"Insight is not a lightbulb that goes off inside our heads. It is a flickering candle that can easily be snuffed out."
- Malcolm Gladwell, Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking
Disclaimer: I own my plot, a bike and nothing else.
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As Annie and the servant were walking through the castle, the queen swooped upon them like a hawk eying a field mouse. .
"Leave us." She said with, her voice like a whip.
The servant bowed and departed, glad to be out of the Queen's presence when she was in one of her moods.
"Come along, my dear." The queen smiled but no happiness reached her eyes. "I will give you a tour of my-the castle."
Annie nodded as dread sank into her limbs. She knew nothing good would come of this tour but she could think of no way to get out of it politely.
At first, the queen was perfectly polite, showing her drawing rooms and the tapestries and the like.
It was only when they went up to the second floor that Annie got truly nervous. She knew from her old life that most castle tours ended on the first floor or the grounds.
"This is where my dear nephew takes all of his conquests, excuse me, girls." The queen smiled cruelly. "I am sure you will see this room soon enough."
Annie peered into the room and saw only a fireplace, a changing screen, and a very large bed. It took a minute for the meaning to sink in and she gasped silently.
Annie looked back with a horrified look on her face at the queen who nodded at her. "My nephew, I fear, is not the marrying type. He seems to have a...certain fondness for" The queen smirked and raised an eyebrow, "pretty things but soon gets...bored with them."
Annie fought back tears, she couldn't reconcile the queen's words with what she knew of Finnick but then she remember what Ruby had said. She wasn't sure what to believe about Finnick. The man she met on the beach did not match the man they described.
The queen added. "Oh, you didn't know? Poor dear."
The queen put on a look of sympathy but Annie hear how fake her tone was despite how sincere she looked and it made her want to trust her own opinion of Finnick over the Queen's.
Then, a priest appeared carrying a chest and appearing as if his day had been made with his grin.
"Thank you, Father Heavensbee, now open it." He did and Annie was stunned by the sheer wealth she saw in the chest.
"All of this can be yours." The queen said, a seductive lilt to her voice.
Annie stared questioningly, surely she wasn't offering her all of this wealth.
"If you leave now, leave the kingdom, and never return."
Annie shook her head. She wanted no part of the bribe. Now more than ever, she trusted her own feelings, that Finnick was a good man for if he was as they said, she'd be out of the castle soon enough and there'd be no need for a bribe.
Just then, she heard birds calling outside and suddenly remembered her brothers and her work. She had left all of her shirts and yarn back at the beach.
Her brothers' curse had to be broken.
She couldn't just leave all of her hard work alone where anything could happen to it and force her to start over.
She immediately ran from the room as the Queen and Heavensbee smirked at each other and then laughed unpleasantly, pleased to have frightened her off.
Annie ran down and managed to find the stables.
Peeta saw her and was concerned. "Miss, are you alright?" He put his hand on her arm to calm her down.
Annie paused and took a deep breath. She had to figure out a way to communicate with Peeta.
She nodded to answer his first question and paused, unsure how to proceed.
Peeta seemed to pick up on her problem. "You need to tell me something?"
Annie nodded eagerly and then mimed walking away.
"It's about why you are leaving?" Peeta guessed.
Annie nodded again. She pointed to her head, shook it and shrugged her shoulders.
"Um, you have a headache?" Peeta guessed. "No, that's not it?"
Peeta was stumped until Annie pretended to look around the stable, lifting things up and putting them back down.
"You...lost something!" Peeta guessed again.
Annie smiled but shook her head again. She gestured for him to continue, he was close to the truth.
"Hmmm," Peeta said. "If you didn't lose something...you...you...you forgot something!" He guessed after remembering her first attempt.
"And you need to go back for it?"
Annie nodded eagerly, at last she had been understood, Peeta was proving to be surprisingly good at guessing what she was trying to say.
She moved her arms in waves and Peeta smiled as he got her message.
"Do you want me to come with you, back to the beach?" Peeta offered.
Annie thought about it, could she risk someone finding out...but she wasn't entirely sure of the way to the beach from here.
She felt like she could trust Peeta with part of it. Putting her hand down on her belt, she decided to take the risk.
She nodded, putting her and her brother's lives in his hands.
"Let me just grab a bag and we can be on our way." Peeta smiled warmly and Annie felt reassured in her trust in him.
Meanwhile, Finnick had finished his meeting and was looked around for Annie without success.
As he was walking about, he bumped into the queen and Heavensbee, coming from the hallway that led to the old throne room below ground level.
"Aunt, have you seen the girl I was with earlier?" Finnick asked, with a bit of confusion in his voice as to why she was so hard to find.
"So ,she has run away? That little tramp." The queen sniffed as if offended.
"Run away?" Finnick asked bewildered as to why she would run away.
"I caught her stealing from me, the royal jewels." The queen sniffed indignantly again.
"What?" Finnick shook his head. "That's not possible."
The queen gestured to the priest. "Heavensbee is my witness."
Heavensbee smiled and nodded. "Oh yes your highness, the girl took an entire chest with her."
Finnick looked at Heavensbee. He had never fully liked the man, there was always something more going on with him, Finnick was sure of it. He was in a chess match with everyone all the time, that man was.
He must go and find the girl himself. Who knows what his aunt had done to scare her off?
Finnick raced on his horse to the beach and came upon Peeta and Annie.
Finnick went to call out her name and realized he had yet to learn it.
He leapt down off his horse and ran to Annie. "Listen, I don't know what you heard or what my mother said but I can assure you that I did not bring you to the castle to...to um...for any nefarious purpose." Finnick stumbled a bit of his wording.
Peeta cleared his throat. "How about I just continue to head back to the castle while you two talk?"
