The Princess of Infantilum 2

Taken from the ABDL Saga romance:

Zeke and Lily (Book 11): Ten Years Later

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here is an ABDL fairy tale bed time story that would make The Princess Bride blush.

(Start with The Princess of Infantilum 1)

The Princess of Infantilum 2 –

Once upon a time there was a beautiful girl named Isabella. She was the Princess of the Kingdom of Infantilum, but she wasn’t just any Princess. She was an AB Princess because her heart never wanted to leave infancy. So … she never left infancy.

Isabella had met and married Malcolm, a simple stable boy with a heart of gold who bravely led the charge that saved the Kingdom of Infantilum from an attacking army. But not only was Malcolm brave. He was also a natural Daddy at heart.

There was nothing Malcolm wouldn’t do for her. And there was nothing Isabella wouldn’t do for him. They were a happy husband and wife, a happy Daddy-n-Babygirl and soon would become King and Queen of Infantilum when her parents stepped down from the throne for her.

Her parents were getting older and it was soon time for them to hand the crowns down. Isabella was as happy and as free-spirited as ever, but she took the forthcoming responsibilities seriously. And with a husband who could keep her grounded to Earth while still allowing her to float in the clouds, she would remain the happiest AB Princess in the world – long after she became the Queen of Infantilum.

That morning, Isabella rode Kensington the Horse out into the wilderness. Sweetie the Hummingbird had flown alongside them, tweeting a happy tune as the sun shone brilliantly above and there wasn’t a cloud to be seen anywhere in the sky.

Midway into the woods, Isabella ran into three animals who were most peculiarly matched up with each other. The first was a big brown bear. The second was a little beaver. And the third was a raccoon.

“Hello,” the big brown bear said. “My name is Teddy.”

“And my named is Baxter,” said the Beaver as he thumped his big flat tail in greeting.

“And my name is Reddington-Reddington,” said the Raccoon as he stood tall and bushed out his tail proudly. “But you can call me Redd.”

Isabella asked them how their day was going and they told her that they had some very difficult tasks they had to get done. Being kind-hearted and always wanting to help others, she asked them what the tasks were.

Teddy the Big Brown Bear said that Baxter the Beaver needed to finish building a dam before it rained again. Otherwise, all his hard work would be washed away. Redd the Racoon said that Teddy the Big Brown Bear needed to dig a portion of the creek a little bit deeper so that he could catch fish with his mouth easier as they jumped up out of the water. Baxter the Beaver said that Redd the Raccoon needed to find a safe and easy way to get across the creek but that walking across a dam with water rushing over it was too risky for the raccoon to try.

Isabella thought about it and thought about it and then came up with the perfectly solution. Isabella got down off Kensington the Horse and walked all the animals over to Baxter the Beaver’s partially-finished dam. She explained to the animals that each of their tasks helps the other tasks get accomplished.

Isabella had everyone go over to an old tree along the side of the creek. This tree was dying and she said that the tree would then still be helpful to others if it was pushed down over the creek. So Baxter the Beaver began to chew on the base of the tree as Teddy the Big Brown Bear pushed on the trunk of the tree. Kensington ran across the creek to the other side. A vine was wrapped around the tree and Tweetie the Hummingbird took the other end of the vine in its tiny mouth and flew it across the creek to Kensington who took that end of the vine and pulled on the tree from afar. And with a team effort, the old tree came down – landing perfectly across the width of the creek and being long enough to get to the other side. Teddy the Big Brown Bear and Kensington the Horse rolled the tree up the creek and up on top of Baxter the Beaver’s partially-finished dam.

Next, Isabella asked Kensington the Horse to walk down into the creek – just behind the dam. And with its hooves, Isabella asked the horse to start kicking mud in the direction of the dam. As Kensington the Horse did this, Redd the Raccoon and Teddy the Big Brown Bear got on the other side of the dam – using their paws to keep the mud from passing through the unfinished dam wall. Baxter the Beaver would run to nearby bushes and trees, chewing off whatever twigs and low-hanging branches it could get to. And Isabella would scoop up these twigs and branches, running them over to the dam and putting them into the unfinished portion.

