Fat Girl in a Strange Land by Bart R. Leib, Kay T. Holt

did not say this to be cruel. Her guardian was simply stating fact; giving her charge the best advice under the circumstance. Because Tangwystl, Princess of Caertraeth, was unwanted.
    Many years ago, her mother, Queen Bregus, stole from the sacred fruit tree. Aberfa promised a curse so powerful that her family would feel its destructive effects for nine generations…unless the Queen could appease her. Placing a warm, shrivelled hand on her majesty’s swollen belly, Aberfa ignored offers of riches and power which leaked from Bregus’ lips. Aberfa wanted the child. Give her the child, and all would be forgiven. When the Queen delivered a girl, to the King’s disappointment, Bregus surrendered her first born. She named her daughter Tangwystl: a peace offering to Aberfa, who left Caertraeth amicably with her gurgling prize.
    Aberfa never lied to Tanny about how she came to be in her custody. A romantic lie might have been preferable. Tanny’s life was a sacrifice her mother had been willing to make, although that did not explain the tower. Aberfa argued that someone loyal to Queen Bregus, unaware of their bargain, might attempt to rescue Princess Tangwystl from Witch Aberfa. For the moment Tanny’s feet touched Caertraeth soil, Aberfa’s curse would crash down on the royal family. In moments when she felt hard done by (and there were many such moments) Tanny considered doing just that: climb out of her tower, swim across the surrounding river, march over the mountains beyond and stick her big toe on royal ground — because her family deserved a reign of crashing curses!
    But a lifetime spent in confined spaces with no opportunity for exercise and a diet which included daily cake had not prepared Tanny for a rigorous journey. Tanny would be hard pressed to fit through the window, much less scale the tower (and that before she got to the river or the mountains). Tanny was stuck: trapped by her mother’s bargain, trapped by her guardian’s magic and trapped by her own body.
    “No,” Tanny finally admitted to Aberfa. “I am not expecting anything.”
    Morning duties completed, Aberfa crawled with enviable dexterity through the window’s barricade as if it did not exist. She drifted weightlessly down from the tower to land on the island below. How she crossed the river, Tanny didn’t know. Aberfa often described the dangers of the outside world to discourage her foster daughter from attempting an impossible escape. Fat chance of that , thought Tanny. She began to embroider purple violets along the edge of a heavily decorated coverlet.
    Tanny usually napped in the afternoon, knowing Aberfa would wake her. But instead of the sharp prod of a walking stick in her soft side, Tanny was roused by something tickling her nose. She brushed it away, but it kept coming back. Half asleep, Tanny grabbed the offender. She held it to the crack of her eye lids for a vague inspection, then wriggled upright. In her hand billowed a delicate, orange flower.
    “Where did you come from?” she asked. “Oh! You brought friends.” Tanny’s entire bed was festooned with orange flowers. “How did you get in here?” Before she could ponder the mystery, two more drifted through the bright blue of the open window.
    Through the window!
    “Nothing comes through this window!” Tanny shouted at the misbehaving bloom. She threw the intruder out. Then she screamed and leapt back onto the bed. The shield was down! Cautiously, Tanny approached the window, eased her fingers onto the ledge and squinted at the view from her tower for the first time.
    The glare of the low sun blinded her at first. Then she saw gold glinting on blue river water, which surrounded the tower like a moat. Tanny looked down to the island — not as far away as she had imagined, though still a fair distance. There was a green garden and a brown tree releasing orange blossoms. Tanny knew colour from fabrics and threads and paints, but seeing it live was incredible: a different