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Chapter Text

She came crashing into the Dark Forest, wings tattered, and she still flew. By the time the mushrooms had delivered their message about the fairy in the forest, she was halfway to the lake on the other side where the Bramble King and his son found her.

"Is she going to be all right?" Bog asked, looking over the unconscious woman with trepidation.

"Only one way to find out," the Bramble King said, picking her up.

Queen Griselda was shocked at the state of the mystery fairy, and prepared rooms immediately. "A good thing you brought her back," she told her husband grimly. "The Forest floor is no place for a pregnant lady! And this close to birthing!"

"I thought fairies stole their children," Bog said, and the Bramble King knocked him on the upside of his head.

"Be nice. She may be a fairy, but she's our guest all the same."

"Can she even hear us?"

The fairy woman gasped and her eyes blinked wide as she took in her surroundings. "Where am I? Ah! You!"

"You recognize me. Good. You're in my castle, the seat of power in the Dark Forest. Fear not. You'll be safe here."

"No... no, I won't be safe anywhere. They're coming for me!"

"Who is?" Griselda asked patiently. "Who's after you, sweetheart?"

"Conspirators! Against my crown!"

"What!" Bramble pushed Griselda aside.

"They sought to undermine me, at first. Demanded that my crown be passed only to a boy child of their choosing! And when I refused--Bramble!" she started crying. "They came for us in the dark of the night--I barely got away with my life."

"What of your consorts? Or did one of them do this to you?"

"I don't know... I don't know!" Suddenly she screamed. "Protect my child! Monarch to monarch, swear to me you'll protect my child!"

"Bramble, she has a fever! An infection! Move aside!" Griselda yelled, shoving the Bramble King aside. She was shouting instructions after. "Fetch the healer! Boil some water!"

The fairy laid her egg in the night, delirious and muttering wildly about swords and blood and how dare they she was the Queen the heir to her crown was her choice. With her last strength, she pushed it out: small, round, silver-grey, with a soft shell and a cool surface.

Without being asked, Bog found himself entrusted with the care of the egg. To keep him out of trouble, his Ma said. To learn what it meant to be trusted with the life of the most vulnerable, his Da told him.

"You're going to be a big brother now! Might as well get started!"

The Bramble King would find the crown later, in his attempt to trace the path of the Fairy Queen from his border to where he had found her. He never sent a message.
"We'll be the child's family here on out. The conspirators overran the castle, it sounds like. Look you here, Bog, see how the fairies eat their own. It is our job to make sure the Dark Forest never falls to such barbarism."

He slept with the egg. Carried it everywhere. Didn't let it leave his sight. He brought it down to the library with him to read up on what to expect of fairy eggs. The Bramble King was proud of his determination. Queen Griselda was very expectant: she couldn't conceive after Bog was born, and she missed having a small babe to care for.

The Bog Prince heard the egg hatch just as the first rays of the sun came in through his window. He called for his parents to come see.

From the outset, she had dandelion-soft hair, golden like the sun, and bright blue eyes, just like a goblin royal's. She smiled like the sun, too, they agreed, and her first giggle melted away any misgivings they might have had about adopting her.

They called her Dawn.

Everyone doted on the Dawn Princess.

Well, not everyone, but everyone who mattered.

To his dying day, the Bramble King would call Dawn his sundrop.

Queen Griselda's nagging was tempered by Dawn's smile.

The Bog Prince had someone he could fly with, because no other goblins he knew could fly.

Even though they knew they could not keep her.

"She'll go back to the fairies someday, yea? Someday, she'll ask, and you'll have to be honest with her. Promise me, Bog."

"Papa, why am I different from other goblins?"

"Because you're a fairy, sundrop."

"Are you a fairy too, Papa?"

"No, sundrop, we're goblins."

"But the other goblins don't fly."

"We're the goblin royal family. We're the only ones left of all the goblins who can fly."

"Can I be a goblin, Papa?"

The Bramble King laughed. "Well you can certainly try! Give me your best snarl, sundrop!"

"Rarr!" Dawn hunched over, pretending to tower over the way she'd seen her elder brother and father do.

"Ma, why do I need to learn to dance?" the Bog Prince would complain.

"Because someday you'll have to dance with your sweetie, Bog! And Dawn will also dance with hers, and you both need to practice."

"No, seriously, Mum," Bog asked pensively. "Because goblins do not dance."

Griselda sighed. "But fairies do, son, and someday, maybe Dawn will want to go back to the Fairy Kingdom, and she'll need to know how to dance. There's not much we can teach her about the Fairy Kingdom, but we know a little bit about fairies, and it's our duty to teach her all we know."

"But... if we never tell her about fairy stuff, maybe she won't go!"

Griselda shook her head, rubbing a hand across the back of Bog's head fondly. "And maybe she won't go. But in case she does decide to go, would you want her to not fit in?"
Bog thought hard about it, hard about how difficult it was for him to fit in with the other goblins. How much easier it would be, if he had been more like other goblins. "No... no,

I guess not."

"I knew you'd understand, sweetheart."

"Dawn!" Bog yelled, prolonging her name three beats as he flew about, looking for her. "Dawn!"

Ever since her wings grew in, Dawn's roaming range had extended far beyond the castle, far beyond her goblin babysitters' eyes. Bog had to go look for her regularly, because he was the only one with wings who could keep up with her.

He heard a soft giggle from the bramble bush as he buzzed past.

"How'd you even get in there?" he asked, eyes wide. "Your wings are too big... you might get your wings caught and ripped!"

She giggled again. "I folded them and crawled in."

"Very clever. Now c'mere." He flew in, arms reaching in to get her.

Nimbly she side-stepped him and crawled further in away from his reach. Even with his wings slender enough to navigate the brambles, she was small enough to evade him by sneaking into tighter snarls of the bush.

"Come on, Dawn, don't do this," he groaned. He was four times her size, but he could push past the thorns to get to her. He just hated how many nicks he'd come away with on his armour if he did.

"I'll come out..." she held a hand out to him.

"That's right, please-" he reached in to take her so-tiny hand.

She snatched it back. "If you promise to take me to the primrose border."

"What? Dawn, Papa said you can't!"

"No, he din't. He said I can't go across the border until I'm older. He didn't say you can't take me to the border!"

"Please, Dawn. Papa would get so mad at me if he knew..."

"Please, Bog? I'll ask Papa." She stared up at him with earnest eyes. "I just wanna see what's on the other side. See if there're other fairies there too. Please?"

"The village by the border? That's full of elves, Dawn. They're not fairies."

"Can I go see them?"

The Bramble King stroked his thorny chin contemplatively.

"Wouldn't that be dangerous, Pa?" Bog asked, brows knit in worry.

"It wouldn't hurt," Bramble said. "As long as you stay by the border for her. Make sure you're close, so if she runs into any trouble, she can find you easily."

"I met an elf!" Dawn announced at the dinner table, bursting with pride after her big day, her first foray into the Fairy Kingdom.

"Did you now!" Bramble raised an eyebrow at Bog.

Bog sipped at his soup. "I didn't see nothing."

"His name is Sunny, and he's a music-maker, and he's my age, and he--"

"Don't forget to breathe, dearest," Griselda laughed.

Dawn never told Sunny where her family lived. Sunny assumed she flew in from the fairy town where all the fairies lived anyway. Bog felt his heart chipping away seeing Dawn shine so bright in a place he could not go to.

Bramble trained his son in the use of the staff. For ruling, for battle. He trained Dawn in the use of short daggers, small enough to hide on her person. For self-defense. Dawn was not easy to rouse to anger, but she was quick on her feet and with her hands. Bramble would show off his scars, inflicted by his children, to any goblin who would listen.

"Ma, do you think the fairies will like me if I talk to them?"

Griselda paused for a second before screwing on the lid of the jar. The jam was coming along nicely. "Why do you ask, blossom?"

"Papa says that someday, I might want to go live with the fairies. Do you think they'll like me if I do? Since fairies don't like goblins?" Dawn stopped peeling the root vegetable for a moment, her blue eyes wide.

"Hard to imagine them not liking you. But even if they don't, sunflower, you'll always have us. All right?" Griselda took Dawn's hand and patted it.

"Bog? .... Bog...? It's me, Dawn." Her knuckles were soft against the door. "I know... I know losing Papa is hard, but the elders are here to recognize you and..."

"I know, Dawn, I'm coming."

The new King emerged from his room, tall and sad.
Dawn threw her arms around his waist. "You're going to be a great King, Bog."

He folded his arms around her. "Thank you, Dawn."

"And I'll be right here to support you!"

"Thank you, Dawn."

"Okay, let's go make you King!"

Bog did not like the idea of Dawn traversing the Fairy Kingdom alone. He demanded a goblin guard be set by the border, ready to assist Princess Dawn if they ever heard her call. But he would not send goblins across the border. He upheld the old tradition: goblins on the goblin side of the primroses. Just because the fairies didn't respect that didn't mean he was about to flout it.

The Dawn Princess was shouting. It was hard to get Dawn to shout, but sometimes she could get shrill. The goblins scattered. "But that doesn't mean you should ban love from the Dark Forest! Or put Sugar Plum in prison! What is wrong with you!"

"Sugar Plum lied," the Bog King snarled.

"But to cut down the primroses?" Dawn crossed her arms and gave him her best scowl. "When there's no one to make love potion with them anymore?"

"I'm not taking that chance. Sugar Plum may not be the only one to make love potion. And love potion lies. I won't have that kind of chaos in my kingdom!"

Dawn stamped her foot. "Why won't you--"

"Enough, Dawn!" Bog roared at her.

That stopped her short enough, her eyes going wide. He had never shouted at her like that before. Who was this snarling creature in the place of her brother? What had happened?

Everything went back to semi-normal, except now Dawn was tiptoeing around Bog on the issue of love. She couldn't even talk about her crushes anymore.

She fled to the elf village more and more. Sunny, at least, talked things out with her when he was mad, and confided in her when he was sad.

There was a little fairy party on the edge of the elf village. It was rare for that sort of thing to happen, Sunny said. The fairies usually preferred to party in the castle proper. But the Crown Princess wanted to do something different for her birthday.

Dawn plucked nervously at the dress she was wearing, feeling shabby in comparison. She so rarely encountered fairies that it was hard to see what they wore, and Sunny never commented on her clothes. She dressed in the brightest colours she could find in the Dark Forest, which worried Bog since, he claimed, it made her easily-spotted by predators, but in the Fairy Kingdom, her usual colours blended in.

"But that's just impossible," someone was saying. "The Dark Forest is too dangerous!"

"It doesn't have to be," someone else insisted. "We can just go talk to them! We don't have to be afraid of them. In the past, we've had trade relations with them, and diplomatic visits. We can go into the Dark Forest, be friends, have adventures!"

"That's crazy, Marianne!"

"You'll see! When I'm Queen, I'll make it happen!"

"Aw, Mari," another fairy said, and Dawn disliked the condescending tone it took. "Aren't you the cutest."

Marianne rolled her eyes and walked off to get herself more punch from the corner table.

"I think that's a great idea," Dawn offered, as soon as the dark-haired fairy was close enough.

The other princess stopped short, eyes wide at the small blonde fairy. "Yeah? I'm sorry... I don't believe we've ever met." Marianne frowned, trying to place her. She thought she knew all the fairies her age in the kingdom.

"Hi. I'm Dawn."

Chapter Text

 Marianne smiled uncertainly at the blonde fairy. "Hi. Marianne." 

 Dawn stuck her hand out, her face open and sincere. She had bright blue eyes that were guileless and Marianne felt herself drawn in by the sheer welcome in them. 

 There was a brief start of laughter around them. Dawn looked around, confused. "Wha-?"

 "That's not how you greet the Crown Princess," a fairy man nearby sneered. 

 Dawn flushed. "I was just-"

 "Dawn, it's fine. Back off, Martin." Marianne took Dawn's hand in hers, warmly shaking it. "Some of us are more into castle protocol than others, but I like to say to people not to stand on ceremony. Where are you from, Dawn? You're not from the town."

 Dawn grinned sheepishly. "Oh! I'm, uhm, I grew up near the primrose border. My family doesn't really get out to the Palace or the town much, so, you know..." 

 "Backyard yokel," someone else laughed.

 "Kevin," Marianne snapped. "That's not nice."

 "Sorry, Your Highness." He looked suitably chastened. 

 "I think it's a great idea to establish relations with the Dark Forest," Dawn said honestly. 

 "Are you sure?" Martin drawled. "Didn't you hear what happens to fairies in the Dark Forest?"

 "Martin, don't try to scare her."

 "They eat fairies there."

 "What?" Dawn gasped. "No!" 

 "Yes they do. That's what happened to the last Queen. She disappeared into the forest and got eaten."

 "Martin!" Marianne's voice was a harsh command.

 Martin stopped, eyes going wide at the fury on Marianne's face. "I--"

 "You have no right to bring that up," Marianne growled at him.

 She glared at him, and her gaze sweeping around at everyone else, daring them to gainsay her. No one seemed inclined to say anything. Taking a deep breath, she smiled at Dawn, tiredly, and squeezed her hand. Then she stalked off.

 More than a few breaths were loosed after. "Stars, she's going to be terrifying as Queen." 

 "Like she shouldn't be?" Dawn asked lightly. She was, faintly, but surely, starting to think that these fairies didn't respect their own royalty. Princess Marianne was being nice to her--backyard yokel fairy she didn't know--Dawn knew she was wholly ignorant of fairy niceties, and their princess was so nice to her--and these fairies scorned it, scorned their own princess. They'd never handle the Dark Forest, Dawn thought, and they'd probably faint even before her brother had issued a single edict. 

 "King Dagda isn't terrifying. He's a good King. Marianne's..."

 "Marianne's kind of... different," a fairy girl said, pushing Marvin aside. "I'm Katharine. It's nice to meet you, Dawn." 

 Dawn introduced herself to several more fairies that day, mostly girls. Marianne returned later, and apologized for her earlier behaviour, which made Dawn frown. 

 What did she have to apologize about...?

 She found her brother in his throne room, going over a report. The sun streamed down and highlighted his shoulder plates, though he was still enshrouded in shadow. He was supposed to be intimidating, but at the moment, he looked quiet.

 "Bog...?"

 The Bog King lifted his face to her, and eased into a gentle smile. "Yes, Dawn?"

 "I was wondering..." She clasped her hands, a nervous tic that she shared with her father and brother, but couldn't seem to help herself. 

 "I'm listening."

 "What do you know about the Fairy Royal Family?"

 Bog shook his head. "Not much, I'm afraid. We don't talk to them very much. They're always feuding, that side of the primroses." He leaned back. "Why? Who'd you meet today that made you ask?"

 "I joined a fairy party," she replied frankly.

 "Dawn-" He started up. 

 "I'm fine," she said quickly. "I told them I lived on the border and never got out much. They don't suspect a thing." She fiddled with her fingers a bit more. "Uhm."

 "What is it?" 

 "Some of the fairies said... they have this idea that the Dark Forest is dangerous... it 'ate their Queen,'" she wiggled her fingers in air-quotes. "Or something. What's that about?"

 He swallowed. She knew he knew in that moment.

 "Does it have anything to do... with me?"

 "Well..."

 "Is Princess Marianne my sister?"

 "Princess... who?" Bog blinked. "I hadn't realized that Queen Maia had other children who survived."

 "I don't know."

 "You should ask Mother about it. She knew the previous Queen, I think." Bog hesitated, trying to think of something to ask that would distract Dawn from her sad face. "So, you met their princess, eh? What's she like?"

 It worked. Dawn brightened. "She's nice! She was so nice to me. She said she wants to come talk to us in the future when she becomes Queen. I really like her! I hope she does, you know, talk to us, that is. I think she'd really like it here too, and we could show her around, and it'd be so much fun, and--"

 "Whoa whoa whoa, Dawn, breathe!" Bog laughed. "Well I'll trust your judgement on that. Did she... say anything about us?"

