A/N: Firstly - Royal Wedding today. :D Do you remember the song in chapter 22/23 - Look to the Day by John Rutter? John Rutter wrote This is the Day for today and it was sung at the Royal Wedding - so look out for that!

Secondly - to inujisan: I originally took the Princess Florine story from the ballet, but I believe it may have been a French fairytale. I recently found an online version on a website called - look under "French fairy tale: Bluebird" by Edmund-Dulac if you wish to read a version. It's slightly different to the story I heard, but in essense is the same, which is why Baron's version varies to the online version.

~ Catsafari. =^^=

Chapter 26: The Princess Sky

Hiromi caught Yuki's shoulder as she passed her in the corridor. "Have you seen Haru about? I've looked in her room and the library and the gardens, and I still can't find her."

Yuki smiled and pointed back the way she came. "I've just seen her. She's in one of the music rooms with Baron."

"What?"

Yuki carried on along the corridor, and gave a small laugh. "Yeah, that was pretty much my reaction too."

"I have gotta see this," muttered Hiromi, flying along the corridor and down a flight of steps to where the music rooms in the palace resided. Sure enough, as Yuki had said, there was the princess. With Baron. Playing the piano.

Hiromi shut her mouth as she realised she was staring and actually listened to the music. Yes, that was very definitely the princess's style. Although Haru was sharing half the piano with Baron, ensuring that her giggles were a constant accompaniment to the melody.

"What are you doing?" laughed the brunette. "You're in completely the wrong key!"

Her partner just chuckled and moved his hands further down to the left, dropping the tune he was carrying about an octave lower. "Any better?" he teased.

"Awful, and you know it. I thought you said you could play."

"Only when I feel like it."

Haru giggled again and moved her hands to the right to compliment Baron's notes. Suddenly their music was no longer a mishmash of keys shoved together, but the high trill of a bird combined with the low thudding of a giant's footsteps, the difference in pitch somehow working perfectly. Baron looked surprised by the change, but nonetheless pleased.

"Okay, try finding a matching tune to this," he challenged and began racing up the keys to the right, using only two fingers, like a child does when travelling from one end of the piano to the other. Haru responded almost immediately in the same manner, only travelling down to the left. The result wasn't beautiful, by any stretch of the imagination, but simple. When it became obvious that their hands were going to crash if they continued on in that style, neither stopped or even slowed down. Haru just ducked under his arms and carried on, Baron moving over. At that point the stool of which the two of them were seated on took that moment to decide it'd had enough abuse, and two people swapping places was the last straw. It gave one warning creak before the legs buckled and Baron and Haru found themselves suddenly on the floor, both laughing.

Haru looked at the limp form of the stool and continued to giggle, much in the manner of a child who's just broken something of their parents while having immense fun and so knew they were in trouble, but just couldn't be bothered to be worried by it yet.

Baron picked at a chip of wood, looked at it, then placed it to the side. He pushed himself off the floor, automatically helping Haru to her feet in the same movement. "Are you alright?"

"Fine, fine," responded the brunette. She looked down again at the stool, this time having the grace to look guilty about it. "We should probably do something about that."

"We probably should."

Hiromi took that moment to enter, acting as if she hadn't watched the entire episode. "What are you two up to?"

Haru grinned, then saw that the fairy was looking over at the remains of the stool. "Well... er... we were playing the piano..." she said as apologetically as she could manage with the smile that was plastered on her face. "And we kind of... well..." She nudged the wood with her foot, then glanced over at the fairy. "Would this count as a klutz attack, you think?"

Hiromi sighed, smiling. "I should really have warned Lune about your clumsy habits and told him to install some anti-break spells."

"We never got round to it at home," Haru reminded her.

"No, which is impressive, since you'd think after seventeen years we'd learn."

"We were going to clean it up," protested the princess.

"No need, I've got it covered." Hiromi waved a hand and the wood flew back together to form the original stool.

Haru was staring. "Wow, you never did that back home. How come?"

"You only really broke the leg off here, so it's not that hard to fix. At home you broke more shattering stuff. Like vases. A lot more pieces to put back together there."

"Well, thanks Hiromi."

The fairy smiled back. "You're welcome." She reflected over the change that had come over the princess since she'd come back from Baron's after spraining her leg, which was now over a month ago. Somehow a few weeks that the visit should've been had stumbled into three weeks, and then a month. The king had given his permission for them to 'stay as long as they desired' being his exact words, although everyone knew what he was really hoping for. However he hadn't done anything in the last few weeks, despite Lune's worried warning of his most recent talk with his father. Things seemed to be finally going the right way, with the princess smiling more than ever now and actually laughing on a regular basis. She knew bringing Haru down to see Baron again would fix things. Even though as far as she knew they had never kissed, half of the palace considered the two of them to be a pair, especially since Haru was spending more time with the baron than ever before. But this was the first time she'd heard of Haru willingly playing the piano since the curse.

"Hiromi, was there anything you wanted to talk to us about?" Haru asked.

"There was actually. Your birthday party."

Haru laughed and shook her head. "You must be mistaken. It can't be my birthday yet."

"The curse overran by six months remember? And now it's mid-April. You've got about two weeks until you're nineteen."

The princess frowned, mentally counting the months. "That's weird."

"Well that's the truth. Your mother is quite insistent on holding a large party."

Haru made a face. "Again?"

"As a birthday party and as celebration of an anniversary of when the curse should've ended."

"Any excuse for a celebration," the darker brunette muttered.

Baron hugged her from behind. "Oh, relax. It should be fun."

Haru leant back into him automatically, deciding she liked the feel of his arms around her. "You haven't seen my mother's parties. I'll be expected to dance."

"What's so bad about that?"

