Disclaimer: Princess and the Frog belongs to Disney, not me.
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Maldonia: July of 1909
Naveen stood very still as Graciela buttoned the shiny gold buttons on the front of his best jacket. "You look just like your papa," she said, smiling absently as she tied the bright blue sash around his waist.
"Really?" he said, twisting around to catch his reflection in the mirror.
"Really," she said. She turned him back around and adjusted the hem of his white satin jacket. "Just like your papa, only smaller."
He frowned. "When will I be bigger?" he asked.
"You'll be bigger next year," she promised.
"As big as Papa?"
"Not quite." She crossed to the dresser, her long striped dress swishing against the floor, and picked up a black velvet box. "Now, hold quite still, your highness."
He watched, wide-eyed, as Graciela opened the box. A small gold crown glinted against the dark velvet depths. "Your papa wore this when he was a little boy," she said. "And your grandfather too."
"But my grandfather is in heaven with Mami," he corrected.
"Yes, you're right," she said. She set the crown carefully on his head. He wriggled with excitement. "Hold still." Graciela brushed a dark silky curl out of his eyes.
"Can I see?" he asked eagerly.
She turned him towards the mirror. He stared at his reflection- his wide bright eyes, the shininess of his best clothes, the unfamiliar gold crown. "You're the crown prince now," she said.
He turned around. "But I'm still Naveen, yes?" he said, wrinkling his nose in concern.
"You will always be Naveen," she reassured him. She knelt beside him and wrapped her arms around his waist. "But for your people, you are their crown prince. Someday when you're a grown up, you will be the king."
He placed his small hand on the mirror. "But that's not until I'm bigger?"
"You will be very, very big when you become king," Graciela assured him. She stood up and patted him on the shoulder. "We should go, your highness. Your father is waiting for you."
Naveen followed the young maid down the bright, airy hallways of the palace. The servants that usually nodded to him politely now stopped their chores to bow as he passed by. Naveen tucked his hand into Graciela's. She held his small fingers in her cool light grip as they walked down the hall.
"Why are they bowing to me?" he asked.
"Because someday you will rule them," she said.
A pretty maid halted as she put fresh flowers into a polished glass vase and dropped a curtsy. He held his chin high and nodded to her, as he had seen his papa do. The maid giggled.
Graciela tugged on his hand to hurry him down the hallway. "Come along, your highness," she said. "Or you'll miss your father's coronation."
He followed her, uncharacteristically silent as he thought hard. "Graciela?" he said.
"Yes, your highness?" she said.
"What does a crown prince do?" he asked.
Her eyes twinkled, as if she wanted to laugh but didn't want to do so out loud. "A crown prince learns what it means to become a king," she said. "You will go to school and become very smart, and learn the history of our people so that you can lead us wisely when you are a grown up."
He wrinkled his nose. "I don't like learning," he said.
"You like learning. You don't like school," she corrected.
She led him to a set of double doors draped with velvet curtains and guarded by two large men. At the sight of the young prince they nodded, clicking the heels of their shiny black boots together, and moved to let him pass.
Naveen stared at the curtains, then back at his nanny. "Graci?" he said.
"Go on, your highness," she urged gently.
He pushed the curtains aside and tiptoed through the doors. His father stood on a high balcony dressed in a very fine suit, his broad chest glimmering with golden medals. He wore the large crown that he remembered his grandfather wearing, and he stood by the balustrade, waving to the people below.
Naveen approached his father and tugged on his belt. "Papa?" he said.
His father looked down at him, laughing. "My son!" he said. He picked Naveen up easily. "Wave to your people, son."
At first the sight of the ground so far away made him nervous, but he saw the crowd below. Hundreds of people, dressed in their finest clothes, shouted his name. Naveen waved back- shyly at first, then bolder.
"Long live King Arturo!" the crowd shouted, their combined voices echoed through the piazza. "Long live Prince Naveen!"
Naveen waved until his arm ached, his small chest filling with pride as he surveyed the kingdom that his father ruled, and that would someday be his.
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New Orleans: September, 1909
The sprawling house, usually so warm and inviting, seemed as cold and forlorn as a mausoleum despite the lights blaring in every window. The other mansions on the peaceful street stood dark and sleepy; the LaBouff house blazed with feverish activity. Eudora hurried to the front door and knocked several times in quick succession.
A young maid, her eyes red-rimmed, answered the door. "Mrs. Woodward," she said. "She's been asking for you. Come right on up."
Eudora followed the redheaded maid through the bright, silent halls. "How is she?" she asked.
"Not well at all, Mrs. Woodward," the maid said. "She's not…the doctor says it won't be much longer." She knocked on the bedroom door.
Eli LaBouff answered. The usually jovial, ruddy-faced man was pale and unsmiling. "Eudora," he said. "You'd better hurry in."
Eudora approached the bed. "Pansy?" she whispered.
The young woman lay on her back, staring up at the ceiling. Her blonde hair streamed around her and covered the pillow. She had gone completely white. "Come on up," she said in a raspy voice. "I'm glad Eli called you."
Eudora sat gingerly beside her. "What happened?" she said.
Pansy continued to stare at the ceiling, her round green eyes blank. "I got thrown," she said. "Something spooked Gray when I got up to that last hurdle, and I got thrown. And now…"
"Pansy, don't say it," Eli said.
She twisted her lips ruefully. "I'm not stupid," she said. "I know what's going on."
Eudora took the younger woman's hand. "What can I do?" she asked.
Pansy sighed, suddenly looking more childlike and frail than usual. "Look after Lottie for me?" she said. "She's going to need a mama."
Eudora swallowed the lump in her throat. "Are you sure you want me to-"
"Don't even say it," Pansy said, squeezing Eudora's fingers. "Of course I want you to keep an eye on her. Eli's a good man, but he's going to spoil her something dreadful." Her green eyes glimmered. "She'll need a mama to fix all her little girl hurts and tell all of her boy troubles to and help her grow up to be a nice young woman. And nobody can do that better than you, Eudora."
"Pansy, I don't know if-"
"Don't be silly," she sighed. "Everything will turn out fine in the end."
The redheaded maid stood in the doorway and cleared her throat. "Mister Eli," she said. "Miss Lottie's awake and…and wants to see her mother."
"I don't think that's a good idea," Eli said softly.
Pansy blinked away the tears that clustered on her long eyelashes. "Bring her in," she said. "Let me see my little girl."
The maid carried Charlotte to her mother's bedside. "Mama!" she chirped, her blonde curls tousled from sleep.
Pansy smiled at her. "What are you doin' up, sunshine?" she said. "Silly girls like you ought to be asleep."
Eudora stood up. "I need to get home," she choked.
Pansy looked at her over her daughter's head, her smile slowly fading. "Give Tia a kiss for me," she said.
"I will," she whispered.
Charlotte plunked down beside her mother, babbling happily- the only bit of joy in the middle of the gray fog that filled the house. "Goodbye, Eudora," Pansy said quietly.
"Goodbye, Pansy," Eudora said.
She rode the trolley home in dazed silence. Her little house was silent- both her husband and daughter slept peacefully. She took Tiana out of her bed and carried her to the one she shared with James, and tucked the sleeping girl in between them. She slept little that night, with one hand on her husband's shoulder and the other on her daughter's hand.
The errand boy arrived from the LaBouff's house shortly before she left for work, bringing the news she had been waiting for all night. Pansy was dead.
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Author's Notes:
And with that terribly depressing chapter, I've returned!
I got married last month and moved in with the hubster, but now we're all settled and I have time to write again! I hope you enjoyed it...let me know what you think!