Astrid Sarah Merritt

Astrid

The best thing about living in the kingdom under Princess Astrid’s rule was that she encouraged all of the townspeople to have their own businesses. Everyone had something to sell and all of the townspeople bought from one another—but their best customer was Princess Astrid. Almost everything that she bought was made by her people. When rulers would come to visit from faraway lands, she would cook them feasts of locally grown food, wear gowns handmade by her people, and send the guests home with baskets full of products made by the villagers. She loved to boast about how talented the villagers were. She would beam with pride of her people while she showed off all of their many talents and skills.

The one thing the Princess did not buy from her people was tea. Princess Astrid loved her tea leaves, so much in fact, that she had a separate part of the castle dedicated to her own personal herbalist’s workspace. Her herbalist had thousands of jars of uniquely selected tea leaves: every color you could imagine, at least one tea leaf per country, and an ever growing collection. The herbalist’s quest for new tea leaves was never complete. Every morning he would blend and brew a special tea created just for Astrid; she never had the same blend twice. Apart from the splendid taste, the Princess believed in the healing powers of tea and was searching for just the right blend. She loved tea, but secretly she also enjoyed the company of the handsome herbalist, Theo. Theo would bring her tea in bed every morning and they would discuss different leaves and the flavor profiles. Most importantly, they would discuss their next journey to search for tea leaves. Together, the princess and the herbalist have traveled near and far. From Morocco to Sri Lanka and everywhere in between, nothing was too far.

“What about Thailand?” Theo suggested.

“That’s where my brother is, I don’t want to run into him,” Astrid replied. King Fredrick, was off somewhere in Thailand on his most recent escapade. Since the day he was eighteen, he was always off somewhere “finding his soul.” Every time he returned, he swore that he found what he needed and was ready to settle down. This never lasted more than a month; Astrid would wake up to a note detailing her brother’s latest adventure, leaving the kingdom in her care.

“And we already have many leaves from Thailand, we need something special,” she continued. “I have intel that what we’re looking for is in Mount HuaShan.”

She loved to care for people, but her main motive was finding something that would please the gods. She also loved her brother Fredrick deeply, but he was never meant to be king. Although Fredrick means “peaceful ruler,” he was no ruler at all. The problem was that her brother did not want to give over the title. The gods have the power to turn the kingdom over to her, but she would have to prove herself as a worthy leader. How? She would have to prove it by “bettering the lives of her people.” Hence Astrid’s quest for a magic tea.

“Astrid, no. We have been over this, Mount HuaShan is one of the most dangerous climbs in the world. I will go alone.”

“And like I told you before, you cannot stop me. Either you go with me or I go by myself.” Astrid was a kind-hearted Princess, but she was as hard headed as they come.

And that was that. They began to plan their trip through the treacherous valleys of Mount HuaShan. This would be the hardest trip they had ever taken, but they had heard about a special tea leaf only grown in the rough terrain of the China mountains. Past the snowy valleys, and the peaks of mountains, there was a small town that lay untouched by any outside presence. This place was said to have a tea leaf that could heal the sick.

Normally a trip like this would require months of planning and preparation, but the summer season was ending soon and it would be unsafe to travel for the rest of the year. So they had to leave immediately. Ignoring Theo’s protesting, they set out on their trip at the end of that week.

Once they were well into their journey and into the mountains, a blizzard started to come down. This was in the middle of the summer, so this was very unusual and they began to worry.

“Astrid, I told you I had a bad feeling about this trip. We should turn around and come back next year,” Theo said. Their horse was getting caught in the fresh snow, and the blizzard worsened by the second. “Let’s look for shelter and see if we can wait it out.”

After what seemed like hours of searching, they finally stumbled upon a lit up cave in the distance. The snow was falling more quickly by the minute, so they decided to try their luck, hoping upon the owner’s kindness. Once near the cave, they encountered a very pleasant old man who agreed to let them stay the night under one condition: they entertain him with their stories.

“I have been living here for many years and it gets so lonely out here,” begged the old man. Luckly, Princess Astrid loved to tell stories and often told stories to the children in the village. For hours, she entertained the children with all kinds of stories. Dragons and dinosaurs, wizards and wisdom, ghosts and gold. But the stories the old man loved the most were about her own childhood and about her kingdom. She told him every detail he could think of, from the history of the kingdom to the people who lived in it. As the storm continued to brew, Astrid talked for hours until the old man fell asleep. Then, Astrid and Theo stayed up for the rest of the night to watch over the old man. Theo entertained the princess with more stories until the sun rose.

When it was time for them to leave in the morning, the little old man revealed that he had a present for them.

“To thank you for your kindness, I have decided to bestow upon you my most prized possession.” He left to the back of the cave where he rummaged through his things for a while until he finally pulled out a little plant with golden glowing leaves.

“You have to take special care of this plant. Its leaves cannot touch the sun and it needs exactly one tablespoon of water seven times a day. If the leaves are brewed under just the right conditions, the tea that it produces will gain you eternal life. Under no circumstances should you remove the

plant from its pot. If you do, the plant will lose all of its power and the leaves will shrivel up instantly.”

The princess was amazed and began to thank him profusely. This was the cure she was looking for to bring back to her people! Blinded by the thought of being queen, she started planning how to distribute this power to her people. As they were walking away, Theo stopped in his tracks.

“Astrid, imagine what this will do to the world.”

“I know, isn’t it amazing!”

“No Astrid, I mean this plant could cause so much harm. Were people intended to live forever? The more I think about the possibilities, the more worried I am. What happens if this gets into the wrong hands?”

Astrid pondered this possibly as they walked for many miles. Finally the princess and the herbalist came to a decision: the plant would need to be destroyed. Humankind was not meant to live forever.

Astrid removed the golden plant from the pot and it immediately shriveled up in front of their eyes, as if it was never there to begin with. They sat there in silence for a while contemplating their decision.

When they returned to the kingdom, it was eerily quiet. This was unusual on its own, but especially for a Sunday. Those were market days when all of the villagers would sell their goods. Princess Astrid immediately became concerned and rushed back to the castle to figure out what was wrong. When she arrived she saw the whole kingdom gathered in the castle, which was decorated for a coronation ceremony.

The gods had put Astrid through a test to see if she would choose the greater good over her own desires. By destroying the plant, she had shown her loyalty and commitment to her people. She had passed her final test and was granted the title of queen by the gods. The people threw a grand party for Astrid and celebrated her accomplishments.

And as the queen would be nowhere without Theo’s thinking and strong morals, she appointed him to be her consultant, partly because of the strong head on his shoulders, but also because of the time she would get to spend with him every day.

The END