#wcndywarwick

Wren sat by herself at a table in the canteen, pushing her lunch around the plate with her fork. She had been told by one of the pirates when mealtimes were, but she found she wasn’t hungry. She was too scared and confused to actually eat. Instead, she was watching the people who came into the dining hall, making a mental note of all the royals she recognized. It appeared almost all the royals who had disappeared where here. But she felt her heart leap in her chest when she spotted the person she missed the most. “Wendy!” she called out, jumping up from the table and running over to her sister. She wrapped her arms around Wendy, holding her older sister tightly.

Genevieve was in the library, staring at the chess set that was on one of the tables. It wasn’t as nice as the one in her quarters, but she was looking for someone to play the game with. Glancing up at the first passing royal, she pointed at the princess. “You there” she said. “Do you know how to play chess?” She wanted a challenge right now and hoped one of the royals would provide it.

Lorne had never been a fan Jane Austen, but the title sounded familiar. “That’s the one with the girl who thinks the castle is haunted, right?” he asked her. “I know that asking how you are probably sounds crazy, considering my role in all this.” He knew he was the bad guy here. Not that the royals were innocent. “You mean for a dead guy?”

Genevieve was happy when she found Wendy in her room in the big house. “I got you a present” she said, a friendly smile on her face. Reaching into her bag, she pulled out a first edition copy of Wuthering Heights. “We came across it on the last trip to the mainland, and I figured you’d appreciate it more than almost anybody else around here.” She knew the princess loved the classics.

Genevieve decided to stop by the pavilion and check in on Wendy. It wasn’t that she actually cared for the royal. It was more that if anything happened to the princess, it would appear as if she couldn’t do her job correctly. Which would make her look bad, both to Roman and to all the other pirates. Knocking on the princess’s door, she called out “Anybody home?” When the door swung open, she let herself inside without waiting for an invitation. “How are you settling in?” she asked.

“It’ll happen to you eventually” said Genevieve. “And don’t listen to anybody who tries to sell you on the idea that you only have one soulmate” she added. Genevieve had never brought into that idea, finding it absurd. “Happily ever after, huh? Sounds like the grown-up version of a Disney fairytale.” Not that Genevieve didn’t believe in happily ever after. It was just that she knew everyone had their own idea of what that entailed. “But I do love hearing about some good drama” she admitted. That was one way Genevieve was very much the product of her upbringing.

Wren sat in the royals’ lounge, a book in her lap. She was having trouble focusing on the words, and had read the same two sentences at least five times. Finally, she gave up in frustration and closed the book. Glancing up, she smiled as she saw her sister enter the lounge. Immediately she felt her bad mood start to lift. She gave a small wave, then jumped up from her seat and ran over to Wendy, wrapping her arms around the older princess. “I’m so happy to see you” she said. “I was scared something bad had happened to you during the move.” Who knew if the pirates would have told her if something bad had happened to her sister?

In search of something to eat , Wren had found her way to the cantine. But before she could get herself anything for lunch, she spotted a familiar blonde head across the room. “Wendy!” the younger woman called out. She ran across the room, ignoring the stares from other people trying to eat, and wrapped her arms around her older sister. “I’ve missed you so much!” she said, tears forming in her eyes. Tears of happiness, because her sister was alive, but also tears of sadness, because they were both in this mess now.