A/N: Casandravus, darling… Merry Christmas 2020, and Happy Late Birthday!
32. Peace
xxXxx
Haru stared at her reflection numbly. 'This is all just a bad dream. I'll wake up soon.'
It was a comforting thought, even if it was only a lie. Her three darling aunts were actually fairy godmothers. Her simple peasant dress had been exchanged for a sapphire gown fit for a princess. Even her brown hair, usually pulled back in a ponytail, had been carefully combed to flow over her shoulders and back like a continual waterfall.
Haru decided it was the golden tiara set with three diamonds that she hated the most. It wasn't heavy or uncomfortable, but it alone signified everything she had lost on this, the worst birthday of her life. She buried her face in her arms on the vanity and began to weep.
Her beloved forest was lost to her. Never again would she run barefoot over long, cool grass. Never again would she swim in a lake. Never again would she read her latest book out loud to the deer or rabbits that found her company soothing.
Her rage billowed out through her tears. How could she have known that other peasant girls didn't have to learn languages, history, or etiquette if she had never met another girl to talk to in the woods? Until being taken to this castle, Haru had never even seen another human being since her aunts obviously didn't count.
"Ha… ru… ee…"
A strange whisper curled through one ear, making Haru inelegantly wipe her eyes and nose on the sleeve of her expensive gown to see where it was coming from.
"Ha… ru… ee…"
How strange. The fire that had illuminated the chamber she had been left in had died down, leaving a strange coal that almost seemed to burn pink in the fireplace.
"Harue…" This time, the whisper was almost musical.
The more Haru stared at that coal, the more entrancing it became. Even her tears ceased to flow. When it seemed to rise from the ashes and glow enough to reveal a secret passage from behind the fireplace, she wasn't even startled. She stood up to get a better look.
"Harue…" the floating ball called warmly to her as it gently floated down that secret passage.
Haru could feel her feet begin to move forward, one hand automatically lifting enough of her skirt so that she wouldn't trip over the metalwork in the fireplace and leaning down enough to keep from knocking the delicate tiara right off her head. She even found the ashes under her perfect slippers to be warm and inviting.
"Harue…"
It couldn't be a coal, her mind distantly decided as she followed it the way a duckling would follow its mother. The glowing bubble was perfectly circular, and didn't seem to have any weight at all as it led her down a long, twisting hall and up a spiral staircase that seemed to stretch all the way to the heavens.
"Harue…"
Haru didn't complain about the distance. She didn't complain about being able to see so little other than the magenta sphere and what was directly in front of it. She was slightly startled when her foot came down on level ground instead of another stone step, but wasn't shaken enough to question when the ball disappeared through a doorway that opened wider at her approach.
"Harue…"
The ball of pink light came to rest on the strangest contraption Haru had ever seen in her life. It had four legs like a table, but they supported a wheel like the ones on the wagons she had glimpsed while her fairy godmothers were smuggling her into the castle. The other part was what seemed to be a pointed wooden stick with a great deal of thread wound around it.
"Harue…" The ball of light was balanced on the very tip of that stick, glowing even more brightly than before. "Come touch the spindle…"
Haru's legs had been slowly and steadily crossing the room during her silent analyzing of the strange contraption. What was it? What did it do? Her hand was raising up to touch both the ball that was now within reach, and the sharp tip that seemed to be at its core.
Without warning, her mind snapped back from an almost forgotten promise. "No!" she yelped, turning away from the light and burying both of her hands against her middle as she bent into an almost fetal crouch. "I don't know what it does! I promised!"
There was a loud 'ka-boom!' as the sphere of magenta light shattered like a pane of glass, and there was an insane shriek of frustration that could have come from the wind or…
Haru was only in complete darkness for a moment before all the walls of the circular room gained a magenta curtain of flame, cutting her off from the door or even the windows of the tower.
"You promised?! You promised?!" a deep voice demanded of her. It was definitely the same voice that had been calling to Haru from the ball of light, but it had lost the dreamy musicality to become all too real.
The young woman fearfully looked behind her to see its owner.
She was tall and grand, dressed in black from head to foot, and her large hat and stole seemed to be trimmed in fur as dark as onyx. The dress was plain but seemed to glisten in the magenta flames, and her head was supported not just by a modest set of necklaces, but rolls of fat that made her head looked like an egg perched on a nest.
She was furious. "Just what was it that you promised!?" she demanded, making Haru stand up and back away the best she could, still keeping her arms wrapped around her middle.
