The years following the meeting with Arthur and Alfred were spent with Francis trying to teach Madeline to be more ladylike. He would catch her kicking off her shoes and trying to remove her dresses in favor of running around in her chemise. When he caught her he would scold her and have her maids redress her properly. It was also during this time that he noticed her lack of growth. Matthieu was growing rapidly, for a nation at least, and had moved on from the dresses that toddlers wore to pants and shorts. Francis had expected Madeline to grow some during this as well but she never did, staying the same regardless of what was happening.
Needless to say Francis was growing frustrated and his boss was pushing for him to find out why she wasn't growing. To say he was reluctant to do so was putting it lightly as the most efficient way to find out what lands a nation represented was to have contact. And while Madeline wasn't exactly too young for such a thing Francis knew that she had not fully reached womanhood. So despite her age being that of consent for marriage he hesitated from fear of hurting her. Eventually though he found he was given no choice as all other attempts to find out where she represented came to naught. He had tried to ask her only to be snubbed or glared at. He had sent colonists and trappers north to see if he could find where she came from. He even began to suspect that she represented the colony at New Orleans in the south since it was an older colony and no representation had been found for it. His results were inconclusive, leaving him the last resort which he was not wanting to do.
The night his decision was made he made sure Matthieu was put down to bed and then made his way to Madeline's room. He had come to the conclusion he would only take this as far as was necessary to find out where her lands were and then he would stop. He hoped he would not need to go very far. Opening the door to Madeline's room he sees her sitting at her vanity brushing and braiding her hair. He wondered why her maids weren't helping her with the chore but brushed it off as a sign in his favor that the women were not there. He stood in her doorway quietly and actually looked at her as something more than the child he had been raising. She was a beautiful young girl, with golden hair that reached well down to her knees. Sitting as she was it brushed the ground easily. Her skin was pale which allowed her brilliant eyes that seemed to swirl with different shades of violet and hazel to stand out. Her full lips were in a perfect cupid's bow and just the shade of a ripened berry making him wonder if they would taste as sweet. Her lack of womanly curves did not detract from her beauty, she had the beginnings of them, enough to show that when she reached adulthood she would be the envy of all others.
Eventually she finished with her hair and turned to stand when she noticed Francis watching her. A light blush came over her cheeks, as she hurried over to her bed.
"Francis, is there something you need?"
She didn't climb into the bed but held tightly to her dressing gown, covering herself from his eyes. Francis wasn't so surprised that she knew how inappropriate his visit at this hour was.
"The king wishes to know why you are not growing like your brother. It has him concerned."
He saw her turn away with a scowl. "Why does it matter? He owns me regardless of my growth."
"And you do not see how this is a strange thing. In the sixty years since I found you and brought you into my home your brother has grown into a healthy young boy, he looks nearly eight. While you have not aged a day since you arrived. With as many colonists coming to the new world regardless of where you are you should have grown some, reached full womanhood even. I can understand that these things can be slow, my own growth was comparatively slow when held against your brothers, but you obviously grew quickly before I even found you but as soon as you came into my house it seems to have stopped. Doesn't this concern you at all."
"You know nothing about me. It doesn't matter to me, I am happy as I am. I don't need to change."
Her defiance to his inquiries actually had him growing quite angry with her and he strode across the room and grabbed her by her forearms, turning her to face him.
"Madeline, if you will not tell me then I will have to find out another way. And I doubt you will enjoy it."
Her eyes widen in fear upon realizing what he means and she begins to struggle in his grip.
"No, stop. Let go of me."
His grip tightens to the point Madeline knows she will have bruises where his hands are but she continues to struggle, kicking and screaming at him to stop as he pushes her to the bed. He takes both her wrists and transfers them to one hand that pins them to the bed over her head. He can see the panic in her eyes as his free hand reaches down to hitch up her dressing gown. His hand reaches her smooth pale leg and begins to slowly slide up it. He ignores her struggles and protests focusing on the feelings of her skin, the texture and geography, the climate of the lands she represents. He finds her skin is very cool to the touch, not quite like ice, but smooth like a grassy plain. Moving his hand higher he feels a forest that is still cold and water that is frozen. It is not enough as his hand reaches her hip and moves inward. Just as he is about to reach her core he finds himself being knocked off of her and to the floor where he is pinned. Looking up he sees the white bear his charges treated as a pet. It usually slept with Matthieu but here it was having attacked him and pinned him to the floor. He moved to push it off but it bit at him and growled.
"Madeline! Madeline!"
It was Matthieu's voice. He must have come too. Francis was able to catch a glimpse of Matthieu and Madeline curled up together on the bed. He could just make out that Madeline was crying, sobbing against her brother's shoulder as her tried to comfort her. After a while they must have noticed him staring at them because Matthieu turned a glare on him and Madeline turned away from his gaze.
"Nanuq."
The simple call of his name had the bear climbing off Francis and onto the bed beside the siblings. It plopped itself down beside them and allowed Madeline to wrap an arm around him. Admitting defeat Francis gets to his feet and leaves, an apology on the tip of his tongue. He never speaks it however since he knows that he would not have stopped and no words could have fixed what his intentions were.
