SLEEPLESS IN A CASTLE (The Twelve Dancing Princesses flash fiction!)

Well hello there.

You may have noticed I didn't post last week. This is because I am extremely undisciplined I had this story planned but Thursday came and I... ahem... hadn't written it yet. I HATE skipping posts unannounced, but I'd hate even more posting something that was rushed and less than my best.

Buuut most of you guys are bloggers, so I really don't have to explain myself to you. Sometimes you've just got to take a little break. *shrugs*

Anyway! All that aside, guess what today is? Time for another Trentley and Jynnia story! :D

This month's prompt from Intuitive Writing Guide is based on The Twelve Dancing Princesses, October's featured fairy tale at The Fairy Tale Central! And honestly? I HAD NEVER READ THIS STORY BEFORE. At least, not recently enough to remember ANYTHING about it. But after reading it, I totally understand why I've seen people saying it's one of their favorite fairy tales! The underground world, the trees, the castle-- it's all just SO COOL! Also, there are apparently a bunch of retelllings of this one?? Like, maybe not as many as there are for, say, Cinderella, but more than I would have expected for what I would have considered such an obscure fairy tale. So now not only do I need to read ALL those retellings, but I really want to write my own full-length retelling too? Hey, maybe a future Trentley and Jynnia book. ;)

A quick shoutout to Fairy Tale Central for introducing me to this fairy tale! Their whole purpose is to celebrate and share appreciation for all fairy tales, and I've already found a couple new favorites 

through them. Keep it up, ladies!

Anyway! A quick disclaimer: This story's a mess. xD From here on out I'm going to try to make them a bit more consistent with each other, just so I can build on the background and details I need to lay down for their book series (which, if you didn't know, I'm starting for NaNo this year). There are still definitely loose ends; like, why in the world are ALL  of these jewels coming specifically to Trentley and Jynnia? Why did finding the jewel in this one RESOLVE everything, while in the other ones they actually CAUSED all the trouble? It's ridiculous. xD But like I've said before, these stories are mainly for fun. Experimentation, if you will. All the stories are connected, but you might see some different aspects as I play with what I want to weave into the full-length stories. And I can't wait to flesh these stories out and make books out of them!

(also, I want to quickly say that I'm aware the princesses in the original story weren't FORCED to dance; but the line I included about that was intentional, since Jynnia didn't know how the original story went.)

Okay, well, I've been talking for a LONG time. Let's just share the prompt and get into the story, shall we? (featuring possibly the worst title for one of these stories yet)

(which can be followed by any of these options:)

