Episode 2 – The Old Woman’s Secret

Grandma Anya was not a fairy, nor a witch, nor a queen in disguise. She was simply an old healer who had once taken in a dying woman with a swollen belly and terrified eyes. That woman was Nicco’s true mother, and her name was Elara. For twenty-two years, Anya had kept Elara’s secret locked inside her heart like a fragile bird in a cage. But lately, the bird had begun to beat its wings.

Nicco noticed the change. Her grandmother would pause while stirring soup, staring at the mountains with a frown. She would touch Nicco’s back—where the small crescent-and-star mark lay hidden—and sigh. When Nicco asked questions, Anya would smile and say, “Soon, little one. Soon.”

Every evening, Nicco still went to the fountain. Every evening, she sang. And every evening, hidden behind the willow trees, Prince Pond listened.

Pond had stopped calling himself a mere wanderer. He now understood that he had been led to this place by something deeper than curiosity. The princess—for he was certain she was a princess—sang of longing and loss, of a mother’s voice remembered only in dreams. Her songs made his tiger blood hum. At night, back in his own chamber within the Tiger Kingdom, he would lie awake and replay every note.

He told no one except his father. The Tiger King, a massive man with silver-streaked hair and amber eyes, listened without interrupting. When Pond finished, the king said, “You have found the lost heir of the Fairy Kingdom. If Queen Melody learns of this before the girl knows her own truth, she will send her shadow hunters. They will not leave a single flower standing in that village.”

“Then I must warn her,” Pond replied.

“Not yet,” the king said. “She does not know you. She does not know us. If you appear too soon, she may flee—or worse, she may call upon the fairy magic sleeping in her blood and accidentally reveal herself to the queen. You must wait. Learn her story. Let the truth find her first.”

So Pond waited. He continued to visit the fountain, always hidden, always silent. But one evening, something changed.

Grandma Anya had followed Nicco.

The old woman moved quietly for someone her age. She stood at the edge of the forest, watching her granddaughter sing. Then she turned her head slightly and spoke in a low, calm voice: “You can come out, young prince. I have known you were there for seven nights.”

Pond’s heart stopped. He stepped out from behind a thick oak, his hands raised to show he meant no harm. “How did you know?”

Anya smiled. “Because I was there when her mother fled the fairy kingdom. I know the scent of tiger magic, and I know the look of a kind heart. You are not your enemy’s son. You are the one who will help her survive.”

Pond bowed his head. “Then please, tell me everything. Who is she? Why is she here? And why does the queen want her dead?”

Anya’s eyes grew wet. She sat on a mossy stone and began to speak.

“Twenty-two years ago, a woman named Elara arrived at my door. She was a concubine to King Telomakus of the Fairy Kingdom. She was gentle and beautiful, and the queen—Melody—hated her for it. When Elara became pregnant, the queen did not wait for the king’s knowledge. She dragged Elara to the edge of the fairy realm and threw her down to the mortal world. ‘If your child lives,’ the queen said, ‘I will find her and rip out her wings before she can open her eyes.’”

Pond clenched his fists.

“Elara gave birth here, in this cottage. But she was too weak. She kissed baby Nicco, showed me the royal mark on the child’s back, and made me promise to hide her. ‘Never let her sing near the mountains,’ Elara begged. ‘Never let her know who she is until she is strong enough to protect herself.’ Then she died.”

“But Nicco does sing,” Pond said softly. “Every night. Her voice is the most beautiful thing I have ever heard.”

“I know,” Anya whispered. “I could not stop her. The singing is in her blood. And lately, I have felt a chill in the wind—a chill that does not come from winter. The queen’s shadow hunters are moving. They have not found this village yet, but they will. And when they do, Nicco must know the truth. She must be ready to run—or to fight.”

Pond looked toward the fountain, where Nicco was now drying her hair and humming softly. “I will protect her,” he said. “Even if she never knows my name until the last possible moment.”

Anya placed a wrinkled hand on his arm. “Then listen carefully, young prince. In three days, I will tell Nicco everything—about her mother, the queen, the mark on her back. On that night, she will be afraid and confused. That is when you must show yourself. Not as a stranger, but as the one who has been watching over her all along.”

Pond nodded. “Three days.”

He disappeared into the trees, leaving Anya alone. The old woman watched her granddaughter walk home under the stars and whispered a prayer to no god in particular.

“Keep them both safe. The girl with the angel voice and the tiger prince who loves her already without a single word spoken.”

End of Episode 2

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