Long and long ago in the kingdom of Dulia, there lived a king and a queen who had three children. The eldest of these children was the Lady Elivessi, and the second was the Lord Dannello, and the youngest was the Lady Ennita.

You may notice that none of the children were called Prince or Princess, and for this there is a reason. Namely, that by the laws of Dulia, no royal child is an heir to the throne until he or she is married, and until both spouses have passed the Test of Kings.

The Lady Elivessi, or Vessi as she was usually called, had come of age two years past, and yet had no love in sight. Lord Dannello, who would soon be of age, had loved a childhood friend from the time they were both old enough to speak of love. Lady Ennita still thought love was disgusting.

The King and Queen saw this and were...not displeased, as such, but not as pleased as they might have been otherwise. For although their son would likely be wed soon after he and his love came of age, he had no interest in being King, and his love, though a fine woman she would be, would not make a good Queen.

And so, with Vessi’s approval, the King and Queen sent out a proclamation, calling to all the young men of their kingdom, and all those of kingdoms nearby. And the young men came. In great numbers they came. For who would turn down a chance to become a King?

But when the young men arrived, some of them turned away and went home again. They had not known that they would have to take tests.

There were tests to see if they were quick of wit, tests to see if they were strong of will, tests to see if they had the power to control the magic of the planet of Trycanta, the magic that is called vica—for though that was not required in a King of Dulia, it would certainly help.

At last, only ten young men remained, and Vessi sighed, looking from her window at the ten. “If only,” she murmured to herself. “If only...”

For long ago, in her childhood, Vessi had created for herself a friend. Most of the girls she knew were empty-headed and fluttery, so her friend had been a boy. No one she knew had liked to run and leap and shout and climb on things, so her friend had liked that. And no one she knew had liked to curl up in a corner and read books for hours and hours on end, so her friend had liked that as well. And so Vessi hoped, in her heart of hearts, that some of these characteristics would be found in the young man who won through the final test.

“And of course, I do not have to wed him,” she said as she made her way downstairs. “He will have earned great honor and glory, and a high place in our court, but only I and he will decide if we are to wed.”

So Vessi entered the room where the young men waited, and nine of them bowed low. The tenth stood struck for a moment, as though he had seen some radiant vision—perhaps the Lady of Three, in all her glory, descending from on high—but then he too bowed.

And the King, Vessi’s father, stepped forward. “Here is your final task, O youths,” he said, addressing both the young men and Vessi. “It will test the mettle of your hearts and the steel of your souls. You will here be cast into a deep sleep, and in that sleep you will do battle with the greatest fears of your own hearts. If you win out over those fears, you must make your way back to this place and claim the prize which waits for you. Only in this way will you prove yourself worthy of that prize.”

And so Vessi laid herself down upon the soft couch which had been brought, and as her eye roved across the young men in their lying down, she thought that she saw a familiar face, a familiar slope of back and shoulder—she almost thought that she saw...

“Ur tauc,” the King commanded, raising his hands high, and Vessi felt her eyes close even as her lips moved.

Vessi looked around. Instead of the luxurious drawing room, she stood in a barren wasteland. Light armor of leather and mail adorned her body, and a short sword was in her hand.

“So is it to be fighting, then?” she wondered aloud. “Or is this just a blind?”

As she wondered, she heard a cry, cut off in the middle as though the crier had been struck. She sheathed her sword and raced towards the sound.

As she ran, she saw from the corner of her eye a man in desperate struggle with a wild bear. Slowing, she half-drew her sword...

“Stay back, fair maid!” the man shouted, striking the bear on the nose so that it reared back. “I will handle the beast myself!”

Shaking her head, Vessi raced on. She passed men fighting giant insects, enormous snakes, even one struggling to free himself from a bog. Some cursed at her, some were polite, but all had one thing in common. They were determined to defeat their enemies by themselves.

Finally, after she had passed nine men, she found the source of the cry. The tenth man struggled against thorny vines, which tried to twist around his arms and legs and either crush him or drain away his blood.

“Do you need help?” Vessi asked, drawing her sword.

“Yes!” the man said thankfully. “Please! And if you can free my hand and my scabbard first, I can begin to fight them myself as well.”

Vessi began to slice away the vines from the man’s hip and right hand. As she did, they turned and began to attack her as well, but her armor held them off for the few seconds she needed to cut away the vines from the man’s sword hilt and hand, and after that, the work went swiftly.

As the man’s face became clearer, Vessi began to smile. Her own helmet hid some of her features, but she had not been mistaken in thinking that one of the faces in the room had been familiar to her...

“So, then, you passed the tests,” she said when she had pulled the man free of the vines at last, and they rested in the sun nearby. “But why did you come in the first place?”

The man sighed. “Allow me to introduce myself, Lady,” he said. “My name is—”

“Therian, I know that,” Vessi interrupted. “Answer my question, please?”

“How did you...” Therian shook his head. “Never mind, I am sure you know all about us. As one of us may wed you, if you allow it. The truth is, Lady Elivessi, I came here for a foolish reason.”

“And what foolish reason is that?” Vessi asked, her smile growing.

“When I was a boy, I dreamed of the perfect girl,” Therian said. “The perfect friend, as I then thought. The perfect lover, as I have come to realize. And I named her, whether or not I meant to do so, after you, Lady. And...” He sighed. “I thought, in my foolishness, that the only woman who could ever come close to the perfection I saw in my dreams would be the Lady herself, the Princess, as she would be after I wed her. If she would have me, that is.”

Vessi laughed to herself. “I see,” she said aloud. “And...did you model her face after mine as well?”

“I did not, Lady, for I had never seen you or a picture of you until you made your entrance into the room where we waited for you, we ten. I admit, I was struck for a moment—it seemed to me that you bore the likeness of my dream lover—but...”

Vessi pulled her helmet from her head and let her hair tumble about her face, and Therian’s eyes widened as he saw her face clearly for the first time.

“I dreamed of the perfect friend when I was a child as well,” Vessi said quietly, lifting her hand to touch Therian’s shoulder. “And the greatest fear of my life has been that I would never find any real person to share my life with as I shared my long-ago nights with that friend. Will you marry me, and make sure that I too can defeat my greatest fear?”

“I will, with all my heart,” said Therian, taking Vessi’s hand in his.

And as they awakened slowly, they saw that their couches had been moved side by side, and Vessi’s mother and father stood nearby, smiling.

“We could see the changes in your vica as you slept,” said Vessi’s father. “The other auras dimmed, but your two brightened as you understood that the only way to defeat your fears was to work together. For no man, and no woman either, is strong enough to defeat fear alone.”

And so, in the great capital city of Dulia, the bells rang out that Sunday, for a royal wedding was announced. Therian, soon to be Prince, was to wed Lady Elivessi, soon to be Princess, and when the King and Queen died or stepped down from their thrones, Therian and Vessi would rule as King and Queen in their places.

As for the other nine contenders for Vessi’s hand, they awakened from their nightmares disgruntled, but contented themselves (by and large) with the prizes for those who had not won, which included gold and land and even titles to be held in their lifetimes. One man did grow angry, and claim that Vessi and Therian had cheated, but no one paid attention to him.

And thus was the issue of the succession settled for another generation. And Vessi and Therian lived happily for a time. But that time was not ever after, for even in stories, sometimes there is another thing to be told after the end...

But that is a story for another day.