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
As the goblin day just began, above the earth the sun people's world just ended and a very unnerved princess paced her small bedroom in wait for the sound of trumpets, bold and brash against the unyielding fog of night that had swept around the mountain's feat.
Every moment they did not come Irenie grew ever fiercer in her fear and determination to meet them. For the trumpets would not only signify an arrival, but the arrival, the one that every servant, every guard, every princess in that castle, waited for.
Irenie had grown nervous from her time with the other princesses and the prospects of marriage that Odette had brought up in light of one of the girl's marriage.
She loved her friend dearly, but sometimes, almost all the time, Irenie grudgingly added, Odette knew just how to frighten her. It was no secret Odette's marriage was the most unpleasant thing in her life. It all seemed lovely if you could ever see it in a picture, loving husband, lovely mansion, loving parents, lovely clothes, lovely servants, lovely friends, it was just all so, so lovely.
But life is not a picture, it is a many faceted thing with all sorts of twists and bends. Odette's was no exception, Irenie thought bluntly. she new her friend, and as dear to her heart as Odette was, the girl had a tendency to project misery when she felt miserable herself.
And her misery knew no bounds when it came to others.
Irenie could recall little less than a year ago when they had both just turned fifteen, in the beginning of their path to becoming a woman and a full lady of court, Odette had been engaged to a friend of the family.
The poor girl spent a month away in her room, crying and carrying on as if it were the end of the world. In so many ways she was right, it was the end of her world, the beginning of their world, this new life she would now share.
Irenie thought mournfully of how she had insisted it was not such a terrible thing, to be wedded at such a young age might have been shocking to her then, but she always thought of her childhood fairytales. She often tried to console Odette with the little story of a maiden bought for a rose by a terrible animal though Odette did not like this so much, Irenie insisted it was happy for though the maiden did not know it, the animal was actually quite kind and only once they fell in love did he turn into a handsome prince.
A favourite story of Irenie's, but alas no comfort to the desperate Odette who perhaps took a more realistic turn on these event. She was not marrying an animal, nor a handsome prince, she was marrying a duke, more than twice her age and forced to live so very far away from her loved ones.
That was reality and though the Duke was not cruel or demanding, he was neither princely nor romantic. A tired old general who had served the king so faithfully he was granted a title and a large plot of land, but nevertheless far from being an excitable youth as his young bride was. He was exhausted and frustrated by his young wife who craved nothing in her youth but adventure and excitement. He knew she would grow out of it soon enough, but until she was truly a woman he would have no hope of appealing to her and so left her alone to the servants, seeing that she was never bored in her days in the mansion.
But Odette was so bored, more than she ever let on, and longing more than anything.
Now that Irenie found herself in a situation slowly seeming to fall onto the exact same lines as Odette's she began to fear the future so much more.
Is this what it feels like? Irenie thought sadly to herself as she looked out her window for the twentieth time that hour, but saw nothing and began pacing once more.
As Irenie fidgeted and mumbled to herself, she tripped a few times over the relics of her childhood. It was strange, though all the servants constantly commented on how she was a young lady now, she still had her old toys and old room, stuffed away in the corners were the memories of a child. A rocking horse. An old ring of no particular value to one who had never seen it. A wooden word done with it's days of pretend. Everything layered in shades of pink.
Irenie woke to it every day and yet looking intently at it now, her old room never seemed so foreign.
Even the Princess does not belonge in her room.
Irenie let out a mournful sigh before she slid onto padded bench alongside her window.
It was then she heard the noise she had been both aching and dreading to hear.
The trumpets sounding her father's arrival blasted through the dense fog settled around the castle and into the halls.
Out of joy and terrible unrest Irenie sprung from her seat and leapt through the door to her room and cascaded down the stairs like a ripple of water.
Her father hardly made it into the castle courtyard upon his white mount she Irenie erupted through the doors, the first of many to greet the king on his return.
However, first and foremost his attentions were on his only child, and as he dismounted, they embraced tightly and adjured to one of the castle's many studies while the stable boys took care of the horses and his men rested from a long travel.
