Once upon a time I was falling in love
But now I'm only falling apart
Nothing I can do
A total eclipse of the heart…

-"Total Eclipse of the Heart", Bonnie Tyler

…………

King Shakir of Maldonia looked at the scattered mess of papers lining his desk, all with lists of foreign dignitaries to meet, laws to pass (or veto), budgets to attend to… That made him wince more than anything else. Even after cutting Naveen off financially, the kingdom was still aching from the financial strain the irresponsible young prince had put upon them.

Shakir sighed and shook his head. He had perhaps been a bit too lenient on the boy up until now. After all, he had sown his share of wild oats as a young man too. But the boy was twenty-one now, no longer a boy really, and he had still shown no signs of improving when Queen Avani finally put her foot down. Shakir really had no choice but to agree with his wife. They simply couldn't put up with his immaturity any longer. If Naveen wanted to continue to lead the life he lived, he'd have to do it on his own.

Although… had sending him to the United States been such a good plan? Sure, so it was the country more than anywhere else in the world were one had to work to prove themselves no matter what their social rank, but it was also a melting pot of amusements and frivolities. No sooner had Shakir ordered Naveen be sent to the United States had Naveen hopped on a ship to New Orleans, grinning the entire time. With the prince's love of jazz, it was hardly surprising the Crescent City would be the one he chose. And they hadn't heard back from him since then. He had been gone nearly a month, and—

The minister of finance, Lord Mortier, burst into the king's office without any sort of formal protocol. "Sire—pardon the intrusion, but—Prince Naveen has just returned on a cruise line from the United States."

Shakir stood up in shock. "He has returned? Already? Does—well, does he have anything to show for his time spent there?"

Mortier gave Shakir a look that was both apologetic and annoyed. "Nothing but a wealthy fiancée, Sire."

Shakir pressed his face to his palm. "Faldi faldonza."

…………

Since their arrival to Maldonia had been rather unexpected, Naveen and Charlotte had to take a cab to the palace rather than the usual royal carriage, although not that either one minded riding in cabs. Charlotte had ridden in cabs (albeit upscale ones) her whole life, and Naveen found them more comfortable than the stiff regality of royal carriages anyway. The royal palace was only a short drive away from the port of entry to Cruce Sagraldi, the capital city of Maldonia. When stepping off the cab and looking at the ornate, polished marble palace, both Naveen and Charlotte smiled some of their first genuine smiles of the whole week; Naveen happy to be home, Charlotte happy to see a real-life castle.

"This is amazing, Naveen," Charlotte breathed, taking it all in. "Even when I read all my fairy-tale books as a child I never imagined a palace to look so grand in person. And right on the seaside, too! It's so… magical." Charlotte let out a breathy sigh.

Naveen shrugged. "That is not such a good thing always, actually… squawking seagulls have been known to keep visitors up all night—"

The heavy slam of a palace door and quick, tiny, excited footsteps interrupted him. "Naveen!" a high-pitched, excited voice shouted out.

Naveen grinned. "Asher!" he cried happily.

A small boy dressed in royal regalia ran across the front lawn, his strides small but quick. Naveen quickly caught up to him and engulfed him in a huge hug, the little boy shrieking with happy laughter. They chattered in Maldonian, Charlotte not understanding a word of it, but still feeling her smile remain on her lips.

Asher took notice of Charlotte and gave a confused look. "Queno esí?" he asked.

Naveen smiled at him. "English, Asher, English so that she can understand us. This is Miss Charlotte LaBouff from New Orleans. Can you say hello and tell her your name?"

Asher flashed a grin at Charlotte, a grin that indicated that in a decade or so he was probably going to take after his older brother in more ways than one. "Hello, my name is Prince Asher!"

"Well, how do you do, Prince Asher!" said Charlotte, leaning down to shake his hand. "It's a pleasure to meet such a well-groomed li'l prince!"

"Why are you here?" Asher asked, getting straight to the point.

"She is going to be your sister-in-law," said Naveen.

