Disclaimer: Plot is mind, anything you recognize belongs to someone else, I don't claim it, blah, blah, blah.
A/N: Sorry! I've really taken way too long with this one. Hopefully it's worth it?
Also, sorry for any errors. I did the whole thing today and didn't want to wait to post it.
Warning: Watch out for some increased…sexual themes in this chapter. Nothing beyond the fic's rating (T), but I thought I'd just give you readers an advanced warning just in case.
Summary: On the night of the third ball, everything went according to plan. She plans to forget Char and go on living with her curse as a maid in Dame Olga's house. But first loves always die hard.
Call It A Gift
By Blackberry Ink
Chapter Ten: Behind That Locked Door
And the tales you have taught me
From the things that you saw
Makes me want out your heart, please, please
From behind that locked door.
From Behind That Locked Door, George Harrison
"Would yeh like a pint?" Gladys asked after me.
I looked sideways at Gareth. "A pint of what?" I asked our hostess.
She chuckled. "Ale, of course!" I shook my head fervently, so she turned to Gareth. "And you?"
"No thank you," he said politely.
"Well, go on then," she said, herding us towards the stairs. "Mabyn's room is th' firs' on yer left."
I nodded and Gareth walked behind me up the stairs. I knocked on Mabyn's door.
"Who's there?" she called.
I paused before responding, wondering whether or not it would be in my best interests to state my name. I turned to Gareth, eyes asking the question, and he nodded.
"I'm Ella of Frell and your mother sent-"
The door was opened quickly, as if Mabyn had been standing right on the other side of it all along. She scanned me quickly, then turned to Gareth and her face softened and fell into a small smile.
"What did you say your name was?" she asked him. I noted that she didn't speak with the accent her parents carried. Instead, she spoke in a gentle lilt most unlike the harsh ogrese-based tones of most of Bast.
"Gareth," he said. "Currently of Bast, I suppose."
I noticed Gareth's eyes wandered slightly down her dress before flitting up again to her face. I rolled my eyes and allowed the two of them to banter gently for a few moments as I studied Mabyn. She was pretty, I allowed. Very pretty, even. Her dress was obviously worn and her hair was in almost-elegant disarray. She only lifted one corner of her mouth when she grinned, but the smile reached her eyes and made her face seem fuller. She would fit in among the ladies at court if she were dressed properly, I decided. She would be cunning enough to win any of the knights and counts and dukes. She'd only need that smile and they'd fall at her feet.
"…and Ella and I were looking for my sister here in Bast," said Gareth.
"Is that so?" said Mabyn. She looked at me as though she were finding the quickest route to getting me out of the way and giving her time alone with Gareth.
"Yes. We're only staying here for lunch," I said. "And your mother told us to come upstairs and you would show us around."
She smiled a toothy smile. "Well there isn't much to see up here," she said. "That's a spare room there, and my parent's bedroom is the next door down. I doubt you want to see the rooms themselves. They're nothing interesting."
"If you say so," Gareth said. He moved a bit closer to me to allow Mabyn to pass us and head down the stairs.
Gareth and I followed her silently, then, when offered them, took seats at a kitchen table with the others.
"Yeh sure yeh don' wan' that pint?" Gladys asked us as she placed a mug in front of Mabyn, who promptly took and relished several sips.
"We're sure," I answered for both of us. I was growing stiffer by the minute, being at this place. I wanted to get on with our search.
"Well, we're eating in 'alf an hour, so perhaps it's best teh keep yer stomachs empty," she said, nodding. "Now. What did yeh say yer names were?" She looked at both of us, but, like Mabyn, showed more interest in Gareth.
"Ella of Frell," I said laboriously. The air was thick with ale and I wanted very badly to leave.
"And yeh?" Gladys cooed, nodding at Gareth.
"Gareth," he said.
"Mmm," Gladys said through closed lips. "If yeh don' mind me asking, how old are yeh, Gareth?"
"Nineteen," he replied promptly.
"Ooh," said Gladys conspiratorially. "Just a year older than our Mabyn."
Now Gareth stiffened. Then he dropped his face into his charming grin to please them. "Oh, how…" he struggled to find a word. "Nice."
Mabyn slid her chair closer to Gareth's.
I grabbed Gareth's hand under the table and used my index finger and shape letters into his palm. They spelled out: Let's leave.
