Presents
"Sit up straight!"
So far my debutante lessons have proven to be… well…. pointless. They consist of long lectures and then hours of practice with commands barked at me. So far I have apparently learned how to sit the right way, walk straight, and turn my pitiful curtsy into something respectful. I will soon learn how to "eat".
Utensils 101
Joy
After that I will learn at least six different dances; their history, the music, the steps, the works.
Double joy
It has been two weeks since I have first entered the palace and nothing has happened. I wonder how long I'll have to stay here. I'm starting to think that nothing will happen.
Anyway, Madame Salope believes it's extremely important for me to have a horse and ridding skills while I'm staying. Of course I've already been trained in three styles of ridding, but I'm probably doing it wrong. I do everything wrong according to the Madame.
So after breakfast, Madame, Elodie, and I walked down to the stables to pick out a horse.
"Now Elizabeth, horses are ancient creatures that date back farther then mankind…." Mme. Salope started. Great another lecture.
"I like this one!" interrupted Elodie. She pointed out a white mare. I went over to pet her while Madame continued her lecture.
"No. You can not pick out a horse. Horses are very smart and we must honor that. The rider does not pick the horse. The horse picks the rider."
"That's ridiculous." I said somewhat annoyed.
"That is tradition." She protested.
She scurried off to get a stable hand and I rolled my eyes behind her back. We went around to every horse seeing if it "fit" me. None did according to Madame. We came to the final couple of horses when a loud 'clunk' echoed through the barn. Horses went crazy. They whined and bucked. The whole barn started to shake and dust fell from the ceiling. Elodie screamed. Dogs fled. Men came running from the castle.
I held Elodie close to me and looked around, but no one was fleeting the barn. No one was trying to make their escape, something a spy always looks for. I looked up at the ceiling. It wasn't going to fall.
"Savant you no good sun of the devil!" somebody screamed.
The place quieted down as men frantically tried to calm the horses.
"Elodie are you all right?" asked James as he scooped up his little sister. He had come running from the castle.
"I'm fine James!" she protested.
"What in the world was that!" asked an iratated Madame Salope.
"That's our horse Savant. Sometimes he catches mice and scares the other horses. They make a big fuss" answered a stable hand.
The group slowly inched up to see the horse that caused the mayhem. It was the largest horse I had ever seen. It was a strong black stallion, and look to be the biggest war horse in the stable. His eyes were fiery and he bobbed his head. He was nothing short of a high stung mustang.
I turned toward the group calmly, but flinched when something brushed up against my cheek. I backed away and turned to see the high strung mustang's nose two inches from mine.
"Madame Salope, I believe you found the horse you were looking for." said James.
Madame Salope, pale in the face, nodded.
My eyes grew wide. They didn't mean this beast was going to be my new horse, did it.
Certainly not
No
They all stood there smiling at me.
Yes.
"You better get some sleep. You had a rather terrifying day." Margarite tried to persuade me to go to bed, but I was not tired. I was puttering around the room, trying to straighten it up. Madame dropped some heavy hints that there was going to be a room inspection. As a spy I never really sleep anyway. When on the job you always have to be alert.
I had just sat down to read when there was a knock on the door. That was strange seeing as it was nearly midnight. I picked my self up from my bed, grabbed my nightgown cover and walked to the door.
Outside my room was James holding a very large (and probably heavy because he was struggling to hold it still) hat box. I slumped on door frame (Madame Salope would slaughter me if she saw me stand not straight in the presence of a royal) with a questioning look on my face.
"What's this?"
"It's a present from my parents. They wanted me to give it to you"
I pulled of the card attached to the top. It read
For your gracious and solid effort. We are forever grateful.
I placed one hand on the bottom to steady the box and with the other opened the lid. A brown colored, pink nosed, miniature daschund popped out.
"Awwwwwwwwww" I said as I pulled him out. He licked my face happy to be out of the box.
"My parents must really like you. The last person they gave a dog too was the princess of Elivin and that was even before she was married." James said.
"Yeah?" I said trying to act surprised but my eyes didn't leave the dog's face.
"What are you going to call it?" he asked.
"Hmmm…" I thought for a moment "Mops".
"Mops?"
"What you don't like it?"
"What kind of name is that?"
"It's cute!"
He rolled his eyes.
"Well what would you name him?" I protested.
"I don't know. Quite frankly I think it's too ugly to name."
I gasped and covered Mops' ears.
He laughed. "You've got to admit that is one ugly dog."
I shook my head and sneered at him as I started to close the door.
"Goodnight Mademoiselle" he smirked.
"Goodnight" I shut the door in his face. I could hear his laughter through the door.
Asshole.