Stories Before a Wedding: The Dance of the Sleeping Beauties

Aurora was cursed. The word flowed from her hand like a graceful river in a painting which, naturally, she also knew how to create. Cursed. She was cursed with Beauty, cursed with Grace, cursed with Talent, cursed with Sweetness, and – most importantly according to her parents – cursed to die. Or, rather, not die. Sleep, and then be awakened by True Love’s Kiss, so she was also cursed to loneliness it would seem until her curse took hold. And then, she would be awakened and the real curse would begin.

The Lilac Fairy promised her all would be well; she said that this was a fairytale after all, and Aurora was it’s princess, so, naturally, the True Love would be as perfect as she was, but Aurora worried.

Her mother talked about duty and destiny and desire all in one breath – desire nearly under her breath – in an effort to “prepare” her. Her father hugged her too tightly each birthday and assured her of his love and that he would take the curse a thousand times for her sake. Aurora believed him, but she knew that he loved her mother and not only did a quest to win her heart, but he talked to her, sat with her at nights, and made her silly gifts of drawing he made during council meetings. Theirs was a true marriage, even if it wasn’t a True Love marriage. Aurora would take their marriage a thousand times over her already cursed one.

At least she was spared the Princes that came to court her cousin Rose, although Rose herself did not look thrilled each time a new Royal Duke or Prince – a third son, inevitably since they too would be lost to the curse – showed up. The King and Queen took each man to the princess, and they bowed low over her hand, spoke about her pale skin and luminous eyes, her dark hair and her red lips, but they never said anything about her ink-stained fingers and her clever mind, and the Queen always shook her head behind their backs. The King sighed. “Maybe,” he said to his wife in hushed tones at night when he thought the girls were not listening, “Maybe men will be more kind in a hundred years.”

The men left, the few councillors and servants that remained in the castle waited, the King and Queen loved each other and the princesses, while Rose escaped to her library to read and study, and Aurora sat in her garden and painted and sang perfectly. They were all, after all, cursed, so why waste time and resources before the curse came to its end. Eventually, and a good three months before Aurora’s fifteenth birthday, even the suitors failed to arrive to try to win Rose away from the castle. Aurora couldn’t help but laugh at that as the curse began on her sixteenth birthday, not her fifteenth, but Rose didn’t seem to even notice their absence, so she remained silent.

Finally, only about a third of a year from six-thousand days after she was born, Aurora’s birthday dawned. She was not entirely sure how to feel as she woke to a beautiful sunrise; she was not scared or nervous, she was not angry nor sad, nor was she excited or eager, but she was not happy or prepared either though. Aurora was ready. Ready for her life to begin. Ready to be done with perfect needlepoints, and embroidery, paintings and music lessons, long walks in the garden because she was cursed, so she shouldn’t be troubled by mundane and practical things, by studying and learning a history that would be ancient by the time she woke up. Whatever happened upon her waking, Aurora did know one thing: it would finally be a chance for her to live, even if she had to share that life with a Prince who only woke her to gain a wife and a soon-to-be-defunct kingdom.

Rose found her staring out her window at the lilac-coloured sky and sighed at the sight of her cousin’s set eyes; she knew the pain Aurora felt knowing of her curse – it was the pain she herself felt upon being banished to her cursed Uncle’s court for refusing her father’s choice of a betrothed when she was merely ten years old. They both were stagnant here, but at least Rose had her books, her lessons, and a wizened old professor willing to bear the curse to remain teaching the scholarly princess. Her Uncle, knowing the weight of not only living under a curse but choosing to remain under it out of love for his family and the people that chose to remain, never once pushed or punished her, choosing to instead protect Rose as much as the curse allowed. So she forced a smile for her cousin, and entered her room to prepare her for the party.

