All families with eligible daughters considered the offer, enticed by the fifteen gold pieces each young woman would earn simply by coming to the castle on the appointed day. The idea of their daughter one day being queen intrigued all from the loftiest duke to the lowliest peasant, however, the wisest parents were cautious. Even with the promise of title and power, what kind of life would their child have married to a man whose heart turned to stone? One such cautious father was the blacksmith of the small village near the kingdom's eastern border. The death of his wife years prior left him to raise their only child, Catalena, as best he could. Now seventeen and the apple of her loving father's eye, she proved headstrong and quick-witted. The local mothers merely shook their heads in dismay as she ran wild through the forests, hunting and fishing with the boys. It simply would not do to have a daughter who could forge and wield a sword, but could not throw a proper stitch or tend the home. The day the proclamation was made, Catalena determined to set off to the castle, much to her father's dismay. She was plain in face and form and awkward in formal situations unlike the other girls she knew in her village. The prince would never give the gawky blacksmith's daughter a second glance which suited her fine. She had no desire to marry the prince, but her father could desperately use the fifteen gold pieces. For her adoring father she would do anything.
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