sight as well as Grace. Virgil nervously adjusted his grip on the wooden box in his hands as he left the forest, entering the clearing.

“I tried telling her you were a prince and had responsibilities. Of course, she did have a point when she said that you could have at least responded to her letters.” Merlin said without turning to face the prince.

“Is she inside?” Virgil asked cautiously, glancing up at the beautiful two story cottage. Before Merlin could respond, the back door opened as Zana came outside.

“She won’t talk to me. I’m going to the cas-” Zana stopped mid-sentence as her eyes landed on Virgil to which her eyes then narrowed.

Virgil took a step back, glancing nervously at the ground. Unlike Grace, Zana could use all of her magic, though sometimes it could get out of control. Like Grace with her ice, when Zana’s emotions got out of control so did her Fire. This was clearly visible in the fact that her short green hair was now illuminated by purple flames.

Zana took a step toward the Prince, a green and purple fireball appearing in her hand.

“Zanabelle!” Merlin shouted sternly, causing Zana to scowl and lower her hand, the fireball disappearing.

Zana walked up to Virgil, though her hair was still on fire; Zana was also taller than the prince by a few inches.

“I’ll give you five minutes. If she’s still crying I’ll hex you all the way back to the palace. Understood?” Zana said through gritted teeth, getting awfully close to Virgil.

Virgil gulped before nodding. “Yes.”

Satisfied, Zana stepped back, giving Virgil his personal space once again. As she did this, she noticed and looked down at the box in his hands.

“I know I forgot her birthday, but I made this for her a month ago. It was going to be her birthday present.” Virgil explained.

Zana took the box from him and Virgil allowed her to do so. However, Virgil was not expecting her to then punch him. Unlike Grace, Zana’s actually hurt, knocking him to the ground.

“Five minutes, Little Prince.” She said before bending down and giving him the box back.

Virgil hesitated before pushing the door to Zana and Grace’s room open. He had never been inside their room so the sight of it surprised him.

Both sides of the room were messy, though the right side was even more so. The left side of the room’s walls was covered in frost while the other side was covered in scorch marks. The bed on the right side had purple blankets with green flames on it and a green pillow which had purple dragons. The other bed had a blanket which was designed to look like the ocean, waves curling around it. The pillow was a regular black with a light blue snowflake in the middle of it.

Laying on the bed with waves was Cloud who had Grace curled up into a ball next to him, her face buried into his wool as she cried, the bed around her covered in frost. When Cloud saw Virgil, he bleated happily in recognition.

“I said to leave me alone!” Grace shouted, her voice muffled as she burrowed her face even further into Cloud’s wool, clenching the fluffy white coat of the sheep in her fists so tightly that her knuckles had turned white. Virgil found himself glad that he had long sleeves due to the cold temperature in the room.

Without saying a word, Virgil walked over to Grace, cautiously reaching out his hand to place it on her shoulder. As he did, Grace bolted up, grabbing a hold of Virgil’s wrist, ice forming on his skin where they touched.

Both Grace and Virgil’s eyes widened, though Virgil’s was mostly from fear while Grace was more surprised. She quickly let go of him, scrambling back on the bed until her back was up against the wall. Cloud sensed his mistress’s distress and so he scooted closer to her, rubbing his head against her side.

“What is wrong with you?! I thought you were Zana! I could’ve killed you!” Grace shouted, tears still falling down her face.

Virgil looked down at his wrist and saw that his hand was beginning to turn blue. He could feel himself beginning to lose feeling in it.

“I-I’ll be fine. Merlin will take care of it . . . I think.” Virgil shrugged sheepishly before looking back at Grace.

“It doesn’t matter. Just go!” Grace looked away from him, angrily wiping away her tears.

“I can’t.” Virgil replied.

Grace looked at Virgil, her brows furrowed as she frowned at him. “Why not?”

“I’m already a day late, and I can’t just send this in a letter.” Virgil held up the box with his good hand. He held the box out to Grace. “There’s a key on the side that you have to turn. Keep turning it until you can’t before letting it go. Then open the box.”

Grace sighed before tentatively taking the box from him, scooting herself away from the wall so that she was sitting in the middle of the twin sized bed. She found the small key and did as Virgil had said before letting it go and lifting up the lid. She gasped at what she saw on the inside.

The top half of the box had been hollowed out, painted to resemble the enchanted forest at night, with tiny balls of different colored lights both in the sky and in the forest, meant to resemble fairies. The bottom half of the box was painted to look like a lake, ripples spreading from the middle of it where a girl made of silver stood balancing on one foot. The girl had long hair and big wings sprouting from her shoulders. She was wearing a dress, with her arms spread out to the side and her face tilted up, almost looking as if she was smiling or laughing. After opening the box, the little angel began to spin in a circle as a happy little melody began to play.

"This is a tale of a happy little angel,

With water in her wings.

The happy little angel

Who loved nothing more than to sing,

Dancing along to nature’s beautiful song.

"The fairies danced beside her,

Singing praises to her:

’Oh, blessed are we,

To see the happy little angel

With water in her wings

Dancing forevermore to nature’s beautiful song.’" Virgil sang. As Virgil finished the song and as the melody began to wind down, he noticed that the room’s temperature had gone up, going to what should have been the proper temperature, as well as the ice on Grace’s bed having turned to water.

“Your five minutes are up!” Zana yelled, barging into the room. However, she paused, her expression softening when she noticed that Grace seemed to have calmed down.

“Oh, Zana, I accidentally froze Virgil’s arm! Could you go get Papa for me?” Grace asked, setting down the music box before getting to her feet.

Zana looked at Virgil and she chuckled when she saw that the skin of Virgil’s arm from the elbow down had turned blue. Virgil tried to move his hand but found that he couldn’t.

“Well, I’ve never seen you do that before.” Zana grabbed Virgil’s frozen wrist.

“I can’t feel a thing.” Virgil admitted.

“Serves you right.” Zana chuckled, smiling.

“Zana!” Grace shouted.

“Alright, I’m going.” Zana replied, holding her hands up in surrender as she smirked before leaving the room.

“I had one of the bards help me with the lullaby. The rest I did mostly myself.” Virgil explained once Zana had left.

Grace blushed, glancing at the ground. “It’s beautiful. Thank you.”

“Angel, I’m so sorry about all of this. I lost track of time, though I know that doesn’t justify me not responding to your letters. I-” Virgil stopped talking when Grace wrapped her arms around his chest, hugging him.

“It’s okay. I’m sorry too.” Grace replied.

Virgil smiled, wrapping his good arm around her. “So, we’re still friends right?”

Grace looked up at Virgil, smiling at him. “Always.”