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Chapter 7
Lesson of Today
In Esonctuaire...
Bottles, books, scrolls, intricate trinkets, runes… These were things which could be seen all over a mildly lit room; on the tables, in and on the shelves, even on the floor. The surrounding walls were made of oak and clay, the furniture simplistic yet somewhat decorative. Only a few lamps, some runes, and a bare minimum of natural afternoon sunlight illuminated the room. By the desk on the far end of the room, Cinderella could be seen writing runes on scrolls, each character glowed as it was getting written.
Overseeing the princess' rune-writing was Lenore, accompanied by an official in the Esonctuaire government. It had been about more than a week since the start of her godchild's training as Champion. She had thought it would be difficult to propose an arrangement to Cinderella's scheduled activities to make room for her duties as Champion for the purple fairy; she was still acting North-Eastern duchess after all. Though Lenore had felt awkward in explaining the situation as to why the princess should undergo this undertaking; the king was surprisingly so open-minded about the situation, that he allowed it.
The training had properly started three days after the proposal, enough time to thoroughly adjust Cinderella's schedule. It was agreed that the princess' training would undergo every afternoon on Days of Tir to Days of Saturn. An official of the kingdom's government would oversee and monitor the endeavors, as it was advised by the council to ensure that this was not a waste of time… much to Lenore and Cinderella's inconvenience. Thankfully for the both of them, a counselor named Skeever volunteered to the task.
Skeever was an interesting character for the princess and her godmother. He was mildly-aged, looking older than Cinderella's stepmother, yet he has the posture of a healthy young-adult. He was the only magic-user who had a political position in the palace. It was an inkling that him being a magic-user was a secret, explaining why he climbed the political ranks even with the prevalent prejudice towards his kind. The princess only got to know Skeever during the early rise of the magic-user movement...
Cinderella was walking through the massive ballroom towards her bedroom as she was getting to retire for the night. Stress was getting into her, for tensions were rising in the political landscape of Esonctuaire… And she was directly involved.
"Young lady, we need to speak," an old man's voice said bluntly, seemingly not regarding her as part of royalty.
Cinderella turned around to see who it was. On sight, she recognized that he was part of the kingdom's council. Mostly the uniform gave it away. His face showed his mild age, his expression hard to read, as well as his intention. She gave him a questioning look.
The mysterious person stopped on his tracks, still keeping a respectable distance from her. "I know what you have been doing, your highness," he stated, sarcasm existent on the honorary. "This movement that you are starting is coming to my attention. A good schemer could smell this proceedings a mile away. Might as well get involved."
"What are you planning?" the princess questioned, sensing a threat.
The councilor just laughed mockingly as a response. And once his laugh had died down, he stared at her intently. He resumed to approach her, his presence starting to loom.
She felt more threatened as he approached. She was stunned.
Jaq, Gus, and two other mice happen to be nearby, clad in miniature guard uniforms and wielded needle swords. "Your highness!" Jaq yelled, as they charged at the old man from above the staircase and chandeliers. Their princess was in danger.
"Hold your needles, mice. I'm not here to harm the princess," the old man said calmly, expectantly… compassionately? The princess and the mice were flabbergasted. "Is that little Jaq and Gus? I knew your father, you know. And your highness..." he made a strange gesture with his hands and colorful sparkles emitted from them.
"A magic user," Cinderella gawked.
"My name is Skeever. And perhaps, I could aid you in your endeavors."
Skeever was indeed an interesting character. Not only had he eased Cinderella's strife for magic-users' rights, he had saved her and other magic-user's lives by being one step ahead of the oppressors. He was clever, well-spoken, cunning. He wore a snobby and pompous demeanor. But, the princess and her godmother knew that he really cared.
"If you want to harness the full potential of Lerore's magic, you have to properly understand and write those rune glyphs. Your poor hand-writing will hinder getting those into your subconscious, affecting your spellcasting," the counselor chided.
"Go easy on the child, Skeever. She barely had experience with writing, given her childhood," Lenore counter-admonished.
"It's alright, godmother. I need to do better than this, if I am to become a proper Champion."
A smug look painted on Skeever's face, as he received an eye-roll from purple fairy. He inspected every stroke of the princess' quill. She was still a little tremulous. But the results of her writing were still respectable, he had to admit. But he didn't want to, he had a reputation to uphold. Despite her progress, he still thought that time was of the essence. He knew about the disruption from Lenore. They needed to act quickly. He had provided everything he could for this imperative pursuit; material, logistics, paperwork. He was an advocate of magic, this directly affected him.
"Again."
"Your strokes are out of order."
"This, once again, is how you properly write this glyph."
"Again."
Skeever demanded perfection for Cinderella's rune writing. For how much Lenore wanted to tell him not to push her goddaughter too much, she knew Cinderella would just keep going. She was getting worried about her as her writing went on through the day. She could see beads of sweat on Cinderella's forehead. Blood vessels wound up on her dominant arm, threatening to cramp her muscles once she reached her limit. The princess' face showed how much she was enduring this. She could tell that her goddaughter was getting slightly frustrated.
It was just about thirty minutes after sundown, the room was now dim with evening darkness. One could barely write in this condition, if not for the fairy dust lamps and the runes themselves emitting light. Cinderella had just finished writing "now" in rune glyph for about the four-hundred and fiftieth time.
