prologue!
000. a breath of a name

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    SHE ARRIVED in the night of the deadliest storm Camelot has witnessed. For a mere newborn babe to survive in the winds of howling ghosts, screaming winds and shattering light that sent the sky thundering back together to repair the scars sliced across its skin, it should've been impossible. But amongst the trembling foundations, the gasps muffled inside and the horrible sounds of crumbling thresholds, cracking stone and terrified screams from the Lower Town, there was a small cry.

    The young handmaiden barely heard her. If she had not been forced to travel through the dark corridors of the castle, gasping at each strike of lighting and clash of thunder, down to the kitchens to gather her mistress some food in the late night, she would have never found her. The child would have perished in the storm, crying her throat roar and have her heart stop at the sheer fear that rattled her thin, frail bones.

    But while there had been many to lose their lives that night▬their bodies found in ruins, tossed in the streets and drowned in flooding▬she survived. The newborn girl faced the ferocity of the night and emerged from the other end, swaddled in worn blankets and hidden in the crates of forgotten food: the likes of burnt pies, stale bread and imperfect baked goods.

     The handmaiden heard the cries between the howls of the wind, heart thundering as she flinched yet again at the sound of the torch she had lit in the cool, dark kitchens be snuffed out. The headstrong Ivette Mason thought she must've imagined it, struck by all the sounds this sinister destruction in the blackened clouds taunted and haunted her with.

    She stood alone in the dark kitchens▬a large room that by day, was boisterous with chatter, work and the smell of freshly-baked bread that starved the stomach of a girl who could barely manage a meek porridge in her early mornings. But now, it seemed more malevolent and ghostly than the tombs of the darkest sorcerers below Camelot. The shadows created beasts in the dark, looming over her as she shuffled towards the table, hoping that perhaps in such scatter and fear from the storm, a plate or two had been left▬enough to please Lady Elayne Vecentia and her wailing son of four winters. The young Ronyn Vecentia held a tongue for soft fruit whenever he was upset, but all Ivette believed she might muster could be left over bread and cheese.

    The handmaiden named Ivette brushed strands of dark curls from her brown eyes, mustering enough bravery to peer around the tables of the kitchens when she heard it again.

    She froze in her stance, fingers brushed against the edges of the wooden centre table▬following the strange sound came the loudest clash of thunder that night, briefly lighting the dark stronghold in a ghastly white light. And there, she heard it a third time▬clear like cut glass amongst the pouring rain. The high-pitched, hiccuped cries of a child locked out in the storm.

    Her breath hitched, shocked for a moment that a child would be out in such danger. She listened, unmoving to those relentless cries that now she noticed, she couldn't stop hearing▬gnawing at her racing heart with claws of steel, making her knees weak. She waited for the babe's mother to pick them up and rush to safety. She prayed for such a result for a few dreadful seconds that turned into an entire five minutes ... no one had came to rescue the newborn. No one seemed to even hear or notice she was there.

    All except a young handmaiden with no fortune, no savings, no way to hold a living more than she barely fought for right now: scrubbing floors and gathering food ... merely a maidservant with nothing more to behold in a world that held no promise. She heard the babe, she heard her cries, and despite her fear of the war raging in the heavens outside, she pushed through it all and ventured out into the stormy night.

    The gale billowed her skirts and nearly toppled her over as soon as she forced open the wooden servants' door. The rain pelted sideways, breaking through the shelter of the stone overhead surrounding the courtyard; it struck her cheeks and chilled her through her tunic and dress. A child left trapped out here? She pondered, horrified and bewildered. Who'd do such a evil thing?

    Ivette Mason▬just the mere daughter of a stone mason in the Lower Town▬stumbled into the vicious twilight, her hand covering her eyes from the rain that struck like ice to her skin. She heard the cries louder now; they were close, echoing out from her left. She hunched over, shuffling along the stone floor towards the carton of left-over food and wastes. She peered inside, and she forgot about the dangers surrounding her. She forgot about the lightning and the thunder and the water that soaked her tunic▬all of it moving to the back of her mind as she saw her.

