A Faerie Tale
a re-telling of the Clover tale, in an alternate universe




	Once upon a time, there lived a princess.

	She was a girl, a small one, but she had hair the colour of the tuffs of pale flowers 
that grew in the meadows, fine strands of silvery-white. Her eyes were large, and clear, as deep 
as the green of forests with the lustre of emeralds. She was lovely, as far as apperances were 
concerned, but that was not why she was in her tower.

	The princess had gifts, gifts beyond the wildest of imaginations. The tower in which she 
lived, was not a tower really, but a giant cage; it was a palace, but it was also her prison. It 
had metal spires, beams and framework, a ceiling that arched so high it made you dizzy following 
it, and great glass walls all around. Looking through these glass walls made the princess long 
for the beautiful things outside, long to to know, to see, to hear, to touch, to taste, to scent,
 but to suffer nothing more than a glimpse of what was. To make her happy, an artifical forest 
was built inside the cage, with mechanical birds and trees. There were no fire-breathing dragons 
in the tower. Only Auto-dolls. Decieving built 'animals' dressed in whimsical costumes, robots 
that were programmed to protect and kill if necessary. But no one could ever be truly happy 
living like this.

	Living alone.



	She shifted and opened her eyes. Artifical sunlight streamed down onto her face, birds 
chirped in the branches of trees; metal voiceboxes moving, recordings coming to life. Everything 
perfectly engineered to create that feel of new day. Looking up at the roof of her canopy bed, 
she stayed that way for a while, waiting for the daily ritual upon waking to being.

	"Good morning, Suu."

	"Good morning," she replied, absently. Not that it would really matter if she did, but 
it put some sense of warmth in what might have been a one-sided conversation.

	"Did you have a good rest?" The same questions. The same programmed tone.

	"I had a dream, last night."

	"A dream?" 

	"It was a fairy's dream. A beautiful, coal-black haired fairy with laughing amber eyes. 
I was having her dream. The fairy dreamed of lovely things."

	Here, she fell silent. No more needed to be said between her and her company. Slipping 
off the silk covers, she sat up slowly, and gazed at her attendant through the gauze screen. He 
wasn't bearing a tray this morning, which meant the meal was to be served downstairs. All the 
same.

	"Breakfast is waiting, Suu," again, the same kindly voice.

	"I'm coming." Parting the curtains, she rose and followed.