"That's enough, your highness. You have made significant progress in your rune-writing. Though your 'materialize' glyph still needs some work, good work for today. Your arm and eyes will need some rest for tomorrow's rune-writing," Skeever stated as conclusion for the day's study session.
"Thank you for your time and patience, Skeever," his student said like she always would every lesson.
"Good night, your highness," he bidded, wearing a warm smile which was a rare sight. He then turned to leave the premises, it was not in his manner to overstay in someone else's home after sundown.
Lenore might have drifted to sleep after seeing the countless repeating process of Skeever's corrections and her godchild's compliance. As she opened her eyes, she saw Cinderella already clearing up the study table. She might have missed the end of the study session. Skeever was already gone. She got up from her seat and stretched, letting out a light yawn. Her godchild noticed.
"Godmother, you're awake," the princess said as she grabbed the stack of gathered scratch papers.
Cinderella sat on a rocking chair by the fireplace in Lenore's living room. Her godmother had advised her to relax, for she had been quite busy for the past week… She still was. She could feel her hand starting to feel numb as an effect of inactivity after so much exertion. Back and forth she went; eyes closed, right arm lazily limp, chest breathing steadily. She could smell her godmother's beef and carrot stew, her favorite treat whenever she had paid her a visit.
There was a knock on the front door.
"I'll get it for you dear! Stay put," Lenore rushed to the door. Upon opening, she was greeted with the sight of a red-haired, plain-faced woman meekly holding a basket of bread.
"Good evening, Madame Lenore."
"Anastasia, come in. Cinderella's still here resting by the fireplace. Make yourself at home," the purple fairy greeted. She then returned to her cooking, as the visitor entered her home.
The princess' eyes fluttered open, as she heard the name of her sister. Their eyes met as she entered her vision.
Worry now painted Anastasia's face, as she saw the visible exhaustion on her sister's face. She noticed that bags were starting to develop under Cinderella's eyes. It had just been a week since she last saw her. She knew about her busy schedule for the past weeks, even its most recent change given her magic training. Only now, it showed that it was taking a toll on her. She couldn't believe that she wanted to be a princess, if being a princess meant being worked to exhaustion. It was fortunate that she decided to visit tonight. "Hello, sister. I know that you are very busy nowaday. So, I decided to give you a surprise visit," Anastasia said. "I brought bread."
"I assume this is from your boyfriend?" the princess asked as she examined the basket her sister had given.
"Fresh from his oven… Well, not that fresh. Since it's from this afternoon's batch."
"It's wonderful, thank you," Cinderella said fondly. Anastasia had always been the excitable younger sister since they had made amends during the time-travel incident. She had had a feeling that deep inside, Anastasia had a heart of gold. She had not physically harmed the princess, like Drizella did. She had only followed on her older sister's shadows. With her mother and sister's negative influence gone, they had developed a sisterly bond... Even in the midst of the Magic Movement.
"Is that beef and carrot stew I smell? That will be perfect for the bread!"
"How is Lathyn doing?"
"He's doing well. Though, he is acting a little shier than usual. I think he's planning to propose," the younger sister happily answered. "But, enough about me. How about you?! You're starting to look awful. You have bags under your eyes. You're giving me a run for being the prettiest of us both," she now looked earnest.
"I'm fine, Anastasia. I've just been busier than usual for the past week… Given magic-training."
"Are you sure you want to undergo this… thing with magic and all? Sounds like a lot of pressure. And you still have princess duties."
"It's fine, sister. I can handle it."
"It doesn't look like it," she argued. "Why do you have to go through this 'magic training' now, even if you have acting-duchess duties with his highness, Prince Henry, away?"
"It's… complicated. I don't want you to worry about it."
"It is making me worry! I'm feeling that you're getting yourself involved with dangerous things again. Don't make me worry about your life again."
"Don't worry. I'm not risking my life like during the movement," she lied. She was doing a lot more than merely risking her life.
"If you say so. Just don't forget to take care of yourself," Anastasia submitted. Her sister had always been this stubborn. But, she couldn't relive the time when she would worry about her sister's life everyday. She can't imagine losing the last of her family, more so that they had connected as one for only a short time.
Lenore couldn't help but listen to the sister's exchange. She had the same sentiments as Anastasia. Her goddaughter was starting to have a habit of wearing herself down with her responsibilities again. She hoped that Cinderella would take her sister's advice to heart… for her sister and own sake. Upon the godmother's musing, she had almost forgotten about her cooking. It was now ready to serve and she didn't want to starve the girls for any longer.
Author's Notes:
So, talking logistics here. I decided to have the days of the week be in just equivalence to the standard one, but just derived from them, to suit the fantasy setting. Day of Luna, Day of Tir, Day of Odin, Day of Thor, Day of Freya, Day of Saturn, Day of Apollo. Various mythologies, I know. And that's the beauty of taking creative liberties as compromise to dissociating to the real-world. I don't know if I would change this depending on the region of the world built, we'll see.
I hope you like how I characterized the new OC, Skeever. Let me know what you think of him.
Also, I decided that we are in the Cinderella 3 timeline, decided that the fate of Drizella and Lady Tremaine as frogs be permanent. I like the idea of Anastasia and Cinderella only having each other as family. Good!Anastasia is GOOD.
Criticisms welcome.