Really, it was just an excuse to wait for the curse to take hold, but the entire castle – from King to servant – would be gathered in the main hall strewn with soft pillows and blankets to eat and drink and be merry for the few hours they had left until – No, neither Rose nor Aurora would think of until. There would be time left for until later. The princesses dressed in bright, elegant clothing designed especially for Aurora’s birthday. The birthday girl wore her now-signature lilac as it represented both the dawn she was named for and the fairy’s name who not only recued her from the initial deadly form of the curse but who also came to her every year the night before her birthday and assured her that all would be well upon her waking from the curse.

Oddly enough, Aurora thought, the Lilac Fairy had not come to her the night before. She had missed her for – once she had stopped asking Aurora about her ideal Prince (every year since she was ten until fourteen) – she was a good conversationalist who brought her news and a gift from the outside world. They spoke of everything Aurora was not allowed to see for her parents feared she might grow too attached to a world she would not be allowed to be a part of because of the hundred years to come. The Lilac Fairy smiled sadly when Aurora told her that, but she nodded her understanding of their reasoning. It would be alright in the end, she promised again and again, and she would ensure that their sleep would be a pleasant one. Aurora – all of them in fact – would wake to a safe and beautiful world. They would be happy. They would live Happily Ever After. She promised that to Aurora yearly, so much so, that Aurora swore she could repeat the fairy’s words in her sleep.

Next to her cursed cousin, Rose wore a sensibly simple gown – velvet for warmth and her own signature blue with her namesake embroidered across the hem as it’s only decoration. She wore similar blue roses made from velvet that her cousin had designed and sewn strewn throughout her hair. Her younger brother – he was both Aurora’s age and the youngest of five brothers, as there were twelve of them in their Royal family – had arrived one yearprior, choosing to brave the curse to remain with his sister and – having been banished for a similar reason to his sister – would rather choose an unknown future to the world his traditional parents lived in. He met them in the courtyard where the three sought fresh air for the last time for the next hundred years. Like his sister, he was also dressed simply, if traditionally, in a long, velvet robe of dark blue.

He reached out his hands to take one of each of the princess’. Their eyes met, understanding, hope, fear, sorrow, and just pain tiredness came from each of the three as they stood in the garden just standing in the sun. Each of them sent up a silent prayer for the future: Aurora that the True Love she would be forced to marry would be kind and not force her to love or bed him when she could not, Rose that she might awaken to a world where she could openly serve her Uncle as an advisor and not be forced to be the Queer Princess, and her brother, Gwenaël, that he might find a world where both he and his sister would not be an embarrassment to their father and, perhaps – if it wasn’t asking for too much already – that they might find spouses that would understand or possibly accept them. All their fates were tied to this curse. For better or for worse, they were all cursed together now.

Finally, the King and Queen joined them so they could all enter the Great Hall together as a family. After the curse took effect, ironically, the three of them would be the only ones not in the hall; Aurora would be taken to her bedchamber by her father who would then return to the hall to rest with his wife and people, and Rose and Gwenaël would retreat to the beds made in the library so that they were surrounded by Rose’s precious books and ensured that they would be covered in the veil of protection that the Lilac Fairy would cast around the castle. This plan was not to be, however, as Aurora turned to her father and mother and saw their eyes were full of unshed tears and fear. Her heart broke for knowing they would have to see her collapse into a hundred year sleep, helpless to stop or save her, knowing they would soon give way to it themselves. She knew it would be cruel to take matters into her own hands, but wasn’t it equally cruel to force them to watch her curse take effect?

With a smile that did not reach her eyes, Aurora sent her parents on ahead to the Great Hall, lying that she had forgotten her crown in her room. It was true that her little golden diadem was still in her room, but she failed to mention that next to it was a small, golden spindle: the Lilac Fairy’s birthday gift to her two years ago. Rose, knowing about the spindle and seeing her cousin’s plan agreed and, hugging both her aunt and uncle tightly, encouraged them to return to the festivities before them. The King and Queen – perhaps suspecting, perhaps not, but with grateful eyes – embraced both their niece and nephew and then their daughter tenderly but tightly and then turned back to the castle with pained sighs.