Asher looked confused. "Mio qualta?"

"Well, you see, I am going to marry her. Then she'll be like your sister."

"It's always nice to be the first to hear when our son is getting married," a sarcastic voice cut in.

Naveen looked up and saw King Shakir and Queen Avani approaching, with small, stern smiles on their faces. He leapt up and engulfed both of them in a hug, perhaps a little too forcefully to seem one hundred percent genuine. "Madrina! Papeto! Telpi musha s'delgil—"

"Aren't you going to introduce us to your fiancée?" Avani interrupted in English.

"Oh!" Naveen quickly turned around and motioned to Charlotte, who still looked completely awestruck by the actual royal palace in front of her. "Madrina, Papeto, this is Miss Charlotte LaBouff from New Orleans. Charlotte, this is my father, King Shakir, and my mother, Queen Avani."

Charlotte remembered to curtsy in the most regal manner possible. "It's an honor, Your Highnesses!"

Shakir and Avani both smiled warmly. "It is indeed a pleasure, Miss LaBouff," said Avani. "We will have a servant along shortly to attend to your belongings and show you to your room." Her smile faded and she turned to Naveen. "Naveen, niedrilpa do falabri t'coves."

Naveen's face fell in worry at his mother's change in tone, matched by his father's stern glare. "Uh… clardio, Madrina."

"What did she say?" Charlotte whispered to Asher.

"She needs to have a word with him," Asher whispered back. He giggled. "Naveen's in trouble…"

"Oh dear," Charlotte murmured. "I certainly hope it's not because of me."

…………

"What about Charlotte?" Naveen asked dryly, standing in front of the ornate desk in his father's office.

"You cannot marry her," Shakir said firmly. "We sent you to the United States to make something of yourself. You interpret that as 'marry into money'. I can tell by the way she's dressed that she's from America's upper-class. And the fact of the matter is, although she may be the American equivalent of a princess, she is not one. You are royalty and can only marry royalty."

"Did you even hear what your father said?" Avani demanded.

Naveen blinked suddenly, realizing that he had to show some sort of reaction to this ultimatum other than indifference. "But… but I promised her I'd marry her. I gave her my word."

"Did you fail to realize that she is not royalty?" Shakir asked angrily. "You can't marry just anyone!"

Naveen shrugged, now having to fake indifference rather than his true joy at being handed a free pass out of marrying Charlotte. "Very well, then, if you say so. I will not marry her."

Instead of seeming pleased, however, Shakir looked even more upset. "Why does this not surprise me?" he roared. "We tell you you need to work to repay your debt to our nation. Instead you grab the first rich girl you see and propose to her. And now that you're back in Maldonia and have our disapproval, you can discard her and go right back to your old ways!"

Naveen clenched his fists in quickly rising anger. "That's not true," he said.

"Well then, why do you want to marry her?" Avani asked, an understanding firmness to her voice. "Do you love her?"

"No, I—" Naveen looked away and fell silent.

"We can bend some rules, Naveen," Shakir said. "If you do truly love her, we could make an exception just this once. But your reactions right now are proving to me that you don't love her, you only intended on marrying her for money, and so in this case I cannot make an exception purely to satisfy your own selfish gain!"

"That's not true!" Naveen shouted, his anger finally getting the better of him. "I promised to marry her for money, yes, but not for me!"

"For whom, then?" Avani asked suspiciously.

Naveen sighed helplessly, his outburst of anger gone. He hadn't intended on saying anything to them… he didn't want to dwell on it, he didn't want his parents to think he was trying to show himself as a martyr to them, he just wanted to ignore and possibly forget the true reason why he had agreed to marry Charlotte. But now it looked like he had no other choice. "I met someone in New Orleans who had this dream. A dream of owning a restaurant. She… she believed in the dream so much, and it was the light inside of her that made her shine. I was going to help her get it. I was going to get a job and work, even if I had to work every hour of every day for years to get her what she wanted—but if she didn't have the money for it by the very next day she lost the building—her restaurant—her dream—forever. So I promised to marry Charlotte if and only if in return she gave Tiana all the money she needed to buy her restaurant." He flopped weakly into a chair against the wall, rubbing his temples. "That is why I am engaged to Charlotte."

