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The very next day, she put on her most professional suit (you know - the kind that says 'I’m very important and I know what I’m doing and you certainly want to take me seriously!'), and with her Magical Scroll tucked safely within a sleek, black case, she set out to the Big Bright City of Lights to find herself a job.

And because The Chinchilla Princess was truly a talented, impressive and blessed creature, she got a job at the first Institution of the Laws of the Agreed World that she applied to.

So after, of course, going to all the very best couture shops and buying herself a wondrous wardrobe of very impressive 'Take me Seriously' suits of the finest materials she could find, The Chinchilla Princess started work at Weave & Weasel Inc.

She worked very hard at bending the Rules of the Agreed World as she was instructed, in order to do a good job and impress her bosses, and also because she wanted very, very much to be an Important Person in the World and to Do Good.

She worked late every night, and often on weekends too, tucked away in her chamber at Weave & Weasel Inc., surrounded by swirls of magic as she canted and spun and bent and wove the Rules.

And partly because she worked so hard and never said no to a task, and partly because they believed that apprentices should be worked to the bone to prove their worth, her bosses gave her more and more to do.

..........

Time passed, and every night The Chinchilla Princess went home to the arms of her beloved woodsman (who was usually asleep already for she always came home so late).

She would curl her body into his safe, strong arms and, tucked away in their humble home in the forest, she quietly shed tiny, crystalline tears that she collected in a little blue jar, and which she hid under a floorboard beneath their bed.

"Now hold on a moment! What were the tears for?" I hear you ask. "Surely she was happy! She had her beloved woodsman, a job at an fine Institution of the Laws of the Agreed World, and was Making Things Happen, so what more could she want?!"

Well, for one thing, she was very, very tired. As you know she was worked to the bone, and we all become a little sad when our energy is so depleted! But The Chinchilla Princess was sad for something more, and what that was she really didn’t know.

All she knew was that every evening when she arrived home and took off her very impressive suit and looked at herself in the mirror, she saw a dullness in her once wild and fresh eyes.

When she touched her once oh-so-soft pelt of fur, it felt coarser, and small bare patches were appearing here and there.

And, when she looked into her heart she saw a thin red membrane growing around it and slowly hardening, like a protective shell.

She cried from the sadness of something lost. And every night, into each of those tiny, crystalline tears she shed, went a little bit more of her soul.

But The Chinchilla Princess was brave and wanted very much to do The Right Thing, and so she got up every morning and travelled from her humble home in the forest to the Big Bright City of Lights, to her chamber at Weave & Weasel Inc., and canted and spun and bent and wove the Rules of the Agreed World, and said nothing to anyone about the sadness she felt seeping through her soul...