Alone together once more, Aurora, Rose, and Gwenaël basked in the sun for another quiet moment before they turned and walked back to Aurora’s rooms. Once there, they silently got to work. Rose and Gwenaël helped Aurora with her crown and to spread out her dress elegantly on the bed once she laid down. They then took the breathtakingly beautiful illuminated manuscript that described who she was and the details of the curse (it was Rose’s idea to add the illustrations as she was unsure if their language would still be spoken or read in one hundred years, despite her own father being the one that would act as regent for this land) and placed it on a special stand at the foot of her bed. Finally, they drew in the curtains and placed fresh, unburned candles in the candelabras and a flint on the ornate table that was sitting just in from the door. Nodding at their preparations, they took the golden spindle and handed it to Aurora. She smiled at them and told them to go on to the library and make their own preparations; after all, who knew how long they would have before the curse took effect?

The siblings left and made similar preparations in the library with notes detailing their story and lineage and candles ready to be lit. The room was darker than Aurora’s tower bedroom and had no natural window, so they also had had wood and rags soaked in oil laid in the fireplace ready to be lit. Their own beds where little more than five feather-filled blankets piled on top of one another and laid side-by-side. They laid down – Rose first as Gwenaël saw to her hair and dress, and Gwenaël next. He has scarcely laid down before he felt a wave of magic sweep over him, and he thought of nothing else.

He awoke to a laugh. The library was warm and glowed from the light of the fire. A woman sat between his bed and that of his sister’s and a man knelt by his other side; both were smiling. The man, seeing he was stirring, moved to reach behind him and help him to sit up, aware that his muscles must be tight and pained after one hundred years. He then offered Gwenaël a flask full of rich red wine, which he took gratefully. After he had drunk his fill, he turned to his sister who was drinking from the woman’s flask. She met his eyes and smiled, clearly thinking the same thought that there had been something they had forgotten in their meticulous planning for this day.

“Did you need more?” The man asked, his voice rich and calm. He was staring at Gwenaël with concern in his deep eyes. Gwenaël shook his head when found he was unable to speak more than a broken moan. His sister seemed unable to say anything more than him, but, with the woman’s help, she was already standing, albeit unsteadily. The man took back his flask and readjusted his arms so that they were below Gwenaël’s own. He told him to push down on them as leverage to try to rise; he would catch the prince should he falter. With a loud and sharp sigh and then a moan, Gwenaël was able to stand with the man’s help, and he and Rose took a moment to get their bearings back.

Nodding, more to herself than anything else, Rose regained control of her voice and hoarsely asked the two who they were and which of their party had awakened Aurora. Before the man and woman could do more than blush and stammer, the door to the library flung open and Aurora herself stood there, radiant in her happiness. She saw her cousins were awake and about and flung herself into first Rose and then Gwenaël’s arms. Fortunately, Rose was bolstered by a sturdy chair and Gwenaël by his mysterious man so neither were forcibly returned to their beds on the ground by her embrace.

After the three had embraced and cried their tears of joy, Aurora began to speak: she explained that she had long despised the embrace of any man save her own dear father and Gwenaël – a fact not unknown nor unshared by Rose herself – and she dreaded the day they curse would come because she knew it would bring her being awakened and married to a strange Prince. Finally, at fifteen, she had said this to the Lilac Fairy who was horrified that the young girl she had watched grow up was so harmed by what was meant by her to gentle to curse. She had left that year to seek a way to ease the requirement to break it. Aurora had feared when she hadn’t returned the night before her birthday as usual that she had failed, but she had returned… after Aurora had fallen asleep.

