Shindig
Legacy Name: Shindig

"Isn't that right son?" Shindig's eyes flicked over to his fathers face, his mind raced as he tried to remember the last thing he heard his parents say.

"I'm sorry, Father. What did you say?" He asked, clearing his throat softly.

"Oh look, he is too busy thinking about the arrival of Ariel." His mother said with a smile as she placed her hand upon his fathers hand. Shindig simply nodded, he wasn't excited in the least to see Ariel. As pretty as she was, or as pretty as he had heard, he couldn't see himself marrying someone he wasn't in love with. This marriage was strictly for political reasons. Her family had an army that was strong enough to protect his family's territory if a war ever broke out.

"May I please be excused? I need to...get my mind off of Ariel's arrival." He jumped from his chair a little too quickly, almost knocking it over. His father chuckled and nodded, waving him out of the room.

"Pre-wedding jitters." His father said with a small laugh as Shindig hurried out of the dining room.

"Don't come any closer. Who are you?" She asked, readying herself to fire at him.

Shindig scrambled to his feet, waving his arms wildly in front of him. "Please please, don't shoot! I'm sorry. I was just listening and I tripped and......I'm sorry." He sputtered out, a nervous smile forming on his face.

She lowered her bow slowly, purple eyes staring intently at him. "Have I seen you somewhere before?" She asked, laying the bow and arrow down next to her.

"I'm Shindig. And I apologize again, I really didn't mean to scare you. It's just...I didn't want to disturb you. The music was so beautiful, I just wanted to listen."

"Well, next time don't hide in the bushes. It's just strange." Ode said, crossing her arms in front of her. "I'm Ode, by the way." She said, extending her hand out to him. He wanted to tell her that he knew who she was. As the guardian of the forest that he lived in he had to know that. Her family had served to protect his family and the inhabitants of the forest for as long as he could remember.

"It's nice to meet you, Ode." He said, gently shaking her hand back.

Ariel didn't appreciate being pushed to the side, she also didn't like the fact that there was one boy not falling over himself to be with her. Ariel had always been told how beautiful she was and how any male would be lucky to be with her. This constant flood of praise over her looks had made Ariel very vain and shallow, it also didn't help her with her jealously issues. She was tempted to have one of her servants follow Shindig to see where he was going, but her mother convinced her that it was only cold feet and that Shindig was nervous being in the presence of someone as pretty as she was. Ariel had taken this as an acceptable excuse and let the subject of Shindig go, at least until the wedding was over.

Ode was waiting for him when he arrived, her eyes closed as she basked in the warm glow of the sun. Shindig smiled slightly, taking in the peaceful look on her face before clearing his throat. She opened one eye slowly and smiled.

"Hello there." She said, preparing to stand and walk towards him. He held up his hands to stop her.

"I have something to tell you, and it's better if you stay there." He said. Ode did as she was told, confusion replacing the smile. "Ode, I know we haven't known each other for long. A few weeks at most. But I was always told to follow my heart and right now my heart is telling me that I'm in love with you. I have been since I first set eyes on you and I will until I'm old and gray. I love you Ode. I want you and only you. I know that I'm engaged to someone else, but would give up everything for you." He looked at her as he spoke, nervous making it impossible for him to stop talking once he got started.

Ode simply sat there, staring down at her hands. Shindig's heart was racing. "Why wasn't she saying anything? Did she not feel the same way about him?" Thoughts ran wildly through his head. Simply waiting for her to say something was enough to drive Shindig mad. When she finally spoke, she chose her words carefully.

"I appreciate you telling me how you feel. I really and truly do. I...don't know why you told me this now though. You knew it could never work with us. You are the only heir to the crown. Your fiancee is here to marry you now. She expects to be Queen and expects you to be her King. You know I can't run away. I am sworn to protect this forest with my life. I couldn't leave with you even if I wanted to. Did you ever think to consider my feelings when you decided to tell me you loved me?" She asked him, fighting back tears. "I love you too, but we can never make it work. I was happy loving you secretly, never sharing my secret with anyone. Hiding my the fact my heart broke every time you left with a smile. Knowing that at the end of the day you have to end up with Ariel."

"It doesn't have to be that way!" Shindig yelled at her. "I can leave Ariel. I will make it work for us." He reached out for one of her hands, which she quickly moved from his reach. "Ode, I would renounce my title for you. I will do whatever it takes to be next to you." He grabbed her, placing a kiss on her lips.

Ode was shocked by the sudden, passionate kiss. The world seemed to stop with that kiss, the only people that mattered were the two of them. Everything just felt right for the first time in Ode's life. She kissed him back, tears rolling down her cheeks and onto his. When they parted he smiled at her, gently wiping the tears from her cheeks with his thumbs. She smiled through the tears, her heart felt like it could burst with happiness at any moment. She now knew that being with Shindig was the only thing she wanted now.

"Darling," Ariel said with a smile, hurrying towards him. "I have great news for you!"

"Oh, okay." He said slowly. "What is it?"

"The harvest festival is tomorrow. We have decided to move the wedding to tomorrow. It will bring your marriage more luck." His father said with a smile, moving to hug his son and his future daughter in law.

Shindig was speechless, there was no way he could get to Ode in time tonight to tell her about this. It would have to wait until tomorrow.

The next day, Shindig was unable to sneak away to go inform Ode about the move to the harvest ritual ground. He would have to wait until they got close enough to the clearing to try and sneak away and tell her.

Riding on the back of his Elegance, Follow, Shindig kept an eye out for any open opportunity to get away from the large group and find Ode. He knew Follow was fast enough to get Shindig to Ode and back to the group before anyone knew he was gone. The only problem was Ariel was at his side the entire time. She made Shindig hold her hand while they rode side by side and if he wanted to move to talk to someone else, she followed right behind him.

