Love in the Little Kingdom

Love in the Little Kingdom Part 4

Amongst the curling turrets and wafer thin buttresses of stone, the dining hall nestled, protected from the elements by a transparent ceiling of magic that twinkled in mimicry of the stars it revealed.

Magical lights floated over the diners. Holly's younger sisters were chatting excitedly about the Ball. Before she might have joined them but now all thoughts of it made her feel sick.

"Not eating, Princess Holly?"

The Wise Old Elf's question brought her out of her reverie.

"I'm not very hungry today, Wise Old." She said and the elf tutted.

"You need to keep your strength up for the ball. There'll be dancing all night you know! You'll have to take at least two turn about the floor with me and I take no prisoners." He chuckled.

"She doesn't want to dance with a white haired old elf like you! You'll probably step on her toes!" Nanny Plum declared. The Wise Old Elf scowled at her and Holly noticed the look that ran between them. In the light of what she had realised about herself that look suddenly took on an entirely different meaning.

She resolved to watch Nanny and the Wise Old Elf for the rest of the evening to see if she could work it out. It would help her ignore Daisy and Poppy's talk of the ball and keep her mind off Ben.

In her bedchamber Holly sat before her mirror while Nanny Plum brushed out her long hair the colour of buttercups.

"Nanny, have you ever been married?" She asked. She had been considering what avenue of enquiry she would take whilst flying up to her tower.

"Me? No never."

"Were you ever betrothed?"

"No." She replied after a pause.

"Nanny?" She pressed.

"Why do you want to know? Are you worried about marrying Prince Thorn?"

"No. I was just wondering about you when you were young."

"When I was young? I'm not that old!"

"No I guess not. You're a lot younger than the Wise Old Elf." She said, testing the waters. Nanny Plum scoffed.

"He's older than the Great Oak itself! Or at least he looks it." She said, smirking at her own dig at the Wise Old Elf. Holly pursed her lips. She might have to be more direct.

"Nanny, has an elf ever fallen in love with a fairy?"

Nanny Plum stopped brushing her hair and their eyes met in the mirror. Nanny Plum looked terror stricken.

"Oh no Holly! I feared this might happen! Say it isn't true!"

"What do you mean, Nanny?" Her heart was racing. Maybe she hadn't been as clever as she thought. Nanny Plum collapsed into a finely carved chair. She fixed Holly with a beady dark stare.

"What's happened between you and that elf-boy?"

"Nanny, I don't know what you mean?"

"Ben of course! I warned the King and Queen about you spending so much time with him but they couldn't believe it possible, they thought the division of status would be enough to keep you apart! But I knew better!"

Holly wanted to cry. Her parents and Nanny Plum had been talking about her and Ben? Before she had even realised she herself that she loved him?

"Oh Nanny!" She exclaimed and sank to her knees at Nanny Plum's feet. She laid her head in the old fairy's lap and wept. Nanny Plum stroked her hair and hushed her.

"It's alright, my dear, it's alright."

"How can it be? I love him. I love him and he has no idea and I have to marry Prince Thorn!"

"Ben doesn't know how you feel?"

She shook her head.

"Has he said anything to you about his feelings?"

Another shake, barely a twitch.

"Well, that's a relief."

"What?" She lifted her head.

"It's nowhere near as bad as I thought. You can set it all straight and Ben doesn't have to be sent away."

"Sent away?"

"If you or he had declared yourselves, it would be impossible for Ben to stay in the Kingdom. He would be banished."

"Banished? Banished where?"

"Oh anywhere. Banished's banished isn't it?"

"Is it really so awful for a fairy to love an elf?"

"Well, it's not disgusting, like marrying a beetle or a gnome but an ordinary fairy marrying an ordinary elf would raise people's eyebrows. Where would they live? The fairy glade or the oaken wood? They wouldn't fit in anywhere. As for an elf and a princess- no way."

"I see." Holly said wearily. She stood up. "I think I'll go to bed now. Good night, Nanny."

"Goodnight Holly."

Nanny Plum flew out of the balcony back down to the Dining Hall.

Holly slid between the gossamer sheets of her shell bed and lay awake, thinking of Ben's nut brown eyes, easy smile and then of Nanny's 'no way'. She wept until exhausted, she fell asleep.