Work Text:
I don’t own any characters here. Yes, I know I have used the concept of a winter joust before, but this time I wanted it to be central or more so to the story. Any way! Fluff, mystery, romance, females in love with females and more than likely some form of angst. If you don’t like then please don’t read. I have dyslexia so please go gently on the spelling and grammar I do my best and don’t need comments on it.
The winter joust.
When the headmaster had announced to the whole school that they would be holding the traditional winter joust this year and that the signup sheet for the event was on the school noticeboard near his office, Darling’s heart had leapt in her chest with delight.
Darling hoped whole heartedly that now that she was known to everyone at school as the white knight of Wonderland that she would be permitted to join in with the joust and so after the headmaster had finished with the rest of his announcements Darling made her way to where the signup sheet was.
As she looked at the sheet of paper Darling noticed that there was something written at the top of it, which read. ‘Please note that only knights who have a favour from their lady, Queen or princess may joust in this tournament.’
Reading these words sent a jolt of despair through Darling, she had no lady, Queen or princess and she highly doubted that any of the ladies, princesses or Queens at the school even the rebels would be willing to permit her to be their knight and allow her to have their favour. After all, doing so would bind them together and most rebels wanted their freedom from any and all kinds of fairy tale commitment.
A deep sigh left Darling, she wished she could ask Apple for her favour, but after the extremely negative way she had reacted to her saving her from the poisoned apple, Darling did not want to undergo another one of Apple’s tongue lashings.
The rejection from her true love had hurt a great deal, and it had taken quiet sometime for Darling to recover from it. Darling realised in that moment that having a known true love as she did, even one who had rejected her added another reason for no one to want her as their knight.
With a deep sigh Darling stepped away from the sign up sheet and made her way back to her dorm room, her spirit and heart feeling just as crushed as it had on the day of the dragon games.
Slowly a female figure slipped out of the shadows of the nearby hallway. Wondering what had caused the princess she loved such distress Raven made her way over to the board. She quickly read over the sign up sheet, as Raven did so her eyes went wide and sympathy for Darling spread through Raven.
She was well acquainted with the violent argument between Darling and Apple which had occurred after the dragon games incident. Apple had been less than thrilled to discover that Darling had saved her and had viciously made her displeasure clear too Darling. Raven had never known Apple to be so cruel and ruthless before now. She knew that Apple was protective of her story but what she had said and done to Darling had been far too terrible as far as she was concerned.
Since this argument had taken place between Apple and Darling things had been colder than the artic between the two of them. They were coldly, extremely and overly polite to each other when they met in public. Neither of them had ever approached the subject of the Dragon games and Apple’s waking since then and Raven was fairly sure that it would never be spoken about between Darling and Apple ever again.
Raven was well aware that being rejected by her true love had hurt Darling a great deal. So much so that she had only just recently started to show signs that she was recovering from this pain. Raven felt it was unlikely that Darling would be ready to give her heart to someone again just yet and even if Darling was ready to love again, she very much doubted that she would be the one Darling fell in love with and trusted her heart to.
Raven had to admit even if it was just to herself that she found Darling utterly beautiful, she thought her kind and very charming. Raven’s heart fluttered every time she saw Darling and she knew that she had romantic feelings for her and that she would not have objected at all to Darling being her prince.
As she considered Darling’s problem Raven decided that she would provide Darling with the favour which she would need to joust. Since no one knew who her father was she could use the colours of his family mixed with her the symbols, which were granted to her as his daughter and only heir. As long as she was very careful Raven was fairly sure that no one would ever know she had been the one to send the favours to Darling.
With her mind now made up Raven made her way into Book End in order to get the things she would need to make her favour from the craft shop there. Raven entered the craft shop, she made her way over to where the ribbons where kept, Raven picked out the midnight blue, gold and silver she would need, while at the same time also grabbing some shades of purple, so that the shop staff would think nothing unusual about her purchase.