 Dawn shook her head. "The fairies don't seem to know much about the Dark Forest. It's kind of weird." She gave him her best wide-eyed stare. "Would you consider peace talks with the Fairy Kingdom?" 

 The Bog King grunted, knowing that expression too well. "If they can prove they've civilised themselves beyond civil war."

 "That's good enough," Dawn declared, flitting over to kiss him on the cheek. "See you later!"

 "Where're you going this time!"

 "To hang out with Sunny!"

 The Dawn Princess being a royal, she was called on to represent the Bog King at goblin celebrations. She'd been attending them forever, even at the Bramble King's side. Not all goblins liked the idea of a fairy attending their celebrations, but the Bramble King had made it clear that the Dawn Princess was to be treated as a goblin royal. 

 Dawn had also grown up with the same whispers of fairies hunting down goblins for sport, taking heads as trophies. She put her best foot forward anyway.

 This was an autumn festival, celebrated around a creek where fishes laid their eggs. The goblins caught the fishes and preserved them for the winter, and celebrated the catch and new winter stores. Dawn oversaw the distribution of the dried fish across the goblin families, rewarded the hunters with a greater share, and gave a pretty speech.

 If anything, the goblins loved her speeches. She always ended them with an exhortation to party hard. 

 Griselda cackled as she watched her adopted daughter flirt with all the single goblin men there--Dawn was not particularly discriminate--and made insinuating comments about bringing one of them home.

 "Only one?" Dawn gasped in mock-horror.

 "Oh, you're just like your mother! The Fairy Queens never limited themselves to just one lover either!" Griselda laughed heartily. 

 Dawn blushed, but took it in stride. "We'll have to talk about that sometime, Mom..."

 Griselda sobered a little, though the sparkle didn't leave her eyes. "We will. Now go dance!"

 It took Dawn a while to realize that a goblin woman was actively avoiding her. A pretty frog woman, who furtively glanced Dawn's way, with fear in her eyes. 

 Dawn couldn't hold a grudge to save her life, but she had had some people thrown in prison for threatening hers (or rather, she had complained to Bog, who had them thrown in prison). She'd also had to dole out some damage on her own, to prove that even as a fairy, she was still their princess, worthy of their fear and respect. She tried to think if the frog woman had slighted her before. She didn't recognize her at all. This was a dilemma: she didn't want anybody worrying about her unnecessarily, but on the other hand, she didn't really want to care if people didn't like her. She was the Bog King's fairy sister--the whole of the Dark Forest would always be gossiping about her.

 But then why was this woman afraid?

 The good thing about wings, Dawn thought, was that she could go around an entire party far quickly in the air than on the ground where she might be seen. The woman wasn't hard to find. Or corner.

 She delicately cleared her throat. 

 "Your Highness!" the frog woman gasped. "Wha-what a pleasure."

 "May I speak with you a moment?" Dawn asked, her arms relaxed and fingers linked in front of her to show she meant no harm. 

 "Ah... of course."

 Dawn led her a few feet away, from the party, someplace quieter. "You've been avoiding me, looking at me like I might kill you," she said softly. "I don't remember you ever offending me, and I don't recognize you. I was wondering if you could tell me why. It's not... it's not right for the kingdom to mistrust its royal family. If it's something to do with my brother, I'll see what I can do to help."

 At the mention of the Bog King, the frog woman panicked, and almost leapt away, but Dawn's hand seized her wrist suddenly.

 "Please," Dawn pleaded. "I can't help if I don't know."

 The woman put a hand to her mouth. "Oh, your highness, it's my fault!"

 "What? What is?"

 "The King's ban on love!"

 "Uh..." Dawn's eyebrow felt like it was about to sprain itself. 

 "I... I was the one he tried to use the love potion on." The frog woman was almost crying now. 

 "Really?" Dawn's eyes swept over the woman. Really beautiful, as far as frogs went. A perfectly rounded belly, side fins gently falling down, and dark eyes. "And it didn't work?"

 "I don't know. It might have worked? But... I-I-I panicked, and ran, and I was just so scared!"

 "But... why?"

 The woman took a deep breath. "I... I was in love with someone else. And the King has always been kind to me, but I had no idea about his feelings for me! And when he threw that dust into my eyes, I was so scared, I feared I'd fall in love with him instead, and I didn't want to lose my Eldred!" She burst into tears then. "I was so scared the potion would work, so I ran from my own king! I'm so sorry!" 

 "To be honest, that is a perfectly fine reason to run away from him," Dawn said frankly, and made a mental note to punch her brother somewhere soft later. She put an arm around the woman. "That's all right, please don't cry! It's not your fault you were in love with someone else!"

 The frog woman wept some more. "I never meant to offend him! And I never meant--"

 They sat down together, Dawn comforting the woman the best she could. Griselda found them, and the frog woman almost had another panic attack. If there was one thing more fearsome than the Bog King, it was the Queen Mother. But Griselda was congenial about it, and she patted the woman's hand comfortingly. 

 "Do ya have any sisters?" she asked. 

 The castle reverberated. Sand stirred. Maybe it was dust from the rot of old bark being disturbed from their corners. Goblins within a certain radius ran to take cover. The mushrooms, who could not move, muttered under the breaths as they plugged their ears with any nearby moss they could grasp at.

 The Dawn Princess was yelling at her brother. She was in fine form, not quite screaming, but her voice high and carrying and probably physically impactful if one was right in front. 

 Which the Bog King was, but he was bigger, and armoured. 

 She had found him in the throne room, shooed out everyone else, and said, "Bog? A word?" 

 Upon further reflection, Bog thought afterwards, the acidity of her words should have been his first clue. 

 She then proceeded to tell him what she had found out about the frog woman who had rejected him and prompted him to ban love in the Dark Forest. She carried on at length about his assumptions and impetuous behaviour in dusting the woman without even checking to see if she was single. She then proceeded to detail the interlocking consequences and simultaneous foolishness of imprisoning the Sugar Plum Fairy, cutting down the primroses, and banning a natural phenomenon at the same time. It was, they agreed later, a cutting speech, which might have felled an oak.

 She could do this, because she knew the Bog King loved her, and indeed he sat on his throne, letting his sister tower over him (she was hovering over him, her angry energy too much to be pent up), and sullenly tried to avoid her gaze at times. 

 When she was done with her diatribe, she gently set herself back on the dais in front of him. "And what do you have to say for yourself?"

 He sat up, eyes dangerously narrowed. "I have heard you," he rumbled. "And I will take your words into consideration." 

 Not a promise for immediate action, but it was a start. 

Chapter Text

            Marianne smiled uncertainly at the blonde fairy. "Hi. Marianne."

            Dawn stuck her hand out, her face open and sincere. She had bright blue eyes that were guileless and Marianne felt herself drawn in by the sheer welcome in them.

            There was a brief start of laughter around them. Dawn looked around, confused. "Wha-?"

            "That's not how you greet the Crown Princess," a fairy man nearby sneered.

            Dawn flushed. "I was just-"

            "Dawn, it's fine. Back off, Martin." Marianne took Dawn's hand in hers, warmly shaking it. "Some of us are more into castle protocol than others, but I like to say to people not to stand on ceremony. Where are you from, Dawn? You're not from the town."

            Dawn grinned sheepishly. "Oh! I'm, uhm, I grew up near the primrose border. My family doesn't really get out to the Palace or the town much, so, you know..."

            "Backyard yokel," someone else laughed.

            "Kevin," Marianne snapped. "That's not nice."

            "Sorry, Your Highness." He looked suitably chastened.

            "I think it's a great idea to establish relations with the Dark Forest," Dawn said honestly.

            "Are you sure?" Martin drawled. "Didn't you hear what happens to fairies in the Dark Forest?"

            "Martin, don't try to scare her."

            "They eat fairies there."

            "What?" Dawn gasped. "No!"

            "Yes they do. That's what happened to the last Queen. She disappeared into the forest and got eaten."

            "Martin!" Marianne's voice was a harsh command.

            Martin stopped, eyes going wide at the fury on Marianne's face. "I--"

            "You have no right to bring that up," Marianne growled at him.

            She glared at him, and her gaze sweeping around at everyone else, daring them to gainsay her. No one seemed inclined to say anything. Taking a deep breath, she smiled at Dawn, tiredly, and squeezed her hand. Then she stalked off.

            More than a few breaths were loosed after. "Stars, she's going to be terrifying as Queen."

            "Like she shouldn't be?" Dawn asked lightly. She was, faintly, but surely, starting to think that these fairies didn't respect their own royalty. Princess Marianne was being nice to her--backyard yokel fairy she didn't know--Dawn knew she was wholly ignorant of fairy niceties, and their princess was so nice to her--and these fairies scorned it, scorned their own princess. They'd never handle the Dark Forest, Dawn thought, and they'd probably faint even before her brother had issued a single edict.

            "King Dagda isn't terrifying. He's a good King. Marianne's..."

            "Marianne's kind of... different," a fairy girl said, pushing Marvin aside. "I'm Katharine. It's nice to meet you, Dawn."

            Dawn introduced herself to several more fairies that day, mostly girls. Marianne returned later, and apologized for her earlier behaviour, which made Dawn frown.

            What did she have to apologize about...?

            She found her brother in his throne room, going over a report. The sun streamed down and highlighted his shoulder plates, though he was still enshrouded in shadow. He was supposed to be intimidating, but at the moment, he looked quiet.

            "Bog...?"

            The Bog King lifted his face to her, and eased into a gentle smile. "Yes, Dawn?"

            "I was wondering..." She clasped her hands, a nervous tic that she shared with her father and brother, but couldn't seem to help herself.

            "I'm listening."

            "What do you know about the Fairy Royal Family?"

            Bog shook his head. "Not much, I'm afraid. We don't talk to them very much. They're always feuding, that side of the primroses." He leaned back. "Why? Who'd you meet today that made you ask?"

            "I joined a fairy party," she replied frankly.

            "Dawn-" He started up.

            "I'm fine," she said quickly. "I told them I lived on the border and never got out much. They don't suspect a thing." She fiddled with her fingers a bit more. "Uhm."

            "What is it?"

            "Some of the fairies said... they have this idea that the Dark Forest is dangerous... it 'ate their Queen,'" she wiggled her fingers in air-quotes. "Or something. What's that about?"

            He swallowed. She knew he knew in that moment.

            "Does it have anything to do... with me?"

            "Well..."

            "Is Princess Marianne my sister?"

            "Princess... who?" Bog blinked. "I hadn't realized that Queen Maia had other children."

            "I don't know."

            "You should ask Mother about it. She knew the previous Queen, I think." Bog hesitated, trying to think of something to ask that would distract Dawn from her sad face. "So, you met their princess, eh? What's she like?"

            It worked. Dawn brightened. "She's nice! She was so nice to me. She said she wants to come talk to us in the future when she becomes Queen. I really like her! I hope she does, you know, talk to us, that is. I think she'd really like it here too, and we could show her around, and it'd be so much fun, and--"

            "Whoa whoa whoa, Dawn, breathe!" Bog laughed. "Well I'll trust your judgement on that. Did she... say anything about us?"

            Dawn shook her head. "The fairies don't seem to know much about the Dark Forest. It's kind of weird." She gave him her best wide-eyed stare. "Would you consider peace talks with the Fairy Kingdom?"

            The Bog King grunted, knowing that expression too well. "If they can prove they've civilised themselves beyond civil war."

            "That's good enough," Dawn declared, flitting over to kiss him on the cheek. "See you later!"

            "Where're you going this time!"

            "To hang out with Sunny!"

            The Dawn Princess being a royal, she was called on to represent the Bog King at goblin celebrations. She'd been attending them forever, even at the Bramble King's side. Not all goblins liked the idea of a fairy attending their celebrations, but the Bramble King had made it clear that the Dawn Princess was to be treated as a goblin royal.

            Dawn had also grown up with the same whispers of fairies hunting down goblins for sport, taking heads as trophies. She put her best foot forward anyway.

            This was an autumn festival, celebrated around a creek where fishes laid their eggs. The goblins caught the fishes and preserved them for the winter, and celebrated the catch and new winter stores. Dawn oversaw the distribution of the dried fish across the goblin families, rewarded the hunters with a greater share, and gave a pretty speech.

            If anything, the goblins loved her speeches. She always ended them with an exhortation to party hard.

            Griselda cackled as she watched her adopted daughter flirt with all the single goblin men there--Dawn was not particularly discriminate--and made insinuating comments about bringing one of them home.

            "Only one?" Dawn gasped in mock-horror.

            "Oh, you're just like your mother! The Fairy Queens never limited themselves to just one lover either!" Griselda laughed heartily.

            Dawn blushed, but took it in stride. "We'll have to talk about that sometime, Mom..."

            Griselda sobered a little, though the sparkle didn't leave her eyes. "We will. Now go dance!"

            It took Dawn a while to realize that a goblin woman was actively avoiding her. A pretty frog woman, who furtively glanced Dawn's way, with fear in her eyes.

            Dawn couldn't hold a grudge to save her life, but she had had some people thrown in prison for threatening hers (or rather, she had complained to Bog, who had them thrown in prison). She'd also had to dole out some damage on her own, to prove that even as a fairy, she was still their princess, worthy of their fear and respect. She tried to think if the frog woman had slighted her before. She didn't recognize her at all. This was a dilemma: she didn't want anybody worrying about her unnecessarily, but on the other hand, she didn't really want to care if people didn't like her. She was the Bog King's fairy sister--the whole of the Dark Forest would always be gossiping about her.

            But then why was this woman afraid?

            The good thing about wings, Dawn thought, was that she could go around an entire party far quickly in the air than on the ground where she might be seen. The woman wasn't hard to find. Or corner.

            She delicately cleared her throat.

            "Your Highness!" the frog woman gasped. "Wha-what a pleasure."

            "May I speak with you a moment?" Dawn asked, her arms relaxed and fingers linked in front of her to show she meant no harm.

            "Ah... of course."

            Dawn led her a few feet away, from the party, someplace quieter. "You've been avoiding me, looking at me like I might kill you," she said softly. "I don't remember you ever offending me, and I don't recognize you. I was wondering if you could tell me why. It's not... it's not right for the kingdom to mistrust its royal family. If it's something to do with my brother, I'll see what I can do to help."

            At the mention of the Bog King, the frog woman panicked, and almost leapt away, but Dawn's hand seized her wrist suddenly.

            "Please," Dawn pleaded. "I can't help if I don't know."

            The woman put a hand to her mouth. "Oh, your highness, it's my fault!"

            "What? What is?"

            "The King's ban on love!"

            "Uh..." Dawn's eyebrow felt like it was about to sprain itself.

            "I... I was the one he tried to use the love potion on." The frog woman was almost crying now.

            "Really?" Dawn's eyes swept over the woman. Really beautiful, as far as frogs went. A perfectly rounded belly, side fins gently falling down, and dark eyes. "And it didn't work?"

            "I don't know. It might have worked? But... I-I-I panicked, and ran, and I was just so scared!"

            "But... why?"

            The woman took a deep breath. "I... I was in love with someone else. And the King has always been kind to me, but I had no idea about his feelings for me! And when he threw that dust into my eyes, I was so scared, I feared I'd fall in love with him instead, and I didn't want to lose my Eldred!" She burst into tears then. "I was so scared the potion would work, so I ran from my own king! I'm so sorry!"

            "To be honest, that is a perfectly fine reason to run away from him," Dawn said frankly, and made a mental note to punch her brother somewhere soft later. She put an arm around the woman. "That's all right, please don't cry! It's not your fault you were in love with someone else!"

            The frog woman wept some more. "I never meant to offend him! And I never meant--"

            They sat down together, Dawn comforting the woman the best she could. Griselda found them, and the frog woman almost had another panic attack. If there was one thing more fearsome than the Bog King, it was the Queen Mother. But Griselda was congenial about it, and she patted the woman's hand comfortingly.

