Chapter 10: A Story, a tickle tackle and a few more memories.
A few days after the Gypsies' arrival, the castle staff had a day off (so special plans could take place.) Seeing as the plan was another surprise for Amethyst, Ferdinando asked Aden to tell the story about his mother's past, as a way of distracting Ammy from wondering why everyone was doing what they were doing. Elly and Ferdinando both wanted to sit inside their caravan as they thought it would be a comfortable place to sit; but unfortunately they could not fit everyone in it. There was Ammy, Tobias, Elise, Aden, Sheree, Sage, Lilia, Scarlett, Xander, Mariana, Eidan, Felix, Carabelle, Narola, Peyton, Tristan, Caden, Lucas, Elaina, Julius, Arianna, Eros, Lunetta, Crescent, Apollo, Marcellina and Benjamin, and their caravan would not cope with that many people.. As much as they would love to fit everyone into their small Caravan, it was near impossible, so they just had to bear with sitting outside. When everyone got settled in their spots, they awaited for the story to start.
"As I said to Ferdinando the other day, yes I do have a Spanish Background; because my mother was a Gitana, and for you little ones who do not know what Gitana means, it means a girl Spanish Gypsy. She was born in Madrid, which is a beautiful city from what I have been told. She had true Gypsy spirit in her, and still does. She used to love dancing Flamenco, did she not, Ree?" Aden turned to face his sister, who was already looking in his direction.
"Yes, she still loves it; I even know how to dance some of it, all because she taught me." Ree explained.
"I think you are amazing at it Ree, do not even try to deny it!" Ammy told her.
"Thank you Ammy." Ree smiled "Now then, where were you up to on mother's story?"
"Oh yes, she is amazing at it, a true Gitana. Apparently my Gran used to say that to her, but when she thinks of her past now, it brings her to tears." Aden never liked explaining this part of the story, and the sad look on the Gypsies faces knew that he didn't want to say this part either.
"W-what happened to your Gran?" Lucas asked. Aden sighed, trying to put it in a way that would not sound so terrifying for the little boy.
"Well let's just say that she…" Aden had to pause. "She passed away." Aden hadn't even explained what happened to his grandmother yet and Ree had already broken down. Ammy and Elise went to her side quickly so they could comfort her by hugging her and saying soothing words.
"Would you like to tell us how it happened?" Elly asked softly.
"Of course I will. Ree, you do not have to stay if you do not want to, perhaps you would want to take the little ones somewhere." Aden suggested.
"How about taking them into our Caravan Aden, that way, little Elaine has no need to stay outside, and Ree you can watch over them." Eleonora suggested. Ree smiled at the suggestion, gathering up all of the young children and leading them in Ferdinando and Eleonora's Caravan.
When Ree and the small children were inside the caravan, Aden got on with the story.
"The tragedy happened when Mother was about eleven. They were finally back home in Madrid, after a long journey home from France, entertaining the French with their famous acts. Anyway, when they got back home, everything was peaceful, until a group of knights or whatever they were ran into the campus. Not all kingdoms are tolerant of Gypsies, as you probably all know." Aden stopped for a second.
"Oh yes, our family have had pretty close calls, actually once we were captured, except we managed to get away." Cressy explained. Aden shook his head sadly.
"Well when they raided the camp, they grabbed My Grandma Camila because she was a beautiful looking woman. They did not care about her beautiful nature, just her looks and that really ticked my grandfather off. My Grandfather Teo fought to save her, but my Gran was not the only female they wanted off the campus. They wanted my mother too, as she looked a lot like her mother. Sadly he only could save mother." He had to stop, as he felt the burning sensation of tears wanting to fall from his beautiful bright blue eyes. Ammy could see the pain in his face, so she walked over to give him a tight hug and a kiss on the cheek
"People of high classes can be horribly cruel sometimes." She told him. Everyone could hear that she wanted to cry herself, so Aden kissed her on the held his arm around her.
