The raccoon watches as the girls approach its hut. There will be dinner tonight, this is good to know.

There is a knock. The raccoon chortles in greeting, batting at the door knob to unlock it. What do they want, it wonders. It can sense that this will be no ordinary request. These two, these two are the princess and the pauper. They have no want for money, nor for love. What is it that they desire.

It turns to look at the two figures standing in the doorway. Scampers onto the table for a better look.

One is poised and regal, the princess, surely. Princess Jade, a suitable name for a girl with eyes so green. Her hair hangs raven black between her shoulder blades, plaited in a thick braid. Her features are sharp and concentrated, her skin milky white and her lips rosy pink. She wears a silk dress of emerald green.

The other is not so easily identified. Who is this peasant who follows so confidently in the wake of the princess? She has fiery red hair, pulled back in a loose ponytail the way the farmer's wives do. Her face is anxious and made up of soft, refined features. The raccoon tuts.

Princess Jade speaks. "Great wizard," she says, her voice forceful and unafraid as her pet cowers behind her. "We come to you with an . . . unconventional request.

The raccoon is already deep in thought. What will it claim as its payment? So much a princess could give to it. Food, it decides, is most prudent. The drought has driven away its usual grub.

It sends the princess a message with its eyes: speak, child. Tell me.

She does. "You see, Mister Wizard Sir, this is my good friend Scarlett, and I am afraid we have fallen rather deeply in love." The raccoon is impressed by the conviction with which she says this. Princess Jade does not blush, nor does she look away. Rather, the princess leans down so that she is at eye level with the raccoon. "And as you know, Your Excellency, I am the only child of the king and queen. Therefore . . ." She gives the raccoon a tight-lipped smile. "I am expected to bear children."

Ah, quite the dilemma. The raccoon smiles. It understands the task being presented to it. And yes, yes, it could ask for anything it wanted and the princess would not object. It can hear an underlying sense of urgency in her voice.

"And so our request, sir, is that you create a child out of Scarlett and I."

The raccoon looks into the princess's emerald eyes, then into Scarlett's hazel ones. Such pain humans bring upon themselves for love. It gives Jade one paw, and offers the other to her love. The pauper takes the paw. It nods and gives the message: this can be done.