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WALKING IN THE WIND
v. THE PLIGHT OF A PROPER PRINCESS

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  PRINCESS ODETTE HELD HERSELF to such high standards that you'd think she was destined to become the next Aslan.

  She refused to admit it out loud because she didn't want to come off as ungrateful, but being a princess was exhausting. It was always so easy for people to assume she lived a life without hardship, but that wasn't true for any human being. To carry the weight of a crown on her head was to carry the weight of gravity pushing against her.

  Being a princess required many rules and expectations that must be honored at all times. Always stand up straight and smile, but don't look so rigid! You look like you're in pain, and we all know that princesses should never display the pain of any kind. Relax your shoulders, but not too much or you'll be perceived as lazy. Hold up your chin, never run, always curtsey. Always speak loudly and clearly but never too sharply unless you want to be deemed as disrespectful. The list went on and on and on.

  Being a princess didn't mean simply looking pretty, wearing lavish gowns, and living in an untouchable bubble. Being a princess meant subjecting yourself to fit someone else's narrative, only that "someone else" was an entire kingdom.

  You might recall that Odette was often viewed as aggressive or fussy or even high-maintenance, but this was only because she was raised as a perfectionist. She needed things to be orderly and perfect. Otherwise, she'd be reprimanded.

  Everyone expected Odette to act one way, and all of those demands contradicted and overlapped with one another. It was arduous, not to mention tiresome! That was why Odette appreciated Hope's presence in her life.

  Odette was 14 when she met Hope. See, Hope's father wasn't just the Captain of the Royal Guard. He was also the knight that accompanied the princess during formal events, so they had a friendship of sorts. He was the one who volunteered Hope to become the princess's new lady-in-waiting after the previous one retired. Odette never forgot what it was like meeting Hope for the first time. Hope never pushed any kind of narrative or stereotype onto the princess. All she expected from Odette were orders. Nothing more, nothing less. Odette loved it.

  But the thing that stood out the most to Odette was the fact that Hope treated her with respect, not because of her status, but because she was a human who deserved it. When Odette commented on this, Hope had said her father raised her to always be kind and respectful to people because "you never know what they might be dealing with at the time." That stuck with the princess. After hearing this, Odette begged Hope to become her new lady-in-waiting. They'd been inseparable since then.

  Odette truly admired her best friend. She was unconditionally kind, courteous, and dependable, not to mention more loyal than a dog. She was clever, witty, and always knew how to make the princess laugh. She was a charming girl, too. She was wise rather than educated, unlike Odette, who was educated but not wise. Oh, yes, Hope was quite bright, as well. Odette once described Hope as a rather timid creature upon first glance, but once she opened up, it was like the clouds in the sky parted to reveal the sunshine.

  The princess especially loved how tolerant and patient Hope was. She was always ordering her to execute the silliest of tasks, like sending her on a hunt for a mere pair of gloves (that wouldn't be worn). Hope did her orders without complaint every single time because she understood and accepted Odette. Hope loved her perfectionist and dramatic, fussy nature. It was for all of those "negative" traits that Hope loved Odette. She made Odette feel understood and heard, and that was something that meant more to her than Hope would ever know.

  In essence, Hope was everything the princess was expected to be, and she was everything the princess wished she was.

  Odette often pondered how different things would be if they switched places. She doubted that Hope would ever agree to an arranged marriage. Then again, Hope wouldn't have been forced into one in the first place. Hope's parents would've believed in her to resurrect Wysteria to its former glory. Odette's parents didn't think as highly of their daughter. To them, marriage was an economic proposition, and they were certain Odette couldn't purge Wysteria's strifes without a man's leadership.

  Personally—and she could never utter these words aloud—Odette despised the idea of men being the so-called answers to everything wrong in the world. To her, men were the reason there was anything wrong in the first place!

  But what more could Odette do? Her hands were tied. She yearned to be Wysteria's Queen, to save her kingdom and home before it disintegrated into nothingness. If this was the only way to do it, then so be it. Wysteria's future was far more important than her happiness.

