#Aayden sticks to Hajnalka and only refers to her as Hadley if he's talking about her to someone else

[alistonjdrake]

Part Five: Respect and Love

Princess Hadley ek Ponsonby | Niężckna Hajnalka lik Villumsen Role: Princess of Letros | Wife of Crown Prince Aayden Ponsonby Born: Year 1762 after the fall of our Saints. 

On the eve of her birthday, in the palace of Valoye, home to the Villumsen royal family that has ruled Letros for countless generations, a rumor was spread by the chambermaids of Queen Bogna that the mother to be had an insatiable thirst for blood in the early hours of her labor. 

A thirst that would be quenched by none other than King Celestyn who, was said out of love for his wife, cut his thigh to feed her. 

Letros is not a country that brags about much. Not very exciting to others, excelling in animal husbandry, contributions to Santivism, and having a long history with piracy problems due to their peninsula and watery surroundings, and a language not often taught south of their borders has made them seen as undesirable to their main continent neighbors. The Letrossi are thus tight-knit and secretive, inherent revisionists of their own history. 

In truth, King Celestyn and Queen Bogna hated each other. A story revealed in a series of diaries found after King Celestyn’s death (once attributed to bloodletting in favor of his wife but most definitely connected to a sour wound from a hunting accident.) Such rumors only took root because the child born in the aftermath was considered monstrous to some and strange to many.

Hajnalka was born in the dead of winter, the time of year in Letros where more humble villages take tallies on how many citizens they will lose from starvation and cold, and Hajnalka herself was cold and had to be forced to life by several midwives and (probably) a screaming Queen Bogna. She would be the youngest of three girls and the last child of four (the oldest being her brother the soon to be King Aksel). The closet of her sisters having a seven-year age gap on her, Hajnalka spent much of her childhood in the care and watch of her mother. 

Queen Bogna and Princess Hajnalka did not get along from the start. Queen Bogna would claim that her daughter terrorized, disobeyed her, cried to just be an annoyance. By the time she was two, her mother’s cousin Queen Lukova of Oskya would reach out to Queen Bogna and the newly crowned king to discuss the idea of an eventual engagement between Hajnalka and Prince Aayden. 

The arrangement was put in writing by the time she was three. Hajnalka would learn of it when she was five. Letros and Oskya have long been aligned and several princesses in the past have taken the short boat trip to Oskya’s icy shores for political marriages. At five, it’s uncertain how Hajnalka took that news. 

Hajnalka’s oldest sister was already married, the second engaged, and the third promised to a Letrossi duke. It was not a concept that would have been too wild for her. As a child, she was often found either in the stables or running around the palace gardens. With age, rumors would spread that she often escaped into Valoye along with King Aksel, who was known for putting on disguises and going to taverns and betting houses. She grew very fond of her older brother and would often be found hiding beneath the flaps of his long coats during meetings to hear stories of pirates, food shortages, and the very lazy happenings that occur when governing a country like Letros. 

Hajnalka would grow farther and farther from the dowager queen. Queen Bogna and Queen Lukova would write each other about their child’s progress, and while Queen Lukova seemed to have nothing but glowing praise about Prince Aayden, Queen Bogna was often lying to cover up for her daughter's bad behavior. 

Drinking with supposed pirates by the time she was eleven. 

Getting into fist fights with stable boys. 

Running away from the palace and living in the woods for up to two days before being found by guards. 

At the age of twelve, Prince Aayden made the first trip to visit her. King Aksel took them on a short tour of Letros and would later report the two spent most of their time together talking about and chasing dogs. 

Growing up, Hajnalka was not a diligent student either. She, like many ladies of standing in Letros, never learned how to read and instead took to hiring a scribe. She found no interest in playing an instrument. Often ignored the social part of court life to lean over her brother’s shoulder and learn about what it was like to wield power. 

Though it was said Hajnalka and Queen Bogna did not get along, they still talked. Out of all her daughters, Hajnalka was set to be the only one who would become a queen and so, if not reluctantly, Queen Bogna took her youngest under her wing. She was very honest about her relationship to Hajnalka’s father and what she could expect, only she suspected it would be worse given Hajnalka would have to learn a new language, leave her home, and adopt a new culture. 

