Disclaimer: I don't own Discworld, its places, or characters. They all belong to Terry Pratchett. I'm just borrowing them and make no money out of this.
Entry 2.
It's my birthday today and I've had to spend the whole day packing ready to go to school in two days' time. Havelock came round to help me pack. I don't really know why he did that, I mean, it's not interesting, and he didn't really know where anything was, so he kept getting in my way. He said it was because I'm a girl so I won't be strong enough to lift and carry all the suitcases once they're full of clothes, but it's not like we haven't got servants. I think it's because he's going to miss me but doesn't want to admit it.
At first I thought that Havelock's birthday present for me was coming around and keeping me company whilst I packed and trying to help me, because it was very sweet and thoughtful of him, even if the packing bit wasn't all that successful, but I was wrong. Just before he was about to go home he slipped his hand into his pocket and brought out a lovely green velvet box. Inside it was square-cut diamond set into a silver chain with three emeralds either side of it! He said that if I was going to be going away from him to mingle with lots of other girls then he would at least make sure that I was the most beautiful one there! That made me feel so special and happy – it was the first of the presents I got today and it's absolutely gorgeous! Nobody has ever called me beautiful before either, except Mummy or Daddy, and everyone knows that parents don't count. I love it. I put it on to show him what it looked like and the diamonds and emeralds looked wonderful with the pale green dress I was wearing. Havelock made me swear never to take it off whilst I was at school. I don't say I blame him – it must have cost him an awful lot of money and it's so pretty that someone else is bound to want it. I wouldn't want it to go missing. I almost asked him how he had managed to get so much money to pay for it, but then I remembered that Havelock's family died when he was eleven and a half and his father had said he didn't trust anyone enough to put the Vetinari fortune into a trust fund, so Havelock got all the money straight-away and has the responsibility of running the estate, although I think he must get someone to help him with it. He doesn't usually spend much money on anything, so it was especially nice of him to get me such a lovely gift.
Havelock gave me a little kiss on the cheek before he left.
My parents got me a new travelling cloak and another evening dress as my present, which was nice of them. They will come in useful. I must admit that I was a bit disappointed, though, because I have lots of dresses already and I didn't really want them to give me something else to do with school. I smiled politely though and was grateful, and then Mummy started smiling and trying to hide it behind her hand, and Daddy had a funny look in his eye. He sat quietly for a bit and then jumped suddenly, as though someone had given him a shock. "Oh!" he said, "I'm sure there was something else! What was it now? Ah, yes, I remember, just let me go and fetch it," and then he left the room. I didn't know what was going on. Something else? But they'd already given me new clothes and they were really nice ones so I didn't see why they'd want to give me another one as well. Daddy came back into the room with something behind his back, but a corner was peeking out from behind his sleeve and I could see it was wrapped in sparkly green paper. He took it out from behind his back and handed it to me, smiling all the time. Mummy had given up trying to hide it by now and was smiling too. I unwrapped it carefully, not wanting to accidentally ruin what was inside, as it was obviously special if they were both smiling so much. I opened it. It was my stuffed dragon, Ernie! I'd had him so long and hugged him and played with him so much that his neck had gone all floppy, some of the embroidery that made up his scales had disintegrated, and one of his wings had half fallen off. I was really, really upset when Mummy took him away from me. She said that there were more important things than toys and that "It will be much cheaper to get a lovely new toy dragon than to get this mangy old one repaired, anyway." I thought she'd thrown him away! But there he was in front of me, new multicoloured scales embroidered on, his wing fixed, his neck restuffed, and the person who had fixed him had even replaced his flames with ones made of a shiny material that looked much more realistic than the old felt ones, which were a bit grey and grubby anyway. My parents must really love me.
I didn't have a birthday party. Because it's my last birthday before going away to school I wanted it to be just us.