Since no one could figure out what fairytale this was from the first bit, here's the second.



"Rowan, my daughter. Won't you come with me on a picnic?" Queen Oriana asked through the closed door. The closed, locked door. Only Rowan and the King had the key to his room. He knew it irritated his mother to know end that she could no longer barge into his room unannounced, but Rowan did not care.

"I'm busy, Mother," Rowan replied. Right now he was bent over a book on mathematics. It wasn't exactly his favorite subject. In fact, he loathed numbers with a burning passion. But it was something that most boys his age already knew it and that made Rowan determined to know it as well. "Maybe some other day."

"It's been raining for days. This is the first nice day since the weather has turned warm." Rowan gritted his teeth as the slightest edge of whine entered his mother's voice. "I thought this would be a perfect day for us to spend some time together, just us girls."

He took a deep breath and then another. It was always a struggle to remember that something inside his mother was just... broken. She wasn't deliberately being malicious. No matter what Rowan thought. "I told you, Mother, I am busy."

"I'm not getting any younger," Queen Oriana said. That caused Rowan to look up. She was speaking in that voice, the voice that Rowan had come to associate with her more lucid moments. "I will pass away one day. Before that happens, I would like to spend time with you. Enough to create pleasant memories to counteract the unpleasant ones I might have left."

That was totally not fair. The prospect of actually spending a pleasant day outside with his mother, or being stuck inside doing math? Rowan looked down on the numbers on the page in front of him. Then he sighed. Really. It was no contest. "Hold on a moment. Let me at least look presentable."

"Thank you, Rowan. I'll be waiting for you in the solar."

Once he was sure Queen Oriana was gone, Rowan got up, stripped down to his underclothes, and went to his closet. Dress or no dress? Rowan settled on wearing rich wine colored divided skirt. It was almost like wearing pants, though the panel in front made it more dress-like. The shirt was generic, though Rowan put on a richly embroidered tunic of pale gold over it. It was long enough to partly fall over the divided skirt, making it seem more dress-like than it was. A quick look in the mirror revealed the outfit to be somewhere between wholly masculine and wholly feminine. Good enough.

Usually Rowan braided his hair, especially when he was studying. Today was no exception. Rather then attempt anything complicated, Rowan simply wrapped the waist length braid into a bun and secured it with a couple of silver combs. Finally there was the matter of his shoes. He put on his favorite low boots, black leather, and was ready to go with his mother. Hopefully she wouldn't complain too much about his outfit.

A quick trip through the castle halls and Rowan was at the door to the solar. He knuckles had barely hit the wood when his mother spoke. "Come in." Taking a deep breath for courage in case this whole thing went sour very quickly, Rowan opened door.

His mother took one look at him and smiled. The tightness in Rowan's chest immediately eased. "You look lovely, Rowan. I'm so glad you decided to join me for a picnic. I know we girls have to be careful of our complexions - too much sun will ruin your pale skin - but it's such a nice day."

It wasn't worth antagonizing her. Rowan let the reference to his gender slide. "I'm looking forward to it mother. How many servants will be joining us?" He held the door open for her as Queen Oriana left the room. She frowned briefly. Holding the door open for a woman was such a manly gesture, but Rowan didn't care. She let it slide because manners were manners.

"No servants. Just the two of us. I was thinking of going to the walled garden. I haven't been there in ages," Queen Oriana said. A large basket was on her arm. Rowan assumed that it had the makings of a picnic in it. "It's protected enough that we shouldn't need servants."

"Is that wise, mother?" It wasn't like Rowan didn't trust his mother. He did. He trusted her to be unpredictable, stubborn, and argumentative even on her good days. On her bad days, she could be downright vindictive if she didn't get her way. Rowan had heard from more than one courtier and servant that she didn't use to be that way. That Queen Oriana used to be the kindest, gentlest soul in all the kingdom. He wasn't sure he believed it.

"It will be fine, Rowan. You worry too much." As they descended the stairs, pages nodded and quickly moved out of the way. No one wanted to test the uncertain temper of the queen, especially with Rowan at her side. "If I remember right we need to go through the northern wing to get to it. Have you heard about Dinah and the affair that she's supposed to be having with..."

Queen Oriana talked the entire time, and Rowan let her. He'd never really been too interested in court politics, but couldn't completely get away from them either. It came with being a part of the royal household. He was content to listen as his mother chattered on. It made her happy. Rowan decided that doing things to please his mother seemed to be the theme of the day. Eventually they came to a heavy wooden door with large iron bands. From the depths of her skirts, Queen Oriana produced a heavy iron key. A quick twist in the lock and the door was open.

As soon as he saw it, Rowan understood why this garden was little used. At one point it had been a formal garden. There was the remains of stone paths, a large circular pond, two statues, and a broken stone bench. It was a layout that had fallen out of favor several decades ago when rustic "wild" gardens had become fashionable. In an attempt to make it more fashionable, someone had allowed this garden to become overgrown and had replaced all of the formal beds with less formal plantings. It didn't still didn't hide the fact that the garden was trying to be something it wasn't.