"My Grandma was tortured right in front of my Mum and Grandpa. She was beaten from head to toe all because she refused to leave her loved ones. When they finished beating her, they slit her throat and everywhere else. They just ended up leaving her slashed body to bleed to death." Aden could not hold back his tears anymore, so he let them fall. Ammy moved a lot closer to him, burying her head into his shoulder and hugging him as tight as she could, bawling along with him. Everyone else were in tears themselves, as someone as beautiful as her did not deserve to die such a brutal death.
"Just because some Gypsies are horrible, does not mean that society can judge us and say we are all like that!" Marci choked out in between sobs.
"That is just horrible, no wonder poor Sheree broke down at the mention of your grandmother passing away, such an evil death." Elise cried.
"Well I do not think that Aden has finished his story guys, how about we just let him finish, for there might be some sort of happy ending to it." Ammy said, rubbing her eyes from the forever flowing tears. She did not even cry this much when she had that breakdown over Grace not long ago.
"Alright then, is everyone ready for me to continue yet?" Aden asked once he gained composure, with everyone else wanting him to continue.
"Okay, a few years after Grandma's death, Grandpa could not stand to be in Spain any longer, for it was only eating his heart, so when mother was at the age of Thirteen, He decided to travel the world again, only this time he wanted to head to somewhere in England." Aden's look of sadness turned into a slight smile, as if a happy ending would come up after all.
"For a couple of years they explored the country, until they ended up running out of coins, so they could not leave."
Ammy could not help but smile, so she jumped ahead of him.
"So the group stayed here for a while, and that was when your mum first came to this castle!" Ammy smiled. Aden just giggled at the way she answered it.
"Yes Ammy, she was fifteen when she first came here, however there was only one problem, she could not speak English very well, as she mainly spoke well… Spanish." Ammy smiled, as she knew the good part was coming up.
"When it was her turn to see the king, she explained her healing talent while trying to speak the best English she could. Luckily the king could just make out what she was saying and made her the castle's healer." Everyone smiled, as the story truly was turning out to have a happy ending.
"Within a few hours of living here, she felt at home, even if she could not speak fluent English. She felt lucky to have made friends with Jane, as she knew quite a few languages from her knight's training, so she could translate things to her as well as teach her English. Within a year or two she could speak Fluent English." Ammy laughed her cute little laugh again.
"Did she ever get lessons from my dad as well?" Ammy asked, seeing as Jester was pretty good with different languages himself. Aden laughed and replied back.
"I am pretty sure she would of, Ammy." Ammy smiled sweetly at his answer and let him finish off his story.
"Even still to this day, she sends Grandfather some coins to help him and the clan survive, now that is the story if my mother's past." Aden ended the story with a very well-spoken conclusion. Elly had tears in her eyes because she thought it was a really touching story.
A couple of hours later the group of teenagers looked around the castle to find something to do, as being bored was eating at them alive.
"For some reason I feel like wrestling, do not ask me why though." Ammy said randomly to break the silence, not actually expecting any of them to agree.
"That is kind of a good idea, but why?" Scarlett asked puzzled.
"I do not know, all I know is I am in a really random mood for it." Ammy replied back smiling. "I always found it fun to wrestle Tobias, I would always win." Tobias just shook his head.
"You did not always win, I won sometimes, actually most of the time, and you actually started to beat me when you started knight's training." Tobias corrected, Ammy nodding her head with mock shame, as it was the truth and she could not deny it. Tobias smiled down with triumph at his sister while she glared up at him mischievously, taking her attacking position.
"Alright Tobes, you asked for it." She cried before jumping onto him, which pulled him onto the ground. While he was pinned down, she started to wrestle him, although it did not work entirely, as he flipped her over onto her back and started tickling at her ribs non-stop, which made her scream and laugh like a dying pig all at the same time.
"STOP, STOP, OH PLEASE STOP, OH THIS IS SO UNFAIR! PLEASE PLEASE PLE-!" Amethyst gasped in between squeals of laughter. It only made it harder for her, as everyone else joined in on the act and absolutely torture her with the deadly tickle fest.
