31 January 2024

This is one of the results of the outline; I got a firmer bead on Isaac’s characterization, and so started rewriting his scene to fit better. It still took some effort to get right, though; I’ve been trying to pin Lena and Frieda down as comic relief characters for a long time, and… well, if I want the fae to be threatening, they really can’t be. But that’s for later.

“Why did I let you talk me into this?”

Prince Isaac looked back at his friend, a tall, stocky boy with brown hair. Phillip was knee-deep in much, and based on his expression, the smell of the swamp didn’t particularly appeal to him, either. Isaac smirked at him from the log he stood on. “Because you find standing guard outside my door just as boring as I find my lessons?”

“That still had to be better than this.” Phillip stepped into a particularly deep area and cursed.

Isaac shrugged. “Oh, I don’t know. It’s not that bad.”

Phillip glared up at him, and finally found a dryer patch of ground to wade to. “You know your mom’s going to be pissed at us when we get back, right?”

“I’ll just tell her I was trying to find my sister. It’s even sort of true.”

Phillip just raised an eyebrow.

“What? It’s true! I’d love to find a way to bring her back. Then she can be crown princess, and I’d be free to see the world and go on adventures and such.”

“That seems like a terrible idea.”

“Worse than leaving me in charge?”

For a long moment, Phillip didn’t reply. “Lowenveil’s doomed, isn’t it?”

Isaac’s grinned widened, while he did his best to ignore the little prick he felt at Phillip’s comment. 

“It’s all kind of moot anyway,” Phillip added. “Unless we find some kind of fae magic of our own, we’ll never be able to get through the Lost Woods anyway. Which reminds me… What were we after out here, again?”

“Rumor has it there’s a couple of strange women out here pretending to be witches. Thought it might be worth checking out.”