Secret Conversations

Since when did I become the official confidante? It seems everyone confesses their secret worries to me.

We horses can usually understand what humans say, even though we often choose to ignore them, but we don't respond in human languages, so a lot of times, people tell us whatever is bothering them.

"They want me to get married!" Lumière complained as he visited my stable this morning. "I'm a charming, debonair gentleman. What's wrong with philandering a little? It's not my fault I'm so handsome!" He sighed. "But they say I should settle down and raise a family! In fact, the love of my life said if I don't ask her a certain question pretty soon…!" He cringed and shook his head. "I'm not ready! When I get old, my good looks will fade, and no woman will find me endearing. Why not wait until then to be wed?"

Perhaps it goes without saying that five minutes after Lumière left, Cogsworth came to make sure the stablemen were doing their jobs properly. He wouldn't know how to run a stable if his life depended on it, but he likes feeling important, so he struts around and acts like he knows everything. Usually, he complains to me about how other servants aren't doing their jobs right.

About an hour after he left, two of the servants who tend the forest slipped inside the stable and politely asked the stablemen to step outside for a moment.

"Did you tell the masters, Loup?" the woman whispered.

The man sighed. "I started to confess three different times this morning, but I never know what to say. What am I supposed to tell them?"

"The truth."

"'Masters, all this time you've believed me to be a good servant, but during the spell, I tried to kill you. Is that a problem?'"

"Loup, as long as your past hangs over your head, you're still part wolf, metaphorically speaking. To be free from the spell, to be truly human again, you've got to tell them so you can let go of that part of your life. Isn't the guilt of your secret eating you alive?" She took his hand. "I'll be there with you for moral support when you beg them for forgiveness."

"Merci beaucoup. You're a good sister, Louve."

"You ready?"

"What? Now? But…!"

"Le loup a peur de la bête!"

"What do you mean 'The wolf is afraid of the beast'?! We're both human beings, and I stopped fearing him the day the spell was broken."

"So you admit he's a good master now, and you don't have to be afraid of his temper anymore?"

"I would be confessing to attempted murder!" Loup protested. "Even worse, that beast was actually the prince, so that makes it worse than murder! Louve, I am guilty of treason!"

"Hardly," his sister responded. "It's illegal for one person to kill another. It's not illegal for a wolf to kill a beast. Besides, on the day we became servants, His Majesty ordered you to kill everyone who invaded the forest, no exceptions. Add that to the fact that no one actually died at your hands, and your only crime was miscommunication, which is perfectly forgivable."

"You have a point," he admitted.

"Excellent! We'll go at once and request an audience with the masters in the West Wing! We'll have this settled once and for all in less time than it takes to tell about it."

Before Loup could reply, Louve was hurrying off to the castle, still clutching her brother's hand. As I watched them go, I felt sorry for them, for both suffer the effects of a fractured limb that never healed properly. Louve can only use one arm, and Loup walks with a limp.

Later in the afternoon, I had the most welcome visitor of all. Belle brought me an apple and a few oats.

"When I was a young child, I always wanted to be a princess, just like I read about in my books," she stated. "No one ever told me that being royalty was so much work!" She hugged me. "But I don't regret any of it! I'm not sorry I met Adam or became his princess, even though becoming queen only weeks later was a bit alarming, and I'm delighted to be the mother of the two sweetest children in the world! It's just a lot more work than you realize!"

The stable door opened, and the stablemen bowed as Adam entered.

"Your respect touches my heart, but bowing isn't necessary," he told them gently.

He stood by his wife's side. "How's Philippe tonight, Belle?"

"The servants have been taking good care of him," Belle replied.

"I'm glad." He brought his hand to his head.

"Are you feeling alright?"

"To be honest, I'm not." Adam sighed. "Those wolves, all of them, were my own servants! What kind of masters injures his own servants and…?!"

"You had no choice!" Belle reminded him. "Do you think you can forgive the servants for injuring their own master?"

"Of course. In fact, I ought to thank them."

"What?!"

"Belle, those wolves stopped you in the forest. If it weren't for them, you would have been able to escape to your own home. You would have been out of my life forever. Getting you to give me a second chance to win your heart was worth a few minor wounds. Any man would give his right arm for a woman like you."

"And you almost literally did!" Belle smiled and gently tapped her husband's wrist twice.

"Being married to the right woman is a wonderful thing." Adam changed the subject slightly, "Think Lumière will ever marry Babette?"

"He'd better! She'll make his life miserable until he does!"

"Speaking of Lumière, I'd better return to the castle before he and Cogsworth find something else to bicker about. I'd hate for them to kill each other while I'm gone."

After her husband left, Belle turned to me and rhetorically asked, "Was your life ever this complicated, Philippe?"