Character challenge for @asongofgoldenfireandblackblood
Challenge: Write a scene about your character in their childhood.
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The tears blurred Helaena’s vision as she continued to stare at an ant on the ground. The small creature was a black blur scurrying around, trying to avoid her fingers as she attempted to pick it up.
“I want my mummy,” the princess said shakily. She did not dare to look back at her Septa. While Helaena was afraid of her, she was also deeply angry with her
Just moments ago, her Septa had crushed a different ant on the floor with her shoe, telling Helaena bugs were dirty. This of course sent the young Princess into a hysterical fit, unable to look away from the lonesome ant left now without its friend.
“Do not call her ‘mummy’, you adress her as mother. You are almost six years old, Princess. Act as so!” Her Septa’s voice was filled with frustration, never knowing how to handle Helaena. This only made Helaena cry harder, curling up into a ball on the floor, trapping the ant in her hands.
The Princess heard her Septa’s loud steps as she stormed off, but to where, she didn’t know. To get her mother, she hoped. All she wanted right now was to be held and comforted by her mother.
It seemed almost an eternity that she lied on the ground, sobbing, cradling this small creature. Was no one coming for her? Was she to be alone on the ground with this ant forever? The ant tickled her hand as it crawled around, looking for an escape, and it made Helaena smile. The tears had dried up on her face, and she stopped crying. She continued to lie on the ground, breathing heavily, waiting for something to happen.
Tired from all of the crying, Helaena began to close her eyes. Her hands stayed clasped together, holding the ant there, but the rest of her body went limp. Her eyes shot open when she suddenly heard footsteps getting closer to her. She curled up tighter in fear, not daring to look at whoever was coming. She was being “difficult”, she thought, and she hoped she wasn’t going to be yelled at again. That thought itself almost made her cry once more.
The steps got louder and louder until they were right up close to her ear. They stopped, and she heard a voice say to her, “Helaena, sweet girl, what has happened? Does it require you be throwing a fit on the floor?” She recognized the voice instantly, tensing up. She wanted her mother, not Ser Criston.
Helaena felt his hand on her back, but she didn’t move to look at him. She peeked through a crack in her hands, looking to the bug for support. “Hmph.”
“I don’t think that is an answer your mother or father would accept, young Princess. Good thing I’m not either of them though!” He laughed, but Helaena just frowned.
“Your mother is busy, as well as your father. They are the King and Queen, as you know. They have their duties. You have duties as well, Princess. You can not be on the floor during your lessons with your Septa.” Ser Criston Cole said gently.
Helaena didn’t want her father, or Ser Criston, she wanted her mother. She opened her hands, letting the ant free, watching it scurry away from her. The tears were back, and she could not hold them in.
“Septa is mean!” Helaena sat up, finally, looking at Ser Criston. “I want to go with mother wherever she goes! Why does she leave me here? I never want to go to lessons again!” Ser Criston grimaced as her wails got louder, but Helaena did not notice.
She wasn’t sure how she ended up in his arms, off of the ground, but eventually she realized she was being carried away. “Would a walk in the gardens calm you down, Princess? Do you want to find bugs? What will make you stop crying?” The desperation in his voice got clearer as her crying got louder. Once Helaena heard the word bugs, though, her attention was captured.
“I… sometimes mummy takes me on walks through the gardens. We find flowers. One time, I found a very big spider! I did not hold it.” She looked to the Kingsguard holding her, waiting for him to respond.
He sighed, “okay, then, that is what we will do. Next time, you need to stay in your lessons, kid.”He looked over at her with tired eyes. They walked the rest of the way to the gardens in silence, Helaena’s occasional sniffles being the only sounds. As he carried her away, the drowsiness overtook Helaena. She drifted away to sleep in his arms, the garden being forgotten, and dreams of bugs filling her mind.
