the princess & the beasts

the beginning.

Long ago, in a time where spirits still roamed, and dragons shaped the sky, lay two neighboring kingdoms, separated by a dense wood - and by the nature of their leaders.

On the one side of the woodlands, the rulers were fair and kind - young and dumb, but doing everything they could to please their citizens and extend their loving arms to those less fortunate. Their monarchy was small - but satisfied.

This could not be said for the growing settlement next to them, of course.

The tyrannical Queen of the kingdom in which our story takes place ruled her monarchy with an iron fist. Ever since the King passed from disease years ago, the Queen had taken full, violent reign; and who got the worst of this abuse, but her very own daughter.

Our story starts on a fine summer's day, bustling with energy. Civilians ran here and there, carrying crates, wheeling wagons, chasing their children - vendors yelled after young thieves, who dropped coins and fruit from their full arms as they made their clumsy escape.

As they ran laughing, a silver coin fell from one of their pouches, which hit the path, rolling through the grooves in the stone, before it was abruptly kicked a few feet away by a black boot.

A tall figure, cloaked heavily in black, dodged a few farmhands, before darting up the stairs, onto a bigger platform - towards the cavalry headquarters. The cloaked figure ducked under some flags, embroidered with gold and deep, deep violet, starting to undo the tie on the front of their coat to take the disguise off.

This was rather a new environment for the -

"Miss Quyll!"

"AH -"

The young woman instinctively threw her cloak at the approaching figure with a short yelp, which, unsurprisingly, did absolutely nothing to startle the tall man.

The silver-haired captain grabbed the black fabric off his chest, sighing in frustration as he threw it back over the girl's head, before grabbing her by the shoulders and whirling her around. She struggled a bit against his grip, to no avail.

"Vie, you can't just - you can't be running around so recklessly! You could get caught, or worse, hurt!" hissed the tall man, promptly ducking behind an alleyway, shielding the young woman from any outside view.

"Mmm...but I was bored! And you know how awful mother is..." Vie complained, reluctantly following along with the cavalry captain's movements. Not like she could resist anyways, as he had his hand on her arm - and he was over twice her size and strength.

"I know, I know -" he whispered, briefly ducking behind a moving wagon. "But you have to consider- ah - good afternoon sir!" he chirped over his shoulder to the farmer passing him, before stretching his cape out, shielding her from the exposed courtyard.

"I have to consider what, Faris?"

"How quickly this city would fall to ruin without a princess. Considering how dangerous the kingdom has become, with all these creatures running amok; I cannot risk letting you get hurt!" Faris whispered hurriedly.

"Oh, please -" mumbled the princess, ducking into his chest to dodge some running children, who just barely grazed her legs. "I, personally, don't think these 'monsters' are what mother is making them out to be."

"And somehow, I am not surprised."

"You say that a lot."

The captain sighed, before pulling her out of the way of a few patrolling knights, nodding to them as a greeting.

"My point is, princess, that you cannot simply run out of the castle like this. You are posing a danger to yourself and others - a drake or a spirit could get to you, and we would be none the wiser."

"Well, considering how awfully mother treats me," she sassed, "I think I would prefer a spirit whisk me away!"

"Don't be ridiculous," Faris sighed, "that would be a fate worse than death."

"Oh, you say that as if living with the Queen herself isn't already a fate worse than death."

"Princess!" he snapped under his breath.

"What?" She stumbled a bit up the stairs of the courtyard. "I'm only speaking the truth!"

"You can't just...compare living with the Queen to torture -"

She cut him off with a wave of her hand, brow furrowed in mild agitation."Why not? I'm the princess, after all - if anyone should know, it should be me!"

The captain narrowed his eyes, lips pressed firmly together in a straight line. He then sighed, almost in defeat. "Come on, princess," he mumbled, ushering her up the stairs and to the palace doors. "Get back to your room, before she finds out you were gone in the first place."

Vie huffed softly, tugging her coat closer to her body, clumsily tying the golden string over her blouse so that it wouldn't fall. "Well," she puffed, "thank you for escorting me, mister cavalry captain." She curtseyed to the pale-haired man, who quietly bowed back, keeping his head down. The princess turned on her heel, walking up to the guarded palace doors - which opened almost automatically for the heiress.

The captain straightened, sighed, and turned to return to his headquarters - just in case anything had happened while he was escorting the disobedient royal.

Knowing the current state of this city, he wouldn't be surprised if some rogue flame serpent had burned the stables down like last week...