    She was just a newborn. Small, thin, with red cheeks and squirming hands breaking out of an itchy woollen fleece wrapped around her with little thought. She was cold▬shivering and wet. Ivette was amazed that she had survived this long. She stared at her for a moment, noticing she was not even a few weeks old▬barely even tuffs of hair on her scalp.

    Ivette glanced around once more. The courtyard was deserted. There was no one else▬someone had just left this poor child alone to starve or freeze to death without a care in the world, and it brought a fresh flare of anger up Ivette's chest. There was no words stitched into the blanket, no letter left▬not even a name that she could breathe from her lips to this little, gorgeous girl. She had been thrown away, not wanted in a night, sure to die▬no one cared whether she'd survive or not ... just forgotten like a spec of dust upon a lonesome desk in a cold abandoned room ...

    It seemed like fate for Ivette to find her this dark day.

    And so, when no other heart held the compassion, Ivette took the newborn girl into her arms and brought her into the warmth▬and it was there, that the young girl stayed.

    Lady Elayne Vecentia was curious and confused when her maidservant returned not with food that late night, but instead a babe wrapped up in a warmer blanket, now fast asleep against Ivette Mason's chest. A young girl looking so gentle, so sweet▬cheeks still flushed from her screaming cries amongst the storm just moments before. A living, breathing miracle with small hands and a small frame▬snuggled into the chest of a woman who had no idea how she was going to raise her, but she was determined to give this young girl the best life she could; if she managed to survive this cold night, she deserved a chance to live.

    None could determine whether it was destiny, or a flicker of a good heart inside Elayne Vecentia that decided to let her maidservant come into the warmth with a lost newborn; to give her the bassinet her four-year-old son once slept in and swaddle her in comfortable silks to help her survive the rest of the night. But not one person could deny there was something special about the young babe▬something that settled in the air and made the dark corners grow lighter, that caused the clouds outside to lift and the storm to end. An orphan, a lost girl, a forgotten stone on the side of the road brought prosperity to Camelot after such suffering▬a wealthy gem hidden and tucked away. They were all amazed when the Court Physician found no ill-tidings to her health, that she awoke the next morning with no fever, no cough and no shiver. She opened her eyes and when Ivette Mason peered back down at her, the young babe smiled ...

    And that would be the blessing of her as she grew; that no matter what, Odette Mason brought forth a beautiful smile in the face of adversity.

    She was raised unlike many. Her mother had no husband, no house of her own and barely any earnings▬spending her days working until her knees were bruised and her fingers were rigid and sore. Odette grew up in the corridors of the mighty castle of one of the wealthiest royal families in the land, she was fed tossed bread and forgotten fruit in the kitchens, she slept in antechambers or in her mothers arms in the spare bed in the Court Physician's chambers. She played with the young heir to the Vecentia household outside in the castle grounds, ran through the servant hallways in games of cat and mouse, and hid from one another in the water supply beneath the city. When she was old enough, Odette was given work much like her mother had: scrubbing floors, fetching food, making beds and mending and washing clothes of those far more important than she'll ever be. Her days of laughter with Ronyn Vecentia became little to none as he grew older, and spent his time being tutored in the arts of poetry, warfare and science. Odette Mason became what she was always meant to be, a serving girl with no history and no future▬and then, an orphan once again, when Ivette Mason perished by illness when she was just fourteen.

    Since that day, no one breathed the name Odette with love and recognition. No one gave her a second glance in the hallways of a castle she grew up in. She became just like she had when she was a babe: forgotten and alone, left to fend for herself with not an ounce of care whether she'll survive or not. She worked and she worked▬she scrubbed for even the slightest of coin in the chambers of lords and ladies, princes, kings and wards. She gave them their food, she washed and mended their clothes, she worked until her back was sore and her knees were bruised; bowed her head without an utterance of a single word. Odette became a ghost in the liveliest city of them all.

    For what was so memorable about an orphan with nothing left?

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    THE PRINCE wasn't sure who this girl was standing with his best friend. He's never seen her before▬hanging around the young Lord Ronyn who crossed his arms, giving the young girl who stood barely an inch taller than his elbow a grumpy scowl. He didn't look like he wanted to hang out with her either. Young Prince Arthur, just eight years old had thought he was going to have a day to play knights and defeat evil sorcerers with his closest friend since birth▬he couldn't do that with a girl with them. Girl's don't play with swords, or hunt, or box. They liked dolls, and pretty things, and were annoying just like his father's new ward that kept to herself in her new room, ignoring Arthur who tried to see what the big deal was about the young Lady Morgana.

