Once upon a time in a far away kingdom there lived a young princess named Avalon. She believed that, just because she was the princess of the kingdom, she was better than everyone else around her. She had no respect for anyone or anything. Finally it got to the point where the king and queen had had enough and decided to kick her out of the castle and not let her come back until she was a respectable young lady. So, after a lot of arguing, she had filled her pack with all the things she deemed essential and was on her way. / She didn’t really think that this would take very long; her parents would feel bad and bring her back in no time. After an hour of walking around, she had gotten nowhere and was only getting moodier. After walking for a little longer she ran into one of the palace servants who lived in town “Oh Princess, what are you doing out of the castle?” asked the kind servant.

“The blasted king and queen kicked me out of the castle because I’m disrespectful and a poor excuse for a princess,” said Avalon using air quotes on the last part.

“Well Your Majesty, you can stay with me while you try to fix the situation you’ve gotten yourself in,”  the servant said in a pitying tone.

“I suppose that will work, just don’t try to befriend me. Remember, I’m still the princess and I’m definitely still better than you,” Avalon said in an annoyed tone. /

With that, they were on their way to the servant’s home, which happened to be all the way across town. After walking for a few blocks on the busy streets, a man accidentally ran into the princess “ Oh, I’m sorry Miss. Didn’t see you there,” said the man with an apologetic tone.

“Oh you’re sorry?  I don’t think you really are, you should’ve been watching where you were going. Now get out of my way, we’re trying to get to her house,”  the moody princess said as she continued to walk. /

Running after her, the servant said in an somber tone, “With all due respect, Your Majesty, that was a bit extreme. The streets are narrow and it's the busiest time of day.”

With that, Avalon flipped around in anger and started cutting into the servant with her words “What are you trying to say? Why should I listen to you? You’re just a servant that works for me and my family. I don’t even know your name and you’re trying to tell me how to act? You should be praising me, not scrutinizing my actions.”

“Matilda, my name is Matilda and I’m just trying to help you while you’re not allowed in the castle, Princess. Now if we’re going to get to my home we should get going,” Matilda said in a quiet, sulky tone. And with that they were back on they’re way to Matilda’s small home, walking in silence. / Within half an hour or so they had arrived at Matilda’s quaint home “We’re here, Princess.”

“Wait, this is it? This totally sucks. My quarters are bigger than your entire house. How do you live like this?” the princess said in an ungrateful tone.

“Your Majesty, I must warn you, I live here with my family and another family. It’s a tight squeeze. I’m sorry that it’s not what you’re used to, but I hope it will be good enough for you to stay for a few days at least,” Matilda said, trying not to be disrespectful to Princess Avalon.

“My gods, don’t we pay you enough to at least have your own home? This is ridiculous!” Avalon exclaimed in surprised anger. But you see, her outburst was more about how she had to stay here and not how the castle doesn’t pay their workers enough.

“Well Princess, everyone has to share a home. Now, are you ready to go inside?” asked Matilda, starting to lose her patience.

“Fine, lets go,” the princess said. With that Matilda opened the door to her small home and welcomed the princess in. /

“Everyone, this is Princess Avalon. She will be staying with us for time being,” Matilda said to the two families.

Avalon took a few moments to look around the small room. Eyes grazing over each of the residents of the home, stopping when she saw a boy a little older than she. “Who are you?” Avalon asked gesturing to the boy.

“That’s my son, Sebastian, Princess. He’s a guard at the castle. I’m shocked you don’t recognize him,” Matilda said.

Sebastian smiled politely and held out his hand saying “It’s a pleasure to meet you Your Majesty. Shall I show you where you’ll be staying?”

“Oh I suppose, but if you think I’m going to shake your hand you’re sorely mistaken.” With that she followed Sebastian out of the main room and into the rest of the house. /

He led her into a small room with a lumpy bed. “This room is the guest room, we usually only use it when Mama's family comes to visit. I hope it suits your needs.” And with that he left. This gave her a moment to truly look at the space. It was completely bare except for a small window and the bed.

She then sat down on the bed and started thinking of ways to get back to the castle. “This place is barely livable, how am I supposed to live like this? I mean this is just pitiful,” the Princess thought out loud to herself. /

Unknown to Avalon, Matilda was outside her door and heard her talking to herself. In an angry fury the woman walked into the room and said, “If you think it’s so bad, why don’t you just go find yourself somewhere else to stay. I let you into my home and you still think you’re better than everyone else. The king was right, you are a pitiful excuse for a princess.” /

With surprised eyes Avalon got up and started heading to the front entrance. She was still shocked so she wasn’t really paying attention to her surroundings when she bumped into Sebastian and fell. “Oh Princess, I’m sorry let me help you up,” he said while pulling Avalon off the ground. “Wait, where were you going before you bumped into me?” he asked.

“Your mother kicked me out for some reason, so I’m leaving. Thank you for helping me up,” the princess said while wiping her hands off on her dress. Then proceeded to keep walking.

“Wait! I’ll go talk to her, maybe I can convince her to let you stay,” Sebastian said grabbing Avalon’s arm, making her stop.

“Fine, but it’s not worth it. She seemed pretty dead set on not letting me stay.”

“Just wait here, I’ll be back in a moment.” With that, he walked away and talked to his mother. / When he came back he seemed upset and said, “She’s not gonna let you stay, but if you’re leaving so am I. It’s not fair that you have to leave, but at least if I’m there you won’t be in danger.”

“Okay, but where are we going to stay? I walked around for an hour before your mother found me and I didn’t see anywhere we could stay.”

“Well Princess, we’re going to be staying on the street tonight. Then in the morning we can look for somewhere to stay. Now let’s go,” Sebastian said.

“We’re going to be staying outside? That’s absolutely disgusting!”

“Well we really don’t have a choice now do we? Let’s go Princess.” With a wide eyed and silent Avalon following him, Sebastian started walking into the city. / After walking for some time they finally came across the community garden which, they decided, would be a good spot to sleep for the night. After that, Avalon grumpily sighed and laid down next to Sebastian where she almost immediately fell asleep.

They were both awaken by the town crier at sunrise, announcing that it was six o’clock. When Avalon woke up her entire body ached and she groaned and said, “W-where am I?” Then after seeing Sebastian, her eyes went wide and she suddenly blushed. “Nevermind, I remember now.” / With that she was up and trying to dust off her dress. As the memories of the last day swirled in her mind she suddenly burst out after an awkward silence “Hey, I just wanted to say how sorry I am for being such a pain. I know it couldn’t have been easy. Yesterday was really a wake up call for me and I’m gonna try and start changing because I’ve realized how wrong I’ve been acting.”

“That’s great Princess, but do you actually mean that or are you just saying it to go back to your lavish castle?” Sebastian asked skeptically.

“I mean it, I really want to change. And yeah, going back to my castle is a nice bonus, but even if my father doesn’t let me back I still want to change,” Avalon said with hope in her voice.

“Well then I believe you. Now, let's get you back to the castle, Your Majesty,” said Sebastian, mirroring the princess’s hope. /

When they got to the castle the king could see that Avalon had truly started to change for the better so he let her come back home. And although the princess and the guard could never be romantically involved, they stayed close friends. She even promoted him to her own personal guard and now his family has enough money to have their own home.