After that night Nanuq slept in Madeline's room, guarding her from any further attempts by Francis to discover where her lands were and why she wasn't growing. The years moved by once again and Francis found himself called away to France more and more often to deal with rising tensions with the British. Eventually war broke out and Matthieu and Madeline found themselves being told to prepare for the fighting that would happen in the colonies. Matthieu during this time had taken an opportunity to write a letter to Alfred telling him of what had happened between Francis and Madeline.
When Alfred received the letter, he at first was excited for it. He rarely was able to hear about his siblings in the north but to have a letter from one of them was unheard of. So excited as he was, the, now appearing 13, young man ripped it open and pulled it out like it was Christmas. He quickly began to read the letter but as he did his enthusiasm began to drop and he steadily grew more and more angry at the contents. Upon finishing the letter her nearly tore it to shreds with how angry he was. Instead he managed to calmly make his way to Arthur's study, where he was working diligently on something for the coming war he had been grumbling about.
"Arthur?"
"Not now Alfred, I'm rather busy right now."
"I know, and I want to help."
At the young man's words Arthur looks up from the papers on his desk and sees the barely contained fury in his brilliant blue eyes and the letter clenched tightly in his hand.
"You want to help?"
"Yes, you're going to be fighting against France, right?" A nod. "Then I want to help. Just promise me that when you win Matthieu and Madeline can come stay with us."
Arthur is shocked at the request, both the one to help in the war and the one for his siblings. It wasn't unheard of for nations to hand over land or colonies to the victors in a war, but Arthur hadn't known Alfred would be aware of that. Then again what could have happened to make Alfred so upset.
"Lad, what happened to lead to you asking such a thing?"
Instead of an answer Alfred holds out the letter he had been holding indicating for Arthur to take it. Which he does and he quickly reads it over, his face going pale as he reads what had happened.
"That... I knew he was debauched but this, I had no idea. Do not worry Alfred, we'll get them away from France." Arthur pauses as he puts down the letter. "Come here lad, if you are going to be helping me with this, there are some things you will need to know."
And with that Arthur begins to teach Alfred some of what he will need to know in order to fight with him in this war. He teaches him to use a rifle and how to fight using the bayonet. He gets him a uniform to match his own and shows him how to strategize when leading troops. Not long after they began to work together the war broke out fully and Arthur was called to the European theatre of the war. He left Alfred with the Virginian Militiamen under the command of a George Washington which lead to the first battle of the Colonial theatre of the war. After that successful battle Alfred found himself eager to fight more and more. He found himself growing as more land was claimed by the british forces and his territory expanded. By 1763 he had the appearance of a 14 year old and found himself outside the walls of Quebec City, inside of which he knew were his brother and sister. The battle was fought and the city was claimed by the British. Once they had secured the city Alfred began searching through the large homes, trying to remember if Madeline or Matthieu had said which house was theirs or if there had been anything about it that they had mentioned that would stand out. Other than that it was a very large house he wasn't having much luck. Eventually though he came across a huge house, the biggest in the city. It looked like there were still a few French soldiers trying to protect the house or its occupants, this was good for Alfred as it meant it was most likely where he would find his siblings. Having located the house he hurries back to the commanding officer he was shadowing, that was what Arthur had called it since he wasn't old enough to actually take a command but he was more than a common soldier, and reports what he had found. The officer gathers a small force of men and assigns them to Alfred for the purpose of retrieving his siblings from the house.
The fight between the last of the French soldiers and the British force to take the house was not long. At seeing the better equipped British soldiers the French ones either ran or surrendered leaving the house unguarded. alfred quickly ran inside and began calling for his siblings.
"Matthieu, Madeline!" He rushed through the house and searched every room. Eventually he came to one that was locked and furrowed his brows in frustration before knocking it down, breaking it off the hinges.
"Matthieu, Madeline!" The room he had busted into was a nice room and obviously belonged to a lady. He found huddled in the corner three maids, one of which was standing before the group with a bedpan held to fight off any attackers. The other two seemed to be holding a young girl and a young boy with a small white bear cub. The children seemed to be trying to get free of the maids grips at seeing Alfred.
"Alfred!" They both cheered as they managed to struggle free and ran across the room to him. The siblings embraced, happy to be back together once again. The maids seemed to relax some at seeing that no harm was being brought to their charges, though they still seemed wary.
"You should have told me sooner, I would have been here sooner."
"I wanted to, I tried, but Papa wouldn't let me. I had to learn English so I could write to you too."
"Alfred you're getting so big, you're taller than me now."
"I know."
Eventually Alfred led his siblings away, leaving the maids behind, and guiding them back to the British encampment and his tent there. His commander was waiting for him and he introduced his siblings before being dismissed and the three just spent the rest of the time catching up. After a week Alfred was sent back to Boston with Madeline and Matthieu after receiving word that Arthur was going to be there to welcome his new colonies into his empire.
So does anyone else feel Francis deserves to have Nanuq chomp his balls for that scene. Oh well I hope you all are enjoying this, please review.
