Travel to the Past:
Part Two
Willow groaned and touched her head, sitting up. She was laying in a snow embankment that sat near an alleyway. Shivering, she stood up slowly, brushing off her jeans and pea coat, pulling her red scarf around her neck tightly. She looked around.
"Well, I *think* I'm still in Corus.." Willow murmured to herself, "But everything is so different!" It was also nighttime, which certainly didn't help her situation. Looking up towards where her boarding home should have sat, she gasped, her eyes widening. The castle was not crumbling! It was in perfect condition, and lit up like a gigantic stone firework. Even from where she was standing, knee-deep in snow, Willow could see carriages pulling up en masse in front of the gigantic castle doors, and she could hear trumpets blaring, announcing the guests as they entered. Willow blinked and rubbed her eyes. The castle still shone. She repeated her actions. The castle was still there. Muttering to herself about the true fragility of sanity, she entered the nearest open store, an embroiderer, working late, and timidly approached the counter.
"May I help you, miss?" The man inquired, looking up. Willow blinked. He was wearing a tunic and hose. Willow couldn't recall ever seeing *anyone*, let alone a very elderly man, wearing a tunic and hose. The man blinked back. The newcomer was wearing breeches in a material he had never seen in his life, and a completely foreign cut of coat. The man couldn't recall ever seeing *anyone*, let alone this seemingly average girl, wearing such a bizarre outfit. Nevertheless, she had a nice, honest look about her face, and the man was inclined to trust her. He repeated his question. "May I help you, miss?" Willow coughed,
"Oh, yes! Um..what's today?" The man laughed.
"It's the first day of Midwinter, my dear! December 21st!" Willow smiled slightly.
"How nice. And the year?" The man chuckled, wondering who had clocked the poor girl on the head hard enough for her to forget such information.
"654, of course!" Willow's eyes bulged. 654?! *654*?! It couldn't be 654! Yesterday the year had been 1050, not 654! Her face paled.
"Are you all right, dearie? Here, come sit down.." the shopkeeper told her, leading her to a stool, where Willow sat down obediently. The shopkeeper pulled a stool of his own up, and took a sip of a drink which sat nearby.
"My name is Robert Greene, what's yours, lass?" He asked, offering his hand. Willow shook it, her head starting to clear.
"Willow Serenity.." Robert Greene raised an eyebrow,
"Serenity? Of the Runnerspring Serenities?"
"Um, I guess so. My father grew up at Runnerspring." Willow told him, remembering the many stories her father had of the large cliff at the town, one of the few places that had not been touched by modernization. It overlooked a deep lake, and was often the place where the most thrilling games of truth or dare took place.
"Well, then! Why aren't you at the ball, milady?"
"Ball?" Her brow furrowed.
"Yes, the ball! The Midwinter Ball, that all the nobles attend!"
"Nobles?" The man laughed and took her hand.
"Come, milady, I will show you to the ball. Hopefully your kin will be there, and they will sort you out." Without waiting for her response, Robert Greene pulled on a hat and coat, and lead Willow threw the streets of Corus and up the great hill to the castle entrance. He smiled and snuck her through a commonly used back way, depositing the extremely confused and now somewhat lightheaded Willow in a corner of the grand ballroom.
~*~
Willow looked around the room in awe. Everything sparkled in royal blue and silver. The ceiling seemed infinitely high, and from it hung several chandeliers, all obviously hand-crafted from crystal and gold. Filling the chandeliers were hundreds of small silver and blue candles, each flame winking and causing the decorations to sparkle. On the walls sat large globes; within each one a fog like substance floated. Each globe held a different colour, and every globe gave off a warm glow that spilled over the floor and the hundreds of occupants on it, making the scene surreal. Focusing on the people dancing and mingling in the ballroom, Willow saw a full orchestra seated upon a slightly elevated stage. Each member wore a tailored velvet coat in royal blue, a high-collared silver shirt in silk underneath. Their legs were covered by crisp white breeches, and their coat tails were so long they brushed the stage floor. Each coat had the Tortallan crest of a silver blade and crown on a royal blue field, something Willow recognized from her history textbooks, emblazoned upon the left breast of their coat. Swiveling her head further, Willow noted that all those serving, whether they were 10 or 80, also wore close variations of the orchestra's ensemble.
