“Yes another ball,” a portly middle aged queen said.  Queen Lilly didn’t know that she was not a beautiful young women, because nobody dared to tell her.  Everyone in the kingdom loved her so much that they would never tell her something that would upset her.  She was a loving queen, if not a bit naive to her daughters wishes.
“But Mother I don’t want another ball,” sighed Jade, as pain rushed through her abdomen, as it always did when she got anxious or mad. “Everyone’s always standin’ around, saying rude things like, ‘Are you sure she’s the princess?  I never knew that a princess could be so ugly.’  Or, if they’re not whispering, they just stand there gaping like fish.”
“Illisabeth, darling, it is standing, not standin.  If you are going to be a princess at a ball you have to speak correctly. Now where did that seamstress go?”
Jade collapsed into her favorite plush, purple couch that stood by the door of her room, trying to avoid glancing in the mirror, knowing that she would not like what she saw.  A sixteen year old girl with buggy, trash-water looking eyes always stared back at her.  A girl that was forced to wear ‘long flowing dresses’ everywhere, making it hard to get to her room at the top of the tower.  A princess that didn’t even resemble the dainty folk you read about in fairy tales. With her thin, scraggly hair that couldn’t decide which shade of ugly it wanted to be and her uncooperative facial features, Jade was not the prettiest sight to see.  Jade groaned, exasperated.  “Mother, why can’t you just call me Jade like everybody else?”
“Illisabeth, you were given a very special name.  Illisabeth was your grandmother's name, Marcia is a family name that all royals have, Jade we chose, and Gallow, of course is the family name.  Illisabeth Marcia Jade Gallow.  And I plan on calling you by your given name.”
“I know Mother.  It must have been terrible to have to come up with such a long name.”
Queen Lilly glared at her daughter, knowing that she only was sarcastic when she was truly in a bad mood.
“But, it is embarrassing when you call me Illisabeth.  Just like these balls are embarrassing, as I have told you the past twenty times you have given me balls.”
“Well, darling,” Queen Lilly sighed as she stood up to leave. “I don’t know what you want me to tell you, other than you are having this ball.”
“Fine, but no princes.”
“What is a ball without princes?” muttered Queen Lilly as she left the room to find her evasive seamstress.
Jade sighed and walked over to her bed, hoping that at least this ball she could wear something she liked, like her favorite purple top and her blue jeans.  But, she knew that her parents would never allow it.  She remembered their condescending looks as she tried to go to princess academy in jeans and a t-shirt.  “You must always wear clothes that would belong to a lady,” they had chastised her.
Well, someday they would learn that maybe she didn’t want to always be a lady.
Jade looked at the clock and rushed off to bed knowing that if her mother found her out of bed past 8:30 she would never hear the end of it.
                              _______________
She was running away, trying to beat the flames, but there was nowhere to go.  Everywhere she went flames stood thrice her size.  It would only be a couple of minutes until they came crashing down onto her small form.
As smoke filled her lungs she bent over in silent agony and breathed out a sob that was lost in the crackling of the flames. Her heart was pounding like a bird trying to break the wall of its cage and escape to freedom.  When her eyes filled with so many tears that she could no longer see, she heard someone call her name.
“Jade!  Jade, where are you?  Don’t worry, my gem.  We will find you.”
Her head perked at the familiar voice.  She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out.  Her stomach clenched as she desperately tried again and again.
“Daddy?” she whispered past her chapped, dry lips.
All of the sudden the door burst open and the familiar form of her father burst in, bent low, trying to stay away from the smoke.
“Jade,” the man cried out in relief “I’ve got you.”
He sat and hugged her against his chest, making her feel safe even in the midst of so much danger.  Then a tremendous cracking sounded above them.  He pushed her out the door as the flames surrounded her father, trapping him inside the room.  Time slowed down as her father whispered the last words he would ever speak.
“You are beautiful, my gem.  Don’t ever let anyone tell you differently.  You have the power to change the world if you only put your mind to it.”
As he uttered his last word the ceiling started crumbling, trapping her father inside, never to be heard of again.
                             _______________
Jade jerked awake with tears streaming down her face.  It was always the same nightmare that she had to relive over and over every time she closed her eyes.  The death of the king still weighed heavily on the hearts of the people, but none as much as Jade’s.
Jade got out of bed, having promised that she would not feel sorry for herself a moment longer, and got ready for her big day.
Just as she had finished trying to make her hair cooperate, and given up, her mother burst into the room.  “Good to see you up, Illisabeth.  One must get an early start on the day of her ball.”  Her mother let out an unqueenly squeal as if the ball was the best idea in the world.
“I still don’t know how you make these things happen so fast mother. It’s like nobody has anything better to do than come to some stuffy ball.”
Her mother continued talking as if she hadn’t even heard Jade speak. “I will need you to go to the market to pick out your fabric for the dress you will wear tonight.”