    Ronyn's companion held a shy gaze behind blonde hair, unsure on what to do or to say. She fiddled with her small fingers in front of pink skirts that weren't made from rich fabrics▬she didn't look like a princess or lady at all, with peasant's clothes and a smudge of dirt on her cheek.

    When she caught Arthur's gaze, she quickly looked away, turning to hide behind Ronyn who let out a loud groan of annoyance and dragged her back out. "Stop hiding, Odette!" he told the young girl.

    "But I don't want to be here!" she said, stamping her foot and glowering under loose waves that fell out of her hairband.

    Arthur didn't want her to be here either. He eyed her with a pout, looking just as upset▬he wondered whether he could run away and beg his father again to take him in his trip to the outlining villages.

    The girl, Odette, tried to rush away again but Ronyn grabbed her by her shoulders and pushed her towards Arthur who sent him an exasperated look, hoping he'd see that he didn't want to get any closer to her. He doesn't speak with girls▬he's a prince! He's supposed to be boyish, and manly and he boxes and he hunts and he practices with his wooden sword against the knights. He couldn't be seen with girls.

    "Come on," whispered Ronyn in a high, complaining voice to Arthur who turned away from Odette who was forced in front of him. "I promised Mother I'd bring her with me while she and her servant go visit my uncle."

    "I wanted to see my mum," whined Odette.

    "You can't," Ronyn told her, irritated like she was his younger sister. "Your mum is with my mum▬and they're not here."

    Arthur frowned down at her. She was tiny, and she didn't even look nice like the other girls he's been forced to meet. She looked like the daughter of a servant. He's a prince, he doesn't make friends with servants. But at the pleading look on his best friends face, he rolled his eyes and sighed dramatically.

    Reluctantly, with clenched hands and a downtrodden chin so he didn't have to completely look her in the eye, the young Prince Arthur muttered under his breath very unhappily, "Hello. It's ..." he grumpily shot Ronyn another look, "... nice to meet you."

    Odette glanced back at Ronyn, still unsure on what to say. In the end, she anxiously faced the prince and held her skirts, doing as her mother always told her and curtsied. Arthur was surprised▬she curtsied as elegant as a princess would; perhaps even better. "Pleased to meet you, Prince Arthur."

    Until she tripped over her own feet and landed on her knees. Arthur turned up his nose, jumping away in surprise. He looked around them, wondering if he could just leave her there and make her somebody else's problem. But his father always told him that a Prince had to be honourable▬whatever that long word meant. The young prince had a feeling it sort of meant helping Odette up.

    So, hesitant as if he was touching something disgusting, like horse dung, Arthur helped young Odette back up with picky fingers. Then, blushing bright red, he did what he always had to do when meeting a girl, Arthur grabbed her hand and rushed it up to his lips, kissing it.

    Immediately, Odette cried out and pulled her hand back, repelled. Ronyn himself made a face and Arthur quickly wiped the feeling of her dirty servant hands away from his lips while Odette rubbed the slobber of his kiss off her hand onto her dress.

    Arthur shivered in disgust, crossing his arms and stamping his foot, not wanting to look at her for another second. He couldn't believe that he had to be stuck with her the entire month his father would be away, and Ronyn's mother would be out of the citadel. How could Odette ever do what he and his best friend did? How could she play fight, hunt rabbits across the grounds and throw rocks disguised in mud pies▬?

    He hunched up, surprised when she suddenly raised her fists as if to attack him. Odette never wanted the prince to kiss her hand again. It was disgusting! (He was disgusting!) She didn't want to hang out with boys. She wanted to be with her mother and going on a trip to her mother's mistresses' brother East where they had beaches. She's never seen a beach. But now she had to follow the young Lord Ronyn around with his conceited-looking best friend▬and her prince, and she never thought he'd look so ugly.

    (What a total bummer).

    Maybe I'll be lucky and get chicken pox, both children thought to themselves, neither realising just how similar they were.

    Or how fate had their lives intertwined long before they were ever to meet.