The blue and silver outfits were threadbare rags, however, to what Willow observed next, which were the outfits the guests donned. Diamonds and other precious jewels winked on dresses, nestled in the beading of bodices and the embroidery of velvet and silk tunics, breasts sat regally above the necklines of dresses that featured corsets within them, meticulously brushed and styled hair tumbled over shoulders and down backs, laughter tinkled like bells from ladies and roared from men. The sight was breath-taking. Willow looked down at her frayed jeans and dusty pea coat and suddenly felt very out of place, more so than she had in the strange streets of ancient Corus. She began to back up, hoping she could figure out the way Mr.Greene had brought her so she could make a quiet escape back into the streets. It was cold, but at least it was plain. Willow turned to head for the back route when she bumped into someone, and stumbled backwards, falling onto the hard wooden floor.
"Oof!" She exclaimed as she hit the ground, the wind shooting out of her lungs. The person she had bumped into giggled and kneeled down next to her,
"Are you okay?" A voice asked. Looking up, Willow found herself face-to-face with a relative, if not a distant one. Long, dark red hair tumbled around the young girl's face and her shoulders, which were adorned by the sleeves of a velvet, dark purple gown. Large grey eyes stared into Willow's own.
"Hey, you look like me! Cool!" The beautiful girl exclaimed, and stood up, pulling Willow up from the ground. She was surprisingly strong, even though as Willow soon found out, she was a few inches shorter than Willow's own petite 5'3" height. The other redhead smiled at Willow, and offered her hand.
"I'm Ariel Serenity of Runnerspring, squire of the royal palace. Who're you?" Willow laughed, mostly at herself and her seeming growing insanity.
"I'm Willow Serenity." She told Ariel, before realizing what the implications of her last name were. Ariel gasped.
"Serenity? Are you another cousin I don't know about?"
"Uh..yes. I am your..cousin." Willow forced the lie out, beginning to wonder if this was a dream and if she should pinch herself. Ariel giggled,
"I have all kinds of relatives I don't know! It comes from the gigantic family I'm a part of, y'know. Come on, I'll introduce you to all my friends!" She said, grabbing Willow's hand and dragging her over to a fairly large group of people, composed mainly of incredibly tall, muscled men and a few girls and younger, skinnier boys. One of the bulkier men smirked at his first sight of Ariel, and pulled her hand from Willow's, wrapping a possessive - not to mention *huge* - arm dangerously low on her waist. A slimmer, more lightly complected man of similar height was cradling an infant child in his arms, smiling. Ariel seemed to ignore the intrusive arm completely, not even missing a beat in formulating her introduction speech.
"Everyone, this is my cousin, Willow Serenity! Everyone introduce yourselves and be nice. Willow, this is Marc, my.." she looked around, and then in a slightly hushed tone, continued, "lover. I'm not supposed to have one as a squire, so it has to stay quiet." Willow nodded, and smiled a hello at Marc, who grunted, nodding slightly and pulling Ariel closer. A tall, incredibly handsome man flashed a grin at Willow and bowed, kissing her hand gently.
"Sir Ian Corganne, a pleasure to meet you, Lady Willow." Willow smiled nervously,
"Good to m-meet you, Sir Ian." She stammered slightly. Ian laughed and moved aside to let others make their introductions. After the passing of several minutes, Willow had been introduced to Ian's brother Anthony Corganne and his infant daughter Kathlyn, the famed Melusine Desjardins of Amelien, who was now trying to get Marc to release her friend, Melusine's cousin Simon Ravenhill, and his friend, Dominic Beaumont of Naxen. Willow noted with a smile that Dominic, a very attractive young man, was an ancestor of her very own boyfriend Thomas. Sitting upon Simon's lap was Rowan of Tirragen, an extremely attractive young woman whom Willow assumed was with Simon for physical reasons only. Another younger brother of Ian's was present, Seth Corganne. He a year younger than Willow herself, and engaged to a charming and rather pretty young female squire named Ane. Flirting shamelessly with a noble lady off to the side was a male squire Ariel introduced as Joseph, normally called Jo. Finally, the "hopeless, gutless, soon to be my ICKY brother-in-law!" sitting on the side reading a thick book was Dani. After introductions were over, Willow sat down in a chair gratefully. She thought she had a moment of peace to collect herself, to figure out what exactly *had* happened to her, when Dominic walked up to her.
