Chapter 3

Bella was in the market, trailing behind her mother as she picked around, looking for sales and bargains. The tailor was selling fabric at a low price and apples were two for one at Miss Chestnut's stall.

These sorts of things had never interested Bella, shopping and financial worries. Her mother seemed to enjoy hunting for deals and negotiating with sellers was her specialty, but Bella didn't understand why she found the job so appealing. Maybe it was something that happened after one was married. Lots of things didn't happen until after you had settled down. Things that her mother wouldn't talk to her about.

"When you're older Bella."

"Really Isabella, that is hardly appropriate."

"Maybe in a few years, dear."

She knew where babies came from, and she knew that it would hurt the first time, but what about after that? Did it still hurt? Why would anyone do something like that if it hurt? It sounded disgusting to start with and then there was the added pain of the 'act'.

She'd once had a discussion on the subject with Jessica, Lauren and Angela. They didn't know either and not a one of them had been able to get her mother to talk about it. It must be bad then.

So wrapped up in her thoughts was Bella that she didn't notice when her mother crossed the street to check the price at another stall for the same item; she was hoping for a lower cost. Bella continued walking down the lane and when she did finally look up to ask when they would be done she found that she was alone.

With a groan she slapped her little hand against her head. These sorts of things always happened to her. She really needed to learn to pay more attention to what was going on around her. She'd just have to back track.

She hadn't gone very far when, from out of a dark alley way, an old women approached her.

"You there, little girl."

Bella looked wildly around, hoping that there might be another child within the vicinity. When she saw that there was no one but herself she stepped a bit closer to the women. "Me you mean?" she asked, forgetting to be polite.

She smiled kindly at Bella. "Yes, are you lost my dear?"

Bella shook her head. "Not really, my mother is just down there," she pointed toward the market.

The women nodded thoughtfully. "You should keep close to your mother, and when you leave be sure to tell her that you love her."

Feeling extremely confused Bella nodded her head.

"Well," the gray haired women said. "I must be going, have a nice day Bella."

"Oh," she dipped a curtsy. "You too..." the old women was gone when Bella raised her head again.

Now two strange things had happened that week, and that was without counting the invitation from Mrs Fields which was odd in it's own right.

Bella shook her head at herself. Things just kept getting stranger.

She continued on and soon found her mother standing at a different stall; this one was selling silk ribbons.

"Oh, there you are Bella! Where did you run off too? You shouldn't do that you know, it isn't proper for a young, unmarried women to wander around alone."

With a roll of her eyes Bella nodded along with her mother's lecture. Not an hour later they were headed home again.

As soon as they walked through the door her mother dictated to Bella that she was to wash her hands and set to helping get dinner ready. They would be having roasted red potatoes, greens and beef.

Bella was standing on a small stool in from the sink pumping water into a pan so that she would be able to wash the potatoes when her father walked in. He had this sort of frantic look on his face, but it was only visible for a moment, because as soon as he realized that Bella had seen him he rearranged his features and offered an artificial smile. Her mother saw the look of worry and as soon as he'd said hello shooed him from the room, following behind him.

They went into the living room and Charles proceeded to explain to Renèe the latest news about the illness. It seemed that it was much more sever than anyone had expected it would be and was moving across the country side at an alarming rate. Already reports were coming into town that no one was allowed to leave the country. It was expected that the town would be under quarantine beginning the following week. No one would be permitted in or out.

Renèe resolved to speak to Mrs Fields the next day about what they would do regarding the trip and Charles seemed to think it a good idea as well. If anything they hopped that it was still on, they wanted Isabella, their only child, as far from the sickness as possible.

Bella didn't listen in on her parents conversation this time, feeling that it was probably about something didn't desire to know the details of. They would tell her if they felt it appropriate or necessary, until then she preferred to stay in the dark. Instead she continued on in her potato washing, waiting for her parents to return to the kitchen. When they did her mother went back to preparing the meat while her father left them to wash up.

