The busy nature fairies helped the seasons turn as Cezanne and her rose-pink twin watched carefully over the blossoming princess.

She indeed grew up with grace and beauty, she was pleasant to be around and her voice sweetened the air as she sang the happy songs within her heart. Aurora was spoilt by her parents and her fairy godmother, she wanted for nothing, but was willing to share all she had with others.

Cezanne's eyes lit up whenever she saw her, she was never too far away. However, neither was Carabosse, for she took it upon herself to watch over the child just as much as the Rosebush Twins did. She hid in the shadows that stood unnoticed, in the corner of Aurora's vision.

A great sigh left the princess's chest one day as she gazed upon her favourite part of the vast castle garden - the white rose bush.

"Is there something the matter, Princess?" Cezanne's twinkling voice sounded on the breeze as she magically appeared by Aurora's side.

Aurora tucked a long wave of blonde hair behind her ear and let out another sigh.

"I'm okay, just a bit bored," she said in her pleasant voice. "There are no other children in the castle. I wish I could have somebody to play with."

"Your wish is my command, sweet Aurora," Cezanne said with a shining smile and a curtsy. "I'll take you to the town, where you can meet the other children."

"But, what about Mother and Father?" the princess asked warily.

"Don't worry, they'll be fine. They trust me to always look out for you."

"Okay!" Aurora jumped up and down and clapped her hands with excitement. "Let's go!"

Carabosse followed them both, leaping from shadow to shadow, across the garden, down the path and into the town - where Aurora sought to meet new friends.

There, in the centre of town, played a group of well-dressed children. Their laughter soared straight into Aurora's heart and made a smile appear on her pale face. Without any fear, she approached them.

"Hello, may I play with you?" she asked them politely.

The children stopped and scrutinised her for a second, then with bright smiles nodded their heads.

"My name is André, this is my little sister Marie and my cousin Emily," said the taller boy of the group.

"And I am Philippe" piped up the smaller boy.

"I'm Aurora," Aurora said brightly.

"As in Princess Aurora?" Marie asked with her eyes pulled wide with wonder. Aurora nodded her head after quickly glancing over her shoulder towards Cezanne, who gave her the go ahead.

"Wow! It's such an honour to meet you!" André said with a bow, the others then rushed to follow suit with their bows and curtsies, making Aurora's already rosy cheeks burn a brighter red.

Carabosse silently scoffed as she watched them all with prying eyes.

"Please, there's no need for all of that!" Aurora said with her pleasant smile. "Let's play!"

"Such unwarranted fakery," Carabosse sneered from the shadows, as the town square was taken over by the children's joyous laughter. They ran around happily together, playing tag.

Aurora seemed to fit in with them perfectly. Her pink, floral dress matched the style of the other girls' dresses and soon the many colours they displayed began to blend together.

"Let's play hide and seek!" André suggested, whilst straightening out the sleeves of his clean white shirt. "I'll count first!" He covered his eyes with his hands and turned around. "One, two, three..."

Aurora hesitated as the others scurried in various directions in search for a hiding spot. Hesitantly, she looked around, then eventually followed suit as she heard the boy's numbers begin to crank up. She decided to hide in-between two barrels that stood in front of a quaint looking grocery shop.

Carabosse watched her duck quickly out of sight, but then a different type of movement caught her eye. A girl with long messy, dark hair, walked out of the shop with a pouch in her hand. She wore a beige dress that was caked in mud at the hem and an off-white, pauper's bonnet was on her head, askew. This girl seemed familiar to Carabosse and the dark fairy found herself racking her brain for a clue to why that was.

"Ugh! It's the orphan girl! Get out of here!" André cruelly called out from his counting place.

"I-I'm allowed to be here too," the girl responded shyly.

Her timid voice caused Carabosse to immediately recognise her, she was the same poor girl that she rescued from other bullies eight years prior. She couldn't believe how much this girl had grown. Instead of a little girl with doe eyes, she was a, much taller, teenager; however, she looked just as thin and shy as she did back then.