"NO, NO NOOO!" She screamed as everyone else joined in. "OUCH THIS IS PAINFUL, OWWWWWWW! PLEASE STOP!" But everyone ignored her, until she stopped breathing for a little bit. After about five minutes her breath was just back enough to speak, so she spoke.
"Thanks for stopping guys, now no more; my ribs are killing me, although despite all of that torture, it was really fun." Ammy smiled to them. The amount of air that was taken away from that tickle fest had hardly returned at all, as when she went to stand up, she collapsed from exhaustion. Lucky that her brother and Aden caught her while she passed out.
She woke up in her bed with her parents, Brother, Emily, Aden and the lady in waiting all watching over her, as they were worried.
"You have regained consciousness Ammy, how wonderful!" Emily greeted Ammy enthusiastically as she woke up.
"Yes I am, oh what happened?" Ammy asked hoarsely, rubbing her eyes to wake herself up a little bit.
"You fainted out of exhaustion; remember how we all tickled you? I am really sorry about that." Tobias explained, Ammy giving him a set of looks until she remembered.
"Oh yes that, and I tried to stand up after woods, maybe I should have waited until I got my breath back completely before I tried to stand up again." Ammy said, while slowly trying to sit up.
"Ammy, I think you should stay lying down for a little bit, just until you have woken up some more, we do not want you passing out again, do we?" Jester suggested, while putting his arm around her back to help her slowly lay down again. Ammy smiled and did what she was told instead of for once insisting that she was fine.
"Yes I suppose you are right, dad." Jester smiled at his daughter and turned around to chastise his son.
"Tobias, the next time you want to pin your sister down and tickle her, please do not do it for too long, or get anyone else to help, as we do not want this incident to happen again, alright?"
"Yes father, I would have not done what I did if I knew she was going to pass out, again I am really sorry Ammy." Tobias apologised. He has felt nothing but guilt ever since Ammy collapsed into his and Aden's arms. Ammy smiled back and reached her arms out, as a signal for her brother to walk over to her and give her a hug.
"It is alright, dear brother, it was no one's fault it happened." Ammy reassured him with the tightest hug her energy allowed her to come up with.
"Well at least you are alright, that was the main thing we were all worried about." Tobias sighed with relief. It was not long before Ammy spoke again.
"How long have I been out for?" This time it was her mother who answered her.
"Dear, you have been out for about four hours; we have all just finished dinner, if you are hungry I can go down and let Pepper know you are awake so she can bring you up some chicken soup." Jane offered. Ammy was not so sure if she was up to eating yet, but she decided to eat so she could go to sleep straight after.
"Yes please mother, but I will only have something light though, I always tend to feel sick after I pass out, and I have no idea why." Ammy smiled at her mother's offer.
"Alright then, dearest, I shall see what Pepper has." Jane said as she walked out of the door.
When Ammy had finished her dinner, Emily and The lady in waiting told everyone else to leave so they could check over Ammy to see if nothing else besides a lack of air has caused her to faint.
When Amethyst removed her tunic to reveal her under garments and bindings, her grandmother looked over her ribs while Emily poked at them to double check. Ammy winced as Emily prodded at her bruised ribs.
"Sorry Ammy, but it is something that I have to do." Emily apologised, trying her best not to hurt Ammy any further. Adeline instructed her granddaughter to stand up so she could adjust her chest bindings.
"You know what Ammy, I think your air supply has been cut off a little bit because you are not binding your chest properly, maybe if you try binding them more loosely your ribs and lungs might be more tolerant to your tickling games, as they would be getting more air, here let me show you." So Adeline undid her bindings and re-wrapped them a lot more loosely.
'Oh this is really REALLY embarrassing!' Ammy irritably thought. 'Having grandma wrap my own breasts up for me is really EMBARRASING!' She screamed the last word in her head.