    Ronyn▬who was determined to make his mother happy▬gave both Arthur and Odette looks, already accepted the destiny of having to deal with his mother's handmaiden's daughter (even if she annoyed him).

    Both of them held matching sulks, but turning to each other again, the Prince forced out his best polite voice: "I'm so happy to meet you."

    Odette huffed and mumbled, "So happy to be here..."

    How I'd like to run... they grumbled to themselves.

     (This was not their idea of fun!).

    As the days went by, Arthur and Ronyn had little choice but to go about their activities with a third party▬much younger and by far the most annoying little girl they've ever had to deal with. At least, that was all Arthur could think about. He thought she wouldn't like playing with wooden swords and throwing rock mud pies, but in fact, it was the total opposite! (And the worst part of it all, she was good at it!). Any servants in passing who might see the two noble children play with the castle's own little daughter would think it was such beauty with pleasant sighs and coos, but how wrong they all were.

    All Arthur knew were the bruises he got from Odette smacking him with the wooden sword he reluctantly gave her. Or when she tripped him down the castle stairs. Or threw herself at him in her attempt to wrestle him on the ground, still hitting him with her sword. She was a monster▬an annoying, brutal, disgustingly ugly monster that knew how to throw a good punch for a small, weak and underfed thing.

    By the end of the month, both he and Ronyn were beyond grateful that Odette was back with her mother constantly▬for neither could imagine another day supporting more black eyes and bruised arms. And the young perpetrator herself was delighted to be back in her dear mother's arms, back to being a polite, happy girl; as cheerful as a princess that made both boys scoff and grumble under their breaths at how fake the pretence was.

    Prince Arthur hoped to never see her again.

    (How wrong he was).

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    "CAN'T I come with you this time?"

    The bright-minded plead of an eight-year-old could sometimes be an impossible thing to say no to. Odette relied upon in at she begged her mother to take her east to see the Lady Elayne's brother. She followed her around the room as she prepared clothes and blankets, making sure she gathered everything she needed to keep the youngest Vecentia, dearest Adelynn occupied in the week-long trip.

    She couldn't think how horrible it was going to be▬to have to spend another month with no one for company except the young Lord Ronyn, or even worse, his horrible friend, the Prince of Camelot. Arthur had been a thorn in her side from the moment she met him. He made fun of her, he taunted her, threw sticks at her and threatened to shoot her with his bow and arrow each time he was at practice. He was disgusting, he was conceited▬he was every big bad word she knew that Gaius taught her!

    Odette was sure her mother could take her this time. She was old enough! She wouldn't be trouble, she'd be as perfect as a princess!

    But her mother sighed as she turned to face her. She looked tired▬she always looked tired. She was exhausted having to work so much and raise such a rambunctious child that Odette was at the same time. It made Odette want to be the sweet girl who caused no trouble; the perfect daughter, but Ronyn and Arthur made that far from easy.

    Ivette Mason smiled at her, though, like she was nothing if not perfect in her eye. Walking up to her, she cupped her daughters cheeks and said, "I'm afraid not, my darling Odette. It won't be long, I assure you! Just stay with Ronyn, you will be fine, as you always are. Isn't he waiting for you right now? Goodness, you can't keep him and the Prince waiting."

    Odette slumped at this, but she had little choice. Yet again, she was forced to face another month without her, chasing after two boys who hated her just as much as she hated them. "But mother I swear if I spend even a second with them I gonna be sick▬"

    "You will be all right," her mother kissed her on the forehead and she crossed her arms, not happy, at all. "Just promise me you'll stay out of trouble?"

    Moodily, young Odette muttered a reluctant, "I promise..."

    But she hugged her tight nonetheless, going to miss her each second of each hour in each day until she returned.

    Across the Upper Town and into the hallways of the citadel, in the large chambers fit very much for a prince and only heir of one of the richest kings in the Five Kingdoms, the Lord Ronyn burst open the door without even knocking. He heaved, catching his breath.

    "Arthur!" gasped the twelve-year-old boy, trying very hard to stay on his own two feet. "Arthur▬I have terrible news!"

