Redeemed - Childhood 1
"So this is it. Nothing left. It ends with us." said the king sadly.
"I'm sorry. I don't know what's wrong with me." said Queen Emma.
"It no longer matters whose fault it might have been." He said. They were on the height above their little valley kingdom, a private spot not far from the road that led over the mountain pass. The midwife had told them there was nothing more she could do. They had passed through many emotions in the years they have been trying to have a child. Now they were out of options.
"We could go to the fairies or some other magic user?" Emma asked, her amber eyes looked down and away from her husband's blue eyes.
"Maybe."
"I engaged a new maid. She's young and pretty..." Emma started hesitantly, her slender fingers fiddling with a button on his shirt, she had taken on the maid because she matched the queen's dark blonde hair and the kings's blue eyes.
The king took his beloved face in his hands, brought her close and shook his head. "I love only you."
The queen saw the love in those eyes and tears marred her smile. She put her arms around her husband and laid her head on his chest looking out over the broad valley. Their castle, the surrounding fields, the gentle forest, and the Dark Forest beyond the river. The sun setting in the distance. She wiped her tears on her husband's robes and looked into the darkening sky.
"Look! Look, the evening star. Please, let us wish on it. One last attempt."
The king smiled gently and nodded.
They knelt.
"Star-light, star-bright. First star we see tonight. We wish we may, we wish we might, make a wish tonight. Please, we need a child and heir to be a light for our kingdom and to lead them well." They wished as hard as they could.
They stood and then the queen got a special smile on her face and dragged the king down. Wishing was good, but doing their part was important too.
Their wish was heard. Their faith was seen. Their work was discreetly noted. And so their wish was granted.
# # #
The Three Good Fairies arrived at the castle, they had heard the wish and had come to investigate. Now they returned since it was nearly time for the baby to come. They met with the king in one of the smaller chambers. The fairies were shocked by how disheveled and tired the king looked.
"Dear king, are you alright?" asked Flora.
He shook his head. "My wife has been in labor for two days. The midwife has called for other midwives to come help. They have tried everything. They won't let me in to see her." His voice is as haggard as his face.
Faintly the queen is heard screaming, then quiet, the entire castle pauses listening; waiting. Then the queen is heard again.
"Please can you do something for her? I'll pay whatever price is required." asked the king, knowing the price magic requires can be quite heavy.
"We'll see what can be done."
But just then one of the apprentice midwives came running in. 'Sire, you have a daughter."
The king smiled and looked back to the fairies who just looked at each other; they had done nothing.
The king turned back to the midwife and then he saw the look on her face. "What's wrong? My wife...?"
"She is tired but she will recover... but you had better come."
# # #
They enter the birthing room. The midwives were cleaning up the exhausted queen.
They noticed right away something was wrong. The atmosphere of the room was mournful. They excitedly went over to the crib.
"Oh dear." said Fauna, as they turned back the coverlet. The baby had a harelip and her hands and feet were missing their middle digits and were split like a lobster's claw. Then because the baby was feeling cold she began to cry which had a terrible whiny screech to it.
The king's mouth was open in shock, he stumbled over to the bed and crashed next to his bedraggled wife and took her hand.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." she sobbed quietly.
The king's mouth moved but all he could say was contained in the tear that ran down his face and into his beard.
"Each of us may give one gift to the princess, no more no less." The king looked to the queen who just sadly shrugged. So much time, wishing and effort, and their princess was deformed. The king turned to the fairies and nodded.
Flora gave the gift of beauty and the harelip healed.
Fauna gave the gift of song and the cry of the princess became like the song of the nightingale.
Merryweather gave the gift of grace and the hands and feet of the baby were healed.
As the cry of her baby changed the queen rose from her bed and tottered over to the crib with the help of her husband. By the time the Merryweather's shower of sparkles faded the queen could see that her baby for the most beautiful baby in the world, she fell before the fairies and thanked them with all her heart.
# # #
Celestina's kingdom was a small kingdom, more of a city-state really. The castle sat at the base of a pleasant valley, The mountains were tall and covered in snow which provided good, clean, clear water. There were many good high pastures for sheep. The town had facilities for shearing sheep, slaughtering sheep, and turning wool into fabric.
There was a forest on one slope, that was carefully logged. Most of the people lived along the river, but not too close, the Dark Forest on the other side was too frightening.
The castle stood at the base of the valley, where a trade route passed and the king collected a small toll. He was a good king and while the revenue was helpful, he was careful not to be a burden to the traders, so they would not be bypassed. There were other routes through the mountains. They provided good food and clean lodgings, for man and beast. Most traders enjoyed coming through this kingdom, as long as they liked sheep.
This was a gateway to the mountain passes.
PassHold it was called.
There are many forests on the continent of Europa. Some are famous like the Black Forest, a pleasant forest really, a good place to hunt and log, and for brigands and bandits to hide in, as well as being amenable to roads through it and towns to rest in, split by placid easy to navigate rivers.
Another is more infamous, the Dark Forest, though to say it was one or many didn't quite pin it down very well. The Dark Forest stretched along the mountains and onto the plains. Rivers passed through it but they were nasty, rough and fast, not well suited for boats to navigate. Roads did not last long in the Dark Forest, quickly overgrown and broken they were. Few were the men of hearty enough soul to spend the night in that forest. Many were the childhood dare that failed long before the sun had set in that place. Spirits, demons and nastier things were said to live there. Nightmares walked that forest.
No one logged in that forest, the trees were too twisted and bent to make good logs from. Firewood smelled funny, and the stink would linger. A small forest was cultivated around Passhold so they might have good wood for building. There was a good seam of coal that they used for heating their homes.
From the height of the pass the Dark Forest stretched to the horizon a dark inky green with a smoky mist brooding over it. There were times in the winter the air never seemed to clear, and had a bothersome stench to it that made sleep difficult.
There were roads around the forest along the river at the end of the valley. The road passed PassHold where it could climb up the mountain pass to the vast plains to the East. But one needed to be careful and watchful on these roads, the Dark Forest would try to grow roots across the road, to buckle it, to break horse's legs and shatter wheels. One did not race in the dark near the Dark Forest.
The Dark Forest held secrets and held them well. It was a place filled with magic, many magical creatures made homes there. To keep them safe from the wicked men that would use it for their own ends. There were homesteads of sorts, dwarves near their mines, colonies of pixie fairies, birthing grounds for Unicorns and a town of witches and wizards too weak to defend themselves individually from those more powerful. Though they were not great and powerful, or they would be out in the world.
Those who were able to pass the nightmares and lived beyond fear, were given paths to those that the forest knew might help.
Author's Note: One can certainly say that the gifts the good fairies give Aurora in Sleeping Beauty were silly and almost useless, but what if they were actually important?
The princess has Ectrodactyly, formerly known as "lobster claw hand," individuals with this disorder have a cleft where the middle finger or toe should be. These split-hand/split-foot malformations are rare limb deformities which can manifest in any number of ways, including cases including only the thumb and one finger (typically the little finger or little finger). It's also associated with hearing loss. Genetically speaking, it's caused by several factors, including deletions, translocations, and inversions in chromosome 7.