"Now," the King exclaimed in relief and joy at being able to rest in comfort with his dearest treasure, "what would you like to tell me Irenie?"
"Father," Irenie began, holding her breath for a moment or so, "I would like to discuss my birthday, as it is nearly a week to it I think- well, I have something to put forward to you."
The King looked upon her with a serious expression, "anything you have to say I will be willing to hear, more than willing."
At these words of comfort Irenie brimmed with excitement but tried to subdue it in light of what she indeed wanted to propose.
"As I am nearing my sixteenth birthday, I have become more aware of marriage and all that entails." Irenie glanced up at her father who nodded his head sombrely, still that look of concentration in his eyes as he listened to everything she had to say. "I know it is custom to be married before my seventeenth year and I am prepared to do so, for I have found the only man I will ever love on this earth."
King Gabriel sat up straight and exclaimed in delight, his soft blue eyes twinkling and his brow wrinkling with a large smile.
"Irenie, my dear, this is wonderful!" The King exclaimed in delight, "what suitor?"
Irenie smiled in delight and exclaimed along with her father, in jointed excitement, "Curdie."
That was when everything went quite, even the servants who had been dropping eves outside the door, as they typically did.
The King seemed aghast at first, his eyes wide with initial shock. Curdie was a miner boy, a young man he had the pleasure of meeting once or twice, he was, the king thought regretfully, a fine young man who was both brave and kingly.
There inlay the problem, for although he was kingly Curdie was not a king nor a duke, prince, baron or any sort of noble.
Perhaps in a different life, where they were not so strictly bound by tradition and expectation Irenie could marry whomever she chose, but as the King's daughter she had duties to marry one of her own and as King he could not go against this.
He had only been a fool to think that all this affection the young princess had lavished on the boy, now a young man, was child like and innocent, like an old friend, but he could see it had turned for the worst as it was now his duty to discourage the boys proposal.
"Irenie-" the king began carefully, "he has proposed, then?"
Irenie faltered and shook her head though she was still giddy at the thought of Curdie and marriage, unable to hear the pity and sadness in her father's voice.
"No- not yet, but I-"
"So then he has said nothing to you of his affections?" The king added with an uncertain tone rising in his voice.
"Well no, but… Father, I love him-" Irenie exclaimed in desperation, sensing in her father's voice that there was something off.
"But my dove, he may not feel the same way, has he ever spoken of his intentions?" the King pressed his daughter even as she began to understand her father's questioning.
The King wavered under her gaze, that fearful thing which he could see in her eyes. Disappointment. Though Irenie was a princess she had never asked for much and she had never wanted much more than his love.
"Well not in so many words, but I've felt-" Irenie could not speak a word more, she understood now, even if Curdie had proposed and it was not simply her own affection, the King had no intention of allowing her to marry a commoner, no matter how noble he was.
He was King, there was only so much he could allow, only so much he could do, even for his own child.
Royalty was power, but it was also sacrifice.
Great sacrifice.
It meant letting go of the ones you loved, even when you would sooner pull out your own heart for the good of many, it meant thinking of the betterment of the kingdom rather than his own child's happiness.
She would understand that in time, but until then the King was not so above trivial emotion that he could not see Irenie's heart break and it deeply wounded him.
"I'm sorry irenie, but even if he did propose, I could not consent to the marriage."
"I would see you married for love but the miner boy-
"Curdie-" Irenie proclaimed vehemently, "his name is Curdie, and he is more noble than any duke of yours, father."
"You are being needlessly difficult Irenie. Are you saying that you rather see the kingdom collapse so that you may be happy?"
Irenie gave a slight gasp at her father's harsh words, "you know that is not true- but- but why must I marry a noble, why can't I-"
"Because this is how it is done, Irenie," her father breathed out in pain, the conversation taking a far more devastating toll on him than he had predicted, and turned away from her so he would not have to see that loss in her eyes, "your mother was royalty and I loved her, you will find yourself surprised by them if only you gave them a chance."