Gareth waited a moment before tracing onto my wrist: If you want to.
I nodded quickly, and we both rose from our seats.
"We're terribly sorry," I said. "But we must be somewhere at noon. I've just remembered."
"Thank you for your hospitality," Gareth added. We made our exit.
We came to a halt outside of a vegetable stand. Gareth touched my elbow so that I would turn to face him. "What was that for?" he asked.
I took a step away from him so we were no longer touching. "I didn't like it there. It was probably the ale."
Gareth heaved a sigh. "It was foolish to leave like that. They could have known where my sister is."
I pushed a stray piece of hair back behind my ear. "They would have told us already if they knew."
"We'd barely touched upon it. They might have told us over lunch, which we promptly missed because you were uncomfortable."
"You didn't seem uncomfortable at all. Seemed to enjoy the attentions of Mabyn, didn't you?" I put on Gladys' voice and said, "'oh, you're only a year older than Mabyn!'"
"Jealous, are you?" Gareth scoffed. "Because the only people who pay attention to you only do it so that they can better their own status? They only talk to you because you're a necessary pawn in their plans to gain wealth and status."
I stepped back, stung. "I have people who care about me for who I am, not what I am. Unlike you, who can only get people to talk to you because you're remotely good-looking." I went through the list of people in my head: Areida, but the curse had ruined it; Mother, but she had died; Char, whose case I wasn't about to delve into. Well, there was Mandy. I had Mandy.
"If so many people care about you," Gareth said, tilting his chin up, "perhaps you'd be fine without me. What do you need a lowly shoemaker's apprentice for when you've got so many other friends in high places?" He nodded towards a sign on the post behind me. "'Prince Charmont will be visiting Bast next week on his way back from the Fens.'" Gareth emitted a punctured laugh and said sarcastically, "Is he another one of your upper-class friends? You've no need for me, I see, since our dear prince is coming."
I gasped. Gareth hadn't known the affect those words would have on me since I hadn't told him of my relationship with Char. The memories came flooding back to me with such speed that I nearly let out a sob. Instead I reached out and tore down the sign, pocketing it when Gareth wasn't looking.
Gareth must have noticed the look on my face, because he lost his fierce look and opened his mouth slightly, almost an apology.
"Ella…" he said softly.
"No," I bit out. "If you don't want to stay with me, that's perfectly alright. I don't need you here, I don't-"
He closed the space between us and held me against him before I could get out another word. I tried feebly to push him away, shoving my small hands against his chest, but eventually I gave in to the soothing feeling of his hands on my back and the warmth of his breath against my hair and the rising and falling of his shoulders and I buried my head in the crevice of his neck.
"I'm sorry, Ella," he said, and he meant it.
I couldn't bring myself to speak, even an apology. I was too weighed down with thoughts, my mind swirling. Char was coming here. To Bast. I was reminded of his promise, all those months ago at the palace ball.
I'll stop in Bast whenever I can.
Was I the reason for him coming? Or, rather, was Lela? Would he seek Lela out, and be devastated when he couldn't find her? Or was this just a routine visit? Had he forgotten about Lela? Had he forgotten about me?
Gareth shifted slightly and moved his hand slowly up his back until his hand was in my hair, his fingers combing through the tangles of the journey. I tried to press myself deeper against him, trying to block out my feelings for Char. I felt wretched, still loving him. I had no right to love him after I'd hurt him so. But the more time went by, the more I realized I could never stop. I was doomed to love Char until I withered away and died.
"I'm sorry," Gareth was murmuring into my ear. His warm breath was now on my neck, making me weak with both joy at being so cared for and misery for still loving Char and not telling Gareth.
We were in the dark of an alley, and I pulled away from Gareth slightly to sit, leaning back against the wall. Gareth sat beside me, our legs aligned and our hips and shoulders touching. I leaned against him.
"You smell like ale," I joked.
"Perhaps I had a pint when you weren't looking."
"Perhaps you took a few sips from Mabyn's mug," I said sarcastically.
"Ella…."
"Mabyn just seemed very keen on you, that's all I'm saying."
"Well, I'm not keen on her," Gareth said indignantly.
"Are you sure? She's very pretty."
"I hadn't noticed."
I nearly snorted. "I saw the way you looked at her."