Once Bella had done all that she could her mother sent her away to do whatever it was she did before dinner; as long as she stayed clean of course.

She didn't plan to travel far, only to stay in her yard. It was to close to dinner time and she was famished. She wandered aimlessly around the house, doing nothing in particular. It wasn't as if there was anything new to see or do.

Meandering along she cast her eyes about, looking for something to entertain her while she waited to be called back inside. The wind picked up a bit and tugged at Bella's hair; it seemed to her that it was asking for a playmate and she was happy to oblige. She skipped and hopped and ran in circles while chasing around her yard after leaves blowing in the current of air. This was something her mother wouldn't approve of. She only had a few days left to be improper though, and she refused to waste one minute of that time.

Sooner than she would have liked she heard Renèe calling for her. When Bella appeared in the doorway, breathing heavily and hair a mess, her mother simply stared at her before walking away without a word. It appeared that she'd given up for the night.

Dinner passed quietly and without incident, though Renèe did send Bella quite a few withering looks from across the table.

As soon as she was finished clearing the table Bella kissed her parents goodnight and went to bed. Her earlier running around and now full stomach left her feeling worn out. She fell asleep quickly and in the morning couldn't remember what she'd dreamed of.

The next couple of days passed in their usual fashion; nothing strange or unusual occurred. Bella met and spoke with her friends who reacted with satisfactory astonishment to her news. As expected Angela was the only one to be genuinely happy for Bella. She had nothing but good things to say and wished her friend the best time possible.

Jessica pretended to be excited for her. Her false happiness almost seemed real, and would have fooled anyone who didn't know her as well as the other three girls did. Internally she was seething with dislike. It hadn't always been that way; at one point she'd truly counted Bella as a friend. A few weeks back though she'd overheard Michael Newton speaking of "The Swan girl" in an overly flattering manner. Jessica had never so much as tried to conceal her fondness for him and knowing that he preferred Bella over her was unacceptable.

Lauren made no secret of her jealously. Truth be told she had never really liked Bella. She was able to put up with her because she was of a slightly-lesser standing socially, this though, this was too much. The idea that Isabella Swan should get to visit the Royal City before herself was intolerably wrong. The Mallory family had money, more than most of the townspeople anyway, and it had always seemed to Lauren that she should be one of the first to do everything. She was positively green with envy.

Bella was able to ignore the green-eyed glares that Lauren had taken to sending her way whenever she was within range and did her best to disregard the nasty little things that she heard Jessica whisper to Michael Newton about her. He didn't believe them and even if he had it wouldn't have bothered her all that much. She had no feelings for the boy though Jessica seemed to believe she did.

Packing went on and soon her three trunks were full of everything she could possibly need. Her parents had even scrapped together a bit of money for her to take along. It was more than she'd been expecting and she was very grateful for it.

The end of the week came far to quickly for Bella. Though she was extremely excited to begin looking for whatever it was she was going to find she was also a bit frightened. She had never gone on an extended trip without her parents and they had taken few together. This would be her first time away from her mother and father for more than a night or two.

"Be a good girl and remember your manners please!"

"Have fun Bells, and please, for my sake, do as your mother says."

Many hugs and kisses and 'I love yous' were exchanged and then it was time. Bella waved to her parents from the window of the carriage as they drove away from her home, shouting out the window that she loved them and promising to be as ladylike as she could; ignoring the fact that ladies did not shout out of windows. As soon as they were out of sight Bella pulled her head back in just in time to Mr Fields cover his mouth, pretending to cough while he laughed, and Mrs Fields shake her head. Neither admonished her for her behavior, it would be quite a while before she saw her parents again and neither was so old or stuffy that they didn't remember what it was like to be without ones family for the first time.

The carriage ride was a novel experience for Bella, at least for the first hour or so. After that it became tedious and boring. All there was to see outside the windows were grass and trees. They traveled for many hours. They'd left very early in the morning and it was far past sunset when they stopped at an Inn. After a quick supper all retired for the night. Bella had a smaller room to herself next to the Fields'.

