Chapter 2

It had been three hours and Mrs Fields was still droning on and on about nothing. Dinner had passed uneventfully and Bella had long since given up listening to the uninterrupted flow of the one sided conversation.

"Well, I said to her, Mrs Kent, I said, Mrs Kent you can't possibly expect that daughter of yours to have any better offers can you? The man makes just over a thousand a year and that is more than I expected for Juliana..."

Bella was staring off into space, her eyes glazed and unfocused as the wind bag continued with her story of how she'd matched Juliana Kent with a Mr Bartlet. Bella knew Juliana, she was a nice enough girl, fairly pretty. Her family wasn't very high the social ladder, but why should that matter? Things like that really got under her skin. She hated knowing that marriage, even life in general, was more about money and power than love and friendship.

It was just one of those things, as her mother said. That was the way the world worked.

Bella remembered that conversation. Just as she was now, Mrs Fields had been bragging about stagging a marriage between a not-so-well-off girl and a fairly influential man. Bella had asked about the reasoning behind marriages and was wondering why her parents wasn't like the kind so often described by older women.

"There are some people Isabella," Renèe had said. "That feel that status with security is more important than love with a risk."

It was then that she'd decided that she would rather take the risk of marrying for love and being happy than sit around feeling awkward with money and a man she didn't know or truly care for.

"Well, the wedding will be taking place right away of course. I am very glad, you know, that I could be of help to the Kent family, they certainly needed it!" Mrs Fields sent a significant glance toward Bella who was looking at the wall across from her seat on the couch. "You know, Renèe, Isabella is nearing marriage age. I understand that she is only seven, but one can never being the search too early."

Bella looked at her mother quickly, having refocused on the conversation when her name was mentioned. Renèe seemed to be utterly lost for words so Bella took over in her usual way.

"That is a very personal question Mrs Fields and I don't think that you have any right to ask it." She wondered a bit too late if she'd framed her response in a polite way.

Mrs Fields stared at the girl in shock. No one had ever spoken to her in such an insolent way as that, no one would dare. Though, in an odd way she found the insult to her stature amusing, more so because the person delivering it was a child who was small for her age. "Dear child you speak with such force. That is not proper behavior for a little girl; not at all proper."

Renèe had found her voice and after giving Bella a stern look answered to Mrs Fields statement. "I am sorry, she is at that age you know, when they want to feel as if they know best."

Jacquelin Fields was a shrewd woman; a gossip yes, but an intelligent one. She saw through her hostess' attempted cover-up yet felt it best to humor her by allowing her to think that she was had been fooled. "Yes, I suppose she is. My great-niece, Rosalie Hale, is just the same as your Isabella. The cheeky thing! Though she is quite a few years older she always has something to say," she shook her head. "Most often something that ought not to be said, she has had her whims indulged far to often."

"Oh, really? Well, children will be children and all that!"

Bella soon lost interest in the adults discussion and proceeded to count the number of cracks in the wall. It was just like them to talk about her as if she weren't there. If she'd been of a mind to she would have said something about it. She had promised her mother that she would be good though and pushed her irritation aside.

Her thoughts drifted farther and farther away from the current situation, the earlier adventure coming to her mind as she cast her eyes about the room. What exactly had happened? She'd gotten out of the wood much sooner than was possible, had Lauren really been right? Maybe not all of the stories were lies. Most fantasies had a basis in fact; even if the truth was long forgotten they'd had to begin somewhere.

She wondered about the possibility for a time before her mind moved onto other matters. What Mrs Fields had said, extremely rude and assumptive as it had been, was somewhat true. Even at the age of seven many girls were thinking about marriage, as were their families. Making a good match was important and in a town as small as Forks those were hard to come by.

If she were to stay on at home past the age of twenty or so she'd become a burden to her mother and father. She didn't want to end up an old maid! Perhaps Lauren was right about this one thing; it was important for girls to act like girls. This was a matter she'd have to think about more throughly. How was she supposed to wait around for love to come and find her when she had so little time?

"Bella? What do you think? Isabella!" Her eyes focused on her mother's annoyed expression. "Really now, have you not heard a word that we've said?"

She shook her head. "I'm sorry, I guess I just got caught up in my thoughts."

Renèe rolled her eyes at her daughter. "Mrs Fields has invited you to tour the country with herself and her husband! Rosalie is indisposed with the mumps and they've already arranged everything for a party of three."

Bella stared at her mother uncomprehendingly; the message didn't seem to be getting through. "I don't understand." Why would Mrs Fields want her to go? There were plenty of other girls her age who were much more well behaved than she was and less likely to make a spectacle of themselves. For goodness sakes, she'd only just insulted the womens character!