            "Do ya have any sisters?" she asked.

            The castle reverberated. Sand stirred. Maybe it was dust from the rot of old bark being disturbed from their corners. Goblins within a certain radius ran to take cover. The mushrooms, who could not move, muttered under the breaths as they plugged their ears with any nearby moss they could grasp at.

            The Dawn Princess was yelling at her brother. She was in fine form, not quite screaming, but her voice high and carrying and probably physically impactful if one was right in front.

            Which the Bog King was, but he was bigger, and armoured.

            She had found him in the throne room, shooed out everyone else, and said, "Bog? A word?"

            Upon further reflection, the acidity of her words should have been his first clue.

            She then proceeded to tell him what she had found out about the frog woman who had rejected him and prompted him to ban love in the Dark Forest. She carried on at length about his assumptions and impetuous behaviour in dusting the woman without even checking to see if she was single. She then proceeded to detail the interlocking consequences and simultaneous foolishness of imprisoning the Sugar Plum Fairy, cutting down the primroses, and banning a natural phenomenon at the same time. It was, they agreed later, a cutting speech, which might have felled an oak.

            She could do this, because she knew the Bog King loved her, and indeed he sat on his throne, letting his sister tower over him (she was hovering over him, her angry energy too much to be pent up), and sullenly tried to avoid her gaze at times.

            When she was done with her diatribe, she gently set herself back on the dais in front of him. "And what do you have to say for yourself?"

            He sat up, eyes dangerously narrowed. "I have heard you," he rumbled. "And I will take your words into consideration."

            Not a promise for immediate action, but it was a start.

            The Bog King was surly by natural disposition, like the Bramble King before him, so if there was a difference in his daily behaviour to his subjects, they did not notice it. He was still a responsible king, dutiful and true to his word.

            He would not lift the primrose ban. But Dawn got to go down to the dungeons and free the Sugar Plum Fairy, and write the edict lifting the ban on love. Since people fell in love despite the decree, not much else changed in the Dark Forest. 

Chapter Text

 "Did you hear? The Bog King lifted his ban on love?"

 "I hear he got married to a harpy!"

 "The Sugar Plum Fairy enchanted him."

 "He died and regretted on his deathbed!"

 "Will the goblins still cut the primroses down in spring?"

 "Maybe they eat primroses."

 "Goblins are carnivores! Everybody knows that!"

 "Maybe we should ask her." And someone nodded to Dawn, who was sitting at the edge of the fairy cluster, pretending not to listen as she stitched some petals together. It had been a while since she last visited the Fairy Kingdom, and although she was up to speed on what the commoners were up to, thanks to Sunny, she still approached the fairies with trepidation.

 "Dawn, you live close to the Dark Forest, don't you?" Marianne said, smiling and beckoning to the younger fairy.

 "Yeah..." Dawn said warily, not looking up from her handiwork. 

 "Well tell us about it then! What happened? Did he really die?"

 "Uh, no, last we checked, he still has a pulse and is still scaring the willies out of the goblins." 

 Marianne laughed. "So, Mister Big Bad Goblin had a change of heart, then?"

 Dawn smirked. "Probably."

 "That's good, then," Marianne said, softening. "Means he'd be open to talking in the future." 

 "Of course he'd be. If not him, then someone else in the royal family."

 "Oh? Does the Dark Forest have a Goblin Court, like ours?"

 Dawn scratched her head. "Not as such. They don't have much ceremony. At least not enough to fill a whole book, anyway, like the fairies do!"

 Marianne raised an eyebrow. "Are you... referring to the Book of Tyrena? The book of protocols?" 

 "May...be?" 

 "Wait a minute, I thought that book was destroyed," someone said. 

 "Yeah, like, all the records from the last two centuries were wiped out in that fire."

 "What fire?" Dawn asked. 

 Everyone was staring at her again.

 "How far away from the castle does your family live, Dawn?" Martin asked, aghast. 

 "Like right at the Dark Forest. Almost in it," Dawn lied. 

 "So, what, your family managed to miss the biggest conspiracy of the last twenty years?"  

 "I know there was a conspiracy," Dawn said carefully. "And I know there was a kind of royal upheaval. Lots of people died, including Queen Maia." She watched Marianne's face, who had also taken on an expression that was a mix between wariness, curiousity, and bewilderment. 

 Martin laughed. "Wow, you're even more a backyard fairy than you look."

 "Martin, stop picking on her!" Marianne snapped. "Are you trying to start a fight?"

 "Not much to fight," Martin sneered at Dawn.

 Marianne raised herself to her full height, her wings flaring out. Everyone backed away, except Dawn. "Leave her alone," she said coldly.

 "I'd fight him."

 Marianne blinked, and swung around to Dawn, who had clapped a hand over her own mouth, dropping her embroidery. They stood there for a few moments, Marianne baffled, Dawn's mind racing.

 Stupid, stupid, stupid! Now they'll find out! That I'm not really one of them! Now what? But he'd so deserve it! And he'd deserve it for ignoring Marianne too! She's their princess! The fairy princess!

 And I'm a goblin princess.

 Dawn lowered her hand. "I said I'd fight him." She pointed a finger at Martin. "You wanna go? Let's go, palace softie. I've been toe-to-toe with goblins before, and I bet you're a lot softer than they are to punch. And if I win, you're to never talk back against Marianne, ever again. Deal?"

 "This is stupid. I don't fight girls."

 "I don't fight cowards myself, but I'll make an exception for you." Dawn stepped towards her opponent, arms relaxed and wide as her hands curled into fists. She cracked her neck and raised her shoulders a little the same way she'd seen her father and brother do so many times, flaring her orange wings. The effect was a little lost, since she didn't have their shoulder armour, but it was goblin-like enough to make Martin leery.

 "Dawn, he's bigger than you," Marianne started to say.

 A fist shot towards her. She sidestepped it nimbly, catching it with an arm and smashing her elbow into Martin's face. She stomped on his foot, and hooked a knee behind his, letting him crash over. Still holding onto his arm, she let her other fist fly and smash into his face. He was going to get a black eye, she thought grimly. 

 He howled in pain, thrashing in her grip. She let him go, turning to face the other dumbfounded fairies. 

 It was a fast fight. Dawn had held out against her brother for much longer. But their father had taught them, fight surely and finish swiftly.

 Marianne was wide-eyed, but her eyes sparkled with excitement. 

 "Marianne, I'm sorry--"

 "Where did you learn how to do that? Also, can you teach me?" 

 "So it turns out that the Fairy Kingdom is just nominally a kingdom, and there're a group of protectorates beyond them, and the bit that's called the Kingdom is the first line of defense between the Dark Forest and the rest of the fairies." Dawn tore at her meal. She'd been away too long and missed her mother's cooking. Staying with Princess Marianne was a lot of fun, but fairy food was not particularly hearty. 

 "Who's Queen now?" Griselda asked, piling more food onto Dawn's plate. 

 "No one. They have a King. Marianne's Dad." 

 "What?" Griselda frowned.

 Bog had also stopped eating, a similar knit in his brows. "And what's he like?"

 Dawn grimaced. "I don't know. He's... nice, I guess? But really... stuffy. I think he lets himself be pushed around by the people in his court. And he's... I don't know. Like, he loves Marianne, but he doesn't love Marianne, you know what I mean? He saw us sparring, and we weren't even using anything dangerous, we were using sticks, and he just waddled over immediately, like I was about to beat her to death!" She wolfed down another mouthful, but stopped chewing when she saw the concerned look on her family's faces. "What?"

 "This is bad, Dawn," Griselda said. "Whenever there's a King on the throne, the Fairy Kingdom usually declares war on us at some point. Why is there a King? I thought Maia--" Griselda paused. "So that's what she meant by conspirators undermining her."

 "Mom...?" 

 "And the conspirators are raising her heir in the spirit of the new regime? Troubling... they must have been thorough in their erasure. Papa did say there was burning in the Fairy Kingdom for several days after their Queen died." 

 "Bog...?

 "This is even worse than your father and I thought. This isn't even a rebellion--those are common enough, what with the fairies being snooty enough that their people rise up against them for tyranny on the regular."

 "Uh..."

 "But twenty years? Is that even enough time to become the new normal?"

 "A lot can happen in just four. Look at how easily folks adjusted to your love ban."

 "Helloooooooooooo," Dawn half-yelled across the table. "Is this a thing I should know?"

 "Yes," Griselda replied, her dark eyes grim. "It's time for you to know."

 Dawn only cried a little when she held her mother's crown. She couldn't mourn a parent she didn't know. She admitted that she had no idea who Princess Marianne's mother was, since they rarely talked about their families. 

 She was a fairy princess. Her mother had been assassinated, by people who should have been on her side. All the hard work of Queen Maia, creating trade relations with the Dark Forest, opening lines of communication to the goblin royal family, and on the verge of signing an accord--melted away. 

 That, Dawn considered a greater loss. Crown Princess Marianne's dream of contact with the Dark Forest wasn't so impossible after all; it just seemed that way because that history of contact had been erased.

 Griselda hadn't been close to Queen Maia, but friendly enough to exchange some letters, and she kept those letters, full of complaints about men, politics, and children. Queen Maia kept a lot of consorts around, and had so many children she spoke of them all as a singular unit. But it sounded like not a single one had survived, and Dawn wept harder as she read the names of the children mentioned in Queen Maia's letters: all the siblings she could have had, the extended family that might have been her cradle.  

 A lot of things started to make sense: the way that fairy maidens were kept away from certain kinds of business; the surprise that greeted Dawn when she sat in on ostensibly public council meetings; Marianne's nervousness about finding a husband; the fact that no one seemed to know about certain kinds of protocol from the Book of Tyrena. 
 Whoever killed Queen Maia's family had planned it with the objective of quashing everything and everyone who could be reminded of her reign. 

 She knew replicating the Book of Tyrena had been a good idea. 

 Dawn found herself reasonably popular with the fairy girls, not so much with the fairy boys. She supposed that most of them were not fond of the fact that she could kick their butts. 

 She flirted with them anyway. Their reactions were funnier than the reactions of goblins. The goblin boys, at least, took it with equanimity that a girl who could beat them in close combat would be interested in them (and they were intimidated more by the fact that she was their princess). Since she was a fairy, she wasn't that attractive to goblins.

The fairy boys, however, tripped over themselves with confusion. 

 Marianne began seeing someone. A knight, the son of a prince of a nearby protectorate, with golden hair and green eyes, Roland was charming, gallant, and romantic. He danced really well (though Dawn couldn't say she was as impressed with his fighting) and he seemed in love with Princess Marianne. This vaguely confused Dawn, because she knew that Marianne wasn't considered a great beauty, among the fairies anyway. 

 There was something about Roland that rubbed Dawn wrong, and she chalked it up to her not liking fairy behaviours generally. She'd seen her father, the Bramble King, and her mother be cuddly and affectionate with each other, and some things Roland said and did rang false and... mean. Marianne would always apologize for things she did, which wasn't even anything wrong--maybe goblin women just got away with a lot more? But... other fairy couples seemed to not annoy Dawn as much. 

 Still, Marianne was over the moon with her happiness. In two short months, they were engaged. 

 "I'm off to the wedding, Mom!" Dawn called as she flew out. 

 She still didn't like the idea of Marianne getting married, but as long as Marianne was happy... 

 Dawn was still thinking about this as she reached the primroses, and someone was causing a commotion. 

 "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to--please don't!"

 "Marianne?" Dawn gasped, flying faster.

 Marianne was on the ground, surrounded by goblins who were growling and grabbing at her.

 "Stop!" Dawn commanded, landing right in between them. She spread her arms wide. "Leave her alone."

 The goblins looked askance at her.

 "She's my friend," Dawn explained. "She's okay." She turned to Marianne, watching with wide eyes. "Right, Marianne? What're you doing here anyway? Aren't you supposed to get ready for the wedding?"

 "You do talk to the goblins," Marianne breathed. "That's so amazing, Dawn!"

 Dawn blushed. "Nah." She grinned over her shoulders at them. "They're big sweeties, really." 

 Brutus blushed. "Aaww." 

 "Yes, you are, Brutus, don't deny it." Dawn flitted over to kiss Brutus on the cheek. "And you too, Rex, and Felix, and Mix," she continued, distributing kisses on foreheads. 

 Marianne was grinning now. "That is... the coolest thing." She stood, brushing off her dress. "Hi," she said, shyly waving at the goblins.

 They looked confusedly at each other, then at Dawn. At her encouraging nod, they waved back. 

 "See?" Dawn beamed at them, and they grinned back, happy to have made their princess happy. "I told you the Dark Forest isn't anything to be afraid of. I was kind of hoping to show you around sometime, but you kept on being busy, and--"

 "I know, I'm sorry, Dawn." Marianne flushed. "But what with the wedding and the meetings and... well, it was just hard."

 "It's okay," Dawn said quickly. "You don't have to apologize, Marianne, I completely understand." She gave Marianne a hug. "But like I said, I think opening talks with the Dark Forest is a great idea, and I'll help you as much as I can."

 Marianne smiled. "Well..." She looked at something in her hand. "I-I guess I better get this to Roland!" 

 Dawn blinked. "What's that?"

 "A boutonniere! Come on, Dawn, I know we taught you about boutonnieres."

 Now that Marianne said it, Dawn did see what it was. "Uhm... you're going to give Roland that?" Dawn asked, squinting a little at the mess of twigs and petals in her hands. She reached out and started plucking twigs out of Marianne's hair. 

 Marianne frowned. "What's wrong with it?"

 Aside from looking like it was about to fall apart, and aesthetically a mess by fairy standards, which didn't really matter, but-- "Uh, Roland's too good-looking for it?" she said, lightly teasing. 

 Marianne's face fell, and Dawn instantly regretted what she said. "You're right..."

 "I'll help you make a new one!" Dawn offered. "I'm sure there'll be stuff on the way."

 "You will? Dawn!" Marianne hugged Dawn rightly. "You're the best! And I love your designs!"

 On their way to the fairy castle, Dawn plucked the appropriate items while Marianne chattered about the wedding, how lucky she was, how she hoped she was beautiful enough for the day. 

 "Dawn...? Do you think... that Roland loves me... as much as I love him?" Marianne asked, a sudden fear in her eyes.

 Dawn was at a loss for how to answer. She hadn't really thought about it that much. Roland kept Marianne busy, and he was always proclaiming how much he loved Marianne. But Roland... didn't know Marianne. Or rather, he knew Marianne the way Marianne's dad knew Marianne. Which, to Dawn, wasn't much. Roland had never joined Marianne when she sparred with Dawn--had in fact discouraged it. He laughed at Marianne's natural clumsiness, fondly, but enough that Marianne acted stiff and formal about him. He wasn't even interested in Marianne's ideas for ruling the kingdom. 

 "Oh Marianne," Dawn finally said, "how could he not love you? You're so... lovable." 

 Marianne's eyes were downcast, the way they always were when someone called her different, or unique, or whatever else they said that implied that she wasn't what she was supposed to be.

 By lovable, Dawn meant, You're adventurous, and kind, and generous. You're open-hearted and hardworking and disciplined. You're a good person who wants the best for the people. But Dawn had said as much over time, and those weren't things the fairies cared about. They saw Marianne and they saw an eccentric girl, graceless and awkward, with bad fashion sense that affronted the fairies' aesthetic sensibilities. 

 Dawn finished the boutonniere quickly. "Uh, it's done!" She waved it in Marianne's face, anything to stop the bride from looking so sad on her own wedding day. 

 "Oh, it's gorgeous! Roland's going to be so handsome with it! I can't wait to give it to him!" Marianne snatched the boutonniere and shot off into the air.

 "Wait! Isn't it bad luck for him to see you on your wedding day?" Dawn yelled after Marianne. 

 Marianne stopped short, then laughed ruefully. "Of course. Damn it! Oops." She clapped a hand over her mouth.

