Lakeside Gravity

Danu was curled up in her chair with the book Yvaine had given her. Her boots stuck out of the fluffy mess of skirt and petticoats that she wore as they rested on the armrest. Her long brown hair hung down the other side of the chair.

She felt the slight dip of the ship that signaled descent, and sighed. Sticking a random piece of parchment in the pages, she stretched the kinks out of her neck and sat up. The door was still safely shut, which meant that she had a few moments more than she originally thought.

She braced herself for impact, grateful that this time someone had managed to land the ship relatively smoothly. The previous landing had jarred her much more than she would have liked.

She paced around her cabin six times, the heels of her boots lightly tapping on the wooden floor. Her cabin wasn't particularly large, but she paced it diligently, biding her time. She wanted to get out of the stuffy space, but was still afraid to do so.

There was something about being on land that made all of the crew members more adventurous. They usually spent the first day lazing about near the ship, but hardly paid much attention to their surroundings and people. The only ones they cared about were the ones with weapons.

Danu slipped her boots off her feet. She held them in her hand and carefully opened the door. She continued to hold her boots in one hand as she crept along. Her skirt, though much more voluminous than preferred for sneaking around, hardly rustled at all as she turned one corner after another.

There was a huge ruckus from the top deck, and Danu stepped back a bit before continuing on. She had no clue what was going on, but it didn't look like anyone was going to be coming down for quite some time.

She continued on for only a few moments before hearing slight creaking and music. She knew that her uncle had a music machine thing, she couldn't remember its proper name, but he didn't creak floorboards that way when he played it. There was too much carpet in his cabin.

She moved silently, almost stalking the noise. The creak was subtle, so subtle that anyone not looking for it would have missed it. In all the commotion that was happening above deck, Danu was surprised that she had heard it in spite of the fact that she had conditioned herself to respond to even the slightest noise.

She leaned against the wall, just a few feet from where a man dressed all in black stood. He had unsheathed his sword, and appeared to be taking great care to make as little noise as possible.

"Come here often?" Danu asked. She couldn't help but try to lighten what appeared to be a very tense moment for him.

"Who are you?" He tensed up even more, his gloves hiding the whiteness of his knuckles as he gripped his sword even tighter.

"That's no way to treat a lady."

The man looked her over. In her blue dress, the golden chain around her neck glimmered in the light. He recognized the chain instead of the diamond. He had seen the thick coil around his father's neck his whole life.

"I suppose not," he said as he sheathed his sword. He removed his gloves and walked towards Danu, a strange contemplative look in his eyes.

She became increasingly aware of her height, or lack thereof. He was tall, with dark hair and black eyes that seemed to pierce her soul. She felt her breath hitch in her throat, almost as if it was stuck. There was a certain attraction that she had never felt before.

The man picked up the pendant. In his hands the stone turned from a diamond to a ruby. Danu stared at the man in front of her with shock. She hadn't ever expected a prince to even speak to her.

She was about to drop to her knees. She would have had the necklace not stopped her before she had lowered herself only a few inches to the degree of a princess to a king. She stood again, feeling more confused than ever.

"My lord, please forgive my impertinence. I was not aware of your identity."

He was much too young to be Primus, and the only other prince alive was Septimus. He had the most notorious reputation. But whatever could be said about him, he was powerful and alive. He could cut off her head in an instant if he felt like it.

He walked around her, letting go of the pendant as he circled. His eyes wandered over every inch of her from her light brown hair tumbling down her back, to the faintest touch of a blush on her cheeks. What he noticed the most, was that her eyes were the most brilliant shade of blue.

He would have sworn that they were brighter than the sky and more intense than the ocean. They burned with emotion, with only a hint of fear at the surface. He had always favored the color blue, but in that moment he loved it.

"Strong willed, a good sense of pride, common sense. You have some fine traits, even if you are a little short."

"I'm not short," Danu replied a little quickly.

"Feisty too. I would say that you meet most of the qualifications. Now tell me, who is your next of kin?"

And I'm going to leave it here for now. Sorry it's taken me so long to get back to this. I didn't expect my wrist to hurt for as long as it did. I'm still working on everything, it's just been on hold for longer than I would have originally liked. Thank you all for putting up with me and my sporadic updates. I'll try to get the next chapter up next week.