Chapter 3: Sewing Mice Wanted

Raven stared at the fabric spread out in front of her, wishing that if she stared at it long enough, it would turn into a dress by itself.

She sat alone in the attic, a candle lighting the small space. She had to finish most of the dress before morning, or it wouldn't be ready in time. She also needed to figure out a way to disguise herself enough that she wouldn't look suspicious, but Victoria, Tavia, and Melinda wouldn't easily recognize her.

She wondered why she had thought she could do this herself. Her sewing skill was limited to stitching small rips in Tavia and Victoria's clothing, and adding patches to her shabby dress.

She looked back and forth between the sewing book opened in front of her and the material. Taking a deep breath, she picked up a sewing needle and poked it through one of the carefully cut pieces of material.

'Here goes nothing,' she thought, and began stitching. As she stitched, she couldn't stop her mind from wandering.

Why, she wondered, did she want to go in the first place? She had never liked parties, and she knew that if she got caught, no good would come of it. Eventually she decided that it was about opposing Melinda, and her imbecile daughters. Melinda had forbidden her from going, and so she was going to go.

There was another reason as well, although Raven wouldn't admit it, even to herself. The prince was going to be there, and while she knew that she wouldn't get anywhere near the prince (and even if she did, she doubted that he would be very interesting), she couldn't help thinking about the unread story in her newly burned book. Her father had said that she would fall in love with a handsome prince. Truthfully, she hadn't the slightest idea what the prince of Tamborinia looked like, but surely he was handsome. As far as she knew, the monarchs of Tamborinia had always beenquitegood looking.

After a while, her eyes began to grow heavy, and her world was beginning to blur around the edges. She set down her gown. She had almost finished it, and once she had finished hemming the bottom, it would be ready.

Standing up wearily, she slipped out of her rag dress and carefully pulled on the gown. Walking over to the cracked mirror that sat in a corner of the attic, she examined her handiwork.

The skirt wasn't as full as she had wanted it, and the left side seemed just a bit shorter than the right, but other than that, it would suffice. It was the top of the dress that was really horrible. It hung loosely across her shoulders and didn't have much shape at all. Her sleeves were different lengths and the dress was too tight at the collar.

She started at the sagging gown in the mirror for a couple minutes, before turning back to her sewing supplies. A mouse was sniffing at her threaded needle.

"I don't suppose you want to fix the dress for me?" she asked the mouse. The small rodent scurried away at her voice. Raven huffed and sat down. As she sat there, a small light flashed in the corner of her eye.

Raven turned around to look in the direction the flash had come from. There was nothing there but a pile of scrap material Raven had already discarded from the dress. However, as she looked at the pile, she noticed that the light blue fabric seemed to be sitting on top of something darker.

Crawling over, she pushed away the scraps to reveal a royal blue cloak sitting underneath. Touching the material, Raven found that the cloak felt like silk, but she could tell that it was sturdier than normal silk. A deep red brooch held the folds of material together.

Picking it up, she tried it on. Immediately it closed around her, concealing the awful dress. Feeling around the back of her neck, Raven tugged on a hood and pulled it over her head.

She looked once again at the mirror, and was surprised by how well it hid her dress and face. If she moved carefully, she could even walk around without displaying her atrocious attempt at sewing!

But where had it come from?

Shrugging, Raven pulled the cloak off and quickly changed into her normal attire. Wherever it had come from, it was a wonderful gift, and it would come in useful.

Peering out the attic window, Raven decided that she had about an hour before sunrise, and that she should get some rest before she was forced to run around, helping the step-evils get ready for the ball the next day.

-

"No, you don't understand Vic!" Gar argued, holding out his arms for measurement while he looked over at his friend. "It was just so… awesome!"

"So you've been telling me since you got back last night," Victor laughed, allowing the palace seamstress to measure his arms as well.

"I know, but…" Prince Garfield trailed off, a dreamy look in his eyes. Suddenly he snapped back to reality and looked over at Victor. "But how am I suppose to go through with this? I met the girl I love, and she already said that she's not going to the ball!"

Victor shot a look at the seamstress, who was skillfully doing her job while pretending not to listen to their conversation. Vic knew that word that the prince was already in love would spread around the castle like wild fire.

"Maybe we should talk about this later," Victor suggested, discreetly nodding towards the seamstress.

"No. We can talk about it right now. I don't care if word get around the whole kingdom, and I especially don't care if it reaches my father," Gar insisted, folding his arms stubbornly.

