A Chain of Tales
or
A Tail of Chains
By Levana (Damian)
A Sequel to The Rose of a Beast. The eldest daughter of Joshua and Elizabeth Gilld has grown up and has decided that life is no fairy tale. But when her cousin Rose comes to visit and is lost at sea on the journey, Diana finds her life swept upside down as she joins in searching for the lost princess. Rose is finally found and claims to have been rescued by a strange man with eyes like the stormy sky and a voice like an angel. Rose joins them at Gilld Hall and life begins its return to normal until the King comes to visit and any number of intriguing gentlemen begin to arrive. Cupids' arrows fly fast and furious and it is only when Diana realizes where her heart truly belongs that she becomes aware she is going to lose him forever. And then the real fun begins.
A/N – This story is dedicated to Soofija and Shortstef, who have been the most loyal of fans and the most wonderful of reviewers. The rest of you can all aspire to reach that level, okay?
Chapter One
"'Beauty,' he said, as she stared at him with surprise and fear in her eyes. 'It's me.' She looked closer at the strange man, meeting the gaze of his clear blue eyes. She recognized them; they were the eyes of her dear beast. Her heart leapt within her chest.
"'It is you,' she replied and flung herself into his arms. He spun her around and she clung to him, deliriously happy. And then they kissed-"
"Yuck!" The reader stopped in the middle of her sentence and glared down at her uncooperative audience.
"Do you want me to finish the story?" she asked sternly. The seven year old boy who had just shown his disdain for romance nodded mutely.
"Please finish," added another voice, this one from a six year old girl who was seated quietly on the floor at the reader's feet.
"Very well," she acquiesced. "They kissed and, magically, the entire castle transformed from a dark, frightening place to a marvelous white palace. The many servants who had been under the terrible spell for ten years were changed back to their normal forms. The Prince was very glad to see them restored and he gave them each a hug in turn. And so the enchantress's spell was broken. The Prince and Beauty were married and, one year later, a baby girl was born to the happy couple. Their joy complete, they lived happily ever after. The End."
The three children at the reader's feet cheered. Even the baby, who was now three years old, appreciated hearing his sister tell stories. She was a wonderful weaver of tales, second only in prowess to their mother.
"Diana?" said the little girl, whose name was Abigail.
"Yes, Gail?" Diana replied, ruffling her little sister's hair tenderly.
"What was the baby's name?" Diana paused; she had never actually wondered that.
"Yeah!" agreed the oldest boy, named Jonathan after an uncle who had died many years before. The baby, Anthony, didn't really care one way or another, he was quite content to just sit in his sister's lap and let her weave the spell of words over him.
"Good question," said Diana. "Shall we go and ask Mama what it is?" Everyone was amenable to this plan, so the entire cavalcade left the nursery to search for their mother, followed by a drove of disapproving nurses. Unsurprisingly,Mama was sitting in her favorite chair in the library, copying over a very old manuscript that seemed very close to falling apart all together.
"Mama! Mama!" they yelled as they flung themselves into the room. Their mother held up a staying hand and Diana suppressed a sigh as she tried to hold back her excited siblings.
"Is this how young ladies and gentlemen behave?" their mother asked, smiling as she looked up at them.
"We have a very important question for you," said Jonathan solemnly.
"And what would that be?" she enquired in reply, setting down the paper and inkwell she was using and rising to greet her children.
"What was the name of Beauty's baby?" said Abigail, gazing up at her mother. Lizzie smiled and lifted her daughter into her arms.
"Her name was Rose," she said simply.
Diana nearly snorted with exasperation. Lizzie noticed her eldest's reaction and put Abigail down with a kiss on her brow.
"You've had your answer," she told her children with mock severity. "Now back to the nursery with you."
"But Diana promised us another story!" Jonathan protested.
"If you behave yourselves, I'll come up in fifteen minutes and tell you a story, all right?" That plan suited them perfectly and they disappeared as loudly as they had arrived, herded out by the nurses and governesses who had followed them down.
"You spoil them," Diana told her mother.
"As do you," Lizzie replied lightheartedly. "You were the one who went up there to tell fairy tales when you should have been studying." Diana groaned; she had hoped that wouldn't have come up.
"Yes, all right. But Papa wasn't ready to test me on what I had learned and my tutors were finished for the day."
"If your father's schedule could be arranged to fit his needs, I assure you, he would have been ready."
"That isn't the point, Mama, he promised."
"Have you ever tried running a Duchy?"
"No, have you?" Diana shot back.
"Yes, as a matter of fact, I have." Lizzie smirked at her daughter, the unspoken 'So there' easily discernable in the smile.
"I suppose that explains why Papa is in charge then."
"Watch your tongue, girl, you may offend someone one day." The reproof was not meant harshly, nor was it taken that way.