"Isabella," she turned to look at the women in question. "I feel that a trip such as this would do you a great deal of good. The main point is the stop in the Royal City of course..."

"It would be such a wonderful learning experience, really!"

Bella's first instinct was to answer with a loud and resounding "No", but her mother looked so very excited. She bit her lip, was an extended amount of time in the company of the Fields' worth seeing the Royal City?

If it the decision had affected only herself then her response would have been in the negative, but it didn't. It was clear that her mother thought it a good idea and it would be nice to have finally done something before Lauren. What a sight that would be! Telling her that she was to see the city of the royal family, to see all the courtiers and knights. Her father would be very proud of her too....And then there was her new worry, life after twenty. She was more likely to meet somebody she liked if she broadened her search. This way she would be doing more than simply waiting for love to come to her.

And so, even though it went against her better judgment, Bella told the older women that yes, she would enjoy as well as appreciate a trip to the Royal City and thank you for offering.

Packing began immediately after Mrs Fields left the house. The company of three were to depart Forks at the end of the week. It would be a month long trip with four over night stops and one day full of travel before they reached the Royal City.

Her mother put all her best dresses into her traveling trunk, along with ribbons, hair ornaments and stockings. Once that could be packed for the time being was put away even Bella had grown to feel that perhaps this trip wouldn't be a complete waste of time. All sorts of things could happen; adventure, romance, intrigue and mystery....

Something exciting was bound to take place. In all the stories she had ever read or heard tell of magical things happened when young girls went on trips without their mothers and fathers. They met white rabbits with watches, fell into different worlds, found their one true loves and if anything even close to being as glamorous as that happened Bella felt that she should be satisfied with life forever.

Though magical adventures were certainly not a given she felt sure that there was a definite possibility of romantic escapades and covert undertakings. Perhaps she would wander away from the Fields' and find herself in a different land, or maybe while walking in the streets she would be suddenly whisked up and away by a knight on a white horse. Or maybe something less exciting would take place. She might meet a self-proclaimed witch who told her fortune, predicting riches that turned out to be nothing more than a scheme to steal her money. Possibly she'd find that nothing especially thrilling was to take place.

Who knew what would happen?

Bella was still dwelling on all the possibilities of her trip when she descended the staircase to the living room to say goodnight to her parents. She was just getting to the steps that squeaked when she heard them talking. Instead of making her presence known she sat down and listened to their conversation. She knew that it was wrong to eavesdrop, but she'd always wondered what they talked about when she wasn't around.

"They're saying that it's getting closer Charlie, and so far no one's been able to find any sort of cure for it."

"It's a ways out yet, all the way at the port right? Port Angeles, that's hundreds of miles from here Renèe, I don't think we need to be worrying yet."

Bella heard her mother's frustrated sigh. "It's skipped it's way across an ocean Charlie, I don't think a few hundred miles is going to stop it."

"We don't know that for sure," he reasoned. "And anyway, there isn't a point to getting riled up about it. If anything it will only weaken the functions."

Bella didn't know what they were talking about, but it sounded to her like some sort of illness. She wondered if was deadly. Shaking her head she finished her descent as loudly as she could, signaling to her parents that she was coming.

After being scolded for her noise making and another comparison to the savages Bella was sent on her way up to bed. She laid awake for a long while, listening to the rain as it fell outside; combined with the wind it made a sort of wooshing sound. Normally it would have lulled her to sleep, but tonight, for reasons unknown to her, it kept her awake. Her mind didn't seem to want to settle down and rest.

She kept worrying about what was to come. She had the strangest sense of foreboding, as if something terrible was going to happen.

"It's probably just because I've been thinking about all those strange things," she whispered to herself. "And even if something does happen, like my father said, there's no point getting all upset about it now."

Even though she knew that worrying was useless, it still took her over an hour to fall asleep, and she had unhappy dreams on top of that. All in all she hadn't exactly gotten a good nights sleep and when her mother came to get her up she simply pretended to be leaving her bed, before falling back in and going to sleep. Eventually Renèe forced her up and out of bed.

The day passed in the usual fashion. Renèe had a student to tutor and Charles went off to work in the fields. Bella was left to do her daily chores and that night she was so tired that she fell asleep at the dinner table. She was half awake as her mother dressed her for bed and tucked her in, manging to say "I love you" in a sleepy sort of way. Soon she was unconscious and that night she slept soundly.

A/N: Let me know if there were any major mistakes that I need to fix and PLEASE tell me what you think of it so far.