AN: For the First Magic Challenge. 508 words.

The Eye of the Storm

The candlesticks on the mantelpiece were untidy. Yet again. Four year old Druella Rosier's eyes narrowed as she caught sight of them. If only the House Elves would remember that their young mistress was always distressed by any sort of disorder.

But they never did. Between her mother's frivolous nature, which meant she was never home; the nature that meant she had to live in a whirlwind of excitement, attending one party after another; the nature that was more suited to a girl in her teens than a mature woman of society and the screaming tantrums of the spoiled son and heir, seven year old Elbereth, the Elves were rushed off their feet as it was. They never had time to pay attention to little Druella.

She wished she could make them pay attention to her; make them obey her commands and tidy the house, the way it should be, but a year ago, when her older brother had turned six, he had demanded that the Elves obey him and only him. Since their father believed passionately that men were better than women, he hadn't bothered to countermand the order; or at least not where his daughters were concerned. Not that it bothered Siofra. She was only fifteen months old, after all.

She was also the only one among the other Rosiers who paid Druella any attention. From the moment she could talk, it had been "Ruelle" this, "Ruelle" that. Though Druella pretended not to care, as befitted any Rosier, particularly those who had to act with the arrogance of an older sister as well, she secretly loved the devotion.

Which was why she was letting Siofra toddle along after her today.

"I wish they'd tidy up, Sofi. I hate it when the house is untidy!"

Glaring at the offending candlesticks, Druella suddenly felt a strange heat building up behind her eyes and then, all of a sudden, the bronze candlesticks shuffled on the mantelpiece, moving around until they were spread in a neat line across the top of the fireplace.

Druella's heart leapt. She'd done it! For all her young age, she knew what she'd done. She'd performed her first magic!

"Did you see that, Sofi? Did you see it?"

Siofra hadn't, of course. She was too little to have been paying any attention. But, catching on to her older sister's excitement, she smiled her gummy toothless smile and clapped her hands. At the approbation, Druella responded with a smile of her own, then heaved her little sister on to her hip before she started whining and turned to the haphazardly hanging curtains.

A simple look sufficed this time. A second later, there was a rustle of silk and heavily lined muslin before they, too, hung neatly in their place, brushing the floor with the bottom of their thick drapes.

Druella didn't need any further encouragement. Practically running out of the room – well, as best she could when she was struggling under Siofra's weight – she set about setting Rosier Manor to rights.