Chapter 4: Darren The Great

"Interesting," Darren smiled.

Honestly, he was stumped. He had no idea what would be apt to depict Queen Mia. In fact, he did not know much about Queen Mia.

The story of Queen Mia was shrouded with mystery, and fantastical as myths and legends. In his homeland Azur, it was largely believed that Queen Mia had supernatural abilities because she was half Fairy.

In his mind, Queen Mia was a black box. He was not sure what to expect. Would he find love in this mystical land? Would he fall in love with the beautiful Queen Mia? Would he be able to unite their kingdoms through a beautiful marriage? He did not know. In fact, perhaps, he did not know what love meant.

He had not experienced it before. In his youth, he had pursuits of music which took most of his time. He also had to learn the robes of being the future king, including languages, philosophy, calligraphy, archery, sword fighting, even poetry. He was so preoccupied with learning that there was simply no time for girls, especially for those he knew he could not marry. His parents had made it clear that his marriage would be detrimental to his country and had to be carefully arranged with caution.

Queen Mia was an exception. His Father had told him to pursue "the girl with all you have". Darren had been surprised with his choice of words. Now that he had seen Queen Mia herself, he could understand what his Father meant. Perhaps, perhaps, Queen Mia could be his only chance of both happiness to himself and happiness to his Kingdom.

He knew he wanted to impress her. He wanted to show her that he was not just "one of the boys" but he was somebody who could mean much more to her.

An idea struck within him. He would present his very best, of all of his capabilities, as a gift, to this woman.