Once upon a time, there was a beautiful kingdom called, Alta, where the sky was always bright and sunny, the fjords, mountains, and glaciers were quiet and still and the villages were filled with happy, merry townsfolk, doing chores, going into bazaars and buying fruits and vegetables, and buying jewelry, beautiful flowers and magical artifacts while children were outside, playing and having fun.
It was the first day of summer and excitement was all around the kingdom. The morning sun was shining bright over the horizon and the clouds were obscure, hiding behind it.
In that kingdom, lived the Alta Castle, where King Harold Maeland of Alta, a kind and noble king, and his wife, Queen Patricia Maeland, a brave and loving matriarch, lived with their adoptive daughter, Princess Hanna Maeland, who's only 4 years old at the time.
Princess Hanna was the only child to her adoptive parents and she loved them very much. It didn't matter to her that she was priveleged with a lot of toys or clothes; she just wanted to show love to her parents and possibly, have a friend or a sister to play with.
When Hanna was a baby, her birth mother, Queen Desideria, was very sick and her health was slowly failing.
One night, when Queen Patricia visited Queen Desideria in the nursery where Hanna was born, she saw Desideria in her deathbed, coughing out blood.
"Hello Desideria," Queen Patricia said, sweetly. "How are you feeling?" Queen Desideria coughed and then she replied, weakly, "I'm not feeling too well, Patricia."
Queen Patricia gave her family-friend a sympathetic smile. "You'll be fine". She went over to Desideria and gave her a cup of tea.
"Drink this," Patricia told her, giving her the cup. "It'll help you get better much quicker."
Queen Desideria drank some tea and began coughing again. Just then, a witch doctor, named, Dr. Frankie went in the nursery and checked on the sick queen.
"How is she feeling?" Dr. Frankie asked Queen Patricia. Queen Patricia sighed sadly. "She's not...feeling any better, she's very sick."
Dr. Frankie went over to the ill Queen Desideria and checked her temperature. After that, Dr. Frankie puts on her magical stethoscope and checks Queen Desideria's heart and lungs.
Queen Desideria coughed and crimson red blood spurted out from her coughing mouth. She began to feel chills, she had a fever, and her light brown face was turning a pale white.
Queen Patricia went over to baby Princess Hanna's nursery carriage bed and saw the infant Princess Hanna sleeping peacefully.
Queen Patricia couldn't help but smile at her baby adoptive daughter. Princess Hanna had the most beautiful short black hair with tiny braids, light brown hazel-nut eyes and small stature with a small, light brown face. Queen Patricia gave Hanna a gentle kiss on her forehead.
Queen Patricia quietly turns to Dr. Frankie and asked, "Is Desideria going to be ok?"
Dr. Frankie sighs and takes off her black round glasses and cleans them with her lab coat. Then, she puts them back on her face and said quietly, "I did everything I could...but--" She stopped short.
Queen Patricia almost looked scared. "But what?" she asked, her face covered in fear.
Dr. Frankie swallowed hard and then she said almost choking with tears, "I'm afraid Her Majesty doesn't have enough time left on this Earth."
Queen Patricia covered her mouth with her hands, horrified. "Y-You don't mean..."
Dr. Frankie began to sob. "Queen Desideria...is going to die."
Queen Patricia could just faint, but she remained to stand tall. "What?!" she asked, scared. "Oh...Oh my God."
Queen Patricia began to sob quietly. "I can't believe this is happening."
She looks at her family-friend, who was now sleeping and still coughing blood.
Queen Desideria looked weaker and weaker, her health slowly fading. She opened her dark brown eyes and looked at Queen Patricia, with a weak smile.
Queen Patricia couldn't stop sobbing. Her blue eyes wet from the tears, streaming down on her white face. "Oh, Lord, no..."
Queen Desideria was her only friend when Princess Hanna was born and Queen Patricia and her had so much fun together. Going to the playground, having a picnic at the Alta Castle garden, spending some quality time at the "The Quiet Silverbell Forest".
"Well", Dr. Frankie said, interrupting Queen Patricia's thoughts, "I'm going to let you two say your goodbyes." With that, Dr. Frankie took a bow and left the nursery, running away with tears in her eyes.
Quuen Patricia walks over to her friend, bends down on her knees and holds Queen Desideria's hand and said in a strong voice, "I know you're dying, but I want to let you know; you are a kind, loving person, Desideria, and you've taken so much care of Hanna. Keep being brave."
Crying with tears of joy, Desideria turns her head towards her friend and coughed. Then she said weakly, "Patricia, I'm going to be with the Prince Of Peace soon, so I want you to promise me to do one huge favor for me."
