“Ronith!”
       Her stained cloth bag full of ripped schoolbooks banged against her side as Diane made her way through students to her boyfriend.
        Ronith smiled the second he spotted her. They greeted each other with a kiss.
        “How are you, my love?” He took her hands in his.
        “I’m okay, I guess. I just had a math test, and I didn’t do so well…” Diane gazed down at their intertwined hands, and she couldn’t help but notice how well they fit together. She brought her eyes up to his. His eyes… they were an exquisite cyan color. Diane could look into them all day. His eyes were enough to make a girl melt like butter on hot toast.
        Ronith brushed a few strands of brown hair away from her eyes. “I’m sorry to hear that. Maybe I can cheer you up?”
        He kissed her again, this one filled with so much passion that even a crowbar couldn’t pry them apart.
       “Mission accomplished. I am officially cheered up,” Diane whispered to him, even though she felt surprisingly lonely inside when he drew back from her.
“Shall we sit for lunch?” Ronith gestured to a nearby empty lunch table, “Come with me.”
Shivers slinked down Diane’s spine whenever Ronith said “come with me.” Diane specifically recalled feeling shivers the first time he had ever said that to her. Ronith noticed her smiling fondly at the memory.
       “What are we so smiley about?” He asked. He took a seat across from her. They were at a stone table and in wooden chairs that had been crafted by the town’s furniture-maker.
        Diane pulled out her lunch: an apple with a thin slice of bread. “Do you remember the first time we ever met?” she questioned dreamily.
       “Yes,” he retorted, “You were crying in a ditch.”
       “I don’t even know why you stopped to help me,” Diane shrugged her shoulders while shaking her head unbelievably. “I was a mess!”
       “You were beautiful.”
    With a mouthful of bread, she protested, “I was not! I was far from beautiful. I was crying in a ditch!You helped me because you have a kind heart. Gosh, I’m so thankful for that.”
     “Diane, you-” Suddenly, Ronith stopped, eyebrows raised in curiosity. “Wait, Diane, why were you crying when I found you?”
     Diane’s insides crumbled. She didn’t want to think about that. She tried to stay strong, but her emotions won the battle. Out of nowhere, tears formed in her eyes until they flooded over, sliding down her cheek and falling off her chin
     “Oh, no, Diane. Oh, no, I’m sorry, I should not have asked… Hey, stop crying...” Ronith rushed to her side. She buried her head in his shoulder, wrapped her arms around his neck, and bawled. The ragged, oversized sleeve of  his shirt was quickly soaked with her tears. Diane felt better with him. She always felt better with him. In her thoughts, Diane decided, I think I’ll stay here, with him, for the rest of my life.
     Ronith cleared his throat. “I’m sorry, Diane, I’m sorry about your parents.”
     This statement caught her off-guard. She reeled back from him, tilting her head in confusion, as if she were a puppy who hadn’t understood a command.“My parents?”
     Ronith blinked at her, equally baffled. “Is this not about your parents?”
     Diane laughed, but the laughter slowly transformed into racking sobs. “Not my parents, Ronith! No, it’s… Sarah. Sarah, she is my best friend. She was my best friend. She was attacked by a dragon the day before you met me.” She barely got through the last sentence. Ronith’s loving embrace squeezed the air out of her. Then, she went back to the safety of his shoulder.
      He pressed his lips to the top of her head. Diane sniffled. She could taste her salty tears. Even though Sarah had been dead for a while, Diane realized, it was painful for her to think about. Since she was very spoiled in the castle, she was sheltered from topics such as death. So, in her new world, this loss hit her real hard. As she wiped her eyes on Ronith’s sleeve, she waited for him to say something. She waited for him to say the right thing; he always said the right thing. However, for a long, long time, Ronith was silent. Even after a peasant teacher yelled to the peasant students that lunch time was finished, he was silent. 
       Ronith stared off into space. Diane could almost see the cogs turning in his head as he tried to figure something out.
At this point, Diane felt strangely numb to the pain that she was forced to endure with remembering Sarah’s death, leaving her with annoyance toward Ronith and his ignoring her.      “I should get going, Ronith, my love,” she said, throwing as much sarcasm as she could in the last two words.
      She packed up her half-eaten lunch, adjusted the straps of her bag on her shoulder, turned on her heel, and began to walk away only to be stopped by Ronith. He spun her around, anticipation written all over his face, and declared, “We should have a funeral for Sarah!”
      Diane opened her mouth,  ready to question, but Ronith cut her off. “We need to get to class, but meet me on the hill to talk about this later!” With that, he was off to class.
                                                     ***
       After a few minutes of kissing, Ronith got to talking about the funeral plans. To Diane, talking about a funeral seemed like it should not be allowed on such a nice, sunny day. The sun was high up in the sky, and the sky itself was a baby-blue color, filled with fluffy, white clouds. Flowers of all different colors were everywhere, looking like paint splatters dotting the healthy green grass canvas of the hill. Butterflies and bumblebees lazily drifted around, letting the light breeze carry them.
       “It could be a special funeral. It would be private, too; only you and I would be there. We could honor Sarah,” Ronith exclaimed.  
       Diane added enthusiastically, “It could be in the meadow!”
       “Absolutely!” Ronith seemed thrilled, but Diane knew that he was happy simply because she was happy.
       Preparations for the funeral began. Diane started with building a coffin from dark brown bark that she had stripped off of trees. She made paint for the coffin through the utilization of red, yellow, and blue flowers. She mixed them together to create a black paste. Ronith retrieved Sarah’s body from its current grave. The grave was nothing significant, though. Sarah was merely thrown in a hole, covered with dirt, and above the dirt-filled hole was a single stick poking out of the ground. This appalled Diane because in her mind, Sarah deserved more respect than a simple stick. Ronith dug her up, cleaned her off, and placed her in the new coffin.
