When she was a little girl, Princess Victoria's passionate disinterest in royal affairs was seen as being rather endearing; being a cute and charming young girl, she was quite allowed to be bored in the matters of high society. By the time she was 16, however, the endearing charm had long since worn off, especially when it had become abundantly clear that she would indeed become the heiress to the throne. Not caring about the dreadful details of royal etiquette and protocol wasn't fitting of the future queen, and she had learned to keep it to herself.
But still, in 1835, Alexandrina Victoria ("Her Royal Highness Victoria of Kent!", her mother insisted; she didn't) couldn't help but feel that her life was as boring as it could be. Sure, she was lined up to be queen of the mighty British Empire... but there was just no excitement in her life.
It finally got to the point where she started to sneak out of the palace early in the evening, hiding her features under a long black jacket and a matching hat with a huge brim; pilfered from some man's wardrobe, dusty and long forgotten. It took her nearly a month after scavenging the clothes and coming up with the idea to actually bring herself to sneaking out.
She had been deadly worried that she might've been caught; at the very least, she'd have to give a good explanation for why she was sneaking out of the palace in men's clothing, and brace for the inevitable lecture... but no such misfortune came upon her. Not a soul seemed to notice the princess go missing for a few hours, and amidst all the busy foot traffic on the streets, not one person seemed to even pay a bit of attention to her.
When she got back in, she was disappointed to have to change back into her absurdly elaborate, expensive royal dress. It had been exciting to see the busy streets from that perspective, escape from the maddening stuffiness of the palace; and she knew that she just had to do it again. This was the solution to her boredom, she thought. The outside world, now, that was exciting!
"Treasures from the Orient," said the merchant with the big moustache, "Or at least, that's what I'm told. I got the whole lot of it from a sketchy sort of captain... didn't want to stick around in London any longer than he could. But near as I can tell, it's all worth its weight in gold."
Victoria looked up and down the shelf that he'd claimed to be Indian treasure; she had her doubts. She'd befriended the merchant months ago, coming in regularly, rarely buying one of the strange goods he imported from any ship that wandered into the port; they were all mere curiousities, and she admired the quaint extravagance of the tiny shop in the middle of busy London.
She picked up a necklace, little more than a wood carving of some sort of bird, on a string with a few coloured beads on it. It was clearly hand carved, and had an unusual feel to it. She knew that in her lifetime-- probably no more than a few years-- when the King died, she would become both Queen of England and the Empress of the India; yet this simple necklace seemed to hold far more charm than any of the riches that title could give her claim to.
"It's magic, supposedly," the shopkeeper told her. "The man I bought it from claims that if a lady wears it, her legs'll be as strong as a lioness's. Truth be told, I don't even know if that's supposed to be a good thing or not."
"Magic charm or no, it's certainly quite charming," she murmured.
"Would you like it? Go ahead; my gift to you," the merchant said.
She gave it a bit of thought. Court etiquette dictated that she was obliged to accept the gift, as it'd be an insult otherwise; she wasn't sure at all what the common etiquette on the matter was. After a moment, she decided it couldn't hurt.
"Thank you," Princess Victoria said, graciously.
They chatted for a bit longer than that, and eventually, she realized that she had to be on her way; so far she hadn't been caught, but if she stayed out too long, that could change in a most unpleasant way. She thanked him again as she exited, a blast of cool London air hitting her as she left the shop and made her way back home.
In a bizzare contrast with her huge coat and hat covering her face-- looking awfully shady-- the princess had a cheery skip to her step as she walked home. At the time, she thought it was all just in her imagination; but it seemed like she was bouncing just a bit more than usual as she did.
After a series of thoroughly miserable noble balls that she had been forced to smile throughout, Victoria had gotten to be more and more bold in her excursions. She realized this, and the insanity of the situation occurred to her not for the first time; but that day, like most others, she simply did not care.
She stood on a London rooftop, high above the traffic below her. A sudden breeze cut by; she pulled her brim down farther. Staring out from underneath, she watched the city underneath her, admiring how beautiful it was. People passed by, busy on their way, bustling through the city streets beneath her. She liked seeing London from this position; from above, you could see everything, and it was even more fascinating than seeing it from the ground.
With a bit of a run, she leapt towards the adjacent rooftop, clearing the the two metre gap between buildings and landing gracefully with great ease. She smiled as she landed, and clutched the handmade necklace she was wearing; being princess, she had never taken up much physical activity of any sort, but jumping from rooftop to rooftop felt absolutely, positively fantastic.
Apparently that's what "legs as strong as a lioness's" meant. Magic or not, Victoria loved it.
She was lost in thought, thinking about the necklace-- she'd been staring down at the city for a good few minutes when she was suddenly interrupted by a loud shriek, from the alley below her.
