"My two daughters," the beautiful queen started calmly, her voice a murmuring brook.  "I meant you no harm at all.  In fact, the exact opposite of harm.  I loved you - I still do.  I believe I have something you want."  With this, she reached down and hoisted up an animal.

"Azis!" the girls cried at once.  "But... how?" asked Joy.

"I caught her before he hit the ground," their mother explained.  She was a fairy, the queen of fairies actually.  "I thought you might need her."

"Yes, but we must journey on.  We have lost the witch but need to find her once again.  This time we will have to be ready."  Victoria grimly stated.

"Then off you go.  I will be there should you ever need me.  Take your dog and each other, and you will find the witch of these lands.  Bring her to justice, but let your justice be fairly distributed.  Do not doddle, do not hesitate.  Think and act, for this equals doing.  Be gone, as I must leave."  With that, their beautiful mother and queen of the fairies left them in a burst of light.  The two girls now knew that they would be tested.  Their thoughts, their morals, and their friendships.

"Come, Victoria," Joy solemnly stated.  "Let us go and bring justice back to our lands."  With that the two girls scrambled down the tree, Azis on Joy's back.  As the two girls jumped from the lowest limb, they sprinted back to the clearing they were previously.  But, before they could continue any further, something zoomed overhead.  "What was that?" the two girls questioned simultaneously.  Just then they heard shouts from far away villagers near an extremely large fire.  "The rebellion will not be crushed!  For we know that our princesses are alive!" they screamed. 

Little did the two princesses know, but they would soon become the hope of a larger force: the heroines of a crumbling rebellion.  "So," the youngest started.  "The battle has begun," the eldest finished.

TO BE CONTINUED...