Work Text:
Why now?
Why not when my mother was ill? Why not when she died?
Why now after all these years of drudgery?
Why… her thoughts race frantically, but not a word escapes her mouth. After all, it is never wise to offend a fairy, no matter how kindly they might seem.
What makes this night any different?
Yes, she had wept when her stepmother refused to let her go, but it wasn’t as if she really wanted a fancy dress and a ball. What she wanted, what she had always wanted, was to be treated...not like her stepsisters, it hadn’t taken her long to see that such equality would never be a possibility, but even her fellow servants received better treatment!
It wasn’t that she wanted to outshine her stepsisters or even meet the prince, what would they even have in common? It was the sheer injustice of her stepmother’s orders, not attending the ball was one thing, after all she was hardly eligible by highborn standards, but to be banned from the town fete as well! What did her stepmother think would happen? It wasn’t as if she had any prospects, only dreams, of eyes meeting across a crowded square, finally someone who understood…love at first sight was all well and good, but her life has never been that kind of fairy tale, godmother or not.