Night's Omen

On the morning of Princess Aurora's eighteenth birthday, she leaped out of bed and straight into her clothing for the day's celebrations. She peered out her door and noticed that her mother and father had buffed up on the security, and frowned. She'd been told the tale of the "evil witch" since the time she was a child, but ever since Purezza had appeared at her first birthday and crashed the party, nobody had seen anything of her. A lot of people thought it was just a story, but her parents were not too keen on the threat, and wouldn't let it go unnoticed.

She didn't much have time to think about any of that, though, because not only was it her birthday, but Prince Nicholas would be there soon! She understood the 'properness' of being betrothed, but she had seen other women at the castle get promised off to crotchety old men, and she was actually only slightly younger than Nicholas. Plus, he was sweet, and they'd gotten along just fine the times that they'd been in eachother's company. She wondered what his parents had forced him to bring for her, probably a ridiculously large present. She wanted to tell him that it didn't matter, but her parents would chastise her.

She bounded down the stairs, blonde hair still left unkempt, and was stopped by her mother. "Aurora, just because you are of age now doesn't mean you can do as you please. Darling, here," she said, taking the brush from a maid who was running behind her at full speed. She brushed her daughter's hair carefully, speaking to her softly as she did so.

"Prince Nicholas and the King and Queen of Brightvale will be arriving shortly and I don't want you seeing your future husband in such a state," she chided.

Just then, her father cleared his throat. "My lovely ladies, may I present the King and Queen of Brightvale," he said, his voice flat. He turned to the King, whom he'd practically grown up with. Neither man was much for formalities - they left that to the women. "Philip, how have you been, old friend?" he said with a deep chuckle.

"Da-DDY!" Aurora protested. "Make her get off of me!" she squealed, trying to inch away from her mother as she was assaulted by the brush. She suddenly caught a glimpse of Nicholas and turned a bright shade of red. "Oh, Nicky - errr Nicholas - " she corrected as her mother hit her with the brush.

"Act like a lady," the Queen hissed.

She sighed. "Hello, Prince Nicholas," she purred. "So lovely to see you again." She secretly wanted to just hug him, but formalities were set in place for a reason.

It was Aurora's eighteenth birthday. And it seemed strange to think about that, but the time had passed. Though it made him sound older then he was to say such things, he could still remember when she'd been an infant. It had been the first time he'd seen her, maybe that excused it. But he'd been there at the celebration of her birth, when he'd officially been announced as her betrothed, and he'd looked in the bassinet to see a tiny bundle of cloth, the head poking from the top small and pink with eyes as blue as forget-me-nots.

It had all seemed very strange at the time.

And then, of course, there were the fairies - delicate wings flickering in a way that was fascinating, hair tangling in a breeze that wasn't there, their limbs long and delicate and their features sharp and foreign and eyes as bright as jewels, all of them. They'd each blessed the child with beauty, with a lovely voice, with love, with joy - and then the witch.

The first thing noticed was the breeze; it made torches and candles gutter and die, and amidst the smoke spiraling softly up to the ceiling and the sudden darkness, no one was quite sure how she entered. She was simply there, before anyone could know or react, and the few people relighting the torches stopped. The coals in the fireplace burned a deep red, casting a faint and bloody light across the room, as she stepped up to the cradle. She looked down, almost lovingly, then looked back up and demanded why she hadn't been invited.

Someone - he couldn't remember who - had started stammering out that they'd thought she had been-

It hadn't mattered. She'd hissed out her curse anyway, and then before anyone could think to attack she was gone again.

Aurora had never seemed to take the curse seriously, but that might be because she couldn't remember. Nicholas could, and (quite possible because of that) he'd always been slightly overprotective.

He didn't take it to extremes, at least, as was proven by his gift.

Nicholas had always and very likely would always love riding. His own mount was a huge stallion named Satan, a horse who didn't have a white hair on his body and who lived up to his name by trying to bite nearly anyone he came near. He was too much for Aurora to handle - he was too much for almost anyone to handle - but she'd said she wanted to come riding with him more then once, so he'd gotten her a gentle mare who was white as snow. His parents had approved, of course, but he'd hardly needed their approval. He wanted to show it to her, he wanted to make her laugh. She was good at laughing, so perhaps they complimented each other - on his own, Nicholas rarely laughed.

Mind you, that didn't mean that he didn't wish (occasionally) that she was a bit more of a typical princess. "Hello, Aurora," he said smilingly. "Likewise. Happy birthday."

Her mother clasped her hands together. "Alright, Aurora. Go. I can do nothing further with your rat's nest," she said, swatting her with the brush as Aurora took off down the stairs.

"Oh, come off it, Elizabeth. It's her birthday, let her have some fun, yeah?" her husband said, his deep, rumbly voice cheerfully nagging.