"Oh darling. Aren't you excited for the wedding? I know I am. Even if it is a bit sooner than we had expected, but a harvest wedding will bring us great happiness." Ariel smiled widely at him before continuing to babble on about how great being married would be. All Shindig could do was nod and occasionally agree with her.

When the group stopped to let their mounts rest, Shindig managed to sneak off on a bogus claim that Follow still needed to burn off some extra energy and he would be back in a few minutes. Ariel didn't believe him, but she knew that she couldn't follow him. So she sent one of the civilians after him.

"Let him get ahead of you and don't let him see you. Come back as soon as you have any information that will tell me where he keeps sneaking off to." Ariel said, handing the man a small bag of coins as payment for following Shindig. Shindig wove quickly through the trees, flying as fast as his wings would carry him to the clearing where Ode was waiting. He knew she'd be mad at him for being late, but he knew that wouldn't matter once he told her what was happening. He burst into the clearing, making Ode jump and whirl around to see what caused her to jump. When she saw it was Shindig, she smiled and rose to embrace him.

"Wait," he said, holding up his hands to stop her. "I have something important to tell you. About my marriage." Ode stopped and looked at Shindig, waiting for him to finish. "My parents moved the wedding date to this afternoon. We are en route to the ritual grounds right now. I tried to get away sooner to tell you, but I never had a moment to myself. I can't go through with this. I cannot marry Ariel. I don't love her like I love you." Shindig could barely manage to form coherent sentences as thoughts raced through his mind. He wanted to leave, to take Ode with him and go as far away as he could. He wanted Ode and no one else, even though he knew that he couldn't. A life without Ode in it wasn't a life that was worth living. He would never see her if he married Ariel, he'd rather be a tree in the forest than marry Ariel. At least by becoming a tree he'd be able to see Ode everyday.

Ode stared at Shindig, her mouth hanging open in disbelief. "So... what do we do?"

Shindig shrugged, he honestly had no idea. What could they do? Everything that they had thought of had consequences, and most of them involved Shindig or Ode giving up things that they could never do. For Shindig it was his title and for Ode it was her job. "The only thing we can do is spend what little time we have left together." He took a few quick steps over to her and kissed her.

From the cover of shrubs and bushes the guard watched them and when they kissed he knew he had the information that Ariel wanted. As quietly as he could, he got up and hurried back to Ariel to tell her the news.

When the guard got back to Ariel, he quickly retold the events he had witnessed. Ariel grew mad with rage, she'd teach Shindig to cheat on her and she'd make sure he'd never do it again

"That's strange... why are the birds acting like that?" She asked, turning to look in the direction that the birds were flying away from.

"No idea." Shindig said, closing his eyes and shifting his body so he could lay on his back in the grass.

"Someone's coming," Ode said, quickly jumping to her feet. "I hear hoof beats. Lots of them and they're coming this way."

Before Shindig could say anything or even get to his feet, Ariel burst into the clearing. Her eyes were wild with rage as she dismounted her horse. "How dare you treat me like this, Shindig. I gave you everything and you repay me by sneaking off to be with...with this creature?!"

Shindig struggled to get to his feet to explain what was going on. "It's not what it looks like, Ariel. I was just saying goodbye. Ode is a dear friend of mine and well I-" He was cut off by Ariel before he could get anymore out.

"Really? Just a friend, huh? That's not what I was told. I was told by a guard that I had follow you that you were kissing her. That you wanted to run away with her. Is this true?" Magic was coursing through Ariel's veins and it took all of her might to keep from using it on him then and there.

"What you saw was true." Ode said, moving in front of Shindig. "He doesn't love you. He never has."

Ariel chuckled. "You have to have her stand up for you? What's the matter Shindig? Can't fight your own battles?"

Shindig stepped up from behind Ode. "She's right. I didn't want to hurt you, but now that you know there's no point in pretending. I don't want to marry you Ariel. I don't care if your family's army can benefit our land or if you are "the most beautiful fairy" around. I can never love you like I love Ode." As he spoke he crept closer to Ariel. The look in his eyes was one that Ariel or his parents had never seen before. Defiance.

Ariel bristled slightly at his comment, she knew what she needed to do and she wasn't afraid of the consequences. "If I can't have you then no one can." Before anyone could question what she meant she fired a spell at Shindig. "You will remain here in this clearing, unable to move or be heard. You will spend the rest of your days as a tree. This spell will last as long as I am alive and no one will be able to reverse it other than me."

Ode screamed as Shindig was transformed right in front of her eyes. She wanted to fire one of her arrows straight through Ariel's heart and kill her right then and there, but by doing that Ode would condemn herself to death as well. Even Shindig's parents had to stand and watch as their son took the shape of a weeping willow. Ariel's magic was some of the strongest magic in the land and once a spell like that was cast, the only one who would be able to reverse it would be Ariel.

Once the spell was cast, Ariel turned on her heel and left. She married someone else and became queen. Shindig's parents continued to rule their kingdom and got their nephew ready to take over the throne so when they died someone would rule. They never spoke of their son again, and made it law that no one else in the kingdom could either.

Ode, on the other hand, visited Shindig everyday. She told him what happened to her that day and would sit and listen to the wind rustle through his branches. In a way it felt like he was talking to her whenever the wind blew. She was content knowing that he was still alive in there and that now they could be together, even if it wasn't in the way that they had wanted.

Shindig sat patiently in the tree, listening to Ode's voice through the thick bark. He was glad to have her here with him. It made the days pass quickly for him. He was grateful for Ode, she didn't have to stay but she did. Repaying her would be difficult, but he made up for it. When the wind rustled his branches he would angle them so that they would caress her face and make the wind send secret whispers to her. He did small things to let her know he was listening while he waited.

While he waited for the day when they could be together again.