Princesses, and princes for that matter, are required to spend several months living alone together in a group. This is done to teach them how to become good rulers one day. Cinderella doesn't understand why this tradition exists but, when her husband mentions that he did the same in the past, she decides to go without a fuss. The chateau is a nice, spacious home and the other princesses are nice... Soon, Cinderella notices that the girls have started pairing up with one another and it's clear that they aren't just friends anymore.
Kindred
by PTlikesTea is a Disney Princess fanfic where the princesses (and a few non-princesses) spend time together. This leads to bonding and romance.
Not to be confused with the 1979 book Kindred.
Kindred provides examples of:
- Adaptational Jerkass: Jasmine's nice and bumbling father once had all of his harem killed on a whim, just because one of them was cheating on him to conceive a false male heir.
- Adaptation Name Change:
- Cinderella's name is a moniker, with "Ella" being her real name.
- Pocahontas is Only Known by Their Nickname, which is accurate to history but not Disney canon.
- Ambiguously Bi: Most of the cast. It's unclear if they're all queer or whether Situational Sexuality explains their behavior.
- Ambiguous Time Period: The girls are all from different eras, making it impossible to pin the story as being placed in one. It's 1930s at earliest due to Tiana being amongst the cast.
- Big Fun: It's mentioned that Salma, one of the Sultan's now-deceased concubines, was a Big Beautiful Woman who could make people laugh easily.
- Dark Fic: The story is less kid-friendly than the sources, with, amongst other things, the issues of infidelity and the lingering effects of childhood abuse being present.
- Does Not Like Men: Jasmine has a fear of men, especially royal men. While she is a Daddy's Girl to the Sultan, she feels anxiety when thinking about how easily her father had his entire harem murdered because one of the women cheated on him. Jasmine feels like a replaceable Trophy Wife in her patriarchal society. Aladdin's ignorance as a commoner is one of the things that attracts her to him. He most likely doesn't even know about harems in the first place.
- Expy Coexistence: Elsa mentions the story of The Snow Queen when the girls are discussing tales.
- Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe: Gender-Inverted. Jasmine doesn't know who her biological mother is because her father has a harem. Officially, Jasmine is the daughter of his consort, Fatima, however Jasmine doubts they're actually related.
- The Mistress: This is used for Deliberate Values Dissonance. Aurora casually mentions that her father has eight mistresses (with one of them supposedly giving Aurora a half-sibling) and Mulan mentions that her father has one as well. Jasmine's father had a harem until he killed them all because one of them wasn't faithful while the emperor of China has several hundred concubines.
- Mythology Gag:
- Cinderella's name is "Ella", as in the live-action remake.
- Belle's prince is named "Adam", which comes from a Disney trivia game but is dubiously canon; the name is also used in the movie's remake.
- Named by the Adaptation: The Beast is named "Adam".
- Noodle Incident: Tiana banned Anna from the kitchen after the unspecified "kitchen incident" that was so horrific no one will mention it.
- Our Dragons Are Different: Discussed when Belle compares Mulan's Eastern interpretation of dragons to her own Western versions.
- Our Mermaids Are Different: Ariel's oneshot explores mermaid biology: Ariel is a warm-water Pacific ocean mermaid, which are the "classic" mermaids everyone knows of. Deep-sea mermaids are pale, have distended jaws, whip-like tails with threads attached to them, and very little hair. Indian ocean mermaids are half the size of Pacific mermaids, have two lace-like fins, and can't swim (instead they use currents to move). Atlantic ocean mermaids are muscular, have a lot of blubber, and wear sealskin cloaks. South Pole mermaids are as small as sea-horses and can only float. It's mentioned that some mermaids, such as Pacific mermaids, only have mouths as vestigial organs and actually filter-feed using their fins.
- The Quiet One: It's implied that Elsa is introverted.
- Rags to Royalty: Deconstructed with Belle. Adam's advisers frown upon him marrying her because she isn't noble.
- Royal Harem:
- Aurora's father, King Stefan, has eight mistresses. One of them apparently had a child from him.
- Jasmine's father had a harem of several women until he killed them all because one of them was cheating on him.
- Mulan mentions that the emperor of China has several hundred concubines. Much of his harem doesn't get along well. They keep on trying to kill each other's kids (and a few have succeeded).
- One of the things that draws Jasmine to Aladdin is that, due to having been raised as a commoner, he likely won't consider having a harem.
- Situational Sexuality: Kindred revolves around this. Most of the Disney princesses are either Happily Married or otherwise in a committed relationship, but on their several month long trips together they often develop romantic, and sometimes sexual, bonds with each other. It's implied that the princes also act the same on their retreats.
- Slash Fic: Kindred ships the Disney princesses with one another, though not all the chapters feature romance and most is subtext at most.
- Stepford Smiler: Growing up, Snow White always pretended to be happy, even when she wasn't. However, she'd cry in her sleep because she wasn't conscious and able to stop herself from crying.
- Twin Threesome Fantasy: The Sultan's harem included identical twins Noor and Saniya.
