Diary Entry 1 : Aurora’s Christening - Celandine

Today was the christening of the King and Queen’s first child, Princess Aurora. My sisters, the fairies Amarantha and Elanor, and I had had been chosen to be her godmothers which was a great honour for the three of us. The weather was beautiful for the occasion, warm and sunny. Most of the kingdom lined the streets of city to get their first view of the princess in the procession from the castle to the cathedral. The christening service itself was lovely, the cathedral was decorated with lilies, irises and chrysanthemums in white, pinks and purples. King Stefan and Queen Maria both looked very proud of little Aurora who was as quiet as a mouse through the whole service. After the church service, everyone travelled back to the castle where a huge feast had been prepared in the garden in celebration. All the children were able to run around and play while everyone else ate and chatted among themselves, the atmosphere was very happy and relaxed. After the feasting had finished, my sisters and I went to give our gifts to Aurora. We had been talking about this between the three of us for quite some time, it was a huge responsibility and we wanted to give perfect gifts. In the end Amarantha blessed Aurora with the looks and wit of an angel, while Elanor gave her the grace and voice of a nightingale. As I stepped forward to give the little princess my gift, everyone went quiet, turning round, we saw Maleficent approaching, Maleficent is possibly the most evil fairy I have ever met and appeared incredibly bitter that she hadn’t been invited to the christening and that my sisters and I had been made godmothers, yet she hadn’t. She stormed up to the crib where Aurora lied, shoving me out of the way as she approached, and drawing her wand, she put a curse on the sleeping baby. She cursed Aurora to prick her finger on a spindle of a spinning wheel before she was sixteen and die. There was a horrified gasp as Maleficent proceeded to disappear in a cloud of thick smoke, As I still had my gift to give, I quickly made my mind up to try and undo the curse as much as I could, but I could not remove it because I’m not powerful enough sadly. I reduced the curse so that if Aurora befell this wicked fate, she would simply appear to die, but fall into a sleep that would last 100 years until she was woken by love’s first kiss. It was no comfort to the King and Queen though, it was indeed a sad ending to what should of been such a wonderful day.

Diary Entry 2 : Leaving The Castle - Amarantha

The King made a decree that all the spinning wheels in the kingdom should be destroyed immediately today. They are all to be collected tomorrow and burnt in the castle courtyard so that the King is satisfied that every wheel is completely destroyed. A sad atmosphere has come over the castle today where my sisters and I are currently guests. After breakfast, Celandine, Elanor and I spent the morning discussing the situation with Aurora and the curse. The only way to break the curse is to kill Maleficent, but even with our power combined, we couldn’t do that if we wanted to. We only practise in white magic, so we can’t bring harm to others, so we ruled that option out. In the end we decided that the only way to help was to take Aurora away until she turned 16 somewhere that we could make sure that she wouldn’t be able to get near a spinning wheel. After agreeing to this, we went to find the King and Queen. Although they didn’t want to be parted from their daughter after they were finally blessed with one, they both agreed that it would be far more devastating if Aurora was to die, so they accepted the idea. Preparations were made immediately as were to leave that day before Maleficent could hear of the plan and stop us. After dinner, the three of us slipped out of the castle under the cover of darkness with Princess Aurora. As soon as we were far enough away from the castle to not attract attention, we used our magic to fly to a small cottage in the forest that we planned to live in for the next 16 years. The cottage is homely enough now we have given it a quick clean up and have a fire in place. We have locked away our magic wands to prevent people discovering our true identities, so we are to live truly as mortals do for the next 16 years with Aurora. We have also chosen to give Aurora the name Briar Rose, so that nobody who encounters her will be able to identify her.

Diary Entry 3 : Aurora’s 16th Birthday - Elanor

Finally the day has come, as of today we can start using our magic once more and return to the city and the castle. Living for 16 years as a mortal woman has indeed been hard work, I don’t think my sisters or I could have ever predicted it having bee so hard. Its been a good 16 years though, watching Aurora grow up into a woman has been brilliant, she is such s delightful young lady now and so refined, I think she is a testament to the the three of us. None of us have told her about her parents or that she is a princess, we thought it was there was too much of a rick that she would want to go back, but today we finally deemed that she should be told so she could prepare for her return, We all sat down in the afternoon sun after our lunch and explained to Aurora about her mother and father, the King and Queen, and that she was really a princess. We chose not to tell her about the curse because we felt it was too much for to be told at once, so we told her that the King and Queen wanted her to learn about real life, so that when she came to rule the kingdom, she would be a good Queen. She took all the news very well, if she was shocked, she concealed it very well, but she only appeared to be excited about the prospect of returning to the castle tomorrow. After we had explained everything to her, she was so enthusiastic to return to the castle that she managed to persuade us to take her back this evening, we don’t know quite how it happened. So we are to leave the cottage a day earlier than was organised. Everyone at the castle will be very surprised to see us. So goodbye to the cottage...