"Oh thank you grandma, it really does help with my breathing." Ammy smiled, despite the fact that she felt really awkward.
"I think you may have a broken rib, but you just have not known about it." Emily said, feeling her ribs once more. Ammy sighed and shook her head. What were the chances of her having an unexpected broken bone? Very high. When Emily pushed on the part she felt a crack, Ammy held her breath to stop herself from screaming out in pain.
"Oh Sorry darling, I think it actually is broken, though I do not know what has caused it, you seem perfectly fine." Emily explained, trying to figure out what would exactly give Ammy broken ribs. She always breathed perfectly fine, although when Jane was giving birth to Ammy, some small complication went on during the whole birthing process and Ammy's ribs got pressed together. Just after she was born the midwife checked her over, feeling every inch of her body, making sure nothing was wrong, except for a small crack on one of Ammy's tiny little ribs. When Emily was checking up on how Jane and her newborn daughter were going. When Jane told her about the crack on one of her ribs, Emily double checked her ribs and felt the crack too. She said it should be alright when she gets older if she was careful, which fifteen years later proved that she didn't even think about the crack.
"Ironically I was born with a crack on one of my ribs; maybe I was just not so careful about it and just broke it." Ammy said, breaking through Emily's thoughts.
"Oh I remember that now!" Emily replied with her memory snapping back into place. "Yes, well I suggest being gentle with your top right rib, as that one has broken and needs some time to repair." The woman instructed. "So maybe I suggest that you take another break from training for a little while, just so that it can strengthen up a bit." Ammy's face fell a little bit, because she had just gotten back into training, and now she was told she had to take a break from it again, what fun is it doing nothing all the time?
"Very well Emmy, as you always know what's best." Ammy tried to smile, but failed. She loved training so much and hated to miss out on it. Seeing as he examination was over, she found her nightgown and put it on, as she thought there was really no need for putting her Dragon skin coloured tunic back on.
A little while after Adeline and Emily left, Jane and Jester came in to see how their daughter was doing.
"So Ammy, did they find anything else wrong, other than just fainting from lacking air?" Jane asked, while taking a seat and the end of her daughter's bed.
"Actually yes, two things they think." Ammy sighed.
"Well what do they think is wrong, my daughter?" Jester asked, hoping that she was not going to come up with anything serious.
"Well the definite cause was the crack on my ribs, something happened recently and it snapped." Jane sighed and shook her head.
"Is it the crack they found when you were a few minutes old?" Jane queried.
Ammy replied back with a simple "Yes, I could kind of tell that this day would of come eventually."
"So you cannot train then?" Jane asked, hoping that her daughter's answer would be "Yes, I can still train." However she knew that the answer would be too good to be true.
"No, unfortunately I cannot." Ammy said sadly. "Oh what were my chances of that happening?" A sad sigh escaped her mouth.
"Well, what may be the other cause?" Jester asked, trying to get Ammy's mind off not training for ages, but this just made her blush. Jane could not help but giggle at her.
"Well…um, not that you would understand father, mother…you might." Ammy replied back, the awkwardness one hundred per cent clear in her voice. Jester may not know what it is like, but he can guess exactly what she was talking about.
"So your bindings might have been too tight?" Jester asked, making Ammy feel even more awkward. Ammy could not answer quickly, for she shoved her pillow over her face to cover the blush that was eating away at her tanned complexion.
"Yes, it was that…and it was embarrassing!" Ammy exasperatedly stated, her parents giggling slightly at her embarrassment. Jester knew he should not laugh at her, but he could not stop the laugh that was starting to come out of his mouth.
"Why are you laughing?" Jane asked her husband, slyly smiling at him. He had to breathe to control his laughing; otherwise either his wife or daughter would end up scolding him.
"I…do not know, actually." Jester replied back, trying not to laugh more. He honestly did not know what he was laughing about. Jane shook her head with a light laugh and kissed his cheek.
