Chapter 1: Setting the Stage
It came as a shock to the entire Fairy Kingdom when Crown Princess Dawn announced her engagement to a common elf named Sunny.
They had been lifelong friends, and courted in secret over several years. Princess Dawn had also been openly courted by a knight, Roland, during that time, and the court had expected her to marry the handsome and charming fairy man.
The fairies were scandalized. The elves were delighted. The brownies and sprites, having no direct stake in the marriage, thought for the most part that it was romantic.
The Fairy King had tried to argue with his daughter, but deflated almost immediately when Dawn insisted she loved Sunny. Love and happiness was all that he'd hoped for, for his daughters. Besides, he'd known the elf even if he hadn't seen him as a potential son-in-law, and he knew Sunny was honourable and hard-working and kind-hearted. Sunny could be taught to be a good king.
Princess Marianne, Dawn's younger sister, was happy for the engaged couple. The one thing that darkened her mood was the knowledge that, now that the Crown Princess was unavailable, every ambitious suitor in the kingdom would soon be turning their attentions to Marianne.
Sir Roland would not dare pay court to her right away, lest it cast aspersions against his character that he was only trying to marry power, rather than that he loved either princess. But few other knights and lords were thusly restrained; nearly every fairy man had paid court to Princess Dawn at some time or another, but not many had kept up a sustained suit, and several who would have been 'too young' to woo Dawn were also 'just the right age' for Princess Marianne's consideration.
Marianne did not have any strenuous objections to the idea of getting married, but she did have other things she wanted to do first.
She wanted adventure. Specifically, she had always wanted to explore their neighbouring kingdom, the Dark Forest.
The wedding was as joyous and bright as a wedding could be. The bride and groom wept for joy when they exchanged vows of devotion. The flowers for which the kingdom was famous looked especially vivid, and the creeks that danced through the grass were sparkling and musical under the early summer sun.
The party continued all night after Princess Dawn and new Prince Consort Sunny left for their honeymoon. (There had been talk of naming Sunny only a Duke, to become Prince Consort once Dawn was Queen, but as a fairy suitor would have become Prince Consort and later King, the Royal Council could not justify giving a reduced rank to an elf.) Princess Marianne danced until sunrise, and then pleaded exhaustion and slipped away.
Instead of sleeping, she changed from her party dress into a practical tunic, pants, and boots, and then made her way to the workshop of the Sugar Plum Fairy.
A powerful sorceress, Sugar Plum was most famous for her love potions, but she had not made any in years. Rumour had it that this was to do with some bargain made with the goblins' Bog King. Sugar Plum had once travelled freely between the two realms, but shortly after the Bog King took the Dark Forest throne, she had restricted herself to the Fairy Kingdom.
If Princess Marianne wanted to go into the Dark Forest, the Sugar Plum Fairy was one of the few in the Fairy Kingdom of whom she could ask advice and assistance.
According to an article in Wikipedia on peerage systems, a Duke or Duchess actually outranks a Prince or Princess, but I'm saying that in the Fairy Kingdom's nobility, the Royal Family outranks everyone and a Duke/Duchess is the next step down after Prince/Princess.