THE COCOA TREE

GENRE: Grimm/Princess Bride/Stardust-style Gothic, Fairytale

RATING: PG

SUMMARY: Once upon a time…

est. reading time: 15 – 20 minutes

~

Once upon a time,

There were two neighboring kingdoms, both full of light, magic, and prosperity. Epona to the north and Ahrinia to the south.

The Epona was a cool, green, kingdom with great old coniferous trees that towered over the beautiful homes and castles with spired silver roofs. The temperature never fell below sixty degrees nor rose above seventy. It was a comfortable existence.

The earth was covered in a dark green moss, so soft, many went barefoot. Foxglove and clover covered the hilly land like tiny fuschia and white gems.

The people had great feasts of roast pheasant, potatoes, and green vegetables of all kinds. …Washing it down with mead and mulled wine.

Ahrinia was a warm place with a constant breezy seventy-five to eight-five degree temperature. Turqoise springs dotted the landscape along with tall flowering trees and vines, which also bore sweet fruits.

The homes were made of high sandy-colored blocks and pyramids painted bright colors and reaching high up into the sky.

The people ate feasts of braised fish, cous-cous, cooked with fruit from the trees. They too drank heartily, a sweet but potent rum and lived a carefree life.

Both kingdoms’ people wore comfortable clothing. Loose, flowing, layered, gowns on the women and simple loose-fitting pants and shirts on the men. The colors of each mostly reflected their environment, rich chocolate browns, greens, and whites in Epona and sand, royal blues, ruby reds, and greens in Ahrinia.

Two Enchantress Queens ruled over each kingdom in mutual peace and harmony.

The Northen Queen, Hedwynn had a pale creamy complexion, her eyes an alluring color between green and hazel. Her wavy, flowing chestnut locks, fell loose around her body.

A twining silver crown set upon her head, like the spires on the homes.

The Southern Queen, Elima had a glowing brown complexion, a shade or two darker than the sandy earth. Her intricately twisted black locks also fell loosely around her body. A triangular gold crown set upon her head, like the pyramid peaks on their monuments.

Both had been searching for husbands for many years, in hopes of bearing a child, more than for the ideal of love. Both wore tight corsets which emphasized their impressive bosom, thinking that might help.

Directly on the border between their lands, there was a huge cocoa tree, which bore cocoa beans with many special properties.

Chocolate made from it would inspire lust. Cocoa butter made from it would kept it’s wearer’s skin smooth and unlined for as long as they used it. And the drinks made from the distilled extract had uses, they suspected, as yet undiscovered by the two queens, try as they might to unravel it’s mystery.

~~~~*~~~~

Finally, after many years and near the end of their ability to bear a child, they both found husbands. Elima found a beautiful brown lute player, who was many years her junior.

And Hedwynn found a handsome swordsman named Erik who was also her junior.

Both women, though married, remained queens of their lands. And the men they married were henpecked until they literally were complete subordinates to their wives.

With the help of chocolate from the cocoa tree, they both stirred their husbands’ lust. And after many tries they both became pregnant at virtually the same time.

They visited each other often during this time, comparing size and boasting about the prospects of their children.

Nine months later, early on a Friday morning, just as the sun was beginning to peak over the horizon, Hedwynn gave birth to a baby boy, whom she named Felix.

Two weeks of discomfort later, Elima too gave birth on a Friday evening, as the sun left the horizon. She named the tiny baby girl, Kai.

Both queens planned to have their children grow together as playmates and perhaps marry, joining both kingdoms to form one massive powerful kingdom after they died.

~~~~*~~~~

One day, they both met at the tree only to discover it had been stripped bare.

Elima shouted angrily, “You have done it! You have used up my tree!”

Hedwynn, retorted, saying.. “It is my tree not yours! And you were the one who stripped it bare!”

The women bickered into the night, their nursemaids growing weary and worried in their absence.

The fight escalated until both women aimed their wands at their chests and cast a repelling spell at the same time.