"The princess doesn't need to see the likes of you!"

"Hey, what's all this about?" Aurora demanded, standing up from her hiding place.

"Don't worry, Princess, I'm handling this for you," André said, pushing out his chest with pride.

"Now, just wait one minute," Aurora said with her hand raised in a regal manner. She then moved out from between the barrels.

In that moment, Carabosse, with a mischievous glint in her eye, waved her black-gloved hand and made a white rose appear within the girl's dark hair.

As soon as Aurora saw that flower a power she could not fathom took over her.

"You are beautiful," Aurora said to the peasant girl. "What is your name?"

"C-Claudia, Your Highness," the girl said bending clumsily into a curtsy, not daring to look into the princess's bright blue eyes.

"Hello, Claudia, I'm Aurora," Aurora said with a kind smile. "I would love it if you could come back to the castle with me, we could play there instead." The princess then turned away from Claudia's shocked face, towards her fairy godmother. "Can she, Godmother?"

"I... well..." Cezanne hesitated as she took in Claudia's bedraggled attire.

"Please, Godmother," Aurora pleaded and grabbed tightly onto Claudia's dirty hand. She ignored the hushed scoffs of the other four children who were outraged by this display of affection.

"Very well," Cezanne breathed out in exasperation. "How could I ever say no to those beautiful blues!" she added with a wink. "However, I don't think the King and Queen will be too happy about it."

"They won't mind!" Aurora said hopefully.

"No they won't if I tidy her up a bit!" Cezanne said with a bright smile then took out her wand and drew three tiny circles in the air above her head.

Gasps left the children's mouths as they watched Claudia's ragged, beige dress transform into a much cleaner, pale-yellow summer dress. The tangles fell magically out of her dark hair and her pauper's bonnet turned into a shining ribbon that tied her hair back from her, now clean, face. Cezanne made sure the ribbon was white to match the beautiful rose that sat gracefully over the girl's ear.

"There you are," Cezanne said with a giggle as the girl twirled in the finest clothes she had ever felt on her thin body.

"I can't believe it." She could barely manage a whisper. "Thank you so much!"

"You are welcome," Cezanne responded kindly with a subtle nod of her head.

"Come on Claudia, let's go!" Aurora took the girl's hand again and led her to the castle, closely followed by her fairy godmother.

The others watched with outrage plastered across their snobby faces and Carabosse, with a smile, watched them storm off, whilst arguing amongst themselves.

"I saw that!" Ibis' voice caused the dark fairy to jump.

"I don't know what you are talking about," Carabosse said nonchalantly, as she transformed herself into a blackbird and joined her owl friend on the branch of the nearby tree.

"You have a soft spot for that peasant girl don't you?" he asked with a knowing smirk evident within his tone.

"Don't be stupid!" Carabosse snapped, then an awkward silence swept over the two of them.

Ibis looked over at her in intervals, confused and hoping for some sort of explanation from the dark fairy about the display he'd just witnessed. Carabosse tried her hardest to ignore him, however, eventually she could not bear the weight of his gaze any longer.

"I'll show you how much I care about that filthy peasant!" she hissed angrily at the tawny owl. Then opened her blackbird wings and took off into the sky. Ibis followed her all the way to the castle.

◇

As soon as Carabosse spotted the princess and her new friend playing in the royal garden, she fluttered down and rested upon a fence where she could watch them inconspicuously. Ibis perched beside her and looked at the determined blackbird with confusion plaguing his round eyes.

"Now watch this," Carabosse communicated to her companion, then made her bird form melt away into the shadows that were cast by larger plants growing around the edge of the garden. Ibis followed her every movement with his skilful, owl eyes and watched her transform into her original fairy form. She was small enough to remain hidden from the girls and Cezanne.

The girls ran and danced around the vast space of the garden. The grass beneath their feet, welcomed their every step and caressed their brightly coloured shoes with dewy affection. The sound of their laughter rang in the air and seemed to be infectious as Cezanne couldn't help but laugh with them.

"Come over here, Claudia," Aurora called to her new best friend. "I wish to show you something very special to me."

