Chapter Twenty-Five

"Elle? Elle?"

I opened my eyes. The sun wasn't shining through my window. I figured it was night and I slept the whole day. I saw Ivinia. Well, in a dazed, blurry way. My head hurts and I was dizzy.

"Ella, Mandy cooked for you. Curing soup, she says. Carrots, leeks, celery, and," Ivinia groaned, "Unicorn's tail hair."

The curing soup. I remember that.

Ivinia handed me a bowl and a spoon. I grimaced. It smelled good but it looked a bit disgusting. Long yellow-white hairs floated with the vegetables. I have to eat this.

"Mandy said the most peculiar of all things," Ivinia continued as if not noticing my disgusted look, "She told me to tell you not to eat it. It is curing soup. Why won't she let you eat it? Your fever is getting worse. I could swear you burned my hand when I touched you a while ago. Well, if Mandy says so. Don't eat the soup Elle."

An order. Don't eat the soup.

I took the spoon and filled it with soup. A hair was in it. Mandy did realize about my curse of disobedience. She knew I wouldn't eat this because of the hairs. My disobedience made me eat it. When I stopped, I felt a slight dose of nausea.

"Elle, this reverse psychology, it does work on you."

"I know."

"I better leave you in peace to eat. Night, Elle." Ivinia went out.

I continued gobbling the soup until there was not a drop left in the bowl. Disobedience was a nightmare. When I had the curse of obedience, I wished for nothing except to disobey orders. I hated it when someone told me an order. Even if that someone was Mandy. But now, I was the most disobedient girl and wished for nothing except obedience. I never thought I would think of that.

I felt a lot better with the soup. My head felt lighter and the dizziness was beginning to fade. I was soon half-asleep and half-awake.

"Sweetie," I heard Mandy's voice, "Sweetie, don't wake up."

An order. Disobedience followed. I was awake.

"Oh Mandy!" I cried and hugged her, "I never want to be disobedient! This is worse than obedience! Please say the countermand! Please!"

"That's why I'm here honey."

"Say it now! Please! I never thought I would say this but…I want to be obedient once more!"

"I know, Lady, I know. I had the whole day to think about your disobedience. It's much, much worse."

"Say it now Mandy!"

"Ella, be obedient." Mandy finally said.

"Try it." I told her.

"Clap your hands."

I waited for the curse of obedience to take effect. Nothing. I tried to clap but the symptoms came as quickly as I decided to clap my hands.

"Mandy, it doesn't work. I'm still disobedient!" Horror struck me, "I would be disobedient for the rest of my life!"

"Don't panic Lady," Mandy stopped me, "You didn't obey it because you are disobedient." Mandy thought then she snapped her fingers, "Of course!"

"What? How? You would use magic? Big magic?" I asked.

"No Ella. I will never do big magic! Anyway, you have to be rid of this order. Ella, be disobedient."

"How is that going to help me?" I demanded.

"Ella, clap you hands." Mandy ordered.

I expected to feel nothing but suddenly my hands rose up and clapped.

"It worked? But how?" I was happy. I was obedient once more!

"I figured you would disobey that order about being obedient. So I also figured out that you would not obey the order of being disobedient. Thus making you obedient."

"I don't understand." It was puzzling. Disobedience made me obedient?

"What I meant is that the curse of disobedience, made you not to obey the order to be obedient. So you were still disobedient. When I said the opposite of the command, the curse of disobedience did not make you obey it, thus you didn't follow the order to be disobedient and made you the opposite of it: obedient." Mandy explained again.

I was still confused but I nodded as if I did understand.

"I'm so happy Mandy!" I hugged her, "I didn't know I would be happy when obedient!"

"Well you wouldn't be happy when you are ordered something bad. Ella, remember this: being obedient is good. But not if too much. You should know when you should obey or not."

"Mandy, I would forget that in no time. I still don't have the will to do anything! I can never escape this curse." I said sadly.

Mandy kissed me on the forehead. "Someday you will break the curse Ella. Don't ever lose hope. Sleep now child."

An order. For once I was happy to obey.

But before I fell into deep sleep, I was thinking about Mandy's last words: Someday you will break this curse…I just wonder when someday would come.

I woke up early. It was before Gretchen came. I changed clothes, fixed my bed, and went out. I reached the kitchen. Gretchen was there, preparing to leave.

"Gretchen! I'll do the marketing!" I called after her.

She turned at me, "Ella, you're supposed to be at bed. You were sick!" she said.

"Mandy's curing soup does wonders. I'm fine! Really! If I weren't why am I down here persuading you to make me market?"

"You do have a point," Gretchen looked at me slowly, "Are you sure?"

"I am." I smiled at her to reassure.

"Well, alright, if you insist." She handed me the baskets, the list, and the purse of KJs.

I was about to go out when someone called my name. I turned. It was Ivinia.

"Elle! Why are you here? You're supposed to be sick!" she demanded.

"I'm fine. Curing soup." I replied in Ayorthaian.

"Oh. Can I come with you?"

"Sure."

We went out. Ivinia was surprised I was well. She said I was too sick. She thought I would be bedridden for days, even weeks. She asked for the recipe for the curing soup. I dictated it to her as I shopped. When we were going out the market, we saw a carriage pass by. I didn't know why it was of significance. Maybe because it was the most elegant carriage I have seen besides the Royal carriage. It looked silver, with gold colored designs. The horses too were a beauty. Pure white stallions. I thought that they were unicorns. Only unicorns could be that white. It sped past us, almost running over me.

"Well, that was rude." I said.

"The usual rudeness." Someone said. It wasn't Ivinia. It was in Kyrrian.

