Fight Like A Girl
Chapter 6
Friendships Formed
AN: Thanks again to all the nice people who review, I really appreciate it. I'm sorry that this chapter is so short, but I've got all this work. Ugh. Why did I ever want to learn Japanese anyway? Not to mention who needs to read Middle English. Middle English! I have enough trouble with the modern stuff. Oh well, I hope this chapter is okay. I'll try and write another one this weekend.
~~
My star continued to rise in the Cloisters. Cybil and Ophelia invited me to go walking with them and their inner circle, and I was so pleasant, so clever, that I soon found myself walking between Cybil and Ophelia. Other girls cast envious glances in my direction, perhaps lamenting that a new comer such as myself could have found favor so quickly when they had been trying to curry favor with Cybil and Ophelia for months, sometimes even years, and were only on the very outskirts of their circle. I was a special friend to Cybil and Ophelia, but I still needed something to induce Ophelia divulge some secret to me, some confidence important enough to break her and make me. That moment came after a few months in her company. A whisper of the poverty of the family of Elsinore swept through the streets and up to the noble houses. Eventually one girl, Adela of Nond, was brave enough to allude to that fact in conversation. Jacqueline of Tirrsmont had gotten a new dress and was showing it off to the girls. Ophelia's mouth drew itself into a tight line as it always did when other girls made their wealth apparent. My eyes were no longer the only ones that noticed. Adela smiled in an almost predatory manner (I hate to think that I look like that, but I suppose at times I must), and said, "Jacqueline, dear, please show some restraint. You know of poor Ophelia's.situation."
Ophelia's head jerked towards Adela. "And just what situation would that be, Adela?" she demanded, her voice crackling like ice breaking.
The group of girls tittered softly, eyes gleaming like a pack of jackels about to turn on their own. Ophelia's hands trembled slightly with panic as she closed her fan. Cybil, her 'truest friend', sat back, her face remote, waiting to see what would happen. My moment had arrived.
"She is, of course, referring to the rumors of the scullery maids and stable boys. I should be ashamed to admit such.intimate.acquaintance with them. It is only the lady with the least respect for herself that must resort to the whispers of jealous commoners for conversation. Such rumors have no place in respectable society, and I am surprised that you give it such credence, Adela."
Adela blushed, her eyes wide with confusion. The rest of the group was unsure of which side to choose. They knew by now that they did not want me as an enemy - the quick way in which I dispatched with Blaise that first day had ensured that.
Then Cybil cleared her throat and said, " I thank you, Delia, for reminding us all that we are respectable ladies, not chits that work in the scullery. Well, most of us are, at any rate," she said giving Adela a condescending glance.
The group laughed and Adela grew red. Her gambit had failed, the group was steadily back in my corner, and Ophelia sat back in relief. She shot me a quick smile and I knew she would not forget that it was I who had first jumped to defend her while Cybil would have been content to see which way the group would go and sacrifice her to the mob.
I was not surprised, therefore, when Ophelia thought me out later. She smiled at me and said, "Delia, I must thank you for putting that rabble in their place earlier. Eldorne is a good family, going back many generations. You are another girl of good breeding with a family that is truly noble, not like that upstart Adela of Nond."
There are few who would consider Nond an upstart family, but I did not say so. I merely smiled sympathetically.
"I hate to see those chits attempting to slander one such as you, Your Grace." I was afraid for a moment I had played too much the sycophant, addressing her with a term of respect reserved for dukes, of which there were plenty in her family, but which did not give her the right to the honorific. I needn't have worried; Ophelia lived for praise of that sort, even if it was sycophantic in nature. She glowed at the praise, and tucked her arm into mine.
"I have a feeling we shall be great friends, you and I," she said, and we walked off together, leaving Cybil with the rest of the inner circle. I didn't dare to look back and see her face. I barely dared to breathe - her confidence was mine now, I was sure of it.
Chapter 6
Friendships Formed
AN: Thanks again to all the nice people who review, I really appreciate it. I'm sorry that this chapter is so short, but I've got all this work. Ugh. Why did I ever want to learn Japanese anyway? Not to mention who needs to read Middle English. Middle English! I have enough trouble with the modern stuff. Oh well, I hope this chapter is okay. I'll try and write another one this weekend.
~~
My star continued to rise in the Cloisters. Cybil and Ophelia invited me to go walking with them and their inner circle, and I was so pleasant, so clever, that I soon found myself walking between Cybil and Ophelia. Other girls cast envious glances in my direction, perhaps lamenting that a new comer such as myself could have found favor so quickly when they had been trying to curry favor with Cybil and Ophelia for months, sometimes even years, and were only on the very outskirts of their circle. I was a special friend to Cybil and Ophelia, but I still needed something to induce Ophelia divulge some secret to me, some confidence important enough to break her and make me. That moment came after a few months in her company. A whisper of the poverty of the family of Elsinore swept through the streets and up to the noble houses. Eventually one girl, Adela of Nond, was brave enough to allude to that fact in conversation. Jacqueline of Tirrsmont had gotten a new dress and was showing it off to the girls. Ophelia's mouth drew itself into a tight line as it always did when other girls made their wealth apparent. My eyes were no longer the only ones that noticed. Adela smiled in an almost predatory manner (I hate to think that I look like that, but I suppose at times I must), and said, "Jacqueline, dear, please show some restraint. You know of poor Ophelia's.situation."
Ophelia's head jerked towards Adela. "And just what situation would that be, Adela?" she demanded, her voice crackling like ice breaking.
The group of girls tittered softly, eyes gleaming like a pack of jackels about to turn on their own. Ophelia's hands trembled slightly with panic as she closed her fan. Cybil, her 'truest friend', sat back, her face remote, waiting to see what would happen. My moment had arrived.
"She is, of course, referring to the rumors of the scullery maids and stable boys. I should be ashamed to admit such.intimate.acquaintance with them. It is only the lady with the least respect for herself that must resort to the whispers of jealous commoners for conversation. Such rumors have no place in respectable society, and I am surprised that you give it such credence, Adela."
Adela blushed, her eyes wide with confusion. The rest of the group was unsure of which side to choose. They knew by now that they did not want me as an enemy - the quick way in which I dispatched with Blaise that first day had ensured that.
Then Cybil cleared her throat and said, " I thank you, Delia, for reminding us all that we are respectable ladies, not chits that work in the scullery. Well, most of us are, at any rate," she said giving Adela a condescending glance.
The group laughed and Adela grew red. Her gambit had failed, the group was steadily back in my corner, and Ophelia sat back in relief. She shot me a quick smile and I knew she would not forget that it was I who had first jumped to defend her while Cybil would have been content to see which way the group would go and sacrifice her to the mob.
I was not surprised, therefore, when Ophelia thought me out later. She smiled at me and said, "Delia, I must thank you for putting that rabble in their place earlier. Eldorne is a good family, going back many generations. You are another girl of good breeding with a family that is truly noble, not like that upstart Adela of Nond."
There are few who would consider Nond an upstart family, but I did not say so. I merely smiled sympathetically.
"I hate to see those chits attempting to slander one such as you, Your Grace." I was afraid for a moment I had played too much the sycophant, addressing her with a term of respect reserved for dukes, of which there were plenty in her family, but which did not give her the right to the honorific. I needn't have worried; Ophelia lived for praise of that sort, even if it was sycophantic in nature. She glowed at the praise, and tucked her arm into mine.
"I have a feeling we shall be great friends, you and I," she said, and we walked off together, leaving Cybil with the rest of the inner circle. I didn't dare to look back and see her face. I barely dared to breathe - her confidence was mine now, I was sure of it.