“Now then, Ms. Crocodile,” Sophie said. “Would you mind sharing the tale of how you came to be as you are?”
“Please, call me Annie,” she replied. “You’d be indulging me. I’m a princess. I rarely get to speak with someone my own age as an equal.”
“A princess!” Sophie said in wonder.
“I am, but is that all I am? It’s hardly a title I’ve earned. In fact, I sometimes wish it was a title I could un-earn.”
Sophie caught the tinge of loneliness in her voice.
“Seeing me like this, you might find it hard to believe,” Annie began, “but most days, I look like any ordinary seventeen-year-old girl. It all began when I was twelve. Each month, when the moon reaches its fullest, my head burns painfully as if aflame. I fall into a deep sleep, and by morning…well, I’m like this for about two more nights before I change back. That first time—well, I caused quite the stir. They nearly skewered me, thinking I was a crocodile who had swallowed the princess! Fortunately, I kept my voice and wits, or I wouldn’t be here to tell the tale. The full moon—that was yesterday, wasn’t it?”
“Now that you mention it…” Sophie recalled that bright, delicious-looking pie in the sky the previous night.
“I remain like this for three days after the night of the full moon. On the third day, I slip into a deep slumber—not eating nor drinking nor stirring at all—simply lying still as if enchanted. And when I wake, I’m returned to my usual self.”
“That is…fascinating,” Sophie murmured. She wondered what it felt like to wake up in a completely different body.
Annie interrupted her musings with a deep sigh. “In that first year, my father, certain it was a crocodile’s curse, summoned every healer, shaman, and priest from lands far and wide to offer me their prayers and incantations from behind veiled screens. But it didn’t work. On nights when the moon burns bright and full, the transformation still takes hold. Silver lining is it lasts but three days and bothers no one—so long as I stay hidden. Eventually, I persuaded him to leave well enough alone. But when Silver spoke of this salon, I knew I had to stop by.”
Annie’s reptilian eyes fixed on Sophie. “I’m already seventeen—unmarried, for the moment, though not for much longer, I expect. Many offers have already come—second and third princes from neighboring realms, as it’s custom in my land to marry from beyond our borders. Understand, though, my concern. I would choose one of these men to be my consort—wrench them away from everything they know to bind them to a role scarcely more dignified than a stallion, if you’ll pardon the image. What would they think of a wife who vanishes three nights each month, like clockwork? Infidelity would be the kindest rumor. It could tear the trust we’d need to govern well and raise a family.”
A wife who vanishes for three nights every month… Sophie turned over the thought in her mind. Annie could come up with any number of excuses, but none would veil such a regular absence. Not to mention the uncomfortable vigilance the palace attendants would treat the would-be husband.
“I take it telling him outright is out of the question?” Sophie ventured.
“It is,” Annie replied. “Not that I wouldn’t want to, but things are rarely so simple. My transformation is essentially a state secret. If I disclosed everything and he called off the engagement, it would be a political disaster. And yet, waiting until after the marriage, blindsiding him with the truth would be no better. That could drive a man to madness, perhaps even see him fleeing the country. As you know, men—especially noble men—aren’t always as hardy as they seem.”
“An impossible choice,” Sophie murmured. Then something struck her. “And yet, you’re sharing this secret with me now.”
Annie’s mouth quirked slightly at the edges—what Sophie assumed to be a mischievous smile. “Yes. But before I entered this room, I was brought in a cage. Should you and your maids run into the streets screaming, ‘The princess of the Crocodile Kingdom is an actual crocodile!’ what do you think would happen?”
The answer pulled a resigned sigh from Sophie’s lips. “They’d say the Monstrous Miss’s sickness has finally claimed her mind, along with her servants’ sanity.”
“Precisely. A charge I’ll hardly deny if it comes to that.”
Sophie was the daughter of a successful merchant—aka nobody. Her word carried absolutely no weight, a fact Annie clearly understood.
“As you shouldn’t,” Sophie replied, unruffled by the truth in her words.
They shared a brief pause, each taking a sip of tea as if to wash down the bitter truths they had laid bare.
“So, Sophie. Do you think you can heal me?” Annie asked.
Sophie hesitated. “I’ll certainly try.”
She placed her hands over Annie, unsure where exactly, but decided to start with what seemed like could be called a forehead.
“Pain, pain, go away.”
Hm, but this is a crocodile.
“To the mountains you go, to the mountains you stay.”
Can crocodiles even survive on mountains?
Sophie finished her incantation and opened her eyes. The scales on Annie’s hide were…still there, as slick and dark as ever.
Her shoulders slumped. “I’m sorry,” she murmured. “You journeyed all this way…and I couldn’t help.”
Annie’s golden, reptilian eyes blinked in that slow, unsettling way. “It’s all right. I read the flyer. You can only heal ‘skin-deep.’ Best case scenario, I’d be a crocodile with smooth, human skin.”
“Touché.”
They studied each other for a moment.
“Annie, if I might ask something…rather impolite.”
“Ask away.”
“You don’t seem very disappointed.”
Annie smiled. As much as a crocodile could, anyway. “I suppose I’m not,” she said, then laughed haughtily. As haughtily as a crocodile could, anyway. “Tell me, Sophie. Do you know what Crocodilia is known for?”
Sophie’s eyes sparkled. History and geography had always been her favorite subjects. “Crocodile leather. Crocodilia has been famed for it since ancient times. With an abundance of fine hides year-round, the kingdom developed a deep tradition of leatherwork. And to adorn the crafted pieces, your artisans became some of the finest gold and silversmiths in the world. Aside from that, I suppose your warm climate and the trade in exotic fruits and rare flowers.”