  Odette supposed things could be worse. Fortunately, King Edmund was nicer than other princes and kings she'd met before. Of course, that didn't really matter. All that mattered was that Edmund agreed to the arranged marriage.

  Edmund was Odette's light at the end of a long, dark tunnel. He was her key to saving Wysteria. If she had to pretend to be a dumb, love-obsessed princess for now, fine. She could prove herself as Queen of Wysteria when her parents stepped down from the throne and everything would work out in the end. She just needed to jump over a few hurdles first. Metaphorically, of course. Odette didn't believe in strenuous physical activity.

  Now, if only she could make time to properly get to know Edmund, that would be splendid. Surely, that would make this whole situation speed up a little bit, right?

  Even for a princess, Odette was a busy girl with an endless agenda. It was troublesome to pin her down or catch her alone, especially without a thing to do. She was constantly with her parents, a royal advisor, or guards. Hope was always trailing after her, and even then, the lady-in-waiting somehow managed to have more free time than the princess (even if it wasn't very much).

  The last time Odette had a moment alone with Edmund must've been when he first arrived in Wysteria a week and a half ago. Sure, they'd spent time together, but they were never truly alone...

  Then again, they had the rest of their lives to get to know each other. What was the rush?

  As per usual, Odette wasn't alone as she sat in the dining hall. Atop the table before her was an endless selection of breakfast foods, and at either end sat her parents. To Odette, they were just her father and mother. To Wysteria, they were King David and Queen Lydia. Finally, Odette's fiancé, who looked noticeably tired, sat across from her.

  Queen Lydia lightly queried, "Did you sleep alright, Edmund?"

  Odette always thought her mother was a woman whose beauty was so captivating it could end wars. Her eyes were light blue and her cheeks were rosy. Her hair was long and dark, often kept in a braid of some sort, which was where Odette initially fell in love with braids. Odette often wished she looked more like her mother than her father.

  And yet, while Queen Lydia was a stunning woman, a gloomy cloud hovered over her at all times.

  Like her daughter, Queen Lydia was held to unbelievably high standards. She was normally reserved, never voicing her opinion unless it was to ridicule her daughter. Odette knew deep down that it pained her mother to raise her daughter the same way she was once raised as a young princess. Queen Lydia seemed to have replicated her upbringing with her daughter because she didn't know any better.

  Odette used to resent her mother for this, but now that she was almost 18, she was a little more understanding nowadays. All that kept her up at night now was her worry that she'd make the same mistakes as her when she had children one day.

  "Hm?" Edmund perked up, almost not registering Queen Lydia's question. "Oh, I'm deeply sorry, Your Majesty. I'm not much of a morning person."

  King David chuckled. "Neither is Odette. I'm sure you're not as much of a pain to awaken every dawn though."

  Odette's cheeks flushed. "Father," she gently hissed. She wasn't comfortable being teased in front of a man she didn't know that well yet.

  King David was the kind of man you never knew where you stood with. He was always so passive, even to his family. Sometimes, Odette struggled to decide whether they were on good terms or not. He was her father, so she knew he didn't hate her, at the very least.

  "It's true," he continued. "There's no one that can wake up our Odette the way her handmaid can."

  King David's greatest flaw was his superiority complex. He was prejudiced against the lower-class, which technically included Hope. He disliked her father, too. As a matter of fact, Hope's father was only given a statue when he died because Odette begged her father for two weeks straight. Odette eternally wondered why he despised the lower-class so much, but whenever she asked, he replied, "You'll understand when you're older."

  Odette was only now realizing that was his answer for most things.

  By the way, she was older and she still didn't understand her father.

  Cutting into the sausage on his plate, Edmund curiously inquired, "Do you mean Lady Hope?"

  King David raised an eyebrow. It was moments like these where Odette could truly see how closely she resembled her father. It wasn't just the dirty blond hair or their bluish-green eyes; they shared the same face.

  "Yes," confirmed Queen Lydia. Unlike her husband, she tolerated Hope and the lower-class. Note that tolerating someone is still very much different from liking them. "Have you had the pleasure of properly meeting her? She's always so busy with Odette. I'm not sure how she keeps up."

