if i cannot fly {open} let me sing

[Ron Weasley]

green finch, and linnet bird, nightingale, blackbird,
teach me how to sing...

“How is she...troubling you?”

Alyson let the breeze blowing through her hair carry her for a moment as William replied to her, and closed her eyes. She had been hoping that he would say those words. But how did she describe the issue without incriminating her brother? After all, Philip was the one who had been encouraging the girl to come back, what with being kind and showing her around the castle and all. And if she could say so, Penelope was more than likely enamored with her brother's physical appearance as well - he was a rather striking young man, after all. To top it all off, he was also a lonely soul who desired female companionship other than his sister. Alyson couldn't really fault her brother for this, either.

She opened her eyes after a moment and eyed William's strong face. "It is difficult to explain fully, but I will do my best." She paused, taking a steady breath. "It started a few days ago. Philip, my brother, and I were minding our own business here, when she trolloped right into the castle similarly as you - except rather than apologize as you did, she demanded my brother mollycoddle her and show her about the castle. Being polite he did as she asked, and when he showed her to the door she went so far as to impose on our privacy and invited herself to dinner. She has been back almost every day for the last week, showing up whenever she pleases, unannounced and without invitation. She spends all of her time with my brother, and applies all her charms on him as she can."

At this, Alyson shifted her seat to move closer to William. She leaned in, as though to whisper a secret. In a lower voice, she said, "My brother is a very lonely man, William. He has never properly courted a woman, nor has he ever been under such direct influences as Penelope's. I am afraid he simply is not prepared for such wiles, and as such seems to be a victim of some cruel ploy of hers to make him be ungentlemanly to her to force him into scandal." Off-handed, she added, "The two of us were shielded from the world by our parents; I am afraid neither of us are prepared for the difficulties that others can bring."

The story was not a long one, having finished, Alyson clasped her hands in her lap and tried her best to resist to the urge to jump up and walk about. It was nerve wracking discussing all of this with someone who was essentially a total stranger. She looked up into William's eyes again, trying to read them. She didn't know him, so she couldn't say for sure what he was thinking. Oh! but how she wanted to know what he was thinking. Was Penelope as big a problem for other people as she was for Alyson? Was there not someone in this world who had an ounce of control over the girl?

Now Alyson looked out over the pond, letting a small silence consume her. The pond was not large - probably only covering two acres or so - and being surrounded by trees made it seem smaller. She watched as the rays of the sun danced over the surface of the water, then filtered down into the water until it was so deep nothing else could get through. A frog croaked out across the distance, the population having exploded since the old fisherman had left. The breeze picked up again, and ruffled the fabric of her dress against her ankles, and she turned her face into it. It came sweeping through the trees, and bent down the branches toward her, swaying in a rhythmic fashion.

"I want you to find someone who has influence over Penelope," Alyson finally said at long last. "Have them find her and send her away, or marry her off and send her away; the key is send her away from Averyln forever."

[Liberty Martin]

w i l l i a m ;

There were a lot of things that William wanted to do with his life. Not become a magistrate was one of them, as high up on the list as not working in the slightest; of course, he knew that he would have to eventually, but he hoped that he could gain some kind of employment that he actually enjoyed, rather than simply following in his father’s footsteps because it was something his father desired—William had never been particularly brilliant at pleasing his father, after all. He had no idea why he hadn’t simply given up and told the man that there was no way in hell he was going to take over from him when he retired, but William found that he didn’t wish to live through the conflict. He didn’t want to be accused (yet again) of being an idler and a layabout, and though it was entirely possible that he was, in reality, both of those things, knowing it himself and having it shouted at him so loud the neighbours would hear were two different things. There had once been a desire there to please his father, but that had long gone; now William stayed where he was for purely selfish reasons. He loved the house, and it had been his home his entire life, so that the amount of memories his father would just stamp all over once he left was enormous. He lived off his father’s money, and trying to find a place of his own would not only mean that he was stuck in some one-roomed hovel with no piano, where his whisky would get stolen by the landlord, but he would have to get a job. Maybe one day he would find something that suited, but for the time being, there wasn’t a single thing he wanted to do. He just wanted to wander around the town as the mood took him, following his whims and not the word of someone ranked above him, who would be following someone ranked above him, and so on, when ranks were not something William agreed with in the slightest; he doubted there was any kind of employment when everyone was on a level, but if there was he was determined to find it, because who you had been born to had no influence over your skill or competency. He wanted to be able to play music and drink and be in the company of beautiful women, and have few worries. Worries aged a person; he just had to look at his father to see that.