"M-my aunts… told me… not to touch anything I don't understand," she managed to spit out, not really caring that the admission sounded childish. "I'm supposed to ask them what it is, and then get permission."
The woman groaned, filling the whole room with its sound in a way that should have been impossible. "Of course you don't know what this is." She reached over with one heavily ringed hand and sent the wheel spinning joyfully. "This is a spinning wheel," the large woman explained as if she were talking to a simpleton. "You use it to make cloth."
Haru blinked, almost feeling foolish, but that ball had still lead her here, and the flames cutting off escape were still burning high. "How?" she asked incredulously while staring at the still-spinning wheel.
She couldn't tell if the smile on the large woman's lips was of amusement or contempt. Waving her ringed hand again, her shadow seemed to solidify and rise up from where it had been puddled at her feet.
Haru couldn't resist a fascinated shudder as the shadow took a vaguely human shape in order to take the little stool next to the spinning wheel and grab a handful of magenta flame from the closest wall. It pulled the fire into a long thick rope before carefully feeding it into the spinning wheel, which it pedaled with one foot to keep the wheel spinning and twisting what should have burned it into ashes.
The thread already on the long stick soon began to glow as the flame thread slowly covered up the rather plain thread that had already been on it.
"Fascinating, isn't it?" the woman purred as Haru stared at the process, almost unaware that her feet were disobediently drawing her close one more.
"Yes," Haru answered without thinking, wanting to try it for herself. But then she shook herself and stood up straight as she remembered how she got into this strange room. "So why did you really bring me here? Are you friends with my aunts?"
The woman laughed like she had never heard a better joke. "Hardly. They spent your entire life both training you and leaving you woefully unprepared to be a princess. I'm here to provide you with a way out."
"You are?!" Haru exclaimed with delighted surprise.
"But of course," the strange woman encouraged smugly, dismissing the shadow servant with a wave of her great hand until it was a dark puddle at her feet once more. "I don't know why they thought isolating you in the forest away from other humans was going to leave you ready to be the center of attention as soon as you are presented to the world."
Haru grimaced and held a hand to her middle to remind herself that she didn't want to throw up right now. "I think I'll melt. I… don't mind the thought of finally meeting my parents, but I don't want the rest of it. Being a princess, having people stare at me, having to… toooo… talk to people I've never known. They'll judge me. Hate me when I make a mistake. I don't want it. I was happy in the forest, I really was."
"I know, dear," the large woman crooned as she gestured to the pointed stick again. "All you have to do to get your forest back is to touch the spindle."
Haru tilted her head at the stranger so much, it was a wonder that the dainty tiara didn't fall completely off her head. She stared between the spindle and the woman that claimed she was trying to help. "What will happen if I touch it?" she asked flatly after a long moment of silence.
"It will send you wherever you wish to go," she responded with a smile that showed off the flower color of her lips, though her grey eyes still seemed cold. "If you want to go back to the forest, you will be there. Want to find out what the ocean is like? Visit the moon? Anywhere you want to go, anything you want to do will be yours with a mere thought."
"Haru!" a familiar voice bellowed, making the girl in question jump and flinch like she had already done something wrong.
"Quick, or they'll stop you," the woman in black urged, pressing a hand to Haru's back to urge her ever closer to the spindle, which was now kept alight by flame thread.
"Don't touch anything!" a raspy voice screeched, making Haru recoil in her very bones.
There were only two voices like that in the world. She was unfortunately certain that the other one was also on her way, although she could hear no footsteps coming up the long winding stairs.
Not that they walked anymore.
Dola was the first to fly into the room, her thick pink braids flying behind her as she burst through the flames that the young girl didn't dare penetrate. "Haru! Get away from that!" she demanded while swooping close to carry her away if the girl didn't move fast enough.
"I don't think so, love," the woman purred, waving her hand to catch the fat fairy in a spider web made of sticky shadows.
The twins came next, naturally buzzing like bees thanks to their identical wings. Haru had always felt a little proud of herself for being able to tell Zeniba and Yubaba apart despite their attempts to mess with her head over the years, but for this moment, they were completely alike in fury.
"Get away from my little mouse!" Yubaba shrieked, raising one hand and throwing a lightning bolt at the woman in black, but the shadow servant was summoned again to take the hit instead.
"Not yet, little one," the stranger purred. "I still have business with your princess."
Haru flinched at the title that had upended her quiet happy life.
