Benjamin, the Ex-Skunk
This was originally written on Feb 23, 2012.
AN: Hope you like it!
Disclaimer: I don't even own my own car, much less rights to KND or Ella Enchanted.
Previously on Kuki Enchanted:
"Iwai!" Wait! April screeched out, now staring at my chest, "Osho amta urou ini abensa ekacte?" What's moving around in your jacket?
The skunk was now trembling violently. "Oho, iti uju abensa usku, ihi enamae isi Ebradlee. Abensa ofundo ihi iduri abensia etrave. Ubu absensa awana oto-" Oh, it's just my skunk, his name is Bradley. I found him during my travels. But I wanted to- But I was interrupted by April.
"A usku, ehe?" A skunk, eh? April fixed me with a beady stare before sliding her eyes over to Henrietta, who looked mildly intrigued as well. "Elete esee iti! Let's see it!
"oho awa," Oh no, I heard Melt mutter.
Filled with inexplicable foreboding, I heeded April's order and pulled poor Bradley out from my pocket. He scrambled desperately in my hands, squeaking in pain and fear. Henrietta moved April out of the way and bent to peer closely at it.
"Oh my!" She let out a tinkling laugh. "I recognize you! Has it been five years already?" She paused, looking down as Bradley shook some more, she continued. "Six years! Vell, I suppose it's time."
I looked at her in bewilderment as she slid a delicate wand from her sleeves and pointed it at Bradley.
"Osho este ubensu-" What are you-? I said, but was cut off.
But, suddenly, there was a large mass in my hands, and it startled me so much that I dropped it, though its weight would have prevented me from holding it much longer in any case.
I stared down at the sight before me. In place of the little skunk, Bradley, that Wally and I had rescued, laid a boy with messy vermillion hair, his face contorted with pain and covered with sweat, and his leg bent at an awkward angle. I quickly recovered from my shock and averted my eyes from his naked form, shrugging out of my coat and laying it over him to preserve his modesty.
Henrietta smiled down at the terrified boy. "Hello again, Benjamin."
Words: 3,293
I stared down at the shaking boy who used to be my skunk and bit my tongue so I wouldn't forget myself and speak in Kyrrian. Benjamin, Henrietta had called him. His eyes were squeezed shut and he had clasped my jacket around himself with trembling fingers. His pale, sallow skin was coated in a sheen of sweat. One leg lay bent at a strange angle, but the other seemed to have no life at all. He was mumbling and gasping incoherently, but I could detect a Kyrrian accent to his sounds.
Henrietta had lowered herself gracefully to kneel by Benjamin's head and she smiled a little while she stroked his soaked vermillion bangs off of his forehead. Melt and April seemed angry that Henrietta had put on such a fantastic display of magic in front of so many mortals and chided her for her idiotic actions.
"Henrietta, you idiot!" April hissed, as she moved to block Benjamin from the views of the intrigued wedding guests nearby, "Must you be so egotistical?"
"We're lucky the party was in full swing, and not that many people had noticed," Melt said in a worried tone as he cast his gaze around our immediate vicinity.
Benjamin finally opened his eyes, a magnificent lapis lazuli colour. His focus fell on Henrietta and he cringed away from her and began shaking uncontrollably. Henrietta narrowed her eyes at his reaction with a huff, but they quickly widened as she glanced at me, and then back down to Benjamin. A shrewd, suspicious look settled on her face.
"Lady," she addressed me in Ayorthian, "You speak Ayorthian, but you resemble ze colouring and general looks of a young boy from Kyrria, like Benjamin here, although your skin is slightly more tinted than his."
I was surprised that it had taken her this long to realize that I did not really look like Abba, like every Ayorthian did . Luckily, I had my excuse prepared. I just hoped it was prepared well enough.
"My mother was an Ayorthian, my father was from Kyrria. The two met and fell and love, they had me shortly afterwards. My grandmother fell ill a few years later and so we moved from our manor house in Jenn and went to Amonta to live with the rest of my mother's family. Ayorthian life and language is all I know." I told her.
