All characters are owned by George Macdonald except whatever OC's that I manage to come up with, purely fan made and inspired after reading all the great PatG fanfics
It was a week before word of the Queens sudden death reached the castle where the King and Queen had been attacked by the grotesque creatures from the mountain.
They wept for Queen as well but rejoiced in Irene, who above all, was the heir to the throne and therefore the main concern.
A celebration and ceremony was marked a week after the birth of Irene and the death of the queen
However, in the mountain castle bellow, while those who lived above the ground wallowed in their miserable state, the goblins were flourishing as they began to expand their city, deeper and deeper into the earth.
Two years after Irene's birth, the Sun people also began to expand their mines leading deep into the caves of the mountain, branching in such unusual fashions that they were crossing the older goblin mines that had been sealed off decades earlier. Thought the miners knew about the goblins better than most, they had little idea on what the mines of the goblins were caused by.
Years rolled on, the King tried desperately in little ways to distance himself from his daughter so he would not be hurt by anything but the King couldn't resist his little princess, she was truly his world now and no matter what he loved her with all his soul, no matter what he did.
The princess grew up to be a lovely little girl who had relatively all the same features of her deceased mother except for her hair which was a red-blond, just like her father.
Just like her mother wanted Gabriel named her Irene at birth and before she was two the little princess was moved to the old farm castle with an army of maids and nannies at her disposal most of whom left as Irenie grew up.
But as the child grew older and approached her eighth year she became ever more curious with the mountains and valleys around her. The King did not have to be wise to see her curiosity beginning to take hold in her with all it's force and for this he was scared.
After all, strange thing's happened everyday. What if they happened to Irene when he was not there to protect her?
So the King, with a heavy heart, ordered that from the Princess' eighth birthday, she was not allowed to leave the castle at any point from sunset to sunrise.
If anyone disobeyed this rule there would be very strict punishments.
-Farm-Castle 8 Years Later-
"The farm castle was built on a very rough and rugged terrain with many mountains and many valleys, some of these mountains were always surrounded by fog or mist.
But it was not the hills nor was it the fields that were treacherous to people traveling to the kingdom, instead the forest provided much a problem to the kingdom for it was very dense and at night, impossible to see.
Foreigners who wished to speak with the king when he was at the castle often found themselves taking a very long path to the castle that took almost weeks and in the winter this often became months. However, there were occasionally those who went through the forest in order to arrive much faster. Often, if they did dare trek through the forestry, they would find themselves frightened and horrified by the twisted and almost demonic trees, not to mention the horrific stories they had heard of the forest. The dark and malformed branches were the least of the problems, at night it was a dangerous endeavour to climb through the forest because the trees grew on quite rough terrain and often one would not be able to see the sudden drop of the cliff right before their very eyes. However if the foreigner persisted and traveled through the forbidding paths they often found themselves growing with fear as they went farther and farther, until at the point of upmost fright and anxiety they would stumble out onto a very large open cliff with a very small but magnificent castle.
"Most did not persist this way.
"In fact if foreigners did venture this far they were often picked off by stranger things than evil trees and sudden drops off large cliffs.
"Much stranger things.
"Things, my child, that made nightmares," the King paused in his rendition of the epic story he was imagining and looked to his little child curled up on the floor, a blank wrapped tightly around her body as she shivered. "My child, should I stop? Are you too frightened?"
"Oh no, Papa" stuttered the sweet voice from beneath the covers she rested in, "I like it very much-"
"I think that's enough Irenie, love, time for bed." Irenie sighed from under the blankets tand exploded up from her prison the king bent away in surprise as he hurtled to the bed.
"O-no Irenie, no, no don't-" but it was too late as she landed with a poof, sending a pillow filled with goose down spiralling out of the bed as it let loose it's contents all over the room.
One of the feathers landed upon the nose of the king, it rested fore a second before he used his hand to elegantly brush it away from his face.
"I suppose I will need to get you another pillow?" he looked down at her and she smiled... "Alright, I'll be back to tuck you in sweet- try to stay in your bed until then. I love you Irenie..." he whispered softly and headed out the door.
"I love you too Papa," she smiled and waved as her father went down the steps.
In a matter of seconds she was out of bed and wandering to the window in an effort to complete some unknown purpose.
She had opened up the goose down on purpose.
She did all this just so she could go to her bedroom window and look up at the stars.
The window opened up with a shriek but she paid no attention to it, because before her was the wide openness of the night sky.
They twinkled and she rested her hands under her chin as she stared up at the little lights.
Her father always locked the window after he tucked her in, but Irenie, more than anything, just wanted to see the starlight that night.
She heard the door open behind her and turned around quickly, her Papa resting with a new pillow tucked under his arms. "Your Mama always liked to look up into the stars too, she said they made her feel safe." he came up behind her and out a gentle hand on her back as they stared out the window.
"Did she love me?" Irenie asked, a blank sort of stare coming over her eyes.
"Of course, my dove, my sweet." he whispered and knelt down so that he could stroke her hair with his hand. The king picked her up by the waist and let her fragile body sit on his arm, her head resting under his bearded chin as she looked up into the stars. "She told me before you were born... that she would always watch over you, though you might not always be able to see her... she would always be looking after you. Sometimes, if you look hard enough, you can see her in the stars, her smile twinkling and showing you the way."
"I hope you're right Papa." Irenie murmured with a yawn.
"Now, it is time we get you to bed, you have a big day with Lootie tomorrow."
He smiled at her and she giggled lightly at the thought of another adventure.
He tucked her back into be but did not lock the window tonight, as if he knew the little princess' secret desire.
"Goodnight my little Princess."
He shut the door and smiled lightly and the princesses eyes slowly shut as she huddled up in her blanket, the king's steps echoed as they led back to his chambers.
Back in the Princess' room she was breathing gently until suddenly her eyes opened wide and she headed back to the window, opening it with her tiny hands.
Once again peering out into the night, she did not look towards the sky this time, put the mountain peak on which the castle rested. Irenie's window faced the wide giant that happened to be the closest thing to the sky, as if it was a hand reaching out to the dark swirling abyss. She wanted to go there, to be on the peak of that hand, reach out and touch the stars that she had craved.
Her mother's stars.
To Irenie they were all her mother's and what she wanted more than anything was to be closer to them, closer than anyone one on earth for just a moment.
"I'm going to get there one night, I'm going to find you Mama... I'll find you-" the eager and wistful whispers of the princess died into the night as she watched the glistening milky way shimmer.
Little did the Princess know, a soul, dreaming a dream akin to hers, was pacing along the rock wall of the mountain face, perhaps, even staring at the same gathering of stars.
I love delving into emotions, I hope their not too simple, but seeing how Irenie's only about eight I can definitely see how she would feel growing up without a mother.
I really do like this chapter because I can picture Irene looking so cute and innocent, I was kinda imagining Rapunzel from 'Tangled' when she was a kid in the beginning of the movie
Anyway, I've recently made two trailers for my fanfic and I thought some of you guy's reading this would enjoy a chance to see a sneak peak of what's to come. Look for it on my page ^-^ there should be a link