Next Morning
"Miss... Miss? It's time to get up." A thin light looking girl was opening the curtains so that the light was let in. She had on a little uniform that didn't fit it was really baggy on her, and it wasn't the only thing that was baggy her eyes had large dark circles like she didn't sleep very well, Celeste thought that if she had sleep and some more food she'd be a very pretty brunette.
"mm... Oh I'm so sorry, I've never slept in like that before." Celeste's bed was large and plush, she had lots of pillows, the sleep was quite enjoyable, maybe she just needed more rest.
"Oh I know, I used to be in an orphanage before usually all the kids are up and screaming now." The maid was fluffing the pillows on the bed and Celeste was putting on a light yellow frock, it was plain but it fit her well, Mother Anna ordered the dress made for her birthday and gave it to her early.
"You were in an orphanage before? uh I didn't get your name." The screen was quite elaborate she could see through the cracks but the maid probably didn't look over. It sounded like she was putting away the dead flowers and putting new ones in.
"My names Sarah ma'am, no ones ever asked me before, usually the people she brings here don't even notice me, though you're the first from an orphanage." She had a pretty little voice it was soft and pleasant to listen to.
"Oh, I didn't realize there were other people ahead of me, what happened to them Sarah?" Celeste looked at Sarah quizzically, she didn't even realize that a Lady could go through more then one possible candidate for the company business, what ever that was.
"Oh, I wish I could tell you but I can't, I do like you so far, hopefully we'll meet again." Sarah looked around a bit scared she didn't want to tell the new Miss. that the others had disappeared and never returned.
"Have a good day Sarah." Celeste watched as Sarah walked over to the door where she stopped and turned.
"Thank you Miss." Sarah opened the door quickly and closed it behind her, Celeste was very pretty not Lady Lisa beautiful, but then again Celeste's beauty is completely natural.
What a nice person, she's probably the same age as me. I wonder how long she has worked for Lady Lisa. hmm... Maybe I'll ask her. Oh well thats something for later she said to meet her at the bottom of the stairs then we'll go for a fitting. Celeste left her bedroom and stood for a moment trying to remember how to get to the stairs, she looked to her left and saw the entrance for the library, the large windows had morning light streaming through them, and then to her right and saw a long hallway. With such a lack of choice she headed down towards the right and saw the staircase and the Lady standing at the top looking around for her.
"Ah there you are Celeste I was starting to wonder if you were trapped." Lady Lisa stops to chuckle to herself. "I'm sure you're quite interested to find out about fittings, come dear, lets go down." Lady Lisa didn't even stop to see if Celeste was following she just started to walk while Celeste hurried behind her. Lady Lisa lead Celeste down a hallway and showed her into a room that had no windows and many mirrors in it, there was the mousiest looking man she had ever seen. He was standing there until he saw the Lady, after which he rushed forward and bowed and kissed her hand.
"Who is this young woman you bring before me my lady?" He had a very strong accent and it was hinted with snobbery, as if he would turn his nose down in a second.
"Ah this is Celeste she will be going to a ball tomorrow so she will need a dress. I'm sure it won't be too much difficult to get a pannier dress set up for her. hmm... I think a pale pink will suit her complexion best. Well I'll leave you two to it." Lady Lisa put her hands out as far as she could to emphasize the extent that she wished the dress to go to. It was quite wide and Dominique's eyes widen with the size of it. With that she swept out of the room with all the grace of a swan swimming in a lake, which is quite what Celeste would look like with a gown that large.
"Ah so you are the little one, Celeste is it, well off with you're clothing, you can keep your undergarments on, as you will be wearing those. Don't be shy now, we have very little time!"
Celeste quickly undressed and realized why this room was kept so warm, when you wear next to nothing it just is way too cold!
"Ah good size for your age, you must be around 20 right?" Celeste's eyes widen in surprise, she didn't think she even looked 20, maybe older or younger but never her actual age.
"Yes I am, how did you know?" Dominique gave a little laugh and looked at his hands.