Finnick and Annie both looked grateful at being left alone to resolve this mess.
Peeta started back and was well on his way when he heard a lovely singing voice, echoing off the some rock formations. He decided to stop and investigate...
The sun kept shining and the waves crashed on the shore while Annie and Finnick stared at each other on the beach.
Finnick looked uncomfortable. "My mother accused you of stealing the royal jewels."
As Annie shook her head, eyes wide with horror, Finnick chuckled. "I know you would never do such a thing".
Annie smiled shyly and looked down.
Finnick walked around a bit. "You know, a lot of good things have happened to me on this beach." He knelt and let sand run throw his hand.
At Annie's curious look, he straightened up and continued. "Yes, I learned a way to manage my tremors after the sea battles-" Finnick paused when he saw a spark in Annie's eyes.
She set down her bag and pulled the rope off the top. She then began to tie a simple knot and handed it to Finnick.
His mouth dropped open in surprise and he kept looking back from her to the rope.
Annie also grabbed some seaweed and made a small sea turtle.
"It was you!" Finnick cried, his voice finally coming back to him. "You left the ropes and made the sandcastle...wow."
Annie blushed and nodded.
Finnick smiled. "Thank you" He reached out his hand to cover hers. "Thank you, so much."
Annie smiled and looked down at their hands.
"Please come back to the castle with me." Finnick said in a low voice, but Annie caught the pleading tone.
He looked so vulnerable as he awaited her answer. Annie tried to think of how she could convey what he meant to her.
She smiled brightly at him and placed her hand over her heart and then pressed it to his heart.
Finnick pressed his hand against her and dazzled her with the happiness in his smile.
"Let's go then, my mermaid." He winked as she blushed and ducked her head while she grabbed her bag.
They rode his horse back to the castle, Annie feeling as though she could fly like her brothers and Finnick wondering how he would handle his aunt. There would be no more mistreatment of the girl, if she was to stay and Finnick hoped she would.
When Finnick and Annie returned to the castle, he led her back to the room she had changed in earlier, to rest before dinner.
As soon as Finnick was gone, she unpacked her bag and looked at the shirts.
She smiled at the four complete ones.
However, she only had the yarn for the fifth shirt and still need to weave it into cloth and then sew the pieces together.
Annie frowned as she thought of the sixth shirt, how would she manage to make it here she wondered.
Her worries were put aside when she heard a knock on the door. Rue opened it as Annie hurriedly put everything back in her satchel and put it under her bed.
Rue looked questioningly but Annie just looked back at her.
Rue shrugged and smiled at her.
"A certain handsome prince has requested the presence of a beautiful creature to dinner this evening." Rue giggled.
"I have never seen him like this, milady, so nervous and smitten." She giggled again when she saw Annie's blush.
"Come now, let's find you a very pretty gown to wear and fix your hair up all fancy like. Maybe we can even add some flowers to it."
Annie smiled as Rue pulled her toward the closet.
She was glad Rue thought Finnick loved her too.
Peeta sat at his easel while Finnick anxiously paced the room.
"What I am thinking?" Finnick groaned. "She's so...so..so, she's way too good for me."
"What are you talking about?" Peeta asked, eyeing his portrait, trying to determine if he captured the braid correctly.
"I am talking about that...that girl is the most adorable, innocent, and lovely creature I have ever seen!" Finnick continued agitatedly, running his hand through his blond hair.
"Where as I...I'm just a broken navy captain...I've been tainted by all the women I've...well...umm-"
"Invited home?" Peeta inserted helpfully with a knowing look.
"Yes, that." Finnick said as he pivoted around in his pacing. "On top of that, I am a prince, heir to the throne. Why would she want that burden on top of everything else?"
He sighed deeply as he sat down at last and put his head in his hands. "Why would she ever want to marry me?"
Peeta put down his paintbrush and forest green paint as he walked over to Finnick.
He sat down and put his arm around him. "Finnick,"
Finnick looked up. Peeta was always careful to use his title or avoid saying his name, out of respect for his position and as a bit of teasing game they had started when Peeta first got injured.
Peeta smiled. "This is a moment for a friend, not a servant or underling or a soldier."
"You don't see yourself clearly. In the war, you did what you had to do to defend your kingdom, to have your men survive, to survive yourself. You saved as many men as could, including me, when I had almost drowned, if you remember."
Peeta continued. "You helped me through my recovery after I lost my leg. I was so grateful to have a friend who didn't treat me like an invalid and now I am living just like a normal man."
"But you helped me too, with my troubles after the war." Finnick argued.
"So what? That just shows we know how to pick our friends." Peeta would not be deterred from convincing Finnick he deserved to be happy.
"You are a great leader, just the right amount of cockiness to mask your caring heart."
Finnick smirked while Peeta chuckled. "You are a good man, and that girl you keep talking about can make great. Besides, if you let her go, you will never find another one like her. She's the one...for you."
"How do you know?" Finnick asked.
"I have eyes, I can see it." Peeta answered with a grin. "But you, you must feel it. Your heart probably knew the moment you heard her sing...I mean saw her that day on the beach."
Finnick smiled as he remembered that day. "She's the one." He sighed in agreement until he realized something.
"What's this about a song,eh?" He elbowed Peeta. "Did you finally meet a girl?"
Peeta blushed and returned to his painting. He starting mixing a shade of grey that Finnick had never seen before.
Finnick held his hands up and backed toward the door. "Alright, since you've been so helpful to me, I will drop it... for once."
He winked. "I've got to get things ready anyway."
Question for all of my readers: In the original fairy tale, the last brother gets stuck with a wing. Should I repeat this idea or should all the brothers be fully cured?
Let me know!