    He soon stopped, frowning as he noticed the prince already up and ready. He sat back on his bed, eyes narrowed with deep concentration down the shaft of an arrow. He pulled it back, clutching his hand-crafted bow with skilful accuracy. Tongue stuck out between his teeth, Prince Arthur let loose the arrow and it flung right across the room, striking a piece of parchment with a crude picture he had drawn himself▬the head imbedded itself right in the forehead of a very ugly-drawn young girl. Two others had already found home at the ends of scribbled blonde pigtails. Ronyn made a face▬startled▬at the name written at the bottom of the parchment: ODETTE.

    "I ..." the young lord shuffled his feet, "... guess you already heard the bad news?"

    Prince Arthur lowered his bow, glowering at the picture he drew with a festering grudge. "If swear if I kiss her hand ever again I'm gonna be sick▬" he gagged.

    He didn't expect his best friend to suddenly grin by the door. "What?" he demanded.

    Ronyn crossed his arms, suddenly very smug, "I think I have an idea. A way we can have fun without her."

    Prince Arthur's scowl lifted, growing mischievous with delight at the very thought.

    And so their plan began.

    The entire month they tried their best but they just couldn't lose her. They sprinted away in the hallways, hid in the servants corridors, climbed the tallest towers and locked her out of the ancient chambers until she'd start to cry (and Ronyn felt bad so they let her in). When they picked teams (or friends) in sparring sessions with Morgana, they never chose her, hoping she'd get the message and leave them alone with each tomato they flung at her face.

    It was like she knew each step of their plan before they conducted it. She was there waiting for them at the bottom of the stairwells, she was sitting with Gaius when they thought they could sneak away and hide in his chambers, she was even out in the fields watching the knights when they went to practice! She was annoying when she was four, but now double the age, she was even worse!

    They tried to lose her in the markets, they led her to the underground water tunnels in Camelot and left her there, they even locked her in the ancient chambers at the highest towers!

    (But that didn't end well, at all).

    Arthur had started to feel bad for her. At each slam of her fists against the door he and Ronyn pushed closed with their backs, he felt ... guilty remorse.

    And he didn't like it.

    But deep down, perhaps the Prince sort of enjoyed these games of cat and mouse with her.

    Odette slammed a final hand on the chamber door. "This really isn't fair!" She called, voice muffled from the inside, bouncing off the stone.

    The boys snickered to themselves, "We really couldn't care!"

    But it was at the look Arthur sent Ronyn as she stopped complaining, sighing to himself that perhaps locking away an eight-year-old orphan was a bit mean (even for them), that he decided that maybe he should let Odette spend the rest of the day with them without any more trouble.

     So, with a nod, the two twelve-year-old boys went to open the door. Except, on the other end, Odette had found herself enough courage (or young stupidity) to see whether she could break down the door herself. She charged with a battle cry. The door opened. The three children all screamed.

    Their strangled yells alerted even the warning bells as they tumbled down the flight of stairs, becoming a pile of dazed, sprained and broken limbs at the foot of the next landing.

    The rest of the month for Odette, Prince Arthur and Lord Ronyn were not spent fighting trolls, battling each other with wooden swords or trying to trick the other into locking themselves in the stables or the storehouse. The young children faced the consequences of their troubling ideas of fun and mischief, glowering at each other and trying to pelt food across the floor at one another in the privacy of Gaius's chambers, recovering many bruises and broken bones.

    Before the prince was confined to his own private chambers, he wanted to get back at Odette one last time. If it hadn't been for her, he would have never been stuck like this for the next few months! He managed to ask for a tomato from a passing servant, and when Odette least expected it, he aimed it with precision with his crafty slingshot he took everywhere with him▬and before she knew it, her entire face was covered in tomato juice. She gasped in the cot she was stuck on, and without her arms to wipe it off, she had no choice but to feel it drip down off her cheek and onto her shoulders. Arthur grinned, very smug of the glower she sent him as he was taken away.

    This was not her idea▬

    ▬This wasn't any of their ideas▬

    ▬Of fun!

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    YEARS PASSED. Days came by and went, and instead of waiting until their parents were travelling away from Camelot, Odette, Prince Arthur and Lord Ronyn seemed to have created a sort of ... dysfunctional friendship. They snuck away from their parents' keen eyes into the servant hallways and stairwells, brought in frogs from the lagoon outside the city walls to startle the Lady Morgana and her young handmaiden in her bedchamber and continued to try and lock each other in many different places.

