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Saccharina Ghee ran. Long before she was a queen, long before she had a following, long before she even knew who she was. Her mother had dropped her off at a nunnery when she was barely old enough to understand what she was. She grew up in the cold, surrounded by the church, surrounded by people telling her she was wrong.
As she ran, the cold that has always surrounded her melted off. Not like it was scary, not like she was sitting too close to a fire and was starting to melt, but like a burden had been unleashed. She felt arcana crackles in her palm and laughed with glee.
She knew few things in the world, but she knew that she was Saccharina. She was a daughter of a King. She had power. And she had to fight to get everything she needed in this life.
Annabelle of House Cheddar, Princess of the Dairy Isles, First of her Name, Lady of the Realm ran. She to grew up in cold halls, but they were so vast it hardly mattered. She was born into a war, but was too young to fight. She grew up being told that she was the future of her country. That she would be the one to fix the problems she had not made. But, she would grow up, and she would be in charge, and all would be right. She grew up, and she learned she was wrong.
She had to produce an heir. She was supposed to produce an heir. But when the village girl with flowing milk hair and a beautiful smile caught her attention far more than any of the suitors that were shipped into the castle, she knew things would be more complicated.
So she ran. She refused to marry someone she didn’t love and she ran. The crushing weight of responsibility was lifted, but not all the way.
She couldn’t escape the life she had been born into.
Saccharina of House Frostwhip runs, and she learns. She learns her past, and she learns that the power inside of her is not something to be feared, but worshiped. She learns that all the pain thrust upon her has made her stronger.
She runs around the Dairy Isles for a few years, getting orphans out of the nunnery’s. Some of them were so grateful that they stayed with her. So she built an army. But, she couldn’t stay in the Dairy isles forever. She couldn't wait for her destiny to come to her, she would have to come to it. With a few scrappy fighters on her side, she buys a boat and heads out on the white sea.
She learns, on the sea, that perhaps a force of nature is stronger than she is. She learns that the ocean is unforgiving, but the people in it are not. She learns that sometimes, no matter how badly you’ve fucked up, a beautiful woman with yellow skin and kind eyes will rescue her crew.
She learns of Annabelle.
Captain Annabelle Cheddar sails and she learns. As guilty as she feels for leaving this awful responsibility to her cousin, she stands on a ship and almost feels like she's learned who she is. Being royalty of The Dairy Isle was not without its benefits. She knows how to sail, and she knows how to fight. She sails around the sea, she fights pirates and she feels free. But still, everytime she looks up to the flag she’s sailing under, she can’t help but feel anger. Even here on the sea, miles away from people, her birth has dedicated her life. But, she decides to be kind. She chooses that she will make the best of this, and she does.
Then one day, the wind in her hair as The Colby sails along, she sees a small ship caught in a storm. She tells her crew to throw over ropes, to pull them up. Most of the crew seemed to be young and angry, their short lives harried by the pain of loss and isolation. One, however, doesn’t seem angry. She seems ready. She seems like someone who has been angry for so long that she’s learned how to turn that into power. She seems like someone who will not leave the world without her mark.
She learns of Saccharina.
They both learn of each other. In the immediate moments after they meet, there are fiery moments when Saccharina insists that she could have righted the ship, and annabelle insists that she was just trying to help. Saccharina storms out of her quarters, and returns in a few minutes apologetic. After that, they get along quite well.
In the quiet moments, late at night on watch, Saccharina and Annabelle talk.
Annabelle speaks of the silence of large houses, the rigidness of expectation, the fear of failure. Trying to fit into places that she just felt wrong. She speaks of how much it hurts to know that to free yourself you must trap someone else and how on some days she feels like she made the wrong choice.
Saccharina speaks of being alone. Of having a power inside of her that she didn’t understand, and no one explained to her. Of growing up surrounded by people trying to get the true part of her pushed and hidden away as mucha s she can. She speaks of the facts of her life, of how she is a royal living in a different country and a different world and in a place she knows that she does not belong.
When the sun rises, they are sitting closer to each other than seems closer than might be required of those on watch.