With a wide smile Claudia ran to her side. Aurora took her hand and led her straight to the white rose bush.

"Isn't it wonderful?" Aurora asked with an eager smile.

"Yes," Claudia humoured the princess. "White roses are so beautiful and these have grown so big!"

"Cezanne helped them grow big for me with her magic. I have always loved white roses the most," Aurora began to explain but hesitated as a thought entered her mind. "I have no idea why," she said aloud, more to herself than to Claudia, who stood there politely taking in everything the princess was saying.

Carabosse turned to make sure Ibis was watching, then with a wicked smile she turned her focus back on to the girls and waved her tiny, black hand.

Suddenly Claudia jumped and a subtle green spark appeared and disappeared inside her grey eyes. She then reached up to the flower that was balanced on her ear, as if in a trance.

"Hey, Princess Aurora, seeing as you love white roses so much, I would like to present you with this," Claudia held the perfect white rose that she took out of her long dark hair. "A gift, to my first real friend and the best princess the kingdom could ever ask for."

"Thank you so much!" Aurora curtsied gracefully then held out her open palms to receive the rose.

"Aww," Cezanne sighed, touched by the beautiful display of affection between the two new friends.

But when the white rose was firm in Aurora's grasp something came over her. It looked as though the rose had completely possessed her mind, she couldn't take her eyes off it.

Aurora seemed to have forgotten all about Claudia in a single second.

She began to dance with the flower instead and the songs she hummed drowned out Claudia's voice as she tried to regain the princess's attention.

Confused and deeply hurt, Claudia looked over at Cezanne with pleading eyes.

"W-What happened?" Claudia asked, her shyness had suddenly returned.

Cezanne also could not get Aurora to look away from the white rose in her hand.

"I'm not sure, she just really loves white roses," Cezanne replied as she fluttered to Claudia's side. "I've seen her like this before."

Claudia nodded then her gaze fell sadly to her yellow shoes.

"This was just a joke wasn't it?" she said quietly, holding back her tears.

"A joke?" Cezanne was surprised to hear such a statement. "What do you mean?"

"The princess never truly liked me, it was all just a game."

"No, believe me, I've never seen her happier than playing with you today," Cezanne pleaded her favourite person's case.

"Then how could she forget me so easily?" Claudia questioned through sobs, she was no longer able to hold back her tears.

Cezanne didn't have an answer, she just stood there staring at the enthralled princess.

"Thank you for everything you've done for me today," Claudia said, putting on a brave face. "For what it is worth, I truly appreciate this opportunity to see inside the castle grounds, I could've only dreamt of this honour before today." Claudia then paused to take in a deep saddened breath. "But please, change my clothes back. I must go. I clearly do not belong here."

Cezanne sadly did as she was asked and with a snap of her fingers, her magic was taken out of the girl's attire and her original rags returned to her thin body. Claudia's emotions sealed her mouth shut as she took one last glance at the princess, before she ran from the castle garden and disappeared beyond the castle's golden gates.

A smugness took over Carabosse's features as she watched Cezanne then coax the distracted princess into the castle. She returned to Ibis' side and sat gracefully upon the fence.

"See!" Carabosse sneered.

"What did I see exactly?" Ibis communicated his question straight to Carabosse's mind.

"That I am not soft!" Carabosse leapt into her defensive explanation. "I was merely setting that peasant girl up for heartbreak!"

"Alright," Ibis responded in his soothing voice. "But that doesn't change the fact that you showed her kindness earlier today, also eight years ago." Carabosse felt herself tremble under Ibis' heavy gaze. "Did you think I wasn't aware that she is that same girl?"

"So what if she is?" Carabosse bit back.

"Don't be angry at me, Fairy," Ibis asserted himself. "I am still convinced that you care for her, whether you'd like to admit it or not."

"You are ridiculous!" Carabosse said whilst getting to her feet. "And my name is Carabosse!" she quickly added before transforming into the larger form of a snowy owl and used her mighty, white wings to quickly fly back to the dark one's cave.