At least the recent rains had been kind to the walled garden even if time had not. Everything was green and lush. Clusters of white flowers dotted the climbing vines that covered the walls of the garden. Bright new leaves mixed pleasantly with the darker, older growth of bushes. Silver edged moss grew among the cracks in the flagstone pathways. Large pink blossoms cascaded from the branches of a small tree. Orange and gold tulips bloomed along one wall.

"We can lay the blanket on the stone near the pond," Queen Oriana said. Rowan took the blanket from her hand and found a suitably dry section near the pond to lay it out. The Queen sat on the blanket as soon as it was down, her red skirts pooling around her. The basket was gently set beside her. "Come Rowan. Sit down."

The picnic itself was a pleasant, if awkward affair. Queen Oriana had packed quite a lunch: bits of cold chicken leftover from dinner, small wedges of fine cheese, dark bread, early root vegetables sliced and marinated, spring greens, and tarts made from last autumn's apples. There was cool spring water sweetened with honey to wash it all down. Rowan kept the talk on light topics, and the Queen didn't push. It reminded Rowan of earlier times before his mother had become locked in a constant battle of wills.

"I am glad we did this," Queen Oriana said when all was done.

"I am too," Rowan said, and meant it.

"Shall we play ball? You use to love it as a child. I brought one of the golden ones... oh Rowan. Leave the picnic. A servant can take care of it." Rowan sighed, but continued to pick up the remains of their lunch.

"I want to, Mother. Go ahead and start playing. I will join you when I'm done." Rowan could feel his mother's disapproval as she stood over him, but ignored it. He wasn't going to sit here and leave everything a mess. He'd been brought up better. The Queen knew it, whether or not she would admit it to herself. Eventually she huffed a bit, and moved away. After a bit, Rowan could hear her playing with the ball. It was a little disconcerting to hear a woman well into her fourth decade laugh like a small child.

For his part, Rowan cleaned up the remains of the picnic. The dishes were rinsed off in the pond, as were the goblets that they had drunk the water from. He tossed what was left of the bread onto a grassy area for the birds. Everything else was put back into the basket for the servants to deal with. Rowan would make sure to take it back to the kitchens once they were done. That decided, he folded the blanket and set it on top of the basket.

It was only then that he noticed that the garden had grown too quiet.

"Mother?" Rowan called out. Nothing. He looked around the garden, but didn't see the Queen. That worried him. The garden wasn't that big. So where was she?

Leaving the basket and blanket, Rowan got to his feet and began to follow the crumbling paths in the direction the Queen had gone. He caught a flash of red through some vines, and went towards them. If he listened very closely, he could hear voices. As in more than one. Who was speaking with the Queen? No one else had a key to get into the garden. Rowan broke into a run as a cold pit formed in him stomach.

"Your son! Your son will be a better Queen than you ever will," cried a tiny voice. He could hear Queen Oriana sobbing. Rowan pushed through the vines and underbrush, ignoring the way they shredded his clothes and skin. In the very farthest corner of the garden, near a small mossy well, Rowan found his mother. Standing on the edge of the well was a fairy, his face twisted in malicious glee. The golden ball lay at her feet.

"Get away from her!" Rowan yelled.

"See? See? Even in rags your son is more Queen than you," the fairy cried. Rowan grabbed a rock and hurled it at the tiny creature. The fairy faded from view before the stone could hit. All that was left was it's laughter hanging in the air.

Queen Oriana was kneeling on the ground, with her hair loose around her and her skirts stained from the grass and mud. Rowan approached his mother warily. "Mother? What's wrong?"

"You!" Rowan stumbled back as the Queen leapt to her feet. "This is all your fault. I should never have had you. Never! Ungrateful, rebellious brat! You did this." She slapped Rowan full force across the face, hard enough that it left a mark. Queen Oriana would have done it again, but Rowan grabbed her arm. She clawed at his hand. "Let me go! You deserve to be beaten for what you've done. You're not a girl. You're a monster."

"Have you lost your mind?" Rowan snapped at her. He tightened his grip around her wrist and dragged her towards the entrance of the garden. "You shouldn't listen to what a fairy says. All they try to do is cause mischief and grief for everyone. Forget whatever he told you."

"Lies!" the Queen yelled. Her fingernails scrapped bloody lines against Rowan's arms. "He knows the truth and he told me. No one else would tell me, but him. Everything you've tried to do stops here. I won't allow it. I won't."

There was no use trying to reason with her. Maybe when she'd calmed down, Rowan could speak with her. But not now. Rowan didn't spare the forlorn picnic basket a second glance, dragging his mother to the garden door and shouldering it open. There was a maid on the other side, her hands full of bed linens. She dropped them at the floor with a gasp.

"You, go find the king. The Queen encountered a fairy in the garden. It's upset her," Rowan gasped out. Years of sword practice had given him muscle, but the Queen fought him like a wildcat. Her shrieks filled the hallway. "Hurry!"

The maid sketched a curtsy and bolted down the hallway. Within minutes both King Kendrick and the royal guard appeared. The King took his wife from Rowan, thanking his son for rescuing the Queen. She was still ranting about the fairy's lies. The guards surrounded them both. An hour later a witch arrived with iron trinkets woven in her hair, ready to send the fairy on his way. Rowan accompanied her. But even though they searched the entire garden, the fairy was no where to be found.


EDIT: Spelling/grammar mistakes mostly fixed. I hope. ^^;