Little by little, the mud and the twigs-n-branches began to mix together. And before long, the dam was completed. Being the master-architect, Baxter the Beaver used its flat tail to pat the new section of the dam and solidify it a bit more. Then Baxter the Beaver poked a few holes throughout the dam to allow a certain amount of water to always be able to pass through. Baxter the Beaver even poked a few holes to allow fish to be able to pass through the dam too.

Then Isabella showed how all three tasks were now completed. By rolling that tree up on top of the dam, Redd the Raccoon would now have a safe way to cross the creek by walking across that old tree as it would always stay above the waters of the dam. The dam itself was now complete and Baxter the beaver had even made certain it wouldn’t break apart by putting a few holes in it to relieve pressure and allow mild water flow. And the area just behind the dam was now deep enough to collect fish for Teddy the Big Brown Bear to get to.

Everyone cheered and then jumped into that deep hole behind the dam, splashing around and having a good time.

After a few minutes, everyone climbed out of the water hole and laid on their backs in a circle on the shady grass of the creek’s bank. The leaves above blew very gently in the breeze, allowing little golden trickles of sunshine to cascade down onto them. The weather was perfect. Of course, it was perfect. They were in the Kingdom of Infantilum. And no matter where she went, the sun always followed Princess Isabella.

A short while later, the galloping sound of an approaching horse was heard. Isabella and all the animals sat up, but then rejoiced when they saw it was Prince Malcolm, Isabella’s beloved husband and Daddy. Oh, he was so handsome. And she was glad she was sitting on the grass, just then. Had she been standing, her knees would have given way when she caught first sight of him – as well as every sight of him thereafter.

Malcolm got down off his horse and walked over to the circle, then kneeling alongside his wife and BabyGirl. Gushing with affection, she laid back down – looking up at him with adoration, the same way she looked up at him when he placed her in her crib for naps or when he placed in the royal bathtub for her morning and evening princess bathings.

“I take it that Baxter’s dam has been completed,” Malcolm said, seeing how all the animals were soaked and Isabella’s clothing was wet as well.

And at that moment, all the animals started talking at once – singing the praises of each other and how everyone helped out and how they were able to complete all the tasks because they worked together. And while the animals babbled, Isabella beamed with a warm glow of happiness – having been the architect of the group’s successes.

“I was wondering if you all would do me a favor,” Malcolm said to the animals, all of them sitting up a bit straighter still and being more than happy to do a favor for the soon-future king of Infantilum. “Would you all be so kind as to make a soft forest bed that is partially-shaded and partially-sunny? I have a wet little BabyGirl princess here who needs to be changed.”

The animals all smiled and jumped up, all of them shaking a little to get the water off their hair before searching the nearby areas of the forest for the perfect location to make a soft bed for Isabella to be changed on. And as for Isabella? Well, she had instantly regressed when Malcolm referred to her as his BabyGirl. When he told the animals she was wet and needed to be changed, she blushed a beautiful shade of pink – abandoning every thought in her head except for the love she felt for her Daddy.

Malcolm scooped her up into his arms and followed after the animals, standing patiently as he watched Redd the Raccoon and Baxter the Beaver clear all the sticks from a patch of grass that was indeed partially-shaded and partially-sunny. Then Kensington the Horse stomped through the high grasses of that patch to make certain no stones were sticking up out of the ground. Following that, Teddy the Big Brown Bear laid down on the grass patch and rolled back-n-forth across it, over and over and over until all the blades of grass laid down.

Finally, Sweetie the Hummingbird flew in circles around the grass, making all the blades bend in the circular direction that the little bird was flying. This evened out the grass of the forest bed and softened it.

Kensington took the cape off Malcolm’s back and placed it flat on the forest bed. Malcolm set Isabella down on her feet, then lifted the wet princess dress up-n-off her frame. Her chin lowered and her shoulders shrunk up as shyness overtook her composure. Then he lowered her wet diaper to her ankles, having her step out of it and stand with her feet together. Her modesty overtook her next as she was now completely naked, made so by her Daddy Prince.

Malcolm helped her kneel, facing towards him as he then knelt to face her. Reaching behind her and placing his right hand on her lower back, he reached behind her and held the back of her neck with his left hand as he eased her down onto the cape. Then he wrapped her in the cape, allowing its warmth to dry her for a few minutes as he stood up and took his shirt off.