She thought about the days to come as she prepared for bed. It seemed that they wouldn't be nearly as exciting as she'd hopped for, but then again this was only the beginning. Perhaps they would be robbed, held at knife point, and a dashing man would come to their aid. He would save them, but be wounded while doing so. He would have to be cared for and Bella would take him as her charge. He would fall in love with her because of her gentle nature and loving caresses....

She fell to sleep imagining romantic escapades in which she was always the leading lady.

The next three days passed in much the same fashion, filled with long hours of travel with little to say or do and nighttime stops at small Inns for the night. When the day came for the final push to the Royal City Bella couldn't have been happier. She'd had her fill of the picturesque country setting. One could only get excited about cows and horses so many times before one decided that one would be glad to never see either type of animal ever again.

They made a stop in a town larger than Forks before setting off on their all day all night journey. The Fields' bought a hamper full of cold meats, cheeses, fruits and other little things. It would have to last them through lunch, dinner and breakfast the next day.

There were many nice things to look at in the shops in this town. Golden colored things seemed to be in style here. Many gilded little trinkets and baubles were being sold at stalls and shop front windows were advertising gold jewelry and clothing. It was all very pretty, and very expensive.

Bella noted that the fashions were different than those at home. The women wore close fitting dresses, carried fancy parasols, and elaborately styled hair was piled high atop their heads. The men seemed to be wearing makeup like the women did, as well as powered wigs. Bella wondered how they could be considered attractive when they were all so obviously unnatural. Everyone, even the children, were painted up to look like dolls.

She much preferred the natural style of the people of Forks and that of the other tourists in the town who, like herself, seemed slightly bemused by the extreme difference that only a few miles made.

Bella was trying very hard not to stare as she stood beside Mrs Fields, which was more than she could say for the child with a women whom he looked nothing like. It must have been his governess, he looked to be too old for a nanny.

The boy seemed to be a year or so older than herself and he was watching her with large blue eyes. He reminded her of Michael Newton, with his blond hair. Only, it didn't seem natural; it looked dyed. Bella looked around and noted that most of the other children who were obviously residents of the town looked the same as this boy. They all had yellow hair, and on most of them it didn't look quite right.

She glanced over her shoulder again, he was still staring. It was making her uncomfortable, was there something wrong with her face? Maybe he was thinking that she looked unusual because she wasn't made up the way he was. She felt her face begin to heat with embarrassment and anger. It wasn't fair, just because she didn't look like the other children, that gave him no right to judge her the way he obviously was.

With a little huff she turned away, resolving to ignore him. Silently she willed Mrs Fields to hurry up with her shopping. Unfortunately she didn't will hard enough because she soon felt a tap on her shoulder and heard a womens voice speaking to Mrs Fields.

She turned reluctantly to face the boy who'd been unabashedly staring at her.

"Hello," his voice was high and reedy. "My name is Aleron, I think you noticed me, I was standing over there," he paused while she nodded, unwilling to speak to him aloud. He seemed to be very self-confident, a bit to much so perhaps. Suddenly he looked down, away from her. "I—I wanted to give you this," he thrust his hand out at her.

For a moment she simply stared at his hand and then took what he was offering her. It was a little gold and white comb, a hair decoration. She was surprised by the gift, to say the least. She'd been sure he was quietly making fun of her and here he was presenting her with a present? What did he think he was doing? What could he possibly mean by it?

"Isabella," Mrs Fields nudged her.

"Oh!" Bella exclaimed, jolted back to the present. "Um, thank you?" At the look Mrs Fields gave her she continued. "Really, it's lovely, thank you."

That seemed to be good enough for Mrs Fields and the boy was pulled away by his governess not a moment later.

Bella noticed the self-satisfied smile on Mrs Fields face and wondered why it was there. With a shrug she followed as her companion told her it was time to return to the carriage.

A/N: Sorry for the long wait, it's the end of Senior Year and the work is piling on! Blame my school district, not me. Let me know what you think!