"No age lines, but developed enough, you could be a great beauty if you tried, quite shy though aren't we." He looked up at her, not appraising her body anymore but looking straight into her eyes, making her feel as though she was the only one he could ever talk too.
"I just prefer books, they have a special quality to them." Dominique raised an eyebrow at this, he thought it was a little odd for a young woman to have an interest in books.
"Oh really? I suppose you haven't picked up any of the Lady's novels to read have you?" Celeste furrowed her brow at this comment to think if she had picked up any of her novels to read.
"Oh, I'm sorry not to belittle the Lady but I don't care for novels at all. You understand don't you?" Dominique clapped his hands with delight, he was almost exuberant with her answer.
"Well I suppose what kind of books do you like to read then?" He was measuring her bust size now and motioned for her to raise and then lower her arms, so that the measurement wouldn't be incorrect.
"History, politics, science, music. Everything about our culture and society." Dominique raised is eyebrows a little, this was definitely someone to watch out for she had a different kind of personality.
"Oh. interesting, well we're all done the Lady said you would have lunch in the garden. Out you go lots of work to be done." Celeste got dressed quickly she actually felt pretty comfortable with the fitting thing, well at least it wasn't something like can you fit in with this group. Celeste turned and waved good bye too Dominique. He's nice, a lot friendlier then I would have expected, from what I knew of dress makers they tended to be snobby, but he was intriguing. I wonder if all of the Lady's servants are like this. I wonder why she's throwing me into a ball so soon, I don't even know how to dance! Oh gosh! Celeste walked towards the back doors where the entrance to the garden was. It was a beautiful glass door with a criss-cross of gold and blue laced into the glass. The garden itself was quite pretty, the grass was short but not too short, and the flag stones were wide enough that even a small person could easily step onto them. The flowers the Lady had chosen were quite pretty and there was a small pond with a little water fall off to her right. It made for a very peaceful garden. As Celeste followed the flagstone path she noticed the Lady sitting beneath a birch tree waiting for her with lunch already there. The Lady noticed Celeste was arriving and waved her hand for Celeste to hurry over.
"Lady Lisa... I don't know how to dance." Celeste stared at the Lady with wide eyes, she hoped that the Lady had a fast answer, as she really didn't want to dance, not this soon.
"Well I'd be surprised if you did know how to dance, thats why I ordered that particular dress, while it is still the latest in fashion it will hid your feet quite well. Well we need a lady in waiting to help you dress in the morning and lunch, as well as getting you ready for bed and so on. Now I have a few recommendations what about you, have any of the servants been particularly noticeable?" Lady Lisa rested her chin on her folded fists, she looked intently at Celeste as she took a small sip of her tea. She seemed a bit frightened at meeting upper class citizens so soon.
"I really liked Sarah the servant who woke me up today, she was very nice, what's wrong? Did something go down the wrong way? The Lady had been taking a sip of tea, and choked on the liquid. Her face blanched a little at Celeste's choice.
" Cough, cough No, I'm alright I just didn't expect you to pick the serving girl. Alright I said you could have anyone you liked, and well she seems to fit your tastes. I'll send her along later. Now back to the ball tomorrow, We will be at the Laraunge, its quite high class society, even with out a monarchy we can still have aristocrat balls. Yes is there something you would like to ask?" Damn it, I thought she would have let me pick someone, I had some girls who are quite willing to do whatever I tell them. Lets see what this little girl has to ask me now.
"My Lady, why do we have no monarchy?" What a little twit, does she not gossip?
"Ah, yes I thought you might ask that, well almost twenty years ago there was a curse placed on the royal family line, and it was said that within twenty years we as a country would have no monarchy, the supreme powers would be diminished, there would be a complete downfall into powerless beings, all because the royalty didn't appreciate all the different kinds of powers. They sneered at anyone who had the smallest iota of power other then their own. They placed severe limitations on power usage." Celeste paid attention to what Lady Lisa was saying but she couldn't help notice that the delicate teacup she was holding was shaking and that the Lady's other hand was clenching and unclenching, it was if a great and dark power began to emanate from the Lady's body like an aura, only this was dark and powerful. When Celeste closed her eye she could see the Lady's power reaching out towards her trying to grasp at her hidden powers, her healing. A sense of understanding spread over Celeste, the Lady didn't choose Celeste to take over her company she chose her for her powers!