The explosion it caused was massive. Both women were knocked out for a time. After a few hours, they both woke up very disoriented.

Both women, frustrated by the impact of their wands tossed them aside and prepared to fit by hand instead.

“Alright, BITCH!!” Elima said, beckoning her as she rolled up her sleeves…

“Come meet your end!”

Hedwynn tucked up her dress and cracked her neck while making a show of jogging in place.

And then they ran at each other. They both smacked their entire bodies into something neither could see.

“What in the Maker’s world, is this?!” Hedwynn exclaimed, feeling along a barrier they could not see.

They slide their hands along until they reached the magical cocoa tree. It too, was surrounded by the thin barrier.

They both panicked, knowing it’s powers would be lost to them.

“NOOO!!!” Elima said, continuing to try to find some hole in the barrier. As they watched, the tree shriveled before them, becoming nothing more than a twisted black husk.

From above them came the voice of the Maker, who never spoke, but for whom they both had faith. The Maker’s powers were without end.

“You two have bickered and fought over so trite a thing. The love you have for one another should be bigger than a mere tree.”

Elima spoke first…”I will not apologize until she admits she stole from me.”

“And I will not apologize until she admits she was the one who committed the deed!”

And back they went to bickering.

“Since you both find a tree to be more important than your friendship, then indeed that will be.

For twenty and five years you will wither and wallow in bitterness.

You will suffer ill-health and alone you will be.

The only loves that remain will leave both of thee. This curse will continue then, until you have no choice but to see it end.”

~~~~*~~~~

And so it was. Without the powerful cocoa tree’s butter both became withered, old, women. Without the chocolate, they had no way to stir their husbands lust. And so their husbands left.

Their children Kai and Felix, were their only loves, but they felt imprisoned by their mothers’ constant needs. Both had grown into beautiful children but they were still very young, at the tender age of fifteen.

Their parents always requested extravagant and difficult things, from white truffles to pearls from the south sea, and it was strain. Because neither seemed to appreciate what it took to obtain these things.

One day, Elima made a particularly difficult request and Kai screamed

“That’s IT!! I love you mother, but I’m just not having it!”

She stormed from her mother’s presence and through the castle doors. The now neglected kingdom, finally seeing a royal appear after many years threw rotten vegetables at the crying child.

She ran away, over the sand and among the few trees, past cobalt pools and the many glaring stares until she was completely alone, near a twisted blackened tree. She sat down on the ground and began to sob.

On the same day, Felix decided to do the same. He left his mother without a word, he sneaked out the back for some fresh air and a thoughtful walk.

And so it was, that they came to meet, beneath the twisted cocoa tree.

“Why are you crying?” Felix asked.

And she replied. “My mother is overbearing and has complicated needs. I just couldn’t go one more day, I really needed to get away.”

Felix’s heart was touched by the girl. As much by her similar burdens as by her beauty.

She too was intrigued, by the boy’s face as well as his heart.

And so they stayed together underneath the cocoa tree. The shared their dreams and wishes to escape, to become what they wished after they got away from their mothers’ bitter hate.

And soon it became apparent that they could not leave, for the joy of their company became the most important thing.

They reached out to each other hoping to touch and they realized their lands were divided by the invisible barrier.

They felt along panicked, as far they could go hoping there was a way around it. They both realized, heartbroken that this was some powerful magic. And they could never, ever, truly be together.

Still they sneaked out to see each other placing their palms together, on the barrier.

~~~~*~~~~

One day, suspicious of their children’s constant absence, both mothers conjured spying spells.

Elima stirred a cobalt pool, while Hedwynn placed her fingertips on a shiny piece of silver.

Each saw their children leaning on the barrier, trying their best to be together. And they were furious.

They each conjured another spell, a spell of forgetting. When they hid it in their children’s food, indeed they did forget. Neither could remember anything of their time together.

But still they were unhappy in their mother’s presence and constant requests so when both were eighteen, they set off on their own, over their mothers’ protests.

