A chameleon skittered outside on the window sill of the tower. Pressing his back to a flower pot and changing colours to camouflage against the pattern on it, panting slightly from the exertion from running so fast.

The tower window burst open, revealing a boy with long blond hair with a short red hair stripe at the front and with bright blue eyes, dressed in a red shirt and blue trousers that had been patched up at the knees. "HA! Oh..." He glanced around, "Well, I guess Buzzy's not hiding out here." He sighed dramatically. Turning back around and walking away from the window.
The chameleon snickered, a sound that sort of sounded like a low buzz. Then a long strand of hair wrapped around the chameleon's tail and hoisted the reptile up into the air.

"Gotcha!" Dan grinned, the chameleon screamed in surprise before giving the boy an unamused look as he swung down into the tower from where he'd been hanging from the top of the window frame, then lowering Buzzy onto the window-sill the boy spoke again, "That's twenty two for me, how about twenty three out of forty five?"

Buzzy narrowed his eyes at the idea. Dan rolled his eyes in response as he sat down beside the chameleon on the wooden windowsill, "Okay, so what do you want to do?" The chameleon chirped excitedly as he pointed outside with his tail.

Dan shook his head and picked the chameleon up by its tail, placing the reptile on his lap as he dangled his legs out the window. "Yeah, I don't think so. I like it in here and so do you." The chameleon stuck his tongue out at the boy's words. "Oh come on Buzzy, it's not so bad in there." He laughed, picking up the chameleon in his cupped hands and re-entering the tower's window, his long hair dragging across the floor as he moved around, until he threw part of it up into the air and used it like a rope to open the catch on the roof window, letting light into the circular building.

"Seven am, the usual morning lineup," He sang, glancing at the clock that he'd placed his chameleon on, "Start on the chores and sweep 'til the floors all clean!" He took hold of a broom and began dancing around the room with it, miming sweeping the floor.

"Polish and wax, do laundry and mop and shine up. Sweep again and by then it's like seven fifteen." He continued singing, referencing the chores he'd had to do earlier in the week. "And so I'll read a book, or maybe two or three." He pointed towards the stack of books on a small table in the corner, "I'll add a few new paintings to my gallery." He adjusted the direction he was pointing at so he was now pointing at the stack of sketchbooks on the floor beside the stack of books and then gestured all around him at the walls that were covered in paintings.

"I'll play guitar," He laughed as Buzzy jumped off the clock and onto his guitar, "and knit and cook and basically. Just wonder, when will my life begin?" He held that note as he noticed an area of the wall covered by some wooden frame and red curtains, he shut one eye and held his thumb up to measure the distance before grabbing his paints, letting Buzzy hop onto his shoulder and using his hair to pull himself up to where the wooden frame was.

Dan moved the frame out of the way, smiled at the blank area that would be his new canvas, dipped his brush in some dark blue paint and as he started to paint the wall with it, he started to sing again.

"Then after lunch, it's puzzles and darts and baking,
Papier-mâché, a bit of ballet and chess,
Pottery and ventriloquy, candle making.
Then I'll stretch, maybe sketch,
Take a climb, sew a dress!"

Dan was now just referencing all his hobbies old and current and some of the things he'd done on impulse.
Him and Buzzy still did puzzles, darts, baking and sketching often. He'd use his hair as a rope and climb around the tower on it basically daily.
They hadn't made candles in a while as they'd gone a little crazy and had made about a hundred of them the last time they'd done candle making.
Ballet ended with him tripping on his own hair and falling face first onto his full paint pallet.
Chess was still a regular but it was almost embarrassing how often he lost to a chameleon.
His interest in ventriloquism had lasted for about a week. His interest in pottery had lasted a little longer but was no longer one of his hobbies.
Papier-mâché had ended with his hair covered in glue and he'd sworn never again.
As for sewing dresses... Let's just say Buzzy didn't quite appreciate the dresses Dan had made him in the past.

"And I'll reread the books if I have time to spare, I'll paint the walls some more I'm sure there's room somewhere!" He winked at the chameleon at that, nodding towards the new area of wall he was currently painting. "And then I'll brush and brush and brush and brush my hair." He rolled his eyes at the thought of how much effort it was to brush the seventy feet of golden-blond hair that hung behind him. "Stuck in the same place I've always been."

