by Kristen Hendricks

Once upon a time, in the far-off land of Iresine, which lay dreaming at the center of a deep dark wood...

...a curse fell over the daughters of the king.

While the sun shone the twelve princesses of Iresine went about their lives as they always had, and only an unaccustomed languor in their speech and slowness in their smiles betrayed that anything was wrong. Nor did their nights give pause, for they laid down to bed in guarded rooms, and woke in them as well...

...yet every morning their dancing-slippers were in tatters, and stained with blood.

The king demanded explanations, but none were forthcoming. He set a closer and closer watch on his daughters, but no one could see them slip away, or discover how every night they contrived to each ruin another pair of shoes. Frantic, the king promised that whoever could free his children might claim one of their hands in marriage. Fifty young heroes tried, and failed, and the dancing curse went on.

But no story lasts forever, and eventually a new hero came from a great empire across the sea. And being used to intrigue and connivance, he succeeded where the other young men had failed, and followed the princesses down and down to where they danced in a palace under the earth. After three nights watching them he told the court what he had found, and the curse, dragged into light, evaporated like morning dew.

Tonight there will be another ball to celebrate the wedding of this hero and the eldest princess of Iresine, who holds the kingdom's future in her hands. The princesses will dance again, and the court with them, in joy and not in fear, for the dread evil that plagued the land is gone...

...and all will live happily ever after.