Shakir and Avani looked at each other in surprise.

Naveen sighed, cutting the silence. "Tiana has her restaurant now," he said weakly. "So if it really is true that I can't marry Charlotte… I don't care. I've already helped Tiana, so nothing else matters anymore."

Shakir cleared his throat gruffly. "Naveen… I apologize for what I said earlier. Your actions have proven to me that you have learned humility and selflessness. And I am very proud of you for that."

"As am I," nodded Avani.

Naveen shook his head. "Selfless? No, I am still as selfish as I always have been. I'm just in love."

Avani stood up and gave her eldest son a hug. "Love is the great equalizer, Naveen. I think you'll make a great king."

"As for Charlotte…" Shakir smiled. "We'll have to monitor her to make sure she'll make a good queen, but as of right now I think we'll give her an unofficial okay. I certainly don't want to see you go back on your word to marry her."

Naveen looked up at his father and groaned. "Papeto! Is this the kind of reward I get for being selfless—getting tied down in marriage?"

Shakir laughed. "You gave her your word, right? I'm not one to crush her dreams, either. Besides, it's about time you settled down. You have finally learned some responsibility and I won't let you forget it so soon!"

…………

RIP!

A flutter of dust came down with the tarp that Tiana tore from the wall, collecting in her lungs and forcing out hoarse coughs. She sat down on an upside-down barrel, catching her breath and looking around the sugar mill—her future restaurant—and at all the work she'd done… a lot, but in comparison to what still needed to be done, hardly anything at all.

She groaned, tired of the negative thoughts that had constantly plagued her for the past month giving her no rest. Pulling down yet another tarp from the ceiling with an equal amount of dust sent flying through the air, she sighed, eyeing the broom and dustpan in the corner. As long as it was taking to clear the debris and junk from the building, it took just as long to clean up the messes left behind.

"Feels like I'm getting nowhere," Tiana muttered to herself, gathering both tarps and throwing them in a corner with other assorted trash. She hardly had any time to work on the building anyway, what with her two jobs tying her down.

Grabbing the broom and sweeping away the dust and assorted garbage from behind the wall the first tarp was covering, Tiana bit her lip in determination. This was ridiculous thinking, after all—she was still young, not even twenty years old yet, and two months ago she certainly wouldn't have imagined she'd be as far as she was now. It felt like she wasn't making any progress, but in a couple of years, maybe, she'd be ready. It was just a long-term goal, that's all. It always had been. She just had to keep reminding herself of that.

The front doors opened with a creak. "Tiana, you still here?"

"Back near where the stage is gonna be, Mama!" Tiana responded, leaning down and holding the dustpan steady.

Eudora sighed as she approached her. "Honey, do you even realize how late it is?"

"I only just got—" Tiana turned and looked out the window, surprised to see that it was completely dark outside. "—here," she finished with hesitation.

"It's nearly nine o'clock. You need to get back home."

"Not yet. Lemme clean this up first."

Eudora leaned down as best she could and held the dustpan steady while Tiana swept the debris into it. "Tiana, you're always either working your jobs or working here. You barely even sleep anymore. All this working ain't good for a person. You need to take a break."

"How can I take a break?" Tiana demanded. "The more time I rest, the longer it'll take for this restaurant to be a reality!"

Eudora stood up and took the broom out of Tiana's hands. "At this rate you're gonna work yourself to death. And how can you own a restaurant when you're dead?"

"Just lemme finish sweeping. That's it."

Eudora sighed again, reluctantly returning the broom to Tiana. "Well, at least, if the letter you got in the mail is what I think it is, you'll be gettin' a vacation here pretty soon."

"What letter?"

Eudora smiled, reaching into her pocket and pulling out an ornately monogrammed envelope. "This letter. I've been waitin' all day for you to get home and open it so see what it is, and I couldn't wait any longer, so I brought it to you. Go on, open it!"