"Thief! Thief!" she heard a lady shout.
Victoria looked up; not far away from her at all, a figure carrying a purse leapt onto the rooftop she was on. She took a good look at his face, expecting to see that it was a man. She was horrified to see that it wasn't a man at all; his face was reptile-like in appearance, with monstrous glowing eyes, that she would later describe as being tiny balls of fire. The figure looked like some sort of demon.
Frightened and acting on impulse, she stuck out her arm to put some distance between them; but she was standing too close, and instead, the monster was simply clotheslined by her raised arm. He stumbled forward several steps, dropping the purse, before turning back to the princess, snarling at her. Victoria leaped back a foot in fright, but the monster ran off without any further action.
She watched it leap away, jumping from rooftop to rooftop, as she caught her breath and calmed herself. Picking up the lady's purse, she realized-- that must've been Spring-heeled Jack. Her sheltered palace life had prevented her from hearing nearly as much about the alleged monster of London as most her age, but she'd heard the name mentioned once as a party before, dismissed simply as an urban legend. But the figure matched the description.
Victoria hopped down from the rooftop, into the alleyway, landing in front of the lady, who was looking quite distraught. Victoria looked down at the ground, hoping that her face wouldn't be seen, and handed the purse back, wordlessly.
"Oh, thank you, good sir," said the woman, taking it from Victoria's hand. "You're a true gentleman."
Underneath her giant hat, Victoria blushed; she realized that people would perceive her as a man with the way she was dressed, but she had no idea how to react to that. She laughed slightly, nervously, and leapt away before the lady had a chance to embarass her further.
When she had asked about him, it had turned out that Spring-heeled Jack sightings had been on the rise recently. She had no idea, but as she found out, it was small wonder that she hadn't seen him before. On the spur of the moment, she decided that if there really was some sort of horrific demon jumping around London, she ought to be prepared; rather than being caught off guard like that lady whose purse she'd rescued the other day.
"A flintlock?" the shopkeeper asked incredulously.
"Two," she said, with her voice as low as she could force it to go-- not very far, as it turned out. "You seem to associate with a questionable enough sort, surely you would be able to acquire some."
"Er, I suppose...," he stammered.
"Money shouldn't be an issue here, if that's your problem. I can pay however much it will cost you," the princess told him. "I may be queer, but I'm certainly not poor. I realize it may be an expensive request."
She hadn't actually realized that before at all; it had only occured to her at that very second, on the spot.
"Well then...," he trailed off, saying, after a moment, "I'll see what I can do, sir."
Two weeks later, she hadn't encountered Spring-heeled Jack again; she told herself that London was a huge city, and that should be expected. She reluctantly admitted to herself that she was disappointed by that. As much as her first meeting with him had frightened her quite a bit, she wanted the excitement.
Instead, she had to attend a wedding that afternoon. She wasn't even entirely sure whose it was; some long lost aunt or second cousin once removed or something of that sort. She couldn't think of a more boring way to spend an afternoon. She sighed, staring out her dressing room window at the city around her. It was so busy, while she was so bored out of her mind.
Suddenly, out of the corner of her bored eye, she caught a glimpse of a figure leaping across the rooftops not half a mile away from her window; and she could've sworn that the figure was carrying a person. Victoria wasted no time in responding, deciding that no hesitation was needed in springing to action. Sure, there was the wedding she had to be at; but if Spring-heeled Jack was kidnapping a person, surely stopping him was more important.
That was how she justified it, anyway, as she threw off her heavy dress and pulled on the coat. She slid her window open, and, clutching her necklace, leaped out, landing near the courtyard fence. With a mighty spring, she hopped over that, and started to chase after the figure running on the rooftops. Sure enough, he really was carrying someone; a woman, in a rather plain dress.
Victoria pulled her hat down and chased after him as fast as she could. He must not have been running at full pace, because soon enough, she landed on the same rooftop as him, chasing from just a few yards behind.
"Halt!" she shouted, trying hard to make her feminine voice not show through. "Release her immediately!"
Spring-heeled Jack turned his head to look at her, noticing that she'd been chasing after him for the first time. He just laughed and looked forward again, starting to run quicker.
"I said, unhand her, villain!" Victoria shouted again at him. Deciding that her notion of heroic dialogue wasn't enough, she pulled out a flintlock from her jacket, and shot at him. The noise was deafening, and she was knocked back a good couple feet from the recoil; but she recovered with a single jump.
She must have gotten his attention with that shot-- although she missed-- because he dropped the woman, and turned to face her, snarling like a rabid dog. She was sure that she saw the fire of hell itself in his eyes, and he started to rush at her at a frightening pace. He lunged at her with his clawed arm raised, about to slash at her.
