Chapter Text
The Fearless 7 thought they were saving a princess from a dragon. And then thought that princess was a witch. And then realized she was the Fairy Princess and Extremely Offended.
The account I received from Meg had only one common understanding with that report and it was, yes, she was Extremely Offended.
Thus, her letter began as follows:
"My Dearest Annaliese, I know you will not be expecting a letter at this time because you are still in your "wolf phase" as we now call it.
However.
I am grieved to the utmost. The egg I found in the wildlands had a mother.
(Here, splotches of ink were scattered, making the wording of the following paragraph quite confusing to read)
HOx xxS I SxxPOxxD Tx xxOW A MxxxER xxISxxD? Ix xMELxxx xxx xAY OVxx xND CAxx WITH FIxx. I h__ __ cho___ but __ call the Fea_____ __ven! Bef___ __ (series of unintelligible scratches)
(Remarks post-reading, she meant to emphasize her surprise at the mother arriving at her kingdom. And so, had been forced to consult the 'Fearless 7' who we have both heard of and talked about before. She still sent the letter instead of rewriting it because she thought it'd be funny to trick me into figuring anything she wrote out. Note: her interpretation of that whole paragraph was to summarize her 'grief' and 'pain'.)
And so they had arrived, mercenary and attracting attention of course. I have always thought people from the Eastern Border of Fairy Tale Island were strange, but I didn't expect them to be rude!
I had fallen in battle, as one was apt to after being knocked over by a humongous dragon (yes, the egg I had got was apparently a dragon egg) and after the battle that ended surprisingly quickly (I have to admit they have some method of skill, no matter their personality)
Do you want to know what happened after?
Well, I'll still tell you even if you haven't the slightest interest. THE BLUE ONE ZAPPED ME. Without the slightest bit of observation, or even casual questioning.
I'm the contractor, understand?! (Here there was a worn underline, like it had been scratched to its limit) What is this disrespect! Even common mercenaries have some level of decency to their employers, but these guys?
And they have the nerve to call themselves heroes?!
I know I don't get out much, but this is too!!! (And I was amused to discover a small puncture that indicated a broken quill feather)
Their reputations are overly embellished. I only started hearing rumors about them around 6 months ago if I'm not mistaken.
(She really didn't get out much. I've heard word of the Fearless 7 even earlier than six months prior to this letter. Oh well.)
Imagine, I actually heard that they had reached VIP guest status on that one birthday party. Who was it again? What madness.
In any case, I'm never hiring them again.
I know you won't be able to reply at present, so I'll await the usual date of course.
Royally Yours, Melodia."
When I first met Meg… well… We certainly hated each other's guts for a good part of our acquaintanceship, before it gradually formed into something one could call friendship .
The really important thing to note though, was that she really pulled through when my stepmother cursed me.
"And you just drank it?! What in the name of everything magical—"
My friend, Princess Melodia Eleanore of the Grail Kingdom, had looked down on me with an expression that said: I know you are smarter than this. This shouldn't have happened.
She had her eyes trained onto me and I felt more than slightly uncomfortable.
"Didn't we already go over this?" I growled. "I still say that in my defense, Moria held nothing of substance in her brain. I didn't think she would be dumb enough to pull this off in public!"
Actually, no one would seriously try to pull off a cursing in the middle of a ball that had a bunch of witnesses right? Especially if the person you were trying to curse was the supposed reason for the ball. Right?!
Even most of the cursed princesses I knew back home had been cursed with subtlety! Subtlety!
Melodia Eleanore of the Grail Kingdom, who I called Meg for short, practically slapped me with her deadpanned expression, red lips flattened into a straight line.
"You should stop assuming everyone here actually cares about subtleties. There exists a line, and it's the division between beautiful people and normal people." She stated dramatically, as she waved her arms around madly.
"I can't believe you can tell me that with a straight face."
"That's because you're normal Annaliese. I am part of the echelon of beauty! My skin is positively glowing today."
It was indeed glowing. And very green. Very healthy skin indeed. Aren't you just insulting normal people? Including me?!
I was miffed.
"Alright, fine , I'll stop with my assumptions okay?"
I coughed to cover up my giggle as Meg was tossing her blonde hair around.
"Just... can you whip me an antidote? That's the whole reason why I'm here."
Meg sighed, shaking her luscious locks.
"I can't. Simple as the fact I don't know what ingredients exactly Moira used... and I need to observe you before I can give you anything."
I groaned, and laid myself on the floor, curling my body. I covered my eyes with my newly grown appendage. Oh my god. I had a tail. A furry tail.
"Well... one good thing is that everyone thinks you're a runaway?"
I lifted my former hand, turned... furry limb appendage over my eyes and down again.
"....like that's better than being turned into an animal for an undetermined amount of time." I huffed under my breath.
"Well, Moria knows the truth. I'm assuming that for the gossip to spread this quickly, she had framed you or something similar. If your father knew—"
"He knows."
Meg became quiet. Like it totally wasn't an open secret that my own dad didn't like me .
I looked up at Meg avoiding her questioning eyes.
"At present, I need to figure this out first. I can't deal with them as I am now." I felt myself grimace, then I tried for a grin. "So Princess Melodia Eleanore of the Grail Kingdom. This subject has no place to call home. Won't you accept me as a familiar-in-training or the like?"