    SLEEPLESS IN A CASTLE

 "May I have this dance?"
Trentley bowed and held his hand out, and Jynnia giggled. She bowed too, even though the etiquette was atrocious, and took his hand. "Of course, my handsome man." Trentley pulled her close and they began to step lightly down the hallway. Leave it to Trentley to make something so simple as seeing her to her room before he left, fun. She was very glad she had invited him over to have dinner with her and her family.
 At her door, the dance stopped, and Jynnia gave a melancholy sigh. She was sad the dance was over but so happy that she had shared it with Trentley.
 Trentley put his hands on her shoulders and gently kissed her forehead. "Good night, Jynnia," he said. "I love you."
 "I love you too." She smiled and squeezed his hand before turning to open her door.
 When the door closed, Trentley turned and began walking back down the hallway. He would say good night and thank you to Jynnia's lovely parents as he went out, as well as those of her siblings that were still awake. He was thinking about kind her family was when he heard a short scream come from her room.
 Stopping abruptly, he turned and looked at her closed door. Something to be concerned about, or perhaps merely a spider? Jynnia screamed again, and Trentley bolted for the door.
 He knocked but then immediately opened it, realizing too late that he should have waited for her to answer.
 But Jynnia was standing there, looking exactly as she had a few moments ago, except for her pale face. She stared at something. Upon opening up the door a little wider, Trentley saw that Jynnia's bed had sunk into the floor, revealing a trap door with a staircase leading down to who-knows-where.
 "Oh my," Trentley said. "That's... not good."
 "What fairytale even is this?" Jynnia cried. No jewel had made an appearance yet, but of course given recent events, what else could it be?
 "I have no idea. But there must be a jewel down there!" Trentley said. "We have to find it!"
 Jynnia groaned. "Just one night. Can't we sleep for one night and forget all this?"
 Trentley gave a short laugh. "If only sleep actually let us forget."
 And so the two of them descended the eerie stairs-- praying that Jynnia's parents would not come in to find that the two of them had disappeared together through a trap door in her bedroom.
 The staircase led them down through a forest, and they found themselves walking through tree limbs. The leaves were the most peculiar-- silver, stunning, glittering. Jynnia breathed out. "This is beautiful," she said. "How have I not heard of this fairytale before?"
 They reached the ground then, and before them there were more trees-- not just of silver, but of gold and even diamonds. "These trees seem familiar," Trentley said. "I think I've read this fairytale before, but I don't remember anything else about it."
 "I wish I had," Jynnia said. "This place is breathtaking. And... if I had read it, I'd know what to expect next."
 "Maybe we should get in one of those boats," he said, pointing. Jynnia turned in the direction he pointed, toward a sparkling lake with at least a dozen boats resting up against the shore.
 "Okay. Why not." They went to the boats and claimed one. Trentley shivered. It was cool here, but not cold enough to cause shivers; it was the spooky silence and emptiness that caused goosebumps. He felt that someone or something could jump out at him at any time. He only hoped that nothing would come from the side of the lake that led back to Jynnia's bedroom, therefore blocking their escape.
 "This is weird," Jynnia said, echoing his thoughts. "I don't think I like this."
 "It's so beautiful, though," Trentley said. "At least there's that."
 "Yeah, but everything before only happened to us. This time we're actually going into, like... I don't know, a magical land or something. I feel like we're asking for trouble."
 Trentley had nothing to say. All they could do was to keep going. After all, they had decided to find all the jewels and they would have to take some risks in order to accomplish that goal.
 They sat mostly silent as Trentley rowed them across the lake, enjoying the unsettling yet breathtaking scenery. "Oh my," Jynnia said suddenly. Trentley woke from his trance and looked where Jynnia was looking, and saw an entire castle up ahead.
 "Oh my goodness," Jynnia said. "There's a castle under my bed."
 When they reached the shore, Trentley let Jynnia out first, then got out and pulled the boat up on the ground so it would not float away. What a predicament that would be.
 "I suppose we should go into the castle now," Jynnia said, her voice shaking ever so slightly. She glanced back over the lake, and Trentley followed her gaze. The other shore was but a sliver in the distance.
 They walked through the unlocked castle doors, straight into a giant, empty ballroom. "Whoa," Jynnia breathed, even her quiet words echoing off the vast walls. "This is amazing. But why are we here?"
 Trentley admired the huge crystal chandelier above them, lit though it seemed nobody had previously been here to enjoy it. "I'm sure something will happen soo-" Trentley's words were cut off as he suddenly felt himself pulled to Jynnia. Their hands locked together of their own accord, and they began to dance.
 "Trentley!" Jynnia exclaimed scoldingly.
 "It's not me!" Trentley cried. They stepped and glided on the floor, unable to stop.
 "Well, I'd say this is what happened in the fairytale," Jynnia sighed. She rolled her eyes, and Trentley had to hold back a laugh at the casual reaction to this very unusual situation.
 They danced and danced, and talked for a while about what they could possibly do. But once they had been dancing for twenty minutes or so they found that the more they talked, the more breathless they grew. And since they had no idea when they would stop dancing, they figured it would be smart to save their breath.
 Another hour passed. They had never danced so much in their lives, and certainly not without a break. "I don't know how much longer I can do this," Jynnia huffed. Trentley tried not for the first time to release her hands from his, but it was as if they were glued together.
 "There's got to be something we can do," he said breathlessly. "The jewel! We have to find the jewel!"
 "Yes!" Jynnia said. "Look everywhere. It must be in here."
 They did not have to worry about missing their steps as they looked around the ballroom, as their feet knew where to go without their direction.
 Feeling rather silly, they surveyed the room as they danced, welcoming the distraction from their utter exhaustion. Trentley saw tears coming to Jynnia's eyes, and the sight of her discomfort combined with his own weariness made him feel a pang of emotion, too.
 Jynnia tripped. A small well of hope sprung up in Trentley's heart; if she tripped, that must mean she could move willingly, right? But she immediately stood up straight again and resumed the dance.
 "My shoes!" she said. "They're falling apart!"
 Trentley glanced down at her feet. Indeed, the sole of one of her shoes had come undone and was flapping against the floor. That was what had tripped her.
 They looked around for at least another ten minutes. What were they up to now, an hour and a half of dancing? Maybe a little more?
 "There!" Jynnia cried.
 Trentley turned to see what she saw, but he could move only his head and so had to wait for the dance to aim him in the right direction to see it. When he spun around, he saw something at the edge of the room, twinkling in the light from the chandelier. "That's it!" he said. "We have to get over to it!"
 "Oh no," Jynnia said. "How are we going to do that? We didn't think of that!"
 "We can do it," Trentley said. "Just try."
 They began using all their strength-- which was not much by now-- to will themselves in the direction of the jewel.
 "We can't do it!" Jynnia cried. "We're going to die like this!"
 The calm, casual Jynnia from a couple of hours ago was gone. Trentley knew she was only being dramatic, but still he longed to rescue her from this dire situation. "We can do it," he said. "Just focus on nothing but getting over to that jewel." They spun. "Don't think about stopping the dance, just embrace it and steer it over there."
 He could see the effort in Jynnia's face, and her cheeks, already red from exhaustion, turned even brighter. But then the fear disappeared and he saw determination take its place. There was his Jynnia.
 A few moments later, it was as if their efforts combined, and they were effortlessly sweeping in the direction of the jewel. "Yes!" Trentley said. "We're doing it!"
 "What are we going to do when we get there?" Jynnia asked, her voice suddenly taking on a flat tone as she realized that getting there was only the first step.
 "We'll figure something out."
 In no time they reached the jewel. Trentley willed his foot to perform a flourish in the dance, and as it swung out he kicked the jewel out into the middle of the floor. Then they danced back toward it.
 "I'm going to dip you," he said. "Grab the jewel!"
 They swept up alongside the jewel, and Trentley dipped Jynnia low to the floor. She stretched out her arm and grabbed the jewel, holding it tight in her fist.
 Trentley helped her stand up straight again, and he could actually feel the enchantment melting away. Starting from the top of his head and flowing to his feet, Trentley felt his free will returning. As soon as it hit the floor, they both collapsed.
 A few moments of silence passed, and then they started breathlessly laughing. "Oh my goodness," Jynnia panted, resting the back of her hand on her sweaty forehead. "That was the worst thing I've ever experienced in my life."
 Trentley took deep breaths, the full extent of his exhaustion just catching up with him. "But we got the jewel," he said. "Another one down."
 "How many more fairytales are there, anyway?" Jynnia groaned, and they laughed again.
 They sat up. "It must have been buried under my house somehow," she said. "Let's get it out of here and in a safe place."
 "Right. Let's go." They found the strengh to run out of the castle and to their boat. They rowed to the other shore with not a word.
 "I kind of hate the idea of losing this place, though," Jynnia said as they made their way to the staircase again.
 Trentley looked up. As they walked through the trees, he broke off three branches; one of diamond, one of gold, and one of silver. "Here," he said. "If they survive in our world, you have some souvenirs."
 Jynnia smiled. "Thanks." 