Tearing off a sizeable length from the lower hem of his shirt, he then tore off the cuff from each sleeve. Kneeling down alongside her and opening the front of the cape, he tapped the outsides of her thighs. Submissively, Isabella lifted her legs straight up in the air as Malcolm took one of the cuffs of his shirt and dried her bottom. Oh, he was so gentle with her. And her beautiful eyes glazed over with affection for him. Placing underneath her that length of his shirt he tore from the lower hem, he lowered her bottom and legs back down.

Then he parted her thighs, Sweetie returning just then from a quick mission to find a strawberry. Holding the stem of the strawberry in its little beak, Sweetie placed the strawberry in Isabella’s lips. The blushing BabyGirl took the strawberry in her mouth as Malcolm took the other cuff from his shirt and wiped her front, then down between her legs. Then he folded up the front of the length of the shirt she was laying on, Malcolm tying the ends at each of her hips and making it a cloth diaper. Sitting her up, he put the remainder of his shirt on her torso, the garment now being small enough to fit her.

Lifting her up into his arms, he climbed up onto his horse, still holding her as the animals put her wet princess dress and his cape on the back of Kensington the Horse. As Sweetie, Kensington the Horse, Malcolm and Isabella headed back to the kingdom castle, all the forest animals waved goodbye.

From her seat in his arms, Isabella waved back at the animal friends. Then she rested the side of her face on his chest, chomping on the rest of strawberry and beaming from within.

Oh, what a happy BabyGirl princess was she.

As Isabella and Malcolm rode back towards the castle, they were stopped by the king’s messenger. The gentleman had a most unsettled look on his face and he urged them to hurry back to the castle as the king needed to speak with both of them immediately.

Without another moment’s wait, Isabella hopped onto the back of Kensington the Horse as she and Malcolm raced back to the castle. What was it that her father needed to say to them? Was he dying? The nervousness alone was unraveling her little mind.

Isabella rode straight through the castle entrance and directly into the center courtyard where her father often spent his mornings – admiring the perfect weather of his kingdom while watching the peasants bustling about in their daily activities. All-but leaping off the back of Kensington the Horse, Isabella sprinted over to her father’s side – weeping with fear as she asked him what was wrong. Malcolm followed shortly behind her.

Seeing his daughter’s angst and not wanting her to wet herself (especially not since they were in the middle of the courtyard – plus the fact that she was dressed in a tattered outfit that made her look like a peasant girl, not a princess), the king calmed her nerves by telling her he wasn’t dying and he wasn’t sick.

“But it stands to reason that I could become sick before long,” the king said, being honest.

“Father, what do you mean?” Isabella asked, a return of fear entering her senses.

“Isabella, sit next to me and listen,” the king said, Isabella sitting next to him and Malcolm standing by her side. “The conditions here in the Kingdom of Infantilum are perfect. The skies are always beautifully blue and cloud-free. The sun is always brilliant and bright. It only rains at night or in extreme early morning. Winter is but a mild few weeks at the beginning of each year. There is also no disease or illness in the kingdom, for humans or for animals. All spiders and bugs are banned from coming within 1,000 feet of the kingdom walls.”

“Yes,” Isabella replied, not knowing where her father was headed with these statements.

“Well …,” the king said, then pausing as he had a difficult admittance to make. “There is a reason for all of these perfect conditions.”

“Right,” Isabella said, already knowing the answer. “The Kingdom of Infantilum has the key to eternal happiness. That’s why things are perfect here.”

“Yes, but until now, you believed that the key to eternal happiness was a concept as opposed to an object,” the king replied, standing up and leading both of them into the castle – then into the center chamber of the castle.

Though still confused by what her father was talking about, Isabella was very excited to be allowed into the center chamber. Her father never granted anyone entrance into that chamber.

“What I’m about to show both of you is something that you’ll need to know when you become king and queen,” the king said as he opened the chamber door.

In the center of the chamber was an empty stone table that looked like a chalice.

