The Idealist
Chapter One
In so many fairy tales I have read, I have seen losing a parent romanticised. The poor helpless child loses one or both of their parents, before being adopted by some rich and powerful person who makes all their dreams come true. Not having a parent is portrayed as tragic but with an undeniable romance. My friends loved those stories growing up, but I did not.
To lose a parent is not romantic. It tears a hole in a child's heart, leaving a gap that they will always struggle to fill.
I don't want to quash the idea of hope in stories, but I want to bring some realism, from the perspective of someone who knows. But I'm getting ahead of myself here; this story does start with joy and happiness and yes, romance – at its most idealistic and beautiful.
There was once a young man called Roland. He was a content, hard working young man, the son of a well-to-do farmer who had done well for himself. With a good education and sound principles instilled in him from a child, Roland left his father's land to do his expected time in their country's army.
He found initial training demanding, but Roland thrived under the hard drills and constant working with weapons. He became known by his comrades as 'Spark' for his moments of humour and positivity in the midst of their training. In particular, he became close friends with a young soldier named Darius, with whom he shared a skill with a bow.
Darius was an odd one.
Where their comrades would tell stories of their lives back home, of their trades and families, Darius would only say that he had been sent away by his father, and because of this, the others avoided him. Roland didn't. He gave Darius space and would talk to him on inconsequential things. After a time the two men became training comrades, until they were both skilled longbowsmen and were assigned to the same unit.
It was at this time that a fateful event occurred. The northern kingdom of Deburan invaded their country Isen, burning border villages and destroying crops. Both Roland and Darius were sent to fight, risking their lives in the defence of their country.
In a long and arduous campaign that lasted six months, the two young men became as brothers and fought valiantly. Every day they would shoot together and protect each others' backs.
On a day which seemed as any other in that never-ending war, their unit was assigned to fire upon the enemy's front line and in response, their ranks were caught under heavy fire. Darius took an arrow in the gut and would have died, had Roland not carried him three miles back to safety. He took two arrows in the right leg, yet still bravely carried his friend to safety and a surgeon.
In the end, Darius was saved from severe injury, but Roland was forced to walk with a limp for the rest of his life, never again able to run straight and without great difficulty. But they made it home under a flag of victory.
It was only when they had reached the safety of their country's capital that Darius confessed what he had long kept a secret. He was the illegitimate son of the king's greatest friend, Duke Samuel. Amazed, Roland found himself being taken to the Duke's great home and before a score of witnesses, he was knighted and given lands.
His simple act of friendship and goodness to a fellow human creature had earned him a wealth and prestige he had never sought.
When Roland returned home to his father's farm, he was celebrated as a hero and finally allowed himself to look with love on the one girl he had always cared for- the daughter of the town blacksmith. A lass called Eleanor.
Sweet, gentle and loving, Eleanor gave her whole heart to this good man and they lived together in happiness and joy. Despite their wealth and lands, they lived simply – enjoying the uncomplicated pleasures of life and working hard alongside those they hired. Their friend Darius was a frequent visitor, leaving the pressures of his father's house to live a simpler life.
It was during this first year of their marriage that Eleanor discovered she was pregnant and the next summer, a baby girl was born. Named Nell after her mother, she was a small baby with a sunny smile and infectious giggle that made everyone happy.
As you have probably guessed, I knew that baby. In fact, I still know and love her. I was there the day she was born and held her precious self in my arms. I still remember every moment, though these events happened so long ago.
They say that people don't fall in love on first sight; but if I saw anything that day it was two parents who fell in love with their first and only child.
It's difficult to find a word to describe the first five years of Nell's life – but I believe that the most suitable is beautiful. Her parents and the village doted upon that child. She had the most infectious giggle you could imagine and was always on the hunt to get herself into some mischief, although most tricks were caught by her eagle-eyes mother before they occurred.
Lady Elanor was a devoted mother; spending every moment of every day with her little girl. They did everything together – from gardening to riding to cooking. But as well as learning womanly skills under her mother, Nell also learnt her most important lesson – to always look for the good in every situation.
A few weeks after Nell's fifth birthday there was great joy when Lady Eleanor announced that she was again pregnant. Great preparations were made and the little girl grew excited as she anticipated the arrival of her little brother or sister.
But on a wild winter night, the young girl's life was touched by tragedy for the first time. Dear, sweet Lady Eleanor died in child birth and her tiny infant son with her.
Sir Roland was devastated and clung to his little girl. Nell became his shadow in those dark weeks. She followed her father everywhere; even refusing to sleep in her own bed for fear that she might "fall asleep like Mother".
For the next year she slept in Roland's bed and slowly, they started to heal. With the coming of the next spring, they started to ride out once more, to walk through their favourite woods and once again take an interest in the life of the estate. Nell was forever by her father's side and though she might not laugh as much, her smiles started to return. She returned to gathering flowers for the dinner table and was even known to occasionally baking in the kitchen.
