Write for Relief story: Daisy Chains (Original femslash, PG) for aramis_chan
TITLE: Daisy Chains
RATING: PG
PAIRING: OFC/OFC
SUMMARY: Request: Original High Fantasy (anything set in a completely separate, non-modern world; it can be full of magic, dragons, and gnomes or whatever, or bare of actual fantasy elements, but in the latter case I want there to be enough of a sense of the world being different from ours) with femmslash between human (or humanoid) characters
AUTHOR’S NOTES: For aramis_chan, for the Write for Relief Fandom Auction.
THANKS: To a2zmom for her wonderful beta.
Once upon a time, in a kingdom far, far away, there lived a princess. She was beautiful, as princesses often are, and sweet natured. But she was the only child of the king and queen, and as such, she was used to having her way. She was used to being the center of attention, and she was not used to sharing. She was therefore less than thrilled when, the day after her fifth birthday, another little girl was brought to live with her.
“It’s my room,” Princess Sweet Blossom complained, tugging plaintively at the jeweled hems of her father’s robes.
“It is for your own protection,” the king said. “These are grave times; a bodyguard is a necessity.”
Sweet Blossom scrunched her nose, and eyed little Brave Orchid’s braid, the smudge of dirt on her cheek.
“How good a bodyguard could she be?” Sweet Blossom asked. “She’s as little as me!”
“She’ll learn,” the king said. “Brave Orchid will be taught by the finest warriors in the kingdom, and she will grow up beside you, like your shadow. She will be with you always.”
Brave Orchid hazarded a smile. She had lost a baby tooth in the front row, leaving a gap in her smile. Sweet Blossom frowned.
***
Brave Orchid sat in on Sweet Blossom’s lessons, but not her play. While Sweet Blossom played in the castle gardens, chasing jewel-winged fairies and braiding daisy chain tiaras, Brave Orchid learned to fight. On the whole, Sweet Blossom was uninterested in Brave Orchid and her acts, but occasionally she would come across the girl and her tutors. Brave Orchid was as graceful as a gazelle balancing the weight of a sword against her slender body.
***
Sweet Blossom watched Brave Orchid let her hair free of its long braid. Every night, the same routine: Brave Orchid loosed her lustrous black curls, and brushed them out. In the morning, she braided it back up. The only thing that changed, year to year, was the length of her hair. Brave Orchid never cut it; her braid grew along with her, the end swinging about her hips.
Sweet Blossom curled her own hair around her finger.
“Your hair’s so pretty,” she said. “Why don’t you wear it down?”
Brave Orchid’s hand stilled mid-motion, the brush’s teeth still tangled in her curls.
“Vanity is weakness for a warrior, Highness,” she said. “It would not be wise. What should happen if I had to protect you, and my hair got in the way?”
Sweet Blossom frowned. “So you do it for me?”
A pink tinge colored Brave Orchid’s cheeks. She bowed her head.
“It is my honor and privilege,” she said.
***
Sweet Blossom toyed with a bouquet of daisies, another token from another suitor.
“Daisies,” she said disdainfully. “Why not send me dirt?”
Brave Orchid raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. She lowered her head, and continued cleaning her blade.
Sweet Blossom plucked off a petal. “He loves me . . .”
“He loves you not,” Brave Orchid said.
Sweet Blossom frowned. “That’s not how the game goes. You have to pull off another petal first-”
“I know how the game goes, Highness.”
“Then what do you mean?”
“None of them love you, Highness. They don’t even know you. They only know your lovely face, the fine form of your body. The extent of your dowry, the extent of your father’s kingdom.”
Sweet Blossom flushed. “You don’t know what you’re talking about. You’re just jealous; you don’t have any suitors.”
Brave Orchid lowered her eyes, her cheeks drawing in.
“It is my job to protect you, Highness.”
Sweet Blossom threw the bouquet at Brave Orchid. Daisies rained around her; Brave Orchid did not even flinch.
“And who’s to protect me from you?”
***
Sweet Blossom managed to reach the castle gates before being stopped, but, she realized later, Brave Orchid had probably been trailing her the whole time.
“You can’t,” Brave Orchid said, the moonlight shining off her braid. “Highness, it isn’t safe.”
Sweet Blossom tossed her head, a restless colt. “I’m going off to see one of my suitors; you wouldn’t understand.”
Brave Orchid steeled her jaw. “It isn’t safe.”
Sweet Blossom shrugged. “Come along, if you like. You’ll see; nothing will happen!”
***
Smoke curled from the dragon’s nostrils like steam from a kettle. Brave Orchid’s blade caught the light, flashed bright as lightning as she drew it from her scabbard. Brave Orchid’s hand pressed through the gossamer layers of Sweet Blossom’s gown, pressing her back. Sweet Blossom could feel the shape of Brave Orchid’s hand on her skin like a brand.
Brave Orchid put herself between the dragon and Sweet Blossom, and she put her sword between the dragon and herself. Brave Orchid pushed Sweet Blossom back; Sweet Blossom let the momentum take her until she hit the cool rock of the wall. Fear thrummed in her veins, making her flesh weak. She shook, but even through the unsoundness, she could feel the memory of Brave Orchid’s hand against her, pushing her back. Sweet Blossom watched the muscles in Brave Orchid’s bare shoulders bunch and expand, watched her long braid swing as Brave Orchid’s body moved in response to her sword, in response to the dragon.
Brave Orchid’s skirts billowed and swelled, raised on the hot breath of the dragon. The hems of her skirts scorched, charring black and smoldering here and there, like sparkling gold and topaz. Brave Orchid parried; she thrust; the serpentine tail of the dragon wound tight and unraveled as Brave Orchid drove the beast back against the wall. Brave Orchid’s body twisted like a ballerina’s in a frenzied pas de deux, and Sweet Blossom was mesmerized.
***
The dragon’s breath had left Brave Orchid’s skirts in tatters, a lace curtain draped across her legs, showing glimpses of skin. Without thought, Sweet Blossom slipped her fingers through the holes, brushing her fingertips over Brave Orchid’s skin. Brave Orchid froze, like Sweet Blossom had in the dragon’s lair-petrified.
“You saved my life,” Sweet Blossom said.
Brave Orchid opened her mouth to speak, but the automatic response froze in her throat. She closed her mouth, dropped her eyes.
Sweet Blossom wrapped Brave Orchid’s curls around her fingers. She pulled Brave Orchid down by her braid, and kissed her.
Brave Orchid pulled back, eyes wide. “I-my-Highness-”
“Don’t worry,” Sweet Blossom whispered. “It is my honor and privilege.”