"And I'll keep wonderin' and wonderin'
And wonderin' and wonderin'
When will my life begin?"

He took a step back to observe the painting he'd been working on before deciding to add one final stroke of bright yellow.

"Tomorrow night, lights will appear. Just like they do on my birthday each year." He sang, looking at how he'd depicted that in the painting of the sky with the stars and the lights and the forest with the hills, with him sitting in a tree in the bottom right hand corner, looking up at the floating lights.

"What is it like out there where they glow?"

He forced a smile on his face, "Now that I'm older, Mother might just let me go..." His singing trailed off into silence as he was unable to think up any more words to end the song with.

Elsewhere, in the main Kingdom, a group of three thieves climbed across the palace rooftops.
The one in the lead was a lot shorter than the other two, with short dark brown hair with three dyed yellow stripes through it, light brown skin and amber eyes. Wearing a pale tan shirt with yellow stitching on the sleeves, green trousers and black boots. A necklace made from a piece of scrap metal and some rope hung around his neck and he wore a brown leather satchel over one shoulder. He stopped when he reached the centre area of the palace roof, first looking over the edge of the building at the guards below and then out at the scenery in the distance. "Wow..." He murmured, "I could get used to a view like this."

"Ajax." One of the other two males hissed. This one being blond and dressed in a light blue shirt, a black and white jacket, white trousers and brown boots. "Come on." He glared at the youngest of the three thieves, who was still looking out at the view.

Ajax held up a hand in a signal to wait, "Hold on," He kept looking at the view for another second then stepped back, "Yup, I'm used to it. Guys, I want a castle." He joked.

Not taking it as a joke, the third thief, with dark red hair, tan skin and huge glasses, dressed in a white shirt, a red jacket with an honestly ridiculously oversized collar, black trousers and brown boots stepped forward menacingly, being so much taller and older that he towered over the youngest of the trio. "You do this job, you can buy your own castle." He spoke, then grabbed Ajax by the collar and pulled him back over to the blond thief and the trapdoor in the roof.

Deciding not to try annoying them again, Ajax kept any quips about how bad the other two's sense of humour was to themselves, whilst the pair tied the rope they were going to lower him through the roof with around his waist like a harness. Really, Everett and McQ were great thieves but they were terrible at any form of civilised conversation... You'd expect them to have learned a thing or two about conversation from the types of people they stole from by now but apparently not.

Finally they were ready and Ajax was lowered through the roof, behind the guards to where the Lost Prince's crown was sitting on a pedestal in the throne room...

He'd already grabbed the crown and put it in his satchel, ready to be pulled back up when one of the guards let out a loud sneeze. Unable to resist the urge to make a joke, even if it meant revealing his presence and announcing the crime he was in the middle of committing to the royal guard... "Hay fever?" He asked.

The Guard turned to him and nodded, "Yeah." Then realising what had happened, he spun around fully, just in time to see Ajax being pulled out through the trapdoor in the roof and beginning to make a run for it.

"What, wait! Hey. Wait!" The Guard yelled, staring up through the hole in the roof as all the other guards in the room crowded around to look up at where the Lost Prince's crown had just been taken.

Ajax, Everett and McQ, sprinted over the large stone bridge that led outside of the main part of the Kingdom. Having gotten the crown and knowing the others were too busy running to stop him, Ajax made yet another joke. "Can't you picture me in a castle of my own? Because I absolutely can!" He let out a whoop, "All the things we've seen and it's only eight in the morning. Guys, this is a very big day!" He cheered as they entered the forest.

Back in the tower in the woods, Dan was finishing packing his paints away. "This is it. This is a very big day Buzzy." He laughed, "I'm finally going to ask her." The Chameleon gave him a disbelieving look, "I am!" He insisted.

"Dan!" The boy in question gasped at the sound of his Mother's voice. "Let down your hair!" She called.

