• "Dad?," he asked wonderingly as he was tucked into bed.
    "Yes?" His father responded tiredly. It had been a long of work.
    "What was mom like?" father had never spoken of her, he was curious.
    His father looked at him have sorrowful eyes, then turned away and walked to the window looking up into space.
    "She was a princess of her land, the most respected person of her people. She was beautiful, always seeming happy. Her people loved her." He turned form the window and looked at his son, whose eyes were wide with wonder.
    "Mom was a princess?" he asked.
    He chuckled. "In her land princesses were raised as warriors, the protectors of their kingdom." His gaze dropped and to the floor, his smile leaving his face. He turned to face the sky again.
    The child slipped out of bed and went to stand by his father's side.
    The father glanced down to see his son looking up back at him with large brown eyes.
    He smiled and picked his son up and sat him down on the bed and pulled a chair the the side of the bed.
    "Let me tell you a story," he said and he began his tale.