A/N: Bonjourno! (i don't know if that's how ya spell it, BUT...) Anyway, I've finally updated, like I promised in my review, and, hopefully, I will be able to update before January, but I dunno...i have absolutely no life from tomorrow until...hmmm...January second, due to five concerts between this Sunday and next, two BIG rehearsals, my youth group Christmas party, and then exams the next week, then it's off to Atlanta! Yay! To spend Christmas with my phsycho family...fun, fun, FUN!!! yup, yup...no more sleep for Jenny THIS year! *sigh* Well, SUPER-SIZE candy-cane kudos bars (yummy!) TO: MountainDew, hemlock, Stancy McKatt, Hannalee, ArwenAria18(THREE reviews...major thank yous! You're AWESOME!!!!), sopraniluna (yes, i know who you are...mwahahahahahaha...), ME (for reviewing...twice...oh, well...you cna go read my reviews iffin ya REALLY want to...), and Autumn!!
I'm so glad that y'all liked my last chapter! I really liked writing it...i think...but i LOVED rereading it...*sigh* I like this chapter, too...(can ya tell that i wrote it on a rainy day?) it doesn't have much to do with the plot, but Celia (at least in this chapter) reminds me a lot of me...sorry, but I tend to shape my characters like myself...maybe because it's easier to write from their standpoint if they're like me...hmmm...sonething to ponder...sorry this note is so long! Please review once you're done, because I'm only FOUR reviews away from two pages of reviews!!!!! YAY JENNY!!!!!! (i'm tellin you, it's the little things in life...)
Oh...one more thing...I'll try to update before January, but it might not be possible...so keep reviewin and i'll try! Merry Christmas if i don't update between now and then! =o) ~Jenny the chica~
ps~i know i'm making it even worse, but sorry for the EXTREMELY long (and pointless) authoress's note! buh-bye til next year!
Chapter Eight: In which Celia embraces her new home…
Waking up, Celia first half-asleep realization was that she had slept in her new "princess dress" and wrinkled it beyond repair. She sat up and rubbed her eyes, then saw the dress to be laid out on the chair in the corner. She sighed with relief, then saw herself to be dressed in her more comfortable nightdress. Celia thought about last night, and respected her husband's willingness to hold and comfort a wife who was much too old to be crying as hysterically as she had been last night.
After sitting and thinking about it for a while, Celia then toyed with the idea of how sad and homesick he must have felt when he had first come here. His grief was probably far worse than even hers was! She was not the only one who had had to leave family and everything else known to her behind.
This knowledge encouraged her as she got ready for breakfast. She looked forward to the morning and evening talks with the bear, but she also felt slightly like a traitor. She enjoyed daytime companionship with the bear, yet nighttime companionship with an unseen husband, and so much she seemed to hide from the other, but her husband seemed to realize everything that went on in the castle, as if he was the master of it, and the bear seemed to realize nothing that went on other than the time he spent with Celia, although he was the master of the house.
To Celia, this was one more addition to the long list of things that made this place so peculiar. Perhaps mystery after mystery had piled up so long that she scarcely noticed or was shocked as readily.
Celia glanced outside to her redrawn curtains, and she saw that it was still slightly drizzling, and the sky was covered with a sheer gray cloth. Although it had paused for a few hours yesterday evening, it had obviously taken up where it left off during the night, and it seemed destined to go a few hours more.
Taking her hints from the weather and the draftiness that filled this house during storms, she hurriedly pulled on a warmer dress than most of hers, and scurried downstairs to eat, frantically trying in vain to get warm.
The bear was not there, however, when she entered the dining room, and she felt, in amazement, her heart sink. She had not realized how much she had enjoyed the mornings with someone easy to talk and laugh with until she could not any more. She sat down anyway, her spirits feeling as damp as the flooded ground outside. Although she hoped and wished all through her breakfast that the bear would come, he did not. It was not until she was on her way out when she passed his bulky form in the doorway. In her relief, she threw her arms around the bear and kissed the top of his head.
The bear did not seem to notice anything wrong, but Celia breathlessly said, "I-I was so worried…I thought that you were gone or lost or hurt or sick or-or…"
The bear smiled at her concern, saying, "No, thank you. I was perfectly fine. You needn't have gotten so worked up. You're terribly bad at doing that aren't you?"
Celia nodded, ruefully smiling, and seeing that she had just made a fool out of herself.
