I had, least to say, a hard life.
I was kidnapped from my parents at a very young age, and held captive in an obscure location until my late teen years. My captor, however, was always kind and gentle to me, and gave me everything I asked for.
Perhaps that's when I got used to getting everything I wanted, no matter what the cost.
Due to my masses of black curls and ivory skin, my kidnapper, a young French fellow named Colin Raconteur, quickly coined me with the name Gothel, and since he refused to address me by my real name, it stuck, and I eventually forgot the name my parents had called me altogether. Colin was only a teenager when he kidnapped me…I was seven; he was sixteen. His reasons behind my abduction I never uncovered, but once I realized that being separated from my blood family was the best thing that ever happened to me (other than finding the Golden Flower, which I'll speak of at a later time), I never asked again.
Why was this the best course of action, you may ask? Well, you see, Colin and I fell in love. He taught me wonderful things; even the legend of the Golden Flower was told to me by him. Once we were older, we wanted children, and I miscarried several times before finally giving birth to a beautiful baby girl. Marissa is what I named her; she had my gray eyes and Colin's blonde, wavy hair. Oh, how I'd wanted a little girl of my own! However, that was not to be. Much to my despair, my sweet baby girl died at the age of five from cholera.
I wept long and hard, mourning over the death of my sweet Marissa. My sorrows only deepened when Colin's grief drove him to do the unthinkable.
He went out and killed himself.
The death of my entire family, my entire life, all in one day left me cold, bitter, and alone, my heart forever blackened. I vowed to never love anyone or anything again, and aged in loneliness and pain.
However, I was determined to survive, to live my life over again. There wasn't a day that past when my search for the Golden Flower occupied my time. My bones brittle and about to take my last breath, I continued in my grueling search to restore my youth. I'd give anything to have my beauty as well as years back.
One night, ready to fall into the snare of death on the cliff sides of the Coronan forest (then simply just another forest with a lonely, empty island across the water), I found it.
The Golden Flower.
I practically collapsed onto it, crying tears of relief as I sung the song my dear Colin had taught me, the lullaby we'd sing Marissa to help her fall asleep. The incantation triggered the flower's power, and I was restored to a youth I hadn't experienced since before Colin and I were married.
Feeling just how good it was to be young again, I knew that I couldn't share the secret of the flower's existence with anyone, not that I had anyone to share it with. I snapped some twigs and leaves off a nearby bush, keeping a keen eye out for anyone else wandering the seaside at that time of night, and sung to the Flower for light as I wove it a covering that would shroud it, making it appear an ordinary bush.
I blew my Flower a kiss as I departed, promising it that I'd be back again, once a month for the rest of eternity – that part made me chuckle to myself. I knew immideately that I loved the flower, though I'd vowed to never love anything again, but it did something for my worthy of loving. I then returned home to the tower I'd lived in ever since Colin had kidnapped me and brought me there.
After a hundred years or so, little shops and houses sprung up all over the once-deserted island across from my Flower's home, countless ships ferrying relentlessly across the once-still waters of the sea. I had to be much more careful about my healing sessions now.
A bridge began to be constructed, linking the island to the forest, and once it was finished I dared to go into the little village that would eventually become the kingdom of Corona. Shortly following the completion of the bridge, a palace began to be constructed. Nearly two centuries later, the grand, intricate castle was finally finished and the kingdom of Corona was born. I even attended the ribbon-cutting; there I learned that two young nobles from Denmark, Prince Harold III and Josephine, Duchess of Cote, would rule the kingdom together after their marriage in the fall.
After the coronation ceremony for the new King and Queen, it became apparent in my visits to Corona that King Harold and Queen Josephine were deeply beloved and respected by their subjects, who became even more grotesquely optimistic when news of the Queen's pregnancy spread to their ears. However, their joy was short-lived, for the Queen fell ill near the end of her pregnancy with the same disease that killed my Marissa…
Cholera.
Now, if you don't know about the perils of cholera, it is a sickness that descends upon its victim quickly and kills within a matter of days. There is no cure, and it is a terrible way to die. As you can imagine, the entire kingdom was frenzied as the Queen's time was quickly running out. They searched for anything and everything that might heal their queen, and as a last resort, they went looking for the Golden Flower.
My Golden Flower.
At the sound of this news, I was quite rightly mortified, and spent my week lingering close to the shores of the forest to keep an eye on my Flower. When I heard that poor Queen Josephine's case was truly hopeless and that she'd most likely die the very night of my hearing the buzz, I decided that it was safe for me to use my Flower.
I sung only half the healing incantation that night, in a rush to re-hide the sun's precious gift. It was a good call on my part, for not a second after I'd finished, I heard the terrifying sound of metal clanking and muffled voices behind me. I carefully placed the shroud over my Flower, but in the haste of my escape, I accidentally knocked the covering off with my lantern.
Much to my horror, the Golden Flower, the key to my youth, was gregariously uprooted from the ground. Obviously, these Coronan guards knew quite a bit more about the Flower than I – if I'd known I could utilize its powers after bringing it elsewhere, I would've brought it back to the tower.
Aghast, I followed the townsfolk back to Corona and up to the castle, inside the gates where many waited expectantly to hear of any change in the Queen's condition. I watched, horrified, as my flower was carried inside, never to be seen again.