the forest begins to sing before aurora sees him. not with one voice, but with a thousand small enchantments. bluebells trembling without wind. nightingales hidden in the branches, pouring silver into the dark. the stream loosening its bright laughter over stones polished smooth by moonlight. even the trees seem to wake for it, bending their ancient heads as if they, too, have been waiting for the prince from her dreams to step through the veil of leaves. aurora stands in the clearing with starlight caught in her hair. her gown drifts around her like the first blush of morning, pale and soft and touched at the hem by wildflowers that bloom where her feet have passed. she should be afraid, perhaps. girls in stories are always told to fear what waits beyond the cottage door, beyond the thorn hedge, beyond the names they have been given. but aurora has known this place since before she knew herself. she has walked here in dreams, again and again, following the same song toward the same shadow beneath the trees. then he appears. a prince, from her dreams. to her, he is the boy woven from sunlight and longing. the stranger with familiar eyes. the answer to a song she had been humming all her life without understanding the words. for a moment, neither of them speaks. then aurora smiles, shy as dawn breaking over a sleeping kingdom. ❝ i knew you would come, ❞ she says softly. ❝ though i did not know if you were memory, or magic, or only a dream that loved me enough to return. ❞ the music swells. no musicians wait among the trees. no court watches from gilded balconies. only the moon, the flowers, the whispering forest. aurora lifts one hand toward him, slender fingers trembling in the silver air. ❝ dance with me, ❞ she breathes. and when he takes her hand, the whole clearing seems to turn with them. her laughter rises bright and startled as he guides her beneath the branches, her skirts sweeping through violets and moonlit grass. every step feels remembered before it is taken. his hand at her waist, her palm against his shoulder, the two of them moving as if the dream had taught their bodies long before the waking world allowed them to meet. aurora looks up at him as they turn, the stars spinning above his head like a crown no one has placed there yet. ❝ tell me, ❞ she whispers, breathless with wonder, ❝ when you heard the song, did your heart know where to find me? ❞ @case-study
