Andre walks up the front steps of the manor one evening, humming to himself. There's a heaviness in the air that tells him it's going to rain soon. It will be a welcome reprieve from the summer heat. As he approaches the front door, Oscar bursts out of it and attempts to rush past him.
"Oscar!" Andre catches her arm. "What's wrong?"
Oscar shakes Andre off. "Nothing. I'm going for a ride."
"I'll go with you." Andre offers cheerfully.
"No, I want to be alone." Oscar turns away and stiffly walks towards the stables, her hands clutched into fists.
Andre furrows his brow slightly and continues up the steps. He looks up and sees Emilie standing in the open doorway. Her face is flushed and she's breathing hard as if she had just run across the entire manor. He frowns at her.
Emilie looks frightened for a moment, but quickly composes herself. "I think I hear Granny calling me." She says as casually as possible and walks back into the manor.
Andre follows her. "Emilie, wait." He says firmly.
Emilie flinches and stops just before she begins to walk up the main staircase. She looks at Andre over her shoulder and there's a sadness in her eyes that pierces him in a way that makes him falter. If this is how she looks at Oscar, he can understand why she finds it so hard to be straight forward with her.
Andre shakes his head. "I'm only going to say this once so please listen carefully." He pauses, gathering up the nerve to speak his mind. "You're the only one who knows what really happened that night. I know it's painful and you have your reasons for keeping quiet, but you're hurting the people who care about you with your silence." He hesitates again, noticing tears beginning to form in Emilie's eyes. "You're hurting Oscar…"
"I'm not trying to." Emilie's voice comes out soft and wavering.
"I know that." Andre says gently. "But please consider telling her the truth. She can protect you. She's not the Commander of the Royal Guards for nothing."
Emilie swallows, trying hard not to cry. "Thank you, Andre." She says quietly and starts to walk up the stairs.
Andre doesn't stop her. He sighs and goes to shut the front door. Oscar and Emilie had been arguing for the last several days and he was tired of being caught up in the middle of it. Normally he didn't mind being Oscar's confidant, but he was bothered by how upset she was.
Oscar doesn't return to the manor until well after nightfall. It starts to rain just as she enters the stables. Andre is there waiting for her. "How was your ride?" He asks.
"It was fine." Oscar replies. She seems a bit calmer than before.
"You should talk to Emilie." Andre says carefully.
The two friends are quiet for a moment, listening to the rain patter on the roof of the stables.
"Well, good night then." Says Oscar. She leaves and hurries towards the manor.
"Good night, Oscar." Says Andre.
Oscar goes to her room and changes into her nightclothes. She falls back onto her bed and stares up at the canopy, thinking about her most recent argument with Emilie. She sighs and rolls onto her side wondering how everything had gone so wrong so suddenly. Up until a few days ago Emilie had been her usual self... Teasing Andre in the courtyard during sword practice, getting into tiffs with Granny over how many chores she was taking on, telling her story about Rolf the Walker for the one millionth time, and singing… She was always singing, her voice bright and sweet like a little bird. Now she walked around quietly as if in a daze, doing her best to avoid everyone.
Oscar closes her eyes. All she had done was ask Emilie if she wanted to attend an opera at Versailles. Considering the songs she liked to sing, Oscar thought it would be a welcome distraction. She had planned it all out very carefully with her mother. They decided they would introduce Emilie as a distant relative and be sure to hurry her away when it was over. When Emilie flat out refused before Oscar could even finish inviting her, that's when the arguing began. Emilie stopped coming to Oscar's room at night and whenever they spoke more than a few words to each other they would begin to fight about it again.
The person who hurt her must be at Versailles. That's the only reason Oscar can think of as to why Emilie is acting so strange.
A clap of thunder jolts Oscar awake. The candles are long burned out. She must have dozed off. She slides her hand across the sheets to where Emilie usually sleeps, but the bed is cold and empty. A flash of lightening brightens the room for a moment followed by the grumbling thunder. Oscar waits, sure that the storm will bring Emilie to her. The rain hits harder against the windows as the storm carries on, but Emilie doesn't come.