Her father spoke gently and reassuringly but Irenie was too scorned and hurt by what she considered her father's quick dismissal of her heart.
"Father, please!" Irenie begged as she shouted very loudly, the loudest she had ever been against her father.
The King stood there, his back to her, "No Irenie, you will do what I say. No arguments."
"But Father!"
"No!" The King shouted as he turned around quickly to face his daughter, Irenie, who had backed up at the sound of his loud voice. He was in pain, it was written clearly all over his face but the King could not help the customs of his lineage. With certain powers one must also take on certain responsibilities, this was what it meant to have power.
He had met Angelica this way; he had picked out his one true love from hundreds of beautiful girls, it was true that though she was also poor for a Princess and her Kingdom was very small and she may have not been proclaimed as the fairest in the land, she was also witty, kind and genuine.
Tradition had bound him tightly too, as it did all nobles and at times it seemed to make sense to ignore the outdated customs, to be sad when one felt sad, to be angry when one was angry and to follow true hearts desire when one saw it fit.
Yet those are not the customs of leaders, for it was their duty to ignore themselves and protect those who served them first, to protect their homes and their borders. Being born into nobility meant one carried a certain weight all their life and only other nobles understood how important and how heavy this weight that burdened the soul.
It was just how things were done.
It could not change.
If tradition was good enough so that he and Angelica could meet and fall in love, then it was good enough for his daughter.
"We will not talk of this again, Irenie," muttered the King, his head low, "soon you will see that royalty can have good qualities, if you only give them a chance."
Irenie's face flushed red as it scrunched up and her brow wrinkled with pain and shame that came from hearing her own father raise his voice to her.
He had never done such a thing before. Was wanting to marry for love such a crime to him?
Without saying a word more Irenie leapt from her spot on the ground and tore out into the main hall and then out the castle doors, into the fog.
She didn't care if they raised the alarm after her, whether sent twenty or twenty hundred men, irenie vowed not to come back that night. She knew where she was going, and as Irenie leapt from rock to rock scaling the mountain in her pretty yellow frock and white laced gloves she cursed and questioned the world.
Why did she have to marry someone she did not know and whom she did not love because of something as simple as status?
It didn't make sense to marry someone just because they happened to be born in the same social circles as ones self. In fact that was a horrible proposal for matrimony, spending your life with an arse who you would have nothing in common with except they had a title.
So why would someone as wise as her father condemn a marriage that made perfect sense except for birth status?
Maybe he isn't so wise, Irenie thought Bitterly as she chipped one of her dainty pink fingernails on a rather stubborn rock.
She felt guilty at the thought immediately but couldn't help her anger, shame and sadness.
If only he could understand!
He knows Curdie is just as good as any noble, perhaps- perhaps he could learn to see the nobility in Curdie as she had if only she showed him how uncouth and depraved nobility who were born with the title were.
He would never allow it though, Irenie almost cried to herself, she was nothing more than an heir to the throne, an empty vessel that would birth a king and continue a royal bloodline, pure and simple.
Irenie bit her lip and finally grasped the last rock to heave herself up, her dress ruined beyond recognition and hardly only the palms remaining of her gloves which were brown with dirt and sprinkled with holes from the rocks.
Up ahead there was a small wooden home, built with strong beams and taking up a modest space.
Irenie stumbled up to the door and knocked quietly. She heard some shuffling around, until at last the door opened and beheld an older looking woman with thin yellow hair that fell loosely around her shoulders.
"Irenie?" She exclaimed a bit, though her tone for the most part was calm and reassuring, "What's wrong?Why are you out so late?"
Irenie's face crumpled up for the second time that night, tears pouring down her face and embraced the woman tightly, sobbing into her shoulder.
"Mrs. Peterson, everything's wrong."
No song for this one, it's a bit of a sadder chapter and regrettably we have to trudge through more drama before we see a bit of sunshine and humour sorry :c
next chapter will be with Nuna, Munph, Harelip, Fyzsal and Berzker :D