Happy with her choices of ribbon Raven made her way over to the till where she paid for the length of ribbons which she desired. Once they were securely inside a paper bag, Raven carefully tucked the them away into her bag and then made her way to another nearby gift shop where she could purchase a box in which to place the favour.
Raven spent a while considering the choice of boxes before her on the shelves, before she picked out a glittering, quite flat, rectangular silver box and took it to the till. Raven paid for the box, placed this into her bag and then made her way back to school.
When Raven reached her dorm room, she was pleased to notice that Apple was not in today. Raven made her way over to her side of the room, one there she carefully unpacked the bag of ribbons and the gift box from her bag and carefully placed them onto the bed.
Once she had put her bag away for the day, Raven carefully brought a large flat topped dark wooden chest out from under the bed, she opened it and brought out from inside a smaller wooden box. The moment Raven brought the box out joy filled her, she had never thought that she would ever have a chance to use the items within it and she had no regrets giving them to Darling even though she would probably never see their return.
It was a little odd to Raven think that favours had gone from something so simple as a handkerchief or a sash, to something as multifaceted as hers now was. In a way it was a metaphor for their word as it was now, things had gone from simple and strait forwards in the past, to the complexity of today.
Raven settled on the bed, she knew better than to use magic in her work and so she would make her favour by hand as they had been made for centuries before. Carefully Raven began to braid together the midnight blue, silver and gold, into three braids. As she braided the first one, she carefully worked into a silver dragon charm, onto the second she secured a silver sword and onto the third went a silver star with a diamond centre. Each of these charms represented the symbols on her official coat of arms, one that no one had ever seen outside of her home kingdom.
With this part done Raven then braided the three braids together to form a long braid, she then tied them together at the top and bottom, making sure to secure to one end a golden crown and to the other a silver. When this was done Raven carefully trimmed off the ends of the ribbon so they were even, and looked nice and neat.
Raven knew the crowns on her favour where a clue as to who she was, but she felt that it was a risk worth taking, as although they would tell Darling that she was a princess, who would one day become a Queen, this applied to many princesses at the school and would therefore not threaten her anonymity too much.
Raven spent a moment just sitting on the bed looking at her favour as it lay in her hands. This was her favour, it was meant for her knight, it was something she thought she would never get a chance to use and here Raven was giving it away to Darling.
She shook herself out of these thoughts, then a deep sigh left Raven, there was a hidden part of Raven which longed to be able to present Darling her favour formally and have her accept it gladly, but she knew that this was nothing more than a hopeless romantic fantasy.
Another sigh left her, before Raven carefully, but determinedly placed the favour into the box, she closed it, then used the remaining silver, midnight blue and gold ribbon to tie it closed and to make a pretty bow on the top.
As she sat looking at the box in her hands Raven considered if she should add some sort of note or if she should leave it without any explanation. After thinking about this issue for a few moments she decided that it would be best to include a note to Darling to explain to her what this gift was and why she had left it for her in the way she had before Darling opened the box.
Raven placed the box to one side on her bed, she made her way over to her desk, Raven opened one of the draws in which she kept all of her stationary. Carefully through the paper and envelopes she had in the draw, fishing out the finest, but plainest and least identifying paper and envelope she could find. Raven places the envelope and paper on her desk, she brings out black ink, a quill, she pulled out the chair at the desk and set down to write her note.
She sat quietly staring at the piece of paper before her, trying to decide exactly what she wanted to say to Darling in her message. After a few moments in quiet contemplation Raven started to write, when she finished Raven tucked the note into the envelope and then carefully attached it to the front of the gift box.
Raven considered how to get her favour to Darling’s dorm room without anyone seeing her. The witch decided to see if she could simply slip out of her room and leave it outside the dorm room without anyone seeing her.
Carrying the gift box with her, Raven went to the doors of the room, she quietly opened the door and looked out into the corridor. As she looked left and right Raven was both thrilled and relieved to see that the corridor was empty.
