THis is AWESOME, I love the characters. the setting changes which I don't always like in such a short story but the point of the story is the change in setting. I love the character growth. It is a good lesson about life being lived not just observed. I love the lengths the king has gone to to keep his daughter safe from the nasty world outside. But I also love the long lost aunt for realizing that there is such a thing as too safe.

I would love to read the adventures she went through to get back home to her brother's castle. SHe talks about the spring as though it has never failed to heal her. THat makes me wonder what wounds or illnesses she had survived in her years out on her own. She is a world wise woman who returns home to her brother the hermit king. I feel like the king needed the healing of the spring as much as his daughter did.

It is remarkable what a little soak in the water did for the princess. I have to wonder if the spring wasn't magical it was just able to kick her psychosomatic paralysis. After all she had no trouble feeling the cold of the water. I think that this ambiguity of whether or not it is a magical spring is lovely.