Well, I know that you're in love with him
'Cause I saw you dancin' in the gym
You both kicked off your shoes
Man, I dig those rhythm and blues
- Don McLean (American Pie)
Chapter 2- Meeting the enemy
I was woken from my peaceful daze by the loud chimes of the clock that stood in the courtyard of the castle. I groaned and rolled over and it was at that point that I ran out of bed and crashed to the all-together solid wood floor. I stood up rubbing the sleep from my bleary eyes and trying to untangle myself from the intricate web of sheets.
"Sleeping beauty awakes." Harmony's sarcastic voice mocked me as she pushed open the door to make sure I hadn't broken anything. "It's good to see you're your graceful self this morning." I didn't answer her, just returned to trying to kick off the sheets constricting my legs. "Father is making me get you ready for the ball. We start preparations at four and I expect you here and ready with your gown exactically then, you won't be happy if I have to come look for you." She gave me a much practiced and practically perfect evil eye.
Harmony, my sister, at eighteen was about a year older then me, tall, thin with a to large head that seemed to be cradled by her shoulders like an egg in a cup and small, squinty eyes. Her front teeth were square but so large she could never seem to fully get her lips around them and her brown hair was limp as an over cooked noodle. But she was smart, graceful and (in private) as vicious and jealous as anyone I ever met. If it had been anyone else I would have made them come and look for me, but not Harmony. After the incident when I was seven and refused to give her the bigger piece of cake so she me so hard with a pan I blacked out, I had decided she could pretty much have whatever she wanted.
"The ball starts at seven, what could possibly take that long?" I asked indignantly.
She turned to leave, ignoring my question. I chose the first gown my hands came in contact with when I threw open the closet, it was a vibrant yellow which according to Harmony brought out the bags under my eyes. I put it on anyway.
"I told you never to wear that gown again." Harmony greeted me as I came down the stairs.
"Good morning." I mumbled and even though it was far past the time for lunch, took my place at the table.
"Sit up strait." She said dealing me a vicious blow to the back.
I straitened my back.
I spent my free time till four trying to teach myself to cartwheel, not a lady like accomplishment but one I wanted anyway.
"What could we possibly do that could take three hours?" I asked again as I met her at four.
"You'll see." She said in a very condescending air.
And unfortunately, I did see. For the next three hours Harmony treated me with an expensive and seemingly endless stream of creams, oils, rubs and everything else she could think of. She didn't seem to be happy to have to get ready for two and she was more then a little rough, succeeding in bringing stinging tears to my eyes more then once.
"Stop complaining you little brat." She had hissed in my ear more then once when I cried out when she jerked my hair particularly roughly.
But finally my ordeal ended and I was rewarded with a condescending: "you look ok," from my sister. I was about an inch shorter then her but my slender body curved in all the best places giving an allusion of height, my silky, slightly curly cinnamon hair was piled half on half off my head woven artistically into a silver clasp. She had put some black stuff on my lashes making them appear long and my Carmel eyes appear large and round. Harmony might be violent to me at times but she really knew how to make someone look good.
"You look nice." I told her.
It wasn't exactically a lie, her own hair had been set in curls and her taffeta dress brought out a figure that she didn't really have and made her hair appear less stringy, or maybe that was the curls. "Thank you." She said curtly. "I don't want you tagging along with me an my friends the whole night, go find your little boyfriend and leave us alone." She instructed me.
"Mathew and I are just friends." I said not bothering to dignify her indication that I cared for her friends with an answer.
I felt sorry for the prince who would could look forward to an endless cycle of these formal events the whole year, in a place where he knew precious few people and (I assumed) little about the culture. We didn't usually have balls but we were calling this sing one in, what I regarded as most likely fruitless, attempt to make the prince feel more at home.
Mathew was talking with Peter, a mutual acquaintance of ours though not what either of us would call a close friend, he was more like an ally, when I arrived but he broke off the conversation and ran to greet me. "Who is this lovely vision I see before me." He asked his voice riddled with mirth.
"This is your best friend with about three hours of painful beautification and a little over fifteen gallons of hair products." I laughed.
"You look lovely darling." He laughed with me, linking his arm into mine.
"And you look stunning tonight oh best friend of mine." I giggled with him, a giggle that died in my throat when I realized that we weren't just aimlessly wandering anymore, Mathew had a definite purpose. "Mathew, where are we going." I asked locking my legs and pulling him to a stop.
"I want to introduce you to someone." He had skillfully designed that answer to shut me up but provide the least amount of information possible.
