Who said all princesses were beautiful? When Queen Loryasia and King Gorlond II have a child, the land of Lorayne is joyous. But as she grows, everyone comes to realize she's not what they expected…
------o----------o------------o-----------------o-------------------------o---------------------------o--
A Princess is Born
"Five days in labor, five!" the baker said excitedly to a customer, who was picking out some cake.
"Well, I'll be," crowed the customer. "What is it, a gorgon? It's just a child!"
"Yes, but this might mean something!" the baker waggled his finger.
"Mean something my foot. I'm a vicar!"
The baker looked surprised. "Oh. I see. Well, here's your order." He plopped the box onto the counter and the vicar paid five gilfigs.
All around Lorayne, there were whispers, gossip, letters, posts. All the women were traveling in groups, chattering loudly as they went by. The men talked over the counter in their jobs. The children spoke among themselves while playing ball. It was no secret; Queen Loryasia was having a child.
At long last, a trumpet sounded; the child was finally born, and well! Everyone cheered.
"Long live the King Gorlond! Long live the Queen Loryasia!" they chanted in unison, so loud that, in the great stone castle decorated lavishly for the child, the queen herself could hear them from her bed.
She was bleeding a great deal; which was not a good sign. But then they cleaned her up, she stopped bleeding, and all was well. She held the baby to her chest, who was crying awfully—something none of her other daughters had done—and smiled at the king.
"Oh, my dear, look at this little angel," Queen Loryasia said, passing the little girl to the king. He took her in his arms and cradled it to his own chest, smiling down on the little girl.
"She's the runt," he said proudly. "Just like me."
He planted a wet kiss on the red, wailing face, before the little girl hit his cheek softly with her little baby fingers.
The christening was held the next day. From then on, her name was Gwendolyn Alicia Lena Atheista Lombardo, which was her last name.
People came from all over Lorayne for the reception afterward, which had many cakes, cookies, muffins, a great candied castle that some young children were taking turns licking, music, dancing, and the giving of gifts to the baby.
Queen Loryasia was anxiously awaiting the seven fairies; the Fairy Queen, and her five apprentices, the Generous fairy, the Kind fairy, the Temperamental fairy, the Eager fairy, and the Angry fairy, and then the fairy greater than the Fairy Queen; Aedna the world fairy, who could give any sort of blessing upon a child, though the child had to be royal. A regular child who was born in town did not get blessings from the fairies.
And then they entered; first Aedna, then the Fairy Queen, then the Angry fairy, the Temperamental fairy, the Eager fairy, the Kind fairy, and then the Generous fairy. Each apprentice could give the child two gifts, the Fairy Queen and Aedna as many as they wanted. The crowd separated until they could walk single file down the path. They first approached the queen and king, kissed their hands, and then surrounded the baby.
Gwendolyn was crying, her little red face twisted, her hands balled into fists. She was wiggling a lot in the grand cradle, her three other sisters watching uncertainly.
As Aedna was special, she blessed Gwendolyn last. Keeping a respectable distance between herself and the other fairies, she watched the Angry fairy bless Gwendolyn first.
"Reasonable temper, though only when necessary, and unable to hold a long grudge," the Angry fairy said, blowing gently into the girl's face. Gwendolyn stopped crying, and the queen smiled at the fairy, who smiled back and went back to her place around the girl.
The Temperamental fairy was next. Leaning close, she said loud enough so everyone in the room could hear (the music and dancing had stopped), "You will never get spoiled, and will usually maintain a happy demeanor." She blew delicately at the girl, and the little baby started beaming up at her, her smile still remaining when the Eager fairy bounced excitedly toward Gwendolyn and said in a bubbly voice, "Eager for adventure, happy to do as told, though not necessarily obedient." After blowing at Gwendolyn, she bounced back to her place.
The Kind fairy approached her. Watching the baby closely, she said, "You will be kind to those who you know and even do not know, and you will be generous in your lifetime." She blew, then retreated.
The Generous Fairy walked until she was standing directly in front of the cradle. She pondered, then decided. "You will have great courage, and great self-confidence, though you shall never be proud." She blew and then stepped back to allow the Fairy Queen to place as many blessings as she liked on the child.
The Fairy Queen was wearing a colorful robe, that glittered in the light, unlike her apprentices, who were dressed in one solid color each, and she held a staff in one hand, with a giant globe on top. A small tiara glistened on her pool of silky black hair. The Fairy Queen closed her eyes, which were green, yellow, gold, and blue at the same time, and said in a grand voice, "You will be optimistic always, though never too much so. You will never think of things as 'too hard' though you will never think of them as 'too easy' either. You will not give up so easily, and you will pick up languages of the other worlds quickly. You will be extremely intelligent, even without education, and you will be loved and cherished by everyone who knows you."
She clapped her hands briskly, and everyone could see small glitters coming from her hands and falling on the baby, but they immediately vanished into Gwendolyn's skin.
She stepped back to allow Aedna pass. Aedna was wearing magnificent robes of green, blue, yellow, and brown. Her hand hovered over Gwendolyn's face and she said, "You will not be your regular princess. You will not have the same cares about their hair or their garments like them. You will be different, even better than them. You will find comfort in the wilderness, away from propriety and what-not. You will communicate easily with animals of every sort. And at seventeen, you will marry your true love."
