Interlude 1: Banella - The Forgotten Princess
"IT'S JUST NOT FAIR!!!" Banella shouted as she slammed the door to her room and locked it. She heard her parents' voices on the other side, trying to calm her, to reason with her, but she ignored them. This was their own fault.
Why should Basil get to be queen, just because she hatched a mere three and a half minutes before her? Basil didn't even want to be queen! Banella did. She wanted to be queen so badly it hurt. She had spent her childhood learning everything she could about royal traditions and attended all her classes, while her elder sister skipped out and spent all her time flouncing around the gardens.
Now her parents tell her the coronation is beginning to be planned for Basil. A coronation Banella deserved! Banella had done everything to gain control of the clan! She had passed every class with high marks, and done everything that was asked of her. How could her sister gain the respect of her clan is she didn't put in the work, like Banella had?
Fuming, Banella realized she couldn't stay here. She needed some fresh air, so she flung open the doors to her balcony and flew down from the castle into the streets below. She paid no mind to the commoners who tried to get her attention. If she was not their queen, did she really owe them anything? Maybe she should fly far away from here...
Just as the thought entered her mind, she ran head-on into someone. She was just about to snap at them for their rudeness of getting in her way when she was captivated by his brilliant green eyes and shimmering genes.
His face broke into a charming smile. "Hello Princess, you're far from the castle."
"I needed some air." Banella explained.
"Why don't you join me for a walk, and you can tell me what's troubling you..."
Leo had convinced Banella to stay in the Clan of Resting Wings.
If you want it that badly, you need to take it for yourself. The words he had told her stuck with her, and it was true. She could have the crown, she just needed to fight for it.
Basil was scheduled for a meeting about the coronation with that clan's advisors this afternoon, and Banella knew full well she planned to skip out on it. The weather was warm, and Basil would not pass up such a nice day for being outside, gardening. Banella decided she would go in her place, and prove that she could handle the responsibility required of a queen.
When the time came for the meeting, Banella was prepared. She had even stolen into her mother's wardrobe and had borrowed an outfit sure to display her majesty to the full. She looked every bit a queen, and this was her chance to make the impression she needed.
She now stood before the door. The meeting had been in session for five minutes already, and Basil had failed to show. Banella took a deep breath to quell any nerves. Now was not a time for stage fright. Running through her script again briefly, she pushed the doors open and made her arrival known.
"Fine ladies and gentlemen, it appears my sister had been unable to make it. Allow me to stand in her place. I have some ideas that will surely bring our clan further prosperity..."
Banella started unashamedly at her father as they stood in his study. Her violet eyes were unblinking, daring her father to admit that she was better suited for the role of queen than her sister.
"Just what exactly was it you were trying to pull back there?" Akira asked of his second-born daughter.
"I wasn't trying to pull anything!" Banella shot back. "Basil didn't turn up, she's obviously not suited to be queen. Just give up this whole charade already and name me heir! We all know that's the best option for the clan!"
"Banella." Akira shook his head. "You know nothing of being queen. You know the technical stuff, but not the heart behind it. This conversation proves your mother and I were right about naming your sister heir. We talked about making you heir instead, but as we watched you grow, it became clear you want this for yourself, not for the clan."
"How dare you?" Banella said, filling with a slow, quiet rage.
"If you learn from this experience, you may be able to become an advisor and help your sister rule, but if you continue to pull stunts like this, you aren't going to get anywhere. Now put your mother's clothes back and think about what you've done."
"But-!"
"Go!"
Banella raced from her father's study, hot angry tears pouring down her face. She hated crying, but she could not stop. She ran out of the castle, not conscious of where she was heading. She soon found herself knocking on Leo's door, and found herself stumbling into Leo's arms. Leo, the only one who believed in her. The only one who cared for what she wanted.
"You aren't seriously running away, are you?"
"It's not running away!" Banella spat back at Leo.
"That's what it looks like." Leo prodded. "After all, you've been hiding out here for the past week. Your parents have sent out search parties and everything."
"Well it's not. You told me to go after what I want. That's what I'm doing." Banella held her head up high. "Now shut up and make sure this letter gets to the castle!"