The bear seemed preoccupied, and lumbered along on his way. Celia shrugged and continued in the opposite direction.
Celia soon found herself engulfed in the most common escape on rainy days: chess. She had convinced one of the winds to play it, for the bear was nowhere to be seen, yet the record remained pretty even, for as soon as one got ahead, the other caught up.
The rest of the day followed without event. To Celia, it was a rather boorish day, for she hated being cooped up inside. She was quite sick of exploring, so she played chess, ate lunch, then found a deck of cards and played Solitaire. She got rather tired of the quiet, so she sang softly to herself, then began to twirl around in one of the huge parlor rooms, into the hall, then into the huge ballroom, where she twirled for a long time before she got back to the door.
After she was finished, she collapsed on one of the many couches on the side and laughed until her already aching side nearly screamed out in pain. She laughed until she almost fell out of the chair, which caused her to laugh harder. She had that feeling of being watched again, but she chose to ignore it and closed her eyes on the couch.
A few moments of solitude followed before Celia got up once more and walked around. The sun had finally come back out, and although it was dreadfully muddy, Celia put on an old pair of shoes that were at the bottom of one of the chests in her room and went out to explore the orchard. This took up the rest of her day until dinner, which she ate little of, for she wasn't very hungry at all. In fact, she didn't even bother to change out of the clothes she had worn outside, although she had taken off her muddy shoes and eaten barefoot.
Celia retired extra early to her room, fed up with the boredom of downstairs. She found a book and began to read, looking up at the sunset from time to time. Just before the sunset was complete, she put her marker in her book, and settled in bed, for she already had put on her nightclothes.
Her curtains and candle did the same as last night, and the comforting footsteps were heard again.
After a while, Celia soon fell asleep, but she was strangely worried, and she dreamed that both her husband and the bear suddenly abandoned her. She woke up in a cold sweat again, but was comforted by her sleeping husband's arm around her waist. She easily drifted back to sleep once more, after realizing that her worries were completely false. Celia fell asleep with a smile on her face.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
A few moments later, it seemed, Celia woke again. This, of course, was not true, but since waking up and falling asleep once more, Celia had been sleeping very lightly.
Therefore, a movement from her husband's side of the bed jerked her awake. She remained still, staring up at the ceiling, then felt his lips gently touch her forehead, then her lips. She wanted to kiss back, but she was too curious. It was still dark, but she heard the footsteps again and noticed the sheets, no longer taut. The opening and closing of her door affirmed what she had been thinking. The instant the door closed, the room became a little lighter. Celia opened her window curtain to see the beginning of dawn. Exactly.
Authoress's Note: DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!! i NEED to know what y'all think! ~Jenny the chica~
I'm so glad that y'all liked my last chapter! I really liked writing it...i think...but i LOVED rereading it...*sigh* I like this chapter, too...(can ya tell that i wrote it on a rainy day?) it doesn't have much to do with the plot, but Celia (at least in this chapter) reminds me a lot of me...sorry, but I tend to shape my characters like myself...maybe because it's easier to write from their standpoint if they're like me...hmmm...sonething to ponder...sorry this note is so long! Please review once you're done, because I'm only FOUR reviews away from two pages of reviews!!!!! YAY JENNY!!!!!! (i'm tellin you, it's the little things in life...)
Oh...one more thing...I'll try to update before January, but it might not be possible...so keep reviewin and i'll try! Merry Christmas if i don't update between now and then! =o) ~Jenny the chica~
ps~i know i'm making it even worse, but sorry for the EXTREMELY long (and pointless) authoress's note! buh-bye til next year!
Chapter Eight: In which Celia embraces her new home…
Waking up, Celia first half-asleep realization was that she had slept in her new "princess dress" and wrinkled it beyond repair. She sat up and rubbed her eyes, then saw the dress to be laid out on the chair in the corner. She sighed with relief, then saw herself to be dressed in her more comfortable nightdress. Celia thought about last night, and respected her husband's willingness to hold and comfort a wife who was much too old to be crying as hysterically as she had been last night.
After sitting and thinking about it for a while, Celia then toyed with the idea of how sad and homesick he must have felt when he had first come here. His grief was probably far worse than even hers was! She was not the only one who had had to leave family and everything else known to her behind.
