The Trail Between the Worlds…
a Tiny Kingdom story about the places we return to, and the ones who always walk beside us
In a part of the Tiny Kingdom, there was a trail. It began at the edge of the land, where the air smelled of pine and stone, and it led deep into the forest.
They had walked it often, the Queen and her princes. First on foot, with wind in their hair and fur and the sun on their backs. Later with the travelling carriage that brought them everywhere. The white prince, Donder, had known the trail like no other. He knew the place where the pine needles softened, where water whispered from a stone, where deer sometimes appeared between the ferns.
But this year, everything felt different.
The Queen returned. This time with only one prince beside her. Prince Dingus moved quietly, steady as ever. And alongside him danced a young princess, Princess Guusje, who saw everything with fresh wonder.
The Queen smiled at her, yet her heart trembled, and her eyes filled without warning.
Every bend in the path seemed to speak.
Do you remember?
Here he leapt over the stream.
Do you remember how he misjudged the landing and got soaked?
The memory stirred something inside her, a small, sudden smile that broke through the weight in her chest.
Just for a heartbeat, she saw him again. Not outside herself, but somewhere deep within. A familiar movement. A glint in the grass. A feeling so precise it almost took shape. There he was. And with him came a rush of warmth, followed by tears. She didn’t fight them. They belonged.
On her wrist, where once two bracelets had rested, now only one remained. The other had vanished. She hadn’t let it go. It had simply slipped out of reach. Still, it hurt more than she had expected. As if something precious had been lost without a goodbye.
Just as Donder had.
She paused in a clearing. Her fingers rested gently against the bracelet that was still there. A strand of light filtered through the canopy above, touching her skin.
She didn’t move. She didn’t speak. She only stood with the ache and the remembering, side by side.
After a long moment, she whispered.
“I miss you. I hope you’re happy, wherever you are. And maybe… one day… we’ll walk this path again.”
As her hand drifted down, it brushed against the ink on her arm. The words there, circling near the place where the bracelet lay, were ones she had chosen long ago. Not because they were easy, but because they were true.
…Nothing loved is ever lost or perished.
She didn’t need to say it aloud. It was already with her.
And so, with memory in her chest and Donder still quietly beside her in ways she couldn’t name, the Queen took a step.