3 June 2024 part 1

I felt quite accomplished with how much I got written here. Still not 100% satisfied; I think I hit too many of the arguments, was a bit too thorough with Phillip dressing down Isaac. That doesn’t quite feel right. I might need to identify the most important points and keep it to those. Or I might be overthinking it; I do have a tendency to do that. Also, I still worried I’m making Isaac too much of an entitled brat. I’ve tried to pull back some, but… it’s not working great. Could be a lot worse, of course, but… Well, I might have to wait and see how his arc shapes up.

…And what were you expecting? Some ephemeral, yearning princess hoping for a chance at freedom? This isn’t some bard’s tale, Isaac.”

That stung more than Isaac would have expected. Had he really based his entire image of his sister on stories? But then again, what else did he have to go off of? “She’s not really anything like me. Or Mom or Dad, for that matter.”

“Your sister spent her whole life stuck in a magical tower, with only a mad fairy to keep her company. It’s kind of amazing she can talk with us at all, isn’t it?”

Isaac scowled. “Then why doesn’t she want to come with us!? I mean, it still has to be better than that musty old tower, right?”

“Is it, though? The Tower seemed to provide her almost anything she needed.” As Isaac opened his mouth to reply, Phillip held up a hand to stop him. “And one other thing. Say you’re right. Say we convince her, and she come back to Lowenveil City with us. What then?”

That’s when it really sunk in. Isaac had wanted someone to replace him; an heir to the throne. Aurora… couldn’t do that. “I’m stuck as the crown prince either way.”

“That’s not the worst of it, actually.” Isaac looked up at his friend in shock, so Phillip continued, “Did you forget? She’s only got a few weeks before she turns sixteen. So she’d have just enough time to connect to people, for them to get attached, and then bam! She keels over dead. Any guesses how she feels about that idea?”

“But… Surely there’s something… I mean, we have Maleficent…”

“The same Maleficent that’s always hounding you about the dangers of magic?” That shut Isaac up. Phillip smiled wryly. “Though, to be fair, I started with that, too. Even asked the princess about it.” He gestured to the Tower. “But, well. All magic has a cost, right? Care to guess what the cost for a life is?”

Isaac’s face turned ashen. Once he’d taken a few deep breaths, he said, “Well, crap. What can we do?”

Phillip shrugged. “When I asked, she seemed fine with us coming back tomorrow, at least. Gothel doesn’t come back until the day after.”

“Even though she just kicked me out?”

“Yeah. Just… Maybe be a bit more chill? She doesn’t seem used to people, and you can be… a lot.” He grinned. “If it helps, she’s really into the King Arthur books.”

Isaac blinked. “Really? Huh. Where does she get them?”

“No idea. Maybe the fairy picks them up on her trips outside? Or maybe it’s weird tower magic.”

The conversation wound down from there, and eventually the two boys went to bed. It took several hours before Isaac actually managed to sleep, though, with all the thoughts chasing around his head.