Smoke swirled from the hand hovering over the girl, and the queen watched as it sank into the girl. Then the fairies vanished, one by one, each with a small pop!
------o----------o------------o-----------------o-------------------------o---------------------------o--
"She will be different, even better than princesses? I cannot fathom what that means!" The queen said, who was still brooding over the events of the day.
"I cannot either, my love," King Gorlond said. "But perhaps we shall see as she grows up."
And they did. Gwendolyn grew up the way the fairies blessed her; she grew angry when it was extremely important, though she was unable to hold a grudge for very long. Gwendolyn never got spoiled, she was nearly always happy (and not only for herself, but for everyone around her), she was extremely adventurous and tried even the strangest dishes that were served to her, which no one else would so much as touch, she was happy to do as told, she was generous, kind, she had more courage than the castle guards, self-confident, never prideful, stubborn, optimistic…the list went on and on.
But there was definitely one thing she was not; a princess-like woman.
For one thing, she did not look like a princess. She had wavy brown hair instead of blond, which all the other princesses the world had ever seen had, hazel eyes instead of clear blue, and she did not act like one. For instance, she would slide down the big railing of the stairs, she wouldn't care about ruining her dress or her hair, and she was constantly having her dresses washed because of the dirt and grass stains found on them, from her daily romps in the woods. She had adopted a squirrel, who loved her very much; Mr. Nittle, she called him, a handsome gray squirrel with a magnificent tail.
She rarely came to her etiquette lessons (hence her terrible manners) and she was terribly clumsy—constantly tripping or dropping things.
She did not have the delicate body of usual princesses, either; in fact, she had a very strongly built body, meant for climbing trees, walls, and running around, unlike the small and rather frail body of a regular princess, only good for sitting and embroidering, or reading, or perhaps just sitting. But no, Gwendolyn always had other things on her mind; she could never worry about her embroidery, for she was an awful sewer and embroiderer, and she cared for only the books that gave her information, not idle books of romances or anything like that. And so she grew up extremely intelligent, just as the Fairy Queen blessed her to be. And she did not worry about her looks, let alone notice them—and she was not particularly attractive, either.
So while her three other sisters, perfect princesses in every way, were busy taking lessons on etiquette, embroidering, or what ever all those lessons were for, Gwendolyn was out, running around the woods, lakes, streams, or creeks, taking Mr. Nittle with her (he sat on her shoulder all the time until she had to leave), and also feeding him delicious nuts she brought from the castle. No one minded; they knew it was part of the blessings she received, so no one tried and stopped her.
Though the thing that really bothered her mother was that Gwendolyn did not seem marriageable, no matter what the Aedna had blessed. She might marry her true love at seventeen, but who in the seven worlds would that be? Queen Loryasia hoped that it would be a king, or a prince at the least—she couldn't have her daughter's true love be a merchant or something, it just wasn't right! A princess had to continue being royalty.
------o----------o------------o-----------------o-------------------------o---------------------------o
In Gwendolyn's fifteenth year, her freckles became extremely visible.
"Oh, they must be from all your outings," her mother said, slapping a bottle of special oil into Gwendolyn's hand. "Rub this on, they should go away in no time."
It was true that they should, had Gwendolyn not gone outside directly after.
"Oh, what are we to do?" Queen Loryasia said, wringing her hands the next day, noticing that Gwendolyn's freckles were still intact. "You must stay inside for a few weeks, and then they'll be gone."
"They'll only come back, dearest," the king replied, helping himself to more chicken and taking a few bites out of the meat. "There's no point trying. Besides, if she is to find her true love in two years, then he won't mind, will he?"
The queen shrugged meekly, and never brought the freckles up again.
For a long time, Gwendolyn had wondered who her true love would be.
"It had better not be someone who is not like me at all," she had said to her mother one day.
"What do you mean, Gwen?"
Gwendolyn had shrugged. "I don't want him to be…princely, if he is a prince. I want someone like me; adventurous, unable to care of trivial matters, such as…being royal."
Gwendolyn dearly hoped that he would be like her. And she certainly did not approve of the fairies making it so; shouldn't she choose who she married?
When she had brought it up to her father, he had answered, "But they're just blessing you so you'll marry your soul mate earlier in life than usual, darling. It'll still be the person you love."
Gwendolyn now understood, but still! At seventeen? And even now, two years before then, she was not interested. She supposed she would worry about it later.
"Won't, I, Mr. Nittle?"
The handsome gray squirrel chattered loudly, nibbling on a peanut.
"Yes, I will. Besides, I have two more years left of freedom," she ended wistfully, wishing she could be free forever. She looked around sadly, wishing she could live here.
"It would be wonderful to live here."
Mr. Nittle chattered some more.
"Really? That's wonderful."
Mr. Nittle nibbled some more, then chattered.
"You are very fortunate. So am I! But…I wish to live here. Perhaps my parents would allow me to. Do you think so?"
Mr. Nittle made some strange noise, like a clicking sound.
"Oh. Yes, I suppose you are right; they're the king and queen, they wouldn't." Gwendolyn laughed ruefully.