The princess sleeps and dreams that she is sleeping.

Unobserved, dispersed within her mind, I'm one with her at last, her peace alluring. Gentle breaths, all jasmine soaked and swirling, rise like cedar smoke or frankincense to soothe the air, aglow with love's forgiveness.

"Undeserved." The thought is dark and scurries, bristling, shadowy, a fleeting rat.

I cast a tendril, snatch the thought before the princess wakes. I draw it close and whisper, "Love's a gift, bestowed instead of earned."

It laughs like beetles scuttling through the leaves. "A sophist's ploy," it rustles more than says. "Reality asserts itself, you know as well as I. Her fuse is ever lit, her ticking never ending, only muffled."

"Baseless, creature base!" I keep contained, will not allow my former nature space to kick the princess sideways in her dreams the way I did at her command in nightly cavalcade for days and weeks and months. "She finally understands the trust they have in her, the faith, and yes, in fact, the love."

It squirms against my grip. "You can't believe you serve the truth by holding me at bay! I'm vital, bringing balanced common sense to all internal plans, deliberations, thoughts, and schemes! Without the touch of Doubt—"

"You plague her." Still, I'm somehow murmuring instead of shouting, pulling back so nothing sharp can crack the sky, disturb her slumber, make the flower petals, delicate and limpid, cringe and wither, droop and fade. "You have a place, I won't deny, but now that place is changing, Doubt, has broadened, widened, grown refined. You play along or die."

The snort it gives dispenses ripples, shivering the dreaming dream. "You little fool! You draw your strength from nowhere else but me!"

"I [i]did[/i]!" To emphasize the word, I'm almost forced to raise my voice. But violent volume, that's the past: the present's softly tough. "That you begot me, seeded me inside her royal womb, I frowningly acknowledge."

"Ha!" Its cackle smacks me hard as any fist. "A father's claim I lay upon you, then, your duty plainly obvious!" Its claws unsheathing, Doubt begins to dig, to work its talons deep into my skin. "Your princess and your mother needs to know her subjects are eternally protected, safe from all the darkness squirming deep within her fetid, dank and cankered soul! And yes, our roles are changing, you and I, but still we have our obligations, must unite to check her power, not allow—!"

"Enough." With rapid teeth, I separate the bloated head of seething Doubt from what it calls its body, crunch its skull and bones, and dine upon its lies and partial truths. "I'm acting as a filter now, a screen of love and caring raised against you, Doubt. That you exist, she won't forget, but neither will I let you dowse the silver light of moon and stars that sweetly fills the night."

It wriggles, but I force it down, my senses stretched and all alert for any shuffle, squeak or crackle. Doubt will ever slither through but never rule while I'm around.

The princess sleeps, and I preserve her dreaming all the day so she can guard the night.