Page 62 - North Star Magazine 2022

Ansrivarr
by Alexa Dumas
Once upon a time there lived a young girl—about the age of 16—named Beeatrisa, who donned a golden crown of long blonde hair and always wore floral dresses to cover her lengthy legs. The girl acted like a woodland nymph, always prancing about the forest in search of a warm spot to read. On rainy days, the girl would write stories of the royalty that lived beyond the forest, ones she read about in her stories. Although she constructed fables of what lived beyond, she never went out to discover it for herself.
Beeatrisa took care of a small cottage in the middle of a dense forest. From
the outside, the cottage didn’t look like a cottage at all—just a door and a
few windows within a mossy hill—but on the inside, Beeatrisa’s world was fostered within. The interior walls of the cottage were lined with pine planks that brightened the space, so the sun felt like it was always shining through the windows, even at night or during the rainiest days. The floors were made from rocks that once lined the cunning river that resided parallel to the cottage.
Three rooms—a bedroom for sleeping, a library for reading, and a kitchen for eating—created a universe for the girl’s imagination. Beeatrisa’s bedroom was adorned with small paintings of the forest around her and was furnished with a small bed, a desk for Beeatrisa’s writing, and a dresser with many small gifts from the trees resting on top. Sometimes when the girl went on a walk through the forest, the trees would stop to say hello and present a small token in the form of acorns, leaves, and branches.
The library contained massive green shelves, which spanned from floor to ceiling, wall to wall, and displayed Beeastrisa’s enormous collection of books. She even had a ladder to reach the books on the top shelves. In the corner of the room was an alcove, which contained a window and a small seat, so Beeatrisa could sit in the sunlight and read when the weather wasn’t cooperating. In the kitchen, there was a small stove for the girl to cook her food, as well as a small table for dining, and a wash bin to clean her dishes and even clothes. There was even a small pantry filled with food from the forest that the Beeatrisa foraged or planted in her garden. Mushrooms, roots, berries, beans, potatoes, and nuts were popular items that the pair used to cook her delicious meals.