Meg coughed delicately avoiding my eyes.
"Actually... I already have a familiar," she smiled brightly, before patting something behind her. It was a large egg. Very large.
"She'd be jealous if she had to share." Meg whispered loudly.
"Then where am I going to go?" I leapt to my feet, worriedly. "You're the most eccentric princess with the most accepting group of rational citizens!"
"Thank you." She looked momentarily touched. "However, I really can't afford to house you here. If it were discovered—"
I scoffed. "Are you serious? At worst, she would let word out that I was cursed. She still wants to paint it like a runaway situation, where it's all cleanly on my initiative. Cursing implies a culprit, and everyone saw me drink from the cup she gave me."
"Clearly, you're still underestimating that woman!" She interjected.
"You rushed here so quickly," Meg began to explain her train of thought. "Moira would know I'm the one nearest your kingdom who can do any magic and want to help you. She would come here in no time."
"I doubt that they're looking for me. Even if they were, my current appearance wouldn't match anything similar to a human face."
"That doesn't mean she won't have eyes watching. You escaped too fast for her, I think. The rumors were too perfectly in place. And, whether it's a consolation or not, your existence means that there will always be a competitor in line for the inheritance."
"You can't mean she wants me—"
"Dead? It's not impossible." Meg shrugged. "I told you, don't assume things."
If the animal I've become could pale, I would have had enough ammo to make anyone pity my pallid form.
"Can't we just assume she's too braindead to actually scheme that far? This could all be a series of mishaps. I mean, there were a lot of people at my ball. Moira probably announced my disappearance right after that evening."
Meg shook her head, lost in thought.
"Well, if this was some long drawn out way to keep me from staying here—"
"Hah! Like I'd actually waste my valuable brain cells on useless things like that." Meg smiled, but there was a serious air around her.
"Don't worry. I've thought of a place. It's far from here, but I can teleport you there. And... it should be safe enough. I can visit you every so often."
Now I really was relieved. I showed my gratefulness by leaping at her instinctively. Unfortunately, my animal brain had equated "hugs" as "throws" and crashed into Meg.
Thankfully, the egg's shell was hard. However, the table it was sitting on collapsed a bit.
"Ah, sorry," I said, getting off her sheepishly. "Are you okay?"
She got up, and turned around to inspect the damage. Her face turned dark, seeing the crater the egg had caused, as well as the drawer that had been shaken out of the table.
"Good thing my baby is okay, or else I never would have forgiven you." She grabbed the egg, cradling it protectively.
"The table can be fixed up later," She nodded towards me. "Let's go and get you out of here."
So here I was.
The place I was currently residing in was one of Meg's boarding school friend's properties. I'm not sure if it was the land or the house. However, it was a quaint place... with lots of magic protection.
It was surrounded by a forest. After a period of observation, and of careful hiding, Meg and I decided that my step-mother could not find me and would not bother.
A discovery we made during this time: During certain phases of the moon, I could assume my original human form, with a skin of fur lying atop me. That was also under the condition I was under moonlight.
Meg had deduced that it was an old and obsolete curse, making it that much harder to find an antidote. At the same time, it made things simpler. From what modern day magic practitioners understood, "true love's kiss" was a perfect antidote to any curse should there be no true cure.
(Meg seemed almost manic at the thought of finding me suitors. I tried to remind her I was still an animal. Some of them might instinctually try to kill me at first glance.)
So, that was the only time I could hold things properly and pen letters back to Meg.
Most of the time I was in the form of a wolf.
I didn't want to think about it, but I did learn how to eat raw meat. It... well I'm not going to describe it. I swear on my honor that, to my knowledge, nothing I've eaten was ever human.
The letter I had penned during the full moon following Meg's surprise letter, was as follows:
"My dear Meg,
And here I shall insert all the words in the dictionary that can describe your beauty and wit, and other such adjectives.
I knew that egg would be trouble ever since it replaced my job as your potential familiar. I know that it wouldn't have worked anyway, because I am truly human and not a real wolf, but the ruse would have been so perfect!
But truly, having a dragon egg is too much don't you think?
You and I both know dragon's are not just animals; they have a society. A familiar requires the consent of family. And you just defeated the mother in combat!
I am utterly confused with your… methods.
Your contempt for the Fearless Seven seems to me a breath of fresh air; the village-folk here, at least the ones of the night, all hold some sort of over glorified account of their asses being handed to them by the F7.
I'm sure the day-time folk would agree, except in the opposite. Being saved by the F7.
The local beauties of the area are very much in love with them, according to gossip and reports.
I've seen some portraits going around. They certainly aren't in the normal side of people, no?
By the by, there have appeared many 'distressing' reports about their 'disappearance' and seeing as your letter preceded these rumors, and that they have cropped up by a fortnight's time, I assume you did something to them.
No one's incredibly worried yet, but the more hysterical fans who 'can't live without knowing where and when and what's happening' to their precious boys are in a paranoid state of mind.
And mind you , hysterics are hard to avoid, especially in the night. I'm blaming you if I accidentally get caught up in, who knows what.
Signed Annaliese."