The last thing William wanted was to find himself somehow working for the princess, and yet that appeared to be exactly what was happening; it might have been a favour, but it was one that he could not refuse due to the very social statuses that he wished didn’t exist. He was only in her debt in as much as she had done nothing more than seem a little angry when he had trespassed into her house – twenty-eight and still finding amusement in going where he was not supposed to; there was no way that William was ready to grow up and get a job – but now he was listening to her story and had all but promised to help her out. Did he really want Penelope gone that badly? Yes, he did. He wanted his best friend back, and for some semblance of sanity to be restored to the town, and for life to go back to the way it had been before she had ever arrived. He missed being able to sit in the tavern with his friend and discuss things (mostly women), because now Lance was so preoccupied with this one woman that he had no time for things like friends. He nodded at the princess’ story, somewhat relieved to find that he was not the only person in the whole of Averyln who found Penelope to be so irritating that he wanted her gone. “I understand,” he said softly, surprised that she was being so candid with him, when he was nothing more than a stranger, but understanding her frustration and desire to do something all the same. “My best friend is similarly enamoured. He follows her everywhere and yet she does not give him even the time of day.” It might have been easier, if she had returned Lance’s affections, but William tended to think that it was a case of the heart wanting what it could not get, and that Penelope would never even know that Lance was like a lost puppy in the way that he was following her around. Lance would have been less lovesick and more inclined to spend time with William as he did ordinarily, and Alyson would not have such an issue with her brother.

All they needed was a love spell, then, so that Penelope’s affections would turn from the prince to Lance. Not that William wished to see his friend trapped in a relationship when they were still so young, but seeing him so heartsick was not something that was particularly pleasant either; if he wished to pursue this woman, then it would be better for all involved if she wanted to be pursued. “I am not sure what you wish me to do, however,” he continued carefully, hoping to avoid finding himself in the middle of this plot—although he feared that it was already far too late for that. “She seems to have no family. The only one who has influence over her is, perhaps, your brother.”



fixing your images for you <3

[Ron Weasley]

green finch, and linnet bird, nightingale, blackbird,
teach me how to sing...

“She seems to have no family. The only one who has influence over her is, perhaps, your brother.”

This news brought much fear and sadness to Alyson, and her face fell into shadow. If the only person who could influence Penelope was Philip, then there was very little they could do. Philip seemed resolutely determined to fall in love with her, and if he did as such then all hope for their parents would be lost. Alyson only needed a few more months with her books, perhaps less, to have exhausted their possibilities for restoring them to their proper shapes. It was he, not she, who has for so many years demanded that they strictly adhere to their father's wishes that they never leave the castle. Alyson would have gladly left the day after her parents were changed, if not but to escape the heart ache.

Alyson stretched her brain over the vast quantities of knowledge she had absorbed, prodding for any way to influence Penelope or Philip. Aside from several tokens of witchcraft that she was forbidden to perform, there was nothing conventional she could think of. Aside from pulling her brother aside and begging him with tears in her eyes to not give up so easily on their parents and purpose, Alyson did not have a standard way to get through to him. As for getting rid of Penelope, which was the end goal, it seemed now that there was no way to be rid of her.

"No family? This is dismal news indeed," she said quietly, trying to not sound supremely disappointed. "My brother seems to have no intention of giving up his dealings with her, and it is not as though we can move away to escape her."

Now she twisted her face up and closed her eyes, doing her best to listen to the sound of the water and wind. The calmness of it gave her clarity, and suddenly her eyes popped open and she looked at William excitedly. Penelope surely had someone who was responsible for her, otherwise she would be a walking scandal and no man would pine for her. If she did not have a custodian, then that would be enough for her brother to push her away; it was unsightly for anyone to propose marriage to a girl with no one to ask permission from. Likewise, if she had a guardian, then it would be easy to convince them to marry her off and send them away. Surely, there was someone who Penelope had to go home to at the end of the day!

"Are you sure that there is no one in the village who has some sort of custodial role of Penelope?" Alyson asked slowly. "Someone with such responsibilities and influence would surely be able to send her away." She looked at William with a cute slyness and raised an eyebrow at him. "Unless you have something else in mind to be rid of her?"