     Following that, Diane crafted two chairs and a table from more wood. It took her an entire week. Ronith stole a few silk banners from a merchant as decorations. To add to the decor, Diane painted a bit, too. With regard to clothing, Diane bought some black sheep’s wool from a farmer, so she was able to craft a woolen dress for herself, as well as a woolen suit for Ronith, both as black as pitch. In addition,  Ronith promised her that after the funeral, they would have a feast. Careful stealing and persistent begging got him half of a loaf of bread, a few tablespoons of butter, and a handful of mushy blueberries.
         When the day of the funeral arrived, Diane was engulfed by a tornado of an anxious kind of excitement. She hoped that everything would be perfect. Because it was early morning, Diane drank a few glasses of water, ate a light breakfast, and solemnly got dressed. She knew that, if she were attending a funeral at her castle, she would be wearing a fancy, ornate dress, complete with elaborate jewelry and heavy makeup. Her hair would probably be in some complicated twisted, braided bun thing. Honestly, Diane liked this new look better. Her round face was rather filthy, but it was completely absent of makeup; her hair was down, resting contentedly on her shoulders; her outfit was a plain black dress that stopped right above her knees. I am beautiful, Diane thought proudly, I am so much more beautiful at this exact moment than I ever was at that lousy castle.
         Thump, thump, thump!  The sound resonated throughout the tiny house. Diane’s head snapped toward the source: the door.
         Diane opened the door, and Ronith gawked at her. When he recollected himself, he managed to state, “Dear Diane, you look ravishing. Magnifiscent. Your beauty radiates. I am never, ever letting go of you. Ever.”
        She blushed. “Your little speeches are awfully cheesy, Ronith, but I sure do love them. Your suit is on my bed. We will get you dressed, all right?”
                                                    ***
        Once Ronith was all dressed, they headed toward the meadow, fingers intertwined. It was not a romantic walk, though. Their silent strides were dignified and ceremonious. At one point, Diane found herself crying, but she speedily wiped the tears away. She would be strong, for Sarah.
        They finally arrived at the meadow. Diane could see the coffin. It was a large, dark shape relaxing in the midst of an ocean of green. Although she had created it with her bare hands, Diane felt terrified to touch it. She even felt terrified to go near it. She clutched Ronith’s arm tighter, her fingers digging into his taut muscles.
        “This is too real, Ronith,” Diane murmured, her entire body trembling.
         In response, he put a hand around her waist to pull her closer to him. “I know, Diane, I know. How about you go up and say a few words about Sarah?”
        Diane never got to say those few words.
        Roar!
       The mere sound of the blood-curdling shriek coming from the sky sent Diane tumbling to the floor. For a split second, she was distracted, her eyes focused on three breath-takingly beautiful, identical yellow flowers. The world around her seemed to fade away in that second, until reality tapped her on the shoulder.  
       “Oh, my gosh!” Ronith screamed, stumbling back a few steps.
       Diane already knew what would be up in the sky, yet she averted her eyes upward anyway, hoping fiercely that maybe she would be incorrect.
       She had no such luck.
       Circling in the sky overhead was a sickening, horrific creature, one that kids only see in their nightmares. Diane felt sickness flooding through her, and she tasted warm, bitter bile rushing to her mouth, stinging her throat on the way. Her pupils dilated in fear, but she didn’t know what to do.
       It had wings double the size of elephant’s ears. It was a dark magenta color, a color that would have been stunningly gorgeous if not combined with a creature as ugly as that. The scales started at the top of its deformed head and creeped down its entire body, down to the tip of its tail. They were crimson and about as tall as tiny mountains. Its shiny nails were curved, the ends were sharper than needles. The sun glinted off of them, somehow making them seem deadlier. Diane was sure that they could rip through even the thickest layer of diamond. Its bared teeth were even sharper, though, despite their yellowness. Fire curled around the edge of its flared nostrils, leaving trails of thick smoke in the sky. But its eyes… its eyes… they were the most atrocious part of the monster. Looking into its eyes was like meeting death or experiencing the worst kind of pain imaginable.
       There was no hope surviving with a dragon after her.
      Suddenly, strong arms scooped her up, off of the ground. Diane buried her head into Ronith’s chest, squeezing her eyes shut to shield herself from the dragon.
      “It’s okay, my love,” he panted, “It hasn’t caught sight of us. It won’t catch sight of us.”
      Diane permitted the thumping of Ronith’s heart comfort her. With his superhuman strength, Ronith ran from the meadow to the village, Diane gathered in his arms. By the time they had reached Diane’s cottage, he looked about ready to faint from exhaustion. His suit was soaked in sweat. Diane could almost hear his muscles moaning. She hopped out of his arms, and he bent over, hands on his knees, gasping for breath. Diane retrieved a glass of water for him, and she ushered him into his house.
      Once he collected himself, Diane gently kissed him, her lips caressing his. She cooed admiringly, “You saved me, Ronith. You saved my life.”
      “Diane,” he said her name fondly, his voice but a whisper, “I love you.”
      Diane was rendered speechless. That was the first time he had ever said that. Although Ronith called her, “my love,” hearing this made it official to Diane. She felt a pure happiness exploding inside of her. He loves me, she cheered inside of her head, he loves me! She had to bite her lip to keep from screeching joyfully. “I love you, too, Ronith!”
                                                      ***