sos- whooooa...temper, temper. anyway, yeah i post quickly. and i'll be sure to make pertia and elenia both like total evil people, and don't worry. i planned for a bit of violence on their part.
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The next morning, Elesia sat back with a sigh. "There we go! All forty of those silly, stupid, frilly, useless pieces of silk, which will probably be thrown away..." She stood up and stretched her tired arms, leaning on the kitchen table.
Gathering up the sachets and dumping them into a sack, Selene grinned. "And everyone says that you're calm."
Laughing, Elesia cleared the bits of lace and string, throwing them into the wastebasket. "Well, I am shy, except when i talk to you," she asserted. "Otherwise...I dont talk and turn red."
A knock at the door caused her to jump. "Now i have to hide!" Elesia squeaked. "I can't bear to talk to people!" She grabbed the bundle of pink sachets and ran into the small herbal workroom with a shudder.
Selene shook her head, tying on her head scarf. "Oh, you." Walking up to the door, she opened it quickly. To her great surprise, Corren stood there, garbed in a plain, rough shirt and breeches. Shaking his dark hair out of the cap, he grinned, his golden eyes shining at her. Her heart flipped over once, then twice, at his familiar smile.
"Didn't expect me, did you?" he replied to her openmouthed gape. Dumbly, she shook her head. "Well, I said i would visit, though it took me a week to run away. I managed to sneak in," he said smugly, "right under Pertia's nose." As he stepped in the room, his keen eyes caught a glimpse of Elesia peeking out from the herb-room before the door tilted shut and a bolt locked.
"So," Selene asked, her voice ringing in her ears, "How are you doing?" With a sigh, she removed the kerchief from her head, a habit that had begun to grow on her.
"I'm fine," he said, struggling to draw something out of his pocket. "I have something for you and Elesia." He paused, aiming his voice at the adjoining room jokingly. "If she will come out, that is."
The door creaked open, and the girl tiptoed out with a curtsy. Standing directly behind Selene, Elesia peeked out from the taller girl's shoulder. Corren looked startled, surprised at her timid approach. "I'm not going to bite you," he said, his brow furrowed in confusion.
She nodded and sat at the table with them, her eyes wide. Corren sighed once, then held out the pretty envelopes with one hand. "There's a ball," he said, handing the papers out to both of them, "And these are invitations. My father was going to send them, but I decided to come instead."
"Unfortunately, there's one for Elenia," he said, his shoulders drooping with exaggerated sadness. He looked so rueful that even Elesia's shoulders began to shake with silent laughter. The stepsister looked at Selene, her eyes beginning to light up, and giggled out loud, her posture visibly relaxing.
"Corren," Selene protested. "Pertia shall never let me go."
He stood up, a humorous twinkle in his eye. "If you are not there, I do believe i shall come back here and attack her...but really, I suppose she shall have no choice." He was instantly rewarded with her glorious smile.
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Ten minutes after Corren left, Elenia flounced into the room. "Where is your head scarf?" she demanded, before her attentions changed to other topics. "And Mother!" she said loudly. "Here are the invitations everyone was talking about!"
Pertia walked in, spotting the envelopes. "Ah," she exclaimed. "One week away! Thats only a short time to prepare! Ella," she warned, "Whe did these come? I have not heard a messenger."
"She probably tried to hide them," Elenia supplied.
Snatching up the papers, Pertia sneered. "Probably, but she's too stupid to manage that task." Opening all three of the sealed parchments, she looked up. "One for you, Ella?" she said, slightly stunned.
"Mother," Elesia began, before she was cut off by Elenia.
"Oh," her sister hissed. "So you knew about this, too?" Elesia flinched, but held her ground. Selene marveled how the Prince's brief visit had changed her kind stepsister's nature...perhaps it was companionship that strengthened her assertiveness?
"No," Elesia replied calmly, "The Prince himself brought these to our door. And the royal family would be displeased if Ella were not present."
"Well," Pertia snapped. "I suppose you-" she pointed to Selene haughtily- "Shall find your own means of dress. And since my elder daughter has been an accomplice in this act, she shall be punished the same." Pertia, completely ignoring Elesia, turned back to the other room with Elenia following obediantly.
"Elenia," her voice could be heard through the walls, "We shall go shopping for your gown presently."
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The house was silent, for the other servants had been given the day to prepare for the coming feast.
"Selene?" Elesia's voice said. "What shall we do?"
"Do what?"
"Wear for the ball!" her stepsister all but wailed. "I have several old gowns, but they are quite worn and obviously too small for us to actually wear for the occasion."
"I probably cannot go," Selene said, with more than a hint of sorrow in her voice, "But surely I can make you a dress, with something..." She paused in thought, trying to be cheerful for Elesia's sake. "There's a bunch of velvet in the attic, under my bed, that Pertia has forgotten about. There should be enough, so I can try..."
Elesia stood up. "I dont want to go if you are not coming! You deserve to go!" she said fiercely.
Another knock sounded at the door. With a sigh, Selene stood to open it. A woman, her hair greying around the temples, stood in front of the kitchen holding a basket. "Are you Ella?" she said with a smile. Glancing inside the kitchen, the woman caught sight of the other girl at the table. "And Elesia, I presume," she said kindly. Selene nodded and opened the door for her.
"I'm Terah," the matronly woman said. "Prince Corren sent me to collect dress measurements." Elesia let out a gasp of surprise.
"I beg your pardon?" she squeaked.
Terah smiled. "I was Corren's nursemaid," she told them, "And he sent me on a 'special' mission to get both of your sizes so gowns could be made. He thought there might be a mishap." Her brown eyes took in the tearstreaks on Elesia's face and the disappointment of Selene. "And I dare say he was right. Smart boy, that prince."
With the help of her measuring tape, Terah's critical eye quickly absorbed their figures and coloring. "Well," she said briskly, "It shall be here by the end of the week."
"Thank you, ma'am," Selene said gratefully. Elesia echoed her reply.
"Oh, don't thank me," Terah said, her eye landing slyly on Selene. "Thank Corren. As I said, he's a smart boy," she added cryptically as she left.
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