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Of course, at a certain point he had to meet other people, but he'd reached the age where people in fairytales didn't ask to examine his genitalia, so for a while, his parents were safe. But eventually, well, the natural progression of things made it so that they had to explain a few things. Michael was a bit confused about the changes taking place in his growing body, as it were, but it's a fairytale so if I were going to talk about menstruation, I'd do it metaphorically anyway. Michael's mother taught him to bind his chest with linen bandages, his father taught him to shave, various other things happened, and Michael was prepared for polite society as best as they could.

Now, in the same kingdom there was a king, obviously, and as kings in fairytales typically do, this king had a son, Prince Gideon, who was coming of age. But because this is a fairytale, the prince was deeply vain and refused to choose a bride, despite his father's insistence. "There is no girl in the kingdom who is worthy of me," Gideon said whenever he was asked.

So the king had, you guessed it, one earnest wish: that his son would find a worthy wife. And wouldn't you know it, his wish was also heard by a passing fairy. Maybe the same fairy from earlier, or maybe a different one. Who knows? Fairies are complicated and confusing. Well, whichever fairy it was heard the king's wish and decided to grant it, but fairies are flighty, winged things with very little conception of humanity.

Prince Gideon awoke the following day with the sure knowledge that a girl existed who was worthy of him, and a vague idea of where to look. She wouldn't be a princess or a lady. She would be one of the common folk. But beyond that, he had only her name: Dahlia.

So the king sent messengers all over the kingdom looking for girls named Dahlia. They turned up more than a few, some of whom had mysteriously come into being just days before the messengers arrived, seemingly. They often wouldn't respond to that name immediately until their fathers or mothers cleared their throats or kicked their newly-minted Dahlias under the table where they thought the messengers couldn't see. The messengers shrugged and brought the girls anyway. Better safe than sorry.

But none of them satisfied the prince. Not that way. This is a respectable fairytale. He didn't like the look of them, that's all.

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