"I am only practicing for when I am to wed," Diana answered innocently. "Didn't you tell me that Papa's first words to you were that he was glad he lived in England, that way divorce was an option if he ever married a shrew like you."
"Those were not his first words," Lizzie said, chuckling softly. "Although he did say them the first night we had met."
"How romantic," Diana scoffed.
"The romantic part had come earlier, when he rescued me."
"From what?" Diana asked excitedly; she had never heard this part of the story before.
"From walking," Lizzie answered, tweaking her daughter's nose affectionately. Diana rolled her eyes.
"Mama," she whined.
"Now help me put this away," Lizzie requested, "Since I am to go up and tell fairy tales for the rest of the afternoon." Diana acquiesced and took the inkwell, carefully affixing the top back on.
"I don't see why you chose to name the girl Rose," Diana said, apropos of nothing.
"As opposed to Diana, for example?" Lizzie retorted.
"I'm not four anymore," Diana muttered, "I don't feel the need to figure in these stories. Besides, Papa was never a beast." With great forbearance, Lizzie managed not to comment.
"I said that her name was Rose because that is what Beauty and her Beast chose to name her."
"Beauty and the Beast is a fairy tale," Diana scoffed. "You chose to name her Rose because it fits so well with the rest of the story."
"Did I now?" Lizzie asked, amused at her daughter's reaction. "How do you know that this fairy tale didn't happen?" She smiled at her daughter. "Perhaps, like so many others in this world, you don't believe in magic?"
Diana glared at her mother. "If I didn't believe in magic, I wouldn't be standing around here, waiting for my father so that he can test me on my spell casting skills, would I?"
"So why is it so hard for you to believe that fairy tales may have actually happened?"
Diana just shook her head. It was a silly conversation anyway; her mother was just in one of her moods where she would contradict everything that her daughter said, regardless of how much sense it made. Fairy tales couldn't be real, that was why they were such good stories.
"And I suppose you'll be telling me that Cousin Rose is the girl in the fairy tale and that her parents were Beauty and the Beast."
"I don't see why not," Lizzie answered mildly, in a tone calculated to uproot that suspicion from her daughter's mind far better than a blatant denial would have worked.
Diana rolled her eyes. "I will never understand you, Mama."
Lizzie laughed. "It's part of my charm," she replied. "I'm going up now, will you accompany me?"
"I wouldn't miss it for anything," Diana responded, just as eager to hear her mother spin tales as the little ones were.
They returned to the nursery and were immediately accosted by the little ones, anxious to hear what their mother had to say.
"Settle down, settle down," said Lizzie idly as she sat down in one of the rocking chairs and Anthony crawled into her lap, snuggling up to her. "Now, what story shall I tell?"
It was impossible to hear one particular request of the ensuing shouts. Diana laughed at her excited siblings and helped her mother quiet them down.
"Didn't you say that you had heard a new story," Diana said, rubbing her cheek thoughtfully.
Lizzie smiled. "Well remembered, Diana. Indeed, I do have a new tale for you… if you'd care to hear it?"
"Yes!" all four children shouted at once, Diana as enraptured as the rest.
"Very well." Lizzie leaned back and fixed them all with a deep, blue eyed gaze. "I'll tell you a tale of the bottomless blue. At sea, when yougaze through the starboard keyhole, with a little luck, Madame Mermaid herself will be waiting for you in thosemysterious fathoms below. In the land under the sea where Tritan is king and his merpeople sing, there lived a young mermaid. She was a princess, the youngest daughter of the king and she had just turned sixteen."
Diana groaned softly. "Shh!" Abigail said fiercely. Lizzie met her daughter's skeptical glare with a secretive smile. Diana shook her head; it figures her mother would choose sixteen; her birthday was but two weeks away.
"There was a custom in the king's house that, when a mermaid turned sixteen, she could go up and explore the world above the waves. So that's exactly what she did."
"What was her name?" Jonathan asked.
Please don't let it be my name, Diana thought. Please don't let her do that to me.
"Her name was Loreli," Lizzie answered, smiling at her son. Diana sighed with relief. "So she swam off to the surface for her first taste of the land of humans-"
"Diana?" called a voice up the stairs.
"Shh!" Anthony said as loudly as he could. "I want story!"
Joshua poked his head around the doorframe. "Sorry to be the unwanted visitor, but your sister and I have a lesson, do we not?"
Diana rose to her feet and left the room, none too pleased that her father chose this time in particular to be free.
"Was I interrupting something?" he asked innocently as they descended the stairwell together.
"Just a new fairy tale," she answered, smiling ruefully at her dad.
"The one about the mermaid who falls in love with a hu-"
"Stop!" Diana protested. "You'll ruin the ending!" She paused. "Wait a minute, Papa, how do you know it?"
"Because I hear all the stories before any of you," Joshua answered with a smile. "Do you think your mother just pulls them from the air, fully told?"