  Edmund nodded. "Yes, she's an excellent conversationalist."

  "Is that so?" chimed in King David. "I'm afraid we don't speak much then."

  Odette bit her tongue. She nearly told him that was probably because he refused to associate with the working class 90% of the time. Instead, she said, "That's because you're rather intimidating, father."

  Her tone was light, airy. That was how she typically spoke to her father. She feared that if she displayed more emotion than necessary, he would scold her for it. "Princesses are to be neutral; never too happy, nor sad," he'd probably say. "That's why they're so well-liked."

  And as Odette and her parents delved into a lengthy conversation regarding King David's debilitatingly domineering nature, the princess noticed Edmund's attention dwindle.

  His dark eyes traveled toward the leftmost side of the dining hall where a pair of servants unobtrusively chatted. Odette recognized them as Hope and an older woman named Diana. They lingered like shadows on the wall, patiently waiting to be summoned if needed. When Hope caught the Just King's gaze, she offered him a smile and a little wave. A smile Odette had never seen before appeared on Edmund's face.

  Yes, that's right. Odette recalled Hope and Edmund were spending a lot of time together. Whenever the princess was occupied to the point where she didn't require Hope's assistance, Odette knew the latter spent her downtime with other servants. They were her family, after all. However, since Edmund's arrival in Wysteria, the two had become somewhat of a pair.

  They were always laughing and chatting about the most absurd things. For example, yesterday, Odette listened to the two debate over Greek mythology for 30 minutes! It was such a strange conversation, too, because Hope only knew fairytales while Edmund knew facts he must've learned in school. Another thing was that Edmund recently assigned Hope the nickname "dove," and Hope started calling Edmund by his first name instead of "Your Majesty!" Plus, last week, they were spotted sparring on the training grounds together! It was perplexing, to say the least.

  There was something else Odette recently noticed, something that baffled her only a little bit. It was the way Hope smiled at Edmund, whether it was in conversation, in passing, or even when they stood on opposite sides of a room and caught each other's gaze. It was how they'd exchange glances like they could read each other's minds and share silly inside jokes. It was how Edmund wore a particular smile. It was how her eyes lit up when she saw him and how her laugh seemed less... forced.

  Odette couldn't help but notice that Hope hadn't smiled the way she smiled at Edmund in a long, long time.

  Odette was pleased with this newfound friendship. She was swamped with relief knowing that her future husband and her best friend were getting along. She was sure they were making tremendous efforts to get along because they had a mutual friend.

  Still, Odette couldn't help but notice how well they got along...

  ...Perhaps they got along a little too well.

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AUTHOR'S NOTE:

This chapter was brought to you by my refusal to have any one-dimensional characters!

Whenever I read fics with this whole "arranged marriage/love triangle" trope, they ALWAYS make the 3rd person in the triangle look like the bad guy, and I think that trope is kinda tired, you know? I wanted to shake things up by expanding on Odette's character and why she so eagerly agreed to the arranged marriage and make her a little bit more interesting! She just wants to take care of her kingdom that she loves so, so much, and she'll do anything to be the queen Wysteria needs.

Also, for my Harry Potter fans, I like to think that Odette is a Slytherin and Hope is a Hufflepuff and that's why they get along so well hehe (it reminds me of those theories of Ed being a Slytherin and Lucy being a Hufflepuff and that's why they're so close)

I LOVE, love, love Odette and Hope SO MUCH. Their relationship will be affected drastically by this ~love triangle~ that's slowly unfolding, as well as some other things that will happen very soon. Act One of this book is mostly dedicated to the characters as people. What I mean by that is that I want y'all to see how the characters think, their relationships with each other, their pasts (and what that means to them), how their relationships develop, etc. It'll make everything that happens later so much more significant if that makes sense.

Please be patient! I hope I can meet whatever expectations you guys have and I hope y'all enjoy what I have in store for the future of this story! Thank you so much for reading <3

PS — the Pevensies will arrive in the story VERY soon!!!