Chapter 2: Parenthood

Kindra put down her book the morning Sambria was brought to her, and didn't pick it back up for about ten years. It turns out raising a child as a single mother was no easy feat, even for an enchantress. She worried about Sambria every minute the girl was awake, and when Sambria slept, Kindra would kick off her pointy shoes, sink into her favorite chair, and immediately fall asleep.

When she had time to think about her life, Kindra would acknowledge that she wouldn't want it any other way. Sambria was her sunshine, and Kindra loved sunshine.

Sambria also gave Kindra something she had never been given before, unconditional love. In Sambria's eyes, Kindra could do no wrong, and it challenged Kindra to do the best she could, so to set a good example. It wasn't easy, but Kindra didn't usually shy away from the difficult just because you had to work hard for it.

As the years past, time seemed to run faster than it ever had before. It felt like only a blink of the eye from the moment Sambria was thrown at Kindra, to this moment where she was brushing her hair, now almost to the floor. Kindra did not realize how powerful her spell was at the time, but it came true. Sambria's hair was gorgeous, wavy, and blonde. It never broke or split. It never fell out. In fact, you couldn't even cut it. It was like little strands of indestructible gold. This, however, did not imply that it never got tangled or dirty, because it did, quite often. Kindra got very good at buns and braids, or anything really that would keep Sambria's hair out of the way, which was no easy feat.

In a little closet hidden on the side of Kindra's living room was a pile almost up to Kindra's hip of broken brushes, combs and ribbons. The mound continued to grow because Sambria's hair never broke, but often something else did. Kindra spent a lot of her free time cooking up detangling spells and buying new brushes.

Sambria spent her own free time, or the time she wasn't being tutored on a variety of subjects, by playing with the other children in the castle. They had all grown up with her long, luscious hair, and barely noticed that it was odd. In fact, Sambria was a favorite in the castle. She was witty, athletic, and friendly.

Sambria had a wonderful childhood, aside from the occasional jests about her hair or her being named after a lake. She grew into a graceful young woman of almost 17 before Kindra even realized it was happening. By this time, Sambria's hair trailed a foot or two behind her when she walked. She often had to put it into braids or buns, but she had to be careful, as her hair was heavy and she could only arrange it in certain ways.

Often times her friends thought she looked very silly, until one day someone didn't. His name was Peter, and he was the count's page boy. He was almost 19, but still mostly acted like he was 15. He started to think her hair was strangely beautiful, rather than strangely inconvenient. He wished he could reach out and touch it, hold the golden strands in his hand and watch the sun's light bounce off of them. He was surprised by his feelings, as Sambria had always been one of the guys before hand, but now he felt awkward around her.

Sambria, of course, did not know why, but she noticed that one of her better friends was avoided her, and she didn't like it. One afternoon Peter was sitting on the edge of a fountain in the gardens, polishing his knife when Sambria happened upon him. Her smile lit up and she walked towards him, calling his name. He looked up, panicked, nodded at her, and ran away as fast as he could.

Sambria also ran, but not after him. She was not sure why, but if she caught up to him, she did not think she would have been able to say anything to him. Instead Sambria flew to the tower she called home. She knew exactly where she would find Kindra, sitting in her chair, softly snoring.

"Mamma, why did he run away from me?" Sambria sobbed.

Kindra woke up with a start, and had to spend a few moments orienting herself before she realized what was going on.

"I'm not sure why anyone would run from you, sweet. What did you say?"

"Nothing. Well I said his name, and he looked at me like a had three heads"

Kindra almost laughed, but didn't. The reason was that there were two large buns on either side of Sambria's head that served to keep her hair out of her way for the day. However, one could not laugh at their child at such a time. This was something Kindra had learned in the recent years. In fact, she began to realize that there were a lot of things one could learn and a lot of things she probably never would.

"Who, darling? What happened?"

As Sambria explained, Kindra kept her eyes squinted and her mouth pursed. Children liked it when they could tell from your expression that you were listening. Finally, when Sambria mentioned that Peter was the boy, Kindra broke her listening face, because now it made sense. That Peter Quincy boy, the son of Knight Quincy, who was a nice man but a bit of a fibber. Really, who would believe that he killed two dragons, a pig, a bear, and saw a tree that produced all types of fruit imaginable, all in one journey? Or at least that was his latest fish tale.

But back to Sambria, that Peter boy has had a crush on her for nearly a month, even though probably neither of them realized it until recently. Peter was a nice kid, not too much like his father, but Kindra just didn't know if he was good enough for her Sambria. How could one tell with boys these days?

Kindra spent the next half hour calming down Sambria; telling her everything was okay, that it was all a misunderstanding, and such things. Next Sambria wanted to go talk to Peter, and she wanted Kindra to go with her, for moral support. Kindra was less than pleased. It had already been an exhausting afternoon, to be woken up in the middle of a perfectly good nap, and she had been planning on dozing right off as soon as Sambria had stopped crying.

"How about you wait a bit? I'm a little tired. Lady Bertram had me up late last night making youth spells and nose shrinking spells."

"For her daughter? Well it's not her fault she has a nose like a carrot."

"Exactly, and just because she is not traditionally beautiful like her sister doesn't mean she wont ever get married. She has a large enough dowry."

Sambria's eyes widened. Kindra loved this look, but she was slightly apprehensive, because she knew that invariably a difficult question would follow.

"Do I have a dowry?

Kindra did have some money saved up, but she was just hoping Sambria would never leave her. Maybe they could use the money to buy a small cottage away from all the annoying royals and their insecurities.

"Dear what about going and talking to Peter? If you don't hurry he will be eating his super and then you will never catch him."

"Good thinking." Sambria rushed off, still unaware of what she could possibly say to Peter.

It turned out that Sambria would have a lot of time to think of what she would say. Peter was not eating super, but he was gone. Gone with his father, helping them on their mission. Sambria had heard Peter talking about becoming a soldier, and he did train with the other lads, but she never actually believed he would be gone for any amount of time. It felt different to not have him around, and Sambria didn't like it.

Peter had left in a rush, finally taking up his father's offer to see the world and all the crazy things in it. The mission was mostly routine, but there was always the chance that they would get to fight an ogre or meet a centaur in the woods. Peter wanted to get away from the castle, from Sambria, and most of all, from his own cowardry and awkwardness. Talking to a girl should not be harder than fighting an ogre. But today, it was. So there Peter went, to find his ogre and take it down.