I am back--with a character!

Hi, everyone who has not heard from me since January!

Yes, I know that I have been conspicuously absent from blogger, but that is because I have been too busy to actually write a whole post.  However, Friday is commencement, which means that all of the rest of us get to go home for the summer.  Although I am still a bit busy, I have decided to take a little time and let all of you know that I have not drowned in schoolwork.

I am also linking up with Kendra at Knitted by God's Plan and participating in the character encounter for April.  I will be meeting one of my favorite characters in the woods.

I wonder, though, if it is proper to call the overgrown apple orchard behind our house woods.  I do not go in there very much, mostly because the trees are so intertwined with poison ivy vines.  After a severe case of poison ivy, you tend to be more wary of it.

Alicia of Valewin

Today, though, I am picking blackberries, little sweet-and-sour balls of juice that are better in pies than they are straight up.  The blackberries grow so rampantly in the woods that they choke out some of the poison ivy.  I have just found a branch absolutely laden with berries, so ripe that they fall off onto the ground when I touch the branch.  I stoop to pick them up and put them into my bowl, and when I stand, I see a woman standing before me, her face tired and sagging, although she must be young.  Her dark hair is long and thick, but tangled and in need of a brushing.  She stares hungrily at me with her gaunt, brown eyes.

"Good afternoon," I say pleasantly, knowing full well who stands before me.

"Good day, woman," she replies, her voice heavy with fatigue and pain. "I must be having another vision."

"Perhaps, Princess," I nod.  "Your visions have been more frequent since your brother imprisoned you, have they not?"

"Yes, they have," she answers.  "Who are you?  Are you related to the Osrs?"

"Not in the least," I reply.  "I am the person who is writing your story."

"You have certainly contrived to give me a lot of sorrow," sighs the princess.

Princess Alicia

"Yes, I have," I agree.  "Of course, you know that you are unbearable, and you need a little pain and hardship to straighten you out."

"I suppose you know what is best, although I wish you would hurry up about it," says Alicia.

"Yes, well, do not worry, you will be free soon," I said.  "Even the king cannot keep you from your destiny."

"I see," replies the princess.

"Meanwhile, would you like some of these blackberries to tide you over until you can escape?"  I ask.

Princess Alicia stares greedily at the bowl of blackberries.  "Yes, yes, I would," she says.

I hand her the bowl.  "Please enjoy," I say with a smile.  She scoops them out with her fingers and stuffs them into her mouth, spurting juice down her chin and over her already dingy clothing.  I notice that her neck bones are sticking out, the skin stretched tightly over them.  "Do you need more food?" I ask.

"Oh, that would be lovely," she answers.

"Come with me, and I will get you some leftover pot roast and potatoes," I say, turning and running back to the house.  When I break free of the woods, I turn to tell the princess that the house before us is my house, sure that she'll be impressed, as even the castles in her land are very small.  However, I see no one.  Instead, a little wind streams past my cheek.  The princess has awakened from her vision, and I am all alone in my backyard, holding an empty bowl streaked with blackberry juice.

Thanks for reading and God Bless,