Tiana took it with hesitation, carefully opening the envelope and pulling out a beautiful, lacy invitation. She took a deep breath, it being just what both she and Eudora expected it was. "'Their Majesties King Shakir and Queen Avani of Maldonia, and Mr. Eli LaBouff of New Orleans, Louisiana, request your presence at the royal wedding of their children, Crown Prince Naveen of Maldonia and Miss Charlotte LaBouff, to be held at two o'clock on Saturday, June the fifth, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and twenty-six, at the royal cathedral in Cruce Sagraldi, Maldonia.'" Tiana reached into the envelope again, feeling something else. "And… there's a ticket for my passage for Maldonia on the ship The Majestic, leaving New Orleans May twenty-fifth. First class, too."

Eudora grinned at Tiana. "A Maldonian vacation sounds like just the thing you need."

Tiana turned her head away from her mother and closed her eyes, sliding the invitation and ticket back into the envelope. "I ain't going, Mama."

"Oh no. Don't you give me that," said Eudora sternly. "Charlotte's your best friend. You cannot miss your best friend's wedding."

"There's… there's too much work to be done here," said Tiana. "I'd be gone for a month, at least. I can't do that."

"There ain't any time limit on when you need to get this place finished!" Eudora exclaimed in disbelief. "You're going. There's no room for argument."

Tiana's eyes flashed back to Eudora in desperation. "I… I can't go across an ocean on a cruise, I'd get seasick, I just can't—"

"Tiana, your best friend just handed you a free first-class ticket to go halfway around the world to a beautiful island to share in the happiest day of her life! You cannot say no!"

Breaking down, Tiana hurled the broom against the far wall. "I love him, Mama!"

The broom clattered and fell to the floor, making only a small thud. Tiana took in a heavy, heaving breath; then another; then suddenly reached down the floor, grabbed the dustpan, and flung it against the wall too, creating another clang that sent everything she had swept up scattered back on the ground and in the air again.

Eudora stared at her daughter, unable to move from surprise.

Tiana pressed one hand against the wall, her other hand against her face. "I love him, Mama," she repeated helplessly. "I love him, and I thought he loved me too."

Eudora finally took a step forward and put her arms around her daughter's shoulders. "Oh, honey," she murmured softly.

"I thought I was different to him," Tiana murmured as her mother comfortingly patted her back. "He did so many things for me… when we were frogs… he actually made me dinner and was falling all over himself trying to impress me… and later that night he said he'd do anything for me… and I had the gall to believe him," she muttered harshly.

"Babycakes… from what I saw, he's done a lot for you, probably more than you realize. He's the reason you're the owner of this building in the first place."

"I have this rusty ol' building but I don't have him," Tiana said, her voice becoming bleary due to her sobs. "I wanted to marry him. I thought he wanted to marry me, too. I never thought I'd get married before then, but the idea of it… with him… and now I have to live without him, and it's something I've done before now and I know now that he was just saying those things to me to charm me like he's charmed every other girl he's ever met and he didn't really mean them, but still…" She sniffled. "I still want him. I need him. I…" She pulled away and looked at Eudora pleadingly. "Please don't make me watch him get married to someone else. I'd rather never see him again."

"Honey, that ain't an option for you," said Eudora gently. "He's marrying your best friend. You can't avoid either of them."

Tiana snapped her head around to stare at the floor bitterly. "I can't see them getting married. Please… I can't go. I can't watch that. If I have to see them, give me more time to get over him."

Eudora patted Tiana's arm tenderly. "I ain't gonna make you do anything, sweetheart. You do what you feel you need to do. Now come on, let's get you home. It's far too late to be out."

She gently led Tiana to the door, Tiana looking down at the ground in heartbreak and defeat. But suddenly she looked up at her mother. "Mama? Does the hurt ever go away?"

Eudora looked back at her and sighed sadly. "It eases up in time… but no, Tiana. The hurt never goes away."