 Dawn took the hand gently. "Why don't we look for him together," she suggested, "and then when we find him, I'll give it to him, and you can wait in the distance and see his reaction without him seeing you?" 

 "You are the best. Friend. Ever."

 Marianne's singing voice was high and lilting as they searched, and soon they spotted his squirrel in the distance. Alighting on a rock, Marianne gripped Dawn's arm and squealed in excitement at seeing her groom. Roland dismounted Chipper, and walked into a clearing.

 "Roland!" called an excited female voice.

 Which belonged to neither Marianne nor Dawn. 

 The princesses watched in horror as a fairy girl, who was decidedly not Marianne, ran to Roland's arms, and he dipped her just a little as he kissed her passionately. 

 Dawn felt Marianne's grip on her arm grow slack and she turned to see Marianne's brown eyes fill with tears, her happy expression replaced by dismay, revelation... and heartbreak. Dawn squinted at the couple below, trying to discern if she knew the fairy, but with a slight breeze, Marianne had flown off, sobbing. 

 Roland turned then, his mouth slightly open, not in horror, nor in remorse, just the wide-eyed surprise of someone who had been caught. He watched Marianne fly off, then his eyes met Dawn's, glaring at him, before she, too, took to the sky to fly after Marianne.

 Marianne sobbed into the petals of her bed, shoulders heaving with grief and pain. Dawn alighted into the room, ignoring the concerned spiraling of Marianne's sprite handmaidens. They knew Dawn, and made soft noises of distress, asking for instructions, information, anything.

 Dawn sat next to Marianne, and touched her shoulder. "Is there... anything I can do for you?" 

 Slowly, Marianne's sobs subsided. "Can you... tell my father... the wedding's off?" 

 "Okay. I'll be right back, okay?" 

 Dawn went looking for the king, who was in his private dining room, meeting with some of the protectorate princes. They were toasting, something about a new era, when Dawn was shown into the room.

 King Dagda took a moment to recognize Dawn, but his lips drew into a tight line. "Oh... it's you. What is it?"

 Dawn curtsied. "It's... it's about Princess Marianne." She chewed her bottom lip. She had forgotten to ask if Marianne wanted the King to know about Roland's infidelity. "She says the wedding's off." 

 "What?" There was a hubbub in the room. "What are you saying, girl?"

 "Princess Marianne wished me to convey that she is cancelling the wedding," Dawn said more confidently. 

 "But... why?"

 Dawn swallowed. "That's... that's not my story to tell." 

 "But you know why?" King Dagda demanded. 

 Dawn nodded, staring at the old man, growing more and more confused by the moment, who could very well be her father. Idly, she wondered if he had been a consort of Queen Maia's, or if he was some relative, or even a conspirator. 

 "You need to tell your king the truth, girl!" one of the outraged men behind King Dagda almost shouted.

 She shook her head. "I'm sorry, Your Majesty, but I can't tell you." 

 "That's... treason!" 

 Dawn straightened. "Treason is the betrayal of the sovereign and their family," she asserted, voice even. Some of the old goblins could be similarly absurd, and her father, the Bramble King, had taught Dawn and Bog how to keep their cool. "I won't betray the trust of the princess."

 Several of the men in the room had some very interesting reactions. She kept her face neutral, even though her heart beat faster, knowing, just knowing, that some of them must have betrayed the previous queen. 

 "I... I know you're upset, Your Majesty, but I can't tell you. I can't. It's not my story, and... it's really something you should be asking Her Highness about. I'm really sorry." She curtsied again, and carefully backed out of the room. 

 She flew back to Marianne's room as soon as she could, and Marianne had already ripped off the low hems of her dress. 

 "Done?" the princess asked. "Good. Can we spar a bit? I'm out of practice."

 On the bright side of the breakup, Marianne started hanging out with Dawn a lot more. Dawn had missed that. Marianne was also more... herself. She spent less time worrying about what other people thought about her and was more willing to do what she wanted, like experiment with makeup, and wear her favourite colours. That was a lot of fun, and with a group of their closer female friends, they launched a trend for wearing darker, richer colours at the Fairy Court than the usual pastels. Griselda was delighted: this meant the greater possibility of trade with the Fairy Kingdom, since the flowers of the Dark Forest tended to have deeper hues.

 On the down side, Marianne had grown grouchier, less patient and willing to deal with people she thought were fools. Also, more of a hovering nag. When she caught Dawn flirting with anyone, she had a face that reminded her strongly of Bog's own scowls. Dawn understood, but it was still annoying. It was not unlike Bog's tetchiness when he had his heart broken, and Dawn found it vaguely amusing to compare the two. She definitely had to introduce them. 

 Marianne didn't want anybody's pity, but as soon as Dawn pointed out that Roland was telling his version of the story--Marianne was overreacting, Marianne had pre-wedding jitters, Marianne broke his heart--she gave Dawn permission to tell the truth if anyone asked. She didn't want to talk about it herself, and when someone pressed her for answers, would give a hostile, tight-lipped stare. 

 Unsurprisingly, many people didn't take Marianne's side. She had overreacted. They had misconstrued Roland's hug with the girl. Roland had the right to sow his wild oats before being shackled into marriage. Marianne let those stories slide. Her closest friends were all on her side, and several of her supporters at court called for Roland's dismissal. 

 "I can't believe this isn't a done deal," Dawn groused. 

 "He's the son of a protectorate prince," Marianne said, blocking Dawn's blow from the side. "It's hard to dismiss him without causing some friction. My dad needs the support of the protectorate representatives. Plus, Dad still likes Roland."

 "Ugh, gross." Dawn caught Marianne's sword between her own two. "How do you plan on handling them when you become Queen?"

 Marianne sighed. "Hopefully they'll have died off by then. Hey, is there anything in the Book of Tyrena that might help?" 

 Marianne and Dawn sometimes read through the book together, and they had a little book group going with several of their friends. They picked a passage and discussed its applicability and possible historical context. Many of their friends were from noble families who had their own private libraries, so even though the Royal Archive had been destroyed in the Conspiracy Fire, they still had something to go on. It was something of a secret underground thing; most of the fairies their age thought it was terribly exciting to have a copy of a book long thought to have been lost, and Dawn had made it sound like it was a forbidden thing. 

 (Griselda had suggested that.)

 "I can't think of anything right now," Dawn admitted. "But I'll have a look. There's got to be something there about being disloyal to the future Queen. By the way, have you spoken to your dad about a possible royal visitation to the Dark Forest?"

 Dawn was cautiously trying to get Marianne away from the Fairy Court, in order to reveal her own secret. It was hard. There were a lot of prying eyes around, and Dawn didn't really want anybody else knowing for now, not before she figured out who were the conspirators and who supported Queen Maia. However, in the safety of her brother's castle, she could be open about it, and even show Marianne the crown.

 Marianne sighed again. "I've been trying. A lot of the protectorates don't like the idea, because to them, the Dark Forest is a threat. Break?"

 As they sat down together on a leaf and munched on a blueberry, Marianne said quietly, "did I tell you, one of the things Roland was excited about was getting an army? He said it was to protect me when I was his queen, but I think he was using me as a way to fulfill his power fantasy."

 Dawn nodded and patted Marianne's hand sympathetically. 

 "I just wish the old geezers from the protectorate roundtable would stop telling me to get back with him." Marianne frowned. "Honestly, I don't see what the big deal is. Roland's not the only son of a prince in the Kingdom."

 "But he seems a big deal?" Dawn asked. It was something she had observed in attending public council meetings. 

 "Yeah. His dad's holding is the biggest. Lots of intermarriage. Ugh, I bet they want us to get together to consolidate the territory." 

 "Huh." Dawn pulled another piece of blackberry. "How many protectorates are there? Do their representatives all come to the council meetings? When we went the other day, I heard a lot more names than I expected." 

 "There're several whose princes haven't come to court in years," Marianne said. 

 "Why? Shouldn't all the protectorates be represented?" Dawn still didn't understand very much about fairy politics, but she understood that much. 

 The fairy princess frowned. "Well, they're too small..."

 "But they're still nobility...?" Dawn was very confused. 

 "Yeah... yeah." Marianne frowned. "And... huh, they're not that small." She chewed thoughtfully. 

 "Can you ask your Dad about them?"

 "I think I will." Marianne took a deep calming breath, then winced. "If I can manage to get hold of him before the winter rains." 

 "Ooooohh, that's coming up, isn't it?" 

 "Yeah."  

 "I should check in on Sunny, make sure his family will be okay." 

Chapter Text

 Dawn did her best to blend into the background. She was used to looking pretty at various occasions, and used to being quiet. One had to be quiet when hunting in the Forest, after all, and one had to learn how to be still for long periods of time, to escape predators, to watch wary beasts. So she learned how to scoot behind arbors and pillars to eavesdrop on the gossip. 

 Also, unlike in the Dark Forest, where she knew people, and histories, and what was taken for granted as common knowledge, she realized there was a lot in the Fairy Kingdom that was unspoken knowledge. The last thing she wanted to do was reveal just how little she knew. 

 Council meetings were an interesting exercise in trying to blend in and failing. The councilors objected to women being in the meetings, even though they were open to public audiences. Dawn would sit in the higher level balcony area, arriving early to get a good seat so she wouldn't have to strain her neck to see and hear the proceedings. The men around her were at first very consternated to see her there, but since she spent most of her time waving at Marianne encouragingly, and was quiet enough, they let her be. 

 "I really appreciate your being here, Dawn," Marianne said to her once during a recess. They sat together in a corner drinking some juice. Marianne looked worn out, having concluded an argument with a recalcitrant noble regarding military service provided by the protectorates. Marianne was in favour of the Crown having its own standing army, which included members of the other species that lived in the Fairy Kingdom. It did not go down well. 

 "It's so interesting, though!" Dawn chirped. "I'll see if I can get some of the other girls to join me in the audience, too."

 Marianne sighed. "Good luck. I've tried."

 Dawn patted Marianne's hand. Marianne was likable, but lacked charisma. Dawn thought the same of King Dagda: everyone deferred to his authority, because he was king, but not for any other reason. He seemed to act as a steward to the throne, more interested in maintaining peace than in doing anything.

 Eventually Dawn persuaded a few of the other fairy girls. She simply told a lie that the men who sat in the audience were better looking than the ones who only went to parties. By the time they'd realized it was a lie, they were having too much fun complaining about the old geezers on the Council to mind. 

 "I can't believe you told them that," Marianne hissed.

 "It worked, didn't it?" 

 "Awful girl." Marianne fondly kissed Dawn on the forehead. 

 The winter rains were paradoxically busier and slower for people in the Bright Meadow. The brownies and the elves, living in lower altitudes, had to build dams to re-direct the waters around their villages. Otherwise, a storm could easily wash their houses away. The fairy homes, however, were built into rock formations scattered around the kingdom. The fairy royal family lived in the biggest one of all. Elves who worked in the fairy homes were excused from work, as the lower levels where their entrances were to be found could be easily flooded over. However, some elves would simply get to work using boats. 

 Most young fairies were thus forced to take up housework, to a limited degree, and studying. The nobility used the time to correspond with each other and catch up on paperwork that would have been building throughout the year. It was a time for a great deal of indoor work, necessary for distracting oneself from the anxiety-inducing storms beyond.

 In the Dark Forest, it rained a lot, and Dawn and Bog would travel on the ground with umbrellas made from thick leaves. Well, Dawn would; Bog was more likely to stay home (and grow irritable). She and her goblin friends would find some slippery hill somewhere and use bark to slide down, or something similar. She didn't like the winter rains as a season, but she did like standing knee deep in running water, her wings trailing behind her. Winter rains did not prevent the Dawn Princess from having fun. 

 "Why don't you build your homes into trees, Sunny?" Dawn asked one autumn's day as she helped him pick fruit. The fruit would be dried out, and stored away for winter.

 Sunny had laughed. "Why would we do that? Wouldn't that kill the tree?"

 "Well, you can kind of carve your way into the center of a tree and not necessarily kill it. Wouldn't that be safer than building houses out of stone and worrying they'll get washed away?"

 Sunny shook his head. "There aren't very many trees around for that sort of thing." He tilted his head at her. "Why? Does your family live in a tree? That's kind of weird for a fairy family."

 Dawn grinned. "Yeah, I guess it is." 

 "Hey, ain't nothing wrong with that." He shifted a berry from one arm to another. "That's kind of cool, though. I'd like to see it someday." 

 "If I can get permission to bring people over, yeah! That would be great!" Dawn beamed at him. Out of all her friends, she decided, Sunny and Marianne would be the ones she trusted the most to bring home to meet her family. 

 Sunny was the most adventuresome elf in his village. Smart, funny, brave, he was always down for exploring with Dawn. But there were some things he dared not do. The Dark Forest was one of them. 

 "No one goes into the Dark Forest, Dawn!" he'd exclaimed once when she had suggested it. "It's too dangerous! I mean, I know your family lives at the edge of it, but come on! We're not built to survive it."

 "Aw, come on, just because you've never been in the Dark Forest doesn't mean you'd never survive it. It's just to a teensy waterfall."

 "How do you even know it's there?" Sunny asked, torn between exasperated and curious. 

 "Pretty easy to access from the Meadow," she'd replied. "You can kind of see it from the primrose border."

 "But during the winter rains?" 

 The plaintive note in Sunny's voice was what made Dawn stop. She didn't like upsetting him. So she'd grinned instead. "We can go in spring. Okay?"  

 Thanks to Marianne, Sunny was put in charge of the music at the Spring Ball. Dawn was over the moon--her best friend since childhood, getting to work in the castle for something so important! 

 Now that Marianne had more time that she didn't spend with Roland, she came with Dawn to the elf village that Sunny lived in regularly. It was in between the border to the Dark Forest and the Fairy Kingdom's castle, which made it an ideal spot for Dawn to see both her most important friends regularly.

 "Remember the noble families in the lesser protectorates you were asking about?" Marianne said as they rested from a sparring session, Sunny pouring them drinks as he laid out a picnic spread. She was polishing her blade, a beautiful sparkling sword with an intricate design at the pommel. It had belonged to a previous queen, according to the fairy in charge of the castle armoury. 

 "Yeah. What did your dad say about them?"

 "Not much. Just that they hadn't been to court in a long time over personal differences with the nobles who do come to court. So I looked them up, and invited them to the Spring Ball."

 "Cool!"

 "Yeah, but you want to hear the weird part?"

 Dawn paused from cleaning her knives. "Huh?"

 "A couple of them wrote back expressing surprise. They thought they weren't allowed back to court." Marianne's mouth was set in a grim line. "I went digging in the archives--"

 "You still have archives?" Sunny asked. He wordlessly handed Dawn a sandwich. Dawn just as wordlessly took it.

 "Yeah, obviously only stuff from the last twenty years and what was salvaged from the Conspiracy, plus some copies from other noble houses."

 "What did you find?"

 "Those families? Were found guilty of treason, or conspiring against the Crown, and banned from attending court." Marianne took a sandwich from Sunny. She frowned. "And... I theoretically knew about it? It just never occured to me, and then..."

 Dawn stopped munching to wait for Marianne's answer.

 "One of them wrote me a greeting that could've been pulled straight from the Book of Tyrena." 

 "Like, the protocol book, that was meant to have been lost from the archives, and copies across the Kingdom destroyed? That apparently no one knows about now?" That, Dawn mentally added, the Dark Forest has a copy of, because it was one way to retain good relations with the Fairy Queens?

 "Well, clearly some people do." 

 "Didn't your dad say that no one remembers what was in the Book of Tyrena?" 

 "No, he said that it's hard to find people who remember the exact protocols in the Book of Tyrena, because it's meant to be adapted and changed with each generation. So it didn't matter that the original text is lost, because at least there're still protocol advisers around who've studied it and maintain its spirit today."

 "That doesn't make very much sense," Dawn said. "I spoke to one once, and he couldn't even tell me what was in the chapter about royalty-commoner relations. Like, he wasn't even prepared to talk about it."

