The story of A Girl and Her King, joins the young protagonist as she grows in her commitment towards her good king. She is young and he is old. He teaches, her watches over her, protects her. He has taken her to the battlefield, the arena, and now asks her to find her place inside the calm environment of her old home, where challenges abound to test her dedication to him in even in the smallest matters. She does not yet know what form their love will take, if he will one day bring her to live with him in the palace, or request she stay in that quiet home forever. But willing to wait, she receives the lessons he has in store for her.
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As days passed the creatures tried to attack her but she held to her king. They tried to convince her they were in her room or that others were there. She responded, with hate, to them that she did not believe them, but if there were, she did not worry because the king would come and cast them out. He would protect her. She had never known his love was so great. He had saved her from death.
The princess gave her a ring from the king. Now she was promised to the king, to always serve him. It was beautiful. It was the ring of a princess and it touched her heart to wear it and see it. “Don’t make it a wedding ring yet,” the princess warned her. The girl did not understand, but she kept in mind what the princess said.
It was time for the princess to leave. They had loved and served each other. It was time for her to go.
“You just become used to the battle and you live with it,” the princess taught her. The princess referred to the beasts.
The girl began to see them in many places, haunting many souls, many houses, many rooms. It did not seem to fit or make sense in her world but it was real; they were real.
The girl fought and wrestled and had great fun at times knowing in full confidence that the king would not allow her to be hurt. She shouted fighting words provoking the beasts as she stood safely behind her king, like a little child excited to have power over something because her protection was stronger, her weapon greater, unbeatable.
At times she became foolish and forgot her weakness, her great need to ask the king to protect her and cast them away. She sometimes forgot that the power lay not in her fighting words but in his sword and spirit.
But the princess had used the word, “battle.” Funny, the girl assumed once she fought the creatures off they would leave, but she became more aware of them.
It was a new time for her; like the times in her life before when the King allowed her to see more rooms in the palace. She had much to see and touch and become used to. He gave her more tasks, more responsibilities, with each room and expected more of her with each room. She could he trusted her. He answered all her requests. After that great battle…that battle so unexpected, fought inside her room, rather than in the field, she felt a deeper love for her king who had saved her from so ugly a thing. She was devoted to him, tender, more attached, and more in love than ever.
A young knight began to like her company. The king asked he teach the girl about the knighthood she had entered into. The knight used the formula he had writen. It was fitting he carry it further. He loved the girl, wanting to teach her and make her beautiful for her King. He got her away from the crowd where she had soiled her veil. The knight taught her an aversion to the madness inside those crowds. He took her from her dissatisfaction and taught her about true love. He taught her and he loved her. Ah, this young knight! She loved him and laughed at his devotion to her.
Philothea. He gave her a name.
Philothea worked to define the gifts the king gave her. She did not fully know how to use them, but she wanted to. How she longed to see what he could one day show her. Yes, the road would be hard. People did not always understand a complete devotion to the king. Philothea knew that. But she was excited all the same. Ah that diadem, that diamond: she could feel it in her heart and see it as she looked in the mirror, and all in his mercy and in his love.
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In his study, Philothea’s heart began to pound as the knight showed her the ways the little devils had tempted her. She saw old words in her diary: “being chained down.” Philothea could see the way she described things she never saw. She saw the way she longed for them to go away and longed to to see the king but could not quite grasp him. She saw herself reaching for him. She saw him come down to her.
All the hate she had felt towards herself was a lie. She as never as bad as she thought she had been. The girl had been little, naïve, immature, but never bad.
The King explained things to her now. The part where he showed his love to her is how she knew she was free of those demons. While they were still nearby, they could not come inside. Ah, she had been so broken, so confused, so in love and yet so out of love that she did not know where to go or where to turn. For so many years she followed a king she could not see, but had seen him once, had known him completely and purely. He had called her to him so many times with so much gentleness and delicacy that she fell in love. She fell in love with a king she had only heard about. He touched her heart and showed her the depths of his love. He gave her love and protection. He ordered his knights to guard her and sent her little messengers to keep her. He shaped the world around her before she was even aware of his true role. She had once feared him, feared to give her heart to him. But those thoughts did not originate in her. She was innocent and he understood that. He understood the presence of very frightening things to a child may change how they act at times. Understanding and protecting and loving, the king would never let her go. He shaped her and molded her because he had so many plans for her.
She had once seen the crown he made for her from his own hands when she was a child. For many years she would not see it again but would yearn for it and desire it and in so many ways wish it was that crown instead of all the hurt she felt in the world. Philothea became greedy for that crown and for the love of the king. And still he loved her. He was so understanding and so patient that he waited for the day before he would cast the beasts out completely. She could trust him. She would trust him.
He was going to lead her into the desert. This time, he would lead her with a few others. They would not go very far. They would not be gone long. Philothea was scared to go. The king hushed her. He told her not to fear. “It is good,” he said, “and I wish it.” Philothea nodded her head and told him she would go. She would love her new companions for this short journey, for this short time. The plans were known only to the king. One said it would not be spectacular, merely social, but Philothea knew better. Everything served the king in some way; otherwise he would not plan it. No, she knew he did only for the good of the people. Perhaps not spectacular, but meaningful. It was important. She told him yes.