   

And there you have it! I'm SO excited to be writing these guys for NaNo. (Which starts in SIX. DAYS. GUYYYYS. HELP.) And I had an unbelievably pleasant surprise, too; so, I work five days a week. I'm always off on Thursdays and Sundays. I never get another day off unless I request off, or a VERY rare occasion when I just randomly get scheduled an extra day. Like I said, VERY rare. Like, maybe once a year.

Anyway, I went to work one day this week and saw that I was scheduled off on a Friday. My first thought was to maybe switch shifts with somebody so I could have a day off throughout the week and get the weekend pay for working Friday; but then I realized: THAT'S THE FIRST DAY OF NANO! You guys, I'll have ALL DAY November 1st to get kickstarted on my story! I can even join the insanity and stay up until midnight the night before!

I'm probably way more excited about this than I should be. But any unexpected day off from work is welcomed. xD And since I was anticipating being at work all day on the 1st... I'm just really happy, okay?

Anyway. (How many times in one post can Emily say "anyway"?) I will stop talking now because I'm pretty sure I've talked more in this post than in any other post. So, I hope you enjoyed the story, and keep going strong with Preptober!

Have you ever read The Twelve Dancing Princesses before? (It's pretty awesome, isn't it?) What's your favorite lesser-known fairy tale? And for those of you who are doing NaNo, how's Preptober going?? Are you prepared? Or are you like me, six days away from November 1 and still NOT READY???