"Run, Harue! Find your parents before it's too late! We'll hold her off!" Zeniba ordered while making wind sparrows to peck at the strange woman, who waved them away with a fan that looked like it was lined with the same thick fur as her hat and stole.
Haru didn't run, though. She stared between her fairy grandmothers and the strange woman, barely moving at all. "What's going on?"
"Isn't it obvious, dear?" the strange woman asked with a smug smile. "They want you to go back down the stairs and be Princess Harue of Yrael. Never again be Haru, never to have a moment to yourself, never be able to do anything you want to, just because you want to."
Haru hung her head miserably, knowing that whatever else was going on, the woman was telling the truth about that.
"It won't be all bad!" Dola tried to assure her as she struggled to get free from the web. "You'll get to see new places, meet new people!"
"I don't want to," Haru admitted, hoping that her godmothers would hear her this time. "I liked where we were, who we were. Can't we just go back to the cottage and forget all this?"
"That is what I'm offering you, poppet," the strange woman told her again while framing the spindle with her arm and letting her stole fall behind it so that she could see nothing else. "The life you want, and I already told you what you need to do to take it back."
"Haru, now isn't the time to think about what you want!" Yubaba shrieked as she fought against two shadow servants to get close enough to grab her. "The kingdom's been waiting for you to return, you can't let the Fairy of the Waste get into your head!"
"They've gotten along fine without me," Haru pointed out, looking away from everyone. "It's not like I'll be allowed to take the throne myself."
That was one of the reasons Haru didn't want to be a princess. She'd have to get married.
"Yes, I thought all of you loved her," the large woman smirked. "Yet you've seen the little brat her 'doting parents' picked out for her already!"
"Wait, what little brat?" Haru asked suspiciously, turning to look at her as her heart began to tremble.
The Fairy of the Waste couldn't resist a rich, deep laugh. "Oh, did none of you tell her? Did you guess she wouldn't be happy if she were to lay eyes on her husband to be?" She raised one hand, making the flames rise up until they were the walls, just to show image after image.
"I wanted eggs for breakfast!" an eight-year old boy shrieked as he chucked a bowl of piping hot porridge directly at the servant who had just set it in front of him, making the poor man shriek from the pain.
Haru held both hands to her mouth in complete horror as she looked from image to image.
That brat hurt animals because he thought it was funny.
He was not above screaming and punching to get his own way, and absolutely no one looked like they wanted to be around him.
Even his own parents seemed nauseated by his mere presence.
"Where is my princess?!" he demanded impatiently while jumping up and down in place, making her realize that this was probably him right now, in a room almost as big as her favorite meadow.
Full of people. All waiting for her to come down and accept her fate.
"Not it!" Haru nearly screamed, turning back to the spinning wheel and slamming her hand down on the spindle.
It was so easy. Just a brief moment of pain, and then all faded to black.
ooOoo
Haru opened her eyes with a startled gasp, sitting up like she had been doused in cold water. She looked around madly, but no nothing was wrong.
She had taken a nap against the stomach of a doe that looked up at her with curious brown eyes strangely close to her own.
"What a nightmare," she sighed with relief. The young girl laid back down with one hand on her rapidly beating heart. Her lips twisted into a thankful smile as the doe licked her cheek.
She didn't need a crown. She didn't need parents that would willingly chain her to a royal brat for an alliance. At least, the reason had better have been something good like an alliance. Her aunts would never want her to be miserable the rest of her life, just because of who she was born to.
That's why she was being raised by them. Sure, they could sometimes get on her nerves, but really, what would she want with anyone else? Judging from her history books, she'd be better off never seeing another human as long as she lived.
The following weeks were the best yet of Haru's young life. Dola, Yubaba, and Zeniba must have sensed that something had upset her, but for once, they weren't asking for specifics. Haru did what she could to forget the strange dream by racing with the deer, inventing new ways to dive into the lake not that far from the cottage she had grown up in, and talking the animals into not going into the garden she and her aunts toiled over.
Her green thumb must have finally kicked in, because it wasn't long until the garden was producing enough so that Dola was able to trade the extra vegetables for what they couldn't make themselves.
Haru looked up from a line of turnips once, just now noticing something odd about Yubaba's dress. "What happened to the patch on your sleeve?" she asked curiously.
"What patch, dear?" the old woman asked in her usual gruff manner.
"I thought for sure you had a patch on your sleeve from one of your arguments with Zeniba."