On silent feet Raven walked out into the corridor, she made her way to the door of Rosabella and Darling’s room, when Raven reached it, she bent down and carefully placed the box in front of the doors. Raven stood, she turned and started to walk back to her own dorm room, but part of the way back Raven turned to look back at the gift box. Forcefully Raven pulled her eyes away from it, then turned away and made her way back to her dorm room.
When Darling returned to her dorm room after her last lesson of the day, she was surprised to find a gift box sitting on the floor outside the doors. Darling picked the box up, when she did so Darling noticed there was an envelope attached to the front of it with her name written on it as well as the words, please read me first written under it.
Darling made her way inside, she placed her school bag and books down on her desk, before walking over to her bed. Darling settled down on the edge of the bed, she carefully set the gift box on the bed, then retrieved the envelope, Darling opened it, she drew out from inside the single piece of paper, unfolded it and started to read. “To the white knight of Wonderland. I know you have a wish to enter the winter joust. I am also well aware that you have no one to present you with the favour which you require in order to be able to enter. I hope you will not find it presumptuous of me, but I wish to present you with mine. I wish you to know you have all of my heart, as well as my love and I would be honoured for you to be my knight from now onwards. I know however your own heart belongs to another and so I shall not claim you as my own and I do not expect you to do anything for me in return for what I have done for you. As for who I am…As I have no wish to be trouble for you in any way, that is of no matter…I am afraid that I shall have to remain a mystery to you always. All I ask is you represent me well on the field of honour.”
By the time she was done reading Darling’s eyes were wide in wonder, her hands shook slightly as she placed the letter to one side on the bed and turned her gaze to the box. With great care Darling undid the ribbon around the box, she placed them to one side, then pulled the lid off of the box.
Although Darling had truly hoped to find a favour inside the box, her eyes still widened while at the same time shock and awe travelled through her when she saw that a favour did indeed lay inside the box. Quickly placing the lid with the ribbons to one side, Darling carefully drew the favour out. The colours where beautiful, but they matched no one she knew and as Darling studied the markers on the favour she noted that they were clearly official ones, but she couldn’t place anyone who would have all of them to one person.
The only thing she did know for sure was that this person was a princess who would one day become a Queen. Even this knowledge was not much of a clue, as Darling was well aware that there where many princesses at the school to whom this fact could be applied.
Darling sat on the bed lost in staring at the favour. She couldn’t believe someone had helped her like this, that someone loved her and was willing to tie themselves to her without expecting anything in return from her.
Whoever this person was they clearly didn’t want to be found, Darling really wanted to be able to thank her mysterious lady and she began to consider a way that this might be possible. Darling turned the issue over in her head for a few moments before an idea slowly crystallized in her mind.
If she won the joust, she would hold the favour up high for all to see and then tell all there that she was honoured to have received this favour, that she hoped that she had done her lady honour and that from now on she was her knight and prince. That she wished dearly for her lady to show herself and allow her to stand beside her now and always.
With this settled in her mind Darling carefully wound the favour around her wrist, she then tied it off with a complex knot, this was a way of demonstrating to anyone who would see them that she would not be taking them off accept to retie them when she put on her armour or in very exceptional circumstances.
Darling quickly got up from the bed, she made her way out of her dorm room, back to the sign-up sheet and determinedly placed her name onto the list. Darling hoped that the headmaster wouldn’t cause trouble over her decision to enter the joust, but Darling knew that if he did so she would have her favour to show him. A smile spread over Darling’s face as she thought about what the headmaster’s reaction to seeing her favours might be like.
Still smiling widely Darling made her way back to her dorm room, when she got there, she settled down at her desk to study for her classes and do her homework for the next few days. Her thoughts however kept straying to who might have sent the favour. There was someone she secretly hoped would be the one, but Darling was unsure if it was possible for her to have any kind of feelings for her beyond those of friendship and so she was reluctant to allow herself to hope that maybe, just maybe the one she had come to love after Apple’s rejection of her might be the one behind the favour.
