Trail of Swans

Chapter 1 The First Swan

Coco was a short, young, beautiful girl. She lived in Italy with her father. Her father was a king, and (of course) she was a princess. Leonardo, her father, was a beloved king by all of Italy. They adored him, and he adored them. But most of all, he loved his daughter. His daughter was very creative, energetic little girl and was sure to be a beautiful queen one day. Sadly, when her mother passed on she wasn't herself for a little while. The happiness inside her seemed to drain, and the only way to keep her spirits up was to make swans. It reminded her of her mother. The beauty of it, the simplicity of it all just reminded her of every single detail about her mother. The day of her funeral she laid tons of paper origami swans she made the day before right on top of her casket.

Still, Coco was happy. She missed her mother dearly, but couldn't stand being sad. She was once herself again, but a piece was clearly missing. She didn't have the sparkle in her eye, like she had to force herself to smile each and everyday.

"Father?" Coco smiled to her dad in the kitchen, talking to some guards.

"Yes- um, hold on, love." He said in quite a strict tone. She never saw her father like this, and thought maybe he was a bit frustrated. She continued talking, ignoring her father's pause.

"I thought maybe we could go ice skating?" She said, very proud of herself.

"And when did you learn to ice skate?" He chuckled.

"Sir, we must get back to the meeting." The old grumbled man started to say something else, but stopped abruptly.

"Maybe we can skate later, okay?" He said, stiffening up like he was trying to act more mature than he already is. "Alrighty. Where's Bernadette? I'll ask her to take me!" She jumped and pulled on his leather coat. He merely said goodbye and left the castle in a bound.

"Okay.." Coco drifted off throughout the castle, confused.

She thought of a good way to keep her busy when clearly her father didn't want to help. She ran back into the kitchen and asked one of the cooks for a basket. They told her in the closet and she ran to go grab one. On the way back to the kitchen to ask for a towel, Antonio ran into her.

"Oh. Very sorry ma'am. Where are you off too little red riding hood?" He joked and grabbed my basket.

"Give it back! I just want to visit the baker...."