We were walking again but toward the door and not the door that everyone was coming in and out of. Inside the room was a small table around which sat three people but I only recognized one.
"Mathew, Lorelei." Areida greeted us both with our names and a motherly kiss on the forehead. "Ella, Char you both know my son Mathew but this is Lorelei, she makes me wonder at times if I had twins and no one bothered to tell me about it." She punctuated her sentence with a tinkling laugh. "God knows I love her enough."
My mother had died on the childbed with me and Areida having no girls of her own she and I had formed a strong mother-daughter bond, which had started when I was thirteen and woke with blood between my legs. I had cried and run to Areida, knowing somehow that this was something Mathew couldn't fix, who had comforted me and explained what was happening.
"And Lorelei this is Ella and Char." She said pointing them out in turn. "Alex is at the moment being sacrificed to the court on the altar of manners."
"I've heard great things about you." I assured them with a polite smile.
"Oh please don't be polite, we're going to have to put up with enough of that tonight." Ella begged me.
I smiled even wider, the gloves had come out but the hands beneath were softer and prettier.
I was spared from answering by Mathew who started a conversation about the increased ogre activity in the area. It was a topic I didn't have very strong opinions on so I took the time to study the royal couple.
The king was regal but the tenderness with which he treated his wife deemed him an all around good guy. I also liked his laugh, it started deep in his throat and rumbled out slowly, it was a kind and honest laugh. It was mostly Ella who coaxed it from him but I managed it a time or two. Ella was funny, she always had something to say which would lighten the mood and put things back in perspective a useful skill for the bride of a king, I would imagine.
We talked for only a short while before, with a regretful sigh Char announced that we should probably go to aid of his son, but in that short while I had come to like them immensely. They were condemned to the table with the rest of the
"I liked them." I told Mathew as we re-entered the ball.
"I knew you would." He replied guiding me towards the refreshments.
I was hungry after the slightly traumatizing experience of being confined in a small space with my sister the whole afternoon so I filled my plate with food and followed Mathew to a table in the back.
I sat back in my chair content just to listen to the music playing.
(AN: More reviews = more story!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And you are encouraged to e-mail (shadow_of_the_hedgemon@hotmail.com) if you have questions, comments, suggestions ect.)
'Cause I saw you dancin' in the gym
You both kicked off your shoes
Man, I dig those rhythm and blues
- Don McLean (American Pie)
Chapter 2- Meeting the enemy
I was woken from my peaceful daze by the loud chimes of the clock that stood in the courtyard of the castle. I groaned and rolled over and it was at that point that I ran out of bed and crashed to the all-together solid wood floor. I stood up rubbing the sleep from my bleary eyes and trying to untangle myself from the intricate web of sheets.
"Sleeping beauty awakes." Harmony's sarcastic voice mocked me as she pushed open the door to make sure I hadn't broken anything. "It's good to see you're your graceful self this morning." I didn't answer her, just returned to trying to kick off the sheets constricting my legs. "Father is making me get you ready for the ball. We start preparations at four and I expect you here and ready with your gown exactically then, you won't be happy if I have to come look for you." She gave me a much practiced and practically perfect evil eye.
Harmony, my sister, at eighteen was about a year older then me, tall, thin with a to large head that seemed to be cradled by her shoulders like an egg in a cup and small, squinty eyes. Her front teeth were square but so large she could never seem to fully get her lips around them and her brown hair was limp as an over cooked noodle. But she was smart, graceful and (in private) as vicious and jealous as anyone I ever met. If it had been anyone else I would have made them come and look for me, but not Harmony. After the incident when I was seven and refused to give her the bigger piece of cake so she me so hard with a pan I blacked out, I had decided she could pretty much have whatever she wanted.
"The ball starts at seven, what could possibly take that long?" I asked indignantly.
She turned to leave, ignoring my question. I chose the first gown my hands came in contact with when I threw open the closet, it was a vibrant yellow which according to Harmony brought out the bags under my eyes. I put it on anyway.
"I told you never to wear that gown again." Harmony greeted me as I came down the stairs.
"Good morning." I mumbled and even though it was far past the time for lunch, took my place at the table.
"Sit up strait." She said dealing me a vicious blow to the back.
I straitened my back.
I spent my free time till four trying to teach myself to cartwheel, not a lady like accomplishment but one I wanted anyway.
"What could we possibly do that could take three hours?" I asked again as I met her at four.
"You'll see." She said in a very condescending air.
