"Mom?"

Lillian briefly looked up from the letter she was writing, her daughter hovering in the doorway, "Hello, dear," she spoke absentmindedly, resuming her task.

"Mom?"

Lillian barely slowed her writing, "What is it?" she spoke patiently.

There was hesitance. The queen took the opportunity to get sucked back into her task.

"Mom," Fiona's tone changed, becoming firmer, "I'm ten years old."

A brief smile flashed across Lillian's face, "I know, you're so grown up." She paused a second, heart almost skipping a beat, though no, she hadn't misspelt the word. She continued writing.

"I am!" Fiona agreed, adamantly. It was enough to give the mother pause, glancing back to the child she had accidentally empowered. "I'm grown up, so I should be able to make some of my own decisions."

Lillian tried to hide the humour that was creeping over her features, "What decisions would those be?"

The child was suddenly stood right next to her, fingers clutching onto the side of the desk. She leaned a little over the papers Lillian was writing on. "Mom, I-"

"Fiona," Lillian sat up, voice even, "Please don't stand over me like that."

Her daughter immediately corrected her behaviour, standing straight and putting her hands to her side. "Mom?" she rose up onto her toes and back down again, unable to still herself.

"Where are your friends?" Lillian asked her. She did recall Fiona being with her friends on that particular afternoon. She could only hope there hadn't been another incident. Her daughter was often the one getting hurt by their antics. Puberty was looming over the group and threatening the harmony that had previously existed between them.

"They're in my room," Fiona hurried through her answer, "Mom..."

Lillian finally gave her daughter the undivided attention she craved, setting down the quill into the ink pot, "Yes?" she asked.

"Mom, please can you listen to everything I say before you give an answer..."

Lillian took a breath, crossing her brow a little, "Okay," she indicated for the child to explain herself.

"My friends are having another slumber party and I-"

The woman sighed, briefly closing her eyes.

"No, mom, no!" Fiona almost shouted at her, "You said you would listen!"

"I am listening," she spoke patiently, "But you know what the answer is, Fiona."

"Well, it's your decision, so you need to go and tell them that."

Lillian blinked at her daughter, "What do you mean?"

"I want to go to the slumber party, but I can't because you don't let me. But they think that I don't want to go because I never go. And I thought you might understand more than dad would, but you still say no. But I promise they would understand my secret, I promise!"

She sighed again. It wasn't an infrequent argument they had with their daughter, it was something she'd always sulked over whenever it arose. The sulking was just becoming much more prominent. "Fiona, the answer will always be no. I'm not trying to be mean, it's for your own good, darling. I'm saying no because I love you," she didn't expect the child to understand, not at that age. She hoped with all her might she would gain an understanding before they sent her away.

"Please, mom, just once!" she jumped on the spot.

"Fiona, the answer is no," she snapped.

"You don't love me," Fiona frowned, backing out of the doorway, "It's not fair... I hate you," she ran off.

Lillian sighed, brushing away the papers that had once been so important in her mind. She leant her elbows on the desk and put her face into her hands.

Her daughter was right on one point, it wasn't fair, but there wasn't much she could do about it. Well, a small voice spoke in her mind, it would be fairer to let her go and live as normally as she could. The woman shook her head. She couldn't do that. Perhaps if she wasn't a princess due to inherit a kingdom, even so people that changed forms were sought out for freak shows and circuses. She wouldn't allow people to laugh at her daughter like that, even if it meant being unfair.

The queen looked out of the window, she'd never had a slumber party as a child. She understood far more the embarrassment of needing to leave parties and events early. Though, she had spent many nights giggling with her many sisters. They were the vast majority of her friends as a child. Fiona didn't have any sisters. She sighed again, and it didn't look like she was going to get any brothers too. She rested her head in her hand, even if she were able to conceive a second child, they wouldn't get to spend too long together anyway, the age gap already being far too large for them to bond. Her thoughts were brought back to her daughter's departure. Her thoughts always seemed to be brought back to that, every day. Lillian looked to the doorway where her child had left. What about the bonding she had with her? She didn't want Fiona to go away resenting her. An idea alit in her mind.

Lillian cautiously headed down the corridor to her daughter's bedroom. She was armed with a stack of blankets and some exciting plans. She wasn't sure her daughter deserved the plans she had in mind, she had been less than pleasant at dinner and had put herself to bed early without saying goodnight. Though, the subject was a raw one for the child, and of course, her night time form being an ogre lent to some negative traits being exacerbated. She couldn't hold Fiona responsible for that.

The queen hesitantly knocked upon her daughter's door. She glanced somewhat bemusedly at the Keep Out sign proudly displayed. There was no answer. She knocked again, "Fiona?"

Finally there was a voice, "What?" impatient and angry, that came from inside.

Typically, she would have chastised her child for taking such a tone with her. But, somehow she couldn't. Bonds had been broken enough already. The woman carefully entered the room. Slipping in before anyone could approach and see inside. She safely closed the door behind her.

"Fiona, dear?"

She could see the tip of one of her daughter's braids visible from under the bed. "What are you doing there?" she asked, curious. She placed the blankets onto the ground and lowered herself down until she was looking under the bed, almost face to face with her daughter.

"I'm too much of a monster to go to the slumber party," she child spoke bluntly, "And monsters are found under the bed. So... I'm under the bed."

Lillian's lips twitched into a smile, "Don't be so silly, darling. You're not a monster."

"I am."