     But as the boys grew and aged into dawning young men, things started to change. No longer were the days of running off into the woodland, chasing each other down the stairs using the handles and spooking the guards stationed in the dungeons. Prince Arthur started to have more responsibilities. He had to attend council meetings, was tutored the necessity of battle tactics, charisma and what was expected of a future king. He joined training to become one of his father's Knight's and tagged along in hunting trips to bring back prizes upon prizes just to try and see a proud gleam back in his father's gaze.

    The young Lord Ronyn was schooled under the protection of his father's manor in the Upper Town, seen here and there as he followed him to learn what it meant to be the heir of the Vecentia Household. He would return to his chambers with bruises on his cheeks and his arms from his fathers growing anger at his childish dreams and intentions. He would be in Gaius's chambers, nursing sprains and cuts whenever he stepped in to try and protect his mother and younger sister. And Odette would be there to clean the blood off his cheeks, still young and starting to understand the shadows within the brilliant bright Camelot. She started to know why her mother's mistress left whenever she could for the east to see her brother, and why Odette was often sent off at night away from her private chambers where Ivette Mason would tend to the Lady Vecentia's own wounds.

    Odette herself started to grow into an intelligent, gentle, wise and courageous young lady. While the boys were schooled on battle, hunting and hard decisions, she was taught to read and write under Gaius's mentoring. She skimmed through old books on anatomy, mythical beasts, herbs and medicine. She aided him in his errands and started to tend to other lords and ladies around the castle as a simple maid. She started to learn the name of Guinevere Smith, the Lady Morgana's handmaiden when she couldn't spend her time with Arthur or Ronyn anymore. The days of childish adventures were starting to come to an end.

    But when the time came when their parents weren't around, the three friends flocked to each other yet again. The endeavours they once went on might not be achievable, but they found other ways to have fun away from the chains of their differing societies. At least, Odette did, and Arthur had little choice but to go along. He started to find it hard to say no to the frown on her face. Somehow, along the way, she had grown from annoying, to more annoying, to still annoying and yet she had found a way to become someone he cared about.

    Arthur hated dress-ups, and yet when Odette asked him to play he put on the knights' cloak▬even if he scared her witless with the stuffed bear he took off his chamber wall. The last thing he wanted to do was to pick flowers and pretty pebbles, but he'd find himself with a basketful at the end of the day. And he watched, frustrated when she got distracted in talking to the castle guards and servants.

    "I think you sort of like having her around," Lord Ronyn had said, watching him with a smug smirk and cross of his arms. "Fess up."

    Arthur refused to admit that he did. That she had begrudgingly become someone he was fond of, that he felt protective of▬that made him want to smile, amused when she still managed to sneak frogs into the castle to scare anyone he dared her to.

    "I'd like her better if she'd lose at cards!" the Prince had retorted, not letting himself lose in his pride▬ever.

    Long ago were the days when she used to bruise him with her wooden sword, trip him down the stairs and throw rocks hidden in mud pies. Now came the days where Odette was smart enough to beat him at card games in his chambers▬again, and again and again (Even when Ronyn was looking over her shoulder, trying to charade to Arthur what her numbers were!).

    She would read aloud books when she was bored, and Arthur fell asleep listening to her▬until she'd kick him in the shin to wake him up again when she got to her favourite part of the story. When deciding to join her walking through the markets, Arthur often took the moment when she wasn't looking to make rude hand gestures over her head▬only to look away, whistling nonchalantly whenever she glanced over her shoulder, suspicious. She'd pretend to disarm Ronyn with the knife she cut her apples with, stealing his apple slices when he didn't see. Arthur wasn't expecting when she picked up a tomato, turning it in her fingers until▬squash! He felt the juice strike and run down his cheek. It was his turn to glower at her as she chuckled, hiding her smile behind her hands as she finally got back at him after all these years.

     Arthur grumbled and showed her his cards, "For sevens and a ten."

    But Odette just continued to smile. She set down her set▬he and Ronyn both gaped, stunned at her lucky hand. She managed to get most aces! Sweetly and with faux innocence, the young teenager smiled, "I think I've won again...?"