"So they were horrible people." What has that rascal realized? What is she going to do when I'm not looking I should step up the plans, yes.
"Yes, and we really don't need any more of them, do we?" The grimace that had appeared on Lady Lisa's face had disappeared and she seemed to be much more relaxed. "When you are dancing with young men which I'm sure you'll easily attract make sure it is only with men who are part of the nobility leave those bourgeoisie to their misery. At least we can make certain that their will be no lower class or poor attending, how dreadful if they did. Well Lunch is finished now, why don't you go search out that Sarah and inform her of her new duties, I've got other things to attend to." The Lady had replaced a very real and threatening tone of voice with that of a falsely pleasant voice, it reminded Celeste of when buyers were looking over potential candidates and they would find and overactive orphan they would placate them by saying they were looking forward to seeing them again, when in reality they never wanted to see them they didn't even register on their radar, they just wanted to see the poor fools face when they thought they were close to being bought. Celeste stood up and looked at the Lady once more before she left the Lady Lisa was left sitting alone in the garden even though she seemed dreadfully tired. As she was walking away she noticed that Dominique was trotting along on the upper level of the garden trying to get her attention.
"Celeste! Celeste dear, please come over here." Dominique was waving his hands desperately trying to get her attention, they were far enough away from the little grove so that the Lady didn't even notice his outlandish behaviour.
"Alright" Celeste hurried up to the upper balcony where Dominique was sitting panting. The steps were fairly wide, four or five could easily walk side by side up these steps, Dominique was sitting at a little side table that was plain but unique. There were a pair of angels fighting to hold it up beneath the top of the table, and for the chairs it had an oversized cherub that looked like it was in pain being the seat with a sign attached to its back, when Celeste got closer she noticed it said 'punishment for obesity' Celeste shook her head with disgust and quickly asked "What is it Dominique? Are you feeling alright?"
"Oh I'm quite fine Celeste, its just that I finished your dress but I didn't follow completely with the Ladies order and I'm worried, so I wanted to ask you if you would agree to say that it was your idea to change it." He was clenching and unclenching his fists, he drew out a handkerchief and dabbed it against his forehead, worried that the sweat would ruin his eye makeup. Seeing that Dominique was absolutely desperate Celeste had an idea to get some information, even though she was being underhanded she reasoned that there wasn't enough information going around here and the Lady was dreadfully powerful. "Only if you agree to tell me what was originally planned and why." Dominique looked up at Celeste and saw something he hadn't seen in so long, the fire of life, here was a young girl who could be royalty but she hadn't given up yet, she didn't even know she was fated to die. There was a chance here, a small one to overthrow Lisa's power, he had to take it that woman was despicable!
"Alright I'll tell you but let us go over to the waterfall, the sound there is so much louder that no one will be able to listen over to us." Celeste looked at Dominique for a moment than started to walk towards the waterfall, it was quite pretty here and it was so loud at points that there was no possibility of hearing the other person. They stopped at a spot just behind the waterfall where it was quite loud but Dominique waved his hand and she could hear him quite well, Celeste widened her eyes with shock, did Dominique have 'powers' too?
