dancingcurse2

A/N: Thanks to everyone who reviewed! Hope this is as good as the first part!


Chapter 2


The dancing continued every night, as every night we wore through our shoes and had to have new ones made. And no matter what color the cobblers chose to make them, our dresses, when we pulled them from our closets, matched their hue exactly. After a few months, my worthy father was finally forced to confront us about the shoes.
My dears, he said kindly, for he loved us dearly, even if we were not sons, what are you doing every night that causes your slippers to wear out completely? This is causing a strain on the Royal treasury- a joke, as we all knew... the treasury could easily accommodate dancing shoes for each of us for 50 years- and needs to stop. Who will tell me what you girls are doing?
All of us looked down simultaneously. We had all been approached by our young men and told that we must not say anything, and we couldn't. We couldn't even discuss this phenomenon amongst ourselves. We just did what we had to, no matter how much we hated it in our hearts.
Father turned first to me. Fiona, as my eldest, tell me- you are responsible for your sisters! I turned a blank face toward him- him, my father, whom I loved dearly. I longed to say, this is not my doing! but found I could not move my lips. I could only look sadly at him and hope he would see the emptiness of my soul through my eyes.
Perhaps he could, for his gaze, which had only been slightly perturbed at this problem, turned grave and he turned to my second sister, Camille. He repeated the question, she repeated the answer I had given.
His gaze became ever graver, and he continued down the line- Ruth, Anaise, Betony, Maleon, Melody, Reena, Lise, Ariela, Natalya, and finally Nathie. All of us responded exactly the same- only Nathie had a bit of her spirit left for this- she managed to giggle, slightly, and yet that giggle hurt me more than anything else, for it was no longer that tinkly silver- it had hardened to a bronze. We had all changed, it seemed; none of us were carefree, we all carried this secret burden. We laughed less, smiled less, and yet it seemed we grew more beautiful day by day. It was a beauty I would have gladly exchanged for my laughter, and that of my sisters'.
Our father finally sighed, sadly- he seemed to have aged 10 years in this single interview. Again, I longed to run up to him and tell him all, and again, my body refused my longing. I stood there, mute and blank as my sisters- did they feel the same longing?- as he turned and walked slowly out of the room.

A few days later, or rather nights- increasingly it seemed as though our nights were our reality, and the day only a dream- we heard the announcement from our talkative chamber maid.
Have you dearies heard the news? Of course you haven't, what am I thinking? The way that father of yours keeps you locked up is something awful, I'm telling you! She'd been in our household for many years, and was not as formal or as scared of us as the others.
What news? I could barely gather enough interest in her chatting anymore- all of life seemed like that- bleak.
Your father has decided to make a contest! Any young man can try, too! To solve the puzzle of your dancing shoes! Any young man can come and spend three nights in your chamber, and if they can explain why your shoes wear out, they get to marry one of you!
I was numb. Even number than before. A part of me, the true part of me, thought in outrage, so now we're just property? I thought I was worth more to my father than that! But then I realized- this was just my father being protective. He loved us so much, that he was doing his best to figure this out- and we were the bait for our salvation. It still didn't quite fair, but then, it was as fair as it was going to get.
That very day, Father had us all move into one large room- it used to be a council chamber- and they had quite a job moving the many tables out- and moved all our beds and things in. That was when he told us about the plan, even showed us a copy of the notice. It was very official-looking, and simply stated the facts. There was no embellishing on our beauty or wealth or our problems- for which I was extremely grateful. I knew the people would talk enough, without the notice needing to be in praise of our beauty as well.
Since none of you will disclose where you go every night, I've decided to make a contest to find out. Any young man will have the opportunity, and one of you will marry the one who succeeds. If you'd rather not go through with this, you may tell me, at any time, where it is you go and I will cancel the test immediately. I love you all, he smiled, and I knew how much he loved us, but I need to know what you are doing. Hopefully this state of things will not continue too long. He gave us all one last, searching, look, but only found the blank stare we found smeared onto our faces. He sighed, turned, and left.
Then began our abode in the council room. There had already been a tunnel dug down to the underground kingdom of the young black men, only now we had to cross a lake to reach the pavilion. The men each had a gondola for their use (and they were all excellent boatmen), entirely made of shadows, so it seemed, like the entire country. The only bit of color was on the path that led from the lake to our room. We passed through a forest of gold and silver trees, with jewels as fruit upon them. Though they were beautiful, I looked upon the forest with distaste. Nothing here was alive. Those trees would not grow- they would look exactly the same a million years from now. It was completely unchangeable.
And still we danced. Every night, hours after hours. And yet we were not tired in the morning. It was all part of the enchantment. How I hated that enchantment! My sisters were no longer the innocent girls they once had been. And even if the enchantment could be lifted, they could never regain that lost innocence. I was the lucky one- I had already grown up before this enchantment had begun.
Within a week, the first prince had arrived to try his hand at the contest.

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