"Oh, now dear," Zeniba crooned as she walked close enough to ruffle Haru's hair around the handkerchief she had tied on. "We stopped fighting years ago, remember? You said it was your favorite birthday present."
"Birthday…" Haru mumbled as something seemed to throb against her skull. There was something about her birthday that felt important, but what it was escaped her.
While she was distracted with trying to remember, Dola pulled her into a warm embrace while touching her forehead with an experienced hand. "You seem a little warm, dear. Why don't you go lay down for a bit? I'll take dinner duty while you rest."
"Am I tired?" she asked distractedly, but the answer must have been yes. How else could she have been tucked into her little bed inside the cottage so quickly? She turned on her side to watch the sunset and count the stars as they slowly revealed themselves. A smile played on her lips as she traced a constellation with one finger, telling herself the story that came with it.
She was grateful that Dola wound up not bringing her any supper. Her body simply didn't want nourishment.
Time passed.
Haru rolled down the hill with a dizzy giggle dancing out of her mouth. She lay flat against the cool comforting grass as she waited for the world to stop spinning. 'It's nice that they don't scold me for this anymore. I'm not going to be young forever, after all.' She eventually opened her eyes to the soft clouds hanging high above her head, drifting by with the same casual laziness that she felt. Her large brown eyes squinted a bit, trying to see if the clouds looked like anything.
There was a cat on her far left, with a long tail floating behind it. Higher up enough to make her tilt her head slightly was… a spade? An upside-down heart? Haru forced herself to roll onto her stomach to get a better look. Her eyes widened with surprise.
It wasn't just a heart. It was clearly defined with no stray bits of cloud trailing off, like it had been cut for a cookie. Haru turned enough to look at the cat, feeling a bit of dread in her soul.
That was clearly defined as well. She could actually see the ears, the shoulders, the delicate little paws!
What did this mean? Should she bring it up to her aunts? She chewed on a thumbnail nervously, glad that they weren't currently around to scold her again for the habit.
'They're just clouds, dear. What you see is what you're thinking about.'
Yes, Zeniba was right the first time Haru tried to tell her about something she had seen in the sky. She tapped her thumb while trying to decide why her mind was thinking of a heart and a cat.
Haru had only ever seen cats in one of her books. She had wanted one since she first saw that picture, but poor Dola had sneezing fits at the mere mention of a cat.
She sighed and rested on her back with her hands folded behind her head to keep watching the clouds as they passed. 'Dola's important to me. I can stand not having a cat.'
That, and now Haru was in the mood to make some cookies.
Time passed.
Haru looked up from the broom she was currently sweeping through the main room of the cottage. "Is it just me, or has this summer been a bit long?"
"Don't complain, dearie," Yubaba begged her as she vigorously scrubbed at the breakfast dishes. "My old bones always ache during the cold months."
"And you make sure that we know that. All winter," Zeniba added with a cackle that Haru had always found amusing.
Winter was her least favorite time of year. Not because she didn't want to spend an entire season cooped up with her aunts, but because cabin fever always made the twins bicker like children before one month has passed. Haru was more than fine about skipping out on the needless bickering.
Time passed.
Haru was staring at the textbook currently open over her lap. It wasn't that she didn't know what she was looking at, it was that she could recite the etiquette book from cover to cover if one of her aunts wanted to use her to annoy the other two. What was the point of reading this again?
It was no use to switch for another book. Haru knew all of the ones on the bookshelf by heart. What would be really nice would be if-
"Darling!" Dola cried out as she fought against her skirts and the one wind that always seemed to catch her after coming back from trading. "I have a present for you!"
"Really? What is it?" Haru asked while excitedly getting to her feet.
"A new book!" she announced while picking a thick red one out of her basket. "It occurred to me that you haven't had a new one in some time."
"Thank you, Dola!" the young woman gushed as she squeezed her aunt happily before hugging the book as well.
"Let me know what you think of it, dear!" Dola informed her sternly around a warm smile as she continued the short walk to the cottage.
Haru took back her seat between a doe and two fawns that seemed eager to find out what the new reading would be.
Haru carefully opened the book, and was a little surprised to find a blank page. She initially shrugged it off, but ten blank pages in, she flipped through the thick book with one hand to discover that the entire thing was blank.
"What is this?" she asked in confusion.
