The new day dawned with the sun shining brightly and the girl feeling refreshed from a good night's rest. She was surprised at how well she had slept but glad for the much-needed rest. As she gathered her things and got ready to head towards the castle her heart was racing and her mind was full of wonderings. How would her family receive her? How would she feel about the castle after being away for so long? What would her perspective of castle life be now? As she traveled closer and closer to the castle gates she tried to stop the thoughts from crowding her mind and overwhelming her. As she stepped up to the portal to ring the bell and enter she drew in her breath very slowly. She calmed her nerves and determined to remain in control of herself. As the gates swung open she gasped at the scurrying and bustling of castle life that greeted her. It was all just as she had remembered. The people everywhere running about trying to keep schedules, the children - so many of them!- gathered around her to greet her. They had not forgotten her and their glad cries of welcome assured her that they had not stopped loving her. The girl stepped into the castle and felt the doors close behind her, but she decided to ignore this and instead focus on immersing herself in castle life, at least for the moment. Her family came to see her and one by one she hugged and kissed them, so happy to see them all! She reacquainted herself with those who might not have remembered her and made a mental note to be sure that during her visit she stopped and said hello to everyone she knew. The love and warmth that she had remembered was still there. The welcoming, embracing bond that is shared by those that have shared a lifetime together was still very strong between the girl and those in the castle. Yes, she was home, and she knew it. Yet, she found herself wondering what home really meant. She had all the nostalgic feelings and tugging of the heart strings that assured her she was very much a part of the castle and its secluded world and it was very much a part of her, but that was not all there was to the feelings. There was something more, something she couldn't quite describe, but was so very real to her. She would wait until her stay at the castle was over before she tried to describe or even determine for herself how she really felt or what those feelings meant.
The girl finally made it to her temporary residence and began to unpack her things. She would settle into life at the castle for the time of her visit and hope that it would provide her with answers. She had no idea how the visit would turn out but she was here now and there was no turning back. Maybe now that she was older and more experienced she would be able to see the things her parents and the older members of castle society had always insisted were the right ways of doing things, the proper paths the follow in one's life. This time of visiting would be at least one more attempt at seeing things their way, of trying to see what the right things were, what the truth was. She hoped that it would at the very least give her some idea of where to find her answers she had looked so long and hard for.
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