"The Rain Frog."
In spite of the rain, Princess Sunshine chose to walk home from her shift at "The Fairy's Brew" instead of catching her usual carriage.
As she neared the end of her journey, the storm began to fade and the gutters of the realm no longer overflowed, leaving the cobblestones almost washed clean.
Entering the foyer of a small apartment building, Sunshine found her landlady, Sandra, a slovenly woman of tremendous girth, wiping an umbrella dry with a faded green rag. With twinkling eyes, she greeted Sun and said, "It's the right evening for frogs, miss."
Sun nodded back, still embarrassed by her circumstances, and made her way to the rented room that she'd inhabited since Daddy had passed and her kingdom had been lost.
Her room was immaculate, simply because it didn't hold much, so there was no chance for clutter. A threadbare mattress was flanked by a soft enough chair, both set near the window where she spent most of her hours.
Making her way into the kitchen, she prepared a lacquered lap tray with a cup of hot tea and three one-inch square cakes adorned with pastel icing in a variety of colors.
Once done, she moved to the window, where the sill remained bare. Raising the pane several inches, Sun settled into the chair with her tray and added honey to her cup. She was grateful for the small comfort.
Time passed slowly and she must have dozed, for it was way past twilight when a lyrical croak broke her slumber and remarked, "I think that tea looks pretty potent."
Taking her cues from the rain frog perched on her lap, so as to not frighten him, Sun softly answered, "Potent? I guess so. I like it strong, but I have known worse." She paused and then added, "May we please have a word?"
The frog flicked his tongue against a petite cake and responded, "You seem very kind, but I can stay only a moment. I've many wishes yet to collect."
With trembling fingers, Sun reached into her pocket and placed three dragon scales upon the tray and spoke.
"I miss him."
It was all she could muster.
The frog finished his first cake and moved on to a second before pausing to retort, "Three scales! For the resurrection of a dead love? That is unbearably rude. I will no doubt encounter great evils to fetch him, and there are many unwholesome forces at work within this realm. I will require more."
Sun didn't mean to cry. Not now. Not here in front of her only hope, but tears flooded from her eyes as if she were a child again. Despairing from her weakness, she wiped away the tears with the heels of both hands and asked, "Then what will it take?"
The frog paused mid lick and then, in a surprisingly kind voice, answered, "You are special to me, so I will grant you your wish, but only for the price of your enchanted shoes."
Sun raised her eyes from the tray and peered past the frog to the tree lined street below, splashed with soft moonlight and shadows. In her mind's eye, she recalled her final memory of Dean standing there in that severe grey coat that was always too large for his frame.
Sensing her apprehension the frog spoke once again.
"Your part is up to you. Wrong decisions are made and there are always consequences. People die every day. Your enchanted shoes on the sill for collection by dawn. That is the cost."
With that final proclamation, the rain frog hopped away and Sunshine watched after him until the darkness and the distance swallowed him from view.
Sun thought back to her coworker, Daphne, hugging her tight at the end of their shift, pleading, "Sun, I beg of you, don't. They always come back different."
In the near lightless room, Sun's recollection of the rain frog's visit began to fade, as magic is wont to do.
Quickly, while she still had a grasp on its mystery and wonder, she removed the crystal shoes from her still aching feet and placed them softly on the sill.
She missed him.
Subject: Head of Household