This is a quickie upload and oh, I had so many things I wanted to say. Cliff notes:

-Thank you to everyone who read, reviewed, fav'ed and alerted this fic. I really, really appreciate it more than I can express.

-I apologize to lemonlimesweetness and all my readers for taking so long, but with –insert many excuses here- I just couldn't hack it. And I had no idea where to go after the last chapter so I took some time to really hash out the characters in my mind.

-Even though I like to write, I'm pretty bad at articulating what I really want to say and I tend to stick my foot in my mouth that way. Lemonlimesweetness does give me pointers, but she has been nothing but kind and patient to me. If I say something like: "I think this is terrible and she told me so" it was really me trying to say: "AH! Lemonlimesweetness pointed out something that was flawed in my writing. Since my inner perfectionist is a major Drama Queen, I'm going to go and cry after I print it out and burn it because it was a HORRIBLE EYESORE! *sob*" Doesn't mean that she was being mean or even very harsh, because she's nothing but sweet with me (no pun intended). I'm just harsh on myself. Again, I apologize.

-Quickly written, quickly posted, badly unedited.

-Since the long delay, the style is very different and the situation might be out of the blue/ the characters might be OOC. If that's the case, don't be afraid to let me know. I'd love the input and will try to fix it to be best of my ability.

As always, enjoy!

"Is that what you think of me?" Daria hissed in a low voice.

"Well-I…" Eleanor stuttered, flustered by Daria's simmering anger.

Daria slowly shook her head. This was all absurd.

In reality, she and Eleanor had been fighting the past few weeks. At first Daria had viewed these quarrels as petty arguments, comparable to the silly, sisterly fights she and Emma used to have. Nobody really pulled any punches or bared their teeth in those situations so Daria had not allowed herself the full bloom of anger. Her words were like the blunt tips of fencing sabers. Harmless.

Despite all this, Eleanor seemed to take all of Daria's offhand comments to heart. It confused Daria to no end and she spent a few good nights awake pondering why. Was it because Eleanor was not used to quarreling with siblings? Did Eleanor just have that kind of personality to take things out of proportion?

It took a trip to the kitchens before dawn and a cold cup of water for Daria to realize the answer. The reason Eleanor thought Daria was trying to insult her was because Eleanor was trying to insult Daria.

That's when Daria allowed herself to become angry. She hadn't done anything at all. Eleanor was the one picking the fights. So Daria steeled herself and waited.

She did not have to wait. That morning Eleanor had strolled into the room and began inspecting Daria's new possessions haughtily. Lady Gianna had convinced Lord Alfred- who was actually a bit of a pinchpenny- that poor Daria needed a few "necessities." These necessities turned out to be a new wardrobe, a vanity and dresser, combs, perfumes, jewelry and other ins-and-outs that Daria appreciated but could do without. But she knew that Lord Alfred would rather spend money than deal with tantrums from any of the women of his household and that Lady Gianna really loved going shopping with her daughters, so she accepted everything graciously. Anyways, Daria only had about three or four dresses before and that included the pink monstrosity she wore to that accursed ball. A new wardrobe had been nice.

The only one that seemed to mind the whole affair was Eleanor.

"You're stealing my parents away from me and now you're using them for their money." Eleanor angrily accused after she had finished glaring at Daria's new possessions.

The girl accused started and the textbook she had been studying almost flew out of her lap. "What?"

Eleanor whirled, her black hair flying through the air. "You heard me! You peasant scum. I can't believe I let you into this house. I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't like Peter only because you are jealous of my relationship with him!"

The blood rushed to Daria's face in fury. Her anger was more subtle than would be expected though, and her words came out deceptively calm. "Why is everything about Peter? I told you a few times that I didn't like him and how we never spend time together anymore and now all you do is accuse me of these-these…" She searched for the word in vain.

"These what? Truths?" Eleanor snarled.

"These slanderous lies. I didn't even ask to come and live with you. You asked your parents without my knowledge, because you probably thought that having me around would be fun. I have done nothing. It's also not my fault that your mother enjoys shopping with me. You and she have told me many times how much you abhorred the activity. Now all of a sudden you care?" Daria gritted her teeth together in irritation. She did not make it a habit of talking that much when she was angry, but Eleanor was being… idiotic and… and… very unreasonable.

"I took you in because I felt sorry for you and I thought we could spend time together as friends. But you don't like spending time with me."

Daria's eyes narrowed and she wondered if strangling Eleanor was against the law. "You are a horrible liar."

"And you're a horrible friend."

"Is that what you think of me?"

At some point in this conversation Daria had gotten off her bed and now she stalked over to where Eleanor was standing, her eyes aflame and her cheeks red. She stood tall and proud, almost mimicking the posturing she had seen fighting stray dogs and cats do before.

"Well-I…" Eleanor was clearly intimidated by Daria's physical presence. No one had ever had the gall to get up in the noble's face before.

"I have done nothing but try and facilitate a peaceful and friendly environment between me and you and your family." Daria was being terribly formal. All those grammar and language lessons seemed to be affecting the way she spoke when she was emotional, apparently. "But you have refused to reciprocate my friendship. Yes, I have been harsh about Peter, but I forgot that your precious noble sensibilities are not used to peasants telling you what they think. But like it or not, by law, we are equals now and that means I can tell you whatever the hell I want." Oh, now there was her normal way of speaking.

Eleanor sneered, but her eyes had lost their steely edge.

"Now," Daria continued, "if you would please get out of my room before I use what I learned on the streets and 'rip you a new one.'"

Eleanor turned quickly, her hair now whipping her adopted sister in the face. "This isn't over," she stamped her foot and shrieked before hastily escaping.

Once the retreating girl had slammed the door on the way out, Daria shrunk to the floor. Her hands were shaking and she sighed. Was it possible to be angry and sad at the same time?

Eleanor wasn't a bad person. A bit spoiled, yes. Naive, yes. Petty, yes. But Eleanor had been nice and kind before. She hadn't minded that Daria was common. When she had pointed that out, it had stung fiercely.

Daria wondered if this was her fault. No of course not, this whole thing was just… ridiculous. She slowly lifted herself up. They were children. Silly. Soon they would forget this whole situation and they would make up, Daria was sure of it. It was a stupid fight anyway. They were both just being unreasonable and that would soon pass.

It had to.

*Actually, fencing swords (they used to be sabers in medieval times) can hurt someone if you tried hard enough. But compared to sharp swords, I think they can be considered kind of harmless.

*Went on an online thesaurus and found the word "pinchpenny" and liked it far better than "tightwad". :)

I was going to add more but if I did that it probably would take even longer to post a new chapter. Hopefully more to come sooner!