He picked Buzzy off his shoulders and placed him onto the wall. "It's time! Don't let her see you." He whispered. Smiling as Buzzy camouflaged himself against the painting on the wall, then hurrying to the window as he heard his Mother call his name again.

"I'm not getting any younger down here!" His Mother yelled from the bottom of the tower.

He smiled, waving at her "I know, coming!" He called back down at her, before looping his hair over the metal hook above the window and letting the rest fall down to the ground for his mother to grab hold of and make a loop out of the end to step onto so Dan could pull her up. Once his Mom was finally standing safely on the window still, the boy started trying to catch his breath, exhausted from pulling her up to the tower window almost sixty feet off the ground. "Hi, welcome home Mom." He finally greeted her once he'd caught his breath enough to speak, pulling the end of his hair back in through the window.

His Mother brushed off her long purple dress and sighed "Oh Dan, how you manage to do that every day, without fail, it looks like it must be absolutely exhausting." She told him, tucking some of his hair behind his ear.

"It's not that bad." He lied, not wanting to upset her before he asked the question he'd been dying to ask for almost eighteen years now.

"Then I don't know why it takes so long." His Mother tapped him on the nose and then let out a laugh, "Oh darling I'm just teasing."

Dan fake laughed too, hoping she would actually hear him out if he did. "So, Mother. You know, tomorrow is a very big day..-"

He was cut off, "Dan, look in that mirror. I see a strong, confident, beautiful, young person." For a second, Dan felt himself smile, it was so rare that his Mom would say something nice about him. Then she continued speaking. "Oh look, you're here too!" She basically cackled for a second and oh, yeah, there it was. That made sense. His smile dropped. "Ah you know I'm just teasing, stop taking everything so seriously." She rolled her eyes, starting to check her face for any imperfections.

"Mom, as I was saying tomorrow is-"

"Dan. Mother's feeling a little tired. Could you sing for me? Then we'll talk."

Now, that was do-able. "Of course!" He ran to grab his Mother's chair from where it was leaning against the wall and pulled it into the centre of the room. Once his Mother had sat down, he kicked his stool in front of her chair and sat down on it, placing some of his hair in her lap and singing at about three times the normal speed.

"Flower gleam and glow, let your power shine. Make the clock reverse, bring back what once was mine. Heal what has been hurt, change the fate's design. Save what has been lost, bring back what once was mine!" The speed of the song caused his Mom's black hair to break out of its hair tie and shoot up in the air as if she'd been struck by lightning as she almost began to look younger? Dan had never fully understood what the magic of his hair did to his Mother but ever since he was little she'd always insisted on him singing for her whenever she was feeling tired or worn down or something and he knew his hair and that song combined had the power to heal people so he just assumed it made her feel healthier or less tired.

"Dan!" His Mother gasped, affronted. Once the shock was over and her hair was simply hanging down her back rather than sticking up in the air.

He ignored her, determined to be heard this time. "So Mom!" He jumped up. "Earlier I was trying to say tomorrow is a pretty big day and well, uh you didn't respond so, yeah! It's my birthday tomorrow!" He exclaimed, grabbing hold of a lock of hair to fiddle with.

His Mother shook her head, "No, it can't be. I distinctly remember your birthday was last year." She said firmly.

"Oh, ha. That's the thing about birthdays. They happen yearly!" Dan laughed, determined to keep talking, despite his Mother clearly not taking him seriously. This always happened but this time he was insistent because he actually had something important to say. "Mom, I'm turning eighteen and what I want to ask. What I really want for this birthday, actually, what I've wanted for quite a few birthdays..."

He was cut off, "Okay. Stop with the mumbling. You know how much I hate it, it's extremely annoying." His Mother sighed, standing up and patting his head. "Oh but I love you though." She said, walking away.

The red streaked blond boy looked down at his feet with embarrassment at being told off for mumbling and then his eyeline moved across the floor to where he spotted Buzzy sitting under a table leg, almost signalling for him to go on and keep talking.

He shut his eyes for a moment, gripping on tighter to his hair out of anxiety before making his mind up.

"I want to go see the floating lights!" Dan blurted out.

That got his Mother's attention, finally.

"What?"