“The key is actually a small pebble with the power to eternal happiness. Your great-grandfather discovered this key in a mystical cave beyond the furthest reaches of the great wilderness. In one year, all the problems of the kingdom were fixed – all illness ended, health now flawless. Happiness was widespread. And life became perfect,” the king explained, Isabella and Malcolm listening closely. “I was checking on it today to prepare to give it to the two of you when you become King and Queen. But as you can see, the pebble is gone.”

“Someone stole it?” Malcolm asked.

“No, it wasn’t stolen. It was lost,” the king said sadly. “Eternal happiness only dwells in places that are absent of conflict. It’s very hard to have eternal happiness as human beings. The reason it was lost was because of war. When that army attacked this kingdom and brought unhappiness into it, the essence of the key was compromised. And the key was magical returned to the mystical cave where my grandfather found it so long ago.”

“You mean when that army attacked us and Malcolm saved the day, the key was taken back?” Isabella asked, her father nodding yes. “By who? Who took it back?”

“Nature itself,” the king answered. “My grandfather told me he traveled through the forest to the edges of darkness where he found a mystical cave. And it was there that he found the key to eternal happiness. This is where the key has been returned to.”

Malcolm and Isabella looked at each other, realizing what the king was going to ask them.

“I am too old to go after it. I need the two of you to retrieve it. You will have to take a perilous journey through the wilderness, but you will no longer have the safety of perfection around you. Forces of evil will work against you and try to prevent you from getting to the key,” the king said sadly. “The longer we are without the key to happiness, the more illness will return to the kingdom. I have grown old, Isabella. And so has your mother. Our illnesses will be very likely.”

Isabella hugged her father and then turned to Malcolm.

“We’ll leave tomorrow morning at dawn,” Malcolm said, Isabella nodding her agreement.

Hours later –

As Malcolm lifted Isabella out of the royal bathtub, fresh from her evening bathing, he saw the absolute defeat in her eyes. She seemed as though she believed their journey wouldn’t be successful. All of her usual jovial animation was at a minimum and she was sad.

Springing into action, Malcolm diapered her and dressed her in the cutest little pink nightie she had. Then he wrapped her in a blanket and carried her out onto the balcony that was attached to her princess nursery. Standing there and holding her, he gave Isabella the time she needed to lift her head up on her own and look out at the Kingdom of Infantilum.

“Do you see those peasants down there, Princess?” Malcolm asked, Isabella focusing in on the people as they all sat on the front steps of their village houses – enjoying the evening. “They believe that everything is okay, right now. And as their future king and queen, we must always make them feel like everything is okay. We will do just that. And tomorrow, we will prove to ourselves as well as your mother and father that we believe it, too.”

Isabella presented a half-smile, trying her best to believe that everything would work out but having trouble doing so. So, Malcolm tried a different approach to quell her worries.

“Do you remember when you were locked in that tower and your father was preparing to hang me the following morning because he believed I kidnapped you?” Malcolm asked, carrying her back into her princess nursery and then out into the second floor hallway.

“Yes,” she said, then growing confused as to why Malcolm was carrying her out of her princess nursery.

“And do you remember when Sweetie the Hummingbird flew up to you in that tower and gave you a note from me that night?” Malcolm asked, Isabella nodding but paying more attention to the fact that he was carrying her towards their bedroom. “What did the note say?”

“Um, it said that I needed to believe in miracles,” she answered, Malcolm then carrying her into their bedroom and over to their bed.

“And did you believe in miracles that night?” he asked, laying her down on the bed, Isabella nodding. “And what happened the next morning?”

“The miracle came true,” Isabella replied, Malcolm laying down next to her.

“Then I think that all you have to do this time is believe in the miracle again, don’t you?” Malcolm asked, Isabella smiling brightly.

“Yes, Daddy,” she said sweetly, then resting herself up against him – using the side of his body as her pillow.

—————

The next morning at dawn, Malcolm and Isabella were awake and ready to go – neither of them really getting any great amount of sleep. Isabella hugged her mother and father goodbye and then mounted Kensington the Horse. Malcolm and the king shared a few well-wishing thoughts and the king then bestowed a compliment on him that was heartfelt.

“Malcolm,” the king said. “I doubted your worth when I met you. You were but a peasant to me and therefore unworthy of my daughter’s hand. But I was wrong and it has been a rewarding bit of humility that now places me in service to you.”