The next morning at breakfast Darling was eating her breakfast when the headmaster entered the castleteria clearly fuming and he yelled out without caring who heard him. “DARLING CHARMING! Why have you signed up for the winter joust?!”
“Well, I am the white knight of Wonderland…” She began in her normal soft sweat voice which somehow always managed to carry despite this.
Milton ruthlessly cut her off. “You need to have a favour from a lady, princess or Queen to joust.”
“But headmaster, I do have a favour.” Darling announced.
These words caused a ripple of awed whispering to spread around the castleteria. “You do not have a favour!” The headmaster said even more angrily than before.< p/>
“Actually, I do headmaster.” Darling said firmly, before standing up, and bringing up her arm to show the favour wrapped around her wrist.
The moment his eyes settled on the favour which now embraced Darling’s wrist his eyes widened. “Who gave you that?”
“I don’t know.” Darling told him honestly while she shook her head at the same time.
“You don’t know?” The headmaster asked in confusion.
Darling nodded to him. “That is correct. Whoever sent me these wanted to stay unknown and I know there are no rules which say I must know the one who my favour came from in order to be able to take part in the winter joust. I also know that others have entered this joust before me with unknow ladies, Queens and princesses favours before me.”
The headmaster knew that he could not refute this as it was the truth and instead Milton stormed back out of the castleteria.
Darling watched him leave with a small satisfied smile on her face. Darling looked around the castleteria, she held her arm up above her head and said in a soft but sure voice. “For all that doubt my words I have a favour! I do not know who sent these to me, but whoever she is I thank her for these with all of my heart and as she has made it clear to me that she does not wish to be found I shall respect her wishes and not look for her for now. I look forwards to jousting to honour you my mysterious lady.”
Raven managed to hide her smile and still the fluttering of her heart by sipping her tea, while at the same time she could hear people discussing who could have sent the favour to Darling. Lots of theories where being thrown back and forth, but no one person was being settled on or favoured by those trying to guess who the lady was.
As she looked across the castleteria to Darling Raven could see that she to had joined in with the chatter and so as not to look out of place herself Raven joined in with the conversation.
When Raven got up to leave the castleteria Maddie rose too, she walked up to Raven’s side, Maddie leant in to her and asked in a whisper. “Are you planning on letting Darling know she has your favour?”
Raven said nothing in answer to this and just shook her head. “Why not?” Maddie asked still keeping her voice soft.
“Despite what happened between them I am sure that Darling is still in love Apple…I wouldn’t want to get between them, also Darling wants to have adventures and I don’t want having my favour to somehow prevent her from being able to do that.” Raven explained to her in a whisper.
Maddie nodded her head and said sagely. “Best then to keep the secrets of your heart if those are your worries.”
“That was what I thought too.” Raven told her with a smile as they made their way out of the castleteria and to their first class of the day.
On the day of the winter joust Raven joined the many spectators in the stands. As the competitors jousted people cheered for their chosen knights, even Darling received cheers from the rebels, Daring however had received the loudest cheering of all.
Raven had never seen Darling joust before, but it quickly became clear to her that she was extremely good at it. Darling’s level of skill was so high that Raven was unsurprised when Darling made it to the final without any trouble.
As the final began Raven watched Darling and Daring closely, it was clear that their skill levels where close to each other and it was almost impossible to tell which one of them would win. After several passes, they were level with each other and it would be the final pass which would decide whom would emerge as the victor.
Raven was on the edge of her seat as Darling and Daring made their way towards each other. The moment they met there was a mighty crash, Darling skilfully unseated Daring sending him flying off of his horse and onto the ground.
After a beat of stunned silence loud cheering and clapping rang out from the stands. Raven joined those who were clapping and cheering for Darling.
Darling meanwhile brought Gallopad to a halt, she dismounted, walked up to her brother and offered him a hand. Without hesitation Daring accepted the hand and let Darling help him back up onto his feet. He pushed up the visor of his helmet and smiled down at his little sister. “You joust wonderfully Darling and I am not ashamed at all to have lost to you.”
