The next day Anna woke up and was excited to begin the day , she held her pet rabbit and told him, " You and I got lucky yesterday if Sly didn't come to save us we could have been a chopped liver meal for somebody's dinner last night." She cuddled the rabbit and said, " I still didn't find a name for you. What about Clover like the leaf because yesterday you gave me good luck and sent Sly to save us."
" So it was the rabbit who saved you, not me?" Sly smiled at her and said, " I hope you slept well last night."
Anna looked at Sly and said, " Yes very well." Sly was about to leave then Anna said, " Actually I wanted to thank you for last night if you didn't come back god knows what would have happened. I guess I am not ready to take care of myself yet."
Sly smiled at her and said, " I think you are braver than you think you are . I never met a princess who would throw a life of wealth and comfort for this." Anna replied, " Well my life in the castle was not as comfortable as you think. Everywhere I go, servants have to follow me. I have to wear these proper dresses every day and last but not least I can't even choose who I want to marry. My parents have to choose that for me." Sly understood her situation a bit better and actually was starting to feel sorry for her. He always thought that rich people didn't have any problems.
Anna gave a huge sigh and said, " Maybe I would be braver if I knew.." She paused, " Never mind." Sly looked at her face filled with sadness, "What Anna if you knew what?" Anna took a deep breath and said, " If I knew how to defend myself and fight back.Maybe you could teach me?"
After hearing that Sly laughed so loud. Anna stared at him so upset , " Now what is so funny?" Sly stopped and said, " Were you serious right now? You are a princess, you have your daddy and an army of soldiers to protect you." Anna defended herself, " Women can't have men protect them all the time, we sometimes need to defend ourselves . Gosh you sound like my father I guess what they say is true all men are alike."
Sly apologized to her, " I am sorry I didn't mean to offend you ." He paused, " I guess if you really want to learn how to defend yourself I am willing to teach you in one condition." Anna asked , " What is your condition?" Sly replied, " You will not leave my sight until you are ready to defend yourself properly." Anna nodded her head and smiled in agreement.
The following days Anna would wake up early and start with an intensive training session of ways of defending herself with Sly. He was so helpful and was serious in helping her and as the days passed by they became closer and you could even say that they were beginning to become friends.
One day Anna became curious about Sly's life and asked him, " So what is your story ? Where is your family?"Sly replied, " It is not as interesting as living in a castle but we loved and supported each other."
Anna was curious, " I noticed you used the past tense.What happened Sly?"
Sly gave a huge sigh. "You know what is funny is that I also ran away from my family." Anna could see the worried and concerned look on his face, she courageously asked, "Tell me what happened that made you run away."
Sly began to tell his story, " I grew up in an ordinary family with a hard working father who did his best to put food on the table for us and a great mother who my father loves more than anything in the world . My younger brother Sam and I were only 2 years apart in age and the closest of friends. We practiced fighting together and when we went to school together , I could always depend on him and he could always count on me until one day something happened.
It was the beginning of summer and Sam had just turned 17 and had finished school and I had began working in convenient store and surprised Sam by telling him I was gonna get some ice cream for the both of us as a celebration for him finishing high school ,Sly said, " I can't believe my little brother is going to be a man so let's go out and celebrate." So we went to a nearby ice cream store to have some delicious ice cream.While we were sitting happily eating our ice cream ,a young teenage girl around nineteen years old entered the store. She was nice looking for my standards but definitely not my type. She looked at us and gave Sam a wink, got her ice cream order and left. Looking at Sam he was star-struck but that woman's beauty Sly told him, " You have it bad for her man , did she place a spell on you or what?"
Sam replied, " Brother what can I say I have gone to heaven and back when I saw her. Didn't she look fine, Sly?" Sly laughed, " I guess if she was that type she wasn't that bad."
Sam got excited, " Not that bad, I haven't seen any woman who walked on the face of this earth as gorgeous as her."
Sly was shocked by his brother's confession and said, " Well you should ask her out then."
Sam replied, " Hopefully one day I will get the courage to ask her out."
As time passed by and they didn't see her again until one day with a stroke of luck Sly was out in the forest doing some archery practice to become better at his aim. He missed once and ran to fetch the arrow ,to his surprise he saw the lady from the ice cream store. She was wearing a red short skirt that showed her long legs and on top she had on a navy blue crop top shirt, she was holding the arrow to give it to him , " Is that yours ?" She asked me. Sly couldn't stop staring at her then he replied," Yes it is thank you." He took it from her and she turned her back about to leave. But Sly stopped her and said, " Excuse me, My name is Sly, maybe we can meet one day for ice cream. I go there with my brother Sam all the time."
She looked at him with her eyes wide open and smiled. " Sure why not?My name is Heather. I will come with my friend Maya and we could meet maybe tomorrow at noon. Will it suit you well?" Sly agreed to meet her tomorrow with Sam, that day he ran home and told his brother what happened? Sam was over excited that day had come to meet the women of his dreams . That night Sam slept and dreamt Heather and him dancing on the dance floor till midnight Sam was so convinced that she was the love of his life and that they were going to be together one day.
The next day Sly and Sam went to the ice cream shop to meet with Heather and Maya as planned they sat down together enjoying each other's company, but unfortunately Heather was preoccupied in getting Sly's attention she didn't even notice poor Sam and his efforts to get her attention ,Sam would place his arms around Heather's shoulder and she would shrugged off and turn her complete attention to Sly.
At the end of the day Sam confronted Sly and accused him of stealing Heather from him. Then Sly defended himself saying, " I don't even like her, she is the one pushing me to ask her out . Let us just forget about them."Sam said angrily, " Do not lie to me now ,I know you want Heather and because of this you are no brother of mine anymore!"
What Sam said hurt Sly so badly so that night Sly packed his things and ran away . " That was the last time I saw my family again."
Anna was speechless; she actually felt sorry for Sly and said, " Maybe now it is time to come back and mend all wounds. I am sure your family misses you."
Sly smiled at her and said, " I'll tell you what, when you are ready to go back home I will be ready too."