Dan stood up on his stool and moved the curtains on the wall to reveal his painting from earlier, of him watching the lights in the sky. "Well, I was hoping you'd take me to see the floating lights.

His Mom took one look at the painting, then looked away, "You mean the stars."

"That's the thing. I look out the window at the stars every night and they're always constant except for like one or two of them, I think..." He replied, "But these, they only appear on my birthday, every year. I can't help but feel like they're meant for me! Which is why I want to see them so badly, not just from my window either, I want to see them in person. I've just gotta know what they are!" He cried out, finally voicing his dream out loud.

He didn't get a response until suddenly his Mother closed the windows with a click. "You want to go outside? Oh no." She walked over to him and took hold of both his hands. "Look at you, as fragile as a flower." She spoke. Dan winced. "You know why we stay up in this tower."

"Well, yeah. But-"

"That's right. It's to keep you safe." She cut in. "I guess I always knew this day was coming and that one day soon you'd want to leave the nest. Soon, but not yet."

"I-"

"Trust me, pet." The stern tone to her voice made Dan instantly stop trying to argue. "Mother knows best." She told him, drawing the curtains on the windows and kicking one of the wooden beams to close the skylight, plunging the entire room into darkness.

Dan fumbled around to light a candle so he could see, as somewhere in the darkness his Mother had begun to sing. "Mother knows best, listen to your Mother. It's a scary world out there." Dan felt a sharp tug on his hair, he pulled back on it just as his Mom let go, sending him falling to the ground. "Mother knows best. One way or another, something will go wrong, I swear!" She announced, still singing. He guesses that's one of the few things they have in common, the way they'll both occasionally start singing at random.

"Ruffians, thugs, poison ivy, quicksand, cannibals and snakes, the plague!" She punctuated almost every word with a shadow puppet representative of what she was describing, going so far as to flip one of the dolls Dan had made when he was six in a frying pan to visualise the cannibals and then showing up behind Dan, holding her green lantern up to her face to cast a creepy shadow whilst she sung about the plague.

"Also large bugs, men with pointy teeth, and stop, no more, you'll just upset me!" She sang that last part in an impression of Dan's voice. A very inaccurate impression of his voice, he would say. "Mother's right here, Mother will protect you." She continued, helping Dan back up onto his feet. "Darling, here's what I suggest!"

"Skip the drama, stay with mama... Mother knows best!"

She blew out Dan's candle and then disappeared back into the darkness again. Great. He moved towards a shelf and lit the three candles he knew sat there, only for them to get snuffed out again instantly.

"Mother knows best, take it from your mumsy. On your own, you won't survive!" The boy stepped backwards and bumped into the mirror, hands on his shoulders spun him around to face his reflection. "Sloppy, underdressed, immature, clumsy. Please, they'll eat you up alive!"

"Gullible, naive, positively grubby, ditzy and a bit well, hmm, vague."

Dan glared at his reflection, that was all only because he'd never gotten the chance to go outside and learn how to not be those things... Right?

"Mother understands, Mother's here to help you. All I have is one request!" Dan's Mother wrapped her arms around him in a hug, he accepted it and hugged back as she stroked his hair. "Dan?" She asked, speaking now, rather than singing.

"Yes?"

"Don't ever ask to leave this tower again." She ordered, firmness clear in her voice and expression.

The boy hung his head, defeated. "Yes Mother..."

His Mother sighed, as if she was disappointed that she'd had to do all that to just get that agreement from him. "I love you, son."

"I love you too, Mother."

She pressed a kiss to the top of his hair, "I love you most, my flower." Then she sang a few more lines, "Don't forget it, you'll regret it. Mother knows best!"

For the next few minutes Dan stood around awkwardly as his Mother gathered her things again and then he lowered his hair out the window so she could exit the tower. "I'll see you in a bit." She called out as she reached the ground.

Dan sighed, "I'll be here." It fell on deaf ears as his mother left. He leaned on the window ledge and stared out at that same scenery he'd seen out the window his entire life. Letting his hair blow in the breeze as it dangled down the side of the tower.

Wondering like always, when his life would truly begin. If it ever would.