Darling lifted her own visor and smiled up at Daring. “I am glad to hear you say that brother. You jousted well too.”
Daring gathered the reigns of his mount and walked it back to one end of the field, where he left the horse in the care of one of the students who were helping out with the event for the day.
Darling carefully undid the favour from around her wrist, she held it up high above her where everyone could see it. Noticing what she was doing everyone fell silent. Once Darling was sure that she had the attention of all those at the joust she began to speak. “I am honoured to have received this favour, I dearly hope that I have done my lady honour today. I want everyone here to know that from now on I am the knight and prince of my unknown lady. My lady I am sure that you are present today, the greatest gift you could give me is to show yourself and allow me to stand beside you now and always…You know my princess did not want me…But I do not think that you realised that by giving me this favour and allowing me to represent you today I have become your knight and prince. So please I beg you show yourself.”
Silence settled on the stands, no one moved, they were all shocked by Darling’s words. Raven herself was stunned by them Darling was right, she hadn’t realised that by giving Darling her favour she had claimed her as her prince. This was not a thought which gave her any sadness, but instead made Raven feel joyful. Despite this Raven was a little reluctant to come to her feet and tell Darling that the favour was hers.
Then Darling’s voice which was filled with sadness and pain interrupted Raven’s thoughts and cut into her heart. “If you worry that having your favour will in some way prevent me from achieving the future I desire then worry not, as from now on all my adventures and victories will be simply dedicated to you, my lady. So once more I ask you to come forwards.”
Just when Darling was about to give up when slowly Raven rose from the stands. The moment she did so every set of eyes came to settle on her. Raven was keenly aware of their glances but refused to be cowled by them, instead she stood up strait and tall. She made her way down the steps towards the bottom of the stands, while Darling made her way towards her. Both their hearts were beating frantically inside them and neither of them could quiet believe that they were doing what they are.
When Darling and Raven met at the bottom of the stands Raven looked straight into Darlings eyes and spoke in a calm honest voice. “The favour is mine.”
Those words made Darling want to jump for joy, she could hardly believe that standing before her was the one person she had hoped might have sent her the favour. Darling held the favour out towards Raven asking as she did so. “Can you prove this, so none will question it Raven?”
She assented her head once. “I can.” Raven carefully took hold of a silver chain she was wearing, and pulled out from under her clothes a silver pendant in the shape of a shield. Raven held the pendant out towards Darling saying as she did so. “This is my coat of arms and it should be all the proof that you require.”
Gently Darling took the silver pendant and she looked at it, sure enough the coat of arms depicted on the shield was a dragon, in its claws was a sword and above it was a star with a diamond centre. “Yes, as you say this is all the proof I need.”
Darling held the pendant back out towards Raven, who accepted it back and tucked it back away under her clothes. As she did so Darling untied her favour from her arm, then held it out towards Raven asking her politely. “Would you tie it to my wrist formally my princess?”
“I’d be honoured.” Raven said as she accepted the favour from Darling. Carefully Raven wrapped it around her slender wrist and the tied it secularly.
Once she was finished, Darling gathered one of Raven’s hands into hers and kissed the back of it. “Thank you, my princess. Once I am free of my armour will you allow me to talk to you about why you sent me your favour in the manner you did?”
Raven blushed delicately and looked down. “I am not sure you would be happy with my reason.”
Darling placed her fingers under Raven’s chin and gently but firmly used them to lift her head. “Yet, I still wish to know.” As Raven hesitated Darling took the opportunity to try to convince her to her point of view. “Please Raven I truly wish to know and I am more than happy to talk to you somewhere where we can be afforded privacy if it will help you feel less nervous. I am sure that whatever your reasoning was it will not make me angry.”
There was a moment of silence before Raven nodded too Darling. “Very well, we can discuss what happened…I shall wait for you here and when you are ready you can come and find me.”
