Chapter 5: Exploring the Forest

Fair Maid 

Marianne didn’t actually know how to ride a dragonfly, so she never got more than half a night’s walk away from the castle. But the Dark Forest was dense and lush, and there was plenty to interest her within that limited range. 

She could spend most of a night examining a single tree, learning the texture of its bark and the shape of its branches and the pattern of its leaves, climbing to see how high she could reach before it could no longer hold her weight, and discovering what animals nested or fed there. 

There was a patch of blue flowers she often found herself returning to, marvelling at the deep colour and the folds of the layers of petals. 

Capture, Cavalry, Confusion, Courtship

Epilogue: In Which Matters Conclude With A Montage 

"You're the Princess?" Bog demanded. 

"You didn't know?" 

"I thought you were the princess' bodyguard!" 

"Okay, so I can be kind of protective of my sister, but can you blame me? I mean, if she can't even trust her own best friend …" Marianne cast a dark look in Sunny's direction. 

"So." Bog was using his sceptre as a walking stick, as they followed the army back to the border. "What happens now?" 

Sunny's trial was huge. Scandal rocked the kingdom when it came out that the whole plan had involved both princesses being coerced into marriage. Roland was arrested for conspiracy. 

Dawn visited Sunny in the dungeon every day. Even when she was upset with him, she still loved him. 

Bog and Marianne got in the habit of meeting at the border to talk. Sometimes her sister or father or his mother would join them, but more often, they met alone. 

Marianne and Bog were roughly equal in skill when they sparred. Meeting to do that became a habit as well. 

The next spring, elves, brownies, fairies, and sprites were helping the goblins cut down and dispose of the primroses. 

Sunny's sentence was a lesser one, as he was considered as much a victim of Roland's charisma as a genuine co-conspirator. After a single year, he was released. 

After Marianne and the Bog King had been meeting for a year and a half, Griselda, Stuff, and Thang quietly started placing bets on when the Bog King would overturn the love ban. 

The Sugar Plum Fairy was freed of her prison, on the condition that she never brewed a love potion again – no matter what sob story the person requesting it told her. 

It warmed Bog's heart, how delighted Marianne was with everything he showed her in the Dark Forest, admiring its dangers and its beauties alike. 

It made Marianne laugh, how careful Bog was when interacting with anything from the Fairy Kingdom, lest his claws tear it to shreds. 

Two years after confessing their love, three springs after the last attempt at a Royal Wedding, Dawn and Sunny got married. This wedding was not cancelled at the last minute. 

During a moonlit flight through the Dark Forest, Bog spotted a patch of dark blue flowers he thought would look perfect in Marianne's hair. He lagged behind her for a moment to pick one. 

It was surprising, but definitely not unwelcome, when after he gave it to her, she kissed him. 

(I probably could have formatted this as a one-shot story, but I’ve never completed writing a multi-chapter fic before, so this is a real milestone for me!) 

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I’m finally making an original post for this image set instead of piggybacking on the old vocabulary post I reblogged. 

*First image edited in response to additional information by @tamiletrange - thank you!