DISCLAIMER: i don't own ranger's apprentice or any of its characters :)
Week 1 - the excitement begins!
*yawns*
"Where a- oh yeah" said a groggy little Ellie under her sheets.
They had gotten in late the previous night and Ellie had gone off to sleep without a second though in her clothes boots and all, she had been exhausted, not only from the fact that she had been up till 10:30 pm without so much as a meal, but because her leg had been throbbing all through the night giving her a very restless sleep.
"Morn'n Miss, you look tired"
Ellie sat up straight, all sleepiness dispelled and she found she was looking into the kindly face of a servant, one of the many servants who looked after castle Araluen.
The servant had taken Ellie's boots for her the previous night and had orders from the reagent Cassandra that she was to care for the young lady for the week.
"Morning, thank you for taking off my boots, and yes I am very tired."
Ellie had said this with a beautiful smile that made the smile on the servants face widen a little. She liked this girl, the biggest reason was her beautiful manners.
"My lady the Princess Regent has given me orders to get you some clothes and shoes, what would you like?" Ellie savored the beautiful country accent before saying,
"If you please, I would be content with some pants and some shirts, thanks."
"You sound just like the princess Madelyn, would you like to meet her later?"
"Who is she Miss?" Ellie inquired
"The princess Madelyn is the Princess Regent's daughter, she is twelve years of age this month."
"Thanks for telling me and yes I would love to meet her." Ellie said just as the servant was making her way out of the room.
There was a muffled thonk as the door closed and Ellie got to making her bed.
o0o
Ellie made her way down to the dining room, escorted by the kind servant. She had gotten her clothes and was surprised when the castle staff looked at her in surprise then hurried back to their work more hastily than before. Ellie asked the servant about this but she only waved it aside saying,
"It's nothing m'Lady, its nothing"
But that didn't quell the curiosity inside her. When she had got to the dining room she had sought out Cassandra Almost immediately, this time she had a girl next to her that looked about the same age as herself she had promptly asked Cassandra the same question she had asked the servant cassandra had smiled and said,
"Well girls tend to wear dresses, but you and maddie here *indicates the girl beside her* have a different dress code, it's not very common but it's something."
"Oh." Ellie said not pleased but not displeased.
"Come sit down next to maddie, I'm sure you will get along perfectly, you can meet each other over breakfast"
And so that is how Ellies adventures at Castle Araluen started.
o0o
"Really! You're kidding me, you have to be."
Ellie commented in a very surprised tone
The two girls had talked over breakfast as if they had known each other all their lives, they were now saddling up two horses so Maddie could teach Ellie how to rides horse, they were telling each other over exaggerated stories about how amazing they were (as teenage girls do) and Maddie had just finished telling Ellie about a hunting holiday with her Uncle Will. It was midday and they would ride for an hour then come back for lunch.
They had spent the previous three hours touring the castle and introducing Ellie to everybody around the place.
"Now up you hop, I'll give you a leg up onto skitty, now hold the reins lightly, steady, good job! Now I'll get onto sundancer and we'll get going."
Maddie coached Ellie as she helped her up, then struggled onto sundancer, her own horse.
"Right, let's get going."
They started at a trot just so Ellie could get her seat, then gradually that trot became a run and the run became a gallop! The wind was whistling through her ears, her hair was streaming out behind her! It felt like she had never been alive until that moment, that minute, that hour. She felt free.
After 30 minutes they stopped in a glade close to the castle and had lunch, a small meal that had been prepared for them by the kitchen staff. Egg and ham sandwiches, fruit juice and some grapes. They rode on for the next hour and a half (which they both knew had gone over the time limit but nobody cared) except of course…
"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN! I SAID AN HOUR YOU WERE OUT FOR TWO! TWO! YOU HEAR ME, TWO!
Cassandra was raging, they had finally come back and it was three pm, much past the time limit Cassandra had given her. She was now pointing out all the things that could have gone wrong, much to the chagrin of Maddie and Ellie.
When the frantic mother had finally restored her sanity, they went to the dining hall for dinner, a scrumptious meal of roast lamb that had been marinated for over a day, so that it was succulent and savory, along with a side of local vegetables, soaked in butter with water or fruit juice for drinks.
After the girls had stumbled to the bathroom then said goodnight to each other, they hit their pillows and no more was heard of them, except of course a light snoring sound.
o0o
Five more days passed that were quite similar in routine, the girls would sit down to a delicious warm breakfast, then chat in the library, play hide and seek with each other, go riding then sit down for dinner again.
Their last day together went the same up until midday, and this is why…
"Ellie, i have an announcement, if you and maddie would like to come, we are having a ball in your honor." Cassandra camly notified the excited pair.
"Yes please!" they replied in unison
"But one problem,Ii don't know how to dance." Ellie said in a downcast voice.
o0o
The room was ablaze with light of pure chrystall and gold chandeliers, the ladies were encrusted in the finest jewelry in all of Araluen, the men all wore their dress armor of fine steel, gold and silver, the red surcoats dotted the room.
The two girls stood in the doorway hand in hand, both mouths uncontrollably open big enough to pop a truss tomato in each. The two girls had spent the afternoon practicing their dance moves, but failed miserably. But they could just scrape by if asked to dance.
"Go on girls, have some fun, but stay together." Horace reminded the two dumbfounded twelve year old's.
They walked slowly toward the back of the room where they were greeted by two other twelve year old boys. Both took one gloved hand each then winked at the other and waltzed onto the dance floor.
Ellie's vision swam, was she actually dancing with this handsome person? Realy? This must be a dream. The thoughts kept coming at her until the young man said in a smooth tone,
"Relax and just dance, don't tense up. Oh I'd forgotten my name is Thomas, but you can call me Tom."
He gave her such a smile that she just had to smile back.
Horace and Cassandra watched the two, in fact they had organized for this to happen. And both thought it was an amazing plan.
"Seems to be working, hey Horace?"
"I should think so, they seem to be taken."
"Too bad she's going away tomorrow,"\\
"Yes, it would have been nice to have her stay a little longer."
"Yes…"
"Cassie, would you like to take a turn?"
"Why not."
There was a collective 'oooooooooooooh' as the regent and her husband stepped onto the dance floor, the couple circled round the room like there would be no tomorrow.
o0o
Ellie packed the few things she had ready for tomorrow, when she would go to Allys and Wills house for a week. She was in a daze. That night had been the night of her life and Tom had even given her a pretty pendant, it was a soaring bird pendant and she had packet it away carefully in her small trunk. Tomorrow was going to be a big day…
Whoa that's a long one, more reviews pls people, the next chapter is going to be a fun one. Pls put some ideas in the review, i might even put them in the story, see you in the next chapter!