The king paused in his words to collect his emotions before continuing.

“Please bring my daughter back to me when this is over … even if the key to happiness is lost forever,” the king said with tears in his eyes.

“Your highness, I will bring your daughter back to you and she will be holding the key to happiness not only in her hand but also in her heart,” Malcolm said before mounting Blackie the Stallion and heading out into the great wildness with Isabella – Sweetie the Hummingbird flying alongside them.

Malcolm and Isabella journeyed back to Baxter the Beaver’s dam and kept moving inward into the woods.

“We’re gonna need help, Daddy,” Isabella said, opting to not allow her worry to consume her and instead choosing to think ahead to what would aid their success.

“Then why don’t we enlist the help of a few friends who know how to work together to get something done?” Malcolm asked, Isabella tilting her head to the side and then grinning widely as she picked up on what he was saying. “Friends who can work towards a common goal.”

Looking ahead in the trail through the wilderness, they saw Teddy the Big Brown Bear, Baxter the Beaver and Redd the Raccoon. All three of them were sitting in that soft patch of grass where Isabella was changed. They were eating a breakfast of berries and forest fruits. And, when they saw the approaching Malcolm and Isabella, they invited their soon-future King and Queen to sit and enjoy breakfast with them.

Over breakfast, Malcolm explained the situation. A journey would be made through the wilderness to the mystic cave to find the lost key to happiness. The animals weren’t shocked at all to hear this, saying how that information had been spreading across the trees as a rumor since last evening – shortly after Malcolm and Isabella left the forest to return to the castle when summoned by the king.

It made sense to ask the help of the forest animals as they lived in the great wilderness and would know its terrain better than any human. In fact, the animals had already contacted another forest dweller to assist in this quest. And after breakfast, they all journeyed to the Green Field – a straight stretch of open grass deep in the woods. None of the animals knew why trees wouldn’t grow in that grass … until the day they met Foster the Forest Sprite.

Getting to the Green Field, the first thing the group noticed was the constant wind that blew across that open grassy area.

“Where is this wind coming from?” Isabella asked, seeing no catalyst for its purpose there.

“The better question would be: who is this wind coming from?” Teddy the Big Brown Bear replied – the wind suddenly coming to a screeching halt and a forest sprite suddenly standing in front of them.

It was Foster, a little sprite who stood 12 inches tall, pointy ears and wearing an outfit made of forest leaves.

“Hello ….,” Foster said, pausing to try to catch his breath. “So, you are Prince Malcolm and Princess Isabella. I am Foster and it’s an honor to meet our next king and queen.”

“Foster, we are tight on time. We need to get to …,” Malcolm said.

“… you need to get to furthest edges of the world to a supposed mystical cave where you hope to reacquire the key to happiness,” Foster said, completing Malcolm’s thought. “And you need all the help you can get.”

“Yes,” Malcolm said.

“Then let’s get moving,” Foster replied as the group began to journey once more. “But this trek won’t be so simple as it may seem. Without the key to happiness keeping harmony everywhere, chaos begins to rule to the day.”

How right Foster was.

One hour into their journey, dark clouds moved into the skies. These were the first dark clouds Isabella had ever seen in her life. Then, an hour later, a downpour of rain fell from the Heavens. This was the first daylight rain she had ever seen in her life. The temperature plummeted and they all shivered. Then the creek running through the great wilderness filled to its capacity, overflowing and causing a flood. Every dam that Baxter the Beaver had built over the years broke and a wave of water flowed through the woods.

The group ran as fast as they could. Teddy the Big Brown Bear took enormous leaps to keep up with Malcolm and Isabella on the two galloping horses. Redd the Raccoon and Baxter the Beaver climbed up on Teddy the Big Brown Bear’s back and held onto his hair for dear life. Sweetie the Hummingbird flew up high into the sky to get a bird’s eye view of where this water was coming from. It seemed only Foster could move quickly enough to stay ahead of the fast-approaching flood waters.

Before long, the waters caught up to them – sweeping the group up and carrying them along. It was all they could do to keep hold of each other’s hands … or paws … or hooves … or whatever they had. And when the waters finally subsided, the group washed up in a very dark place where the trees were charred and dead.