Did Dola get cheated? What did she think that the book had been about? Or was Haru supposed to fill it out herself? But with what? If she was meant to fill it out, why didn't her aunt pick up ink and fresh quills at the same time? She was pretty sure that the ink leftover from teaching her how to write had dried up by now.
Haru dreaded when her aunt was going to ask questions, but it was as if Dola had forgotten completely about the new book, even though Haru had nestled it in with the others on the shelf in her room.
… If she was supposed to fill it, what would she even talk about?
As much as she enjoyed her quiet little life, who would want to read about it?
Who would even find the book in order to read it?
Could she stretch her life story longer than a handful of pages?
Time passed.
Haru was bored.
She once never thought it would be possible with the paradise she called home, but after weeks and months of moodily moving from chore to book to wandering like a ghost, there was no more denying it.
She… was bored!
Haru's hand was numbly rubbing the head of a long-legged fawn that was enjoying the walk with her, for once staying close to her side instead of prancing about with unbridled enthusiasm. It pressed its head against her side to plead for more attention, but she was strangely indifferent.
There was something missing from her life. Her aunts were the best substitute parents she could have asked for, of course. She always had enough to eat, a handful of comfortable dresses to wear, a book to read, and a warm bed every night. It would be selfish of her to ask for more than what she already had.
Wouldn't it?
Haru didn't need to really pay attention to know where she was going through the deep, dark forest. Her feet have taken this game trail almost since her legs grew sturdy enough to walk. Every tree, every branch was so familiar to her, she could have handed out names like scattering rice.
Scattering rice. Where had she heard that before? Some… sort of ritual? But for what?
An alien cough shattered her thoughts like a window.
Haru gasped and wheeled around in fright as the fawn completely took off. The young girl's large brown eyes seemed to grow twice as big as they stared at the culprit for the sound, only partially obscured by a bush and tree on the side of the informal path.
Haru had never seen a boy before, other than pictures in her books. If she had to guess, he might have been about her own age, but she was having a bit of trouble worrying about that.
First off, he was even better than the pictures had warned her, with thick orange hair and deep green eyes. Second off… there was no help for it.
He gave her a nervous smile as well as a polite bow. "I'm terribly sorry for the trouble, miss, but-"
Haru couldn't help herself. Despite the good manners the aunts had tried to give her, she slapped her hands over her mouth to try suppressing her giggles.
The boy scowled while looking down at the white dress he was in, that covered him from chin to his knees in a loose-fitting muslin, revealed when he partially stepped from behind the bush. His lower legs and feet were bare, though Haru wasn't in a position to talk about wearing shoes. His pale cheeks reddened with embarrassment, as if just remembering his unusual attire.
"Yes, that was one of my questions. How did I get here without so much as a stain on my nightclothes? Where is 'here', precisely?" he asked while immediately retreating to both the bush and the tree for good measure.
Haru did everything in her power to calm herself down before letting her hands fall from her face. "Are you a sleepwalker? It's a bit late in the day," she pointed out while gesturing with one finger at the sun's location peeking through the overhanging branches.
"Not since I was a child," he muttered under his breath, his cheeks still stained red as he seemed to simultaneously try to keep himself out of her view while not letting her out of his own sight. "Also, I know the woods around my home. These are most certainly not they."
Haru briefly looked around her in case he wasn't alone. "Where are you from?" she asked curiously.
"Alon. Humbert von Gikkingen at your service," he added while attempting to give her a grand bow.
It was only an attempt because he forgot to step away from the tree first. He yelped with pain as he suddenly stood straight again to rub at his shoulder crossly.
Haru had to use more of her self-control than she was going to tell him to not break down into giggles again. "A pleasure to make your acquaintance," she responded in the familiar formula, taking a careful grip on her simple peasant dress to give him a respectful curtsy. "I'm Haru."
He blinked before giving her a more careful look while still rubbing the sore shoulder. "I don't suppose you'd care to share your family name?"
"Don't have one," she responded with a shrug. "Well, I might, but I never bothered to ask my aunts if they made up their minds."
The confusion on his face only tripled as did his scrutiny.
Haru blushed and looked away while taking two steps back down the game trail. "I'm an orphan," she explained, never expecting that she'd meet someone she'd have to explain it to. "The women that found me have been raising me as their niece."
"… I see. My apologies. Would they happen to know where we are?"
"In the Yraeli Forest," Haru responded, only now remembering that he had already asked where they were.
Humbert blinked. "Yrael doesn't have a forest."
