Sirius and the Forgotten Princess

The Rude Fairy

Leah continued to pace around her office. This was supposed to be the happiest day of her life. She had been notified that she had already be assigned her fairy god parent - some Ipomoea Alba or another. It was a name that she was not familiar with; the name sounded foreign.

She had hoped that her request would have gone in faster. She had sent her sealed envelope to the Commission of Fairy Services over two weeks ago. She would think that with her being royalty they would give her priority. In addition, she had offered a large sum of money, nearly a million credits, to any fairy god parent who could help her find true love. A lofty request, but she had the funds to make one.

This fairy needed to arrive now as Leah did not want the spend another moment in this manor. She was tired of being bounced around from noble-man to noble-woman, lent out as some sort of prize to any and all that would tolerate. She knew that it was supposed to be some large honor to have the crown princess of Canis herself staying in their manor, hopefully, to be courted by their sorry excuse of a son. This whole process sickened her. She would much rather be staying with her grandmother in her country home. However, she had to stay optimistic. At least this is better than staying in the castle with her mother and father.

The king and queen did not approve of her, ahem, lifestyle. Leah had sworn off the company of men at the ripe young age of fifteen and had been banned from the castle until she brought home a suitor of their approval. Currently she was being courted by some governor of Adhara's son, or at least she believed. It was getting difficult to keep track of where she was.

She heard footsteps coming down the hall followed by a knock on the door. Leah bid them entry. She saw a young man not much older than herself enter.

The attendant came to her. He approached with his head down. "Your highness, you have a guest that requests your presence." He paused. "Immediately."

He received a tilt of the head and the squint of the eyes. "Who?"

"A woman, a lady Ipomoea Alba."

She looked at the young man. "She may come in."

She turned away to sit down behind her desk. She noticed that the attendant was still standing in her office, back straight and head down.

She exhaled. "Dismissed."

The young man bowed and gave thanks, leaving the room. All of these formalities were quite tiring.

She was glad that this wasn't the governor's son who was visiting her. She refused to accept his advances. Just like all men, he promised her the sun, moon, and stars. He assumed that he could make all of her problems disappear. He knew nothing of her life.

Leah continued to fume. So far all of the manors she had visited in the past two years had the same situation. Sons of governors, dukes and counts all wanting her hand in marriage. They didn't care about her - only what she represented.
She propped her feet on the desk.

While her office was a grand room, it was not to be hers permanently. It was custom for many large manors to have multiple unoccupied guest offices so that in the event that some traveling lord or lady might need a space, one might be made available for them. When she had arrived to the manor she was told that any and all unoccupied offices were at her disposal. While it was not the largest and rather far from her room, it was far from any possible suitors. In addition, the closeness to the library allowed her to pilfer books from the great shelves to her temporary ones, having already read all of the offices books that interested her.

She shifted her skirts back up her leg to cover her ankles again.

While she did not need an office, one was given to her anyway. She had no current duties that required paperwork. Even if she did, she would not have done any of it. She had absolutely no use for an office. This was stupid.

She shifted her foot to knock an open book off the desk.

In just a matter of weeks she had completely taken over this space. Half read books were sprawled across the desk and floor. Finished ones lie stacked in a pile in the corner. A few lay open, pages crumpled from their unfortunate impact with the shelf or ground. She had no pity on them. They had no useful purpose anyway.

She kicked off another book in a hope to recreate the satisfying thump that the first made. No avail, it just fell open on the ground. Leah leaned down to pick it up. The page read, "A brief history on the trade between Orion and Canis Minor." Too boring. She chunked it across the room to join its peers. It hit the shelf across the room creating a small dust cloud. A few books fell off the shelf too. They added on to the pre-existing pile.

She was glad that the mess remained though; it meant that the maids had stayed out per her request.

She picked up another book on her desk. "The Battles and Conquests of Canis Major Under Queen Leah II". She didn't want to read about her great grandmother's achievements. The book joined the pile too.

She reached behind her on the shelf, grabbing one at random. "The Effect of Dwarven Immigration: The Capital of Sirius from the Years 1624-1654". Leah huffed. Pile. She wished she had grabbed more literature from the library. These books on trade and history gave her no pleasure.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Hello? Ma'am Leah?" A heavily accented voice came through the door.

Leah bid them enter. While she hated the excessive formalities, the lack of a proper title did bother her greatly.

A tall woman with dark hair and many skirts came through the doors. She had dark skin and broad shoulders. Leah was correct on her assumption that her fairy god mother was foreign. She kept her head down but she met Leah's eyes. A feat that none had dared to do before. In addition, her eyes seemed different, bad different. There was something uncanny, un-worldly about the blue hue. They betrayed her subservient pose. The woman stepped over a book her skirts dragging behind her. She raised her head, without permission, looking up at Leah to smile.

"Hello, Ma'am Leah. Pleasure to make your acquaintance. My name is Moon Alba. I am glad to be serving you."