Practice (Tag: Alidia) rated M

Rahim instantly hugged her back. He was rocking them back and forth. This particular incident had scared him, a lot.
"If we do that again, can we please not do anything that involvesss gasss?" he was begging her.

Alidia nodded. "It's your turn...and no gas remember..." she giggled and coughed.

"Oh, I have a good idea about that. How about the tale of a princccesssss who fell in love with a magical bird turned into a human in order to be taught humility by a trickssster?" Rahim suggested.

Alidia giggled. "Sounds prefect my love." Alidia took their hands and went back time once more. She was princess Anne of Scottsdale. She had raven black hair and green eyes and a soft heart. And she lived with her evil uncle with a pet snake and ahe didn't know he was evil. She was wearing her favorite green dress when she went outside to walk.

This time, Rahim knew himself as a beautiful and magical bird whose name was Aidan. While he was very powerful, he was also very vain and careless. He often mocked those around him just because it gave him some pleasure. But one day, he made the mistake of mocking a trickster in the form of a spider. Furious at the insult, the little spider wove a spell in his web that transformed Aidan into a human male. His pain-filled scream was truly satisfying to his tormentor.

Anne was walking through the forest enjoying the scenery and she began to vocalized. She sat at a boulder and began dripping her feet in. She heard the birds and she began making a flower necklace. She giggled.

Aidan was almost horrified by his physical change. Gone were his beautiful feathers and wings. His new body had fair skin, hair so blonde it looked white, and well-shaped limbs. He was dressed in colors of blue and green and dark leather boots. He supposed, by human standards, he was gorgeous, but that was hardly a comfort. He looked at the spider who had caused this.
"What have you done to me?" he cried.
"I am teaching you a lesson. In this form, you will learn the one thing that could have prevented this; humility." the little spider stated. Aidan clasped his human hands together.
"Please, change me back. I promise to be better than I was." he begged. But the trickster would not listen. Forgiveness had to be earned, and he had until the end of the year to prove he was worthy of it. Knowing that he couldn't change the spider's mind, Aidan decided to leave the area.

Anna was humming and petting her furry friends. She was so happy. Then she had an idea. She smiled as she jumped into the water. She giggled. But she did wanna have human company. She went underwater and back up.

Aidan was still thinking of how he could reverse what had happened. He just couldn't think of a way. In an attempt to clear his head, he tried to sing to himself.

It was as he was walking, Aidan passed a pond. He was surprised when he saw a young woman there out of the corner of his eye. He turned to look, just to be sure he wasn't seeing things.

"Okay...that's was too much fun for one day..." Anna chuckled. She got out and there she saw a young man around her age. She smiled and waved. She decided to go home. But she couldn't leave this young man here. She smiled as she walk to him. "I'm Princess Anna from Scottsdale and you are my kind sir?"

'If I was kinder, I wouldn't be in the mess I am now.' Aidan thought to himself. Still, he didn't want any more bad karma on his name. And he didn't want to seem impolite to her either.
"My name is Aidan. Just Aidan though, I don't really have a family." he said. That, at least, was honest. He had never seen another bird like him, and didn't really know his parentage.

Anna felt bad for Aidan. She curtsied "I'd be honored if you could come and be a royal guest at my castle..." her eyes sparkled.

"Me? An honored guest. I don't know what to say, I'm honored by this." Aidan replied, rather surprised by this. Here was a princess, offering to take him into her home when he was a stranger and a nobody to her. How could he turn down an offer like that?

Anna smiled as she curtsied once more. "It's a no problem Aidan, you see my parents died too. so it's just my uncle and I." Anna began wringing out her black hair as they walked. "So... Aidan what brings you here?" Sunlight was shinnying in Anna's hair made it look like a raven.

"You could say I am searching for a way to right a wrong I must now pay for. It's too complicated to explain, Your Highness." Aidan answered, cryptically. He couldn't tell Anna the whole truth about his situation. She would never believe it.

Anna looked at Aidan and then back the road. Once they reached the castle: her uncle Marcus greeted them. "There's my princess niece, my dear princess Anna," notices Aidan and his pet snake Tybo slithers to him, Anna out of nowhere covering Aidan she couldn't explain it be it was like a sixth sense. "You might have the snake tamed Uncle cause he's giving our guest like the hungry look like he does when he sees birds." "Yes, Anna. But you didn't introduce me to your guest." "Uncle this is Aidan...now if you pardon us..." Anna took Aidan upstairs to the guest chambers that were next to hers. Meanwhile: "That boy will give ussss trouble..." Tybo said slithering to his master. "In do time...so she will dead like my brother and his lovely wife...making the the "wrong" decisions "True love" bah...." Upstairs Anna picked out an outfit for Aidan.

"This was my father's and you need it..." she giggled as she went to her quarters and changed also. She changed into her mother's dress.

She knocked "Aidan...you ready?"

"Yes. Just a minute." Aidan answered her. He had just finished getting dressed and saw his reflection in the mirror. To see his human face, it made the reality of his situation all the more final. The only thing he recognized were his violet eyes. Letting out a sigh, he opened the door to meet Anna.

Anna smiled as she held out her hand. "Adian its time for supper I'll take you there." She wanted to brighten his mood. When they walked in the dining hall some music played that she didnt know.

Aidan was happy to have accompanied Anna to an evening meal. When he saw where she was going to sit, he moved her chair out for her. Sometimes, he would look in on humans and he had seen the men do this for women at the table. Especially if the woman was someone of importance.
"I hope you're comfortable, Princess." Aidan said to her.

Anna smiled and blushed. She grabbed his hand on the table and held it tightly. "Please Adian call me Anna." She saw his violet eyes. She silently gasped and was going to talk again but her uncle showed up. He rose his glass. "To our guest Adian...drink eat and be merry."

'I don't deserve this honor.' Aidan thought to himself. He was realizing very fast that he had been horrible. Why did it have to take him being turned into a human by a trickster for him to see that?

Anna noticed something about Aidan. She intertwined her fingers in his hands. "Aidan....are you okay?" she whispered. She was worried about him. She looked at her uncle and his eyes told her make a move, she rose him up from his chair and took him to the ballroom. She began waltzing. Her eyes sparkled at his violet ones.

Aidan felt a little scared. He may have danced before, but not like this. He watched their feet for a while to get used to it. As he got more comfortable with it, he held Anna a little more securely.

Anna smiled as she was held close. She held her head on his chest hearing his heartbeat. "So, Aidan whats the matter? You see distant and distracted."

Meanwhile at the table Marcus was watching them and grinning. Tybo came to him "They sssseem closssse..." "That they do....but something about him seems off..." "What ssssshould we do sssire..." "Time will tell..." Marcus held his staff high up. "We are honored to have such a gentleman in the castle..." he said loudly. Anna's eyes sparkled as she curtsied. "Indeed we do..." she said.

The action of Anna placing her head against his chest gave Aidan a real shock. He couldn't find his voice. Thoughts of the princess, Anna, were slowly invading his mind and heart (though it wasn't so obvious on the latter). If she knew the truth about him, she would never be so affectionate with him. The spider had done him a greater favor than he realized by giving him this lesson to learn.