"I can't dance."

"Rubbish. Everyone can dance."

"You haven't seen me. No one bothers to ask me for a dance anymore, because they know how bad I am."

"I'll ask you for a dance," promised Baron.

Haru snorted in a rather un-princess-like fashion. "You'll take it back after five minutes of dancing."

"Just trust me."

"Yes, I've heard that before."

"And have I ever let you down?"

Haru paused. "No."

ooOoo

Lune hurried down to the throne room where his father was calling him. Again.

"Yes?"

The king was lounging in his throne but when his son entered he turned his gaze to him, his eyes somewhat going cross-eyed at the attempt; a trait that luckily Lune had not inherited. "It's over the matter of the princess."

Lune tensed. "And? You can't make me marry her, even if you are my father and king."

"And why is that? I would've thought that you'd be happy with a good-looking girl like Haru for a bride..."

"I don't like her in that way," explained the prince through gritted teeth.

"Maybe over time..."

"No."

"Over time you could learn to love her..."

"No," repeated Lune, more forcefully this time.

"Why not?"

Lune found a growl rise in his throat, but he pushed it back. "I can't learn to love her because I already love someone else."

King Shirou's eyes widened more – if that was possible – in disbelief. "You've found a bride? Who?"

"I haven't discussed with her the prospect of marriage yet–"

"But she'll accept you. You're the prince–"

"No, father. If she accepts me it'll be because she loves me and for no other reason."

His father looked disgruntled, but didn't comment otherwise. "Okay then, who is she? Have you finally come to your senses and agreed to marry one of the ladies of the court?"

"No, father. The lady I am thinking of isn't of royal or noble blood at all."

What?"

Lune didn't cringe away at the shout of his father, fixing his stony glare upon him. "If she accepts me, I will marry her, and that is all that you wanted for me. You would do well not to mess with my affairs."

The king was still fuming, but miraculously resisted from shouting down the entire palace. Breathing hard, his face visibly taking on the form of an ugly glower, he forced himself to nod. "Okay, son, if that's what you want... then I shan't meddle."

Lune bowed, relieved his father had taken it relatively more calmly than he'd been expecting. "Thank you, father." He turned to go, but his father spoke up again.

"That was not all I wanted to discuss."

Lune stopped. "Oh, really father?"

"No. This," he said, motioning for someone to come forward from one of the other rooms, "is Princess Sky."

The woman who stepped forward was indeed beautiful; Lune had to give her that. Pale and slender, but in no way delicate. She looked like someone could prick themselves upon her personality and sharp features. Pale and slender, like Yuki, Lune reflected, but missing the subtle beauty that the maid by design possessed.

Lune forced himself to do a brief bow, inside groaning at his father's off-target tactics. "My welcome, your majesty," he said politely.

The pale princess turned her gaze to the prince, her piercing blue eyes taking his appearance in. "Thank you," she said finally.

"She is from a kingdom beyond Queen's Naoko's realm," the king started, "and has come here on a matter of urgency."

"Which kingdom is that?" Lune asked, for he had never heard of Princes Sky, and was sure that if his father had known of her before now he would've sent for her to come months ago.

"Just a small kingdom," the princess replied airily, "that deals in silks and spices."

Lune was about to open his mouth to say that didn't tell him much, since many of the outlying kingdoms dealt with such exports, but his father cut in before he could make such a point.

"Princess Sky has come to tell us of strange happenings back around Queen Naoko's palace," King Shirou told him. "She was passing through and heard that the haunting was still continuing."

"But... that's impossible," Lune blurted out.

Both of the other royals gave him an irritated glare.

"Because... we found the source of it last time," continued Lune. "I mean, it was the fairy, Hiromi, who was trying to get me to go there in order to break the spell..."

"I talked with the locals there," Sky added, "and they seemed rather insistent that the village was being haunted again. Surely, as their prince, you've got a duty to check on them, even if it is just rumours?"

Lune was caught. "Very well."

"Also you mentioned that you are currently housing the queen and the fairy here, your majesty?" Sky asked the king.

"Yes?"

"Wouldn't it be wise for them to accompany the prince, since it is Queen Naoko's realm and the fairy was the one who caused the last problem?"

"I suppose so..."

"What about the princess?" Lune asked.

"From what I've heard, Princess Haru sounds somewhat unstable. Her presence at the village might just make things worse," Sky said with another regal wave of her hand.

Lune gritted his teeth again, for although he had no romantic interest in Haru, listening to someone write her off as 'unstable', especially from someone of the same rank as her, grated his nerves. And could he leave Princess Haru with his unhinged father? Even if he did promise not to get involved?

But, then again, Baron would be staying, and he would make sure she was safe. There was no way he could ask Baron to leave Haru, especially since he made her so happy. And Haru made Baron happy too. Baron would make sure the king didn't try anything while his back was turned.

"Very well," agreed Lune. "When shall we depart?"

"As soon as possible. The villagers were very persistent that you return to deal with the problem."

"I'll send people to tell Queen Naoko and Hiromi of the situation. If all goes well they should be ready to leave by tomorrow."

"Thank you. Oh, and the princess's godmother, Rei I believe her name is. She should go as well."

Lune paused at the odd request. "Why, your majesty?"

Sky took several heartbeats to answer, as if trying to bring back old details. "There has been word of another fairy at work, I think. Someone called Sora? I think everyone who remembers her should go, to ensure the chances of success. It could tip the balance."

The prince frowned. Sora? Wasn't that the fairy who cursed Haru?

"Okay, I'll send word to Rei as well."

"Good." The young princess looked... relieved, Lune was tempted to think, by the agreement, which didn't match her abnormally sharp features. Something bad must be going on around Peregrine Forest.