 "Why would you want to know that?" Sunny asked, baffled.

 "Because I wanted to know if Marianne might get in trouble for hanging out with us."

 "Uh, you're not a commoner, Dawn..."

 "Still, he didn't know. Like, it didn't occur to him that it might be a thing someone would ask." 

 Marianne was chewing her sandwich now, lost in thought. 

 "Why would he know though?"

 "Because he's studied it! And he's older than the Conspiracy Fire, so he should know it. Or at least something of it."

 "But he's old, too... old people forget things!"

 "Not like this," Dawn insisted. "Old people forget things like... like where they put a piece of paper, or what they were doing a moment ago. Not something historically significant. Something they study deeply."

 "What would be historically significant about royalty talking to commoners?" Sunny exclaimed.

 "Well, you've got to do it once in a while! Like now. Right, Marianne?" Dawn turned to Marianne. "Marianne...?"  

 "Huh? Oh yeah." Her brow was knit in concentration. 

 "What're you thinking?"

 Marianne popped the last bite of her sandwich into her mouth, and chewed with a thoughtful expression. "I'm wondering... what these fairies exiled from court would have to say about the Royal Family."

Chapter Text

 Dawn flew with Sunny in her arms over the meadow flowers. He squirmed uncomfortably, which made Dawn tighten her grip on him. "Can't breathe," he gasped at one point.

"Sorry!" 
 

The primrose border was in sight, and Dawn wondered who'd be stationed to cut down the flowers here. 

 "I can't believe you're talking me into this," Sunny muttered. "Going into the Dark Forest!"

 "It's midday. Most of the goblins won't be around during midday. It's too hot," Dawn explained. "We'll be fine." 

 "Halt!" 

 "Huh?" Dawn paused mid-air, turning around slightly. "Roland?"

 Riding his squirrel, Roland approached them with a frown on his brow. When he recognized Dawn, the frown eased into a grin. "Well, look who we have here. Darla, right?"

 Roland seemed to make it a point to always get her name wrong, no matter how many times Marianne had corrected him. Another reason to celebrate the breakup. Dawn let it pass, but Sunny didn't.

 "It's Dawn, you-!"

 "Whatever. And what're you two doin' here, so close to the border? Don't you know folks are forbidden to cross the primroses? You could get killed!"

 "We're just going near the border. Then we were going to fly up, close to the tree tops," Dawn replied calmly. 

 Roland narrowed his eyes. "Oh? And why would you do such a thing?"

 Dawn shrugged. "For fun." 

 "You got a strange idea of fun, Miss Maud." 

 Dawn beamed at him. "I guess sometimes you can be right, Mister Wrong."

 Roland flushed. "See here, I can't let you be getting close to the border like this. What if some goblins came and saw you, and decided they wanted to make a snack of you?"

 "When was the last time that happened?" Dawn asked, head tilting.

 Sunny was staring up at her. She could feel his heartrate rising. 

 "That's not the point, young lady!" Roland barked. "The Dark Forest is off limits!" 

 "Why don't you escort us, then, Captain Roland?" Dawn asked, smiling brightly. "Then you can keep an eye out for the big nasty goblins while Sunny and I check out the area. We're really just going to have a look."

 Dawn didn't like lying, but her father had told her and Bog enough times that oftentimes, it was the only way to get things done. 

 "I got better things to do than babysit kids who ought to know better," Roland replied, doing his hair-twirling thing. "Whatever. If you wanna get killed, that's no skin off my nose."

 "Except it kinda is, isn't it? Because if we do get killed, by goblins, on this side of the border, it'd be you not doing your job." Dawn still smiled at him. 

 Roland glared at her, a rare expression of hatred on his usually charming face. He spurred his squirrel away.

 "Man, he should be fired," Sunny commented as soon as Roland was out of earshot.

 "Yeah. Either way, let's go!" Dawn swooped up and over the primroses.

 She and Sunny spent the rest of the afternoon splashing around in the little waterfall she'd told him about, and he had to admit that no, the Dark Forest wasn't as scary as it sounded. The sun was still high as they walked back to the border, Dawn letting her wings dry. 

 "Do you think Marianne really has a shot of making contact with the Dark Forest?" Sunny asked. 

 Dawn beamed down at him. "Absolutely."

 Dawn hadn't attended the Spring Ball yet, though she'd heard plenty about it. It was the most important social occasion for fairies coming of age. Young fairies from protectorates further off would be in attendance; Marianne had fought with her father about some of the exiled noble houses being allowed to send representatives. 

 But mostly, Dawn wrung her hands. She wondered about the possibility of using it as a way to introduce who she really was, but discarded the idea: it'd be too much, when there would be tensions from the exiled nobles in attendance. She wondered if she'd have to bring other family along as chaperones, although it seemed to be mostly unchaperoned, an event specifically for younger fairies to mingle. Were elves and brownies allowed? Apparently not, but they would be there in the background, like Sunny, who was already orchestrating  "Do you know what you're going to wear? I don't think I have anything for it." 

Marianne snorted. "Says the fairy who can whip up the perfect ballgown in a matter of hours." 

 Dawn flirted with all the fairy boys at the Spring Ball. 

 Except Roland, who kept on trying to talk to Marianne. 

 Also except Roland's friends, who kept on being his wingmen and circling Marianne, holding her attention with petty courtesies long enough for Roland to sidle up. 

 Finally, Dawn and several of their friends started circling Marianne to keep Roland away. Marianne, who didn't enjoy dancing all that much, accepted dances from the few male friends she had just to keep Roland away from her. 

 The highlight of the evening was that they had also managed to uncover several of Roland's affairs from across the protectorates, many of whom had had no idea that Roland had been cheating on them, convinced that his engagement to the Crown Princess had been a front he put up to cover up his real feelings. When they realized they were all in the same place, Marianne led them in an unsubtle confrontation. Roland fled the scene. Fathers watching that unfold began to steer clear of them. Dawn's flirting was significantly curtailed after that.

 She watched the various parents there to introduce their children to possible potential matches, and wondered what her birth mother would have done if she had been there. Would she have encouraged Dawn to meet and settle down with the nice son of a prince, too?

 She shook her head of those thoughts, and flirted with the elf helpers instead. 

 Dawn hummed as she flew towards the border, trying to ignore the rumbling in her stomah. Too much funfair food, she realized. She was going to be so sick. She was so absorbed in not throwing up mid-air, she didn't notice the three fairy knights following her. 

 Finally, too sick to fly, she stopped, and started to retch. 

 I'm never eating so much funnel cake ever again, she thought.

 Someone grabbed her by the hair and the arms, yanking her backwards. She yelped, and struggled. "What!" she gasped. It was too dark to identify the armour and their helmets were closed over their faces, but she guessed they were Roland's cronies. "Let me go!"

 One of them drew his sword, the sound of it attracting her attention. 

 "Sorry, little girl, but you're kind of a bad influence on our princess," one of her captors said into her ear.

 "Is that right?" she growled, kicking her heel sharply against one of their knees, hard enough that if it hadn't been armoured, she might have snapped it backwards. 

 The knight shouted, almost releasing her. She twisted her arm free enough to snatch out a knife, just in time to meet the sword slicing down at her.

 Then she threw her head back and screamed. 

 In the distance, Marianne was helping Sunny clear up the stage when they heard the cry.

 "What the-?" Marianne looked up. "Dawn?"

 King Dagda stood up from his chair where he had been waiting for Marianne. "Roland!" he shouted. 

 "On my way!" Roland flew off.

 "Dawn!" Marianne cried, flying after him. 

Chapter Text

 Dawn's shriek hadn't been one of fear. It had been a command, a call. She was still holding off the knight's sword when a growl rumbled from beyond the primroses. 

 The one still holding onto her shoved her away. "They can have you! Happy eating, gobs!" he yelled in glee.

 Dawn fell onto Brutus, who caught her easily and set her down. She swung around, and pointed at her would-be kidnappers. "Seize them!" she ordered.

 The knights gasped, and then began shrieking in terror as they were suddenly surrounded. They attempted to fly off, but larger goblins tossed smaller ones, launching them into the air to catch the fairy wings and pull them down. Dawn knocked one off his flight path into the waiting arms of one of her bigger guards.

 She flew into the Dark Forest, ready to lead her goblins home.

 Marianne and Roland saw the goblins as they receded beyond the primrose line, the knights yelling for help as they were swallowed by the darkness. 

 "No!" Marianne cried, ready to fly after them. 

 "Marianne, you can't!" Roland grabbed her foot. "Your dad won't let you fly into the Dark Forest! You'll need help!"

 "Like I'll accept any help from you!"  Marianne snapped, using her other foot to kick his hand. 

 "We should at least warn your dad and the elves! They need to know this! That the goblins are kidnapping our people!"

 Marianne stared into the darkness, something falling in her heart like ashes. Dawn had said that the goblins were relatively safe. Dawn knew the goblins by name, and the goblins had seemed so friendly. Dawn had just disappeared into the Dark Forest, where no fairy went to. 

 "We can go and get Dawn back, but you... you should at least take an army!" Roland kept on talking. "And Buttercup, I'll be happy to lead that army for you!" 

 More fairy guards were flying their way now, and Sunny was riding a dragonfly, worry writ across his face. King Dagda was in his chair, and his brows knit. "What happened?" the king demanded.

 "Daisy was kidnapped, sire," Roland reported, "along with the Janner brothers."

 "That's terrible!" King Dagda gasped. "That's practically an act of war!"

 "We need to respond swiftly, Your Majesty!" Roland declared. 

 "You're right, Roland! What do you need?"

 "I need an army! And a trebuchet! And--"

 "No!" Marianne cried. "Dawn... Dawn knows goblins. Her family..." Marianne trailed off, realizing she didn't know where Dawn's family lived. "Sunny! Where does Dawn's family live?" 

 Sunny blinked, then he scratched his head sheepishly. "She... never told me. I thought she told you."

 Marianne gasped. 

 Then she took off into the Dark Forest.

 "Marianne!" King Dagda cried. 

 "Dawn!" the Bog King yelled as he strode in. "Why are there fairies in my dungeon?" 

 Said fairies were in hanging cages, out cold. They had been so noisy, Brutus had thumped each of them solidly on the head to make them stop. Dawn had scowled the rest of the way home, hoping they hadn't had concussions. She had their helmets and most of their armour removed as soon as they were in the dungeons so she could inspect them. She didn't think there would be any lasting damage, but she supposed she'd only be able to tell once they woke up.

 "Remember how I told you about the conspiracy to overthrow the Queen? I think these guys might know something. I thought it might be useful to interrogate them."

 Bog raised an eyebrow at her. "Interrogate them," he repeated flatly, trying to comprehend that his baby sister, who could barely hurt a fly, was talking about interrogating people.

 "Yeah."

 "And how do you plan on doing that?"

 "Well... they're going to be scared, right? And I'm going to be the one friendly face they see, and I'll... I'll bargain with them. Tell them the goblins won't eat them if they tell me stuff." Dawn beamed up at Bog. 

 Bog closed his eyes and counted to ten. He got to five. "I love you so much," he began, and right as Dawn began to squeal, he said, "but that's not how interrogation works." 

 She pouted at him. "I can be intimidating!" 

 He smiled fondly at her. "I'll leave that to you, then. But you will let them go, right? If the Fairy Kingdom decides to come for their own, it'll be trouble for us."

 Dawn's eyes widened. "Ooops..."

 Bog rolled his eyes. "We'll send a message in the morning. Go get to your, uhm, interrogating." 

 Sunny was dithering at the edge of the Dark Forest. Marianne had flown in. King Dagda had left with Roland to muster an army. But what about Dawn?

 Sunny rubbed his forehead, trying to remember anything and everything Dawn had ever told him about her family. She'd always been reluctant to share details, only that her family lived on the border, and she had grown up around goblins as a result. 

 He should go tell her family! They surely would know what to do! But where did they live? He jumped on his dragonfly. He could fly along the border, see if he could find her family.

 But... Dawn was in the Dark Forest! And who knew what could happen to here... 

 He looked between meadow and the gaping darkness of the forest, meadow and forest, meadow and forest. 

 And with a small yell, spurred his dragonfly straight into the Dark Forest.

 Marianne heard the cries of the kidnapped fairies in the distance and followed the sounds the best she could. Everything was different in the Dark Forest, from the plant life to the very air. The Bright Meadow was open, and the air was always moving however gently, but here in the Dark Forest, the air seemed to be still, waiting, as if to pounce. 

 "Dawn!" she yelled, projecting her voice as far in as she could. Maybe Dawn would respond. Maybe a goblin would recognize the name and... maybe, just maybe... help?

 She almost missed the waving hands from the ground: a long line of mushrooms, trying to catch her attention.

 When she alighted, she crouched down to speak to them. "Do you know who Dawn is? Can you show me where she might be taken, or where I might find her?"

 The mushrooms were not chatty by nature, and they didn't feel like explaining to this strange fairy that the Dawn Princess was likely safe, had in fact just passed by riding the shoulders of her goblin honour guard. But the Dawn Princess would like to see her friend, perhaps, and reassure the friend that she was all right.

 So they pointed her to the direction of the Bog King's castle wordlessly. 

Chapter Text

 The interrogation wasn't going well for the Dawn Princess of the Dark Forest. 

 She had one chained up on the wall, and Brutus was showing fangs and claws, but that just rendered Adrian Janner into a whimpering puddle. Hugh Janner was visibly scared, but he wasn't talking, either. Jules Janner was still out cold, even though Dawn had tended to his head already. 

 Dawn had already determined a few things: they had been sent by Roland's father, Prince Robert of the Clearing. They thought Dawn was a bad influence and, by this time, a goblin in disguise. They also didn't care about who was King, as long as they still got to be knights. 

 She had more questions: who were on Prince Robert's side? Why were they supporting Roland marrying Marianne? Who was against Queen Maia?

 "I'll never say! You're just a goblin!" Hugh yelled from his cage. 

 Dawn was still tapping her chin in consideration when a crash resounded from upstairs. That was not out of place; Bog was probably just thumping his fist on his throne at someone again, or one of the palace goblins had dropped something. Until another crash, and boom, which reverberated through the castle, creating a crack on the wall behind Dawn. She heard it first, then swung around to see it. 

 The castle was clearly falling apart. Dawn waited a moment to see if anything else broke, if it might be an attack, but there was no alarm. Still, time to prepare for a move. It would be inconvenient, but not terrible. The Dark Forest Royal Family had arguably the best moving processes, encumbered as they were with scatter-brained servants. They already had a new site selected, and when the first rains exposed some rotting parts in the roof, they had packed the non-essential rooms up. She should tell Bog and her mother. She flew upstairs to fetch a pet spider from her rooms, but as she became more aware of the racket in the throneroom, she realized there were weapons clashing.

 What?

 She zipped out of the hallway to where the alcove openings looked down into the throneroom, and heard a female voice laugh. 

 Who? 

 Marianne kicked a piece of bark from the wall and launched it at Bog, who dodged it. 

 "Marianne!" Dawn gasped. She was about to yell louder when she heard them both laugh as they parried each other's blows. "Wait a minute..." They were definitely making sounds of enjoyment, albeit through snarls and yells, as they fought. It wasn't unlike happier days, watching her father and brother spar with each other.

 "I'm coming straight on for you!" Marianne growled as she struck downwards, and she stuck her face right into Bog's, under their weapons.

 "Oooooooo," Bog replied with a wicked grin. 

 Dawn squinted. 

 "You fight well!" Bog commented to Marianne, blocking a blow, and then sticking his face into hers. "For a fairy."

 "Are you two flirting?" Dawn asked, not loud enough for them to hear. 

 "Wish I could say the same for you!" Marianne retorted, pretending to look bored.

 "What do you mean?" Bog snarled.