"Fine. But you know that even if he does hear, he's not going to care. You fell in love with a peasant girl in the city. You know he won't approve," Victor reasoned.

"I don't care if he doesn't approve! If he doesn't want a prince marrying a commoner, I'll… I'll abdicate!"

Victor looked at his friend with wide eyes. "You don't mean that! You've looked forward to being king since you were old enough to understand what being a prince meant."

Garfield sighed. "I do mean it."

"But… your dreams! You've had a vision of a peaceful, prosperous kingdom for a long time! I thought… I thought that you were going to become King, with me as your advisor, and together we'd make the kingdom…" Victor trailed off.

"I know Vic," Gar said, placing a comforting hand on his friend's shoulder. "It was your dream too. But you can still make that dream come true. You'll just have to do it without me. You'll still be the royal advisor with the new king. I think my cousin Wally is next in line."

"Psh… Wally. That guy rushes through everything. He wouldn't be a good king. Not like you," Victor insisted. "You would actually listen and care about your subjects. Not to say Wally wouldn't, but he would get tired of it eventually. It's not fast-paced enough for him."

"I'm sorry Vic, but unless my father agrees to let me marry a servant girl I met in the city, then all I can say is, hello King Wally," Gar replied. There was a silence in the room as Victor mulled over Gar's words, and the seamstress hurried to finish making measurements.

"Well," Victor spoke at last. "If you do abdicate, I'm going with you."

"What? You can't be serious!" Gar looked over at his friend, who actually had a very serious face. "You're serious…"

"Totally serious. You're my best friend," Victor said, smiling at the green prince. "If you're going down, I'm going with you."

"Shut up," Gar laughed, punching his friend in the arm. "Besides, if we're lucky, Father will let me marry her and keep my future throne."

-

"These socks need to be mended!"

"Where are my new jewels? I just had them!"

"You're sure this color doesn't make me looked washed out?"

"Who cares? I still can't find my jewels!"

Raven closed the heavy oak door that lead into Victoria and Tavia's joined rooms and sighed thankfully when silence filled the hallway.

She looked at the pile of laundry and mending she had to do, along with her usual chores. She would be working all day, and probably well into the night. She stifled a yawn, and bent down to pick up the pile. As she was bending down, her knees gave out and she toppled forward into the pile of clothing.

She was surprised at how soft they felt underneath her, and was tempted to fall asleep right there, but in the end she picked herself up and carried the laundry down the hall.

"Why Raven, you seem tired today," Melinda spoke up, turning a corner and noticing Raven's lethargic steps.

"I'm fine," Raven replied stoically. Seven years ago, she might have believed that the concerned tone in Melinda's voice was genuine, but she knew better now. She could even pick out a slight hint of suspicion in Melinda's words.

Giving Raven one final cautious look, Melinda walked away.

-

"Have you heard? Prince Garfield told his father that if he can't marry that peasant girl, he's going to abdicate…"

"I heard he was even going to live with her on the streets…"

"I heard the peasant he fell in love with was a boy…"

Robin snorted with laughter as he passed a group of whispering palace staff. Rumors had been spreading around the castle all day. Robin had even heard some of his guard talking about it between drills and combat practice.

He walked towards a familiar door and knocked on the hard wood. Inside, Robin knew that Victor and Gar were probably laughing about the small new details that had been made up as the rumor was passed along.

"Come in," Gar called through door. Robin could hear that he was laughing, and Victor's rumbling laughter could also be heard.

Robin opened the door and looked over at his two friends since childhood, sitting on the floor and giggling. They had all grown up together, and had never felt the need for the formal greetings and behavior around each other that had been taught to them since they were young.

"Hey Rob," Gar greeted. "Heard the rumors?"

"Yeah, I've heard them," Robin assured. "Whether I believe them or not is another story."

"Man, you should hear some of the things people have been saying," Victor chuckled.

"Someone said that I threatened to become a hermit if my father wouldn't let me marry her!" Gar said between giggles, holding his sides.

"And that the girl he loves is actually a sorceress in disguise!" Vic added, causing them both to laugh even harder.

"I just heard that the peasant you fell in love with was a boy," Robin commented, smirking. Garfield immediately stopped laughing and looked at Robin in disgust, while Victor laughed even harder than he had before, pounding one of his large fists on the floor.