Oscar finally gets up and goes to Emilie's room. She knocks gently, but there's no reply.
"Emilie?" Oscar opens the door. "It's me. I'm coming in."
Oscar walks into the room and finds Emilie's bed empty. Panic rises sharply in Oscar's chest. She's about to leave when something outside the window catches her eye. She looks down and sees someone moving around in the backyard. She presses her hands against the glass and looks harder. The sky lights up and reveals Emilie going through her paces with a sword in the rain.
Oscar rushes from the room, her bare feet carrying her as fast as they can. She runs out the back door of the manor shouting, "Emilie! What are you doing?"
Emilie turns around, she's wearing the blouse and trousers that Oscar had gifted her to wear during sword practices. She is completely soaked. "I-I'm practicing." Emilie shivers, her teeth chattering.
"In the middle of the night? In the rain?" Oscar marches over to Emilie and grabs her shoulders, roughly shaking her once. "What are you thinking?"
Before Emilie can reply, Oscar embraces her, holding her so tight that she can barely breathe. "Oscar…" The sword slips from her fingers and clatters to the ground. She raises her arms hesitantly, her hands shaking, and gently wraps them around Oscar.
Lightening streaks across the sky and Emilie holds onto Oscar harder until the thunder subsides.
"Please tell me what's going on." Oscar pleads softly.
"I can't..." Emilie closes her eyes. Her hands fall from Oscar's back and she goes limp.
"Emilie!" Oscar gasps. She gathers Emilie up into her arms and presses her forehead against hers. It's burning hot. "You have a fever... You foolish girl."
Emilie wakes up in her own bed the next morning with Oscar asleep beside her. She sits up carefully and gazes at the glimmering windows. The early morning sun is lighting up the raindrops clinging to the panes like tiny diamonds. She looks back at Oscar and absentmindedly reaches out to gently brush a curl of golden hair from Oscar's cheek.
Oscar opens her eyes and Emilie pulls her hand back, blushing slightly.
"How are you feeling?" Oscar asks, sitting up and pressing the back of her hand against Emilie's forehead.
"Stupid." Emilie avoids Oscar's eyes.
Oscar lowers her hand and smiles. "Your fever is gone. Thank goodness. You had me worried for awhile."
"I'm sorry." Emilie fiddles with a loose thread on the blanket.
"What were you doing last night?" Oscar asks.
Emilie's face gets pinker. "I don't know. I've been having trouble sleeping and I thought if I practiced for awhile it would make me tired."
"In a thunderstorm?"
"It wasn't raining that hard when I went out…"
Oscar chuckles and lays back, tucking her arms behind her head. "I haven't been sleeping much either." She pauses, looking up at Emilie. "I missed you."
"I missed you, too." Emilie smiles. "I really am sorry."
"So am I." Says Oscar. "I shouldn't have pushed you so hard to go to that opera."
Emilie glances at Oscar. "You were just trying to do something nice for me. I really wanted to say yes… But-"
"He's there at Versailles. Your attacker." Oscar says confidently.
Emilie hesitates and then nods.
"But you're not going to tell me his name, are you?" Oscar sighs.
Emilie shakes her head.
Oscar starts to get up, but doesn't make it past sitting on the edge of the bed. She sways slightly.
"What's the matter?" Emilie asks in surprise.
"Just a little dizzy." Oscar says, touching her temple.
Emilie crawls up behind Oscar on the bed and reaches around to put her palm on Oscar's forehead. "You have a fever now."
"Of course!" Oscar laughs.
Sorry not sorry for the "I got a fever from standing in the rain" cliche. Hehe! It turned out to be a cute scenario. Each nice review I get makes me smile for a whole day. Thank you so much for that! See you next time.