This knowledge encouraged her as she got ready for breakfast. She looked forward to the morning and evening talks with the bear, but she also felt slightly like a traitor. She enjoyed daytime companionship with the bear, yet nighttime companionship with an unseen husband, and so much she seemed to hide from the other, but her husband seemed to realize everything that went on in the castle, as if he was the master of it, and the bear seemed to realize nothing that went on other than the time he spent with Celia, although he was the master of the house.
To Celia, this was one more addition to the long list of things that made this place so peculiar. Perhaps mystery after mystery had piled up so long that she scarcely noticed or was shocked as readily.
Celia glanced outside to her redrawn curtains, and she saw that it was still slightly drizzling, and the sky was covered with a sheer gray cloth. Although it had paused for a few hours yesterday evening, it had obviously taken up where it left off during the night, and it seemed destined to go a few hours more.
Taking her hints from the weather and the draftiness that filled this house during storms, she hurriedly pulled on a warmer dress than most of hers, and scurried downstairs to eat, frantically trying in vain to get warm.
The bear was not there, however, when she entered the dining room, and she felt, in amazement, her heart sink. She had not realized how much she had enjoyed the mornings with someone easy to talk and laugh with until she could not any more. She sat down anyway, her spirits feeling as damp as the flooded ground outside. Although she hoped and wished all through her breakfast that the bear would come, he did not. It was not until she was on her way out when she passed his bulky form in the doorway. In her relief, she threw her arms around the bear and kissed the top of his head.
The bear did not seem to notice anything wrong, but Celia breathlessly said, "I-I was so worried…I thought that you were gone or lost or hurt or sick or-or…"
The bear smiled at her concern, saying, "No, thank you. I was perfectly fine. You needn't have gotten so worked up. You're terribly bad at doing that aren't you?"
Celia nodded, ruefully smiling, and seeing that she had just made a fool out of herself.
The bear seemed preoccupied, and lumbered along on his way. Celia shrugged and continued in the opposite direction.
Celia soon found herself engulfed in the most common escape on rainy days: chess. She had convinced one of the winds to play it, for the bear was nowhere to be seen, yet the record remained pretty even, for as soon as one got ahead, the other caught up.
The rest of the day followed without event. To Celia, it was a rather boorish day, for she hated being cooped up inside. She was quite sick of exploring, so she played chess, ate lunch, then found a deck of cards and played Solitaire. She got rather tired of the quiet, so she sang softly to herself, then began to twirl around in one of the huge parlor rooms, into the hall, then into the huge ballroom, where she twirled for a long time before she got back to the door.
After she was finished, she collapsed on one of the many couches on the side and laughed until her already aching side nearly screamed out in pain. She laughed until she almost fell out of the chair, which caused her to laugh harder. She had that feeling of being watched again, but she chose to ignore it and closed her eyes on the couch.
A few moments of solitude followed before Celia got up once more and walked around. The sun had finally come back out, and although it was dreadfully muddy, Celia put on an old pair of shoes that were at the bottom of one of the chests in her room and went out to explore the orchard. This took up the rest of her day until dinner, which she ate little of, for she wasn't very hungry at all. In fact, she didn't even bother to change out of the clothes she had worn outside, although she had taken off her muddy shoes and eaten barefoot.
Celia retired extra early to her room, fed up with the boredom of downstairs. She found a book and began to read, looking up at the sunset from time to time. Just before the sunset was complete, she put her marker in her book, and settled in bed, for she already had put on her nightclothes.
Her curtains and candle did the same as last night, and the comforting footsteps were heard again.
After a while, Celia soon fell asleep, but she was strangely worried, and she dreamed that both her husband and the bear suddenly abandoned her. She woke up in a cold sweat again, but was comforted by her sleeping husband's arm around her waist. She easily drifted back to sleep once more, after realizing that her worries were completely false. Celia fell asleep with a smile on her face.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
A few moments later, it seemed, Celia woke again. This, of course, was not true, but since waking up and falling asleep once more, Celia had been sleeping very lightly.
Therefore, a movement from her husband's side of the bed jerked her awake. She remained still, staring up at the ceiling, then felt his lips gently touch her forehead, then her lips. She wanted to kiss back, but she was too curious. It was still dark, but she heard the footsteps again and noticed the sheets, no longer taut. The opening and closing of her door affirmed what she had been thinking. The instant the door closed, the room became a little lighter. Celia opened her window curtain to see the beginning of dawn. Exactly.
Authoress's Note: DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!! i NEED to know what y'all think! ~Jenny the chica~