"What's with the clothes?" He asked, not bothering with formalities or politeness. Willow blinked,
"Uh.." He laughed.
"They're strange. More form-fitting than breeches and a shirt, somewhat modern looking. I like them." He sat down in the chair next to her. "Come sit in my lap, Willow, I'm bored." He said with a smirk. Willow choked on her own breath,
"Excuse me?!" Ariel heard Willow's exclamation and scooted over, plopping down on Dom's lap, who grinned.
"Don't bother her, Dom. She's a newcomer to the balls! And a foreigner, I think, too. I mean, look at her clothes! Aren't they cool?" Ariel babbled on and on to Dominic, allowing Willow the time she needed to start to sort her situation out. She remembered the glowing light coming from the book. Strange as a glowing book was, it didn't explain a time jump. Time jump.. the words echoed in Willow's head. Those words had been written on the page she had read from that little book.
"Could it have been..did I..a *real* time jumping spell?" She mused quietly to herself. It was a strange - incredibly strange - thought, she admitted this, but it had a twisted sense of logic to it, too. Corus was a city founded on magic and monarchy. Magic was genetic, that had been proved a long time ago.
"So..even if magic isn't used today, it's still in the bloodlines.." Willow whispered. That had to be it. Looking down at her own hands, she squinted, trying to see some sort of sparkling phenomenon at her fingertips. There was nothing. "Well, it has to be in me somewhere." She decided. "So how do I get home?" She asked herself. Thinking back again to the little red book, she remembered another crucial detail. It had belonged to Numair Salmalin! If that was true, the book had to be floating somewhere around Corus in this day and age, too. All she had to do was find it!
"Now that Willow had thought everything through logically and found a task for herself to complete, she felt better. Since Ariel and everyone else believed she really was the little redhead's cousin, she was safe. Now, all she needed was a place to stay, and some proper clothing to wear.
"Willow spent the next hour dozing lightly in her chair, exhausted from the day's excitement. Around 12:30am, Ariel tapped her on her shoulder.
"Hey, Willow? Go home." Willow yawned,
"Home?" Ariel sat down, playing with the beading on her dress.
"Yeah, home. Aren't you staying at an inn, aren't you?" Willow shook her head.
"Um..it's a long story, but I have no money, no clothing, no horse and no place to stay." Ariel squeaked,
"Whoa! Well, then you can come stay in my room. It's big enough that I can set up a mattress for you. My room connects to Anth's - he's my knightmaster. Is that cool with you?"
"Yeah, that's great. Thanks, Ariel.." Ariel smiled, and lead Willow upstairs for the night. ~*~
Willow spent the next few days staying in Ariel's room during the day, mostly taking care of Anthony's baby Kathlyn - Kath - for him. Ariel had tapped the Serenity accounts, providing Willow with an ample amount of money. The first weekend came, and Ariel took Willow out shopping.
"So, Willow, what kind of clothing do you want to get?" Ariel asked her as they strolled through the busy marketplace, their money pouches jingling at their waists.
"Comfortable stuff would be best. I guess a few skirts and stuff, and maybe something for a ball." Willow told her, trying to figure out what clothing would make her the least conspicuous. Ariel grinned,
"Comfortable! A girl after my own heart!" She pulled Willow into a clothing store. Clothing lined the walls from floor to ceiling in hundreds of colours of styles, all stored neatly in little cubbies. Ariel looked her cousin over,
"Let's see. You weigh..how much?"
"115 pounds." Willow responded, smoothing her now somewhat smelly pea coat over her slender frame. Ariel mused incoherently to herself and walked down an aisle, running her fingers over everything within reach.
"I'm a size 2, so you're probably a size 4. What kind of colours do you like? Purple?" She chirped, tugging on her own purple shirt and breeches. Willow laughed,
"Anything dark. Purple, black, blue, green. All dark." She responded, and Ariel giggled,
"You're as bad as Anth!" She exclaimed, "Now help me pick you clothes." Willow grinned and began to sift threw the aisles, picking up things here and there. After a few minutes of silence, she looked at Ariel.
