Before The Dawn
"Oh my gosh! You're hair is GORGEOUS! Where did you get it braided?" Stella eyed a female vendor's hair in awe.
"Oh thank you honey! My sister works as a hairdresser in- THIEVES!" She pointed at Flora and Musa running away with fruit in their arms.
"Stella really needs to stop being the one to distract people! She never holds their attention long enough!" Musa whined.
"OH MY GOSH. I will go get that food back for you if it's the last thing I do!" Stella proclaimed to the vendor, and then ran off as fast as she could.
Flora and Musa were waiting around the corner, panting like hell. Stella shortly caught up with them agreed on
"Well at least you amateurs got all the food we agreed on." Stella folded her arms.
"You're the one who decided to make small talk with the woman rather than really catching her attention!" Flora exclaimed, "We could have been caught! We should stop for today."
"I guess you're right." The three of them divided up the food.
"Are you guys going to watch the royal announcement today?" Musa asked. Stella nodded. We don't have a TV, so we're going to the bar to watch it with everyone else.
"That's what we're doing," said Musa, "How about you Flo?"
"Cassandra will probably be watching it, so I'll just have to plan my work schedule so I'm in the same room as the TV when it's on." Flora sighed.
"I wish we could all watch it together," Stella said sadly.
"We can talk about it later, maybe it won't even be that interesting. I'll see you girls later!" Flora waved her friends off.
~.~.~
"We have decided to open the royal ball to any girl in the Mithweald area between the ages of seventeen and twenty-two. We hope you can attend and all of us at the palace are quite sure that it'll be an evening to remember. We apologise for the short notice of this announcement, but we will see all of you tomorrow night." Cassandra turned off the TV and grumbled.
"Opening up the ball to the commoners. The audacity!"
Flora with a broom in hand stared at the black screen. This was good news- no. This was great news! It meant that she was once again eligible to go. This is exactly what her parents would have wanted her to do.
"Flora!" Cassandra whipped her head round to see her stepdaughter in a daze. Flora looked away and quickly started to sweep again. "Flora! Look at me when I'm talking to you!" Flora hesitantly met Cassandra's eye.
"Yes Cassandra?"
"Don't you think for a second that I'll let you attend that ball." She hissed.
"What ball?" Chimera came down the stairs rubbing her eyes, she had just woken up. It was about three in the afternoon.
"Chimera! A lady is not meant to sleep in so late!"
"What ball?" she repeated, pushing past Flora.
"The Prince's ball! It's tomorrow night! We've been looking forward to this since you were born!"
"… I guess I remember you mentioning something like that."
"It's been opened up to commoners, this is a huge problem." Cassandra put her head in her hands.
"Which is why you don't have a say in whether I go or not!" Flora said firmly. Chimera burst out laughing.
"Oh please! Like the prince would want to see your ugly face there!"
"You work for me, Flora. You will not be permitted to take leave to go to the ball. If I even see you there you'll suffer the same fate as your father!" said Cassandra. Flora looked her straight in the eye.
"What do you mean by that?" Flora asked quietly. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say that you know something about my father's death." Cassandra held out her hand and gave Flora a loud smack on her face.
"Don't speak ill of me Flora, not in my house."
"IT'S NOT YOUR HOUSE! IT'S MY DAD'S!" Flora screamed. Cassandra stared at the girl for a second before storming up the stairs.
"You're not going to the ball, Flora. Now get out, I don't want to even hear you right now. If I see you again today, you don't even want to know what I will do." She continued up the stairs.
"Don't come back until tomorrow, I don't want to see or hear you either." Chimera huffed, and then made her way to the kitchen.
They didn't have to ask Flora twice. She grabbed her small satchel (Full of money that she wasn't meant to have) from the hook in the hall and left the house.
She walked out to the market square where most of the stalls had already closed up. She bought herself a croissant and settled on a bench to eat it and mulled over what had just happened.
"'Suffer the same fate as my father'…?" She asked herself quietly.
"Flora! I've never seen you at this time of day before!" Flora whipped her head around to see Musa, once again with her flute in hand.
"Oh hey Musa," she smiled slightly.
"What's wrong? Shouldn't you be with that Cassandra cow and her stupid daughter?" she asked. Musa had met Cassandra and her daughter once. That is a time that none of them speaks of.
"I got thrown out for the night," Flora shrugged, "I accidentally screamed at Cassandra about my dad after the announcement, and they kicked me out so they didn't have to answer me."
"Did you ask if you could go to the ball?" Musa asked hopefully.
"Well she said no, but there's no way in hell I'm not going."
"Oh cool! PAR-TAY!" Musa threw her arms in the air, coincidentally slapping an approaching Stella in the face.
"Okay, first of all, ouch, secondly, Flora did you hear about the party?" Stella said enthusiastically, Flora nodded. "Flora? Aren't you excited?" Stella waved her hand in front of the girl's eyes.