And unfortunately, I did see. For the next three hours Harmony treated me with an expensive and seemingly endless stream of creams, oils, rubs and everything else she could think of. She didn't seem to be happy to have to get ready for two and she was more then a little rough, succeeding in bringing stinging tears to my eyes more then once.
"Stop complaining you little brat." She had hissed in my ear more then once when I cried out when she jerked my hair particularly roughly.
But finally my ordeal ended and I was rewarded with a condescending: "you look ok," from my sister. I was about an inch shorter then her but my slender body curved in all the best places giving an allusion of height, my silky, slightly curly cinnamon hair was piled half on half off my head woven artistically into a silver clasp. She had put some black stuff on my lashes making them appear long and my Carmel eyes appear large and round. Harmony might be violent to me at times but she really knew how to make someone look good.
"You look nice." I told her.
It wasn't exactically a lie, her own hair had been set in curls and her taffeta dress brought out a figure that she didn't really have and made her hair appear less stringy, or maybe that was the curls. "Thank you." She said curtly. "I don't want you tagging along with me an my friends the whole night, go find your little boyfriend and leave us alone." She instructed me.
"Mathew and I are just friends." I said not bothering to dignify her indication that I cared for her friends with an answer.
I felt sorry for the prince who would could look forward to an endless cycle of these formal events the whole year, in a place where he knew precious few people and (I assumed) little about the culture. We didn't usually have balls but we were calling this sing one in, what I regarded as most likely fruitless, attempt to make the prince feel more at home.
Mathew was talking with Peter, a mutual acquaintance of ours though not what either of us would call a close friend, he was more like an ally, when I arrived but he broke off the conversation and ran to greet me. "Who is this lovely vision I see before me." He asked his voice riddled with mirth.
"This is your best friend with about three hours of painful beautification and a little over fifteen gallons of hair products." I laughed.
"You look lovely darling." He laughed with me, linking his arm into mine.
"And you look stunning tonight oh best friend of mine." I giggled with him, a giggle that died in my throat when I realized that we weren't just aimlessly wandering anymore, Mathew had a definite purpose. "Mathew, where are we going." I asked locking my legs and pulling him to a stop.
"I want to introduce you to someone." He had skillfully designed that answer to shut me up but provide the least amount of information possible.
We were walking again but toward the door and not the door that everyone was coming in and out of. Inside the room was a small table around which sat three people but I only recognized one.
"Mathew, Lorelei." Areida greeted us both with our names and a motherly kiss on the forehead. "Ella, Char you both know my son Mathew but this is Lorelei, she makes me wonder at times if I had twins and no one bothered to tell me about it." She punctuated her sentence with a tinkling laugh. "God knows I love her enough."
My mother had died on the childbed with me and Areida having no girls of her own she and I had formed a strong mother-daughter bond, which had started when I was thirteen and woke with blood between my legs. I had cried and run to Areida, knowing somehow that this was something Mathew couldn't fix, who had comforted me and explained what was happening.
"And Lorelei this is Ella and Char." She said pointing them out in turn. "Alex is at the moment being sacrificed to the court on the altar of manners."
"I've heard great things about you." I assured them with a polite smile.
"Oh please don't be polite, we're going to have to put up with enough of that tonight." Ella begged me.
I smiled even wider, the gloves had come out but the hands beneath were softer and prettier.
I was spared from answering by Mathew who started a conversation about the increased ogre activity in the area. It was a topic I didn't have very strong opinions on so I took the time to study the royal couple.
The king was regal but the tenderness with which he treated his wife deemed him an all around good guy. I also liked his laugh, it started deep in his throat and rumbled out slowly, it was a kind and honest laugh. It was mostly Ella who coaxed it from him but I managed it a time or two. Ella was funny, she always had something to say which would lighten the mood and put things back in perspective a useful skill for the bride of a king, I would imagine.
We talked for only a short while before, with a regretful sigh Char announced that we should probably go to aid of his son, but in that short while I had come to like them immensely. They were condemned to the table with the rest of the
"I liked them." I told Mathew as we re-entered the ball.
"I knew you would." He replied guiding me towards the refreshments.
I was hungry after the slightly traumatizing experience of being confined in a small space with my sister the whole afternoon so I filled my plate with food and followed Mathew to a table in the back.
I sat back in my chair content just to listen to the music playing.
(AN: More reviews = more story!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And you are encouraged to e-mail (shadow_of_the_hedgemon@hotmail.com) if you have questions, comments, suggestions ect.)