The Land of Stories: Rewriting the narrative

Chapter 5: The Best Laid Plans

A bit of backstory before we begin: As we all know, after the Masked Man attacked, the Fairy Palace had to be rebuilt. And the palace was refurbished again after what came to be known as the Literary War. One of Alex's first decrees after she was re-instated as Fairy Godmother by the council was to have the Hall of Memories built. This Hall was added on to the West Wing and was made to honour the likes of Bo Peep, Rook Robins, Gator, and Gloria: people who either gave their life for the greater good (Gloria, Rook), died in battle (Gator) or died as a result of the attack led by the Masked Man (Bo Peep). People can enter this Hall and relive their favourite memories of loved ones who were lost. What many people don't know is that at the back there are two long burgundy curtains that hide shrines of sorts. One is dedicated to Evly, and the other to Froggy. Though neither died, Alex erected these shrines to serve as a memory of their time spent trapped in the mirror - after all, everyone presumed they would never leave. Evly herself visited the hall many times for two reasons. One: she was always touched to see the flowers Alex put on her shrine, and two: to relive memories of Mira, who Alex thought also deserved a place among the ranks of Those Who Should Have Lived. You may remember that after Rook sacrificed himself for Alex, a statue was made for him and stood next to that of Brystal Evergreen, the late Fairy Godmother. A copy of the statue was sent to the Eastern Kingdom where Rook lived, and Alex had the real thing moved to outside the Hall of Memories, where it seemed to guard the room.
Anyway, on with the story!

Trix and Noodle flew around the palace, zooming through corridors and racing up staircases.
"Ooh, here's another one!" Trix pointed out excitedly as they reached the entrance to the Hall of Dreams.
"Two, actually!" Flanking the double doors were two marble statues hidden by red velvet cloths. Two pairs of marble feet peeked out from underneath the velvet covering.
"I wonder what they look like!" Noodle exclaimed, and the two gingerly picked up a corner of the cover on the statue on the left and lifted it up.
"Crazy Alex again. No surprise there." Lots of the statues the two had encountered showed Alex under Morina's curse. "What about the other one?" They dropped the fabric and moved to the statue on the right.
"I'm saying scared Brystal." Noodle said. "No, wait, angry Brystal."
"Reasons why?" Trix asked, dropping her corner of the velvet to put a finger to her chin.
"To match angry Alex, of course. Ooh, I'd even go as far to say angry Brystal somehow crushing a dream, because of the location." Noodle explained with a definite air of professionalism.
"You're way too good at this game." Trix sighed as they revealed a statue of the late fairy godmother with wand raised threateningly, almost certainly in the act of stripping Lloyd of his magic.
'Hey, I bet the other one has Alex crushing a dream as well. Like not forgiving Rook! Wait, no, that was mainly before she was cursed. Ooh ooh ooh, what if she's destroying that witchy tavern?" Trix bounced up and down in the air.
"I like it!" Noodle agreed. "Definitely a possibility."
"Oh, that reminds me, we should check the statue of Rook. He used to be outside with the massive one of Brystal, but then they moved him..." Trix said, trying to remember where the statue had moved to.
"Maybe nearer Alex?" Noodle suggested.
"Or maybe further away from Alex so she wouldn't have to live with the heartbreak!" Trix exclaimed. Fueled with a new mission, the fairies split up and searched for Rook Robin's statue.

☆

Hope stood outside her godmother's door. She didn't mean to eavesdrop, but the longer she stayed the more she felt she was doing something wrong.
"...which re-inforces my theory that it was a witch, or some other being with specific magical powers." Alex was saying.
"