"You know it!" Flora laughed. "I was just thinking about where I'm going to stay tonight."
"Cassandra kicked her out for the evening." Musa explained.
"Why don't we just have a sleepover then?" Stella suggested, "You guys could come over to my house! Oh! And we could call my mum, she's visiting tomorrow and I'm sure she'd bring us all some dresses we can wear to the ball!"
"You really think she could get us some gowns?" Musa asked excitedly.
"Of course! We just need to call her in time, so come on!"
~.~.~
"I've heard so much about you girls, it's surprising that this is the first time that I've met you." Stella's dad greeted. He was in the middle of reading a book at the kitchen table. Stella's home was slightly bigger and homely than any other home in the Mithweald area. Stella's mother, Luna, had always been the breadwinner of the couple, so she paid child support to Radius, Stella's father. Not to mention all the money saved on food, thanks to Stella. It was still about three times smaller than the home Cassandra inherited from Flora's father, but it was nice.
"It's really nice to meet you too," Flora smiled politely.
"Yeah dude, your crib isn't bad!" Musa laughed.
"… You can all sleep in the living room, and I'll sort some dinner out."
"Hey daddy, can I use the phone call mum?"
"Uh… Sure."
Stella led her friends into the fair-sized living room. There was a sofa, and armchair, and a fireplace.
"My dad's really nervous about mum coming over." She said quietly, "I hope they don't argue. They're only doing this for me." She picked up the phone and dialled her mother's number.
"Hey mum! … Did you hear? … Heck yeah I'm going! Hey listen, could you bring me a gown to wear? … Aw thank you! And could you bring two more for my friends… Yes… Fine… My size, we switch clothes all the time… Thank you! See you tomorrow!" Stella put the phone down, "She said yes!"
"Oh wow! I've never even worn a proper dress before!" Musa beamed excitedly.
"It'll be my first time in a while…" Flora lightly smiled.
"Oh my gosh WE are going to have the BEST TIME!" Stella put her arms around the girls.
This was the first time that any of the girls had ever enjoyed a sleepover. They spent the whole night laughing, eating, gossiping and plotting future schemes. Flora couldn't fully enjoy herself though; she knew that she would have to be up early to buy the groceries for Cassandra and Chimera, but she badly wanted to stay and see the dresses that Stella's mother was going to bring.
The next morning, Flora naturally opened her eyes at five am; she would normally start the day with chores until the nine, when Cassandra would send her out for food. She was more tired than usual, seeing as the three of them had fallen asleep at three.
Flora slowly closed her eyes again.
What seemed like a minute later, she was being shaken awake by Stella.
"Hey! Breakfast!"
"Hunnnnnnnnng…." Was all Flora could manage out.
"C'mon! This is later than any of us sleep in, it's ten Flo! And my mum's here! You HAVE to see your dress!" Stella pulled her up.
"I'm sorry I'm just so tired, I can't believe I'm being so rude…"
"Forget it!" Stella pulled her into the kitchen where Luna, Stella's mother, Radius and Musa were sitting around the large circular table. The table had three large, white boxes on it. "Hey mum! This is Flora! The friend that's being forced to work for no pay against her will that I told you about."
"… Not Flora Willow, right?" Before even saying hello, the Luna looked Flora up and down.
"… Yes, how did you know?" she asked.
"I used to make all of your dresses when you were a little girl. What happened to your parents? As I recall you were living very comfortably." She almost seemed angry, it was like the story she had pieced together was that Flora was mooching for sympathy off the poorer part of the city. Flora was speechless, what could she say?
"Uh, mum, didn't you hear what I just said?" Stella folded her arms.
"I did, but our stories don't match up."
"My-my… My parents are-… I have to go, I'm late and Cassandra is going to be furious so the sooner I get back the better. Thank you very much for having me Radius… Bye Musa, Stella, I had lots of fun- I'll see you girls later, at the ball." Flora's voice cracked and she ran out of the house.
"What was that about?" Luna asked.
"The Willow packaging plant closed down last year, Luna," Radius explained, "The owner, David Willow, died of 'sudden adult death syndrome', and his wife had died of cancer of few years earlier. Flora was orphaned and now works as a live in maid for her father's second wife."
Musa was looking down and holding her hands tightly together; things just got really awkward. Even Stella, who barely knew the meaning of the word, was feeling the pressure.
"You moved to the country before any of this even happened, you wouldn't have known about any of it." Stella said quietly.
"I say things without really thinking a lot, I guess that's where you get it from." She smiled at Stella, "I'll catch up with her and give her this dress," she stood up and picked up one of the large white boxes.
~.~.~
Flora was sitting on a bench and staring at the markets; they weren't so busy as a lot of food had already been bought by the palace for the ball. She was building up her courage to go back to Cassandra, when she heard a small cough behind her. Luna.
"Here," Luna passed her the box, "I hope you like it. And I'm sorry…"
"Wow, thank you. It's fine; don't worry about it, you wouldn't have known. It's just that it still hurts to talk about."