Queen Patricia shed a tear in her eye as she asked, "What?"
Queen Desideria exhaled and said, "I want you to be Hanna's new mother--her adoptive mother."
"What?" Queen Patricia gasped. "Y-you want me to be her new Mom?"
Queen Desideria coughed. Then, answers, "Yes, I want you to take good care of her. Raise her to be a kind, sweet and intelligent young Crown Princess."
Teary-eyed, Queen Patricia gulped hard, knowing that...becoming an adoptive mother will be a very big responsibility, besides taking care of an entire kingdom.
Queen Desideria coughed and coughed. She said between coughs, "I know it'll be difficult, but I believe in you, and I know you'll do a good job."
Queen Patricia began to cry. "B-But..."
Queen Desideria shook her head. "No buts...I want you to nurture Hanna and allow her to grow and learn. Enroll her into magic school, if you must, and teach her about life and what it means to be a Crown Princess."
Queen Patricia had no choice. She has to become a good Queen and a good adoptive mother to Hanna.
With one breath, Queen Patricia said bravely, "OK, it'll be my honour to become Hanna's new mother."
Queen Desideria smiled and closed her eyes, waiting for her moment to be in heaven. "Thank you, Patricia."
Then, Queen Patricia heard Desideria's last words saying, "May God bless you and your promise to protect Hanna..."
With that, Queen Desideria's soul left her body and she went to heaven with God. She was gone.
Crying quietly, Queen Patricia closed her eyes, walked away from her family-friend and walks to Princess Hanna's baby carriage bed.
Patricia was heart-broken to see her family-friend has passed away, but she had enough courage in her heart to keep her promise to Queen Desideria and always love and protect Hanna...at all cost.
Patricia watches as Princess Hanna wakes up and cooes at Queen Patricia as if to say, "Mommy?"
Patricia picks Hanna up and cradles her in her arms and sobs. "Hi, my little princess," Patricia said, between sobs, "I'm your new Mom."
"Mama?" Hanna spoke in her baby voice. Queen Patricia laughed a little. "Yes, I'm your new Mama."
From that moment on, Princess Hanna had many moments sharing her childhood experiences with her new mother, Queen Patricia, they took walks around town, they went kayaking on the Alta River, and they watched the Aurora Borealis together dancing in the sky while the Aurora Fairies were doing a magic show. When she was 3 years old, Hanna already learned how to walk, talk and read books at an early age and she also learned how to adapt to her new home, new people and her new environment. Although she was very smart and bright, Hanna has always wanted to be a free-spirit, like her new mother, but she never had any courage or even the heart to ask Queen Patricia for her consent to explore and see the world on her own.
One day, when Queen Patricia was babysitting Hanna outside of the Alta Castle, she was doing some housework, hanging up her clothes on the clothesline.
When Patricia wasn't looking, Hanna was watching her surroundings, sitting on the grass and looking at the white, puffy clouds.
All of a sudden, she saw something that would change her life forever: magic. Her light, hazel-nut brown eyes caught sight of a Winter Fairy, using her magic to create snowflakes in the air. A magical snowflake fell onto her nose and once the snowflake disappeared, she giggled.
Without thinking about the consequences, Hanna followed the Winter Fairy and didn't know she was going towards the magical place of all the lands and kingdoms: "The Quiet Silverbell Forest". To everyone else, it was a place filled with dangerous creatures and flowers with unspeakable power of magic.
To Hanna, it was a beautiful, idyllic place filled with childlike awe and wonder. Everything she saw, her hazul-nut brown eyes lit up as she discovered every magical and mystical creature from the Light Fairies to the Alicorns. From where she saw, Hanna spotted a beautiful human-creature with magical powers. The celestial human creature was named, Christianne, who was a Fae and she wore a crown of flowers in her blonde hair, a silky glossamer light green gown with picturesque pop-out flowers, star earrings that emitted a magical glow, and a magical charm bracelet on her left hand. Her light bluish-greenish eyes lit up as the infant Princess Hanna walked up to her with open arms.
"Hi, honey," Christianne said sweetly, picking Hanna up and giving her a hug. "Where did you come from?"
Hanna said in her baby voice, "Magic."
Christianne giggled. "Yes, you like magic?"
She tickled Hanna's tummy, which made her squirm and giggle.
Christianne introduced herself. "I'm Christianne, the Nature Fae and welcome to the "The Quiet Silverbell Forest."
"Quiet Silverbell Forest?" Hanna asked in her baby voice.
"Yes," Christianne said, "All magic is connected between the lands and kingdoms throughtout the forest."
