Jennifer has always considered Wendy a little different than the others.

Of course, everyone was unique in their own manner, and almost none of them fit in with ease in the strange atmosphere of the orphanage. Jennifer herself had eaten at a table for three, with a bright, boisterous couple; at a desk for two in silence with a man who regarded her with hollow love and care; it was an entirely different thing to be made a part of a family so big you couldn't always get a full enough plate and sometimes left early with a strange taste in your mouth. Some children shared their share of food, and Jennifer knew it wasn't an act of generosity.

Wendy was, by far, the most sincere when it came to playing families.

It wasn't so much that she was ill and more often than not picked at her food when encouraged to devour it, but that she did her best to include Jennifer in a setting of individuals that share what they have with an empty stomach and mean it. She wasn't the oldest, by any means - but even Diana, whom Jennifer kept her distance from - regarded her warmly, as some sort of a mother figure, high up in the hierarchy, stern and fair and loving all the same. Jennifer felt most honored to be brought up to the same level as she, even though she would have been happy enough to stay low and idolize.

But they were special.

"Now that we've come to a conclusion," Wendy clapped her hands, smiling serenely. "You may go. We meet again at noon, tomorrow. Don't be late."

The others curtsied obediently, then scattered off in a rush, some of which more obviously stiff and willing to waste their excess energy. Jennifer crossed her legs, peering at the door as it closed one final time, leaving them alone. Wendy leaned back a little into her seat.

So special.

"Well, my prince, shall we head to our quarters?" It was far too late and Jennifer had duties to do.

But who cares? It wasn't her job. She didn't know why it should be.

The soft tapping of feet upon wooden floors echoed in the empty corridors, and stifled giggling and whispers as they passed the rooms of their caretakers, making jokes at their expense of how loudly some slept at night, or how some didn't sleep at all and paced the room, plagued by nightmares and daily events. They were all empty, right now, of course, but in an hour or two, every moving thing would be in slumber.

Wendy put a hand over her mouth in an attempt to stifle a cough as they slipped in one of the rooms, then sat down, her face pained and throat raw. Jennifer seated herself next to her, gently rubbing her back, until the hand that glided across her back was clasped into two pale hands and brought to Wendy's lap.

"You make me so happy, you know that?" She sighed, positioning her head on Jennifer's shoulder. "I wish we would be like this forever. Nobody to bother us... just you and me. I will never, ever find anyone like you, Jennifer. I will never replace you because you're the only one and you can't be replaced."

Jennifer just smiled weakly in return, uncertain if she can make the same promise.

It didn't matter if she could. Not if her princess was right here, treating her with the same warmth she treats others, but with a stronger touch to it. If Jennifer was important to her, she was going to live up to that expectation and that role for as long as she was needed to. She locked eyes with her friend, leaning in a little until their noses were lightly pressed against each-other, and just then, they weren't Wendy and Jennifer.

They were royalty from a foreign kingdom, lands of magic and a touch of colour to every bleak detail, seated in a richly decorated bedroom, on silk sheets and in a castle with a beating heart. With the same vision, they shared a spellbound moment, where they simultaneously were neither orphans in a desolate building nor respected authority in charge of an entire kingdom. They were just themselves, and that was alright, that was perfect.

She didn't lean in close enough, and the spell was broken.

But that was okay, too.

"Princess! You won't believe it! Hear me, hear me!"

Diana had always had a strange aura about her, Jennifer noted - as if a woman crammed in a child's body. Granted, no other adult Jennifer knew was so subtly mean-spirited as she, but she didn't dismiss it as a possibility. "I request audience with the Princess."

"Audience granted," Wendy nodded curtly, eyebrow raised at Diana's frantic behaviour. "Is something the matter?"

Diana curtsied, realizing she had forgotten to do so. It was bizarre to see her lose her composure - Diana had always been an eerily serene individual, hard to read and hard to comprehend. Perhaps even this was a facade, but Jennifer couldn't make an assumption based on it. "Princess, do you remember the couple that came in for inspection last week? The woman with the hair of gold and the man with the tuxedo?"

Jennifer, who had been fiddling with a cloth to keep her fingers occupied, paused immediately. She did remember the two, and had been wary of their presence - people rarely ever came, and it wasn't a surprise that they were understaffed. She did prefer their current, limited number of people to a crammed orphanage, but nonetheless sometimes hoped for a wider company, preferably of people who didn't treat them like they don't exist for anything other than to do their work. Wendy shrugged her shoulders, puzzled. "Yeah. Are they here again? The orphanage is in a decent condition, what do they want?"

The redhead took a slow breath, eyeing Jennifer, and then Wendy. Her gaze was gleaming, and it was hard to say what for. "They want you."

Wendy had her back on Jennifer, so she couldn't see her reaction, but she damn well could see Diana's mouth twitching into something that would have been a smile if she allowed it to spread. The brunette took a moment to take her words into an account, though she continued speaking. "They said you were a lovely girl, princess, and would like you to give you a nice home. They didn't tell me that, I heard it while they were talking to Hoffman."

Wendy's mere and only response to the ordeal was an "Oh", and then silence. She turned her head to face Jennifer, her expression indescribable.

Something inside Jennifer crumbled up and broke in realization.