"Well changing the subject, I hope your ribs feel better soon Ammy, we better let you get some rest, goodnight dear." Jester said, while letting his wife walk through the door first.
"Goodnight." Ammy smiled, yawning and letting her heavy eyelids fall for the night.
A few days later little Charlene ran up to Ammy while she was reading a book, reminding her what day it was the next day.
"Ammy! Ammy! Ammy! Are you looking forward to tomorrow? Because I am!" Char exclaimed delightedly. Ammy could not help but supress a laugh, so she played the same game she did with Lucas.
"Oh could you please remind me again, Char? I am pretty sure I have forgotten, I have a horrible memory you see." Ammy said, trying to hide a smirk at her sister's reaction. Charlene looked just as shocked as Lucas, twisting a strand of fiery hair trying to figure out how her older sister could forget her own day.
"You mean, you have forgotten your own birthday? And you have the best memory out of the whole entire family!" Char was really shocked!
"Oh, is it really my birthday tomorrow? I was pretty sure it was next week." Ammy fibbed once again, trying really hard not to laugh at her little sister's twisted features.
"No! It IS tomorrow Ammy!" Char sounded more annoyed now.
"Oh why yes it is, could you please remind me how old I am turning?" Ammy asked, not holding back the small smirk that tugged at her lips. You could tell that Char was getting pretty annoyed at explaining her sister's birthday to her, even though she really DID know what was going on. The little girl let out a sigh and explained to her. "You are turning fifteen, Ammy!" Ammy laughed, and then told her sister the truth.
"You see, I already knew that Char, I was just teasing you, like I always do." Ammy smirked, until her sister frowned at her.
"Ammy, why do you always do that?" Char asked agitatedly.
"Oh I am sorry bubby; it is just that I love doing that." Ammy apologised, while bending down to pick up her sister for a hug.
"Can we go and see Grandma Elle and Grandpa Ferdi?" Charlene asked, as she felt like seeing if her cousin Lucas was there.
"I do not see why not, now come on, we should let Tiana know we are going there, as she will probably want to come too." Ammy suggested and with that, they looked around for Tiana. The other twin was probably already down there anyway.
Ammy's thought had proved her to be right, as Tiana was playing with Lucas. Her mother and father were down there too, as if they were planning something for someone. As soon as they noticed Amethyst's presence, they stopped what they were doing to greet her.
"Hello Darling, how are your ribs? Your mother was just telling us about your broken ribs, are they sore?" Elly asked, sounding pretty worried." Ammy just chuckled but hissed in pain, as having Char's legs wrapped around them does not particularly help.
"No, I am feeling alright." Ammy smiled as best as she could, not doing so well to hide the pain. Jane just gave her a set of looks saying 'I know you are in pain.'
"Are you sure Ammy, the way your face went just then kind of showed that your ribs are sore." Jane said, without losing that look in her eyes.
"Well… I might be in just a tiny bit of pain, nothing major." Ammy admitted, but lying at the same time. Her father just shook his head at her, more or less knowing that she would not sit down or do something that would risk her ribs from getting hurt.
"Ammy, I think you should be a little more careful with what you choose to do, dear one, you do not want that crack to become any worse." Jester warned, putting a firm hand on her shoulder. "Your ribs are too precious for breaking." Ammy sighed and agreed with him, after all he was right with what he was saying, your ribs cannot afford to be broken, for they help keep your lungs stable, the last thing she would need is a collapsed lung.
"I know papa." Ammy finally said, then tried to rapidly change the subject. "So anyway, what are you all doing?" Her grandfather was the one to answer her this time.
"We are all just talking about how little Elaina is going; do you want to go and see how she is?" At this request Ammy said yes and went inside her Aunty Marci's Caravan to see her poor, sick baby cousin.
Her cousin seemed a little brighter then what she was the day before, her face was not a ghostly white colour, nor were her eyes droopy looking, however you can still tell she was nowhere near better.
"I will be outside if you need me Ammy." Marci smiled before stepping out of the caravan.
