1. ONCE UPON A TIME

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Once upon a time, a single drop of sunlight fell from the heavens, and from this small drop of sun, grew a magic, golden, flower

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Once upon a time, a single drop of sunlight fell from the heavens, and from this small drop of sun, grew a magic, golden, flower. The flower had the ability to heal the sick, and injured.

Centuries passed and a hop skip and a boat ride away there grew a kingdom. The kingdom was ruled by a beloved King and Queen. Who had two daughters the first was named Odette, and the second was named Snow White.

Of course, this story isn't simple, fairytales never are. Unfortunately, Queen Ava took ill and she passed away. Not long after, the King remarried a country girl named Regina, only six years older than the eldest princess. The new Queen despised her stepdaughters for reasons Odette never understood.

Years passed and it came time for Odette to marry her betrothed since birth, Prince Derek.
This match was also not as easy as it seemed. Despite being promised to each other since childhood, Prince Derek and Princess Odette harboured a fueled hatred against the other. Every summer King Leopold would bring his daughters to the rival kingdom, in hopes of Derek and Odette finally getting along.
King Leopold and Princess Uberta tried desperately to bring the two together.
However, their efforts proved futile as every summer the pair spent all their time either ignoring or provoking one another.

Until their sixteenth year when Odette arrived to the Kingdom of Solis alone. Her father's second wife Regina had taken ill and so her father and sister had stayed behind to take care of her. Odette had offered to stay behind as well but was quickly refused by her father.

Odette sighed as she saw the outline of the Solis kingdom on the horizon. Another summer of feuding with Derek but this time she didn't have her sister with her, meaning she was all alone against Derek and his slimy friend Bromley.

She smoothed the layers of cerulean fabric that made up her skirt as she anxiously awaited for the ship to dock. The shouting of the workers was dulled as she viewed the crowd that awaited her on the shore. In the centre of the mob was Queen Uberta, Odette's breath hitched as she caught sight of the figure standing next to her.

Her eyes landed on Prince Derek though she might not have recognized him.
Odette hadn't believed that he would change that much but looking at the young man in front of her, she was proven wrong.
The boy from last summer seemed to be long gone, instead a young man was standing in wait. His once unruly brown hair had been cut and he'd grown at least four inches since the last time she'd seen him. His smile was strained as he stood in his aurelian attire, listening to his mother as she whispered in his ear.

She took a deep breath and shakily stood as the boat bobbed on the ocean below.
The gathered crowd could see her now and she heard their screams of delight that the princess of Corona had returned. She carefully glided down the wooden ramp with the assistance of Oliver, her most loyal companion. Oliver had been assigned to the crown princess at birth as her equivalent of the king's man and hadn't left her side since.

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