Haru cocked an eyebrow at him and shrugged. "That's where I was told this was. Dola's the one that goes out for supplies, she could probably… ohh," she suddenly remembered, taking five more steps away from the young man.
"Is something wrong?" he asked worriedly, but Haru was already turning to run.
"I'm not supposed to talk to strangers," she admitted before putting in her best speed.
"Just a minute!" he called after her but was soon lost long behind.
How could Haru have forgotten?! Her aunts were very paranoid of the mere idea of their little mouse meeting an outsider, let alone a boy! It was a good thing he hadn't appeared closer to their cottage, or he would have had all three of her aunts team up on him!
Haru shuddered at the mere idea of all three of them getting angry at the same target, even as she kept running.
It was too bad. For the first time speaking to a boy in her life, she hadn't done too badly with Humbert, who appeared to have had a very proper upbringing.
Haru tried to put that boy out of her mind as she went about the usual chores of helping in the garden and keeping the cottage clean, but no matter where she tried to direct her attention, the grass would suddenly become the same shade as his eyes, or the milk she poured into her porridge reminded her of his skin. It was rather surprising when the good, reliable door looked by the firelight to be the same orange as his hair.
Haru shook her head and tried not to worry about it as she laid down to sleep. Unlike most nights, she tossed and turned in her cot. After a while, she started scolding herself sharply.
Although unusual, the fact that he was in 'nightclothes' said that he might have been in trouble. She should have just hidden him long enough to explain to her aunts that he needed help, and things might not have been so bad. She couldn't help wishing that whatever had happened for them to cross paths was already fixed.
Her mind was still on it the next morning as she dragged the heavy basket of laundry to the lake for the usual wash. She almost negligently let the basket fall over and spill the contents on the white sand before she picked Zeniba's dress at random and armed herself with the small washboard and bar of homemade soap.
Just after she got the dress soaked and had started rubbing in the soap, her ears pricked at a familiar sound.
"Haru?! Haru, if you can hear me, please answer!"
Her stomach clenched worriedly, but she forced herself to stand to her full height. "I'm over here, Humbert! I'm sorry about yesterday!"
That made him run for the lake as quickly as possible, crashing through the underbrush until almost falling on his face in front of her on the sand.
Haru noted with approval that unlike yesterday, he was now in a loose-fitting white shirt and leggings, though his shoes didn't seem suited for the forest. "Are you all right?" she asked while unconsciously taking a step closer in case he needed help getting up.
"Nothing I can't shake off," he assured her while rising to his feet.
She didn't like the way he was looking at her. It wasn't necessarily like he was judging her, but… it was a much grimmer look than the first time she saw him.
"Is something wrong?" she asked a bit nervously.
"Unfortunately, I think a great many things are wrong, and my second appearance here has proven it. Haru, I need you to answer a few questions as honestly as you can."
Haru was even more worried at how serious he was being with her. "… If you wish?" she answered a little hesitantly.
"Excellent," he breathed with relief. "Haru, how old are you?"
"Six-" Haru almost answered before cutting herself off. "… no. Fifteen."
Humbert's green gaze became even more stern. "You hesitated."
"Fifteen," Haru repeated stubbornly. "My aunts promised a big surprise when I turned sixteen. I haven't gotten it yet, so I'm still fifteen."
An unpleasant scent seemed to pass through her nostrils at the declaration. For whatever reason, it made her think of stone walls and dusty cloth.
One of his golden eyebrows raised. "Really? Are you sure that you have no idea of what it is?"
"It wouldn't be much of a surprise if I knew what it was," Haru nearly laughed at him, walking back to the lakes edge to really get started on the laundry.
Without warning, Humbert grabbed her hand, making her gasp in surprise as she looked down at the contact.
It was the first time a boy had ever touched her.
"My apologies," Humbert hurriedly said while taking his hand off hers and placing himself between her and the laundry beside the lake. "But I really do need all of your attention. I think I know your full name."
Haru blinked at him, still rubbing her hand even though he hadn't gripped it that hard. It felt like he had been made of sparks, the way her skin was tingling from his touch. "Does it matter?"
"It matters a great deal… Princess Harue of Yrael."
Something clanged horribly, both in Haru's mind and in her heart as that distant nightmare came rushing back to her.
Not caring that it was childish, she sunk to her knees and covered her ears while rocking almost furiously enough to lose her balance. "Not that name, not that name, not that name," she repeated over and over as her eyes screwed shut and a tear escaped her control.