Left alone, the mothers became still like statues, going inside themselves where there was no light, no joy, only depression.

~~~~*~~~~

Their children lived well on their own.

Kai, learned to play the kora and was as gifted at it, as her father was with the lute.

She traveled, playing for wider and bigger audiences, making them weep at the sad beautiful music she made.

Everyone who heard it wondered what could cause such pain, but she had no answer. She simply continued to play.

She played for kings and queens and even traveled over the sea…To kingdoms so far away there features were different from any she had seen. Round-faced people with narrow eyes and stick straight hair thought her music very fair.

Soon, she settled in one place making it necessary for any who wanted to see her play to come to where she lived.

People paid whatever price to be in her audience and weep. So she became a wealthy girl, but still… She was not happy. She pondered it often, knowing there was no reason for this. But still in her heart there was an empty space.

~~~~*~~~~

Felix also traveled far and wide beginning as a cabin- boy in large boat, he worked his way up to captain a ship.

He was not a pirate, but sponsored adventurer, discovering new places and new forms of exotic wealth, like a bright orange spice so rare, that only one small flask could be taken back to his wealthy sponsors. The people he recovered it from were brown and wore the brightest silk fabrics he had yet seen.

Felix had become an expert fighter and swordsman, just like his father.

Soon, he too became so rich that he went to retire in one place, but still he was unhappy. Many took it for yearning for adventure, but he knew that was not it, for even when he’d done it, he was not happy.

~~~~*~~~~

It came to be that a prince in a dark barren land, found his heart hardened by life. The land was always dark, with lightening and thunder ever booming, but never any rain. The dirt, the trees, and the house were black, even the stringy haired people covered in the constant soot, were blackened with filth.

Nothing could stir any emotion in him, not joy, not interest, not surprise, not amusement.

And so, he took it out on his already oppressed people. They were tortured and murdered for the slightest slights, from having the their heads slowly twisted off in a macabre machine of his own devising to making them watch as he had their children thrown into a ravine.

This prince’s name was Drake. He had the stubbornness of a mule and the cunning of a snake.

Rumors had reached even his dark kingdom, about the beauty and talents of a princess from faraway and so he developed a plan to take her away.

~~~~*~~~~

He decided to hire the best in the world, an adventurer named Felix, who had supposedly retired.

He sent out his men and promised any price, but Felix would not budge his unexplained melancholy left him without the desire to go back, regardless of the price.

Drake never took no for an answer and he devised a plan. He found and held Felix’s first captain and threatened him with his death. Felix had learned so much from the man, he had no choice, but to follow through with Drake’s wishes.

~~~~*~~~~

After weeks of hard travel with his loyal crew, his ship ran up on the land where she lived.

She lived in a vast castle full of those who kept her secure, for Drake had not been the only one who wanted her just for himself.

So they waited until it was late in the night and then engaged in a stealthy, silent, fight. Each guard knocked out before they could make a peep.

They sneaked in through the gilded halls and climbed the winding stairs…

Kai couldn’t sleep, so she played in her room. She sat on her cushioned stool and arched her fingers to play her kora.

The sound floated down the halls. The music was so mournful that every last man there began to cry.

Felix, ran up the steps into her room, determined to save his captain.

Hearing the ruckus she stopped and hid, crouching behind her huge bed.

She could hear them searching every room, until one of them reached her bedroom. He searched so quietly she could scarcely hear where he was…

And then she felt the grab on her small wrist. She yelped…trying to wrench her hand away, but he held fast drawing her close.

“Felix?” “Kai?”

All at once it all came back, their love, the barrier, their precious young life at one time was together…and yet apart. That they kissed fiercely, realizing now, an end to their sadness they were finally free.

…But there was still the matter of the evil prince Drake. And so together they devised a plan, to make Drake break.

~~~~*~~~~

They traveled together over the vast sea and did exactly as Drake wanted bringing her to him.

Once there, she sat in the vast hall where Drake sat on an immense throne, his expression completely blank.

