*Thank you everyone for being so patient! I have been having a LOT of drama in my life for the past few weeks, and so I am finally starting to feel calm again. So as promised, CHAPTER 3!*

"The only sense that is common in the long run, is the sense of change- and we all instinctively avoid it." –E.B. White

Today was the day where everything about my life was going to change. Up until now, I had been livin' with my grandparents with my wee brother, Liam, learnin' to write and read, to play music and dance properly, to speak elegantly when spoken to, and to run the castle. However, my grandmother was cautious and never told me much of the other clans, other than what I needed to know of my suitors, and strictly forbade my grandfather from teaching me to use so much as a knife!

"A lady does not have, nor use, weapons of any kind!" She would shriek, over and over again, to the point that all my food is cut by a servant. But today this was all going to change!

I am finally going to meet my suitors, and leave the shores of Dunbroch for the summer! As decreed by my mother, I would spend three summers with each of my suitors and then chose whomever I wanted as my husband. And, alright… having to choose from three men I have never known isn't something that I particularly want to do at all, but I'll have my first real chance to find some freedom. A chance to be away from my grandmother and make my own path, even if it is only for a little while… And even if it means parading around the castle in some loathsome and hideously frilly dress while my grandmother packs everything she deems worthy enough for me. However, that is why I have Murdina!

Murdina is the only one who keeps me sane around here, and is the only one keeping me from jumping off the tower right now…

"Oh come on now Cloh it could have been worse!" she whispered to me as I struggled to gracefully pace the castle halls. And replied through a clenched tooth smile,

"HOW could this PINK monstrosity GET ANY WORSE!?"

"Your Grandmother could have sewn on the extra beaded and embroidered trim that she wanted, but I talked her out of it." She said with a smirk, "Said it would make it too heavy to wrestle over your head!"

To which I smiled, leaned against one of the stone arched windows, and breathed a sigh of gratitude. "Mury where would I be without cha'?"

"Probably locked back up in the tower until you had to be married!" To which we both started to laugh, not for its ridiculousness, but for its truth. My Grandmother and mother probably would have been happy to see me safe and sound in the towers keep. Safe from goin' out into the forest, safe from gettin' to close to the shore, safe from sharp and pointy obj-" Oof!" I didn't have time to finish the thought, before I was charged upon by Liam, who hastily darted behind Murdina and me before squeaking, "Save me!"

"From what?" I hissed, patting his ruddy red scalp. "GRANDMUM!" he replied. No sooner had he said the word than did the lady's shadow appear coming around the bend.

"Oh no," I said, quickly shoving Liam down and Mury closer to me. I have to distract her! I have to-, thinking quickly I whispered to Mury, "Stare at that crack in the wall, then on my mark scream like there is a mouse! Liam, be ready to run, in front of Mury!" A small tug at the back of my dress meant he understood and would be ready to follow.

"Liam! … LIAM! … LI-AM!" A shrill and testy voice called, as my dear and sweet Grandmother appeared around the corner. She was still breathlessly stunning for being such an old woman, her once lovely brown hair was now completely gray and strung back into two long tails that reached the hem of her dress, which whipped suddenly across her back as she noticed the "two" of us. "Oh! Oh! Girls, I almost didn't a' see ya' there!" Which probably would have been better, I thought as she glanced around and asked, " Have you seen Liam? I need to get 'im ready for the presentation."

"Nope! Haven't seen hide, nor hair of 'im Mam…" I said, craning my head around her to glance at the crack, then bellowed, "Good Heavens! WHAT IS THAT!?" At her cue, Mury screamed in perfected girlish fright, "EEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee eeeeeecccccccccccccccckkk! A MOUSE!" Making my Grandmother's head to whip around and stare at the crack, while Liam and Mury went sprinting away from the hall with an echoing "Eeck!"

"Oh! Dear heavens girl! Tis, only a wee mouse! Nothing that a good and starving cat cannot fix!" My Grandmother called after her. "At least you are not charging off like some wild horse, Clotilda," she finished with a smile.

"Tis only the fact that I cannot a move in this- THING!" I replied outraged.

"Well then, I shall have to make you some more while you are away!" She said in a cheerful and proud voice, and to which I shuddered inwardly.

* By the way I'm holding a poll to dicide which clan Clotilda will visit first, so cast those votes quick before I make up my mind!*