Well, it's a relief to know it's not a fairy." Another voice replied.
"Is it?" Alex asked. "What if this isn't just vandalism? What if it's something more sinister? Situations like this can spiral, you know. Remember that case with the bear we had?"
"Hopefully not." The other voice sighed.
"Which statues have been affected?" Alex asked.
"Mostly ones of you and your grandma. Although, to be honest, most of the statues we have are of you or your grandma." The voice said matter-of-factly.
"Ugh, don't remind me. It's bad enough being one of the most influential people in the land; the massive statues really do not help at all." Alex sighed.
"I know it's hard, Alex. We're all still getting used to it, even Violetta." The voice said comfortingly. Violetta? Hope thought, This must be someone from the Fairy Council.
"Thank you, Emerelda." Ah, OK, that answers my question. I really feel like I should make my presence known sooner rather than later, but at the same time I'm curious as to what's going on.
"Are there any statues that haven't been affected?" Alex asked.
"The fairy fountain is the same, as far as we can tell. And the statue of Rook in front of the Hall of Memories." The voice - Emerelda - replied. Hope heard Alex breathe an involuntary sigh of relief.
"OK, thank you." She said.
Hope Iris Charming, pull yourself together! You are a young woman, and a princess at that, not a spying schoolgirl. Suck it up, go in there and be unapologetic! Hope held up a fist and knocked on the door.
"Godmother? Can I come in or am I interrupting something?" She called.
Alex quickly finished the conversation with Emerelda and said goodbye.

"Come on in, Hope." Alex called. She merely glanced in the direction of the heavy wooden door and it swung open. She had felt oddly relieved at hearing Rook's statue had not been tampered with - the farmer's son from the Eastern Kingdom who had given his life for her held a special place in her heart.
"What can I do for you?"
"I was hoping for some advice." Hope said, sitting down on her godmother's bed. "You see, I'm supposed to get married and continue the Charming dynasty, but-"
"You don't want to constrict yourself to gender norms and live without the burden of a husband?" Alex guessed.
"No, not quite. The thing is, obviously I'm supposed to marry a wealthy man, and ideally another royal, but-"
"Your heart belongs to someone else, someone of a different social standing and you're worried your parents won't approve?" Alex tried again.
"Godmother, would you stop trying to guess the end of my sentence? You always-"
"Guess wrong!" Exclaimed Alex, and after a look from Hope: "Oh come on, that was clearly 'guess wrong!' What else could it be?"
"Actually," said Hope with a haughty look, "it was 'you always think you know what I'm going to say, but you don't." She grinned triumphantly and Alex gave up.
"Fine, just tell me your problem."
"Well, since Dad's sons rule most of the kingdoms, I'm technically related to... well, pretty much all royals my age! And you couldn't pay me to marry Prince Nathaniel of the Centre Kingdom, even if he wasn't my adopted cousin. He's in his twenties and still picks his nose, for dragons' sake!"
Alex nodded sympathetically.
"I can see how this is a problem."

☆

"So what do you think?" Noodle, perched on Aurelia's shoulder, asked.
"I think... I think whoever cast the spell on the statues wants to stir up trouble. They want to put another thing on the council's plates, they want to... cause a distraction, they want to stress out my mum. I think this isn't the last of them. I think there's more stuff to come. I think these... offences... are going to become progressively more violent and more threatening, and I think they're probably gojng to start targeting my mum personally. I think the council isn't going to listen to a word of this, but I think they'd treat it as gospel if my mum told them. That's what I think." Aurelia paused for breath.
"Wow! You sound like one of those... those people from the otherworld who solve murders and stuff!" Trix snapped her fingers, trying to remember the word.
"A detective?" Aurelia suggested.
"YES!" Trix was so happy, she backflipped off Aurelia's other shoulder and onto the arm of the chair she was sitting in. "A detective!"
"Thanks, Trix. The council would just say I'm making stuff up." Aurelia sighed. Trix and Noodle shared a knowing look.
"Honey, do you know why the council are often so quick to believe your mum?" Noodle asked.
"Because she's the big FG, obviously." Aurelia shrugged, and Noodle had to grab the material of her blouse to prevent herself from falling off.
"It's because the last time they didn't, the Masked Man's army invaded and nearly destroyed the Land of Stories and much of the Otherworld too." Trix told her in the saddest voice Aurelia had ever heard her speak in. To Trix and Noodle's surprise, Aurelia simply gave a short, mirthless laugh.
"And yet they still haven't learnt their lesson about listening to the ideas of teenage girls?" She shook her head and stood up. "It's a good job we have a plan of our own, then, isn't it?"