She sat down nervously, her hands trembling on the strings, but she played not the sad tune but a happy one, that she hadn’t expected.

Their plan had been to make the prince cry and while he was distracted rescue the captain.

But instead his expression brightened, his lips curling into a smile and he decided right then and there, that she and he would marry.

In his happiness he released the captain, but now, he held Felix’s heart captive.

~~~~*~~~~

His loyal men and the captain saw his bleak expression and they fought back all of Drake’s men…

“Go after her!” his captain yelled as he impaled a bigger, younger, man on the end of his dagger..

Drake took her arm and dragged her up his stairs, with Felix close behind.

She fought him fiercely beating and kicking him, but he was strong. He dragged her along like she was nothing at all.

Finally, they reached the uppermost tower in the dark castle, the thunder and lightening above seeming so close.

“Come no further, young adventurer…” he said, a poisoned needle at her throat. “For I will kill her and then me.”

“I have never known happiness until this point. Now that I have, she and I can die…It is a very strong poison, it needs but a prick. And there is no known cure, once her lovely skin has been pierced….She will have a long painful death.”

“Drake…” he said. “I have heard of your incredible skill with a blade. Do you not wish to test it, or are you afraid?”

Drake twitched, and tossed her aside, he had touched yet another emotion, Drake’s willful pride.

The battle was long, intricate and fierce they used every corner, they covered every part of the floor…Finally, Drake had managed to disarm Felix’s sword and knock him down, intent on finishing him.

But Kai threw a loose floorboard at Drake just as he thrust the sword forward.

He missed and Felix rolled over. He snapped the blade under his weight.

He quickly recovered the rest of the steel. Before Drake could recover from his shock and stuck it square into the man’s heart.

He stood back and threw the blade away, having cut his hand anyway. Felix began to collapse and Kai ran over to support him.

And then she felt a prick in her ankle and Drake let out a cackle.

“Now you both will die and so shall I” And his eyes closed for the last time.

Felix held his hand up and realized what he meant and quickly exited the castle before it could take effect. His ship doctor said, “The poison works slow giving them five days at most, before they both would be dead.”

The first day they felt nothing and they told the captain to take their bodies home, while they could.

The second day, they felt an odd tingling in all of their limbs, like the pins and needles feeling when a leg is asleep.

The third day, the sickness grew worse for no food nor water would stay in there stomachs.

The fourth day, they could not move they held each other on the same bed

And on the fifth day filled with dread, the captain discovered they were finally dead.

~~~~*~~~~

They did as was promised and returned their bodies, but it had been an arduous task as they had to circle the globe twice.

When the queens received the bodies they came out from their stillness into deeper despair, wailing over their children’s bodies in utter regret.

And then the Maker’s voice came booming from above:

“This will not be defeated, for this is true love.

You must go to the cocoa tree,
put aside your dispute.
…For only then, will you both be free.

At once you’ll know exactly what to do.
The solution will come from the both of you.”

~~~~*~~~~

So, with much difficulty the decrepit old women made the journey to the very spot where this all began.

They genuinely apologized for their long held grudge and realized all the time and energy they’d wasted then. Twenty and five long years of pain and suffering, made by them, not the Maker, for they could’ve put this aside years ago.

Then something truly magical happened. They reached for each other to hug and cry and barrier fell between them and they knew exactly why.

The tree grew lush and green baring more beans than they’d ever seen!

Both women gasped in surprise, the solution had been right before their eyes.

They distilled the essence of the beans, a long process that was cut in half, by them working together.

They each took a vial and pressed it to their son and daughter’s lips and they both revived. Both women wept disbelieving that their children were now alive.

~~~~*~~~~~

The following week, they watched them marry on the border between their lands, underneath the cocoa tree and all were glad.

Eventually, their mothers did pass away and the kingdoms became one forever, from that day.

…And they all lived happily ever after.

THE END

~ by Raven White on July 9, 2009.