As the years passed, she continued to accompany her father everywhere. Days were spent aiding their tenants and sorting the estate accounts. She developed quite a talent for number-work and would often spend hours tallying up their profits and expenditure. In the end, Lord Roland took to calling her 'his little clerk', and eventually became reliant upon her for helping with the money of the estate.
By her eleventh birthday, Roland and Nell had a settled, comfortable pattern of life that suited them both. But it was during one of their daily rides on a summer day that Roland spotted something. They had just galloped across a field for the sheer exhilaration of it when he saw his daughter through different eyes. Her thick braids of dark hair were windswept and messy, her nose was freckled from the sun, she was red with sweat and she wore a faded dress with a patch in one sleeve. A memory of his neat, beautiful wife came into his mind and he suddenly felt ashamed.
"Nell," he said gently, "I'm so sorry, I've failed you."
Nell stared at her father. "What do you mean, Papa?" she demanded, "I can't think of a single way in which you've failed me."
"You haven't had any training to be a lady, love," Roland replied with regret. "You should know how to dress and dance by your age."
She laughed. "Papa, what need do I have for such accomplishments? How will they help us of the estate? Will my being able to dance help you to balance the crop sales or measure the cost of seed against our profit last year?"
"I suppose not, Nell. But you are the heir of this estate and when you marry your husband will expect you to have such accomplishments. Do you not wish to have pretty dresses and go to balls?"
"Father, I have never wished for such things!" Nell protested, "Why should I want life to change?"
But having come to this realisation, Roland was determined to rectify his "mistake". Before she knew it, Nell found herself attending dancing lessons and being forced to dress in a more suitable "ladylike" manner. She was denied her usual pleasure of riding all day and was forced to go out and pay "calls" to their neighbours. It was during one such excursion with her father that she came to meet Lady Rosamund and her daughters Ethel and Maude.
Nell took an instant dislike to Lady Rosamund and her daughter Ethel, who was a carbon-copy of her "darling Mama". Both were haughty, magnificently dressed and beautiful in a cool, distant sort of way with ice-blue eyes and golden curls of hair that never seemed to be out of place. By comparison, Maude was plump and jolly with the same blond hair and style of dress, but kinder and far more approachable. She and Nell soon grew to be fast friends and it was because of this that Nell's father made a life-changing decision for them all. He thought that Nell lacked the support of female company and decided to propose to Rosamund.
Surprised and slightly hurt by her father's decision to act without consulting her, Nell remembered her mother's lesson and sought to make the best of it. So, when the day of the wedding arrived and she joined her father at the front of the chapel and tried very hard to be truly happy for them. But in the back of her mind, she saw her mother's face and kept wondering what she would think of this marriage.
She confided these concerns to Meg, the family's old cook and was comforted by the old woman who was more grandmother than cook to the little girl.
"Does your Papa not still love you just as much, Nell?" The girl nodded. "Then why do you think he's married Lady Rosamund?"
"To be happy?" she queried.
The old cook smiled. "Yes, and to bring a mistress to our estate once more. He's not trying to replace your dear mother; he's just trying to give you more female company for when you grow up my love. Aren't you happy that Maude will be your sister?" Nell nodded. "Then focus upon that and all the fun you'll both have together."
With this reassurance, Nell returned to the wedding and spent an enjoyable afternoon playing hide and seek with Maude in the library.
But if she had expected life to remain the same after her father's marriage, she was sadly mistaken. The very next day she was taken aside by her new step mother and told that her training to be a lady was about to begin. In the blink of an eye, her carefree days of riding and helping her father vanished. Instead her time was filled with dancing lessons, sewing lessons, poetry reading and endless calls to dull, dull neighbours. As well as this, she was expected to only ride at a ladylike speed and even her number-work was forbidden in pursuit of more "ladylike" pursuits.
Although she struggled under this new regime, Nell held her tongue from love of her Father and tried her best to fulfil her stepmother's wishes. But it seemed that the harder she tried, the less she seemed to please her stepmother. Her dancing steps were "too heavy", her sewing "too clumsy", her poetry reading "too wooden" and her conversation "severely lacking in interesting content". By comparison, Ethel apparently danced "like an angel", sewed with "real elegance", read with "deep sentiment" and conversed with "a wide vocabulary and flair". Lady Rosamund would always say that it was because her daughter came from an "unimpeachable bloodline" and was "made for greatness".
It seemed that even poor Maude was overlooked in favour of her sister, but it was through being ignored that Nell and Maude moved from friendship to true affection. They became closer that Maude and Ethel had ever been, confiding secrets and generally spending the majority of their time in the other's company.
