This is Prompt No. 61-Wisdom
That night, Maria came to collect Mitchie for dinner. She glanced up and down at Mitchie's new evening down, a fashionable ivory gown with touches of silver thread, and nodded. "You look presentable," she said.
Mitchie, astonished, raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?" she asked.
Maria shrugged and said, "Most people that come to court are from different countries and we have to…help them with their wardrobe choices."
"Why?" Mitchie managed to choke out.
Maria raised her eyebrows and said with a slight laugh, "Just because Her Majesty ignores you doesn't mean she doesn't notice you. You have to keep up appearances," Maria teased, and then remembered her place, which was not giving words of wisdom, and ducked her head again. "Either way, you look very nice. Are you ready?"
Mitchie realized that she couldn't treat Maria as a friend. If she did, it might damage her cover, so she simply nodded and said, "Yes, I'm ready."
Maria nodded and led the way through the many twists and turns of the castle to reach the dining hall. When she and Maria entered the hall, the conversation around the table halted. Every eye once again turned to Mitchie, and she involuntarily took a step back against their stares.
"Words of wisdom," whispered Maria. "Smile and act pleasant. Use any and all charms you can." She began to walk, so Mitchie followed her, making eye contact with as many people as she could as the chairs began to move past her. She smiled and some people even weakly smiled back.
The middle-aged earl next to the empty chair Maria seemed to be aiming for jumped up awkwardly and pulled the chair out from under the table. "Thank you very much," Mitchie said, sweeping her gown underneath her so that she could sit down. The nervous man pushed a little too hard on the chair, banging it against Mitchie's knees and forcing her to sit down harder than expected, but Mitchie waved off his hurried inquiries as to whether or not she was alright.
She was still assuring him that she was alright when the doors she had come through a few minutes ago opened again and everyone stood up. Mitchie was the last to stand, but she was close to the end of the table, so no one seemed to notice. She leaned over slightly to see who was entering, and immediately pulled herself back up to her proper height.
Queen Victoria, her entourage around her, entered slowly, nodding to each person as she passed them. Her eyes swept over the courtiers, focusing closely on the women, and Mitchie realized that the queen was weighing and comparing their outfits to hers. She tugged at the skirt of her dress, hoping that the queen would find some flaw in her outfit. To bring about the jealousy of a monarch never turned out well for the wearers.
Queen Victoria had made her way over to Mitchie faster than Mitchie wanted, and her eyes seemed to rake over the beautiful gown. Mitchie felt like shrinking from her stare, but she surprised herself by holding her head up and straightening her spine. "Your Majesty," she said tritely as she curtsied sweetly, dipping her head down so that the queen had a generous view of the pearl encrusted barrette that Shane had given her as a parting gift. Due to the many missions that the Grey family went on, they were not at all wanting for money.
"Madam Gray," Queen Victoria replied stiffly as she passed by and moved to sit in the seat two chairs down from Mitchie.
Mitchie grinned and sat back down in her seat, waving away the earl's help. She would already have some bruises. She didn't need more! "Right," she whispered to herself as she waited for the first course to be brought out from the kitchen.
Dinner was a slightly tense affair. Mitchie constantly felt the queen's eyes on her, scrutinizing her every move. The earl next to her, compelled by social rules to speak with her, could barely get a sentence out for each course. Mitchie ignored it, realizing that he was shy, and focused instead on her memories. She started with memories from her childhood, wanting to save her strongest memories for times when she was desperately lonely.
It was a great relief to Mitchie when Queen Victoria left the table, signaling to the others in the room that they were free to leave and to do as they pleased for the rest of the night unless they were a part of her cabinet. Mitchie left the table as quickly as she could and was joined by Maria before she reached the door.
"Did you enjoy your dinner?" Maria asked, but Mitchie noticed the stifled curiosity in her voice and realized that Maria was reiterating all of Mitchie's answers back to someone, probably the queen herself.
The betrayal stung for a moment, but then Mitchie reminded herself that she really hadn't expected much else. "It was very pleasant," she told her, smiling so convincingly that Maria let the matter drop.
"What did you think of the food?" Maria asked.
"How did I miss this prying side of her earlier?" Mitchie wondered. "Because you were desperate for a friend," she answered herself.
"Madam Gray?" Maria asked softly, and Mitchie realized that she hadn't answered the girl yet.
"Forgive me," she said quickly. "You got me started thinking on all that wonderful food, and then I fear that I forgot myself." Mitchie gave a little laugh, and breathed a sigh of relief when Maria did as well.
"It's quite easy to do that," Maria told her. "It's all so wonderfully delicious."
Mitchie nodded in agreement, but she couldn't help but think about the wonderful family meals that she had had with her family. Images of her wedding, the Christmas she had shared with them, and her birthday flashed through her mind, and Mitchie found herself wishing for the simple fare.
"What did you think of Her Majesty's outfit tonight?" Maria asked. "Didn't she look beautiful tonight?"
Mitchie thought back to the many, overly large jewels that the queen had worn, and how the colors had clashed, but nodded and said, "She was very colorful." She smiled at Maria. "She has excellent taste in clothes." "Not that same taste in color coordination," she thought ironically.
Maria turned another corner and said, "Here we are!"
And so they were. Mitchie recognized the hall as the one that housed her apartment, so she smiled again and said, "Thank you again. I promise that at one point, I'll learn how to get around by myself."
Maria smiled and nodded. "It's a good goal to have, but don't expect it to come immediately." She stepped a little closer and whispered, "Word of wisdom for you-"
"You seem to have a lot of words of wisdom," Mitchie teased, folding her arms over her chest.
Maria blushed and looked uncomfortable. "I have a lot of years of experience here at court," she said as her excuse.
Mitchie nodded. "Go on," she said.
Maria smiled uneasily and said, "I learned by remembering the ways to and from one place at a time. Then, I moved on to the next one. Never try and take on two different paths at one time. You'll get turned around."
"Thank you," Mitchie said happily. "I feel like I can learn anything from you."
Maria smiled back and teased, "And you can tell me anything." She curtsied and left, still smiling.
Mitchie turned back to the apartment door and muttered, "Not likely."
This was one game that Queen Victoria was not going to win.
A/N: Hope you guys liked it! I'm off on a "secret" day with my aunt. She won't tell me where we're going........so I'll be checking my emails when I get home. I'd LOVE for there to be a few reviews there! ;)