 "Oh, I was just expecting--" Marianne twirled, and raised a cocky eyebrow at Bog. "More?" 

 "Oh Great Earth, you are! Flirting!!!" Dawn gasped. "Mo-o-o-om!!" she called. 

 Bog chased Marianne up along the walls, and they breathlessly kept swinging at each other even though they were tired. They finally landed on the floor of the throneroom, panting heavily. 

 Dawn alighted right by them. "Gah, you two--" 

 "Dawn!" Marianne cried, running to her. "Are you all right? Did he hurt you? What--" she noticed the spider in Dawn's arms, and shrieked. "What is that?"

 "Huh? This? Oh, this is Poompoom." Dawn held up the hairy brown spider with a big smile. 

 "Dawn, what did I tell you about bringing home spiders?" Bog complained. "They get webbing everywhere!"

 Marianne swung around and pointed her sword at him.

 "Whoa, whoa, Marianne! It's okay!" Dawn pushed down Marianne's sword hand, then went to Bog's side. One arm firmly securing Poompoom, she put the other arm around Bog's waist. "Marianne, this is my brother, the Bog King."

 "What?" Marianne's jaw dropped, taking in the sight of her tall, dark, gnarled and scaly opponent, at ease with Dawn at his side wearing a bright yellow dress. Bog gave Marianne a smug smile as he put an arm around Dawn's shoulders. They looked nothing alike. Well, maybe those eyes--they both had vivid light blue eyes, but still. 

 "Bog, this is my friend, Crown Princess Marianne."

 "Charmed. Welcome to the Dark Forest, I guess." Bog looked down at Dawn. "Why?" he asked, frowning as he gestured at the spider.

 "It's for the interrogation!"

 He raised his eyebrow and smirked. "Let me guess. Being intimidating didn't work?"

 "Hey! I've already gotten important intelligence from our prisoners! I'm just going to use something that's more intimidating. Spiders intimidate fairies!"

 "Ha! As if that fuzzbutt's going to intimidate anybody." Bog grinned, not really doubting her. 

 Dawn pouted, then crooned at said fuzzbutt. "It's okay, Poompoom, you're a scary-wary-spider! Don't listen to the mean stick." She turned to Marianne. "Don't you think he's scary, Marianne?" She held Poompoom up so its beady eyes faced her friend.

 Marianne recoiled a little, wild-eyed, still trying to wrap her head around the fact that her sunshiny albeit always odd friend was the sister to the King of the Dark Forest. "I..." 

 Dawn smiled expectantly at her. 

 The fairy princess relaxed a little, unable to resist that innocent face. "I mean, well, if you're going to look at me like that, not really," she admitted. "Except now instead of seeing two googly eyes, I'm seeing ten." 

 "You see? Your fairy friend agrees with me."

 Dawn rolled her eyes. "I get it. You like her." She paused a moment, then added, "Flirterers."  

 Marianne blushed, hard, taking a wide step away from Bog while he sputtered. "No--I don't--that wasn't--I--just get a bigger spider if you're going to interrogate people with them!" he snapped.

 "What's with all this racket this time of night!" came a cantankerous thunder from the throne room entrance. 

 "Sorry, Mom." Dawn smiled.

 Marianne felt that she shouldn't be quite as startled as she was. If the Bog King was Dawn's brother, then surely it wasn't such a stretch that the squat goblin before her was Dawn's mother. 

 "Griselda," the Queen Mother said kindly. "You must be Dawn's friend Marianne. She speaks very highly of you. Now, what's with all this excitement this time of night!"

 "Some fairy knights tried to kill me," Dawn said quickly. "I brought them home." She threw Marianne a guilty look. "And... and I guess people must have thought I was kidnapped, by goblins." 

 Griselda, however, cackled. "You're supposed to bring home nice boys who want to date you, sweetie, not ones who try to kill you. But still, three is a very nice number! Good work." 

 "Wait a minute!" Marianne said. "So this is why you can talk to goblins? Because you're one of them? Are you really a goblin, Dawn? What--how--?"

 Dawn cringed. "I always meant to tell you the truth, but there just... was never a good time?"

 "Dawn." Bog frowned. 

 "I always meant to bring her here!" Dawn cried. "But it was so complicated, and there're always people around, and I just wanted to be someplace where I wasn't, you know, princess of the Dark Forest and everything, and I--I--I'm sorry, Marianne." Her shoulders hunched and ears drooped. 

 "So what's the truth?" Marianne demanded.

 "She's adopted," Griselda said proudly. "But we've never disapproved of her trying to find out more about her own people. That's why she goes over to the Fairy Kingdom so often." Then her expression turned sly. "So what were you calling me for, Dawn, sweetheart?" 

 Dawn's face was clearly about to spread into a smile but she yelped. "Ow! What was that for?" She gripped her side, pushing out her lower lip at Bog.

 "Her Fairy Highness attacked the castle," Bog rumbled. "Dawn probably wanted to make sure you were safe, Mother."

 "Of course," Griselda said, eyes twinkling with amusement. "Well, seeing as you're Dawn's friend, welcome, Princess Marianne. It's been a while since we've had fairy guests. Don't mind the mess." She clapped her hands. "Stuff! Thang! Get some snacks! Come on, children, since we're all up, let's have some supper."

 "Mother, I have work to do. Also, Princess Marianne is probably here to, you know, collect her subjects. That Dawn has imprisoned. In my dungeon."

 "Nonsense, Bog, what kind of host are you!"

 Bog waved a hand over Dawn's curly locks. "Dawn is my second-in-command for a reason." 

 Dawn rolled her eyes. She grabbed his arm with her free hand. "Come on. After supper you can help me, I don't know, find a more intimidating spider."

 Supper was an easier affair than Dawn expected. Marianne loosened up as she tasted the foods in front of her, and Griselda kept up a line of conversation that was a combination of small talk and political intrigue. Bog didn't talk much, preferring to pretend that his food was interesting, but he did once in a while answer Marianne's questions about the Dark Forest, even seemed to find pleasure in her curiousity. 

 Good, good. Not quite Dawn's plan, but better than most scenarios Dawn had thought of. 

 "I'm done," she finally announced. "And I'm going to go find a more intimidating spider, now." 

 "I saw a really big spider web on my way in," Marianne supplied. "It's fairly close to your castle, too." 

 "Why don't you kids go," Griselda suggested. "Take our guest on a tour of the Forest!" 

 "That's a great idea! Come on, Bog! I bet Marianne would love to see the night sights! And you hate wasting a perfect moon."

 "What?" Marianne blinked.

 Bog thinned his already-thin lips at Dawn. It took him a long moment, but he finally said sourly, "all right, you're right, the moon is nice." 

 "Great! I'm going to get some rope and nets!" Dawn jumped up from her chair. "And round up some helpers too, and a cage! This is going to be so fun! A royal hunt!" She sailed out of the room quickly.

 Griselda smiled after Dawn. "So, Marianne," she said brightly. "Dawn tells me you're the Crown Princess. Who's on the throne these days?"

 Marianne blinked again. She hadn't thought about how the many years of no contact between the two kingdoms would lead to people not knowing. "My father is King Dagda. He was one of Queen Maia's brothers."

 "Her brother?" Bog asked, a little more sharply than he meant. "He's king, not regent?"

 Marianne frowned, puzzled. "All of my aunt and her children died in the fire."  

 "Oh, the fire!" Griselda exclaimed, perhaps a little too theatrically. "Bad business, that. We were so sorry to hear about that, Bramble and I. We had such good times when Maia visited." 

 "You knew my aunt?" 

 "We wrote lots of letters to each other! Fine woman. Hard to change her mind when she's made it, and if she and Bramble disagreed, there would be such terrible rows! Not just in person, but in their letters too. Whole sheaves of insulting each other. One time she even came in person to read her letter out loud. Said paper couldn't quite get the tone across so she had to perform it. Bramble had stitches for a whole week and couldn't fly!" 

 Marianne's eyes were very wide. "I find it... really hard to imagine insulting a fellow monarch... without war breaking out."

 Griselda barked a laugh. "Ha! Maia could bring really bring it. She was so much fun." She stood up. "Well, you kids have a good time catching spiders! It's time for these old bones to get to bed."

 "Let me help you, Mom," Bog said, standing up.

 "Feh, nah, you stay and entertain our guest, Bog." Griselda waved him away, batting at his hands. 

 Bog awkwardly turned back to Marianne. "So, Your Highness," he began. "First time in the Dark Forest, eh?"

 "Heh, yeah." She knotted her fingers on her lap nervously. "Sorry for, uh, smashing your window." 

 "We can fix that. Probably about time to move to a new location anyway."

 "Move?"

 "Yeah. Can't you tell? This tree stump's getting a little too old. We move into them when they're fresh, but what with everyone running in and out, and the parties and everything, there's wear and tear, so we move every few years or so."

 "That's really interesting!" Marianne said enthusiastically. 

 "Maybe next time you visit, we'll have moved, and you'll see what a castle should properly look like."

 "I'd love that. And maybe next time it'll be under, ah, better circumstances." Marianne coughed. Then she paled as she remembered something. "Oh, no."

 "What is it?"

 "Bog--Your Majesty, we can't go out right now. My father's sending an army. Maybe."

 "Maybe?" Bog echoed. 

 "I sort of flew off before I could get the details, but Roland was petitioning my father for an army, and--"

 "Roland, the knight you were engaged to?"

 Marianne scowled. "Well, one of us is well-informed."

 Bog cringed. "Ah... sorry. Dawn told us to explain why she was spending so much time your side of the primroses. I understand that she was helping you." 

 "She was! She's been wonderful. That's why.... when we heard her scream, I couldn't stand not doing anything!" Marianne dropped her eyes. "Dawn's always been able to see me for me. And she's always been able to help me... be me." She flushed. "Sorry, I'm not usually this maudlin. I don't know what came over me." She laughed nervously, daring to meet Bog's eyes.

 He was smiling kindly, his wide blue eyes frank with friendliness. "Dawn does that to people. But you shouldn't feel like you need to worry too much. We'll go out to meet your people, hand over your knights, and that'll be the end of it. No reason not to show you around while you're here."

 "You'd do that? For me?" Marianne leaned forward eagerly. "I'd love to see the Dark Forest." She glanced outside. "It's not too dark?"

 "Is the Dark Forest too dark for you, Tough Girl?" Bog smirked, gesturing for her to step out of the room before him.

 "Hey!" She walked out of the room and spread her wings to fly down to the antechamber where Dawn was ordering goblins about.

 She didn't see Bog's eyes light up in wonder at the colours that glowed off her back.

Chapter Text

 At some point, Dawn purposely "lost" her brother and their guest, leading her goblins onto a different direction while Bog and Marianne were busy checking something else out. Centipede, probably. Marianne wanted to see _everything_. Bog was inordinately proud of the Dark Forest so he wanted to show off everything, too. 

 A mushroom beckoned to her, and she swooped down for their news.

 "An army approaches." 

 An army? Really? To collect three fairies who hadn't even been gone less than an evening? Dawn shook her head. "Understood. I'll head back immediately. My brother's gone that way." 

 The mushroom nodded, and leaned towards a comrade-in-rhizome in the appropriate direction.

 "Send word across the forest to keep the civilians at home, in case things get rowdy. Tell our patrols to keep an eye out and mislead them if possible. Recall our top soldiers,

especially the bully-brutes." Dawn flitted over the mushroom caps as she issued more orders. 

 "What about us, Highness?" a goblin asked behind her. "What about them spiders?" 

 "Forget the spiders, we don't need them anymore."

 It was almost moondown when the fairy army arrived, their horns trumping their arrival at the goblin castle. 

 "Are you ready to receive these guests, my dear?" Griselda asked, combing her hair. "And where is your brother? He's such a bad host, just like your dad." 

 "Oh... I imagine he's still entertaining our other guest," Dawn said lightly. "The more important one." 

 Griselda's smirk deepened. "Do you think I'll get grandkids by the end of next year?"

 "Mom!"

 "I am Captain Roland! Take me to your leader!" Roland called from across the moat. 

 Stuff and Thang came running inside. "Your Highness! Your Highness! What should we do? The Bog King isn't back yet!" Thang yelled.

 "Should we go look for him?" Stuff asked. 

 "What, and ruin his date? Nah. I'll handle this." Dawn kissed her mother's cheek. "Be back in a bit, mom."

 "Knock 'em dead, honey! Except not literally!" Griselda called after her.

 The fairy army restlessly shifted before the intimidating skull that framed the entrance. They were not prepared for the brightly-dressed, blonde-haired, orange-winged fairy that flitted out of it. She gently hovered, and her feet rested on the shoulders of two broad goblins who menacingly lined the front. 

 "Dolly, is that you?" Roland squinted.

 "I am the Dawn Princess of the Dark Forest," she announced in a clear, ringing voice. "Sister and second-in-command to the Bog King, Duchess of the Marsh, Grand Leader of the Bonfire, and Great Mistress of the Tallest Tree." She made up some titles because if there was anything that intimidated a fairy, it was a long string of titles. "What is your business here?" 

 "D-D-Dawn?!" Sunny exclaimed from behind the fairy front lines. 

 "So you were a goblin all along?" Roland accused.

 "No, I'm a fairy," Dawn said pleasantly. "I just so happen to be the Bog King's adopted sister."

 "That's ridiculous! Why would he leave you in charge! And you a girl!" 

 Several of the goblins glanced at each other, all women. Dawn realised that outsiders didn't understand that goblins had to signal their gender in ways that didn't rely on sight. She smirked, crossing her arms. "Too bad. My brother's not here right now, so you'll be dealing with me until he gets back."

 Roland's jaw dropped. "Then... then where's Princess Marianne? And the Janner brothers? You let your goblins eat them, didn't you?"

 "Sir Adrian, Sir Hugh, and Sir Jules are currently cooling their heels in the dungeon for attacking a goblin royal. They'll be put to a trial once my brother finds a spot in his very busy schedule for it."

 "That's absurd! They should be tried according to fairy laws!"

 "That might apply if they had attacked me in the Fairy Kingdom. But they attacked me across the primrose border, in the Dark Forest's jurisdiction," Dawn lied smoothly. "Are you here to start a territorial dispute?" she demanded. "I don't think Princess Marianne would take kindly to an army upstart trying to interfere in diplomatic affairs."

 "What did you do to Princess Marianne?" called another soldier from the back. 

 "What's going on here?" aforementioned princess yelled, swooping out from the forest. "Roland!" 

 "Buttercup! We've come to rescue you!"

 "Friend of yours?" Bog raised an eyebrow at Marianne. "Is that... the guy?"  

 Marianne groaned. 

 "The terms are simple!" Roland shouted, trying to take control of the situation. "Hand back our knights and princess, and we'll leave as we came!" 

 "We can't take back the Janners, Roland," Marianne said exasperatedly. "You heard Dawn--they attacked her on the Dark Forest side of the primrose border. By international accords, and common sense, the Dark Forest has the right to try them, especially since they attacked a royal." She held out an arm. "Listen to me! You will stand down! The Fairy Kingdom will not attack anyone today!"

 The fairy soldiers glanced at each other uneasily, but the elves shuffled backwards, setting their weapons down. 

 "With all due respect, Your Highness--" Roland started.

 "You will stand down, or you will be massacred," Dawn declared, lowering the timbre of her voice the way her father and brother often did. She didn't have a spectacular roar like they did, but she could make her voice toll, too.  

 From inside the castle, Griselda snickered. "Said just like a Fairy Queen would." 

 "Your Majesty," Roland complained to Bog now, "isn't that _your_ army?"

 "My sister's very good at this, isn't she?" Bog said to Marianne proudly. 

 "Seriously," Marianne agreed. "I'm so glad she's my friend." She bowed respectfully to Bog. "Well, Your Majesty, I'll be taking my citizens out of your hair now. You'll hear from us soon."