Diary Entry 4 : Aurora’s 16th Birthday - Celandine

Why were we so stupid as to let Aurora persuade us to bring her back a day early, we should have realised that she could still fall under the curse. When we arrived back at the castle, the King and Queen were very surprised but delighted to meet their daughter properly for the first time. Because the castle hadn’t prepared for our return, Aurora was taken to the tower room where she could freshen up before meeting the rest of the court. My sisters and I joined the King and Queen while Aurora was gone and told them why we had returned early. As we talked about Aurora, we heard a scream, all of us ran for Aurora in the tower room, King Stefan got there first, only to find Maleficent standing over Aurora’s body. A spinning wheel stood next to them, a drop of bright red blood running down the spindle, and then just as she had 16 years ago, Maleficent disappeared in a cloud of smoke, leaving us alone with Aurora’s body. King Stefan crossed the room to his daughter’s lifeless body and laid her on the bed, taking a rose from the vase next to the bed and placing it in her hands. Then he turned to us and asked if the rest of the kingdom could be placed under a similar spell to Aurora, so none of them would wake until Aurora awoke. Although we were hesitant to do such a thing, my sisters and I agreed to his request. So the rest of the kingdom was placed under a sleeping spell. As a little extra touch, I grew a forest around the castle that would only part for Aurora’s destined love. My sisters and I then decided that we should watch over the kingdom during he next 100 years to make sure that nothing would happen. So yet again we have another long wait. It has been another sad day for the kingdom and there will be many more now before it is happy again.

Diary Entry 5 : Prince is lured to the castle - Amarantha

Finally the day has come, the kingdom is awake once more! I was walking through the forest, near to the cottage we occupied 100 long years ago, when I was startled to hear a horse. I searched through the forest until I came across a young man on his horse. As he rode past me, I saw the royal emblem on the saddle of the horse. He had to be the prince and Aurora’s fated love. But alas, he was riding away from the castle, so I decided that maybe the matter needed a little encouragement. I put a little bewitchment spell on him I had picked up a few years ago and led him to the castle. Sure enough, the enchanted forest parted for the prince on his horse. Once he arrived at the castle, I lifted the spell but his curiosity got the best of him, bewildered by suddenly being at the gates of a castle rather than wandering through the forest. He roamed through the castle for a while, apparently trying to figure out why everyone appeared to be asleep. He finally came across the staircase that led up the tower to Aurora in the tower room. He sauntered up the stairs until it became almost frustrating. When he reached the top, he entered Aurora’s room, but didn’t immediately notice Aurora, laid out on the bed, instead he went to the window where he stood for a while pondering the view. When he turned round, he saw Aurora, lying in her peaceful state. Obviously enchanted by her, he quickly crossed the room, and looked on her more closely from the foot of the bed. He walked alongside her, and removed the rose from her hands. He then put the blood red rose back in the vase it had come from, 100 years ago, and sat on the edge of the bed and took hold of her hands, trying to warm them. Finding this wasn’t working, he lent over Aurora and planted a light kiss on her lips. After the briefest of pauses, her eyelids flickered and she opened them and saw the prince and smiled. She was awake! I decided to leave then, so I flied out of the window leaving the two of them to become better acquainted
Diary Entry 6 : Awakening of the kingdom - Elanor

Its happened, Aurora’s prince has finally turned up! About time too, Celandine, Amarantha and myself were starting to get quite tired of watching over the kingdom, we’re not as young as we once were, even by fairy standards! It all happened this afternoon. Celandine and I were taking a walk in the castle grounds, as we often did when the weather was good. Naturally nothing ever changed because along with everything else, it had been frozen in time until Aurora awoke, but the grounds were tended beautifully, so they are still lovely to walk around on a warm summer’s afternoon. Anyway, we were walking through the lilac trees, when a butterfly flew straight past us. I’m not sure which of us were more shocked, we hadn’t seen anything apart from ourselves move in 100 years. At the same time we realised what the butterfly meant and we immedietely flew back to the castle, where we found Amarantha looking unusually smug in the great hall. She went on to explain how she had found a prince in the forest, guided him here and that he was up in tower room with Aurora as we spoke and that everyone else was slowly stirring, although, the spell seemed to be taking longer to wear off than they expected. In half an hour, the entire kingdom was bustling once more and we were sat drinking a toast to Aurora and her mystery prince with the King and Queen. No-one wanted to interrupt the two of them, so nobody had yet met this prince except Amarantha. Finally around sunset, Aurora brought her prince down, she introduced him as Ethan to the five of us. He turned out to be prince in another kingdom and was away on an exploration journey to find more kingdoms to extend his father’s land. He was a delightful young man, the King and Queen were understandably pleased at such a match and the King immedietely asked him to take his daughter’s hand in marriage. He happily agreed, and the King and Ethan left to make plans for the wedding, while the Queen, my sisters and I interrogated Aurora about what had happened in her room. She wouldn’t tell us much, she just said that Ethan had woken her up with a kiss and then they had talked and talked. Aurora was eager to gather news from the last 100 years from Ethan it seemed. So it was that the kingdom once more was awake, and Aurora was again the centre of celebrations.