As soon as the toddler seen her older cousin, she made a little laughing noise and stood up from her bed, arms stretched out for a hug. As Ammy picked her up to hug her, Elaina groaned slightly, as if she was about to cry.
"Hush little one, it is alright, I will not hurt you." Ammy cooed softly as she placed the baby on her lap, letting her know that she was well out of harm's way. Once Elaina fully realised it was Ammy, she used her chest as a pillow, and started falling asleep listening to Ammy singing a lullaby. When Ammy was a little girl herself, her father sang that exact lullaby to her in fluent Latin, making her fall asleep every time. Her parents would probably bring that up tomorrow anyway, as they did every year. She was very grateful that her father had taught her how to sing in Latin, for she loved the lullaby and language so much. It was not long before Elaina was fast asleep, so Ammy tiptoed to the door with the sleeping child in her arms, and got Marcellina.
"Aunty Marcellina, Elaina has fallen asleep again." Ammy whispered, and then handed over her cousin to her mother, who was smiling so brightly at her.
"Thank you Ammy, did you sing a lullaby to her, because I heard your beautiful voice a few minutes ago, you speak Latin perfectly." The woman whispered back, smiling gratefully.
"Thanks Aunty Marci." Ammy smiled and walked out of the Caravan to join the rest of her family, minus her brother and a few cousins.
The evening came unusually quick, and Ammy found herself in her room once again getting ready for sleep. Ammy sighed deeply, as she was finally hitting mid teenage years, technically becoming a woman.
"Another year has finally gone by." Ammy murmured to herself, while hopping into bed. "Tomorrow is going to be a good day no matter what."
After she fluffed up her pillow, she took a breath and blew out her candle. She laid her head onto her pillow, looking straight upwards towards her dark ceiling and then looking to her window, where the moon shone ever so brightly, Dragon's silhouette flying past it as he was on patrol. Ammy had not even shut her eyes for a few seconds and Dragon was at the window, peering down at her. Knowing she was not asleep, he gently called her name.
"Hey Ammy, what are you doing?" He whispered, trying not to wake the rest of his kingdom with his loud voice. Ammy felt a bit annoyed, but felt bad about it, so she got up out of her bed and went to her window to hug and Kiss Dragon's snout.
"Sorry if I seemed annoyed Dragon, being tired does that to you; oh I was just letting the memories from my life come to me, as I tend to do that every year." Ammy sighed once more. "I am also wondering if I am going to dream about my birth again, even though I obviously cannot remember the moment of it." Ammy giggled quietly, along with Dragon. Dragon smiled, as he was there basically from the moment she was born.
"I can remember it though; I had to look after your brother, as your father did not want to stress your brother out with hearing your mother's screams." Ammy rolled her eyes, smiled and let Dragon continue. "However he did have a point with leaving Tobes with me, your father wanted to be in there with your mother more than ever, unfortunately he could not so he became really worried." Ammy laughed lightly and shook her head, knowing her father has never stopped being worried sick about her and never will. He once explained to her that he never understood why the chamberlain was really worried about Jane that time she went missing, as well as his own father being worried about him, the twins and the girls. He never thought that he would turn out like them; in fact sometimes he can be just as bad with his children, especially Ammy because she tends to take the most risks out of them all. Dragon was starting to feel as if he was nodding off, so he bid a goodnight to Ammy, and flew off so she could sleep for her day tomorrow, as the surprise will really wear her out.
A/N Well this is another chapter done :) hope you enjoyed it, sorry for any sort of OOCness and things like that but I have written most of this later at night, except for a couple of the paragraphs, which were done at school because my English teacher was being awesome and let us have a bludge period with our laptops because we had our last NAPLAN test the period after, so I worked on some this chapter :D. My review button is sensitive like Tinkerbelle, if you do not click it, it will die so please do not hurt it and click on it to make it better :) Ohh and sorry for my paragraphs, i cannot for my life figure out why it is so close so i shall just leave them like this ok. XD