In the chaos of the sea, they find peace in each other. As they grow closer, theirs crews meld into one. So do their hearts.
Once, in the candle lit softness of Annabelle’s quarters, the sound of the sea gentle and calming, she whispers to a sleeping Saccharina “You know, I think that the sea calms when you’re with me. I know you can do incredible things outside, but when I’m with you I feel right and the sea calms.”
Saccharina’s lips twitch up in a smile.
The sea never stays calm for long.
Princess Saccharina of House Frostwhip, Witch-Queen of the Dairy Sea, Storm-Captain of the Frosted Fleet, leaves. She goes back to a place she’s never been, returning to a birthright that no one knows about. She leaves Annabelle, their parting moments forehead against forehead, filled with promises of reuniting and declarations of love.
She goes through the mountains, picking up strays that make her army. They follow her with a devotion that Saccharina honestly feels is unearned, but they follow her and they fight with her. Her crew grows from angry orphans to harded sailors, hurt people and anyone who wants to believe in the truth of their world.
She spends her days pouring over her aunt’s work, learning all she can so that she can be helpful when she finally meets her family.
She spends nights in a too-empty bed, sometimes imagining she hears the same sweet whispers of someone she misses so much it hurts to even think about them.
She studies, and she readies.
Captain Annabelle Cheddar, delegate to the Concord, is pulled back into her duties. A few months after Saccharina leaves, she is called upon to accomey Primsy to the Grand Tourney. She takes it in stride, even when a very drunk peppermint boy disturbs her. She integrates back into the society she hates, doing her best to be polite and proper.
When she sees King Amethar on the ground, she is afraid. She will always harbor some resentment for him, for never knowing his daughter, for never making her life easier. But when the dagger plunges into him, all she can think about is Saccharina having another parent who leaves her. She is so relieved when he survives.
When she goes to ask for her boon, she refuses to let herself ask for Saccharina to be accepted and safe. She steadies herself, ignoring the gaze of the Candians, and tries to give her cousin some form of an apology.
Then Amethar is excommunicated. She can’t say she didn’t see it coming, but it was still surprising. Instead of Saccharina’s father being put in a higher position of power, where he could protect her, and no one would dare go after the emperor. As the ramifications of what has happened shakes out, she can’t help but be relieved that she knows there's someone who can make this all easier.
When the Candians sneak on her ship, she is conflicted. She knows she needs to protect them, and she doesn’t think that Saccharina would ever forgive her if she told Amethar of Saccharina. So she allows them passage.
When Primsy is nearly killed, Annabelle sees read. She refuses to let anyone she loves get hurt, ever again. The Dairy Isles will stand with Candia. She says she will look for Cathering Ghee, a part of her finally relieved to have an actual excuse.
War is on the horizon, and Annabelle will be ready to fight.
Saccharina of House Frostwhip First of her Name, Sovereign Ruler of Candia and the Sugarlands, Witch-Queen of the Dairy Sea, High Priestess of the Sweetening Path, Archmage of Lost Sucrosia, Enemy of the Faith, The Sundae Sorceress, Storm-Captain of the Frosted Fleet, meets her family. It’s devastating.
She tries her best, she tries so hard, and when her father says that they don’t have enough love for her, it takes all she has to keep from bursting out in tears. She sobs in her bed that night, wishing so badly that Annabelle was there.
In the morning, she clears the tears from her eyes, and calls for a war council.
As she walks with these new people, she feels a sense of relief. She is around people who are strong, and who can help her make things in the world right. Although she never knew Jet, she thinks that Annabelle really would have liked her.
They head into a battle, and Saccharina has to be ready.
Annabelle and Saccharina finally reunite, and as soon as the battle concludes, they fall into each other's arms.
They both distantly hear Liam asking way too many questions, but that doesn’t seem to matter.
That night, they finally catch up, they cry, and laugh and fall asleep entangled. As the sun rises on the horizon, they both know they have roles to fulfill, but for just a few minutes they are only Annabelle and Saccharina.
And that is enough.
And for just a few more minutes, the sea is calm.