"What's your relationship to Anth? You two seem close." Ariel giggled and blushed slightly.
"Anth's my knightmaster, now. We used to be lovers but..things came between us. Things named Joy, specifically. And then a thing named Marc. And then..lots more things." She explained, a touch of sadness in her voice and her eyes.
"Do you still love him?" Willow questioned. Ariel smiled shyly,
"I do.." Willow was slightly taken aback. She thought the answer would've been no, considering how close she seemed to Marc. Noticing her confusion, Ariel continued.
"When we were lovers, I was only 14. Barely legal," she smirked. "And I was immature. Joy was beautiful..buxom..mature, in her own way. And Marc was..well, he was a brother of Anth, but younger, and very different in personality. It was the most destructive thing either of could've ever done to ourselves. So, we did it, of course. But then over the summer, when Kath was born.. well, Joy died. Now Anth's alone again, and he still.." Ariel looked at her feet, lowering her voice slightly. "He still comes into my room, sometimes..asking, almost begging for me to leave Marc and go back to him." Ariel sighed. "I know he's bad for me - Marc, that is. But I feel bad..I just can't break it off like that." Willow gave Ariel a quick hug and a smile. She didn't know anything about love, and her life was certainly not anywhere as interesting as Ariel's was, but she sympathized deeply with the girl.
"But, onto things more fun!" Ariel exclaimed with a quick change of pace. "Let's pay for these clothes, and get you a horse!" Willow giggled,
"Sure, a horse."
And what a horse it was. Willow had gladly shelled out golden nobles for a gorgeous mare whom she named Dryad. Her sleek coat was so white it was practically silver, glinting in the afternoon sun. It had been a very productive day for Willow. Although she had not had a single opportunity to search for that essential red leather handbook, she was content. Willow felt almost as if she fit in better in the Corus of ancient times than that of modern times. There was a tension, a buzzing in the air of this Corus that made everything more lively and beautiful. The only thing that filled the air in her Corus was the putrid smells and thick black smog their first factory produced in copious amounts. Willow was content.
Part Two
Willow groaned and touched her head, sitting up. She was laying in a snow embankment that sat near an alleyway. Shivering, she stood up slowly, brushing off her jeans and pea coat, pulling her red scarf around her neck tightly. She looked around.
"Well, I *think* I'm still in Corus.." Willow murmured to herself, "But everything is so different!" It was also nighttime, which certainly didn't help her situation. Looking up towards where her boarding home should have sat, she gasped, her eyes widening. The castle was not crumbling! It was in perfect condition, and lit up like a gigantic stone firework. Even from where she was standing, knee-deep in snow, Willow could see carriages pulling up en masse in front of the gigantic castle doors, and she could hear trumpets blaring, announcing the guests as they entered. Willow blinked and rubbed her eyes. The castle still shone. She repeated her actions. The castle was still there. Muttering to herself about the true fragility of sanity, she entered the nearest open store, an embroiderer, working late, and timidly approached the counter.
"May I help you, miss?" The man inquired, looking up. Willow blinked. He was wearing a tunic and hose. Willow couldn't recall ever seeing *anyone*, let alone a very elderly man, wearing a tunic and hose. The man blinked back. The newcomer was wearing breeches in a material he had never seen in his life, and a completely foreign cut of coat. The man couldn't recall ever seeing *anyone*, let alone this seemingly average girl, wearing such a bizarre outfit. Nevertheless, she had a nice, honest look about her face, and the man was inclined to trust her. He repeated his question. "May I help you, miss?" Willow coughed,
"Oh, yes! Um..what's today?" The man laughed.
"It's the first day of Midwinter, my dear! December 21st!" Willow smiled slightly.
"How nice. And the year?" The man chuckled, wondering who had clocked the poor girl on the head hard enough for her to forget such information.
"654, of course!" Willow's eyes bulged. 654?! *654*?! It couldn't be 654! Yesterday the year had been 1050, not 654! Her face paled.
"Are you all right, dearie? Here, come sit down.." the shopkeeper told her, leading her to a stool, where Willow sat down obediently. The shopkeeper pulled a stool of his own up, and took a sip of a drink which sat nearby.