"Alright I'll tell you the Ladies plan, she wanted you to have panniers that were so wide that people would giggle at you, so your character would be diminished, to the point where she is riding in another carriage so that people would laugh directly at you. You would then try to run away in tears as it would be horrible and the gang she has behind her would capture you. She would then let you be tortured until you released your powers into the bottle, after which she is going to siphon out your soul and add it to that of the royal family. I didn't agree with it, but I didn't tell her that. You passed my test, you're intelligent and you didn't go for the novels to read like the other guests, you're interested in life and I fell in love with that. I have made it so that your dress is beautiful and simplistic at the same time, it won't be pink, as that colour just wouldn't suit you at all, so its blue with white and yellow ribbons as highlights. As soon as both of you have left I'm going to go to the harbour and live on a small ship, it can carry up to 4 people with a decent cargo area, its not recommended for sea faring but I'll live in the harbour until I can resurface. I'll be there until your command. Please be careful Celeste, I wish you all the best in your life." Dominique touched Celeste's wrist and she felt the power he had, greatly diminished by the Lady's constant use he still had enough power to cast small protections, what was he innately, could he be messenger? Was there such an innate attribute? Celeste wanted to go and study this more.
"Thank you Dominique, I'm sure we will meet again, I can feel it." Dominique hurried back to make the final preparations on Sarah's dress, even though he didn't know that was her new lady in waiting it seemed appropriate for the character of Lady Celeste. Even though she wasn't an official lady she was a lady to him. What did Celeste mean by meeting again, even though I want too, how would she know when we would meet? Does she have that talent, Celeste you are quite a mystery to everyone, even the Lady. When she scanned you it showed phenomenal power yet you show no signs of using more then the minimalist amount. What are you hiding? Perhaps the power that she had would come out eventually and it was probably to her advantage that she didn't otherwise the Lady would dispatch of her earlier, it was quite unlike her natural behaviour which was to play with the victims until they surrender, all of their power making it easy for her to trap them.
After Dominique had left Celeste with all that information she knew the one thing she needed to do was find Sarah, she was the closest to her in age, and seemed like a friend. Celeste was so engrossed in her thoughts that she didn't even notice Sarah cleaning the floor on her hands and knees. She collided right into her and over they both went. Sarah was already so close to the ground that she wasn't hurt and Celeste landed on top of her, they both started laughing so hard that they started to cry. Once they had finished laughing and realized they were probably nice and wet so Celeste decided she should tell Sarah the reason she had barrelled her over for.
"I'm so sorry Sarah! I didn't see you there!" Celeste was blushing profusely over her accident. She reached out a hand to help Sarah up off the ground.
"Thats alright ma'am I'm usually not noticed, were you looking for someone?" Sarah didn't look straight at her, as she was wiping off some of the excess water that was still all over her clothing.
"Yes I was actually..." Celeste reached out a hand to grab Sarah's before she started storming off as she was attempting to leave so that she could help find the person Celeste was looking for.
"Oh well I'll help you look for them." Sarah hastily said, oh why did she have to go and get water all over me, I don't have a clean outfit to change into. I'd better find who she's looking for so that I can try and dry this out.
"Sarah no need to cut me off... I was looking for you." Celeste let go of her hand at the end of her comment, she almost ran the risk of pleading with her.
"You were looking... for... me?" Sarah raised her hands to her breast as she was quite surprised, her eyes were wide with amazement and she stuttered a bit, fumbling about to see if anything had gone wrong since she had woken up the Miss this morning.
"Yes the Lady Lisa said I could pick my hand maiden, or lady in waiting, or what ever." Celeste took Sarah's hand and motioned for her to leave the rag and bucket, someone else would deal with it, besides they had to go and get something better to wear as they were both soaking wet.
"Really? you want me?" Sarah stopped in her tracks again, as she just couldn't believe that Celeste wanted her to be her handmaiden, it was a dream come true among the staff to be promoted.
"Yes and you're coming to the ball with me too." Celeste took Sarah's hand and dragged her into the bedroom where she began looking for something for the both of them to wear.
"Oh... WOW!" Sarah jumped up with joy and then hugged Celeste so roughly that she emitted a small squeak. Realizing that the hug was way too tight she loosened up and they started off putting on some simple gowns Celeste had found in the closet so that they could go for dinner. They had so much to talk about that they started babbling about everything. Celeste and Sarah were both overjoyed as they were already making fast friends, after dinner they came back to Celeste's room and they talked late into the night.