Chapter 5. not much to say.
Shards of EvenSong. Yes, the King is high and yes, I wanted him to be a somewhat comical character. sort of like the Rodgers and Hammerstein version of Cinderella.
Also, if anyone who read this happens to know how to change it so I can receive anonymous reviews, please tell me! It will be most appreciated!
Chapter 5: Alisa and the Prince
They were gone.
Katie watched gleefully as Starina's coach vanished. She had sat on her perch with the driver as she was supposed to - but this time, she wore a big, floppy, straw hat since she was rather brown from sitting in the sun the whole way here. And ladies weren't supposed to be brown, they were supposed to be very, very, very pale. But Katie liked her tan.
When Starina and her daughters had piled into the coach. Katie murmured something about forgetting something and jumped from the coach as the driver snapped the whips and the white horses started prancing. Katie rolled out of the way of the wheels and watched the coach go.
She was a palace servant now, to be treated rightfully and not as a slave.
She was given a bunk with the teenage girls, since the room was missing a person. She was given five dresses - each had a red blouse, a white skirt, and a black apron. She tied her hair back with a red ribbon and dashed off to the gardens, where she let the four mice and Lizzia go free. That was their routine - each morning, she took them out to the garden and let them go. They spent the day doing as they chose, as long as they didn't get in trouble. At the end of the day, they showed up back in Katie's room with the other girls and slept there.
All five of the other girls were stuffy and annoying. There was Teresa, a girl of thirteen with blond curls and hazel eyes who was constantly whining and worrying. And there was Mary, eleven years old, a little chubby, and short, dark brown curls and weird eyes. She shouldn't have been in that room, but there were extra bunks in that room and not enough in the room she should have been in.
Then there was Petra, a tough, fourteen-year-old girl with freckles who was always threatening to beat someone up, particularly Mary. But Darleen and Jessica told Katie Petra wouldn't hurt a fly.
Darleen and Jessica were the oldest girls at seventeen. Darleen was the biggest and Jessica the quietest.
The dogs Katie walked had personalities that matched that of the girls in Katie's room. But most of the dogs were named appropriately.
There was Q.T., a small cocker spaniel who was frightened of everything - Mary.
And Pirfict, a poodle who had to have everything perfect - Teresa.
And Gruffy, a big bulldog who seemed to constantly try to step on Q.T. - Petra.
And Larshie, an even bigger German Shepherd dog who always watched where she stepped - Darleen.
And, finally, Kylie, a small dog who was shy to everyone except her owner, Lady Sandra, a cousin to the King - Jessica.
One day, while walking the five dogs belonging to various relations to the King and Queen, Katie came upon a young woman with sandy hair. She was clad in green and as she turned around, she looked surprised at Katie. "From seeing you up there, I didn't think you would be a servant here."
"What?" Katie had no idea what the girl was talking about.
"You're Katie, right?" Katie nodded suspiciously. "Well, I'm Janie! It's so good to see you in daylight!"
Remembering the girl seen from the balcony, Katie smiled. "You too! Oh, and I wasn't a servant at the time. I was only recently hired."
"Oh, you're the girl Jordie hired?"
"How did you know?"
"Jordie is my third cousin twice removed through marriage. He's not considered part of the royal family, but since I'm a daughter of the King's brother, I am."
"So you're Prince Kenneth's cousin?"
"Right."
They walked in silence for a while, the gardens passing by them. The blooms were pale pinks and oranges and yellows. Every once in a while, they came to a dried-up, dead garden. Katie looked at Janie. "Why are some of these gardens untended?"
"They belonged to the deceased," Janie said simply. "When a person with their own garden dies, so does their garden because people want everything that belonged to that person to be peaceful and untouched. I think it's ridiculous, but Uncle Derek and Aunt Louise made me leave my mother and father's gardens alone. Ah, here they are, side by side, just like their graves." Janie stepped into the one that had lesser green than the other. "This one was Mother's. Ugh, I can't stand how awful it looks." She looked up at Katie. "Do you like to garden?"
Katie shrugged. "I don't know how, but I'm sure I could learn."
"Want to take care of my mother's garden for me? I hate it like this."
"Absolutely! I'd love to have something to do besides walk through the gardens holding five leashes, and eating, and sleeping.
"That's the life most royal women have," laughed Janie. "But we don't normally get to walk through the gardens."
"Sounds. boring."
After bidding Janie farewell, and returning the dogs to their owners, Katie hurried back to the garden. She sighed, looking around. Dead ivy was falling off the wall and dead plants were sticking up here and there - but they were mostly crushed, lying on the ground. She sighed again and bent down to start. She started pulling the plants up, with the roots so she wouldn't have to go back through and do that later.