"My name is Robert Greene, what's yours, lass?" He asked, offering his hand. Willow shook it, her head starting to clear.
"Willow Serenity.." Robert Greene raised an eyebrow,
"Serenity? Of the Runnerspring Serenities?"
"Um, I guess so. My father grew up at Runnerspring." Willow told him, remembering the many stories her father had of the large cliff at the town, one of the few places that had not been touched by modernization. It overlooked a deep lake, and was often the place where the most thrilling games of truth or dare took place.
"Well, then! Why aren't you at the ball, milady?"
"Ball?" Her brow furrowed.
"Yes, the ball! The Midwinter Ball, that all the nobles attend!"
"Nobles?" The man laughed and took her hand.
"Come, milady, I will show you to the ball. Hopefully your kin will be there, and they will sort you out." Without waiting for her response, Robert Greene pulled on a hat and coat, and lead Willow threw the streets of Corus and up the great hill to the castle entrance. He smiled and snuck her through a commonly used back way, depositing the extremely confused and now somewhat lightheaded Willow in a corner of the grand ballroom.
~*~
Willow looked around the room in awe. Everything sparkled in royal blue and silver. The ceiling seemed infinitely high, and from it hung several chandeliers, all obviously hand-crafted from crystal and gold. Filling the chandeliers were hundreds of small silver and blue candles, each flame winking and causing the decorations to sparkle. On the walls sat large globes; within each one a fog like substance floated. Each globe held a different colour, and every globe gave off a warm glow that spilled over the floor and the hundreds of occupants on it, making the scene surreal. Focusing on the people dancing and mingling in the ballroom, Willow saw a full orchestra seated upon a slightly elevated stage. Each member wore a tailored velvet coat in royal blue, a high-collared silver shirt in silk underneath. Their legs were covered by crisp white breeches, and their coat tails were so long they brushed the stage floor. Each coat had the Tortallan crest of a silver blade and crown on a royal blue field, something Willow recognized from her history textbooks, emblazoned upon the left breast of their coat. Swiveling her head further, Willow noted that all those serving, whether they were 10 or 80, also wore close variations of the orchestra's ensemble.
The blue and silver outfits were threadbare rags, however, to what Willow observed next, which were the outfits the guests donned. Diamonds and other precious jewels winked on dresses, nestled in the beading of bodices and the embroidery of velvet and silk tunics, breasts sat regally above the necklines of dresses that featured corsets within them, meticulously brushed and styled hair tumbled over shoulders and down backs, laughter tinkled like bells from ladies and roared from men. The sight was breath-taking. Willow looked down at her frayed jeans and dusty pea coat and suddenly felt very out of place, more so than she had in the strange streets of ancient Corus. She began to back up, hoping she could figure out the way Mr.Greene had brought her so she could make a quiet escape back into the streets. It was cold, but at least it was plain. Willow turned to head for the back route when she bumped into someone, and stumbled backwards, falling onto the hard wooden floor.
"Oof!" She exclaimed as she hit the ground, the wind shooting out of her lungs. The person she had bumped into giggled and kneeled down next to her,
"Are you okay?" A voice asked. Looking up, Willow found herself face-to-face with a relative, if not a distant one. Long, dark red hair tumbled around the young girl's face and her shoulders, which were adorned by the sleeves of a velvet, dark purple gown. Large grey eyes stared into Willow's own.
"Hey, you look like me! Cool!" The beautiful girl exclaimed, and stood up, pulling Willow up from the ground. She was surprisingly strong, even though as Willow soon found out, she was a few inches shorter than Willow's own petite 5'3" height. The other redhead smiled at Willow, and offered her hand.
"I'm Ariel Serenity of Runnerspring, squire of the royal palace. Who're you?" Willow laughed, mostly at herself and her seeming growing insanity.
"I'm Willow Serenity." She told Ariel, before realizing what the implications of her last name were. Ariel gasped.
"Serenity? Are you another cousin I don't know about?"