In her magical dream, the Lilac Fairy had come to her and taken her spirit with her to the Fairy Realm. There, they had talked, and laughed, and even travelled to all parts of the world via the fairy’s magic as Aurora’s body had slept on. Aurora had even met the Evil Fairy Carabosse and received both her apology and blessing on her new life. As Gwenaël and Rose stood stunned in silence, Aurora continued here joyful tale: she and the Lilac Fairy had danced in the woods are midnight, seen and met tigers and selkies and panda bears (whatever those were, the siblings thought), and experienced a true and devout friendship that surpassed all else in the world. Her love the Lilac Fairy was the same love that her mother had for her father, and, she promised them, the Lilac Fairy loved her like her strong, powerful, and wise father loved his Lady Wife. In fact, she wished to live the remainder of her days in Fairy with her love; it was possible now that her body was awake to feed her Fairy’s food and she could then live with them forever.

Gwenaël and Rose were glad for their cousin, but, if she wasn’t awakened by a prince… At their confusion, Aurora laughed again – were they also not born of Royal Blood? She asked; after all, it was written on their own plaques that they were The Princess Rose Red and The Prince Gwenaël, daughter and son of King Hubert, brother of King Stefan. At their confused nods, Aurora clasped one of their hands in each of hers and explained that the Lilac Fairy and Carabosse had spoken at length; since Rose and Gwenaël had both been adopted by Aurora’s father and mother – albeit unofficially, but the spirit and heart are more important than the laws when it came to love and family anyway – so they could also break the curse. After all, she laughed, hadn’t both of them willingly chosen to live under it? Hadn’t they chosen to be cursed along with her and bear both it’s sorrow and it’s supposed joy upon waking? Hadn’t they all sought a new life once the curse was broken – a happier life, even if they feared it would be impossible? Their only response was a surprised and rather hesitant nod.

The man – Aurora explained as he bowed to Gwenaël who he was still physically supporting – was Prince Desire. His distant cousin and heir to the land King Hubert had once reigned over (yes, including this land he was once regent of). The woman was the Countess Leah, a noble woman betrothed to Prince Desire. Upon seeing Gwenaël’s confusion and Rose’s almost hopeful smile, Aurora nodded. Yes, Desire and Leah sought to break their betrothal, but nothing short of either of them having a True Love would convince Prince Desire’s people who’s laws stated he must have a spouse to become King. As they sat discussing their problem, the Lilac Fairy, overhearing and remembering Rose and Gwenaël’s similar desires, spoke to them in a dream; she encouraged them to remain engaged for two more years until the century was over, and Aurora herself had spoken to them in their dreams about her cousins, making Desire fall in love with Gwenaël and Leah with Rose.

When the time had come, they led the pair away from the hunting party and to the castle, and Lilac had sent them straight to the library to awaken the pair. Willingly, after hearing story after story in their dreams for the past two years, Desire and Leah had kissed the sleeping prince and princess and awakened them, breaking the curse. Now, Aurora took the hands that she still held and pressed them into the Prince and Countess respectively before turning and going to Great Hall to meet her soon-to-be-awakened parents and explain that she was leaving with the fairy that had won her heart after spending one hundred years and fifteen nights by her side.

Prince Desire helped the still-weak Prince Gwenaël to a chair by the fire and offered him more of the rich wine. As he sat, Desire spoke to Gwenaël about the world he had missed and the changes that he wished to make once he was crowned King. Changes that he wanted to make with the kind, gentle Gwenaël by his side. He spoke of love, but also of respect and hope – and hunting and freedom, and Gwenaël was charmed by the kindly, noble, and very handsome Prince. By the time King Stefan had entered the library, Gwenaël had agreed to marry Prince Desire and rule with him as his Consort.

Rose and Leah also spoke; the latter speaking of Rose’s reputation as a scholar having read some of the books and essays she had written before the curse. She spoke of her desire for an equal partnership and someone who would consider her not just her equal but her friend and confidant. She also blushingly spoke of Rose’s beauty, and, for once, Rose found she did not mind, especially since Leah blushed so deeply when Rose reached over and twirled one of her blonde curls around her finger and smiled at her with her dark eyes. They too, told the King they would marry one another as the dictates of the Curse demanded.

So the Curse was broken by True Loves’ Kiss. The Royal Weddings were scheduled. The King and Queen awoke to see their children happy, and, finally, they all lived Happily Ever After.