Gareth raised his eyebrows. "And what way was that?"
I grew red. "You know perfectly well what I'm talking about," I said. "You liked her. I know you did."
"I did not," he said. "That is to say, I liked her. But not the way you're implying."
"I'm not implying anything. I'm saying it out in the open. You like her. You'd like to see her again."
"I would not."
"You're blushing. You like her."
Gareth grinned now. "I can prove that I didn't."
"How? By finding her and-"
"I don't have to see her again to prove it," he said.
And then he kissed me.
His mouth on mine was a cyclone of heat, pulsing through my entire body until I felt I would explode. I'd never been kissed before but I knew now why girls talked about it so often. His hands were in my hair again and his body was pressed completely on mine, pleasantly crushing me against the bricks of the wall. I kissed him back, and his lips tasted sweet and bitter at the same time. He held me close and I felt as though we were falling through clouds.
The kiss was urgent, almost in a hurry, as if he was kissing me like he knew I would run away in a moment. I felt in his lips the accumulation of all the accidental brushes of his hand against mine, and him running his hand along my cheek in my room before we left Frell, and him holding my in the alley moments before. I felt joy, but overwhelming sadness. I felt I was losing a friend.
I didn't know what to do. This is was nothing like how I'd imagined kissing Char would be.
I pulled away.
"Gareth," I said, and I realized I was crying.
And Gareth, taking in the look on my face, kissed the corner of my lip before using the ground to push himself off of me. Immediately I missed his warmth, but said nothing. Then, slowly, he turned and left the alley.
I was left alone, feeling more wretched than before.
My back ached when I woke. I'd fallen asleep slumped against the brick wall. It took me a quarter of an hour to be able to stand properly, and another quarter of an hour to find some water to wash the trails the tears had made off of my face.
Char was coming in six days. It would be best for me to leave and go to the next town over during his visit, since I feared that he might issue me an order I didn't want to obey. Of course, the chances of him actually seeing me were unlikely. And even if he did see me, he wouldn't recognize me from a distance. Not only was I filthy with travel and dressed like a lowly merchant's daughter, but I had filled out some since Char had last seen me. I'd settled into the upper half of my dress while the waist grew tight.
Yet a part of me wanted him to recognize me. I wanted him to see that I was not married to a man three times my age, watching him rotting away as I fondled hoards of jewelry. I wanted him to see that I had become stronger. I wanted him to know that my love for him had not ebbed in the slightest.
But I didn't feel I could come to any decision without Gareth. I felt an ache in my chest at the thought of him. It was horrible of me to have kissed him back when I was dreadfully in love with Char. Gareth was my friend – my best friend, even – and I had thoughtlessly hurt him.
I thought of my hatred of my curse, mostly out of habit.
I loved Gareth, but not the way I loved Char. And now I had hurt both of them.
Well, I thought, I'd ruined my relationship with Char, but I wouldn't allow the one between Gareth and me to meet the same fate.
I got up and began to walk.
I went a full day without seeing Gareth. I'd looked around the nearby streets not straying far from the alley where'd he'd left me, because I'd set up a temporary camp there.
Using a bronze KJ I'd found at the bottom of my pack, I bought myself a loaf of bread, which, combined with a public well, constituted three meals.
For those hours I lived a melancholy existence, walking around and looking for Gareth's telltale saunter or for Char's train of horses and carriages.
The next day I woke to the sounds of gentle breathing. Gareth.
"Hello," he said, and his voice cracked.
"Hello," I murmured, just as achy.
"I'm sorry I left," he said. "I didn't mean to-"
I stood and cut him off by throwing my arms around him and hugging him fiercely, hoping he caught the meaning behind the embrace: please, please, please let us be friends.
Gareth stiffened at first, then leaned into me, his arms still dangling limply at his sides.
"I missed you," I offered.
"I missed you, too," he said, standing up straight now as I dropped my arms. I was aware of how close we were standing, and he was too, apparently, because he took a step back.
"I'm sorry about…about the other day," I said. "I don't want you to think-"
"Don't worry about it," he said, shaking his head. "I should have known not to do it. I just-" He cut himself off.
"Let's not talk about it now," I said.
Gareth deflated. "Alright," he said.
"We should find a better place to stay," I said. I laughed nervously. "I don't want another night in this alley."