"Uh..yes. I am your..cousin." Willow forced the lie out, beginning to wonder if this was a dream and if she should pinch herself. Ariel giggled,
"I have all kinds of relatives I don't know! It comes from the gigantic family I'm a part of, y'know. Come on, I'll introduce you to all my friends!" She said, grabbing Willow's hand and dragging her over to a fairly large group of people, composed mainly of incredibly tall, muscled men and a few girls and younger, skinnier boys. One of the bulkier men smirked at his first sight of Ariel, and pulled her hand from Willow's, wrapping a possessive - not to mention *huge* - arm dangerously low on her waist. A slimmer, more lightly complected man of similar height was cradling an infant child in his arms, smiling. Ariel seemed to ignore the intrusive arm completely, not even missing a beat in formulating her introduction speech.
"Everyone, this is my cousin, Willow Serenity! Everyone introduce yourselves and be nice. Willow, this is Marc, my.." she looked around, and then in a slightly hushed tone, continued, "lover. I'm not supposed to have one as a squire, so it has to stay quiet." Willow nodded, and smiled a hello at Marc, who grunted, nodding slightly and pulling Ariel closer. A tall, incredibly handsome man flashed a grin at Willow and bowed, kissing her hand gently.
"Sir Ian Corganne, a pleasure to meet you, Lady Willow." Willow smiled nervously,
"Good to m-meet you, Sir Ian." She stammered slightly. Ian laughed and moved aside to let others make their introductions. After the passing of several minutes, Willow had been introduced to Ian's brother Anthony Corganne and his infant daughter Kathlyn, the famed Melusine Desjardins of Amelien, who was now trying to get Marc to release her friend, Melusine's cousin Simon Ravenhill, and his friend, Dominic Beaumont of Naxen. Willow noted with a smile that Dominic, a very attractive young man, was an ancestor of her very own boyfriend Thomas. Sitting upon Simon's lap was Rowan of Tirragen, an extremely attractive young woman whom Willow assumed was with Simon for physical reasons only. Another younger brother of Ian's was present, Seth Corganne. He a year younger than Willow herself, and engaged to a charming and rather pretty young female squire named Ane. Flirting shamelessly with a noble lady off to the side was a male squire Ariel introduced as Joseph, normally called Jo. Finally, the "hopeless, gutless, soon to be my ICKY brother-in-law!" sitting on the side reading a thick book was Dani. After introductions were over, Willow sat down in a chair gratefully. She thought she had a moment of peace to collect herself, to figure out what exactly *had* happened to her, when Dominic walked up to her.
"What's with the clothes?" He asked, not bothering with formalities or politeness. Willow blinked,
"Uh.." He laughed.
"They're strange. More form-fitting than breeches and a shirt, somewhat modern looking. I like them." He sat down in the chair next to her. "Come sit in my lap, Willow, I'm bored." He said with a smirk. Willow choked on her own breath,
"Excuse me?!" Ariel heard Willow's exclamation and scooted over, plopping down on Dom's lap, who grinned.
"Don't bother her, Dom. She's a newcomer to the balls! And a foreigner, I think, too. I mean, look at her clothes! Aren't they cool?" Ariel babbled on and on to Dominic, allowing Willow the time she needed to start to sort her situation out. She remembered the glowing light coming from the book. Strange as a glowing book was, it didn't explain a time jump. Time jump.. the words echoed in Willow's head. Those words had been written on the page she had read from that little book.
"Could it have been..did I..a *real* time jumping spell?" She mused quietly to herself. It was a strange - incredibly strange - thought, she admitted this, but it had a twisted sense of logic to it, too. Corus was a city founded on magic and monarchy. Magic was genetic, that had been proved a long time ago.
"So..even if magic isn't used today, it's still in the bloodlines.." Willow whispered. That had to be it. Looking down at her own hands, she squinted, trying to see some sort of sparkling phenomenon at her fingertips. There was nothing. "Well, it has to be in me somewhere." She decided. "So how do I get home?" She asked herself. Thinking back again to the little red book, she remembered another crucial detail. It had belonged to Numair Salmalin! If that was true, the book had to be floating somewhere around Corus in this day and age, too. All she had to do was find it!
"Now that Willow had thought everything through logically and found a task for herself to complete, she felt better. Since Ariel and everyone else believed she really was the little redhead's cousin, she was safe. Now, all she needed was a place to stay, and some proper clothing to wear.
