It was in the final days of summer when a princess fled from the gates of her capital, each hurried gallop of her chestnut horse taking her farther from a marriage to a pimpled, old man. The King had declared that because she had not yet found her love, a husband must be found for the princess, for the commonfolk would soon think her an unlovable spinster and reject her as their future ruler. When her tears had ceased and her mount tired, the princess found herself at the wooden gates of the Alabaster Abbey.
The white-robed matron took one look at the young woman before promptly feeding her and drawing her a bath. She listened intently as princess spoke of her misfortune, nodding her head gravely.
“Spend some time among my daughters,” the matron urged. “Perhaps you will find what you have been searching for.”
And so the princess took up the humble chores and routine of a nun, assisting in the stables and the kitchens, although it could hardly be said that she was much help in either. When she kneeling in prayer, it was then that the princess noted the eyes of a nun upon her. With her face cocooned by her white robes, bright hazel eyes and a generous smattering of brown freckles across her nose, the princess thought that the nun was the most enchanting being she had ever seen.