Forgotten princess

Previously

…Hesitation warred with a desperate need for any kind of guidance. The stranger was gruff, his demeanor anything but welcoming, yet he offered a path, a direction in this bewildering wilderness. She remembered the recurring dream, the one with the hidden garden and the strange, regal crest, a symbol she’d never understood. It felt like a whisper from a forgotten past, a past that was now desperately trying to reclaim her. "You… you know these woods?" she asked, pushing herself to a sitting position, wincing as she put weight on her injured knee. "I