"You're not a true ogre, this isn't really you," she shook her head at her daughter. "Come out, I have a surprise for you."

"I don't want it," the child squeezed her eyes closed.

Lillian hesitated before picking herself up off of the ground. "Well, okay then. You can stay there, but I plan on having a slumber party right here." She took the blankets and began laying them out on the floor.

"A what?" Fiona's voice had turned curious.

"A slumber party," the queen clarified, "I was hoping you'd join me. But, if you don't want to, that's okay."

The child went quiet. Lillian continued setting up the blankets without pause.

"Well, what plans did you have?" she eventually asked, remaining under the bed.

Lillian had to hide a chuckle, "A maid will be bringing a food cart any moment now, I picked out our favourite candies and chocolates... marshmallows, hot cocoa. I have the softest blankets. I had games planned, I hoped to borrow your hairbrush and some of your teddies," she paused, there was silence. The queen lowered herself to the ground once more, she laid down on the blankets, facing her daughter, "I could use a friend for my plans," she held out her hand.

Fiona hesitated, pouting a little.

The mother waited a little longer, trying to hide the bemusement on her face at her daughter's stubbornness. She certainly got that from her father. "Alright then…" Lillian began to revoke the offer.

"Wait-"

She paused, and as predicted, her daughter began to wiggle herself out from under the bed. It certainly wasn't the most lady-like action or in any way fit for a princess. But in her larger form, it was a tighter squeeze for her to fit there.

Fiona finally took her hand, it was big, almost exactly the size of Lillian's. Her eyes drifted to her daughter's face, she was smiling hesitantly, "I want to join."

Lillian brightened, "I'm glad," she squeezed her hand and Fiona's far stronger grip squeezed back.

"Mom?" Fiona's smile faded. The queen and princess had spent hours laughing together. It was past Fiona's bedtime, the child had been ecstatic about staying up late. It had made Lillian regret not making a habit of a slumber party between the two of them. The mother was finally brushing her daughter's hair. Attempting to wind her down a little, enough to go to sleep.

"Yes?" Lillian took another bush stroke, carefully dodging the child's elongated ear.

She took a breath, "You see that I'm still me even when I'm like this…" Fiona hesitated, wanting to say more, but instead she sighed.

Lillian looked to the ground, slowly bringing the brush to her lap, "You're my daughter, darling, of course I still love you."

"Dad doesn't."

"He does."

She remained unconvinced.

Lillian resumed brushing her hair, taking a moment to think, "You see, Fiona, I am your mother. I shall love you no matter what. But other people are different. Other people won't love you if you're different."

"That's why other people can't see me," she observed.

"Yes, that's why we can't let others see you like this. It wouldn't be fair if people didn't love you because of this. So we keep this hidden away. Your father, he loves you very much, he doesn't see you any differently in the daytime, even though he knows you're like this at night. Those other people, they would see you differently forever."

The child was quiet.

"Your father… he-he is just trying to protect you from them," Lillian tried to see her face, "We only want what's best for you. You may not understand now, but you will when you're older. You will be grateful that we kept this a secret for you."

"So I have to stay hiding every night forever?" her voice was sad.

"Of course not, darling, one day your true love will break the curse and then you'll never need to hide again," Lillian smiled, setting down the brush, "Won't that be wonderful?"

Fiona nodded, "And then I'll be able to go to real slumber parties."

Lillian found her smile fading, "Yes, you will." Of course this wasn't the real thing her daughter craved. This was just a small replica of the grand expectations Fiona had in mind. Everything Lillian tried to do to make up for missed opportunities fell short.

Her daughter sighed softly, "My friends get to do everything they want and I have to stay by myself."

The mother's heart sunk in her chest, "When you're older-"

Lillian was interrupted by an unexpected knock upon the door. Her previously sullen heart began racing. She looked wide eyed to her daughter, who was already picking herself up off the ground. The door began to slowly open without an answer. The queen shooed her away, pointing to the side of the bed obscured from view. Fiona leapt out of sight. Though, just as Lillian was about to replace her shocked expression with one of stern offence, it was her husband that scurried into the room, quickly throwing the door closed behind him.

"Lillian? I was looking for-" he looked at her and around the room, somewhat startled.

Lillian put a hand to her chest, finally able to breathe again, she looked to where her daughter was peering around the bedpost at her father.

"It's you. You should have said something, Harold, you near frightened us to death," she chastised him, smoothing out the blankets as Fiona crawled from her hiding spot back to her original place.

Though when she looked back up to meet her husband's gaze, he was confused.

"What-what's going on?" he gestured to their position on the floor, the food surrounding them.

"We're having a slumber party!" Fiona exclaimed.

"Yes, a treat for tonight," Lillian took hold of her daughter's hair ties, smoothing over her hair in her hands.

"Ah," he chuckled a little, "I see. That's wonderful, eh?"

"Yes," their child tried to supress the grin that grew on her face, "I want to do this every night."

"No staying up too late," a playful smirk teased at Harold's lips, as be began to retreat.

"We won't, daddy."

Despite what Fiona had said before, Lillian couldn't help but feel pleased with her decision. Anything that made Fiona truly happy made her happy too. She wanted to arm her daughter with as many happy memories as possible, as much as that sometimes seemed impossible with the many restrictions they had. Still, Lillian had found one way to do that, a new way to bring her child joy within the safety of her own bedroom.

. . .

So like… I guess Fiona's childhood wasn't entirely traumatic. I hope you liked, leave a review :)