The Queen turned a certain shade of crimson as Aurora joined her father, snuggling under one of his arms. She just couldn't bear the thought if she were never to be able to see her precious daughter again. Her eyes watered for a moment, but she knew that she couldn't hold on to Aurora forever. "Oh, just... be careful," she pleaded. She put a hand to her mouth and the other to her hip after handing the brush off to the maid.

Aurora turned to Nicholas with a smile. "Would you like to take a walk? They're setting up outside, I want to see very much how it's coming," she said brightly. Aurora couldn't contain herself and it was obvious. She wanted to go run around outside. She hadn't even any idea that Nicholas had gotten her the horse, not yet. She didn't care if he'd gotten her anything at all, honestly, just that he was there.

"Ah, by all means," her father said, taking his arm from around his daughter. "I have much to discuss with your parents, anyways, Nicholas," he said, practically volunteering him. Namely, he wanted to calm his wife down and go over the plans of attack just in case the witch decided to show up and follow through with her threats. He didn't like doing it in front of Aurora. She shook the curse off as a horrible prank, and he only wished he could do the same.

Volunteering him? Yea, just a little. Not that he particularly minded, of course - if nothing else he still wanted to give Aurora her gift, and see her when he did. And she had asked him if he wanted to come with her.

He smiled back at her, the look reserved but still warm. Then again, that was most of how Nicholas would behave - he was very rarely over the top about anything. "Certainly, Princess." She was certainly hyper for someone who was eighteen; weren't most people over that stage by then? Oh well. "Will you show me?" He didn't know the grounds here nearly as well as at home; only to be expected, of course.

"Certainly, right this way!" she cheered, taking his arm. She was careful not to drag him along, though she did have to sort of mentally pace herself. As soon as they were out of earshot, she relaxed a little more, though she tried not to run off. "My father wants to discuss the security measures, basically, " she explained. "He sent you along so that I wasn't running around by myself. Not that I mind, but you know my mother never lets us walk out of her sight without a full-fledged protest." She shrugged. "I wish everyone would calm down, already."

Aurora had voiced her opinion many times about the curse being garbage, but she'd been shut down by everyone, including Nicholas, who told her that he -remembered- it happening. She thought it had been some scare tactic by the fae to prevent her parents from letting her do anything utterly foolish as a child, but she couldn't be certain.

She inhaled the sweet spring breeze and looked up at him with a smile. "I'm glad you came, though. I'm excitable today, that's all. I know you hate it when I'm all scattered." She was apologizing, in her own way. "Where's Satan, the stables? I wonder if he kicked any of our men, yet."

He laughed. "I don't really mind, though it is nice when you can stay in one place for more then two minutes. Sometimes, of course, it doesn't matter so much, but at times it would be nice." He looked at the sky. "But then, we are who we are. At least, I suppose, we compliment each other very well. I've been told, once or twice, not to take everything quite so seriously." Which was what he did. Everything. Naturally, they occasionally drove each other crazy.

When she asked about Satan, however, he smiled. "If he hasn't I'd be surprised, and even then he'll have tried. Would you like to come see him with me? To make sure, of course, that he doesn't injure any of your grooms too grievously."

She smiled. "Of course. Maybe I can actually feed him an apple today without him trying to take my hand off. I wish he didn't hate me like he hated everyone else," she said with a sigh. "I take it personally. Maybe I'll grow out of it." She -did- take it personally. Aurora took it personally if anyone didn't like her, for whatever reason. She'd go out of her way to make them like her. She was a genuine sort of girl, one that cared about other people. Such a shame...

She twined her fingers with his and smiled up at him as they walked to the stable. "Oh, I hope he isn't being too hard on the stable hands," she said under her breath. "You'd think they'd have learned to leave him alone by now."

When they rounded the corner, she saw Satan in one stall, and a horse that she didn't recognize in another. She was white, like snow, and she looked very unsure of her locale - and company. "Where did...?" Aurora looked around, and then up at Nicholas. "Did your parents bring an extra mount?" She was confused. They always had a ride in the late afternoon, but his family usually rode the horses that hers provided, and vise versa. Nicholas had Satan, but other than that, it was useless to cart a dozen horses back and forth all the time.

"I'll tell him it's your birthday and so he has to behave, or I'll sell him to the man down the lane." What man down the lane? Who knew. It didn't really matter anyway; Nicholas would never sell Satan, and not just because he might actually murder someone if such a thing were attempted. He already appeared to attempt to murder various innocent grooms, guardsman, stable boys, and everyone else in his path.

"Ah," Nicholas sighed, "but they never do. They all always seem to think that they'll sweeten his temper eventually, that he can't help but give in and like them." He laughed a little, once again, at the idea. "At home they've learned, but I suppose that there's always just enough new hands here (or old hands who haven't learned) for him to have his fun." Fun. Hahaha.

"An extra?" Nicholas asked when the reached the stable - she was just a little in front of him - as though he didn't know what she was talking about. He walked up next to her. "Her? Oh, no. She's yours."