Diary Entry 7 : Aurora’s Wedding - Amarantha

Its been three weeks since Ethan showed up in the kingdom now, and a busy three weeks it has been. Since Aurora and Ethan’s engagement, the preparations for their wedding had been made and now the day has finally come. Aurora has shown Ethan around the kingdom, including the cottage in which she grew up, and they have become inseperable, we have had trouble getting her away from him for wedding dress fittings! Naturally, my sisters and I have made her wedding dress, it is absolutely gorgeous and she looks stunning in it. This morning we put the finishing touches in it. The three of us and the Queen all helped her to get ready. Aurora was ever so calm considering she had known Ethan only three weeks, I think we were all more nervous than she was! The wedding was due to start at 1pm, so we left the castle to go to the cathedral at 12.30pm. We all went in a procession of open aired carriages and the kingdom lined the streets once again to get a glimpse of the beautiful princess who was all grown up now. The wedding service was very emotional, I think everyone who was there cried at one point or another. Our little girl had left us at last. Ethan and Aurora were obviously besotted with one another. At the celebration feast afterwares, they sat hand in hand, too engrossed in each other to notice anyone else. Many speeches were said and the feast went on well into the early hours of the morning. It had been decided by Aurora by that Ethan and herself would spend their honeymoon in the cottage in the forest, giving themselves time to get to know each other better, so at what I judged to be around 9pm, they slipped away, leaving the party to go on without them. It has been such an emotional day, but I;m quite sad now, my little Aurora has left us now, and I fear she will never need us again.

Diary Entry 8 : Visiting Aurora in Ethan’s Kingdom

Five years ago Aurora left our kingdom with Ethan to meet his parents in his kingdom. She has promised to return and I’m sure she will one day but I’ve grown impatient of not seeing her, especially now I have read in her letters that she has two adorable little children, Princess Talia and Prince Tristan, so I have travelled to Ethan’s kingdom to see my beloved Aurora. She is much as she was when she left on the outside. It seems that Ethan’s kingdom loves her as much as she is loved at home and she has settled in very well which I’m happy to see. She has become far more wise and mature though. She obviously loves her children who are just the sweetest things. Talia is four now, and she is fascinated by my magic, especially when I make little daisies grow all around her and then turn into little cabbage white butterflies that flutter around her before flying off, I have spent many afternoons playing with her in the castle grounds while Aurora is occupied and she reminds me a lot of Aurora when she was little, its like walking back in time. Tristan is a cute little toddler now, just having turned two he is a bit of a horror, but still just cute, he runs around everywhere. Such a happy little child. He is obviously loved by the King and Queen here, who often look after him to give Ethan and Aurora time to themselves. Aurora and Ethan seem to be more in love than ever, still taking long walks hand in hand when they don’t have the children to look after. I spent the day with Aurora on Tuesday and she seems to be very at home here, she spent most of the afternoon gushing about everyone here and her children and Ethan. I asked her if she had thought about coming home and that everyone at home missed her. After a long while she told me that she missed everyone, especially my sisters and I, and that she would wish to be coming home soon.

Diary Entry 9 : Aurora’s Return

We have been preparing for today for quite some time. About a month ago, my sisters and I received a letter from Aurora to say that Ethan and herself had decided to return to the kingdom as soon as they could leave. They asked us to prepare the cottage in the forest for them, as they didn’t want to live in the castle. So we happily went out there, and we have redecorated and generally tidied up the cottage. We have been living in the cottage since to keep it clean and make sure that when Aurora, Ethan, Talia and Tristan arrive, we would be the first to see them. So this morning we were carrying out our usual chores, Celandine was out in the forest, gathering berries for pie, Amarantha was making bread and preparing lunch, while I was cleaning the house. Amarantha and I heard horses approaching, so we went out, and there was Aurora and her family, coming up the track. At that moment Celandine returned, so the three of us greeted them. It was wonderful to see Aurora again, I haven’t seen her for so long. We stayed for lunch with them, which we around the huge dining room table, and caught up on all their news. Then after all the tidying up was done, we left them to get settled into the cottage. I’m so pleased that Aurora and Ethan are back, now we will be able to see far more of them and watch Talia and Tristan grow up.