"Willow spent the next hour dozing lightly in her chair, exhausted from the day's excitement. Around 12:30am, Ariel tapped her on her shoulder.
"Hey, Willow? Go home." Willow yawned,
"Home?" Ariel sat down, playing with the beading on her dress.
"Yeah, home. Aren't you staying at an inn, aren't you?" Willow shook her head.
"Um..it's a long story, but I have no money, no clothing, no horse and no place to stay." Ariel squeaked,
"Whoa! Well, then you can come stay in my room. It's big enough that I can set up a mattress for you. My room connects to Anth's - he's my knightmaster. Is that cool with you?"
"Yeah, that's great. Thanks, Ariel.." Ariel smiled, and lead Willow upstairs for the night. ~*~
Willow spent the next few days staying in Ariel's room during the day, mostly taking care of Anthony's baby Kathlyn - Kath - for him. Ariel had tapped the Serenity accounts, providing Willow with an ample amount of money. The first weekend came, and Ariel took Willow out shopping.
"So, Willow, what kind of clothing do you want to get?" Ariel asked her as they strolled through the busy marketplace, their money pouches jingling at their waists.
"Comfortable stuff would be best. I guess a few skirts and stuff, and maybe something for a ball." Willow told her, trying to figure out what clothing would make her the least conspicuous. Ariel grinned,
"Comfortable! A girl after my own heart!" She pulled Willow into a clothing store. Clothing lined the walls from floor to ceiling in hundreds of colours of styles, all stored neatly in little cubbies. Ariel looked her cousin over,
"Let's see. You weigh..how much?"
"115 pounds." Willow responded, smoothing her now somewhat smelly pea coat over her slender frame. Ariel mused incoherently to herself and walked down an aisle, running her fingers over everything within reach.
"I'm a size 2, so you're probably a size 4. What kind of colours do you like? Purple?" She chirped, tugging on her own purple shirt and breeches. Willow laughed,
"Anything dark. Purple, black, blue, green. All dark." She responded, and Ariel giggled,
"You're as bad as Anth!" She exclaimed, "Now help me pick you clothes." Willow grinned and began to sift threw the aisles, picking up things here and there. After a few minutes of silence, she looked at Ariel.
"What's your relationship to Anth? You two seem close." Ariel giggled and blushed slightly.
"Anth's my knightmaster, now. We used to be lovers but..things came between us. Things named Joy, specifically. And then a thing named Marc. And then..lots more things." She explained, a touch of sadness in her voice and her eyes.
"Do you still love him?" Willow questioned. Ariel smiled shyly,
"I do.." Willow was slightly taken aback. She thought the answer would've been no, considering how close she seemed to Marc. Noticing her confusion, Ariel continued.
"When we were lovers, I was only 14. Barely legal," she smirked. "And I was immature. Joy was beautiful..buxom..mature, in her own way. And Marc was..well, he was a brother of Anth, but younger, and very different in personality. It was the most destructive thing either of could've ever done to ourselves. So, we did it, of course. But then over the summer, when Kath was born.. well, Joy died. Now Anth's alone again, and he still.." Ariel looked at her feet, lowering her voice slightly. "He still comes into my room, sometimes..asking, almost begging for me to leave Marc and go back to him." Ariel sighed. "I know he's bad for me - Marc, that is. But I feel bad..I just can't break it off like that." Willow gave Ariel a quick hug and a smile. She didn't know anything about love, and her life was certainly not anywhere as interesting as Ariel's was, but she sympathized deeply with the girl.
"But, onto things more fun!" Ariel exclaimed with a quick change of pace. "Let's pay for these clothes, and get you a horse!" Willow giggled,
"Sure, a horse."
And what a horse it was. Willow had gladly shelled out golden nobles for a gorgeous mare whom she named Dryad. Her sleek coat was so white it was practically silver, glinting in the afternoon sun. It had been a very productive day for Willow. Although she had not had a single opportunity to search for that essential red leather handbook, she was content. Willow felt almost as if she fit in better in the Corus of ancient times than that of modern times. There was a tension, a buzzing in the air of this Corus that made everything more lively and beautiful. The only thing that filled the air in her Corus was the putrid smells and thick black smog their first factory produced in copious amounts. Willow was content.