They had no chance--Aurora's ladies-in-waiting only had time to lead her to the tower to hide when the first howls of the wolves pierced the castle's defenses. Did her father know she was going to die, or would the raven never make it to the army in time to send word?

Petrification is a uniquely horrifying way to be cursed--if the Witch's magic was any slower, it would have killed the princess outright, but not dying didn't spare her the terror of feeling your limbs betray you, of feeling your lungs refuses to fill, or feeling cold creeping in worse than if you've fallen into a frozen river.

And then, it's over. The hot breath of the Lion wakes her and she is kindly tended to by a pair of girls, who wraps her arms around her and rubs warmth into her fingers. The younger tells Aurora of the Witch's conquest, of the fall of her land, and now the great battle to reclaim it. She does not say what happened to Aurora's father, but does she need to?

She lays her head upon the older girl's knees and tries not to weep for all that's lost as the girl soothes her.