[Liberty Martin]

w i l l i a m ;

William couldn’t imagine what it had to be like to have your sibling fall in love with someone entirely inappropriate. He was an only child, but he was less tolerant of the class system than most, and he didn’t think he would care if any hypothetical sibling wanted to marry below them, as long as they married for love. His father would be less than happy, of course, and until the old man died William was bound by his rules, but it was irrelevant as far as he was concerned, too; he had no plans to marry any time soon, and if he did, there was no way that his father was going to have a say in who he became betrothed to. He was independent and frankly old enough to decide on his own, and it wasn’t as though he paid great attention to any of his father’s other rules, anyway. William was extremely glad that he had not been born a girl, because they were subjected to far harsher standards than he ever was – he imagined that he would be the same nevertheless, and simply an outcast from the ‘proper’ families of the town. As though that would be a hardship; they were all prying, pretentious middle-class snobs, and William hoped to God he was never going to be like them. Things were different for her, of course, as she was a princess, with the burdens of both being royal and female on her shoulders, and William was glad that he was not in her shoes. Or, since she was wearing none, on her feet.

“I have not made it my business to pry into someone else’s life,” William replied; he might have been an idler, but he had better things to do with his life than engage in gossip, particularly about someone he wished would get far away from the town. The sooner Penelope was gone and he could forget that she had ever existed, the better. He didn’t care if she had a guardian or she was the ward of somebody, and the idea that the princess thought this to be the sort of thing that he would know was almost offensive; he wasn’t the sort of person to plan out someone’s removal just because he didn’t like them. There were always going to be people that were disliked or didn’t quite fit in, and he wasn’t going to banish all of them too. “No, your highness, I didn’t have anything planned,” he said, getting to his feet and straightening his jacket. “I don’t make a habit of getting rid of people either. She is an irritation, and I am sorry I cannot help you more.” The last thing he wanted was to find himself embroiled in her scheming and unable to get out of it; if William did anything, it was on his own terms, when he wanted to. “If you’ll excuse me, I have other matters to attend to.”

[Ron Weasley]

green finch, and linnet bird, nightingale, blackbird,
teach me how to sing...

“I don’t make a habit of getting rid of people either. She is an irritation, and I am sorry I cannot help you more. If you’ll excuse me, I have other matters to attend to.”

The world was bitterly cruel to the ironically naive girl, and she did her best to deal with her circumstances, but the young man's words stung Alyson and a ragged breath wracked her small frame as she inhaled her tears as he rose. She did everything in her indomitable power to not cry at what was said and as she exhaled slowly she regained power over her burst of emotion. Her eyes never left the water on the lake, but the sun light reflected in the bright tears that clung underneath her eyelids.

How was she supposed to know what people would and wouldn't do if she didn't ask them? And how was she supposed to broach a subject like this with someone? She had never hired someone before, and she was really just trying to be honest. Why did he have to get so offended at that? Why couldn't he just see she needed him?

"William, wait..." Alyson's voice had lost its cool, and it showed. She had to stop as the horrible thought of losing her father, mother, and brother welled up in her. She rose softly, letting a hand steal to her eye to flick away a stray tear before she turned to face him. She fought her tears, but they seeped out, unnoticed.

"I must beg of you to stay." A tiny hand reached out for William, but stopped inches from touching him. She withdrew her hand and clasped it against her chest. A small, girlish sob escaped her throat and she gasped as she fought her composure. Now she had a lump in her throat. Alyson sank back to her seat.

"I have not been fully honest with you, master William. I feel you deserve to hear the truth before you go." Alyson lifted her fair face to the dark, sweltering green eyes of William's face. Her hot eyes could barely see him. "When I spoke of my mother and father, the queen and king, I did not say how they shielded my brother and I..." Alyson's head hung low now. She took a deep breath and steeled herself.

"I have never left the castle grounds." As she admitted this, Alyson closed her eyes. "Before I was born, my parents were indebted to a terrible witch who claimed no reward for her service. As a result, I was not allowed to leave for fear that I would be taken. When I was nine, she..." Alyson swallowed; she had never told this to anyone. Not even to Phillip. How could she just tell this random stranger? She did needed help escaping, and well, she had to trust someone.

"They were transformed into shades of plants by the witch, right before my eyes. I was the last person who saw my parents alive as people." A cool breeze blew over the lake and Alyson's hot eyes appreciated it. Now she was looking at William again. "All magic curses have a spell that will reverse them." Her voice started pouring over the more familiar topic, but it cracked with emotion as she continued. "I have read almost every book in our library in search of that cure, but I can't find it."

She stopped speaking and let silence creep in. When she next spoke, her voice was very calm and quiet. "I need your help, William. I need my brother to stay focused on ruling the kingdom. I cannot keep him from chasing Penelope, so I need her to be gone, so I can keep searching for a way to undo a terrible curse." She rose now, and stepped toward the edge of the water until her toes were cold and wet. "I know you probably don't believe me," she said, speaking over the water. She turned and her voice gained strength. "But I can show you. I can take you to the throne room, where they were rooted to the spot by the witch. Please," she moved closer to William, facing him. "You are my only hope for saving everyone, William."