"Dude, that is so not funny!" Gar shouted, punching Victor in the arm.

"It so IS!" Victor replied, and Robin joined in on the laughing. After a while, Gar laughed as well.

Eventually the laughing died down and the three boys just lay down on the floor and stared up at the painted ceiling.

"So…" Robin said uncertainly after a few minutes. "It wasn't really a boy… right?"

There was a shout of laughter from Cyborg.

"Of course not!" Garfield exclaimed. "She was a girl. A pretty one too."

"Okay, okay. Just had to make sure," Robin appeased, chuckling. "So, are you going to go through with the ball then?"

"Yeah," Gar grumbled. "The old man's making me go through with it. He said that if I couldn't find anyone at the ball- well… he didn't actually say anything understandable after that. He was too busy yelling and throwing things at the wall. I think he took it pretty well."

"So, tell me again," Robin prodded. "You bumped into this Raven girl in the market place in the city, and what did you do after that?"

"After that we went with her to buy fabric and shoes," Gar answered, think back to the previous day he had spent with the mysterious girl, Raven.

"And you're sure that she's not going to the ball?" Robin asked.

"Yeah, why?"

"Well, it just sort of sounds like she was getting things ready for the ball. Fabric for a dress, nice slippers…" Robin replied.

"She was probably just running errands for the people she works for," Victor reasoned.

"True, but then she most likely would have had money to spend," Robin pointed out. "You said yesterday that she was trading items for the things she needed."

"You just like overanalyzing things, don't you?" Garfield asked jokingly.

"Guilty," Robin laughed. "But still, it makes you wonder…"

-

Raven groaned, flopping onto her bed of straw by the kitchen fireplace. It was almost three in the morning, and she had just finished her regular chores. Luckily, her usual wake up time of five o'clock could be pushed to seven o'clock, since Melinda and her daughters would be sleeping in until at least noon. 'Beauty sleep,' they had called it. Raven hadn't bothered to point out that they'd need to sleep a lot longer than noon for that.

Rolling onto her back, Raven closed her eyes, but sleep couldn't seem to take her, despite how tired she felt.

Opening her eyes, she studied the knots in the wooden rafters of the ceiling. One of them looked like a person, looking back at her with a wide smile.

Her thoughts turned inadvertently to the green boy she had met in the market the other day. Gar, he had called himself. Strangely enough, she didn't find herself as interested in thinking about Victor, the other boy she had met.

'I wonder if Gar will be at the ball?' Raven thought, tracing the knots with her eyes. 'I suppose it doesn't matter anyway. If everything goes well, no one will be able to recognize me.'

As she lay there, she thought she heard the creaking of wood as someone walked around upstairs. An image of her gown sitting in the attic flashed across her mind, and for a second she felt afraid that Melinda had figured out about Raven's plans, but she quickly discarded the idea. It was probably just Victoria or Tavia walking to the privy, half asleep.

-

The next morning, Raven woke up to find the house in a flurry of activity. She had slept in past twelve, and Victoria and Tavia were already preparing for the ball they would be going to at six.

"Are you just waking up now?" Victoria snarled, walking down the stairs in her nightgown. Raven nodded. "Then go get breakfast ready for Tavia, Mother and me! Now!"

Rolling her eyes, Raven turned around and walked down the stairs that lead to the kitchen.

The rest of the day was filled with finishing touches on gowns, styling hair, and putting ridiculously expensive makeup on Victoria and Tavia. By the time the three women were ready, Raven was sure that if she ever had to mend another sock, or style Victoria's greasy hair again, she'd snap.

At five thirty, Raven was allowed a silent sigh of relief, as her stepfamily deemed themselves ready for the ball. She was just turning to exit the room they had spent most of the day in, preparing, when Melinda's cruel voice stopped her.

"Raven, don't think you got off that easily," Melinda sneered at Ravens back. Raven turned around to find Melinda holding a familiar piece of light blue fabric in her perfectly manicured hand. Her breath caught in her throat.

I was planning on posting this yesterday, but I didn't get a chance to. Actually, I barely have time to post right now. I just kinda felt bad for not getting around to it yesterday, so I'm putting this chapter up now before I leave for one last practice before the competition tomorrow.

Sorry to leave you hanging at the end of the chapter, but don't worry, the next chapter will be up on Sunday.

Uh... can't think of anything else to say,and I really do have to go now, so thanks to everyone who reviewed for the last chapter.

Tammy Tamborine