 "Your Highness." Bog bowed back gracefully. "We look forward to your further correspondence." He waved his scepter imperiously at the frontline goblins. "Escort the fairy army out, so they won't lose their way. Dawn, you're in charge." 

 Dawn frowned, crossing her arms. "Hey, wouldn't you like to--"

 "Dawn," he began warningly. 

 She understood. The fairies of this generation weren't their friends, and it was possible that they hid another army somewhere else in the Dark Forest, so Bog would have to flush it out while Dawn maintained appearances. "Okay, okay. Move out!" Dawn flitted up to lead the way. "Princess Marianne, this way, as you please."

 "Dawn Princess, my pleasure." 

 As they flew overhead of the army, Dawn glanced at Roland, seething on his squirrel. "The Janner brothers are from the Clearing, part of the knights Roland brought with him to the Royal Guard," she told Marianne in a dipped murmur. 

 "Prince Robert, huh? He's one of Father's top councilors." 

 "He was one of those who accused me of treason for refusing to tell the Council why you called off the wedding." 

 "Guess you'll have to demote him, huh?" Marianne said. 

 "What?" 

 Marianne glanced over her shoulder. "Later," she whispered. 

Chapter Text

 After the Dawn Princess had escorted Princess Marianne and her entire entourage through the Dark Forest safely, they parted most amiably. Dawn promised to return the fairy prisoners in good health (for some value of good health as could be accorded to prisoners of the Dark Forest) as soon as the trial had passed, and until then, the primrose border would remain closed. 

 "Could you try to get them back by next week? We're about to have," and here Marianne rolled her eyes, "a conference, and if they're still missing by then, the old geezers will probably kick up a fuss and really declare war on the Dark Forest."

 "That would be inconvenient, and we'd like to deal with them before we move, too," Dawn said. "What conference is it?"

 "It's a gathering of all the Protectorate princes. They're supposed to meet once a year to report on the state of their territories, so if anyone needs help, they have everyone in the same room to ask."

 "Oh, that's right, that's in Chapter Eight of the Book of Tyrene." So the conspirators didn't get rid of all the old institutions after all. "Does everyone really come? I thought you said some of the princes haven't come to court in years."

 "I'm going to check, but..."

 They might not have been invited, were the unspoken words that both Dawn and Marianne understood.

 "So, uh, you're the princess of the Dark Forest, huh?" Sunny asked, lingering behind the army to talk.

 "Yeah... sorry I couldn't tell you, Sunny, but I didn't want to freak you out." Dawn smiled sadly. The fairies being scared of her after this wasn't a bad thing, because she was already used to them being leery. Sunny, though... if Sunny refused to hang out with her after this, she'd understand, but it would still hurt.

 "I mean, I get it, I just..." Sunny hesitated. "Will you still visit us? If you didn't anymore, I'd totally understand, I mean, those knights did try to kill you! But... it... it'd be nice to keep seeing you. You know my mom likes it when you help out in her kitchen." Like with many of the goblin communities, being allowed into a matron's kitchen was a big deal in the elf village.

 Did that mean he still wanted to hang out with her? "I'm not sure if Bog will let me visit for a while, but... you could visit me?" Dawn asked, hopeful. "I've always wanted to show you stuff around the Dark Forest!"

 Sunny's eyes went wide with a slight bit of panic for a second, then the panic changed to surprise and amazement. "Really? The fact that I can't fly won't make a difference?"

 "Not at all! A lot of my friends here can't fly, and I can get you a dragonfly." Dawn beamed, and turned to the goblins behind her, addressing the mushrooms especially. "Royal mandate," she declared. "Sunny the elf is allowed to pass through the primrose border without interference, and he is to be guided to me."

 Sunny gaped at the way the goblins nodded and bowed, the fact that Dawn was princess of the Dark Forest really sinking in. "Wow."

 "Just follow the mushrooms," Dawn told him. "And they'll always bring you to me."

 "Wow."

 "Sunny?"

 "Wow. Just, wow."

 "Sunny, maybe you should go home now."

 When the Bog King and Dawn Princess argued, it was a noisome affair. They were stubborn, like their father, so they stuck to their points with volume and speed. But they were also, deep down inside, people pleasers, like their mother, so they wheedled with each other, lost their respective tempers when it didn't work, and then traded insults.

 According to Griselda, insults were a fairy specialty, but Bog was very good at it, too, because he had been arguing with Dawn for years.

 Bog wanted to de-wing the Janner brothers for attacking Dawn. He was also all for keeping them in the prison, leaving them there when the family moved castles. He didn't go in for feeding prisoners to his henchmen, but he did want them suffering a lot.

 And, to be fair, Dawn also wanted them to suffer a lot, but she was also thinking about diplomatic relations with the Fairy Kingdom. If they were at war, or hostile to each other, then Dawn would be all for feeding them to the soldiers. But it would make things difficult for Marianne.

 So they called in a specialist.

 They called in the Sugar Plum Fairy.

 "It's so nice to see brother and sister getting along so well and coming into their power like this," Plum crooned as she floated over Dawn and Bog. She pinched Dawn's cheek. "And you! Are looking more and more like your mom every day!"

 Dawn beamed. "Which one?"

 "Both of them, of course!" Plum declared. "Now, what can I do for you royal siblings?"

 "Dawn put fairy prisoners in my dungeon," Bog rumbled. "There was an attempt on her life, and we'd like your input on how to make sure they won't be dangerous to us in the future."

 "And how do you want to do that? Your Majesty."

 Bog rolled his eyes over at Dawn. "Go on. Tell her your stupid idea."

 Dawn stuck her tongue out at him. "It's better than ripping their wings out! Anyway, can you make an adjustment to the love potion?"

 Sugar Plum's eyes went very wide. Wider. Wider still, until they were near encompassing the whole of her face. "What?"

 "I want them... to look like nothing's happened to them. But they tried to kill me, so as punishment, I want them beholden to me for a while. I figure the love potion will keep them from wanting to kill me for a while, and they'll do things for me instead." Dawn smiled benignly.

 "Do things... like...?"

 "Oh, you know... rub my feet, oil my wings, spy on the fairy council, send messages, buy me nice things... that sort of thing."

 "And the Bog King agreed to this?"

 "The Bog King agreed to nothing!" Bog yelled. "I banned love potion!!"

 "I'm not asking her to make love potion per se," Dawn said, exasperated. "We went through this. You banned love potion. This is not the potion you banned, since it'll have a different recipe."

 "That is fairy sophistry and you know it! It ignores the spirit of the ban!"

 "And since when do you care? You used love potion!"

 "Exactly! So I know the dangers and ethical problems with it!"

 "Do you really?" Dawn retorted. "You weren't even on the receiving end of it."

 Bog glared at Dawn, because she knew, and he knew she knew, that he had personally sought out the frog woman he had tried to use it on, to apologise. He and Dawn had had a long conversation, seriously laying out the problems with its use among common people, and they had agreed to let the ban stand. Once Bog had made up his mind, he did not go back on it. Dawn wanting to squirm around the ban did not sit well with him.

 And Dawn got it, she really did. What was one exception, but a gateway to another exception, and another, and then others?

 So she took another tack. "Love potion is banned in the Dark Forest," she said decisively.

 "Thank you, Mademoiselle Obvious," Bog grunted while the Sugar Plum Fairy rolled her eyes at him, "for elucidating us on this very basic point."

 "Love potion is not banned in the Fairy Kingdom."

 The Sugar Plum Fairy's eyes narrowed, and she stuck her face right in Dawn's. For a moment, Dawn was worried she was going to a scolding from the sprite. "Go on," the Sugar Plum Fairy purred, instead.

 "Nor are any variants. Not in the current law books, anyway," Dawn said, "which the Fairy Kingdom is using instead of the Book of Tyrena."

 "And you, my dear, are exempt from those guiding principles," Plum added with a smirk, twirling upside-down in deep thought.

 "Is that right?" Dawn asked, surprised.

 "Plum! Don't encourage rulebreaking!" Bog barked. As a king, he believed firmly in abiding by the laws he set himself.  

 Fairy queens, however, were set above the rule of law, because they made it, and were expected to be the ones who tested the current laws themselves.

 "I'll do it," Plum said, smiling. "I'm sure you'll make the necessary arrangements."

 "And you'll have three tries to perfect the potion!" Dawn clapped her hands.

 "I'll be visiting your dungeons quite a bit, unless you want to release your test subjects into my care." Plum swooped out of Bog's grasp. "And you'll of course shoulder all the responsibilities."

 Bog glared at Dawn, who nodded firmly. "I'm ready for it," she declared.

 "Dawn, please."

 Dawn didn't miss the pleading note in her brother's voice. What was his problem? This was an improvement over his death-by-neglect plan. "They threatened my life, Bog. The least they could do is protect it from now on."

 He set his mouth in a thin line, then stalked off. "Fine! Do what you want! But upon my word, what you do on that side of the primrose border is your affair and I'll have none of it!"

 "Fine!" Dawn stuck her tongue out at him. "What's gotten into him?"

 "He's just a little peeved that his baby sister isn't such a baby anymore," Plum said airily. "He'll get over it.

 "Oh." Her annoyance dissipated. "Well, that's good, right?"

 "It's certainly not bad."

 And that wasn't a reassuring response at all.

Chapter Text

 The first potion was a bit too much like love potion. Adrian Janner babbled incoherently about Dawn's eyes and lips and hair, and though he did keep quiet when asked, he would break that silence occasionally by sighing aloud dreamily. It did mollify Dawn a little, because she worried her hair was getting a bit too poofy. 

 The second potion made Hugh Janner a bit too stoic, following Dawn like a shadow and leaping to her every command. It got a bit creepy when he even began anticipating her wants or even the slightest discomforts. There was no "at ease" for him--he was constantly at attention. Dawn wanted a servant, not a puppet. 

 The third potion was almost right: Jules Janner was finally coming to when Dawn dusted him, and he was woozy but pliable. He seemed mostly confused, unable to recall anything from five seconds before, but also accepted Dawn's explanation that it had been all a misunderstanding, that Roland couldn't possibly have sent him to kill Dawn, because Dawn was such a good fairy girl. 

 Plum was unsure if this was really because of the potion, or because of his concussion. For science, she dusted Adrian with the third formula.

 "Can we really re-dust people like that? Wouldn't it just layer on the symptoms?" Dawn asked, curiously poking Adrian in the center of his forehead as he sneezed. 

 "Don't know, never tried it," Plum replied cheerfully. "We're about to find out!" 

 Fortunately, Adrian Janner did stop babbling compliments, so Plum and Dawn counted that as a win. 

 "Are you sure you want to use the Janner brothers for this?" Marianne asked, wrinkling her nose. She'd been unable to return for a few days, to persuade her father that there was no need to worry about the Janner brothers, and Bog had sent a message that the Janner brothers would be imprisoned for a short while. King Dagda, worried about the conference and how bad he would look to his council, agreed to keep it under wraps for now, even though Roland was loudly protesting. But Marianne roused up the support of the army soldiers who'd followed Roland into the Dark Forest, who were not keen on returning there for a fight. 

 Dawn was otherwise "pre-emptively grounded" from leaving the castle for a while, though the rumour went about that there had been an attempt on her life, so the Bog King had forbidden her from leaving home to protect her. On the books, grounding and sequestering in the castle dungeons was her punishment for being in possession of a love potion variant. Since Dawn could not go to the Bright Meadow, Marianne came to her.

 Except Marianne didn't spend all her time with Dawn in the dungeons. Dawn was suspicious, and MAYBE just a little bit jealous, that Marianne was spending time with the rest of her family upstairs. Bog liked to ignore the dungeons in general--dungeons existed to keep people out of sight and mind for him--so Dawn only got a picture of what "Bog and Marianne hanging out together" would look like from her very biased mother, who'd come downstairs to snigger. 

 "Why not? They tried to kill me, so they can make up for it without getting executed."

 "I would never, my lady!" Adrian protested.

 "I know," Dawn cooed. "How is my brother, by the way? I haven't seen him since my, ah, sequester." 

 "He's good! We've been discussing terms for state visits, and he's been showing me around the Dark Forest a bit more. I'm really impressed by your architecture, by the way. Working with transient nature instead of against!" And Marianne devolved into the poetic waxing Bog loved.

 Except, of course, Marianne was not from the Dark Forest, so her philosophical ravings had a different angle. 

 Bog must be enthralled, Dawn thought wrly. 

 Marianne was furious. She'd been denied entry not only to the conference hall, but also to the gatherings with the protectorate delegates! King Dagda cited rumours that Marianne had been dusted with love potion, and thus couldn't be trusted, but also that he just "didn't want her exposed to the stress of politics" after her "harrowing" experience in the Dark Forest. She bit her tongue until it bled, because there was no way she was going to tell him she'd been visiting the Dark Forest regularly afterwards to visit Dawn.  

"How is your friend, Dawn? She must be so traumatised after the kidnapping!" Dagda commented one day over dinner. 

 "She's doing okay," Marianne replied quickly. "Staying home right now because her elder brother's overprotective, just like you're being."

 "We do it because we love you. I got a message from the Bog King saying that he'll be releasing the Janner brothers soon. Do you think your friend will be able to forgive them?"

 "I'm sure she will," Marianne said. "You know Dawn... she can't hold a grudge to save her life."  

 "Thank goodness," Dagda said fervently. "I'd hate to get on the Bog King's bad side. Who would have guessed she was his sister, all this time? She always seemed like such a nice girl."

 "She is a nice girl, Dad."

 "Have you spoken to Roland recently?" Dagda asked, ignoring Marianne's dig. 

 "Of course not. I've been busy negotiating border rights with Bog." Marianne primly finished her salad, its floral notes lost at the mention of her ex-fiance's name. She couldn't believe her dad was still bringing it up.

 "Percival's been asking about the wedding, and whether you were feeling ready to head back to the altar."

 "Absolutely not. I gotta look over these contracts. See you later, Dad!" 

 She did not go look at the contracts immediately. Instead, Princess Marianne went over the conference proceedings with the other women at court who had managed to finagle themselves in as dates and daughters into the various rooms. They took notes and shared observations, and they had a lot of opinions on the different decisions being made. Marianne marveled at their ability to restrain themselves, because she wouldn't have been able to. 

 "Do you know when Princess Dawn will be back?" one of them asked. 

 "In three sundowns," Marianne promised. "That's what she said. In the meantime, I need a favour."

Chapter Text

 When Dawn returned to the Meadow, she came with a full honour guard: two brutes on grasshoppers, three hunters on dragonflies, two small pages on bluebottles, and the Janner Brothers in tow. Her bright orange wings were complemented with a light purple dress, and she entered His Majesty King Dagda's throneroom with pomp and circumstance amid the conference of protectorate princes, who watched her with trepidation and scorn. 

 Several of them, she noted, exchanged nervous glances in clear recognition of her resemblance to their previous queen. King Dagda's eyes rounded at the sight of her. 

 She curtsied. "I am the Dawn Princess of the Dark Forest, daughter of the Bramble King, sister of the Bog King. I represent my family and give our sunrise greetings to King Dagda of the Bright Meadow and his family."

 "Lady Dawn, what a pleasure to receive you."

 "Princess Dawn, how nice it is to see you again," Marianne asserted with her best gushing voice. "How is His Majesty the Bog King?" 

 "Princess Marianne, it's always a delight to see you! My brother is well, thank you for asking." Dawn beamed. 

 "And was your trip over the border pleasant, Your Royal Highness?" 

 "Very much so, Your Highness." 

 They kept exchanging greetings in this vein for a while until their faces nearly split from grinning broadly. 

 "I've come to deliver your subjects back to you. The Janner Brothers have signed agreements to never cross the primrose border and to perform reparations for offending the Dark Forest Royal Family. We saw no need for further action and thought to release them back to your custody." Dawn smiled benignly at King Dagda and stepped aside to let the Janner Brothers take their knee and give their greetings. 

 "Thank you," one of the chamberlains finally gritted out. "And will you keep your thugs away from the primrose border?" 