"Well-"
"Speaking of pulling things out of the air," he interrupted, "I believe you were working on a spell to summon objects over a great distance, were you not?"
"Yes," she said with a sigh, "I was. What would you like me to summon?"
"If I was in the mood to save your uncle some money, I would say your cousin," her father replied, "But I'm not a nice person, so let's start with something nearer."
This was her father's typical way of imparting news, so Diana's exclamation of shock was merely at the content of her father's message and not at his mode of delivery.
"Rose is coming?" she asked excitedly.
"She is indeed," Joshua replied. "She left yesterday and should be arriving here within two weeks, assuming the winds don't behave too badly."
"Can you do anything about that?" Diana asked.
"You tell me." Joshua grinned and met his daughter's exasperated stare. "I'm waiting."
"Affecting the weather when one isn't present at the site where one would like the area to be affected is a dangerous procedure and should only be used when there is absolutely no other alternative," she quoted in a dry, dull voice.
"Well done," said Joshua in the same exact tone. "Now what would you like to summon?"
With an irritated glare, Diana pulled her attention away from her cousin's impending visit to the rather difficult tasks her father had set for her. It was well worth the effort for, at the end, she was praised highly for her efforts and her father was not one to give approbation without merit. She left the room, hoping that her mother would not be disinclined to continue the story of the mermaid for her alone.
Joshua watched her go. "So much potential," he said softly, rubbing the stubble that was growing on his chin with, to his dismay, far more gray in it than it had a few years previously. "And yet, I wonder if I'm out of my mind to teach that child magic."
"You were out of your mind long before you began attempting to teach Mademoiselle Stubborn anything," Lizzie said, slipping into the room. "How are you?"
"Tired," Joshua answered. "Very tired…don't even say it, woman, I know exactly what you're thinking."
"It's true."
"Well, I suppose I could get more sleep tonight and forgo what kept us up last night." He raised an eyebrow and Lizzie hit him lightly on the arm.
"Don't be absurd," she said as he wrapped an arm around her and kissed the top of her hair. "We have six years to catch up on, remember?"
"All too well," Joshua replied. They lapsed into silence. Lizzie was still amazed at Joshua, that he had stayed with her for those long years and helped her fight her inner demons before they had been able to make love. He had been the nicest, kindest, most wonderful man she had ever met and while she would never understand what drove that man, she was grateful beyond belief that he never gave up on her, even when she had given up on herself.
"Enough of this," Lizzie said, interrupting her own serious thoughts as well as whatever her husband was thinking about. "We should go and talk to the servants. If Rose will be here in two weeks…" she trailed off.
"I know. I am not looking forward to the next few months." They shared a wry grin and left the room, arm in arm.
T.B.C.
A/N – Guess who's back? Yep! It's me again. So, after some serious deliberation as to what the heck to do as a sequel, this made an appearance. I decided that the tale as old as time can only repeat so many times before something new has to happen. So, while this is in the Beauty and the Beast category, the plotline will be following some odd combination of Disney and Hans Christian Anderson's The Little Mermaid. Along with some other bizarre twists, including a bit of role reversal.And while Diana is the main character, I doubt that Joshua will let go of the spotlight for all too long so he and Lizzie should appear often. Oh, very important warning. I'll be good for a few weeks, as far as updating goes, but on July 1st, I start work at a summer job with very little internet access so, cruel though this may be, I might leave you hanging for two months without an update. But until then, I shall try to be consistent. All right? (And if you said no..?)
On the Little Mermaid note, I'm still not satisfied with the way Lizzie begins her story, even though I feel like I have to use words that are similar to those in the song at the beginning. All suggestions cheerfully accepted.
So, I must admit that I do owe a few thank yous from the last chapter of Rose of a Beast. I'm also kinda assuming that if you're reading this, you've read the prequel, otherwise this will make no sense. Plus, you'll have no idea who I'm thanking!
Soofija – Well, when I said all good things had to come to an end, I didn't really mean ALL of them. So, as a special present, here's a nice, I don't doubt long sequel. And I'm glad I've finally won some converts to the "Let Diana Live" club. And, as far as Joshua's concerned, she's his daughter and he makes very few distinctions, when he can. Sixteen years can do that to a man. So have fun and don't stop reviewing – it makes me way too happy and is decent incentive for me to get things done.
Shortstef – I'll try to provide chocolate with the next round. And, yes, we hate the brat, I know. But thanks for your approval, it really means a lot (even though you were casting the death vote). And the fact that she looks like her mother really helps Joshua a lot. I'm glad you liked it and I only hope this one turns out to be just as good.
Anarea Rose – You are observant. Here's the sequel, as predicted. Don't worry, I can't believe I finally finished that either. Glad you liked it.
Well, that's all for now and I hope to hear from you all soon, since you love me so much :stares with large puppy dog eyes:
Love always,
Levana (Damian)