Christianne gives Hanna a gentle kiss on her forehead and was about to say something when suddenly, she hears a voice.
"Hanna!" the voice said, worried. "Where did you run off to?"
The voice revealed to be Queen Patricia, who was riding on her Norwegian Fjord Horse, looking for her adoptive daughter.
Christianne gasped, and quickly walks up to the worried queen. "Hi, can I help you?" she asked kindly.
Queen Patricia hops off her horse, gave it a apple to eat while she talks to Christianne.
She turns to Christianne and sighed in relief, knowing that Hanna was safe into the rightful hands of a Fae.
"Hi, I'm Queen Patricia Maeland of Alta, and I have been looking everywhere for my little princess."
Christianne gives Hanna back to Queen Patricia and she quickly takes a curtsey before Queen Patricia.
"I am so sorry," she said, "I didn't know she wandered off."
Patriica nods with understanding. "I understand, but Hanna didn't know any better; she's just a toddler. She's still learning about the world around her."
Christianne chuckled. "Yes, she has a curious nature. Her name is Hanna?"
Patricia answered, "Yes, her birth mother died of an illness, and Her Former Majesty made me promise to always love and protect her...no matter what."
Christianne nods her head. "Well, my name is Christianne and I'm a Nature Fae of The Quiet Silverbell Forest and I have elemental nature magic."
Hanna clapped her hands and giggled. "Show magic, show magic." she commanded.
Christianne smiled at Hanna's pique of curiosity. "Sure." With a wave of her hands, magical green leaves and flowers appeared out of thin air and circled around and then the green leaves and flowers did tricks in the air, making Hanna smile and laugh. Hanna has never experienced magic before and this was her first time. Christianne did more magic tricks. She twirled around and flowers soared through the air and began to multiply, making them bigger and bigger.
Christianne jumped on a magical enormous sunflower and with each hand, she made flower after flower and jumped on them like trampolines. She began to jump from mid-air and before landing she used her magic to make a slide out of a tree log and slid down very fast. She laughed out of amusement.
Hanna giggled as she watched. "Yay!" She said. Hanna wanted to play, too. She turns her head to Queen Patricia and gave her the most innocent puppy-dog eyes, begging to play with Christianne. Queen Patricia smiled and nods her head. "Sure Hanna, you can go and play with her."
She puts Hanna down and she lets Hanna walk to Christianne, who was still playing on the tree log slide. Christianne saw Hanna and giggled. "You wanna play too, Hanna?" She asked her. Hanna smiled, "Yes, yes, yes!" Just to help her get on the slide, Christianne used her nature magic and with a wave of her hand, she created climbing ladders out of tree branches and steps out of giant green leaves.
Hanna used her strength to climb the ladders and steps and once she reached the top of the slide, she saw that the tree log slide was a long, long way down.
Hanna gulped hard, looking scared.
She took a few steps back, looking frightened. Christianne saw Hanna looking scared and came to her aid. "What's wrong, Hanna?" She asked her.
Hanna began to cry, tears falling from her light hazel-nut brown eyes. "I-I'm scared," she said, her voice trembling, "Going down the slide is--scary."
Christianne smiled warmly and held Hanna's hands. She said, encouragingly, "I know new experiences might be scary at first, but you need to have courage and the inner strength to go through them." Then, Christianne had an idea. Using her magic, she waved her hand and created a meadow full of orange, yellow and red leaves at the bottom of the tree log slide. She held Hanna's hand and asked her, "Do you want me to slide down with you?"
Hanna sniffled and nodded her head. She began to trust the Nature Faerie. Holding each other hands, Christianne sat down and let Hanna sit in front of her.
Christianne asked her, "Are you ready?" Hanna swallowed hard, but nodded her head, she wanted to show Christianne that she was brave.
Christianne pushed her legs, Hanna followed suit, allowing friction to work. Once they did that, Hanna and Christianne began to slide down and just as they were sliding down, Hanna quickly closed her eyes, feeling a little scared. But, when Christianne said, "Hanna, you can open your eyes", Hanna obeyed and opened her eyes, she found out that the tree log slide was actually...fun! She put her hands up in the air and felt the wind blowing in her hair.
Christianne also puts her hands up in the air and said, "This is so much fun isn't it, Hanna?" Hanna nodded her head. Hanna and Christianne had a blast sliding down the tree log slide. To Hanna, it felt like being at a playground...in the forest! The adrenaline they felt was great and their blood was rushing through their bodies as they slid down. They went up and down and sideways. To make this more interesting, Christianne held out her hand and with a wave of magic, she created a swingset made out of trees, leaves, twigs and branches. The swingset had a vine with colorful flowers on the handles, the top support was a tree with edible berries on it, and the seats were made out of branches with purple flowers on them.