"Whatever you say, your majesty." Leo bowed mockingly. "Don't you want to be queen?"
"My father has made it very clear that's not happening. I need to come up with a new plan." Banella explained. "I don't expect you to understand."
"No, I don't understand. It seems to me like you are nothing but a young, entitled princess throwing a tantrum when you don't get exactly as you want." Leo leered.
"Don't call me Princess!" Banella shrieked. "You know what? I'm going to deliver the letter myself, seeing as you don't have the guts to do it yourself!"
With that, Banella tore out of Leo's house under the cover of a large hooded cloak and flew towards the castle. Reaching her sister's window, she couldn't resist peering in. Basil wasn't there. Typical. With a sigh, she slid the letter through the window. Her sister would read it when she returned, and her family would know that they had lost her for good. She would never return. Well, not to the palace at least.
Satisfied the letter had reached it's destination, Banella adjusted the cloak and flew away from the clan, farther than she had ever been before.
Business was going well. Her new clan was small, but even a small clan needed some form of entertainment. So, fudging her true wealth, Banella had set up a theatre. Here, she could be whoever she wanted. She flaunted riches she did not have, and built herself a reputation of mystery and prestige. She brought in famous actors from far off clans to perform plays of her own design.
Had anyone known her origin, they would have thought she had left the past behind her. That assumption would be completely wrong.
One day, from her flat above the theatre, she heard a familiar accent, shadow in origin. Peering out her window, she saw a colourful wildclaw showing around and equally colourful coatl, and they were stopped outside of the theatre.
"And here is the theatre. Tickets can be morbidly expensive, but the price usually drops close to the show so they can fill seats. Last week I went to see a show for almost nothing. I'll take you sometime, as a break from all our hard work."
"Maybe we can take your sister next time she comes to visit. From what you've told me about her and that clan entertainer, this is just the sort of thing she'd enjoy." The coatl suggested.
"She would." The wildclaw smiled. "She's been so busy preparing for her coronation, she deserves a bit of a break. I'll write to her. Amberlyn is making a trip soon to visit The Clan of Resting Wings and can easily make a delivery to the castle..."
Long-buried rage began to boil once again in Banella as the voices of the coatl and wildclaw grew faint and distance. So that bright-eyed young fool was her sister's son. Her hatred for her sister once again reared its head and she was left to stew and plot in the darkness of her flat.
It should be her children that were preparing to take the throne, her bloodline that the crown was passed along. Instead, she was forgotten, abandoned. Her family clearly were too weak for her, if they visited this very town and failed to look for her. Not that she wanted them to find her.
Someday, she would be powerful enough to get what she wanted, to put her sister in her place. She would lurk in the shadows, living out her days exiled in a separate flight, but one day she would return to the darkness she could not seem to shake free of. Someday, her sister would rue the day she stole the throne out from under her. Banella would not rest until she had achieved her revenge.
The interlude is here, and soon we will be jumping into the second arc! I had a lot of fun actually writing out Banella's backstory. I've talked and thought about it a lot, and have played around with a lot of different variables to create crzy AUs just for the fun of it. Banella is one of my favourite characters to work with, and she is a lot of fun to explore. In a future arc, I will be exploring her current character development. It worked out well that she won the vote because that lays the groundwork for that arc when the time comes to write it.
The Clan of Resting Wings, as I've said before, belongs to one of my two irl best friends, @
CleverDual. Basil, Akira and Leo live in her clan (As well as other's referenced, like Banella's mother, Arcene, and niece, Chrisha).
(I hope I've written them all right. Please tell me if anything I did was out of character and I'll fix it) If you are interested in knowing the other side of the story, following Basil and her descendants,
she's written it all out in her lorebook! She just finished an absolutely wonderful arc that kept me hanging onto every word, so now would be a fantastic time to jump in! The next arc is off to a great start, and I am excited to see where it leads!
Oh, and I should probably mention, the wildclaw and the coatl in the last section are Cpriccio and Pandora, dragons from the clan I had before Windkeep Tower. I no longer have them, but it was fun to cameo them! I must admit, I do miss them and their dynamic. They would have fit so well into Windkeep Tower.