    (Every time she's won!)

    "This is my idea▬" she began, continuing to smile in her annoying way. Ronyn and Arthur shook their heads, furious yet again: "▬This isn't my idea▬"

     "▬Of fun!"

     But perhaps this had become Arthur Pendragon's idea of fun, he just never got the chance to tell her just how much days with her meant to him. As the new year passed, a horrible blight came upon the heart of sweet Odette. The bright light that was Ivette Mason▬the woman who had found her and couldn't bear the thought of leaving her to die, who took her in and cared for her as if she was her own▬who worked her hands raw to provide the little she could for a girl who's hope held no limits, was snuffed out ... a flame extinguished to nothing. She passed in Gaius's chambers with Odette sobbing at her side after a terrible illness with no cure.

     Fourteen years young, Odette was left alone. Just like she had been when she was a newborn babe, she was thrown out to fend for herself. The Lord Vencentia gave her no security and no care▬locking the young girl who had become like another daughter to his wife into the cold night with nothing but the clothes on her back. Odette became an orphan once more with no home, no money▬not even a blanket to keep her warm as she slept on the streets, now nothing but a beggar asking for scraps of food from passing townsfolk.

     Even if he wanted to, Lord Ronyn was unable to look for her. Locked in his estate and overwhelm with responsibility, the young girl who he spent days chasing and playing with in the castle hallways had become forgotten. Yet again, Odette was a spec of dust in a cold, forgotten chamber, meaning nothing in the world around her. The bright and happy maiden who laughed at such small things, won card games with the prince and read through the pages of the books in Gaius's chambers was soon on the brink of starvation.

     Frail and barely able to move from the spot she had found just outside the citadel where she could see the sun rise up over the hills, Odette accepted her fate▬with nothing left to live for. She slept, shivering in feeble, dirty clothes and a fever coming to her head.

     But as the next morning rose, shining it's light onto her sickly body, she still opened her eyes ... she still held a ragged breath. The sunrise beamed down and what she saw, brought forth yet another miracle into Odette's life.

     The careful gaze of a blacksmith's daughter frowned back at her, horrified and yet tearful to see her friend so close to death. Guinevere Smith held out a piece of bread she had stolen from her mistress's plate, but Odette didn't take it. But unlike everyone else, Gwen did not give up her▬just like the boy in his chambers who told her where to find her.

     Just like all those years ago, Odette was taken back into the castle. She was nursed back to health in warm blankets in Gaius's chambers. She had been given a second chance; the sun did not want her to leave its warm gaze just yet. It had shown her a pathway she had lost all hope for.

     She often still wondered why.

     For▬truly▬what was so memorable about an orphan with nothing left?

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     a/n: I promise you, my writing's way better than this ... I'm just terrible at prologue's like ... some people can write these gorgeous chapters detailing everything that happened leading up to where the story starts and I'm just like ... nope, too impatient, here's this weird thing. 

     the start of this story isn't exactly the same as the swan princess. like I said, it's my own interpretation, like how merlin isn't exactly the arthurian tales because otherwise it'd be like r rated lol. 

     I wrote this chapter, scrapped it, and then rewrote it differently like twenty times and still couldn't achieve the image I had but oh well...

     but like, when you think about it, ivette is like king william, she's been gifted a daughter in the form of odette and yeah, so ... happy and sad times.

      arthur as a kid: *angry sulky face* I hate odette she's so annoying
      arthur as an adult: *angry sulky face* touch odette and i'll murder you

    (i hate this prologue i am so sorry ▬ i tried to write out the song but i failed i'm sorry)

    anyway, the chapters of this book aren't gonna be per episode like i usually do, just because there's so much content in each. I tried to put all of my dragon's call content in one chapter and we reached a number of words I shall not disclose because even i (eye) wouldn't put you through that much reading lol. 

      hence why this book is gonna be cut off at season 3 and we'll go onto a second book. 

     this is edited but in my books that means nothing there's gonna be mistakes istg

     (also, is it just me, or like as soon as one of my stories is like based in fantasy or old times my writing just turns *fancy*. like, I become *sophisticated* in my use of a thesaurus▬or basically, I just do things a writer's supposed to do, like be somewhat good at writing lol).