She was born to a young King and Queen, and celebrated throughout the kingdom as no birth before hers had been. So enamored of their newborn daughter were the King and Queen that they decided to hold a royal ball which would be attended by all the dukes and duchesses and counts and countesses and families of the court, so splendid was their love for their new daughter.
The castle servants went in haste as one to the kitchens:
We need three cakes, yes stop that protesting - and don't you start, I can see you're lying your d?on there is clucking her head off! But the little princess will have it and you'd best thank your good stars their majesties didn't find bits of eggshell in there last time with your sloppy cookery! And is there anymore duck in town or should we run off to buy up some quail, instead? The roasting went so well last time...
And the villagers would send up their young children to take part in the help:
There, I think I've gotten the crease just right and you'll take a carriage up there I won't have you stepping around in dirt with those shoes we just bought! And don't speak unless you're spoken to. And of course, remember everything and report it back to us, your aunt hasn't left her bed in three days or she'd love to attend herself - friends in the court, you know. She is quite the beauty - and of age since her d?on's settled - such a shame she's taken sick!
And the royal decorator would arrive immersed in the throes of glamourous decor:
Would their daughter like the carved ice dove or toy rattle? Why both, certainly, and my how you'll win favor with the Queen sculpting her own dove so lovely! Will there be dancing? Of course, dancing! Why, this space here is inlaid marble with obsidian accents along the border, does it not seem like a floor fit for dancing? And a band to play, for certain? Well, yes. But how far do your contacts reach, we have heard of quite the lovely start-up of performers from Barcelona. And flowers, I take it? Flowers and columnades and gilded roses and crystal glasses! And official proclamations and gifts of fine jewelry for the new babe and laughter, such laughter, and a performance of acrobats and bards and singers and a menagerie in the garden!
And thus the ball would be set up. And life in the castle would hasten with effort to arrange it.
"But a daughter may not rule the kingdom!" The maids would gossip.
"It does not matter, to the King his daughter is most valuable in his negotiations. She may marry princes of other countries and expand his rule. To him she is everything he ever wanted, for through her his power will grow. He doesn't even need to go to war!"
"But his son will rule him in succession of his own land and wealth. The King did not make such uproar over his firstborn," the maids would then say, and their little four-legged d?ons would bark unhappily and look round to make sure no one listened.
"It is because his son will rule after him that The King so hates him and so jealously keeps his love from the boy! As much as an asset the young Prince is, he is also a threat in the eyes of his majesty. Who better of an enemy than the one born to take your power."
And the maids would be scuttled off to polish more silver or dust out the pantries to make room for fresh vegetables or call into the market to look for just the right mixture of sand to keep the pedestals in the gardens from toppling over when bird cages and crystal globes were placed on top of them.
And the ball did come, with such splendour and attendance that the young Queen clapped her hands together and spun circles with her newborn daughter as her d?on, a dove, pushed ever so lovingly at the small mouse-shaped d?on of her little girl, beckoning him to take wing and learn to fly.
The gowns were lavish, and the speech the highest in calibre and educated with travel, with learning. The music soared and comforted and spread beautifully. The men stepped down the dance line, with the women - glamourous baubles and magnanimous guests - on their arms. And the pink bassinet at the far end of the room, which made small noises like the drop of water in a puddle only so often, was crowded around and fawned over and adored.
As was her right, the King knew.
As was her right, the Queen knew.
As was her right, the proud older brother knew. Not strife in the kingdom from this birth, not division of loyalties and constant warring for the Father's assets, not the need to outdo and re-outdo until the siblings grew old as youngsters playing commander in an adult's world are so wont to. Not hatred and trickeries and deeds so vile as to strike the vilest of associates in tight brotherhood when they occur, but love.
A sister meant love, companionship. Only five years would separate them and such frolics the boy had planned already - the Prince had no friends his own age, none were left to be around him. He was to be an adult as quickly as made possible, but she would become his safe haven from the world of adults.
And the ball steeped long into the night, the music only becoming richer, the guests only enjoying themselves more, and the King only so happy in all that had been accomplished in his life so far. He bent and stroked his small, slightly wolf-like d?on at his side while they stood near the infant, and together they looked over and felt fulfilled with the happiness in the kingdom they'd made.
It was only as the darkness came complete, and the sounds of night picked up outside as the sounds of the birds in the menagerie became panicked with squawking, that the mystery began.
It started out slowly, with some faint glow coming in around the edges from the darkness outside, as if it meant only to nibble at the edges until it found where best to bite down. And then it gained speed, and the guests shifted uncomfortably from the dance floor, unsure what had made them leave but feeling all the same that the warmth of candlelight was in some contrast with another, more devilish, developing glow. And, taking heart of the ball, the mystery began in earnest.
Light poured into the ballroom in syrupy thickness, blinding in its glare from the golden decorations which filled the room. Light dazzled and skipped along marble columns, wrapped divinely around stone archways and stuck imploringly at the guests - the moving shimmering light dancing readily, as if each ray and shimmer were its own leaf buffeting lightly against the breeze in its own whimsical pattern. And the breeze did come so lightly and the rattle did sound so lightly, as if through the most delicate of tree branches, tingling with tinny cacophony. And the smell came earthy and fragrant and old, as if the ballroom had been taken over by the very centre of some great inhuman forest.
As if -