"You wouldn't sell him, don't even joke like that. Even if he hates me, I wouldn't let you," she said, looking back at him as she walked into the barn.

She paused when he said that the horse was hers, though. Actually, froze was the word. She looked back at him as he approached, his pace casual and measured, as always. "What... did you just say?" she asked, her voice almost catching in her throat. Aurora had wanted a horse of her own for as long as she could remember, but her parents would not break to her whims. She was actually supposed to get one for her twentieth birthday, if her memory served, so if Nicholas was playing a prank, it was a mean one.

She waited for his answer, hating that deadpan, blank expression he wore so well.

Oh yes, Nicholas was very good at looking deadpan, having had much experience with it. But, at this, he allowed himself to smile. He leaned in and kissed her on the nose. "She's yours," he said softly. "Happy birthday."

Oh, no one was there of course or he wouldn't have allowed himself to act that... informal. Such things were for Aurora, not him. But... still. Still, for right now, he allowed himself to slip a little.

Aurora had to cover her mouth before she screamed. She nearly swooned and ran out of the stable to jump up and down a whole bunch before she jumped ON Nicholas, wrapping her arms around him and hugging him tightly, showering him with kisses that was only characteristic of Aurora. "Thank you Nicky, thank you thank you thank you sooo much!" she squealed. "This is the best present ever, what did I ever do to deserve you?" she breathed, kissing him again before jumping off and -running- into the stable.

She slowed her steps as she approached the mare, and finally hit a normal pace right in front of her. Lucky she still had that apple in here! She pulled it out and held it out to her. "Hey," she said softly. "Hey there, gorgeous." She giggled, delighted when the horse plucked the apple from her hand and ate it. "Hey beautiful, what's your name, huh?" she whispered, reaching out and petting her gently.

She couldn't believe it. She just couldn't believe it.

He grinned at her reaction, which was basically what he'd been expecting, then followed her into the stable at a somewhat slower pace.

Satan, for his part, sensed opportunity when Aurora came so near and came up to the front of his stall. Luckily a combination of foresight from both the visiting royals and the groomsman had combined to thwart his plans - there was enough space between the two horses that anyone visiting the mare wouldn't be in range of his teeth. He snorted his displeasure, and at that Nicholas gave him the evil eye then came up.

"Hey beautiful, what's your name, huh?"

And, though she was talking to the horse, Nicholas answered. "She hasn't one, that was left for you to decide."

"Luna," she said without even a thought. "Luna," again, more softly, running her fingers across her silky white coat. "Oh, she's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen in my life," she said to herself, nuzzling her. "Wait until mom and dad see her, they're going to keel over. Oh, I hope they aren't mad," she frowned. But once they saw Luna, they would be un-mad, or at least, that's how it went in her head.

She heard someone calling her name, and ran passed Nicholas, a brief squeeze of his hand as she did so. "Mom?" she called, rushing outside the stable. When she got there, there wasn't anyone.. actually, it was like everyone had vanished. She stood clearly in view of Nicholas, and looked over her shoulder at him. She shrugged at his confused glance, and then turned again.

"Oh hey, look, a butterfly!" she squealed. "Ooh, and it's all black and purple. I wonder if it caught a ride here on a merchant ship. Hey, Nicholas, look!" She walked towards the butterfly slowly, trying not to frighten it off the flower it had landed on.

Something about the butterfly struck Nicholas as odd, and somewhat ominous. What? To be honest, even he wasn't quite sure. Maybe the way light behaved around it - the black pattern on the wings was sooty, inky black - so dark that it almost seemed to absorb light rather then reflecting it, the purple a glimmering, almost metallic surface that was gorgeous and mesmerizing, but not quite like anything he'd ever seen before.

"It's beautiful," he said, thinking quickly, "if rather strange. Have you ever seen one like it? If not perhaps you should be cautious; I've been told that occasionally such distinctive colors and patterns can mean poison." He wasn't telling a lie, per say, he was bending the truth until it snapped all on its own.

"Poisonous?" she squeaked. She leaped back from it quickly. "Well, I guess you're right. Mom said those pretty flowers in the courtyard are so bright so birds won't eat them, so maybe. Have you ever seen anything like it before?" she asked, watching as it picked up and flew off, towards the castle. "It was like I couldn't help but keep after it."

Even now, she wanted to secretly chase it. It was almost hard to resist, but she linked her arm around Nicholas', using his stable, calm demeanor to ground herself back into reality. She had no time to chase butterflies, it was almost time for the reception. "Thank you, again, for the horse. She's so perfect. Maybe we can go for a ride later after supper?" she asked hopefully.

She stole a glance back at the butterfly, but it was gone. Maybe she'd find more, later. This place had lots of interesting insects if you looked hard enough, and Aurora wasn't at all girlish and shy when it came to picking them up and running around with them. She was perhaps still too immature for her own good.