Happily Ever After – An Everlark Story
Prologue
A/N: A Everlark story inspired by the 1998 film Ever After.A huge thanks must go to loving-mellark for making this incredible banner and joshs-left-earlobe for providing me heaps of feedback, encouragement and editing it for me.
Once upon a time in a kingdom far, far away called Panem, there lived a little girl named Katniss who loved her mother and father very much. When she was two years old, her dear mama gave birth to another little girl, named Primrose - though the little girl and those around her ended up calling her Prim. The family lived merrily and their modest home in the Seam was filled with much love, joy, and laughter.
Sadly, when Katniss was ten and her little sister Prim was eight, a great illness swept through the kingdom of Panem, and their dear mama was one of its many victims. The whole family and staff were devastated. But none more so than their beloved papa, who drowned into a deep ocean of grief forcing him to move away from the family home leaving his children under Nanny Sae's care as he could not bear to stay and be haunted by such devastating memories.
Several weeks later, their cherished papa returned home, but to his children's surprise he was not alone. No indeed not. With him was a widow he had married, Lady Alma Coin - along with her two little daughters Glimmer and Clove. While at first the news of a new mother and step-sisters was alarming for the two little girls, soon the notion of having a new mother and sisters was accepted as they did indeed miss having a maternal figure in their home.
After the initial introductions, however, little Katniss and Prim found their new stepmother and step-sisters to be snobbish. Since their father was Lord of the Seam, her parents had always taught them how to be good, kind, warm, and generous with others. Unfortunately, Lady Alma and her daughters Glimmer and Clove had not been raised with such consideration. The new Lady of the Seam was more interested in making sure her own children were afforded the best dresses, shoes, delicious food, soft beds, and every home comfort. While Katniss and Prim were treated with quiet and carefully concealed contempt - lest their papa notice his new bride's disdain for his girls - Katniss and Prim feigned ignorance as the last thing they wanted to do was destroy their papa's newfound happiness.
Meanwhile, living the life of royalty and privilege in the Royal Palace of Panem - the exact opposite of Katniss and her sister- was Prince Peeta. He was the youngest son of King Richard and Queen Marigold and had enjoyed a close bond with his two older brothers, Edmund and Thomas. Those boys had spent their days getting up to much mischief, fun, and games until the family lost both Edmund and Thomas to a deadly plague that swept through the kingdom. This left the youngest son, Peeta, to be Crown Prince. The deaths of the two young boys grieved the whole royal family, but none more so than the Queen who had doted on her eldest sons as she felt they were excellent swordsmen and hunters and would be decent rulers of Panem. Unlike Peeta who she'd always felt was too soft and cared too much for ordinary people. The Queen was disappointed and was not afraid to tell the little Prince how useless he was, though she wouldn't dare to criticize Peeta in front of the King, as Peeta was his favourite. The King liked that his youngest was sensitive towards people and had a natural talent with a paintbrush.
One time, Prince Peeta escaped the walls of the castle to play with the peasant kids at the markets, much to the Queen's dismay and the King's horror. The Queen abhorred that behaviour and chastised Peeta, while the King was concerned for his safety. Queen Marigold wanted to ban her son from leaving the castle walls; the King, however, came up with an alternative as he admired his son's caring and kind nature while appreciating his respect for the lower classes. His decision was to allow the prince to go with the leader of his castle guards to collect weapons from the blacksmith.
The Prince was very happy with this plan and enjoyed his visits. He was fascinated with how the blacksmith made the swords and shields, though the smithy soon became too hot for him. So with the guard leader's permission, he would venture outside the smithy and play games with the blacksmith's sons. For a while this was enough for the Prince, but soon later he became restless once again, having grown tired of visiting the same place again - though he did enjoy playing with the children - he wanted to learn more, so once again he went to his father and mother. His mother was unhappy with his interest with the townspeople, but the King, knowing that Peeta would need to know his future subjects when he eventually wore the crown, came up with a plan.
After his twelfth birthday, Prince Peeta would tour the thirteen districts with one of the King's advisors to collect the taxes from each district. Preferring not to take money from the people, the Prince asked his father for a different assignment. But the King explained to Peeta that the taxes enabled the kingdom to thrive and assured the utmost safety to the Royal Family as well as those they ruled.
