(Beauty and the Beast) Thistle's brothers left to fight a terrible beast. When they don't return, she sets out to kill the beast herself, but there is more to him than she expects. She must find a way to free her brothers, the only family she has left, but can she break the beast's stone heart when she is losing her own? Once upon a time...

Allura means beauty. Though she is trapped in her father's service, she learns to be free in her imagination, in her singing and books. When her father is held hostage by a strange red-eyed beast and sells Allura for his own freedom, Allura faces the choice to rescue him or to take her chance for liberation. She chooses the path of love and is given a magic blessing in the form of a rose to take with her. What will she find? Her death? Or perhaps true love? Credit to Amanda Hull for the graphic art in the picture and photographer Raechel Barnett. Image used with permission. Author Note: This story was written because of a task I recently took on to re-write a favourite fairy tale. I chose this one because my Mother used to tell it to me all the time as a child without a book to read from. I loved it and it makes me remember her with happy memories even though she has now joined the mysterious after-life.

Clara's problems can be summed up in two words: responsibility and family. After the loss of her mother, life for Clara was never the same. Although she loves her three siblings and tries to be the best sister and lady she can, the weight on her shoulders grows the more she learns and the more she has to know. When her father remarries to a secretive widow, Clara's responsibilities triple overnight. Through no fault of her own, Clara is thrown into an adventure she never counted on-- one of magic, tragedy, and romance. Through palace ballrooms, enchanted forests, and encounters with a handsome stranger she really shouldn't care for, Clara soon realizes that the only way to help her family and fix the problem is to do it herself. The only trouble is that she doesn't know how. A Cinderella Retelling. ----- Cover design made by solidarity_! First draft! *featured by Once Upon A Time as of 9/24/2015*