“You mean I will finally be able to choose the color?”
Queen Lilly fixed her hair in the mirror as she answered her daughter, “As long as it is pink.”
Jade humphed and sat waiting for more wonderful news about her ball.
“It will be the most beautiful thing with a handful of handsome princes to dance with. Oh, I almost forgot, you can also choose what food you wish to have.”
“Good news there,” Jade mumbled, “Seeing as all I ever do at these balls is sit and watch others enjoy themselves.”
Her mother perked up at the last bit. “Illisabeth Marcia Jade Gallow, you will go to this ball, and you will enjoy yourself.  Now off to the market before it gets too late.”

                                 _______________

As Jade left the palace she wished that she had brought her cloak, as the cool autumn air nipped at her skin.  Oh what she would do to be able to go where she wanted, whenever she wanted.  Jade just hoped that nobody would make fun of her while she was at the marketplace, as they often did.  Never to her face, but she could always hear their whispers.
She tried not to care about their disgusted looks as they saw her, but no matter how much she ignored them, they were always there, a constant reminder of everything that she couldn’t be.  She was a kind young lady, but years of brutal comments tend to make an unpleasant disposition.  Yet even through all of this, she still found ways to brighten her days.
The market was one of the few aspects of Jade’s life that was always able to improve her day.  Jade had always loved the market, a place where everyone gathered to share tales and buy the same sort of things.  It always reminded her of when her father had taken her here.  If Jade had been asked where her favorite place in the kingdom was her answer would quickly come as the marketplace, that is except when people stared at her.
“Look isn’t that princess Gallow?” tittered a gossiping women.
“Yes, some say that she should use her name and string herself up to the gallows, so that nobody has to see her,” whispered another.
“How horrible.  Though she isn’t much of a looker,” admitted the first women.
All these things Jade heard, ignored, and pressed on, not acknowledging a word that they said, not wanting to give them the pleasure of knowing how much those words hurt her.
As she went to the booth that sold the fabrics, she looked across the street and saw a young man, probably no more than a year older than her, staring her way.  She quickly glanced away, hating that people were rude enough to stare.
“Madam.”
Jade jerked her head up, not realizing that the seamstress had asked her something.  “What?”
“Are you here to buy something or to just stand there?”
“Oh, sorry, of course.”  As Jade ordered her fabrics, she could not keep her eyes from glancing back to the young man that continued to stare.
“Thank you,” Jade mumbled as she paid for the horrible pink fabric.
Jade turned to start walking home.  Then, all of the sudden, she whirled around and stomped over to the young man.  “If you have any witty comment on my appearance at least have the courage to tell me rather than just stare.”  The young man took a step back, surprised, and Jade felt her heart clench as she knew that, yet again, she had scared a person just by looking their way.
“I am sorry madam.  I meant not to hurt you.”
Jade snorted at his response.  Yet something about the way that he looked at her was different than the way that other people looked at her.  It was almost like how her father had looked at her.
“Well next time just keep walking,” she muttered as she turned around and left.
How dare he be so rude and then deny what he really thought.  Well, he would probably think twice before… Before what?  She didn’t even know if he had been looking at her, he could have been looking at anything.  Today was an extremely crowded day as the market, his dark brown eyed gaze could have been focused anywhere else.  Now he probably thought her conceited to think that he had been looking at her.
She turned around to go apologize and was surprised to find that he was already walking towards her.  She felt a fluttering in her chest that she had never felt before.
As he reached her, she looked up at his face, “What do you want now?”  How could she be so rude!?  Only seconds ago she had been accusing him of being rude to her.  Now he would think her hypocritical.
His tanned face split into a smile as if what she had said amused him.  “I only wished to learn your name, seeing as you left before we could be introduced.”
“Oh… um Jade. No Illisabeth.  No, no Princess Gallow.  I mean my mother calls me Illisabeth, but my friends, or if I had friends, they would call me Jade.”  She took a steadying breath to keep herself from rambling on.  When she finally glanced towards the young man he just stood there smiling, and she blushed, wondering why she couldn’t hold her tongue.  She tried to look up to figure out what he was thinking, but she found it much easier to look at his sandy blond hair than into his eyes.
“Well, Princess Jade it was a pleasure to meet you.  You may call me Gideon.”
And with that he turned and left.  Before she even knew what she was saying Jade called to him, “I have a ball tonight and I was wondering if you would like to go. I mean, you don’t have to, if you don’t want to, you know just a suggestion.”  She blushed.  Why in blazes had she asked him to the ball, there was no way in all of the kingdom that he would want to go to an ugly princess’ ball.
“I would love to.”
Jade felt her stomach drop to her feet.  There was no way he had just said yes.  If her mother found out she would faint.
As Jade’s panicked thoughts carried on as fast as a runaway robber, she had no idea how she replied with such calmness and surety.
“Great, I’ll see you there.”