:Sound of tires screaching to a halt:

Right, that's it. Shows over, at least without an ending anyway. I have reached the point where I can't write anymore without some idea of the ending but I can't find an option that works My original idea worked fine but this blasted romance that the characters demanded has killed that off. Now I need to find a new ending which works with this blasted romance while still being blieveable. It would help if I had created these characters rather then them popping into my head self created - I only know what they tell me Lets see, options so far:

-At the end they run off together, the happy couple and all that mushy stuff. Doesn't work. Princesses can't go running off with bodyguards, the royal blood is too important. She would be quietly killed and Fulk would die messily. No matter where they went the network of spies would find them eventually.

-They are allowed to marry and live happily ever after. Doesn't work - again royal blood is too important. Marrying Eleanor would give Fulk a claim on the throne and he is just a peasant (well he gets promoted a little....). Anyway this option would completely end the chance of further tales after the end of this set - niehter of them would leave their children behind to go galevanting off on secret missions. And yes, there would be children after all this is the middle ages and there is no family planning centre...

-Secret relationship ala Anakin and Padme in star wars. Doesn't work, might stay secret for a short time but eventually..well lets just say a child is a big give away Once again they both end up dying in disgrace.

-Both confess their feelings but decide to do nothing. Doesn't work, doesn't fit the characters.

-Both confess their feelings and then die a few secodns later. Doesn't work and is utterly crap They are both telling me that they don't die, I don't particularly want to kill them and it finishes the series with no room to add to it later. Not to mention this is a rubbish cliche (well, worse cliche than the others in the series) and a very bad ending in every way.

So there you are, there is a limit to how far I can bend reality without ending up writing fantasy. This isn't Tamora Pierce's Tortall (from the Song of the Lioness series, damn good author but definitely fantasy) where princesses get to be happy and there are lady knights, magic and all that. They won't make an exception for Eleanor, despite the training and the day job she is nothing more than a pawn in the kings plans - just like her sisiters. She isn't needed to do anything important, if she was they wouldn't put her in harms way. The moment she missteps she is gone - the 'mad' princess who acted without the kings knowledge or permission and died for it. They tollerate her becasue she is useful but she is always going to be 'unnatural and an abomination' (taking the words out of the kings mouth there) to them. They don't care about her happiness or even her survival, they only want the job done wihtout any clues leading back to the king. Actually they were goint to kill her when she was 7 becasue she didn't fit the royal standard, ashe survived becasue Trempwick came up with the idea of using her as an agent. If Eleanor is a throwaway token then Fulk is even more so - he may get a reward for his services (planned for the next tale) but it is minor and worthless to the king. It is the equivolent of giving a dog a bone.

From what they tell me (and they are talking from long after these events, hense the possiblyity of a second series set years after this one) they end up together and happy but they continue the missions and there are no children at all. Fulk wouldn't run off and place himself in danger because he knows what it is like to lose your father on a battlefield. Eleanor would stop placing herself in danger as well, she throws herself into everything wholeheartedly. If she is a secret agent she is just a secret agent, if she is a mother than that is all she is. No compromises or part time parenting. They don't die horribly and they are not hunted down and murdered. How you can get to this outcome is not clear at all, not unless you stray into the happy clappy world of if it makes you happy my dear daughter. You were nothing but a pawn but now I see how much more you are. Be happy And by the way Fulk got newtered in a battle and your infirtile anyway Happy clappy is crap

This series only works when it is in a slight twist of the MTW reality, in the end it is believable because a princess could be used like a spy/assassin if she was given the chance. A bit like the geisha in STW.

So thats it, screaching halt. A shame because I have loads more ideas and these are possibly the best characters I have written but without an ending I cannot move on because the stories need to start to lean towards that ending. So far I have been able to keep it so things could go any way but this next one....I have to have a specific ending or Eleanor and Fulk will have nothing to say after a certain big fight and they need something to say. Can't airbrush over it anymore at that point. After this story there are at least several more before the ending but the start of the end has to come now. The next tale is entitled 'True Worth' because you see Fulk's true worth, how Eleanors true worth was spotted, a reward to suit Fulks true worth, the true worth of Fulks vow, the true worth of the partnership and a load of other stuff to do with true worth I just need an ending for the series, then I can write it.

I'm open to ideas on how this mess can end, if anyone has a good one speak up