"Alright," Gareth said again. "I found where my sister lives. I haven't spoken to her yet, but we can go talk to her now, if you'd like."
"That would be good," I said.
Gareth and I left the alley together.
A/N: Okay, this is going to be a long author's note.
First: don't despair, Ella/Gareth fans! Their ship has not sunk. You'll just have to wait until the next chapter to find out what happens.
Thanks to horse-crazy-gurl, Ileana DuBaer, livingdead2010, inusessy129, awaiting impatient person, Antikia Lighten, CassTheCurious, queen-of-sapphires, Beth, Monkeystarz, Samantha, Anywien, Gemzgurl, dancrchick, kungfuchick, Abigail, Pointy Objects, These Walls, louwho, MIDNIGHT-PIXIE, kkroonie, Keiko Yuki, flammingirl, Gypsy-dragon, georgeharrison1, Tenshi no Shinzo, Mitza, Mohuyea, Gayle, silva sharpie, fantasyfan, rubberdukki, Fyliwion, kailie, booksrule39, Stardust 16, Latinaheat, Gami, lucky-duck, Meg, scubadiver725, thank-me-later, Izzygums, Inannalia, Bacon Yu A Pie, Indil Elondili, buddy, bowling4souproxmysox, utterbliss, Dream Chaser, Lisa, pearls and roses, Fleur the First, RoseGodess9, hermioneluver, Megan, Sydney, jaina solo fel, a someone, pawzzz, sunsong518, A Pleasant Reader, Natalia, nikkila, StormDarkblade, eveningsparkles, Mockingbird84, jackspparrow4ever, Iridescent Moonlight, and animalluvr75 for the reviews of Chapter Nine.
And, since there were a lot of questions in that last batch of reviews, I've picked out the questions and did sort of a Q&A thing.
What happened to Gareth's sister? –kungfuchick
She'll come more into play in the next few chapters. She's somewhere in Bast, they just don't know where.
Why did you write it? I mean ella enchanted had a quck but good ending too-don't get annoyed - I am just wondering where you got the idea to change it. – MIDNIGHT-PIXIE
I do like the ending of Ella Enchanted. It's a lot better than the one I'm writing. I'm really only writing this alternate ending thing because it's (mostly) fun.
When Gareth tells Ella women do not handle money in Bast, it is not an order, but you have Ella fighting from "speaking out against the order." – fantasyfan
Ella tries to handle the money and Gareth says "no" – an order.
'Tristan' and 'Gareth' - that's amusing. Both names of King Arthur's knights, hmm? Was that intentional? –Gami
Hehe, I'm glad someone spotted that. Arthurian Legend is one of my obsessions. The names Tristan and Gareth were chosen to pay homage to my obsession.
What are some of the other characters besides Ella feeling? –scubadiver725
This fic is written in the same point of view as the novel. Since it's in first person, it's written so that the reader only knows what Ella is thinking. I can't just switch perspectives in the middle. :)
How does Gareth feel about helping Ella? Does he want to marry her or just care for her as a sister or friend? –scubadiver725
I think this chapter answered that question. ;)
What about Char? What happens to him? -pearls and roses
Lots and lots of Char to come. Starting next chapter. So you'll see.
Didn't Gareth's sister go visit him in an earlier chapter? And he told Ella if he didn't meet her he'd be at the shop getting strangled by his sister? How can he not have seen her in ten years? How is it he doesn't know she's moved? –pawzzz
Yes, Gareth's sister visited him in Chapter Six. This was partially a mistake on my part. Looking back, I accidentally cut out that he never actually saw his sister during her visit. Or at least I didn't make it clear. So, the last time he saw her was two years ago, briefly. And it was an eight-year stretch without seeing her before that. Suffice to say they don't have a very strong bond.
Very popular questions:
Can Gareth end up with Areida?
We'll see!
Who is Ella going to end up with?
It's either Gareth or Char. That's all I'm saying for now. ;)
When are you going to update?
I'm working on it! I know I'm slow.
Feel free to ask me more questions. :)
Next Update: I hate deadlines, but I'm setting myself one for the next chapter. I'll have the next chapter posted by June 22. It's a month from now, I know, but it's the end of the school year and time goes quickly. If I don't have the next chapter up by then, feel free to throw things at me.