Chapter Two
Closing the heavy wrought iron gates of the castle behind them, Lumière watched as Grace ran ahead of him into the woods. 'Such energy', he thought.
Grace ran through the forest, knowing the exact location of the best trees to climb, the fallen log that looked and acted as a bench, the spot where her grandfather had collapsed coming to rescue her mother from the castle and, finally, the clearing where she had spent hours on end playing throughout all of her 12 years of life.
As they approached Grace's favourite area of the woods, Lumière called to her 'Mademoiselle – stay in this area s'il te plait, I need to sit down in this clearing for a moment.'
Seizing her chance to do what she wanted, Grace bounded into the trees surrounding the clearing where Lumière sat, hands on his knees and panting with the effort of keeping up with the energetic child. She set off in search for somewhere new, or something that had changed in the few days that she had been away from her own natural playground. Everything seemed the same, and she made the most of her time alone; climbing up trees, and running about down the banks and through all the fallen foliage, as autumn was in full swing, making the forest a beautiful mass of reds, golds and browns. No unusual adventure found her until she got to a simple looking tree where the roots were covered in leaves.
She approached the pile to splash through and make that crunching sound that fascinates everyone for hours during autumn, when something strange happened.
Suddenly, the clump of vegetation moved and a shiny black nose poked out. Grace froze, the automatic response to the unknown keeping her rooted to the spot. A furry muzzle then emerged from the brown mass of leaves and from what she could see; Grace thought it might be a wolf cub. She had heard stories from her parents about the bad, angry wolves in the woods, but it had never been explained to her why they were angry or why they never came near to her or her parents when the family went for long afternoon walks in the woods.
This cub looked barely a week old and had big, innocent yellowy eyes; nothing like the piercing amber her parents had described the older wolves as having. This little creature looked sweet and lost and not at all vicious or unpredictable. Out of instinct, Grace reached out to stroke it, just behind its ears as the family dog liked to be stroked. The cub turned to her touch, not used to a mammal without fur, and it sniffed her hand inquisitively. Grace pulled her hand away slowly, looking at the fluffy, downy fur that covered the cub in its early days, thinking how cute and innocent it looked.
The cub was too young to be capable of much play, and as a wild animal, Grace knew that it was meant to be avoided, so, knowing that soon Lumière would come looking for her, she left the spot where her new friend lay in the leaves, and she walked away to the clearing where she had been told to play originally.
Upon returning to the spot where she had left Lumière, Grace smiled to find that, once again, Babette had been a useful distraction stopping him from guarding her. It was no wonder that Lumière hadn't followed her or called for her when he had been too busy flirting. The maid scuttled back to the castle when Grace approached; and as she viewed Lumière's secret, she decided to keep her own secret of the wolf cub to herself. After all, his animal parents should come back and find him in the next few hours anyway.
Coming back into the castle, Grace was still running around in high spirits, chasing the old dog round the entrance hall; and causing Lumière to go for a lie down in his room for an hour or so with the fatigue of keeping up with her.
With her guardian gone, the novelty of playing wore off, and Grace wandered around the lower floors of the castle looking for some adventure, mischief, or excitement to make the day go faster so that she could read with her parents in the evening. After walking past the empty dining hall, the entrance to the South wing where the maids were sweeping the long red hall carpet, and towards the always busy kitchen, Grace knew where she would find excitement.
Going past the door to the kitchen and on to the side rooms, Grace found her target standing with his back to the door, meticulously shining the cutlery, piece by piece. Stealthily creeping into the room, her slippers not making the slightest noise on the shining stone floor, she crept up behind her best friend, hands poised to make him jump.
'CHIP!' she called, loud as she could, jumping up and tapping him on both of his shoulders.
Chip sighed and turned around, a spoon and cloth still in his hand. 'It's a good job I wasn't cleaning a knife, Grace.' He told her, sticking his tongue out.
Grace replied with the same, before sitting down on the nearby stool and watching her friend continue with his work. At 17 years old, Chip was studious and careful with his castle duties, slowly working his way up through the ranks in the kitchen and dining room roles and aiming to one day take over from his mother, Mrs Potts, and run the whole kitchen area. Over the last few years, Chip had rapidly grown, becoming taller by the day and turning into a man before everyone's eyes. The little boy who had been a cup and helped Belle immensely when she first came to the castle was no more, and the Chip working there now was responsible, mature and adult.
That wasn't to say, however, that he couldn't entertain Grace adeptly. When his mother eventually came to find him to ask if the wines could be decanted ready for that night's supper, she found him teaching Grace to juggle tea spoons, deftly catching any she dropped, and cleaning them again on his cloth.
Mrs Potts stood in the doorway with a reluctant smile on her face. 'Chip, dear, are you nearly finished with this job?' she asked her son.
'Almost done.' He replied, gesturing to the rows of neatly stacked, shining forks and spoons on the shelves. 'I've just got the last few knives to do once Grace has gone.'
Pouting, Grace knew that was her cue to leave, so that she wouldn't distract Chip from the slightly more dangerous part of the job, and she called goodbye to him with a wave as she left the room, ducking under Mrs Potts' arm where she was leaning on the doorframe, and going upstairs to her room to dress for dinner.
Walking up the stairs to the first floor, Grace reflected on her friendship with Chip. She felt like she had so much fun with him, that they had spent well over a decade laughing, joking and enjoying themselves; and yet she knew so little about him. She didn't know why his name was Chip, what it was short for or what his real name was. She didn't know how he came to be the only other young person in the castle, who his father was, or why his mother was so much older than her parents. Odd as it was, her closest friend was the biggest mystery in her life. Everyone else, she could read like an open book.