Suddenly, another loud shot rang out, and Spring-heeled Jack fell over, mid-lunge-- and just barely a foot away from her. Victoria looked down at her hands, realizing that without even thinking about it, she'd pulled out the second flintlock and shot him with it. No matter how inaccurate the primitive weapon was, it didn't matter at that range. As she caught her breath, she realized, looking down at his monstrous claws, that if she hadn't responded so quickly, he would've cut her straight open. She'd seen butcher knives duller than the blades on his fingertips.
"Zounds," she stammered quietly. "What a monster..."
Victoria walked slowly across the rooftop, going over to help the abducted woman to her feet.
"Are you all right?" she asked, offering her hand.
The plainly dressed woman took her hand, lifting herself up to her feet. "Th-thank you s-so much, sir," she stammered. Looking up, she gasped, and said, "Oh... my word! You're a lady!" Victoria hoped she didn't recognize her, but still couldn't help but smile. Not only was she no longer bored, but she'd managed to rescue that woman from a terrible monster. No matter how close to death she'd been just a moment ago, she couldn't stop herself from being pleased with herself.
"I'm late, I'm late," Victoria cursed to herself. She ran back to the palace as fast as she could, sneaking in through the back, the same as she usually did. She dashed down the hallways, rushing to her changing room, hoping that she could get dressed in time; future queen or not, she was going to get into all sorts of trouble.
She took off the giant hat and throw her jacket over arm, running down the endless series of hallways, wishing that the palace wasn't so ridiculously big. She turned down one hallway, then another, then up a series of stairs, then down another hallway... only to almost literally bump into her mother. Victoria stopped just in time to prevent a full collision; and suddenly her heart started to race.
She'd blown it, she knew. Deep down, she knew the idea of getting away with sneaking out was completely absurd; it was only a matter of time before somebody caught on. But it was all over now. She felt a bit better, knowing that at least her fun diversion had turned into a chance to help people out... but that only went so far. Still, it was to be expected. She kept telling herself that she did know full well that she'd be caught eventually, hoping that the inevitable lecture would be swift; knowing full well it wouldn't.
"I...," she started to stammer, "I can explain, mother..."
"Hurry up and get dressed, Drina," her mother said sharply. Victoria waited for her to start scolding her, telling her how reckless she'd be.
And waited.
And waited.
"Come on, stop standing there and hurry up! We're already terribly late... really, I wish you hadn't picked today for one of your little excursions, now I have to excuse both of us," her mother told her, her tone only slightly cross.
Victoria stared at her, dumbfounded.
"That's... it?" she said, stunned. The meaning of her using the phrase 'little excursion' started to sink in, and she was shocked. "You... you knew, mother?"
"What?" her mother responded, with a quiet laugh. "Of course I knew, dear. Did you really think I wouldn't? You can't just sneak out of the palace without anybody noticing... it certainly wouldn't be safe if anyone could just come in. You're too old to be absurd, Drina."
"But...," Victoria stammered. "Then... why didn't you stop me?"
"Drina, dear... do you know why if the king dies, I'm supposed to be Regent until you turn eighteen? It's because we live in very different times. A long time ago, when we lived in the days of absolute monarchy, it might have been okay for a queen to be confined to her own stuffy little world... but this little country's gone a long way since then."
Victoria stared at her mother, confused.
"If you're going to be a good queen-- and I know you can, Drina-- you have to understand your country, and I mean, you really need to understand your whole country. You have to be involved in court matters, doubtlessly, and I truly wish you would invest more in caring of them; but you just as much need to be in sympathy with the common people. Anybody can see that there are big changes on the horizon, and it's those working people on the streets that are shaping them. Oh, Victoria, you're too smart to be another Marie Antoinette... that's why I've let you go out.
"You need that perspective. You need to see everything. You may not be eighteen yet, but you're still a full grown woman, and you can't be coddled and have the outside world hidden from you. And even if I worry about your safety... I worry even more that if I don't let you see everything there is to see for yourself, you won't live up to the potential that I know you have."
Her mother smiled, wiping her eyes with her handkerchief. Victoria just stared, nodding slightly, surprised by the sudden speech.
"Does that answer your question? It's important... you're important to me, Alexandrina Victoria... I want you to know, I really do care about you, and I want the best for you. Do you understand?"
"Of course, mother," Victoria said after a moment; then after another moment's pause, she hugged her mother. "Thank you."
When she finally let go, her mother smiled again, and waved her off. "Now, run along! I meant it, we're terribly late!"
"Oh, right," she quickly said, and started to run off to her dressing room again; her heart oh-so uplifted.
"Oh... and, Drina?" her mother called out. Victoria turned around to look back at her.
"I like the necklace," she said. "It's got... a charm to it."
Victoria grinned, and ran back off to get changed.