I turned.

"Cedric? What are you doing here?" Ivinia asked.

Cedric reverted to Ayorthaian. "I was awakened by those bloody roosters. All they do is crow, and crow, and crow all day."

"Why didn't you wakeup before?" I said.

"Because today, they were moved right under my window. They are your roosters, right? Could you serve them for dinner today?"

I sighed. "They are not our roosters. And they belong to our neighbor. And he would never eat them. He uses them for sport. For decoration."

"So those roosters would forever be under my window?"

I nodded. He groaned.

"Well, we better go to the inn now." I said.

We walked together. Cedric was complaining about the roosters, and Ivinia was trying to make him shut up. I remained quiet and listened. Then I heard something.

"szEE frah myNN." It hissed.

"What was that?" I said to Cedric and Ivinia.

"It sounds like an ogre." Cedric said.

"Ogre!" Ivinia cried in a panicky voice, "How could there be? In Bast? But…"

A wagon passed us slowly. It was a cell also. And the cell had a heavy passenger. An ogre peeked through the bars. He hissed at the people and the women pushed the children away. Two knights riding horses were behind, making sure he wouldn't escape.

"Sir, why is that ogre here?" I asked one of the knights. I was lucky they weren't Char's knights.

The knight looked at me with his arrogance showing. "He was captured, lady. He was wandering near Bast. His tribe escaped but we captured him."

"Oh." I turned my gaze away and looked at the ogre. He looked familiar. He stared at me with rage and hate, just like SEEf. I fell a step back but I held my gaze. It wasn't SEEf. SEEf was captured long ago. But he looked familiar. Then, I realized it was the leader of the ogres that captured me. It was SsLEen. He stared at me still. The wagon went on and he was away. I was happy. SsLEen must have hated me like SEEf. Maybe because I escaped them. Or fooled them. I didn't know.

"Were you scared? I bet you were. Every girl is scared of ogres." Cedric suddenly taunted me and broke me away from my thoughts, "Look at Ivinia. She's scared."

"Cedric. Let me tell you something," I replied annoyingly, "I've been captured by ogres. Twice." I held up two fingers, "Yes, twice. And I managed to escape them. I've suffered a lot under them but I'm not afraid any longer. And don't you dare tell me that I'm afraid. And don't ever tell me anything about ogres, ever. Because I am fed up with them."

"You were captured by ogres?!" Cedric demanded, "You're joking."

"Oh no I'm not joking. Joking about that would be the last thing I would do. On my way to Frell I was captured. And on my way to Bast, here in other words, I was captured too. And I do not want to hear horses' hooves when I'm with them."

"Why?"

"Because when I was captured on my way to Bast, I hallucinated about hearing horses' hooves. I thought someone would rescue me but no one was there. I thought I was going crazy! And it reminds me about it."

"You heard horses' hooves?" Cedric paused, "Why did you fell a step back when the ogre looked at you?" Cedric demanded, "You were scared!"

"Cedric, the ogre's name is SsLEen. He was the leader of the ogre tribe that captured me on my way here."

"I won't ask anymore."

"Good. Ivinia. Come on."

We walked in silence. Then Cedric started again about the roosters. I stared forward. I saw the inn. Two ladies were coming in. The one at the back looked familiar. Well, her back was familiar, or to be more precise, her hair. When we came nearer, I saw why.

Her dark hair was plaited into many braids that were gathered and were woven into a knot high on her head. She was as tall as I am. I couldn't see the color of her skin because a shawl was draped on her shoulders. But I knew who this was. I saw only one person with this hair. And she was almost as tall as me too. Only one person. A lost friend. It was Areida.

"Areida!" I suddenly called her. I touched her shoulder, "Areida, it's you!"

Areida turned and screamed: "WENCH!!!"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Not eon the Obedient/Disobedience thing: Please don't try to think about it too much. It would just hurt you head. And it would hurt for a long time because it is kind of hard to understand. I know. I understood this, of course. I wouldn't write it here if I don't understand it in the first place. But then, I spent one whole night just thinking about it. And even as I wrote that portion, I was still mildly confused. Don't worry about it too much, okay? Because there are much more things you should ponder about. Like why the heck did Areida scream WENCH!!! I've been waiting to write it in here! And it's been in my brain for a long time now. I just want you all to be surprised. To think about it…you know…I just love the suspense! I'll write the next chapter quickly so you wouldn't freak about it. And what was the significance of SsLEen being captured? I don't know…oh wait, I do know…just think about it also. Hmmm…what else? Oh right!!! The Basten ball is only two days away!!! Yeah! I'm just as excited as you are! Why? Because I love balls! And I love planning it! But things were quite hectic…the joint fic with my friend…my other fics…reading…and a lot did happen! My hair is five inches shorter!!! Well it is hot…and I've been pretty engrossed with writing in the joint fic under the name claidi and moonlight rhapsody (maybe the reason is because I play the villain there. And I love being the villain!!!). I just bought another Ella Enchanted book. Which means I have two copies. And both were the same! Except the new one had the excerpt from "The Two Princesses Of Bamarre". I did not buy another copy out of craziness! It's because the old one is dilapidated and the last two pages fell out. I guess I used it a little too much. So now, I use the old book as a reference for this fic and the new one remains in the shelf and would only be used for reading.

tY to the readers and reviewers!

Ironic Paradise, Sweet Star, Sailor Capricorn, Katie Carr, Gwenevire, zumamoonlight, Faeriegurl, Natasha, hime, cool camzy blue, Ecletus, blue-angel1204, Impulse_k9, Little Comet