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Inside the sunlit tower chamber, The Queen kneels before tall golden mirrors where faint Shadow Faces hover, while Danny and Drew stand behind her near velvet curtains, exchanging worried looks. Morning light glints off mirror frames.
High in a tall tower lived a Queen with two young sons named Danny and Drew. The tower was filled with golden mirrors that showed strange Shadow Faces. Every day, the Queen looked at these faces and tried to make them smile. She spent so much time with the mirrors that she forgot to play with her boys.
Candlelit tower night, The Queen stands rigid before a golden mirror, painting a wide red smile on her face with a thin brush while Shadow Faces flicker in the glass behind her.
The Shadow Faces were always watching from inside the mirrors. They whispered things to the Queen. Sometimes they liked what she did. Sometimes they did not. The Queen worked harder and harder to please them. She painted smiles on her face and stood very still before the golden glass.
In the bright garden, Danny and Drew race after butterflies across wildflowers while their cheerful bearded father in rolled-up sleeves claps and laughs by an old oak tree under midday sun.
While their mother stood by the mirrors, Danny and Drew played in the garden below. They chased butterflies through the flowers. They climbed trees and rolled down hills. Their father played with them and they laughed until their bellies hurt. But they missed their mama very much.
Sun pours through the kitchen windows as Drew holds an empty glass jar aloft beside the wooden table, grinning, while Danny stands on a stool clapping his hands, flour sacks and copper pots hanging behind them.
One sunny afternoon, Drew had an idea. He found an empty glass jar in the kitchen. Danny clapped his hands with excitement when Drew explained his plan. They would catch real smiles and give them to their mama. Maybe then she would remember how to be happy again.
Outside in the glowing afternoon yard, Danny and Drew laugh as their cheerful bearded father in rolled-up sleeves tickles them; Drew pretends to capture the laughter in the warm jar, sunlight sparkling on the glass.
The boys ran outside with their jar. When they laughed at a funny bird, they pretended to catch the feeling and put it in the jar. When their father tickled them silly, they saved those giggles too. They caught smiles from ice cream treats and bedtime stories. Soon the jar felt warm in their hands.
On the dim spiral staircase of the tower, Danny and Drew pause outside a heavy wooden door, clutching the softly glowing jar of Real Smiles; fading evening light streams through a narrow window onto their hopeful faces.
That evening, Danny and Drew climbed the stairs to their mother's tower. Their feet went patter-patter on the stone steps. They could hear their mama talking to the Shadow Faces. She sounded tired and sad. The boys looked at each other and held the jar tighter. They knocked softly on the door.
Under flickering candlelight inside the mirror chamber, The Queen, palette in hand, raises a brush toward her already painted smile, frozen mid-stroke as she hears the knock, golden mirrors crowding around her tense reflection.
The Queen was painting another smile on her face when she heard the knock. She was too busy looking at the golden mirrors to turn around right away. Then she heard Danny's small voice whisper, "Mama?" The Queen's painted smile froze. She had almost forgotten what her boys' voices sounded like.
In the lamplit tower room, Drew with grass-stained knees offers the sticky glass jar upward to The Queen, who turns from the mirrors, while Danny stands beside his brother, both boys wearing earnest, wide smiles.
Drew stepped forward with grass stains on his knees from playing all day. He held up the sticky glass jar. "We made this for you," he said with bright, hopeful eyes. "It's a Jar of Real Smiles. We caught them when we chased butterflies and had a big tickle-fight with Dad."
Bathed in soft torchlight, The Queen cradles the warm jar near her chest; the nearest golden mirror now reflects Danny and Drew's bright faces instead of Shadow Faces, while the boys stand expectantly at her side.
The Queen finally looked away from her golden mirrors. She took the simple glass jar from her sons. In its reflection, she didn't see the Shadow Faces at all. Instead, she saw two boys who loved her just for being herself. The jar felt warm and light, like sunlight in her hands.
By the morning-lit mirrors, The Queen sets her paintbrushes on a marble stool and clasps Danny and Drew's small hands; the Shadow Faces linger in the dull glass behind them, but the family's joined smiles shine.
The Queen looked back at the cold golden mirrors. The Shadow Faces stared at her, waiting for more painted smiles. Then she looked at Danny and Drew. Their real smiles glowed brighter than any gold. The Queen knew what she had to do. She set down her paints and took her boys' hands.
In the rose-gold sunset garden, The Queen, Danny, and Drew tumble laughing onto soft grass after chasing a flurry of butterflies; petals and wings swirl around their joyful faces as warm light bathes the scene.
The Queen, Danny, and Drew went down to the garden. They chased butterflies until sunset. They had their own tickle-fight and laughed so hard they fell down. The Queen's face hurt from smiling, but this time it was a real smile. She didn't need to paint it on.
Early dawn filters into the Queen's modest bedroom where a dust-coated golden mirror leans forgotten; The Queen sits on the bed gazing peacefully at the glass Jar of Real Smiles glowing on her bedside table.
From that day on, the Queen spent less time in the tower. The golden mirrors grew dusty while the glass jar sat on her bedside table. Whenever the Shadow Faces called to her, she looked at the jar instead. It reminded her that the best smiles come from love, not from trying to please everyone else.