diane: moon princess

one

Once upon a time there lived a princess. Her name was Diane and she was to be crowned queen in a matter of days.
Diane was the oldest while her brother was behind by a year or so. It was customary, in her father's terms, that the oldest child take the throne. In the eyes of the people, it was more pleasurable that a man take the throne, particularly her brother Stephan.
Although she would have been all for this decision, Diane found herself wanting to protect Stephan from criticism. She assumed he would be criticized for his age or sought out by the sorcerer that seemed far to evil to be trusted.
This sorcerer, Taylor, wanted to take the throne to rebuild society in his view. To Diane, this view was evil and cruel, she would not stand for it either.
In order to keep the kingdom from falling to ruin she decided to take the criticism. All around the castle, from the mouths of the maids and the chefs, Diane could hear their whispers. They thought of her as incompetent concerning her knowledge of the kingdom and they found her to be a fool concerning the fact that she was a woman.
In the present times, the kingdom of Iradia thought men were far superior to women. They sought to keep women from ruling as well participating in any activities that seemed to complex for a woman to partake in.
Many thought of this society as something stupid and unfair but the cruelty of people kept them quiet. Still though, many women continued to do as they pleased and risked it all by taking chances in secret. Diane though, she did it in public, for the people.
It was on the fateful morning of her crowning that she had planned to go on a trip with Stephan. They had planned beforehand in order to ease her worries on the awaited day. The two would take a carriage to Fisherman's peak and dine on the finest seafood, take a walk and talk about anything and everything, then make it back before the event could start.
Diane was ecstatic and joyful to spend the day with her last remaining reason to live. She loved her brother with all her heart and couldn't bear the thought of losing him as she had her parents.
But what she didn't know, was that her brother had planned a devious plot in the shadows. She didn't know that today was the day she would meet her end.
It was while they walked along the edge of a quiet forest that Stephan decided to prey on Diane's weaknesses. He said things that made her feel vulnerable and did not care as he would've when they were younger. Diane cried and sought comfort or some kind of apology from him but did not receive it. The only thing she had received was a hard shove off a cliff.
"Good riddance, dearest sister." Were the only words she'd heard as she fell. Diane reached out for her brother in a slow realization before dissapearing into the mass of leaves and branches.
What Stephan had made a mistake in during his planning was assuring that her death would be permanent. He had not checked to see how far the ground was from the top of the cliff and did not check for her body at the bottom.
This mistake would prove to be troublesome in his coming days as king.