After her back was sore from bending over and clearing out half the garden, Katie stood and peeled the ivy from the wall. It was actually somewhat fun to do, pulling at it and having a whole strand fall down on her. Soon the ivy was gone and she rolled her eyes as she bent down to start clearing the ground again.
"Need some help?"
Katie looked up in surprise. A girl in her mid-twenties was sitting on top of the wall. She had flowing blond hair, which was sparkling with a purple tint, and violet eyes. She was around three feet tall and her most surprising feature was the pair of purple butterfly wings perched on her back.
"W-who. w-what.?"
"I'm Alisa, your fairy godmother."
"M-my fairy godm-mother?"
"That's right! Want some help with your garden?" Not knowing what to say, Katie nodded furiously. With a swoop of a long, white wand, the entire garden was cleared out. "Now, what kind of plants do you want? No, wait! I've always wanted to do this." The fairy closed her eyes tightly and crossed all the fingers on her hands. Finally, her eyes popped open and she cried, "You want roses, and lilies, and daisies, and ivy! And I have a few more things you'll love!" She threw spells this way and that, each a different color. The roses grew and bloom from the red spell, lilies from the white, daisies from the yellow, ivy from the green.
Alisa jumped from the wall and hovered above the ground, her height level with Katie's. "Now, for my surprises." She smiled and made an ash tree grow up in a corner. Katie grinned.
"Thank you so much for your help!"
"There's more." Next, a great pumpkin patch with pumpkins half as tall as Katie grew.
"Pumpkins! Mother loved pumpkins."
"Yes. And these flowers are of my own creation. I think you'll like them." She pointed at the wall next to the ash tree and ivy began climbing up it - but instead of ivy leaves, there were strange, flame-shaped blooms, colored in reds, oranges, and yellows. "They're called fire-blooms."
"They're wonderful! Thank you so, so, so much Alisa!"
"You're welcome, Katie. You needed it from all your hard work at Starina's house."
They exchanged a smile before Alisa floated up and disappeared.
That's one more new friend!
Katie loved the ash tree and fire-blooms. Every day, after walking the dogs, she would sit under the shade of the tree and tuck fire-blooms into her hair, or make chains from them, or a bouquet for Janie or Alisa. Soon, from ashes and fire, she had earned her nickname - Cinderella.
The ash tree was also the new favorite spot for Lizzia and Rolly and Tubby and Frank and Rattail. Katie had also made another new friend, a small white cat named Tommy. The cat and the mice got along fine, thank goodness. But Tommy and Lizzia got on great.
But one day, as Katie sat in the shade with Lizzia on her head ("It's the only good place in the whole garden, the sun coming between the trees just right. unfortunately, your head is in the way.") and Tommy curled up in her lap, sleeping, a voice startled her, knocking Lizza from her head.
"Do you enjoy having strange lizards sit on your head?"
Katie carefully took Tommy off her lap and placed him between two roots. She stepped out from beneath the tree to see who the owner of the voice was - and dropped into a deep curtsy for the Prince. "Your Majesty! No, I don't. I speak to animals, Your Majesty, and this lizard is my friend. she asked me if she might sit on my head, since that was the only good place in the garden for light."
The Prince gave a short, arrogant laugh. "To be sure." He looked around and then his brow furrowed. "This isn't your garden. this garden is supposed to be my aunt's! Why is it grown, not dead?"
"Janie - Lady Jane gave it to me to tend to."
"Gardening is but peasants' work!"
"Not always, Your Majesty."
"Gardening is work, and work is what peasants do."
"But why, Your Majesty?"
"Because that's what they deserve! They aren't good enough to be middle-class, let alone nobility or royalty! They deserve nothing but work, hard crusts of bread, and every once in a while a drink of water!"
"That is not true!" The Prince raised her eyes and her loud voice. ".Your Majesty."
"How is it not true, girl?"
"Peasants work hard all day! They barely get an hour of sleep on their hard cots at night! They eat very little, and what they get is stale cheese and bread. They drink very little, and when they do get something to water their mouths, that's just that - water! And they still work very hard! You and the royal family and the nobles, on the other hand, get twelve to fourteen hours of sleep every night on fluffy, feather mattresses, eat huge banquets of meat and bread and vegetables and fruit and dessert, drink wine all day, and then sit around on your royal butts! I'm sorry, Your Majesty, but in my opinion, peasants sure do deserve a whole lot more than you do!"
The Prince rolled his eyes.
"Do NOT mock me, Majesty, and do NOT roll your eyes!"
Instead, the Prince turned on his heel and marched off with a "Humph!"
Katie sat down in the grass beneath the ash tree, yanked some fire- blooms off their vines and started knotting them into chains. "Stupid, arrogant, stuck-up, ridiculous prince!"
END CHAPTER 5
Review, please. Also, if you have any more suggestions on how to make Alisa (the fairy godmother) more real and believable and not so happy and cheesy, I'd really like them! Thanks!