But just a week after the first anniversary of Sir Roland and Lady Rosamund's marriage, Nell's life was once again struck by tragedy. The winter had been dreadfully cruel. Heavy snows and biting winds had torn through the land of Isen, carrying a dreadful sickness that killed many.
It was on a journey of kindness to a sick tenant that Sir Roland became ill with the disease. He suffered for weeks, alternately boiling with fever or being cold with chills. Nell was his constant nurse, feeding him what she could and dampening his brow against the fever – but all in vain. After eleven days of suffering, he summoned his family and spoke to them all in turn of his love for them and hopes for their future.
"Please love Nell as I have come to love Ethel and Maude," he begged his wife. "Be her mother and father, as I no longer can."
"Of course, my love," Lady Rosamund had promised, kissing his hand. He had then blessed both his step daughters before turning to Nell.
"Be happy, my Nelly," he said gently, stroking her cheek. "You have been my joy and sunshine since the love of my life passed away. Always remember what she said, my Nell. Look for the good in every situation, don't give up. Continue to bring your sunshine into everyone's lives. I love you."
Nell didn't bother to wipe away the tears that stained her cheeks, but embraced her father with her whole strength. "I love you, Papa," she whispered, kissing his paling cheek.
Sir Roland died soon after, leaving his daughter an orphan.
It was only after the death of this good man, that the true nature of Lady Rosamund was revealed.
The very day after her husband was buried; she summoned Nell early and stared at her with a gimlet eye. "It is time you started to earn your keep, girl," she stated coldly.
"Earn my keep, stepmother?" Nell queried in confusion.
"Yes, earn your keep. When your father died he left you in my sole care and wished for me to provide for you. This I will do, but you in return must do your part."
"But ... how?"
"By fulfilling the role you have always seemed to covet – you shall take your place below stairs and can give up this pretence of being a lady."
"You mean ... be a – a servant?"
"Indeed. I have two daughters of my own to provide for and cannot afford to pay for your lessons as well."
"But stepmother, there's always been more than enough money ..."
"Silence!" At this, Lady Rosamund struck Nell across the face with such violence that she was sent reeling. "You are the granddaughter of a blacksmith for heaven's sake! What right have you to be treated as a lady?"
Nell stared, struck dumb by her sudden fear. Who was this stranger?
"Your father may have been a lord, but even that was only awarded for saving the Duke Samuel's son. The very idea of my raising you to be a lady is simply preposterous."
"But ... but you promised my father you would love me ..."
"I am showing you love, child. By reintroducing you to your rightful place in society, I am ridding you of any false hopes about your future. Do you really believe that a gentleman of good birth would want to marry a skinny, low-bred pretender such as yourself? No, I am doing you a favour. Now go downstairs and report to Meg in the kitchen, I have informed her of your change in station and I suggest you accept it. Or I shall be forced to punish you again."
Nell blanched away from her stepmother and scuttled out of her room. Tears came unbidden to her eyes as she descended the steps to the kitchen and flung herself at Meg. Gently, the old cook hushed the poor girl's crying.
"I'm sorry, my love," she murmured, "but what can you do? Mistress Rosamund controls the money and runs the estate. Just remember what your dear mother said; always try to find the good in the situation."
"But Father made her promise to love me as a d-daughter," Nell choked. "How is this love?"
"Lovey, I'm not sure that Lady Rosamund really knows what love is. Haven't we often spoken of her favouritism for Miss Ethel?"
Nell nodded, wiping her eyes. "I suppose so and at least I'm with you Meg."
The old cook smiled. "There's my ray of sunshine." She hugged the girl. "Now come love, let's get you out of that lovely gown and into something a bit more suitable. You just wait and I promise you, something will turn up."
As she took off her silken gown, Nell felt as though she was peeling off an old life and donning a new one. With regret, she put on the plain black one that was offered to her and bound her hair in a serviceable plait. Her cheek still ached from the blow it had been given and with that as almost a constant reminder, she said a silent good bye to her old life.
But with the new life came a determination to face each new challenge with as much courage as she could. She might be a servant today but when she was grown, she made herself a promise.
One day, she would again be free.
Author's note:
This story has been bumping around my mind since I watched 'Into the Woods' in January. I loved the idea of an uncertain Cinderella who's not sure she wants to marry the Prince. I also really liked the realism that was given to the character through the film and that's what I want to create in this story – a realistic retelling of Cinderella. I was also inspired by another Cinderella retelling called 'The Slipper and the Rose' – it gives the prince a proper character and back story which can be lacking in other retellings. Again – it gives the story a realism that I want to emulate in this retelling of this much loved fairytale.
Thanks so much for reading, my aim is to complete a full length story for the first time on here, so this won't be the longest story, but I am hoping to update regularly, once a fortnight at the latest.
Please read and review, all feedback gladly received!
Breeze.