“Very well.” Darling agreed with a nod, before quickly setting off to go and get changed.
While Raven sat waiting on a seat at the bottom of the stands for Darling to return several students and teachers approached her and tried to ask Raven about what had taken place between them, but Raven refused to answer their questions and instead asked them to respect her privacy. Some of those questioning Raven had at first refused to do so, but when Raven’s temper had risen causing her magic to flare around her, they had quickly retreated. None of them wanted Raven to lose control of her magic and ended up turning them into something by accident.
When Darling returned to the stands almost all the spectators had left and the cleaning crew were starting to tidy up. As Raven noticed her approaching, she came to her feet and waiting for Darling to reach her. When Darling reached Raven, she held an arm out to her gallantly. “Shall we go to one of the private study rooms where we can be warm and private for our discussion?”
“That sounds like an excellent idea.” Raven agreed, as she accepted Darling’s arm and walked back inside the school with her.
After a short search the Darling and Raven found a study room free, with a fire burning brightly in the fireplace, they closed the door to it and settled down together on one of the settees there. Darling turned to face Raven, she gently took both of her hands into hers and asked gently. “Why did you decide to send your favour to me in such a secretive way Raven?”
“Part of my reason was because as you said I was worried how they might affect any adventures you might wish to have…But I was also worried because…” Raven’s words petered out, she looked down at Darling’s hands holding hers and blushed brightly.
“Why where you worried Raven?” Darling asked in a gentle voice.
Raven was quiet for a moment, before answering her. “I was concerned that after the way Apple had treated you that you wouldn’t be ready for a new lady…”
Slowly Darling reached out, she turned Raven’s face back up towards her and asked while gently stroking her fingers over Raven’s cheek. “Why did you want me to have your favour?”
The blush on Raven’s face grew deeper, but she bravely answered this enquiry. “I wanted you to have it because I couldn’t imagine anyone else being my knight…If I had been the one you rescued, I would not have rejected you in the way Apple did, I would have accepted you whole heartedly.”
“Do you…Love me?” Darling asked her gently, but with a hint of disbelief in her voice. Nervously Raven bit her lip, while at the same time she nodded too Darling. Darling’s eyes widened in surprise, while at the same time delight spread through her. “You love me…” She whispered awed.
“Yes, Darling I do.” Raven told her in a soft voice.
“This is wonderful! I never thought that you could possibly love me! I love you too Raven.” Darling told her joyfully, as a wide smile spread over her face.
“You love me!” Raven exclaimed in a shocked voice.
Grinning widely Darling nodded to Raven. “Yes, I do. May I kiss you Raven?”
Raven nodded to her. “I’d like that very much.”
Without hesitation Darling gently kissed Raven on the lips. To her this was the most blissful thing which she had ever experienced in her life. Kissing Raven felt better to, Darling than kissing Apple had done. Raven let out a hum of pleasure, she slowly placed her arms around Darling and returned the kiss.
When they broke the kiss, Darling and Raven shared a smile and then Raven said. “That was wonderful my knight.”
“Your knight, I like that my lady and love.” Darling told her in a very happy voice.
Raven smiled widely at Darling as she called her, her love. “I can’t imagine receiving a better gift for midwinter than this.”
“Neither could I.” Darling agreed, while she put an arm around Raven’s shoulders and pulled her into her.
Raven settled herself comfortably against Darling, Raven placed her head onto Darling’s shoulder and then she took hold of Darling’s free hand and held it tightly. Raven could hardly believe that she had received her dearest wish for midwinter, but she had and now Raven felt so very happy and complete.
Darling held onto the Raven’s hand just as tightly, while she stared into the fire feeling utterly content with her situation in life and very happy without a doubt, she would not change a thing which had happened between herself and Raven.
As they both sat staring into the flames and just enjoying being together. Neither of them knew where their path was going to lead them, but Raven and Darling felt sure that whatever trials befell them that they would trust in their love for each other and face it together.