"You're parents were wonderful people. Your mother was there for me when I went through my divorce and your father even helped me get the dress shop out in the country up and running to make sure I was secure."
"That's nice."
"Didn't…" Luna hesitated, "Didn't your father write you into his will?"
"If he even had one, no one found it. Everything automatically went to Cassandra."
"I know for a fact that he wrote one." Said Luna, "I found it in your wardrobe when I was helping your mother go through your dresses, so I gave it back to him to hide it again."
"Wait, he wrote one?!" Flora stood up, "I have to get back! Thank you so much, I'll see you later!"
"Wait Flora!" Luna called, "I still feel bad, isn't there anything else I can do?" Flora stopped and turned around.
"Well, there is one thing,"
~.~.~
"I have been so busy today! I'm helping the palace set up for the ball you see, I was having such a hard time getting all the decorations into my van, when this little angel stopped and spent three hours helping me clear out the shop. You've done a wonderful job bringing her up, I just wanted to make sure she got home safely."
Cassandra looked at the blonde woman standing next to Flora and raised an eyebrow.
"I guess you could say that Flora has always been exceptionally helpful." She said blankly, and then eyed the white box that Flora was holding in her arms, "What's in the box?"
"Oh! I wanted to give Flora a gift for her generosity." The woman smiled, "Well, I expect I'll be seeing you at the ball then. Goodbye!"
Cassandra pulled Flora in and slammed the door shut.
"Count yourself lucky you didn't get into any trouble." She hissed, "Now, you're running late. I want you to help get Chimera ready for the ball later, so for now you can… Dust."
"Of course," Flora said quickly, "I'll just go get the duster," she ran upstairs clutching the box, Cassandra couldn't see what was inside; she's be furious.
Once in the attic, Flora slid the box under her bed and adjusted the bed skirt so that it was hidden. She badly wanted to start hunting for her father's will but she had to follow Cassandra's rules for at least the rest of the day, maybe if she kept on her good side she'd actually have permission to go to the ball.
Time went on, it was nine in the evening and time for ball. Flora was looking like a mess, not ideal, but she figured if she put on the dress then maybe Stella would be able to do one of her last-minute miracles before they actually went inside.
Flora pulled out the white box, took off the lid, pulled away the tissue paper and stared in horror at the pile of silky pink shreds lying inside.
"I did say no," Cassandra said from behind her, "What did you expect me to do? Just let you sneak out that easily? I think not." She dropped a large pair of scissors on the floor behind Flora and walked out of the room, slamming and locking the door shut behind her. "You should know better than to plot against me like this!"
Flora didn't turn around, or even move her head. She stared into the abyss of her own mind. Empty. Why did it have to come to this? Why her?
She stared up at the ceiling. Why did she want to go to the ball so badly anyway? Sure, she had been looking forward to it since she was ten, and sure, it was what her parents would have wanted, and sure, it was a chance to just have some fun with her friends without any stupid responsibility, that opportunity did not come about often.
She jumped up and rattled the door handle. It was no use. Cassandra was a class a bitch.
A small noise came from behind Flora, freezing her up. Getting louder, she realised that it was someone humming.
"Wh-who's there?" Flora squeaked out.
"Why don't you turn around and see for yourself?" said a girl's voice. Flora gulped and slowly turned around.
A girl with dark skin and long dark hair was standing in the middle of her room. She was wearing a colourful skirt and tube top that literally seemed to be glowing, not to mention the enormous wings on her back.
"OH MY F**KING WHAT THE HELL?!" Flora yelled at the top of her lungs, "I'VE GOT TO CALL THE POLICE! I HAVE NO PHONE! OH MY ACTUAL- SOMEONE HELP ME!" She pounded her bedroom door, then turned back around, "PLEASE DON'T HURT ME! I HAVE NOTHING TO GIVE YOU BUT I CAN-"
"Would you just chill out?" The girl said, "I'm here to help you!"
"Who ARE you?"
"I guess you could call me your fairy god-mother, but that makes me sound like a seventy year-old woman, so just call me Layla."
"Fairy god-mother? The hell are you on about?"
"I literally cannot tell you where I come from else I would have to kill you, but I guess you could say that I was sent by… Someone you know to look over you after that someone had… Gone." She explained.
"… Well what took you so long?"
"You're good at keeping yourself out of serious trouble, but I was watching what was going on with this whole 'ball' thing, and no, it's not going down the way Cassandra wants."
"I'm sorry, I'm still having trouble contemplating this situation." Flora sat down on her bed.
"Let me show you what I'm here for." Layla sighed. She waved her hand and suddenly the scraps of pink material from the white box mended themselves and turned back into a beautiful gown.
"HOW DID YOU DO THAT?"
"Magic! I'm a fairy!" She pointed to her wings, "Duh! Now, let's get you ready for that ball…"
A/N
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