Page 65 - North Star Magazine 2022

as well as fall in love like her favorite characters did so effortlessly. Although she thought of her cottage as her whole world, that world needed to become extensive.
One night, as the crickets came out to sing their sharp, piercing song, she decided it was time to find the things she read about in her books: love, community, strength, power—as well as herself.
The next day, Beeatrisa packed her things and started to venture out into the forest, away from the cottage. Her first steps were slow, as though she was stepping onto another planet: a different world, unfamiliar to her. Beeatrisa carried a small pack with her—a brown leather backpack that contained her best clothes, some of her favorite books, as well as a few small paintings from her grandmother. The girl also packed a small trinket with her that she always found her grandmother carrying. It was a small gold pin in the shape of a family crest that contained a knight’s helmet inside. Although she was unaware of its significance, she believed it would allow her to enter the kingdom she so wished to explore. She always wanted to remember where she came from, but the future was too bright in her eyes to move backward. Inspired by her favorite novels, she pursued this new adventure.
The trees outside the cottage lined an old road, once used by merchants to sell natural gifts of the forest to the people within the kingdom. This was long ago, long before the young girl was born. Her grandmother would tell her tales of the merchants who lived in the hills, just like they did. This population of merchants lived deeper in the forest, but their people dwindled and they faded into the hills they resided in. Beeatrisa’s grandmother would explain how that’s where her family was from, and would explain the history of Beeatrisa’s own birth—her merchant mother falling in love with a knight—but they would be separated due to the kingdom’s banishment of marrying outsiders. She was left orphaned, but her grandmother soon brought her to the middle ground of her parent’s lives— just deep enough in the forest where Beeatrisa could leave if she wished. Her grandmother left her life in the kingdom to be with her grandchild, and brought back their family crest, as anyone apart of the kingdom would need it to enter the gigantic, guarded gates.
Finally, with her pack in hand, Beeatrisa wished to leave her safe haven and find her future within the walls of the kingdom. The sunlight was quickly masked by dreadful nimbostratus clouds, which loomed over Beeatrisa’s head. The trees