It was worse when she stopped feeling the lake's soft sand under her feet. Worse still that she could tell it wasn't the firm earth of the forest or the sturdy wood of the cottage she had grown up in. Although she was terrified by what she was going to see, Haru couldn't stop herself from sneaking a peek.
It was that room at the top of the winding staircase. The magenta ball that had entranced her stopped dancing over her head as soon as she saw it and came to rest on the tip of that long, pointed stick connected to a wheel that started to spin slowly. Almost like it was beckoning her to come touch the spindle again.
"Haru, I'm sorry," Humbert apologized while kneeling next to her and bracing her by the shoulders. "I was after the truth, I wasn't trying to hurt you."
Haru was still rocking from her crouched position, though he was doing what he could to steady her. "It was just a nightmare; it didn't really happen!" she begged for him to understand. "I'm not a princess, I don't have parents, and I won't marry a little brat just because people want me to!"
Humbert stopped trying to talk after that. He just held her in a possessive embrace until she stopped rocking and started crying. Then he held her some more, only letting go enough with one hand to rub her hair around the gold and diamond tiara that was once again resting on her brow.
In all honesty, it was exactly what Haru needed. She clung to him, burying her face against his shoulder at what she had never wanted to be the truth.
And yet, impossibly… seemed to be just that.
She distantly felt him take the tiara off and heard a tinkling sound from him setting it on the stone floor but didn't worry about it. It was some time before she noticed that she was no longer rocking on her feet but sitting in his lap on the floor.
"I understand that this is a scandalous position," he apologized when she seemed to finally recollect herself. "But I promise I'm not here to hurt you. On the contrary, I feel very certain that my job is to help you."
"What's going on?" Haru asked tiredly. She knew that no true lady would be in a position like this, but she needed it. With a scowl, she noticed that when she loosened her hold enough to look at him, her arms were covered with the sapphire fabric of that gown her aunts… fairy godmothers had forced her into.
He adjusted her sitting position on his lap slightly before answering. "How much were you told about your curse? I've always been curious about how much you knew before pricking yourself."
Haru blinked stupidly at him. "… Curse?"
Humbert blinked back at her. "Oh dear," he muttered almost to himself. Then he took in a deep breath and straightened himself the best he could. "You know that your aunts are fairy godmothers?"
Haru nodded, remembering with a shudder how their wings had first come out in front of her, once she was safely smuggled into that room far below. "They showed me just before they poofed this dress on me," she muttered while glaring down at the sapphire gown. She felt no inclination whatsoever to put the tiara back on.
"If it's any consolation, you look lovely," he assured her with an extra hug. "The fairy with the spinning wheel also wanted to be your godmother, but your parents were very big on tradition. They thought that one or three was a proper number of fairy godmothers, so they did their best to politely turn down the offer."
Haru scowled. "It would have been smarter to just let her have the position. Even before I found out about my aunts, I knew that crossing a fairy was one of the best ways to get into trouble."
"I have argued that same point many times," he assured her before getting back on track. "The Fairy of the Waste did not take the refusal well, and gave you a curse instead of her blessing. The curse was that before the sun set on your sixteenth birthday, you would prick your finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel and… well, die."
Haru blinked before looking down at her hands. "Am I dead?"
"No. One of your fairy godmothers, the one that wasn't constantly fighting with the other one-"
"Dola," she responded flatly and without hesitation.
Humbert nodded instead of breaking off. ", softened the curse so that you would fall into an enchanted sleep instead."
Haru stared at him. "… I'm asleep?"
He nodded eagerly. "That's why I could visit you in my sleep, both tonight and last night." He gave a very wry smile. "It would have been nice if someone had warned me ahead of time to avoid the little embarrassment of my attire last night."
"It kept me from losing my mind at talking to my first boy," she mumbled under her breath.
It took Humbert a minute to come up with a response. "At least there's that. I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised about being your first, with literal fairies guarding you."
This explained everything. Why her aunts had been getting along better than ever, why that book had been blank, and why the summer since the 'nightmare' had felt like it had lasted years.
Haru didn't want to ask. She was afraid of the answer. But she still somehow took in a deep breath. "H-how… long?"
Humbert flinched, knowing exactly what she meant. "Slightly shy of… one hundred years."
Haru gaped up at him. "One hundred years?!"
"A little less," he corrected with a nervous smile, though he didn't fight her when the girl got up from his lap to storm around the stone room.