Hanna's hazul-nut eyes lit up with excitement. Queen Patricia was also impressed. She grabbed a Polaroid camera from her magic carpet bag and took pictures of the playground and of Hanna enjoying her childhood. Queen Patricia sighed happily. "Memories." she said, smiling.
When Hanna and Christianne reached the end of the slide, they jumped from mid-air and landed safely on the meadow of red, orange and yellow leaves and started giggling and laughing. "Did you had fun?" Christianne asked her, panting from laughing so hard. Hanna threw some leaves in the air and giggled. "Yes, it was so fun!" Once Hanna saw the magical swingset, she couldn't resist running towards it, wanting to have some more fun.
Christianne ran after her, feeling like a little kid.
Once Hanna and Christianne were at the swingset, Hanna hopped on one seat and Christianne hopped on another seat.
"You ready?" Christianne asked Hanna. Hanna nodded her head. As Christianne held onto the handles, she felt a gust of wind blowing and then suddenly, the swingset magically began to swing itself. Christianne didn't had to swing her legs. Hanna followed suit and she felt a gust of wind and as the swingset began to swing, she and Christianne felt themselves going very high and going low and the magical swingset began to up and down and vice-versa.
Hanna and Christianne had so much fun, swinging on the swingset. Then, Christianne asked,"You ready to jump off?" Hanna liked that idea. She was already feeling dizzy. Christianne freed her hand and with a wave of magic, she created a large pile of soft flower petals and soon, she and Hanna jumped and landed safely onto the pile of flower petals, giggling and laughing. "Did you had fun?" Christianne asked her. Hanna nodded her head.
Hanna and Christianne spent the rest of the day playing and having fun in the Quiet Silverbell Forest until the midnight sun began to set and it was soon getting dark. Queen Patricia began to yawn and looked at the sunset. It was breathtaking. She walked up to Chrstianne with a tired smile on her face.
"Hi again, Miss Christianne. I hate to interrupt but it's time for Hanna to go home." Once Hanna heard that, she frowned sadly. "Awww...Mama, five more mintues?" she pleaded, with puppy dog eyes again. Queen Patricia chuckled. "No honey, we have to go home and get ready for bed."
Hanna compliantly replied, "Ok." she began to yawn loudly. Queen Patricia picked up Hanna in her arms and while Hanna rested her head on her new mother's shoulder, she looked at Christianne sadly and tiredly. "Bye, Miss Christianne," she said, waving her new friend goodbye. Christianne blew Hanna a kiss and with a wave of her hand, she created a pink flower shaped like a heart and puts it in Hanna's black hair, saying, "Goodbye, honey, sleep well."
With that, Queen Patricia hopped on her Norwegian Fjord horse with a sleeping Hanna on her shoulder and left The Quiet Silverbell Forest and headed back to Alta Castle.
Later that night, at the Alta Castle, Queen Patricia went to put Hanna to bed in her own bedroom. She gently puts her down in her crib and kisses her daughter on her forehead. "Goodnight, my little princess," she said, softly. "Sweet dreams." Queen Patricia turns off the light and left, closing the door gingerly. While Hanna slept quietly, the sounds of nightingales singing in the night soothed her to sleep and the moon shone its light brightly.
That night, Queen Patricia was in her guestroom with her husband, King Harold and she was reading a book quietly while King Harold was sound asleep, next to her. After reading a few pages, she places her ribbon bookmark on the page she left off and closed her book, sighing with a contemplative look.
She thought to herself, 'I need to let Hanna go; I need to let her grow up and see the world by herself and allow her to explore, but-'
She remembers Queen Desideria's last words before her death. "God bless you and your promise to love and protect Hanna..." Queen Desideria had said.
Queen Patricia began to cry quietly, missing her family-friend and needing her advice...one last time. 'I miss you, Queen Desderia,' she thought to herself.
'I miss you, Dee.' Queen Patricia calmed herself, wiped the tears off her eyes and decides to go to bed. She turns off her light and yawns tiredly. Her eyes beginning to drop. She gets herself comfortable, tucked herself in with her blankets and rests her head on the pillow and thinks to herself, 'This world is too big for Hanna; it's too beautiful and, too dangerous full of unspeakable magic. She's not ready yet. I'll just let her wait until she's older.'
With that, Queen Patricia fell asleep and soon, the whole kingdom fell asleep as the moon shone its light brightly, the stars twinkled and the Aurora Borealis shimmered their green and blue lights in the night sky.