That's Not How They Do it in Storybooks

It only rained to water the roses. There were a lot of roses. She had spent the better part of one day searching for any other kind of flower and had only found water lilies on a well-kept but isolated pond. There were gardens full of red roses and pink roses and even blue roses, but what she wouldn't give for a dandelion.

Imperfection didn't exist here unless it was the author's intent: poisoned apples, filthy-but-noble peasant girls, enchanted vermin… whatever moved the story along.

The ending was happy: that she knew. Siegfried had been accepted as if he had never left and they had quickly befriended the nobles and servants. Rue hadn't expected Fakir to write such clichéd material, for surely what had been left of Siegfried's kingdom after the doings of Drosselmeyer hadn't been this… sparkling.

She sighed as another maid- the fifth in two hours- wiped down the windows in her bed chamber, leaving them no less spotless than they had been the first time. She wondered if she should introduce the idea of cleaning once a week.

The hours were growing long and her candle grew short. She set aside the sewing project she had taken up for no reason other than it had appeared in her private sitting room one day. After some lessons from one of her ladies and several tedious sewing sessions, she was showing much improvement. It was such a shame that it was so boring.

It was pointless, too. She glanced at it. An infant's baptism gown. Any child she had would have a governess or servant to take care of its every need, yet she had to sew its clothes. It was all for appearances, she was sure.

Her husband hadn't even touched her in that way. There wouldn't even be a child.

Oh, he loved her. The way he looked at her made her heart ache with gratitude every time. He gave her soft kisses in the corridors where courtiers couldn't see. But that's all they were: soft. It wasn't the raven's blood that lingered within her that told her that there should be more.

"Good evening, Rue."

Think but of Him…

"Good evening, my Prince." She shook her hair to make it cover her reddened cheeks a little more.

"Don't hide your lovely skin, Rue." He stepped quickly to her side and brushed her hair back behind her ears, giving her a tender peck on the lips as he did so.

Curse you!

She cleared her throat. "What brings you here, my Prince?"

His smile drew the air from her chest. "I came to wish my Princess good night as I do every evening. What have you done today?"

She returned his smile as best she could. His eyes fell and she cursed herself. He always knew when something was bothering her. She had fallen in love with the very manifestation of empathy.

"Well, after our ballet practice, breakfast, and morning cabinet meeting, I strolled the gardens for a few hours, supped, took a nap, and ever since, I have been working on my sewing. I am nearly done and Vive says my technique is becoming quite good."

"You have been working on this gown for over two weeks. I am sure our child will look splendid in it."

Rue felt her face color again. Child?

"You plan to have a child, then?"

He smiled as if she was the child. "Of course. That is our second priority after caring for our people and kingdom. Mother has been pestering me about grandchildren recently. Perhaps it was she who sent you the cloth."

"It seems something she would do."

There was a tense silence on her part only. Siegfried seemed not to notice. And then he kissed her hand.

"Well, goodnight, my Princess. Sleep well." He turned to the door.

"Myt- Siegfried! What about the child?" she asked.

He stopped and turned. "What about the child?"

Rue had a very bad feeling in the pit of her stomach.

"Shouldn't we… start it?"

Finally there was another expression on his face besides contentment. "I don't know what you mean. Sabur told me that we should have a child in a few months to a year."

"And how would Sabur know that?" Rue asked, growing increasingly annoyed at her in-law's advisor.

"He, Father, and I were discussing it during battle training. He told me that babies usually arrive within a year or two of marriage."

"But… we have to…"

"We have to what?"

"Make it."

"Make it?"

Rue tugged on her hair. It was a habit that her ladies-in-waiting were always discouraging because "she had such lovely hair." "Didn't your parents or advisors ever tell you about how to have children?"

Siegfried nodded. "If two married people are very happy and desire to have a child, their guardian fairy appears and gives them one."

Rue was very much aware of how her open jaw ached.

"You're serious?"

"Yes. My parents' fairy blessed me with white hair for wisdom and golden eyes for wealth of spirit."

"So," Rue said bluntly, "Any day now, a marriage fairy will appear to us and give us a baby?"

"Oh, the fairies fight amongst themselves to become marriage fairies to royal couples. I'm sure plenty of them are eagerly awaiting the right time."

Rue's eyes twitched and tears were threatening them, already sensitive from hours of sewing. Then she thought of something.

This was all Fakir's doing! The thought of writing something that implied that perfect Mytho had to do something so… carnal… must have been hard for the writer. Fakir really did have a prudish side! She knew it! Either that or he had been letting Duck read the story. Yes, that was more likely. Otherwise he could have just written 'Months later a prince/ss was born.'

"Oh," she said in her most princess-like manner, "I had just assumed that children here were born the same way as in the real world. Clearly I was mistaken."

"There's no marriage fairy?" Siegfried asked.

"There aren't any fairies." It sounded foolish coming from an ex-raven princess whose closest friend had been an enchanted duck.

"Then I am curious, Rue. How can there be children without marriage fairies?"

She still had vestiges of her evil persona. "Oh, Siegfried, are you sure you would like to find out?" she cooed coquettishly.

She saw him nod and that was all she needed. She strolled up to him and did what she had longed to do for so long: kiss him passionately with him able to return that passion. Why had she ever desired to keep him as a malleable doll?

Her hands strayed from their clasped position and up into his hair, her fingers winding around his curls. She pressed his mouth firmly down onto hers. There was no helping the moan from her own throat as she relished the sensation of claiming her husband's soul as his true lover.

Rue snuck a peek through her eyelashes. He looked confused but he wasn't pushing her away. Desiring more contribution on his part, she ravished his lips, sucking, licking, even nibbling lightly with her own lips. When she finally heard the desired rumbles from his throat, she snuck her tongue inside his mouth and grazed the sensitive insides of his lips. She wanted to take complete advantage of him, but for all she knew, she was inventing passion in this world and so had to be gentle.

"Rue," he murmured. She grinned as her mouth pressed into his neck.

"Does that please you, Prince?"

"What feeling is this?" he asked, sounding like the empty creature that had questioned every new piece of his heart.

She pinned his head between her hands and locked eyes with him. "This is Passion," she told him. "It's a kind of love that you only have when you're alone with the person you love."

"You."

Rue's smile grew even more. This would be a wonderful, very long night.

"What are they doing?" shrieked Angela, the marriage fairy who had been assigned to the newly-wedded Prince and Princess of Mytheria. She and her supervisor and several of the previous contenders had been watching the royal couple through the magic portal from the fairy city to the mortal world. Angela had been about ready to present them with their firstborn.

"Well," said Mythine, the supervisor of the marriage fairies, "The Princess is from a different world…" She had nothing. The fairies just stared in silence as they watched the rather intimate moment.

"Maybe we should turn it off," Linda said. Her face was deep red.

"Will that even give them a baby?" asked Priscilla. They all looked to their leader.

"Er… maybe?" She looked up when she heard a small squeak.

"Mythine?" asked Glitter, who was barely out of fairy childhood, "Are there… boy fairies?"