The landscape in front of them was perilous. It looked nothing like the glorious Kingdom of Infantilum. They were at the furthest edges of the world. And now their journey would become very dangerous.

Malcolm, Isabella, Foster the Forest Sprite, Kensington the Horse, Blackie the Stallion, Teddy the Big Brown Bear, Baxter the Beaver, Redd the Raccoon and Sweetie the Hummingbird all stood at the precipice of a landscape that could only have come straight from a nightmare. And as they traveled down a narrow, rocky trail into the dark land, the eerie scene around them grew worse as the charred blackness of everything began to show details.

There were no living trees, just scorched and lifeless stumps – burned down to practically nothing by some unforeseen evil force. There was no grass to line their way, just crunchy ash that they walked through. There was no sun in the sky, but also no stars. There were no bushes, filled with forest berries. And it seemed this God-forsaken purgatory would be the last place on Earth to look for the key to happiness. There were no animals or birds anywhere. It was death itself, a lifeless and saddening Hell – at the furthest edges of the world.

“This is the most horrible place I have ever been to,” Teddy the Big Brown Bear said grimly. “How could the key to happiness be somewhere in this place?”

“Happiness isn’t something you find under a rock or up in a tree or in a building. You can’t hold it in your hand, but you can feel it and you can see it in others,” Isabella said, trying to bring some sort of comfort to everybody by engaging in a pleasant talk to rival the effects of their current surroundings – Foster the Forest Sprite glancing over at her curiously. “And ultimate happiness has the power to control everything … even an awful place like this.”

“What would ultimate happiness be for you?” Foster the Forest Sprite asked.

Everyone took a turn in answering that question, except for Isabella who had begun to notice a few things that looked familiar about this charred and blackened scene. It actually did look like the great wilderness, should the great wilderness have been destroyed with fire. The only things missing was the creek. It was almost as if this dark land was a scary visual reminder of what life would become without the key to happiness … as if this was a place within a reciprocal world to their own – where good was bad and life was death.

And as if the surroundings weren’t scary enough, signs of life suddenly appeared, but not in a good way. From a distance, squawking could be heard and then a flock of vultures appeared. The ground began to shake and the group took off in a sprint to get away from the vultures. But these birds didn’t attack them, instead seeming to push them in a specific direction. As the terrain beneath them began to crumble, a river of lava rose up out of the ground quickly … and there was the negative parallel to the creek.

Jumping from rock to rock to stay above the lava, the group got to the far side of it all before it rose up into a flowing river of molten death. They watched as the vultures tried to pursue them by flying at them, but it was so hot above the lava that the vultures couldn’t fly over it. So, our journeyers were safe from the birds, but this also meant that our journeyers couldn’t get back across the lava to return home either.

Forward was now the only option for them. And luckily, the terrain began to move upward – elevating them above the dangerous setting. The small hill they walked up grew steeper and steeper as they climbed higher and higher. And by the time they reached the plateau at the top of this hill, it seemed like they were mere inches away from where the stars should have been.

But there were no stars. And the plateau was a cliff. Beyond that cliff, there was nothing … nothing at all – not a rock or a charred tree or ash or anything. Looking back in the direction from which they came, the group could see the original cliff they stood on before they ventured down into this valley of darkness and death. Behind that original cliff was the fleeting visions of the great wilderness and of the Kingdom of Infantilum, too far away to make out any details of but still there in the distance.

At the very extreme edge of this cliff they stood on was in fact a cave, a mystical cave that glowed on the inside. This had to be it. It had to be the cave that held the key to happiness. They had made it!

Without waiting a moment, the journeyers walked into the cave to see the bright yellow glow in the center of the room. It was so intense in shine that it seemed like the sun and stars had been pulled into that one spot, darkening the land around it by depriving it of light. And before anyone could say a word, the journeyers were pulled up against the walls – held there by some invisible force. The only person who wasn’t pulled against the walls was Isabella … and Foster the Forest Sprite who walked into the mystical cave, held out his hand and summoned the ball of light to shrink itself before floating over to his extended palm.

“I guess it’s only fair that I finally explain a few things to you all,” Foster began, Malcolm and the animals struggling to break free from their invisible bonds to no avail – Isabella looking at Foster with confusion. “Do you know what the name Foster means, Isabella?”