"No wonder I was getting bored! One hundred years?! One hundred years, and because no one could be bothered to tell me that I was essentially banished to my own mind, I haven't even really played with it!"
Haru concentrated hard on an image from one of her books. The stone room around them melted away to the beach… but it was just like the illustration. She looked around, seeing nothing but painted sand and waves that seemed frozen in time.
Everything was still and quiet.
"… You've never been to the ocean," Humbert was able to deduce without trouble.
"What are the sounds?" she asked miserably, knowing that there was much missing from the conjured surroundings. "The smells? The animals?"
The golden youth did some concentrating of his own, but sighed when a single thing refused to change. "It appears that you are the only one that can alter what we see. The waves are like a continuous gentle roar that laps at the sand in greater bursts than you'd ever find on your lake. There are always seagulls calling in the distance, and the very air is humid and salty. If you're lucky, you can sometimes see dolphins or whales break the surface. The whales sing, you know."
"They can?" she asked with surprise as she unwittingly added a whale to the landscape, but it was floating on the still waves like an intricate boat that didn't move a muscle.
Humbert looked at the whale with something between disdain and deep pity. "When I wake you up, I'll take you to the ocean for real."
Haru glanced at him quickly as her heart began to pound. "You can? You will?!"
He nodded stubbornly. "I know I won't be able to until two years from now thanks to the enchantments your fairy godmothers placed around the castle to keep your body safe. But as soon as I can, I'll come and set you free so you can see everything you've been missing."
Haru couldn't restrain herself. She threw her arms around his neck and squeezed happily. "Thank you!"
"Y-yes," he stammered, although it was strange for him to sound scared of her now. Not that it stopped him from wrapping his arms around her waist to return the embrace. "I'll be happy to keep you company as I can in the meantime."
That meant even more to Haru. Especially now that she realized that the aunts she had been enjoying for so long were little more than puppets that obeyed her unspoken commands.
Haru sighed as she realized what waking up would mean. "I'll have to be a princess when I wake up, won't I?" she asked, hoping that time had changed at least that for her.
"I'm afraid so. After pricking your finger, your parents begged your godmothers to put them to sleep as well so that they could see you when the time was up."
"They better have a good apology planned for trying to match me with that brat," she muttered under her breath just before sighing in relief. "Well, at least I won't have to worry about that little monster anymore."
Humbert turned deadly silent. Silent enough to make Haru look up at him with dread.
"Come on, you said that it's been almost a century! He'd have to be dead by now!"
He released her with one hand so that he could rub at the back of his neck nervously. "Unless he was so embarrassed for being publicly proclaimed the reason that you chose the spindle, that he made a pact with another fairy to live long enough to put the engagement more forcefully to you when you woke up. He was never able to live your decision down."
Haru scowled. "Great. Instead of dealing with a little annoying brat, I'll have to deal with the grown-up version. I take it his personality hasn't improved?"
Humbert winced. "He's the reason Yrael doesn't have a forest anymore. He's absorbed your country into his since the regent your parents left to take care of the kingdom wasn't strong enough to hold him off."
Haru groaned while covering her face with her hands. "What a way to tell me I missed out," she couldn't resist muttering sarcastically, even as her heart broke that the forest she had known and loved her whole life now only lived in her memories.
"You are heralded as the wisest royal to have never taken a throne," he informed her a little weakly. "King Phoebus has been married twelve times over the years, and each bride has openly regretted not having access to your spindle."
At the mention of the spindle, Haru and Humbert returned to the stone room, where the magenta ball of light was still balancing on that tip. She stared at it as an idea began to form.
"Haru?" Humbert asked a bit worriedly as her lips started to twitch into an evil smirk that wasn't normally one of her expressions.
"Out of those twelve brides, did he get any heirs?" she asked in a deceptively calm tone.
He eyed her worriedly. "Many, though most have died through questionable means. I'm friends with Lune, the third grandson down from the current heir. He's confided in me that if you do return and the crown were to fall to him, he would return your territories to you."
Haru's grin turned even more vicious, still never taking her eyes off of the spindle. "In that case, if the king were to, say, take an extended nap after mine ends…"
Humbert's green eyes lit up with her idea, and an equally wicked grin grew on his own lips. "I see your reputation for being wise will only increase when the world finally meets you."
xxXxx
Yubaba and Zeniba are borrowed from Spirited Away, Dola is from Castles in the Sky, and the Witch of the Waste is from Howl's Moving Castle.