Shards of EvenSong. Yes, the King is high and yes, I wanted him to be a somewhat comical character. sort of like the Rodgers and Hammerstein version of Cinderella.
Also, if anyone who read this happens to know how to change it so I can receive anonymous reviews, please tell me! It will be most appreciated!
Chapter 5: Alisa and the Prince
They were gone.
Katie watched gleefully as Starina's coach vanished. She had sat on her perch with the driver as she was supposed to - but this time, she wore a big, floppy, straw hat since she was rather brown from sitting in the sun the whole way here. And ladies weren't supposed to be brown, they were supposed to be very, very, very pale. But Katie liked her tan.
When Starina and her daughters had piled into the coach. Katie murmured something about forgetting something and jumped from the coach as the driver snapped the whips and the white horses started prancing. Katie rolled out of the way of the wheels and watched the coach go.
She was a palace servant now, to be treated rightfully and not as a slave.
She was given a bunk with the teenage girls, since the room was missing a person. She was given five dresses - each had a red blouse, a white skirt, and a black apron. She tied her hair back with a red ribbon and dashed off to the gardens, where she let the four mice and Lizzia go free. That was their routine - each morning, she took them out to the garden and let them go. They spent the day doing as they chose, as long as they didn't get in trouble. At the end of the day, they showed up back in Katie's room with the other girls and slept there.
All five of the other girls were stuffy and annoying. There was Teresa, a girl of thirteen with blond curls and hazel eyes who was constantly whining and worrying. And there was Mary, eleven years old, a little chubby, and short, dark brown curls and weird eyes. She shouldn't have been in that room, but there were extra bunks in that room and not enough in the room she should have been in.
Then there was Petra, a tough, fourteen-year-old girl with freckles who was always threatening to beat someone up, particularly Mary. But Darleen and Jessica told Katie Petra wouldn't hurt a fly.
Darleen and Jessica were the oldest girls at seventeen. Darleen was the biggest and Jessica the quietest.
The dogs Katie walked had personalities that matched that of the girls in Katie's room. But most of the dogs were named appropriately.
There was Q.T., a small cocker spaniel who was frightened of everything - Mary.
And Pirfict, a poodle who had to have everything perfect - Teresa.
And Gruffy, a big bulldog who seemed to constantly try to step on Q.T. - Petra.
And Larshie, an even bigger German Shepherd dog who always watched where she stepped - Darleen.
And, finally, Kylie, a small dog who was shy to everyone except her owner, Lady Sandra, a cousin to the King - Jessica.
One day, while walking the five dogs belonging to various relations to the King and Queen, Katie came upon a young woman with sandy hair. She was clad in green and as she turned around, she looked surprised at Katie. "From seeing you up there, I didn't think you would be a servant here."
"What?" Katie had no idea what the girl was talking about.
"You're Katie, right?" Katie nodded suspiciously. "Well, I'm Janie! It's so good to see you in daylight!"
Remembering the girl seen from the balcony, Katie smiled. "You too! Oh, and I wasn't a servant at the time. I was only recently hired."
"Oh, you're the girl Jordie hired?"
"How did you know?"
"Jordie is my third cousin twice removed through marriage. He's not considered part of the royal family, but since I'm a daughter of the King's brother, I am."
"So you're Prince Kenneth's cousin?"
"Right."
They walked in silence for a while, the gardens passing by them. The blooms were pale pinks and oranges and yellows. Every once in a while, they came to a dried-up, dead garden. Katie looked at Janie. "Why are some of these gardens untended?"
"They belonged to the deceased," Janie said simply. "When a person with their own garden dies, so does their garden because people want everything that belonged to that person to be peaceful and untouched. I think it's ridiculous, but Uncle Derek and Aunt Louise made me leave my mother and father's gardens alone. Ah, here they are, side by side, just like their graves." Janie stepped into the one that had lesser green than the other. "This one was Mother's. Ugh, I can't stand how awful it looks." She looked up at Katie. "Do you like to garden?"
Katie shrugged. "I don't know how, but I'm sure I could learn."
"Want to take care of my mother's garden for me? I hate it like this."
"Absolutely! I'd love to have something to do besides walk through the gardens holding five leashes, and eating, and sleeping.
"That's the life most royal women have," laughed Janie. "But we don't normally get to walk through the gardens."
"Sounds. boring."
After bidding Janie farewell, and returning the dogs to their owners, Katie hurried back to the garden. She sighed, looking around. Dead ivy was falling off the wall and dead plants were sticking up here and there - but they were mostly crushed, lying on the ground. She sighed again and bent down to start. She started pulling the plants up, with the roots so she wouldn't have to go back through and do that later.
After her back was sore from bending over and clearing out half the garden, Katie stood and peeled the ivy from the wall. It was actually somewhat fun to do, pulling at it and having a whole strand fall down on her. Soon the ivy was gone and she rolled her eyes as she bent down to start clearing the ground again.