“No,” Isabella said, feeling no fear within the moment – quite to her surprise.

“It means: forest guardian,” Foster replied as he looked around at the captive journeyers who were being held against the cave walls. “The key to happiness is right here.”

Foster held up the sphere of light in his palm.

“I am the one who took the key away from the Kingdom of Infantilum. Sometimes, it is important to remember what we have. You can’t miss something that you have. It’s impossible to miss something you possess. But it is possible to take it for granted,” Foster explained, walking around the cave and looking at each journeyer – then stopping in front of Malcolm. “As the time comes now for a new King and Queen to be crowned in Infantilum, the key to happiness must be earned once again.”

“But you didn’t take the key back when my father and mother became King and Queen,” Isabella pointed out, a bit shocked by Foster’s deception this whole time but already understanding why he did it and where this all was headed.

“You’re right. I didn’t, but I should have. Your father understood the key well, but he also hid that key. He didn’t share it with the world. And because of this, war found its way into the kingdom. It was only because of Malcolm that the kingdom didn’t fall,” Foster continued, walking up next to Isabella. “But to defeat war, Malcolm had to become war himself. He killed in order to not be killed. And that is why you and you alone, Isabella, will be the deciding factor as to whether the key to happiness returns to Infantilum or if it remains lost for eternity.”

“Why me?” Isabella asked, her heart suddenly beginning to beat a bit faster.

“Because you truly understand what the nature of happiness should be,” Foster replied. “But as a test of the strength of your purity, I’m going to ask you a question. Answer it correctly and the key to happiness returns to the Kingdom of Infantilum. Answer it incorrectly and you all will be banished from this mystical cave, back into the scorched Earth to die.”

Everyone stopped struggling and looked at Isabella. She looked at Malcolm and saw the belief in his eyes, remembering how he once told her to believe in miracles. Then she turned back to Foster the Forest Sprite, stood tall and straightened her shoulders.

“What’s the question?” Isabella asked boldly, trembling but keeping her composure.

“What two things must exist for the key to happiness to survive?” Foster asked, not delaying the final challenge for her any longer.

Isabella closed her eyes, allowing her tears to stream down the sides of her face. She breathed in deeply and then exhaled the same before opening her eyes.

“When I was little, my father once told me how one day I would rule the Kingdom of Infantilum and how, at that point it would be up to me and whoever the new king would be to keep the kingdom free from the sometimes-bad effects of the outside world,” Isabella said, looking over at Malcolm and then back to Foster the Forest Sprite. “I’ve spent my whole life as a BabyGirl. I remember laying in my crib on so many night and looking out the window, up to the starry skies as I wished on each shooting star. And my wish was always the same. I simply wanted to remain happy for the rest of my life. But I knew that anyone I met would have to feel something in his heart that I have felt every moment of my life.”

Isabella walked over to Malcolm and reached up to touch his left cheek.

“Then my life suddenly became arranged for me,” Isabella said with eyes now filled with new tears. “And, like a miracle, someone came into my little world who saved me from unhappiness by showing me two things that I had almost forgotten.”

Isabella turned back to Foster and smiled.

“The answer to your question is …,” Isabella said confidently. “Compassion … and Love.”

Everyone looked at Foster who smiled and snapped his fingers.

—————

Instantly, everyone was transported back to the Kingdom of Infantilum and to the coronation of Malcolm and Isabella.

The crowd was an endless sea of kingdom peasants and every single animal from the great wilderness. As the crowns were placed on the heads of the new king and queen, Teddy the Big Brown Bear rose up on its hind legs and clapped its front paws together while letting out a happy roar. Baxter the Beaver ran in circles, happily thumping its flat tail on the ground. Read the Raccoon clicked together the nails of its front paws. Kensington the Horse and Blackie the Stallion neighed with joy. Sweetie the Hummingbird flew all over the place, tweeting the cheeriest song it had ever sung.

The key to happiness had returned to the Kingdom of Infantilum. And in the background of this happy scene was Foster the Forest Sprite … smiling.

Malcolm and Isabella had become the King and Queen of Infantilum and everyone lived … Happily Ever After.