His father's enthusiasm affected Peeta in such a way that he soon became excited as he left for his tour of the districts. He managed to find ways to interact with the different workers in the country to learn all about the different trades and industries that had made their kingdom rich.
In District One he learnt how the jewelers made the luxurious gems and stones for the royalty and wealthy. In District Two he saw how the physicians and healers helped treat the sick, and District Three how the builders and stonemasons constructed castles and dwellings. From there, he went to District Four where he discovered the art of fishing. Onto District Five he saw how they provided power and candles for the whole kingdom.
In District Six, he observed how horse-pulled carriages were built, before making his way to District Seven where he saw how lumber was used to supply the other districts. Districts Eight, Nine and Ten followed and Peeta was immersed into the lives of weavers and dressmakers who created and designed clothes, the farmers and bakers and their process of grain-making, and landowners in the growing and keeping of livestock. It was in District Eleven where he learnt about agriculture, and in District Thirteen he saw how weapons were made and how soldiers were trained.
In each district the little Prince was welcomed, and he learnt a great deal about the people. He saw how much his father was respected and how people managed to pay their taxes with some ease. Yet he also recognized how different the outlying districts managed to cope with the taxes. He witnessed poverty, disease, and some angry workers fighting the collectors. This saddened the Prince's heart, but there was not much for him to do. He was a child and had no say in what happened. He did not understand why the people in these districts had it tougher than the other districts in paying their taxes. When he tried to ask anyone about it, he was told that he was too young to understand. So the Prince just said nothing and watched on in helpless despair.
But one day all of that changed.
He was in the poorest district in the kingdom: District Twelve. A district known for it's hunting and gathering as it was surrounded by forests and was home to many ferocious and deadly creatures. The little Prince was with one of his guards leaving the village's bakery when he saw her. A girl who looked no more than twelve years old with striking grey eyes - a colour like he had never seen before - soaking wet from the rain, sitting all alone under a big oak tree. She looked very thin. Peeta looked upon her dejected form, sensing the hunger that consumed her tiny body and before he knew it, he threw two whole loaves of bread towards her. His guard, who had been talking to the baker's wife, saw what he had done and chastised the young Prince.
But the Prince could not get the girl out of his thoughts. He wanted to know who she was and why was she in the rain all alone. Didn't she have a family or someone to take care of her?
Unbeknownst to Peeta, that girl's name was Katniss. During the Prince's tour of the Districts, Katniss and Prim's father sadly passed away leaving the two girls to the care and guardianship of their stepmother. While her stepmother had always appeared to be very wealthy, it seemed that appearances were deceiving, and to save money her stepmother fired her lady servants and gave those duties to Katniss and Prim. Both girls were worked to the bone, but they managed to get enough food to eat. That was until the lady of the manor fired the rest of the servants, leaving poor Katniss and Prim to attend to all of their needs. To make matters worse, her stepmother decided that since they were used to hard work, they did not need as much food.
A few weeks had passed and Prim became sick from starvation, but Katniss didn't know what to do. While her father had been a great hunter and had taught his daughter everything he knew, her stepmother deemed hunting unladylike and banned her from venturing into the forest to hunt. She knew that without any money, there was no hope for her sister or herself.
So one day, desperate and at her wits end, she went to the village to seek some food. But the weather was terrible and all the stalls were closed. Wandering around, she spotted the bakery and the little courtyard where there were some pigs in a pen and carts filled with leftover food. Katniss searched for something that was salvageable, but the food left in there was too wet and soggy. Beaten and hopeless with no food in her belly, Katniss staggered to the muddy ground. It was at that moment she saw a boy her age staring right back at her. He had the brightest blue eyes she had ever seen, like the ocean she'd once seen in a picture book about District Four, and the blondest hair like spun gold.
Moments passed where Katniss and the boy looked directly in each other's eyes. He nodded towards the burnt loaves of bread before he threw them towards her. Shocked by his action, but knowing that she and her sister needed some food, she quickly, but rather clumsily stood up and rushed to pick up the loaves. She tried to ignore the angry words that an unfamiliar man was yelling at the boy as she scooped up his offering.
She ran home with dinner, silently thanking the boy with the bread. And it was in that moment and the act of kindness from the stranger that Katniss would always remember, as it was the day that she decided to return to hunting. The day she was determined that she and Prim would survive.
