Ghada stood on the second floor of her estate at the rail which overlooked her sisters pillow exhibition. Every few months her father would place all of his daughters who were of an age to be promised on a different coloured pillow as if to put them on display to the new suitors who were passing by. Ghada was glad she was not old enough to be on one of those pillows, she was the youngest of nine sisters and stood proud at a good age of seven years old.

Her nursemaid Hester stood beside her also watching the elder sisters final primping and smoothing of their dresses before the suitors were to be let in. The oldest was Eustacia, who was nineteen and was a rather cheerful person who in Ghada's opinion was never really in control of her life in any way. Any decision made by her mother or father, Eustacia would never question and gladly follow.

Next was Mahalia, she was nothing like Eustacia but that may have been because she was born of a different mother, Ghada's father had married six times over and had had at least one child from each. For only being eighteen she had a rather mysteriously mature air around her. She knew what she wanted in life and that was power and money, something in which Ghada's father would gladly share opinion in.

Third down the line seated on a yellow pillow was Valerie. Out of all of his daughters, Wycliff had always had the hardest time controlling her. She had a frightful temper and was hardest by far to please by anyone. She always wanted the best of the best and any suitor who had ever come near her so far had been rejected immediately in a very quick and unpolite manner. She was also eighteen and spoiled to the core.

The last and final one was Ani, she was definetly the best looking one there as far as Ghada could tell. Usually she was the one who caught every mans eye first and could hold onto that without trying. Ani was only sixteen and had been the youngest one on display yet. Wycliff had very high hopes for this daughter and would only consider the richest of men for her hand.

Ghada had other sisters though who were closer to her age to play with. There was Amory who was twelve years old who could get along with anyone she wanted to, then there was Amaryllis, Amory and Valerie's younger sister who was nine, and as far as Ghada could tell the closest person to her in the whole world, and then there was Leonora who was eleven and younger sister to Ani, she made up to Ani's looks by her brains. Then there was Delora, she was the only child of Wycliffs 4th wife who had died in child labour and always had a gloomy air around her, she was fourteen and closest out of the five of them to being presented.

Wycliff strolled over to inspect each of his daughters to see if they could get anymore appealing then they already were. After strolling down the line, Wycliff seemed satisfied and walked towards the large wooden enterance doors to his mansion and threw them open. Ghada practically fell over the rail while leaning to get a better look at the men lined up outside of her home. Wycliff edmitted only one at a time so while the stranger looked over his daughters he would have time to evaluate the clothing he wore and the way he presented himself to make a rough estimate on how much money he had.

Ghada grew bored after watching the fourth man walk out in a daze after seeing Ani, so she went to go find Amaryllis. Hester followed in pursuit of her young mistress as it was her job to keep a close eye on the girl. The mansion contained five floors with ten rooms on each floor all spread out. Living in a house like this kept Ghada guessing where she would stumble upon Amaryllis.

After three flights of stairs, and the groans of Hester complaning about her knees Amaryllis found them.

" Oooooo, did you see the eigth suitor come in?" Amaryllis questioned grinning with delight.

"No I got bored by the fourth one and went to find you," replied Ghada.

"What was so special about him?"

Amaryllis started laughing while trying to explain and Ghada had a hard time figuring out what she was trying to say. Patiently waiting until she was done Ghada asked her to re-explain.

"Well he came in wearing ragged pants with a patch sewn onto them and his shirt was untucked and frumpy, so obviously he was a peasent. I have never seen father so angry as when he threw him out of our house."

Ghada tried to picture the event in her mind and imagined her father picking up a scarecrow claded man and throwing him out the door. Ghada laughed inspite of herself.

"A peasent entered our house in search of a bride?What was he delusional?"Hester couldn't help but put in her opinion.

Ghada thought that she would rather have a man who resembled a scarecrow before half of the men that her father found as a possibility. Usually they were ten years older and very desperate, and Ghada didn't like the fact they expected heir's. She would rather not be married at all then to one of those men. Secretly she dreaded the day where she would be presented on a colourful cushion while being inspected like some common mule by men who ressembled wild boars themselves.

Amaryllis on the other hand couldn't wait to be showcased and expressed her delight every year that she got closer to it, as she was two years older than Ghada she would be presented first. She always watched every suitor come in and took mental notes on what they paused to look at or why they walked away without a second glance.

Ghada and Amaryllis began to stroll towards the kitchen as it was nearing dinnertime and they were quite hungry. Hester went ahead of them to check on the nearly finished meal and told the two girls to seat themselves. As time went by Leonora walked into the room and sat on the otherside of Ghada while Amory wandered to the otherside of Amaryllis. Delora made her way in in her usual dreamy way and sat at the other end of the table seemingly unaware that anyone else was there.The rest came in all at once in an apparent dispute.

The four girls looked up questioningly while Delora had no reaction at all. Wycliff was red in the face from trying to get a point through to one of his daughters and to which one he was addressing was unapparent It was then made clear it was with Valerie when she took her cup of water and threw it at Wycliff then stormed off upstairs. Dinner was then eaten in an awkward silence…..