Great Expectations.

Many years ago, there lived a queen. She was a righteous babe of a queen, too.
She was the queen of Spain, and she was the 3rd greatest ruler Spain had ever known. (The first two, of course, being Carlos Santana and Benicio Del Toro.) Her family had been rulers of Gelderland for centuries, but when she married the crown prince of Spain as a young woman of 19, she forfeited the rule of Gelderland for that of Spain. Her parents were famous for the pride they had for their great land, so when they learned of their daughters intentions, they were, to put it mildly, a little T.O.ed. What was once a relationship abounding in love and warmth became an acquaintancy mired in nothing more than cold civility. However, the joy that her prince brought her seemed to far outweigh the familial love she knew. Thus, they were wed. Two teenagers, taking hearty draughts from the wellspring of passion, brushing aside the concerns of everyday life in favor of their fairytale romance.

Forgive me, for my thoughts have outpaced the preparations necessary for the story to properly take place. Before the Spanish prince came into the picture, our heroine had naught a friend in the world. She had, in fact, only known one true friend her entire life. This one friend had become but a childhood memory by this time, but there was always a comfortable chair in one of the coccles of her heart set aside for Arturro Del Monte. Arturro was the son of a struggling, though good-natured, peasant farmer. His family had emigrated from Spain in order to begin farming bananas. Of course, they found that despite it's balmy climate, Gelderland was probably a worse spot for that sort of thing than Spain was. Despite these frustrations, Arturro and his family were genuinely good people, the kind that make you feel like a good person, merely by association. They were the type of people that were finely attuned to the suffering of those around them, while seemingly oblivious to their own meagre state. Really great folks. Originally, it was because of that exact reason that Andreda, our leading lady, became involved with the Del Monte family. One brisk afternoon in mid-autumn, on a road where Arturro was peddling some mittens he and his sisters had made, the king of Gelderland took a corner a tad too fast in his horse-drawn carriage, causing the loss of a wheel on the left side. Unfortunately, earlier that week, Andreda had demanded that the spare wheel be hung from a tree as a swing. (Everyone had tried to convince her that the large wooden wheel with many closely placed wooden spokes would not do much good as a swing, but she was a stubborn lass.) Arturro, recognizing the royal license plate on the carriage tailgate, rushed over and offered his services to the king. The king was kind in giving Arturro the ol' 'thanks-but-no-thanks' deal, and busied himself with getting his ride back in shape. Not one to turn his back on a brother in need, Arturro ignored the king and began repairing his broken wheel which he found several yards away. Before the king could properly assess the situation, Arturro had fixed the wheel, placed it back on the carriage and started on his way home. The king, eventually realizing Arturro's handiwork, rushed after the boy, insisting that he and his family join the royal family for dinner that evening. The king offered Arturro a lift home, demanding to meet the parents of this extremely well-bred child. To put it plainly, Arturro's parents were a tad shocked to see what had followed him home today. Mrs. Del Monte invited him in for a beverage and some 'get-to-know-you' games. After what seemed like hours of "Do You Love Your Neighbor", the King gathered everyone into his carriage and they rode off together to the palace to eat and play more "DYLYN" before bed.

The palace was alive with joy that evening. Moreso than it had ever been in all the years past. The Del Monte family had a way of bringing that kind of joy with them, wherever they went.