"Need some help?"
Katie looked up in surprise. A girl in her mid-twenties was sitting on top of the wall. She had flowing blond hair, which was sparkling with a purple tint, and violet eyes. She was around three feet tall and her most surprising feature was the pair of purple butterfly wings perched on her back.
"W-who. w-what.?"
"I'm Alisa, your fairy godmother."
"M-my fairy godm-mother?"
"That's right! Want some help with your garden?" Not knowing what to say, Katie nodded furiously. With a swoop of a long, white wand, the entire garden was cleared out. "Now, what kind of plants do you want? No, wait! I've always wanted to do this." The fairy closed her eyes tightly and crossed all the fingers on her hands. Finally, her eyes popped open and she cried, "You want roses, and lilies, and daisies, and ivy! And I have a few more things you'll love!" She threw spells this way and that, each a different color. The roses grew and bloom from the red spell, lilies from the white, daisies from the yellow, ivy from the green.
Alisa jumped from the wall and hovered above the ground, her height level with Katie's. "Now, for my surprises." She smiled and made an ash tree grow up in a corner. Katie grinned.
"Thank you so much for your help!"
"There's more." Next, a great pumpkin patch with pumpkins half as tall as Katie grew.
"Pumpkins! Mother loved pumpkins."
"Yes. And these flowers are of my own creation. I think you'll like them." She pointed at the wall next to the ash tree and ivy began climbing up it - but instead of ivy leaves, there were strange, flame-shaped blooms, colored in reds, oranges, and yellows. "They're called fire-blooms."
"They're wonderful! Thank you so, so, so much Alisa!"
"You're welcome, Katie. You needed it from all your hard work at Starina's house."
They exchanged a smile before Alisa floated up and disappeared.
That's one more new friend!
Katie loved the ash tree and fire-blooms. Every day, after walking the dogs, she would sit under the shade of the tree and tuck fire-blooms into her hair, or make chains from them, or a bouquet for Janie or Alisa. Soon, from ashes and fire, she had earned her nickname - Cinderella.
The ash tree was also the new favorite spot for Lizzia and Rolly and Tubby and Frank and Rattail. Katie had also made another new friend, a small white cat named Tommy. The cat and the mice got along fine, thank goodness. But Tommy and Lizzia got on great.
But one day, as Katie sat in the shade with Lizzia on her head ("It's the only good place in the whole garden, the sun coming between the trees just right. unfortunately, your head is in the way.") and Tommy curled up in her lap, sleeping, a voice startled her, knocking Lizza from her head.
"Do you enjoy having strange lizards sit on your head?"
Katie carefully took Tommy off her lap and placed him between two roots. She stepped out from beneath the tree to see who the owner of the voice was - and dropped into a deep curtsy for the Prince. "Your Majesty! No, I don't. I speak to animals, Your Majesty, and this lizard is my friend. she asked me if she might sit on my head, since that was the only good place in the garden for light."
The Prince gave a short, arrogant laugh. "To be sure." He looked around and then his brow furrowed. "This isn't your garden. this garden is supposed to be my aunt's! Why is it grown, not dead?"
"Janie - Lady Jane gave it to me to tend to."
"Gardening is but peasants' work!"
"Not always, Your Majesty."
"Gardening is work, and work is what peasants do."
"But why, Your Majesty?"
"Because that's what they deserve! They aren't good enough to be middle-class, let alone nobility or royalty! They deserve nothing but work, hard crusts of bread, and every once in a while a drink of water!"
"That is not true!" The Prince raised her eyes and her loud voice. ".Your Majesty."
"How is it not true, girl?"
"Peasants work hard all day! They barely get an hour of sleep on their hard cots at night! They eat very little, and what they get is stale cheese and bread. They drink very little, and when they do get something to water their mouths, that's just that - water! And they still work very hard! You and the royal family and the nobles, on the other hand, get twelve to fourteen hours of sleep every night on fluffy, feather mattresses, eat huge banquets of meat and bread and vegetables and fruit and dessert, drink wine all day, and then sit around on your royal butts! I'm sorry, Your Majesty, but in my opinion, peasants sure do deserve a whole lot more than you do!"
The Prince rolled his eyes.
"Do NOT mock me, Majesty, and do NOT roll your eyes!"
Instead, the Prince turned on his heel and marched off with a "Humph!"
Katie sat down in the grass beneath the ash tree, yanked some fire- blooms off their vines and started knotting them into chains. "Stupid, arrogant, stuck-up, ridiculous prince!"
END CHAPTER 5
Review, please. Also, if you have any more suggestions on how to make Alisa (the fairy godmother) more real and believable and not so happy and cheesy, I'd really like them! Thanks!