At fifteen, with the the engagement becoming more and more set in stone (Oskya being more closely aligned with Escan than it had ever been under previous monarchs, there was thought—and some attempts—for Prince Aayden to marry an Escana princess or someone of their choosing instead), Princess Hajnalka was given two Oskyan tutors by the name of Fedulov and Lady Yulka. Fedulov was to teach her history, language, the importance of the Oskyan military, their customs, the nuances of their culture, their folktales and superstitions. Lady Yulka would fill in the gaps by teaching Princess Hajnalka how to be an Oskyan lady. How to dress, how to carry herself, what would be expected of her.

Prince Aayden’s visits would become more frequent. He was dubbed the traveling prince as he spent much time in Escan or away from Oskya. They didn’t get to spend a lot of time together as King Aksel took a great interest together, and when they did it was never alone. Queen Bogna watched their every move. 

Princess Hajnalka confided once in Lady Yulka that she could not tell if her future husband liked her because he didn’t speak much. She was told that Oskyan men don’t often show their emotions and walked away from that discussion more determined than ever to make him. 

The two would finally marry when they were both twenty. Princess Hajnalka had two weddings. One by proxy due to her betrothed being busy during the intended date and she still in Letros, the stand in being (to her displeasure) her own brother whom she hugged goodbye before boarding a ship to Oskya. She would actually marry her husband some months later and as is the Letrossi tradition, officially take on the “Southern” name Hadley (although it had been used to refer to her before this). 

Their wedding night likely the only time the two of them had been truly alone during the entirety of their relationship. Oskyans are strict and restrictive. And the Ponsonby family has a history of misfortunes when it comes to the marriage bed (King Vadik not having a child or attempting it until 20 years in, King Niclas not being able to produce a surviving heir) and so it was rumored Queen Lukova took no chances and hired someone to watch the “proceedings”.

The validity of this challenged directly by Princess Hadley herself, who would ashamedly go on to talk about her wedding night and her nervous new husband who “did the deed with a little encouragement”.

Almost as if it was fated, Princess Hadley did not get along with Queen Lukova either who saw her new daughter-in-law as less than respectable. By this age, Princess Hadley was unabashed, loud, a drinker, and always spoke her thoughts. She would often let slip something rude and vulgar during dinners or meetings. She would “secretly” drink Letrossi mead (when all alcohol is forbidden in Oska Paltrosken). She would run off with her hunting dogs and live in a tent for a few days (something she would do especially during pregnancies as it scared the hoard of maids and midwives Queen Lukova had to spy on her)

But much to both of their surprise, this did not bother the often stern Prince Aayden. The two quickly took to each other. They would go on long hunting trips, ice fishing, and would seek her counsel. Early into their marriage, King Vadik would take a large step back from being present in governing Oskya, locking himself away in his own chambers and leaving his country and its duties to his wife and son. Prince Aayden would share much of this responsibility with Princess Hadley, especially during his trips away from Oskya or the capital. 

Princess Hadley did not shy away from this. While not well-versed (but not by ignorance) in court etiquette, she became hooked with exerting power. Although she was often challenged (and at one time, it’s rumored almost killed) by Queen Lukova, this would change once the couple started having children. Something few of Aayden’s predecessors had been able to (or as willing) to do before him. 

And they took great delight in it. Although not an expected match, Princess Hadley quickly found herself fond of Prince Aayden and the honesty and respect they reserve for once another. Often seeing each other as the only true allies in the deceitful and deadly inner palace of Oska Paltrosken. They do not exchange flowery words and certainly don’t throw around the “L” word, but they have moved onto pet names and only threaten each other jokingly. Which is probably the warmest relationship Oskya has seen in decades. 

During the events of Of Vipers and Saints, Princess Hadley and Prince Aayden have three daughters and Princess Hadley has set her position as an important figure in Oskyan politics by speaking on her husband’s war council and routinely pissing off ambassadors, the Orthodox Santivian Consistory, and Queen Lukova (of course). But has also made herself irreplaceable as a symbol of their alliance with Letros and now as the mother of three Ponsonby princesses. Even if she is drunk 30% of the time.