Disclaimer:I own nothing of Gail Carson Levine's universe. (Does anyone else feel that these things are repetitive : P)
II
My sisters had come back about a week or so later. It was very dull without them, so I was glad to see they came home, even though they startled me when they did.
I was in my room when they came as I was reading Methodsof Locomotion of the Ogre and the Gnome: Similarities, and wishing that I had the latest edition because of the large amount of errors in the book. It was written twenty years before I was even born, so I suppose I should not have been too surprised. I sighed wistfully, wishing I had a new fictional story to read, instead of all the old, dried up, nonfiction books that were in here.
Suddenly, somebody screamed and jumped on me from over my chair behind me. I shrieked and fell off the chair as a small body tackled me.
"Help!! Somebody help!" I gasped for air because my windpipes were being squished by this unknown presence.
Suddenly I heard giggling, from the doorway. Serenity stood there in a new lavender gown that made her glow with loveliness, and a grin slapped on her face. I realized with a shock, that Pat was the one sitting on me.
"Ge'off Pat!!" I pushed hard, as Pat laughed a coarse, broken laugh, and got off of me.
"Nice to see you too, sister," Pat grinned, showing all of her teeth. I grimaced slightly as I straightened out my dress.
Serenity glided over to my bed, layed down on it, and sighed, "Oh dear Beauty, I wish you would have come. Our dear Prince Charmont was one of the handsomest men I had ever seen."
I raised an eyebrow, "And that is all that matters?"
Serenity sat up straight and placed her delicate hand over her heart, "Oh dear me, no! He was very chivalrous and kind, and all that a Prince should be."
Patience laughed a cruel laugh, "Too bad he is getting married to someone else, right Serenity?"
Serenity scowled, which I had never witnessed before, "He was in love with that wench before anyone else had a chance to win him over."
Oh, poor Serenity. "Who was the girl?"
Serenity just scowled some more, so Pat answered instead, "Oh it was Lady Ella of Frell. She was pretending to be another, I heard she was under a curse or something. I did not hear all of the details, so I cannot pretend to know what exactly happened. All I know is that I saw the betrothal announcement before we left and both looked very happy."
Serenity suddenly laughed, "Well, he looked pretty happy talking to you too Pat!"
It all happened very fast, Pat grabbed her shoe off her foot and threw it at Serenity, who screeched in fear. Fortunately, it missed her, and hit the wall instead.
"Um, Pat? What was that about?" I asked.
Serenity did not give the poor girl a chance to answer, "She danced with the Prince a lot, and even made him laugh! Every girl there wanted to wring her neck."
Pat grimaced and ducked her head, "I was just making fun of all the courtiers there. They were all so annoying. He also liked my stories about sword fighting. He sounded impressed."
"He sounds lovely," I said sincerely.
"Ah, he was," Serenity closed her eyes appreciatively.
Pat smiled, "Serenity tell Beauty about the squire that asked to court you."
Serenity opened her eyes and blushed becomingly, "He said that I had the loveliest face he had ever seen, a face of an angel. We danced together at all the balls. He loved my dress at the first one, the peach chiffon gown, scattered with stars, he said the stars bring out my eyes."
I went to her, and clasped her hand, "If he thought any different, he would not be worthy of your attentions."
Pat snorted, "Don't encourage her Beauty."
Serenity glared at Patience, before smiling sweetly down at me, "Ah Beauty, he is even more handsome than the Prince if possible. He has strawberry blond hair and light brown eyes. He has no siblings. He likes long walks and dancing. He's perfect for me."
I looked back at Pat, unsure, she just shrugged her shoulders, "Uh Serenity, what is the Squire's name? If he is going to come all the way here from Frell just to court you he must be wonderful."
"His name is Aubrey," she sighed, "He's my squire Aubrey. We are going to write each others letters. Isn't that the most romantic thing you have ever heard?"
"Uh, sure," I said wide-eyed.
Pat wasn't as diplomatic, "Serenity, how do you know he is not out just to get our money? We are one of the richest families in Kyrria!"
"Not anymore."
We all turned and looked back at the doorway, where Mother and Father stood looking drawn and weary.
I looked at them with wary eyes. What had happened?
Serenity got up quickly, and clasped Mother's hands, "Mother, what do you mean by that?"
Mother did not say anything. She looked like she could not breathe, as if her corset was too tight. Father answered for her.
"Serenity, Patience, Beauty, we are leaving Bast forever. We are bankrupt. Last night thieves stole everything from the bank. There is nothing left. As you girls know, all of our money was in that bank. All we have left is our possessions, which we are selling as we speak."
I felt like I could not breathe. No money? That meant no money for food, shelter, clothes, servants, and most importantly, books.
Mother's voice rattled me even more than the news did. It sounded like a creak and a moan combined, "My darlings, you are going to be able to bring two suitcases with you to our next destination. Choose wisely my daughters. Do not bring silly, frivolous items, because right now we are dependent on necessity."
We must have looked frightened, because she smiled and said, "Don't worry girls, we will get through this together as a family."
"Father is there anything I can do to help," Patience asked her eyes tearing up, which scared me more than anything else had.
"No girls, there is nothing you can do, we have laid out plans in case anything like this ever happened," Father commented grimly, "Just get yourself packed by tomorrow. We are leaving at noon on horseback, which should make you happy Patience."
"We are keeping the horses," I asked hopeful.
"Just one of them, the others we are selling as soon as we get to our destination."