 Dawn blithely ignored him, waiting for King Dagda to say something instead. 

 "Ah, I believe Chamberlain Roberts asked after the Bog King's decision to re-open the border," Dagda said hesitantly.

 "Did he? I was raised the old-fashioned way, where mere subjects don't address foreign dignitaries in the presence of a royal unless directly instructed." 

 "I'm sure that can wait, though," Marianne happily intervened, stepping forward to take Dawn's hand. "I'll be more than happy to escort the Dawn Princess on a tour of the Meadow, as she's not on the official conference attendance list." 

 "Yes, that would be for the best, since we have a lot to go through before the end of the conference."

 Marianne nearly snorted, and caught more than a few of the women rolling their eyes discreetly. She nodded at them as she escorted Dawn out of the throneroom, and glanced over her shoulder once they were out of earshot. Jules and Adrian had trailed after them, Hugh left behind to explain the situation with the rest of the court. "Do they really need to follow us?" 

 "Oh, I guess they don't," Dawn replied, pouting. 

 "Didn't you have another reason for all this?" Marianne reminded her, waving a hand at the two fairy knights.

 "Yes..."

 "Dawn..."

 "Aw, I thought I'd be taken more seriously if I had some local bodyguards, you know?" 

 "That's nonsensical," Marianne said fondly. "Just say you want a cosmopolitan honour guard of pretty boys."

 "Well--" Dawn cast a coquettish look around her bodyguards, who all variously blushed and smiled and muttered their awshucks under their breaths. She turned and smiled at the remaining Janners. "Adrian. Jules."

 "Your Highness." They bowed.

 "You're aware of the conference itinerary, right?"

 "But of course," Adrian said. 

 "Could you attend the events you think are the most important, and tell me about it after? I can't attend since I'm not officially invited, you see, and Princess Marianne is going to take me around for a while instead. But I'd love to hear all about what goes on!"

 "Your Highness will love seeing the Great Lake," Jules gushed. "And you must go to the Crystal Grotto! Why, I'd take you there myself... there's a beautiful spot where the sunset colours just bathe your--"

 "Thank you, Jules." Marianne threw a hand in front of his face to stop him.

 "Is there really no way we can join you?" Adrian asked, puppy-eyed. 

 "Is there a party tonight? We can dance. I like dancing." Dawn patted his head.

 Adrian caught her hand and kissed the back of it. "I'll look forward to it."

 "And me!" Jules nearly shoved his brother out of the way. 

 Marianne rolled her eyes. "Let's go, Dawn," she said, dragging a Dawn Princess busily blowing air kisses to her fairy knights. 

#

 If any subject of the Meadow looked up, they would see Princess Marianne and her best friend with the daffodil hair. Rumours about the Dawn Princess of the Dark Forest had spread--from her being Princess Marianne's confidant, to being a fairy torturer, the Dawn Princess who indiscriminately seduced, who was a double-agent for both kingdoms, who had a voice of thunder and wings of steel. They flitted from tree to tree in the Sparkling Woods, Marianne clearly looking for something specific. 

 "Marianne, are we lost?" Dawn finally asked.

 "No, we're not," Marianne retorted. "I'm just not sure where to catch the air current to Prince Layla's fief."

 "That's the same as being lost." 

 "Oh, you. Here!" Marianne grabbed Dawn's hand and swooped up around the second-topmost branch of a conifer. 

 A gust of wind caught their wings, and swept them at a breathtaking speed far over the wood. They whooped and yelled, wings struggling to stay open to keep in the channel. Finally, they landed in a daisy clearing, laughing. 

 "Okay, that... that was fun," Dawn gasped. "What was that even?"

 "It's a quick way to travel from fiefdom to fiefdom that are far away from each other," Marianne explained. "If you had to flap your wings for that distance, you'd break your back before you got there halfway. This way, you just let the winds carry you to where you want to go. There are lots of such routes. I don't really get to use them much, since everyone comes to the Royal Palace, but it's super fun!" 

 Dawn's jaw dropped. "That's neat! We don't have anything like that in the Dark Forest."

 "Yes, you do." Marianne laughed. "But your air currents come from lower heights. You didn't notice?"

 "No! My dad and brother never said anything about it!"

 "I guess because they have different kinds of wings, so they don't need it. I didn't really get it either, until Bog showed me a sulphur marsh with a bubbling puddle. After that I kept noticing pockets of air coming out from across the floors of the Dark Forest." 

 Dawn marveled at her beautiful, brilliant friend who could give her a whole new perspective on the forest she'd spent her whole life in. "Wow. I'll have to look into that. I usually have to tuck my wings away to get through the flora, so it never occurred to me to think about my flying." 

 "Bog doesn't carry you through?" Marianne asked, surprise all over her face.

 "Of course not." Dawn grimaced at the thought. "I'm not a baby anymore."  

 "Oh... haha." Marianne quickly pointed at a fortress on the edge of the clearing. "There it is! Prince Layla's manor. Let's go!"

 "Hey, wait a minute, does that mean--? Marianne, wait up!" 

Chapter Text

 When Marianne and Dawn alighted on the landing platform of the fortress built around slender tree trunk, there was a contingent of guards waiting to greet them. At the head was a tall fairy, dressed in scintillating fabric, albeit of a simple fashion, with clean-cut square lines instead of the common flower petal edges. Prince Layla was an imposing woman with a high forehead and hooded eyes. Her face was drawn tight with trepidation.

 "Layla of the Northeastern Woods greets Her Highness the Princess." 

 "Prince Layla, thank you for your time," Marianne said. "I'm sorry to drop in like this with no prior acquaintance and only a brief letter of introduction, but the official channels had been closed off." 

 Layla stiffened. Marianne had explained to Dawn on the way that Layla's loyalty had been under suspicion, and she was thus shunted away into this far corner of the kingdom to watch the border, uninvited to the Palace until she had proven herself. "It is no issue. I am simply glad I can greet a royal, even with my status being what it is." She directed her gaze at Dawn. "And... is this the Dawn Princess of the Dark Forest you mentioned in your letter?"

 "It is," Marianne said. "May we come in to speak further?"

 "Of course. You must be a little tired." 

 Dawn trailed a little behind Marianne and Prince Layla, and Dawn's attention was immediately arrested by the large tear in Layla's right wing. It was a jagged rip; fairy wings were tougher than they looked, so someone must have gripped Layla's wing firmly and yanked hard and untidily. It was such a long tear that it would have grounded Layla, since the wing wouldn't be able to ride the winds reliably. 

 Layla led them into an airy parlour, seating them on fresh daisies and brewing up a drink. Dawn took a sipped and smiled at the sweet taste. 

 "And what brings the royals to my fief today?" Layla presently asked. 

 At this, Dawn turned to Marianne, because she hadn't actually been told of the itinerary.

 "Prince Layla, please be candid." Marianne laid down her teacup. "Does Her Highness the Dawn Princess resemble the late Queen Maia?"

 Layla went still for a long moment. "Not really, no. You bear more of her features; Her Majesty had dark hair and purple wings." 

 Marianne waited, earnestly.

 "Though admittedly, Her Highness bears a striking resemblance to the former Third Prince Consort Javier of the Grounded Oak." 

 "Third?" Marianne exclaimed. "How many were there?"

 "Four, of course. They represent the wings that stretch out to the four cardinal directions."

 "Nice number," Dawn quipped. 

 "Not when you have to coordinate the consort search," Layla muttered. 

 "That's not in the Book of Tyrena... how old is THAT tradition?" Marianne asked.

 That startled Layla. "Your Highnesses, how did you get hold of the book?" she asked, more fiercely than the two princesses expected. 

 "There was a copy in the Dark Forest," Dawn said. "We've kept it around as reference for fairy etiqutte during the times when we have relations with the Meadow. Marianne had copies made and distributed to the court ladies, though." 

 "And the protectorates allowed it? I thought--no, never mind what I thought." Layla stared at Marianne. "Why did you bring Her Highness here, Princess Marianne? You know what this means for your position."

 "Yeah, I do." Marianne smiled bitterly.

 "Marianne? What's going on?" Dawn asked. "Is this about the former queen?"

 "The legitimate queen," Layla said firmly. "No offense to you, Princess Marianne." 

 "So you were exiled for being against my dad becoming king." Marianne's voice had a note of triumph. 

 "Is that why we're here? I'm so lost right now." 

 "Princess Marianne, what are you planning?" Layla's expression hardened. "Is this some kind of loyalty test?"

 "What? No! I just wanted to confirm why you were grounded!"

 "Is that what they're calling it?" Layla sneered. "Are you satisfied with my answer? Will you report back to that puppeteer council your findings now?"

 "Helloooo." Dawn waved. 

 "Of course not! That's not why I'm here."

 "Then why are you here? Speak up, Your Highness, your penchant for prevaricating is just like your father's." 

 "I want to oust the current council," Marianne blurted out. 

 "Why? Hasn't the Meadow prospered in the years since they took power? Balls every season, overflowing nectar and dewdrops, and the greatest military in two hundred years!" 

 "Plus half the talent ignored because they're the wrong gender, the other half ignored because they're not fairies, and so much incompetence because these morons are so busy waving their swords around they don't understand basic economics!"

 "Uhhh..." Dawn wasn't sure what to say to that.

 Prince Layla did. "Princess Marianne, you just described yourself in your last sentence." 

 Marianne cringed.

 "Whoa, how did you even known Marianne took up swordplay?" Dawn asked. 

 "Princess Dawn, living exiled from court does not mean living in complete ignorance of its happenings."

 "You have spies," Marianne realised. 

 "Everyone has spies. Don't you, Your Highness?"

 Dawn raised her hand. "I don't know which highness you're asking, but I don't have spies, I'm the spy."

 "The mushroom network of the Dark Forest is very observant, and many of the trees speak in their rhizomes. It has been years since I've visited, but that's not something to forget." 

 "I mean, on this side of the primroses." 

 Layla smiled thinly. "Your Highness, just because you have an informal relationship with the elves does not mean you are not informed through them."

 Dawn had never thought about it before. Layla was good. Dawn wanted to hire her. If the court of the Meadow wouldn't have her, the Dark Forest could always use more talent.

 "I don't have spies," Marianne groused. "Not formally, anyway. I just started one, sort of."

 "You did? When?" Dawn asked. "And should you be telling that to Prince Layla?"
 "I want Prince Layla on your side," Marianne told her grimly. 

 "Your... side...?"

 "Think about it, Dawn. You're the last daughter of Queen Maia. You're the legitimate heir to the throne, not me."

 Dawn gaped at Marianne for so long, Layla sighed. "Your Highnesses, why don't you have a nap? I'll have rooms prepared for you. Some rest would not be amiss."

#

 It was not that Dawn had never considered taking her rightful place as the Fairy Queen. She had had thoughts about it ever since she had held her mother's crown in her hands, crying over the tragedy of the queen's pointless death. She had wondered what it would take to be queen, especially of a court that seemed rife with greed for power to the extent that it would perform regicide to secure their authority. 

 Moreover, she had wondered about, and then been defeated by the idea of, taking back a court that wouldn't support her. In the Dark Forest, even if she was merely the king's youngest sister, she enjoyed authority that she wasn't sure she saw in Princess Marianne or even King Dagda. The Bog King nor the Bramble King ruled through absolute authority, but they still had the support of their vassals, who carried out their orders and functions without complaint. 

 Dawn wasn't sure what the difference was between the Meadow and the Dark Forest, in terms of how their courts were structured, but one thing she was sure of: the rulers of the Meadow once held executive power that matched their Dark Forest counterparts, stolen by jealous courtiers who were not satisfied with independent rule. 

 Could she corral such unruly subjects?

 There was a light knock on her door. 

 "Who is it?" she called.

 "It's me," Marianne said. "Can I come in?"

 "Sure thing." Dawn sat up, stretching.

 Marianne looked sheepish. "So, uhm, sorry about springing all that on you all of a sudden." 

 "Yeah, that was a big surprise." Dawn plastered a smile on her face, not knowing what else to say. "But... were you serious? You've been working so hard to become Queen of the Meadow, and... it all seems a waste." 

 The sheepish smile turned bittersweet. "I guess it sounds that way but it doesn't feel right, being supported by a usurper government." She clenched her fists. "If I become queen, I want to be supported by people who are just and righteous."

 "You'd have me and Bog backing you, we're just and righteous. Well, I don't know about righteous, but we are definitely right." Dawn thought a bit more, remembering Bog's infamous ban on love. "Usually, anyway."

 "But Dawn, you'd be backed by Bog too," Marianne said in a rush of emotion. "And all the girls you've encouraged to read the Book of Tyrena, and the elves, and the sprites, and leaflings, and the rabbits... everybody loves you, Dawn, in ways they don't love me. If I'm queen, I'd become a puppet owned by the council." 

 "Killing them is an option," Dawn groused.

 "And you are very decisive." Marianne laughed. "I could never casually think something like that, much less say it."

 "If you hang out with Bog long enough, you will, eventually." 

 Pink suddenly dusted Marianne's cheeks. 

 Dawn decided not to comment on it. "Let me talk to Bog about it, and we'll see." 

#

 Prince Layla looked a lot more relaxed at lunchtime. Dawn could see the lines of strain on her face had eased, and her shoulders were less stiff. Plus, her wings were... more full? Dawn had no idea that fairy wings could do that. 

 She chatted with Marianne about inconsequential things, like the current trending honey recipes and the weather. Marianne was concerned about winter preparations, the opposite of Layla's confidence that the outlying protectorates were capable of handling the changing weather on their own, and indeed had been for many years despite lack of communication from the Meadow. 

 Dawn thought that Prince Layla's governance greatly resembled the way Bog's more competent vassals ruled their assigned parcels of the Dark Forest. But where Bog assigned people to different parts of the Forest, replacing them as they retired or, more often, passed away, Prince Layla's rule was inherited. There was a fondness in Layla's voice when she spoke of the people and lands under her, different from the Dark Forest's officials who reported in more utilitarian tones.

 That, Dawn could work with. 

 "Your Highness Princess Dawn, how does the Dark Forest prepare for winter?" Layla asked, finally turning to the third person at the table who had hither remained quiet. 

 Dawn could tell it was more out of politeness than actual curiousity, and confirmed it when she answered with a brief explanation that Layla nodded to.

 "It seems the approaches haven't changed much. We adopted a few of your strategies many years ago during Queen Maia's reign, which has served us well."  

 "Do you believe that Queen Maia's way of ruling should be re-instated, then?" Dawn asked bluntly. Brute force was as good a tactic as any in the Dark Forest. 

 Layla frowned. "Let me answer with a question of my own, Princess Dawn: you've seen how the current ruling council works alongside the king. Do you think their methods work?" 

 Dawn tapped a finger to her chin. "I suppose that depends on what it means that their methods work. They're working, in that they manage to keep everyone who isn't a fairy out of governance, but isn't that a legacy of how Tyrenan rule works? Governance through inheritance, rather than by assignment. The Meadow is more stable and peacable than the Dark Forest, so it can afford that kind of governance. An incompetent generation or two wouldn't necessarily harm the people."

 "But would you call the council incompetent?"

 No, she realised. They were too competent at what they did: sowing discord where they could to profit themselves, suppressing anyone who could reveal the depth of their corruption, and flaunting their authority as if it was something to aspire to. The arguments during council meetings were just posturing. Roland was not incompetent if he managed to hoodwink the princess of the kingdom into believing he was the best suitor for her. Certainly part of it was simply how King Dagda had raised Marianne to believe that all she needed was the right man to be happy, but Roland still knew the right things to say at the right time, and had done so to many other women besides Marianne. 

 "Your Highness, I have never met the Bramble King in his time, but I knew him to be a steadfast friend of Queen Maia, as well as a firm and good king. I trust he raised you and the Bog King to rule with a similar spirit." 

 And that, to the Dawn Princess, was a ringing statement of support.