When she awoke, she felt broken.
There was no door, and the jump from the window didn’t look any more appealing, nor did the dragon look more comforting.
Things were as they always were. Except worse. Because she knew different now. She knew what was out there, and what she was missing. How could she ever return to normal life as she was accustomed to in the tower when she knew there was a world out there, just waiting to be explored?
Before the boy had arrived, there had been days where she thought maybe there wasn’t anything else out there. Maybe the world was just her and her tower, and it could never be different. But that wasn’t true. It never had been. And ignoring the world out there was no longer possible.
But how could she get out there?
Meanwhile, the boy spent his days moping and avoiding social gatherings. People still talked about him, though these days it was more about how much of a social recluse he’d become. They all knew about his strolls through the forest, and people began to wonder if something had happened there that only the trees had witnessed.
But the boy didn’t care. He only wished he knew how to get back to the one place he felt he belonged, the one place he felt seen.
An idea struck him.
The girl never knew how she came to be at the top of the tower. Who had put her there, where she came from, who it was she belonged to. Maybe the best thing he could do in his time away from the tower – for surely his mother would lift his ban eventually (he hoped) – was search for answers for her. She was unable to, stuck as she was, but he had all he needed to begin his search.
And so, he resolved to begin his study the next morning, poring over all the books the library had to offer.
One was bound to offer answers.
He hoped.
TO BE CONTINUED
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