"Just what is our destination Father?" Serenity raised an eyebrow at our parents.
Mother and Father exchanged significant looks with one another. They were not going to tell us a thing.
"You will know when we get there; I would just feel better if it is a surprise."
A thought occurred to Serenity, "Father, may I still write to Squire Aubrey?"
He thought about this for a moment, "Well, my dear it is fine with me, but do be careful. And do be honest with him about our present financial situation. It would not be fair to trick him."
Serenity beamed, which definitely changed the room's feel for a bit until she ran off to her own room, probably to start packing her favorite gowns and to start writing to her dear Squire Aubrey. Mother and Father left soon after her.
It was unsurprising that Serenity did not realize the impact of being bankrupt yet. She would whenever we reached our "destination", that was certain.
Patience seemed to be freaking out more than anyone else. Mother and Father even looked relatively calm about the situation, which calmed me down, because if they did not know what they were doing, I would be able to tell. But, poor Pat. She looked shaken up, her eyes wrought with fear.
"Pat? Are you going to be all right?"
She put her hands on her face, and I heard a muffled cry, "Patience!! It will be all right, you will see. We are tough, we can survive anything."
She cried into my shoulder, "Oh Beauty, it is not the money. I just can't bear to leave Bast! I have sword lessons here, free ones. Master Shen does not judge me for wanting to learn swordplay."
That's what this was about. "Pat, bring your sword, and we will find a way for you to master the sword, all right? If there is a will, there is a way?"
She nodded tearfully and let me go, "I suppose you are right. Why are you so calm about this."
I hesitated before answering, "I am actually freaking out inside. I think this is going to be one of our lessons in life."
Pat looked sober at the thought, "Very true." She brightened quickly, "Hey now I can cut my hair!"
I gaped at her in wonder, "What are you talking about?"
"I can sell my hair! I can cut it and sell it to a wig-maker, to help us make money. You could do it too!"
I pulled on my brunette hair, "No thanks, I like it this way. Maybe next time I need a haircut."
She laughed, and pulled my hair before heading out the door.
It had taken me several hours to stuff 28 books into one suitcase. Mother was surprised at the heaviness of the suitcase, mostly, because she was expecting me to have the lightest load. Serenity had all of her clothes, and Pat had all of her weapons, so she probably assumed I would just bring my mind.
Not a chance, I wanted my books. The poor horse attached to the carriage grunted in frustration as I placed my heavy suitcase in the one carriage we brought with us. The only reason we brought the carriage was to throw all the suitcases in it.
We had a bit of a setback in our travel plans when Mother and Patience got into an argument over her hair. Pat had cut and sold her hair that morning before anyone could stop her. She had got several gold coins in return, something she pointed out to Mother in frustration.
I just stayed out of the conversation, and helped Serenity place her suitcases in the carriage. Serenity had brought her whole closet with her, she somehow managed to stuff all of her clothes into two suitcases, which seems an impossible feat, but was somehow accomplished by this twig of a woman.
She smiled secretively when I asked her how she did it, which usually means she flirted with one of our servants to get him to do it instead of her. She uses that trick often. Those poor boys don't know what hits them when she flirts.
I just sat on my horse, Chestnut, and waited to start our journey. I was getting rather disgusted by mother and Pat's arguing so I was very delighted when Father told them both to shut it and that we needed to get going.
He came by me, and winked at me, "So Beauty, are you ready to begin your adventure?"
I grinned cheekily, "Of course, every story needs one."
He laughed, and I knew my Father felt at ease with me, his youngest. We have always had a stronger bond than anyone else in the family, mostly because we understand one another. Pat said that I was his favorite daughter, though I don't agree with that, because he spends more time with Serenity than Pat or me. We do have a special bond though that everyone who meets our family can see.
Mother came up beside him on her horse, grinning, looking like she was the happiest woman in Kyrria, which confused me. What did she have to be happy about? We had lost everything except our lives, and these horses, and this carriage. The carriage and four of the horses were only borrowed too, so they did not even belong to us. Something was off.
"Is it not a glorious day to be on a journey?" she asked, lifting her head, and inhaling deeply.
Pat grumbled behind me, "It would be if we even knew where we were heading,"
Mother turned sharply on her, her eyes alight with mischief, "Ah, but my dears, that is exactly the best thing about it for you girls. I wish I didn't know, so I can be shocked and delighted when I see where we end up."
I heard a slight whine from ahead, "Mother, just tell us. We are not children anymore."
Father frowned at his eldest daughter, "Actually Serenity, I have to disagree with you on that, as I have just heard a whine from my seventeen year old daughter."
Serenity held her tongue from then on, and our long journey continued. I heard more than I ever cared to know about the business of banking, and why we probably were going to end up bankrupt sooner or later, (Patience grumbled, "Why could it not be later?") from Father and Mother.
That was one aspect of my father's personality that I did not understand, his love of banking and investing. I hated dealing with money, while he seemed to thrive on it. Mother loves talking about investing too, which is probably why they get along so well and why they fell in love. Unfortunately for the children of such a marriage, it makes for very droll dinner conversation.
I continued to muse my parent's relationship until we reached a very nice inn that a handsome couple owned. The food there was delectable, roasted chicken and cherry pie, and the beds were comfortable even though it was bit snug since Serenity, Patience and I shared a bed. It didn't help that Serenity was a cover hog. Nevertheless, I never woke up happier.
