AN: Welcome back! I hope I haven't scared you off yet! So, pretty much from here on out it will be mostly Ahiru's (Duck's) POV (I will switch to other POVs). Also, pretty much from here on out, all of the chapter titles are titles of episodes in the Princess Tutu anime. Anyway, I don't own anything and please read and review!

Ch. 2 - "The Duck and the Prince ~ Der NuBknacker: Blumenwalzer"

-Seventeen years later-

Ahiru was happily gazing out of the window as she watched her three year old sister, Uzura, running away from nanny around the small duck pond. Ahiru chuckled quietly as she watched Uzura play the toy drum that their father gave her as she continued to run from her nanny. Ahiru grew a little sad at seeing Uzura's toy drum, because she knew that the little toy drum was the last present their father gave before dying in battle. She couldn't help but feel extreme sadness at the thought of Uzura growing up without their father, but Ahiru knew that Uzura had herself and Mother, and therefore would not grow up without love. Ahiru giggled as she watched Uzura get her lovely little green dress muddy as she continued to frustrate her poor nanny. "Princess, if you would kindly pay attention to your lesson. If you can't pay attention, I will have you marry me!" Ahiru's tutor's voice broke into her thoughts, calling her back to the lesson that she was supposed to be paying attention to. Ahiru's face grew pale and she swallowed nervously at the thought of being married to her tutor. "I'm sorry, Mr. Cat," Ahiru quickly apologized, "I promise to pay more attention. Please continue." Mr. Cat sighed as he closed his green and amber eyes and pushed his shoulder length black hair behind his large, slightly pointed ears in frustration before continuing his lesson.

Ahiru patiently allowed her handmaiden, Lilie, prepare her for bed as Ahiru's other handmaiden, Pike, was turning down her bed. "Just think, my Lady," Lilie giggled as she began untying the laces of Ahiru's corset, "Soon you'll be able to celebrate your coming of age and then you'll be able to marry your very own Prince Charming, just like all the stories say." "Those are just fairy stories, Lilie," Pike said as she smoothed down the wrinkles in Ahiru's sheets, "besides, there's only so many princes in the Five Kingdoms; how do you know that one of them is Ahiru's 'Prince Charming?' Even if Ahiru does find her 'Prince Charming' will he be sincere? Princes who are charming are often charming to every young damsel that they meet." "You're no fun, Pike!," Lilie cried out in a huff as he helped Ahiru into her nightdress, "Where is your sense of romanticism?" Ahiru ignored her handmaidens banter as she sat down at her vanity to put her long, red hair in a braid when her mother suddenly came in. "Your Majesty," Lilie and Pike said as they curtsied in respect. "I wish to speak to my daughter; so if you girls could please excuse us, you are dismissed for the night," Ahiru's mother said. "Yes, Queen Edel," Lilie and Pike said respectfully as they curtsied once again and left the room. "What is it Mother? Is something wrong?," Ahiru asked as she finished braiding her hair.

"I probably should have told you this sooner, but after your father died I didn't want to further upset you," her mother said as she unconsciously fiddled with the flower pendant necklace Ahiru's father had given her before he died, "Ahiru, now that your father is gone we need the support of the other kingdoms and so I've entered into a truce with Kinkan."

"Oh, that's great Mother! I know that Kinkan with be of great help!," Ahiru said with a sad smile as she thought of her father.

"Yes, I knew you understand how much we will need their help. However, the one condition in order to gain their support, is for you to marry the Prince Mytho," her mother finished.

Ahiru found herself in a state of shocked silence as she realized what her mother had told her. "Then why not get the other kingdoms' support?! Why do I have to marry Prince Mytho? I don't know anything about him! How can I marry someone I don't even know?," Ahiru asked in a small voice.

"I know, Ahiru. I understand this is not what you had in mind for your future, but we desperately need Kinkanese support now, more than ever if we are to survive without your father. The other kingdoms see us as a weak liability without a king and Kinkan was the only kingdom to offer their support. You will leave in a fortnight to live in Kinkan, but you will not have to marry until you come of age; that way you will get to know your fiancée and your future home better."

"I see," Ahiru said quietly as she sat down on her large feathered bed. She had always imagined that she would be allowed to marry for love, and now here she was engaged to someone she never met before. She understood why her mother agreed to the engagement; now that her father was gone Oiseau desperately needed the support of kingdoms like Kinkan in order to survive and she knew the best way to create a permanent truce was through a political marriage. Ahiru knew all of this, but she was still upset with the fact that she was the one to have to marry. She didn't want to marry for convenience, she wanted love! But, as Ahiru continued to think about it, she remembered that her parents were in an arranged marriage and they had learned to love each other; maybe she can have that with Prince Mytho. "Alright Mother," Ahiru said in determination, "I will marry Prince Mytho."

"That's my girl," her mother said proudly, "I know this is hard for you, but I'm sure everything will turn out all right in the end."

Ahiru nodded and hugged her mother as she bid her goodnight. She desperately hoped her mother's words would eventually come true. Ahiru wished will all her might that one day everything will turn out all right and she can have her "happy ever after" with a man that she could hopefully learn to love.

AN2: "Der NuBknacker: Blumenwalzer" is Tchaikovsky's "The Nutcracker: The Waltz of the Flowers." So, I made a little reference to Stephen Sondheim's "Into the Woods" with Pike's rant about princes. Because we all know that princes are "raised to be charming, not sincere"! Te he! Please review!