Story Saturday: Charlotte's Childhood

This will be my last developmental post for The Stolen Jewel. I am pleased to announce that I will be developing it into a feature-length screenplay at UCLA's Professional Program for Screenwriting Online in the fall! I hope you've enjoyed the past few weeks of developing backstories for my characters before they go on their big adventure. Whether or not I will be continuing Story Saturday after this is still up in the air. People don't seem as interested in my short stories as my analytical posts, and it's difficult to come up with brand new worlds and characters every week. Please let me know if there's anything in particular you would like to see more of in The Princess Blog. You can also contribute to my Patreon account if you would like to decide the topic for my next post or contribute a guest post.

The Stolen Jewel: Charlotte's Childhood

When Princess Charlotte was eight years old, her aunt Denise let her play in the royal treasury for the first time. She told Charlotte that she had the most right to be there anyway as the crown princess since Denise was just standing in as regent until Charlotte came of age.

"I don't know what's so interesting about that stuff anyway," said Charlotte's cousin Henry, brandishing his wooden toy sword. "It's all just silly jewelry that will probably fall off in a fight."

Henry playfully whacked his toy sword against the wheel of Denise's chair. Denise inched a little further back in wheelchair each time.

"Henry, sweety, I told you to be more careful when you play knight. You know I need my chair to get around."

"But Mom, I have no one else to play with!" Henry pouted. "Why don't we have any real knights?"

"You know why. Come along, and leave your cousin alone."

Denise's servant pushed her carefully through the hallway while keeping an eye on a very active Henry to make sure he didn't attack the chair again.

Meanwhile, Charlotte wandered through glittering corridors of jeweled scepters, tiaras, and pendants. She giggled and twirled in delight when she saw the circles they reflected dancing on the walls. She felt as though she could spend hours exploring the different colors and shapes of each jewel. Some were round, some square, some reflected rainbows, while others shined in the brightest colors she had ever seen. As she walked further into the depths of the room, she noticed a glow in the back that seemed different from the reflections on the wall. It was a part of the treasury that the light didn't hit, so it shouldn't have been able to glow like that.

In the shadowy corner, Charlotte discovered a small black box. It seemed to be locked. As she approached it, she heard a click, and it opened by itself. Inside were glowing jewels with shapes that seemed rougher than the ones she had witnessed earlier. The colors were dull but glowed more brightly than anything else in the treasury. Each jewel had a symbol carved into it in a language she did not recognize. Finally, she realized that these must be the runes that were banned from the rest of the kingdom. Her aunt warned her how dangerous they were and how they had killed her parents. She cautiously brushed her hand over them, as if they might burn her flesh. Instead, they felt cool and welcoming.

Charlotte took some time to study the different colors and shapes of the runes and finally settled on a deep blue one. As she lifted it gently out of the box, she thought about how beautiful the colors of the jewels in the treasury were when the light reflected them onto the walls. The blue rune in her hand lit up in response, and thousands of tiny water droplets fell from the ceiling. Charlotte looked up, but saw no holes above her that the rain might have gotten in through. If there was no leak, that meant this was coming from the rune. The droplets misted throughout the treasury, reflecting rainbows of every size from the jewels all around her.

Charlotte inhaled the beauty of the rich reds, oranges, yellows, greens, blues, and violets that were reflected around the room. She tried to reach out and touch every rainbow she could find but realized that they were only illusions created from the water droplets. As she twirled, the water that was transfixed in the air splashed onto her hair and dress. After what felt like an eternity, Charlotte returned the rune to the box, promising herself that she would never speak of this to anyone.

"My goodness! Did you fall into the fountain? You're soaking wet, child!" exclaimed Mary as Charlotte exited the treasury.

"No, I was just playing," the princess told her favorite handmaid.

"Well, this won't do at all! Princesses must not ruin their best dresses! Come on, dear, let's get you cleaned up."

Even though Charlotte visited the treasury again a few more times after that, she could never get the runes to glow for her the way they did that day. She didn't know why she was able to control one, but the power was now lost to her. Years later, she would convince herself it was all a dream, but she still became fascinated by the idea of magic. She would often go to the library and read as much as she could about the subject in whichever books she could find that hadn't been burned in the magic ban. One day, perhaps she would understand the powerful forces that tore her kingdom apart and become strong enough to protect her people as queen.

To be continued in The Stolen Jewel....