I waited with bated breath, praying she would not begin testing my knowledge of Ayorthian culture and politics. I had learned enough from Abba to stumble my way through, but as flighty as Henrietta seemed to be, I could tell she could be quite clever if she had a mind to be. There would be no fooling her.
Henrietta raised a sculpted eyebrow, "And vat are you doing here at a Giants vedding?" She asked me.
I bit my tongue and quickly came up with something that would satisfy the curse. "I received a letter from someone my Father knew, a family member, while I had been attended finishing school. She wrote that giant weddings were always an extravagant event, and that I should whiteness one before I go back home to Amonta." I said.
Henrietta beamed at me, "Isn't that vonderful! Vell, I am glad zat you vere able to viteness such a vonderful ceremony." She looked down at Benjamin and smiled.
"E-excuse me, Henrietta," I tried to keep my tone meek and worshipful, in hopes that she would not turn me into a skunk like she did to Benjamin. "But what has happened? Was this boy my skunk all along?"
"Ja, he vas, my dear child. I gave him ze gift of ze simple and carefree life of a skunk for five years. I must have lost track of time, so ze lucky boy had six instead of five!" She saw my concerned glance down at the boy. "Oh, you needn't be vorried. I zink he is just a little shocked and adjusting back to his human body."
Henrietta patted Benjamin on the head affectionately, but then stood and stepped over him, closer to me, leaving him groaning on the floor.
"Now, child, I believe you vere trying to say something before April so rudely interrupted us?" She said, shooting a pointed look in the direction of the blonde faerie, who crossed her arms and huffed in response.
I forced myself to wrench my gaze away from the pitiful boy lying on the ground and remembered the reason I had sought out Henrietta in the first place. Now I felt even less sure than ever. I wondered what reason Henrietta had for turning Benjamin into a squirrel and knew I had to tread carefully so she did not bestow the same fate upon me.
"Lady Henrietta, since you are a faerie, I wonder if I might please beg for your help."
Behind Henrietta, April snorted and rolled her eyes. Melt stared at me with wide eyes and shook his head back and forth, making a tsking noise. Their reactions added to my trepidation, but I had no choice. I had not a clue of how I could break the spell myself. My only option was to seek Henrietta's aid, and seek her aid I did.
Henrietta's eyes lit up and she beamed at me. "You see, April," she said in a triumphant yet simpering tone, "ze humans do vant my help." Her gaze never left my face. "Of course, sweet Cazerine, vat is it zat I can assist you vith?"
I phrased my request carefully, hoping to give nothing away. "I need more courage and conviction, Lady, if it so pleases you. Whatever anyone orders me to do, I do, whether I wish to or not. I've always been like this, but I don't wish to be."
Behind Henrietta, April's eyes widened and she cackled with glee. "You see! This lady is afflicted with obedience! Is that not one of your gifts, you dithering dodo? And she doesn't like it!" I resisted the urge to glare at the very pretty faerie. The last thing I wanted or needed was an angry Henrietta on my hands to deal with.
But Heneietta did not seem upset in the very least. She smiled sweetly at me. "Zis explains vhy you are such a lovely child, my dear. Obedience is a vonderful gift, Cazerine. I certainly vould not vish to take zat avay from you. Be glad of your venerable disposition."
"But –" I began to protest, when it happened.
Henrietta's order suddenly took hold of me, and I made no effort to resist it. Why should I? It felt so amazing to obey! What a blessing this was! Tears of joy sprang to my eyes and I grasped Henrietta's hands, kissing them over and over.
"Thank you, Lady Henrietta! Thank you!" I was trembling with happiness. My smile wide and I began to crave commands.
"Oh, you sweet zing. Zere's no need to zank me! Someone simply needed to show you how to view your gift in ze proper light."
"What about the other boy?" Melt piped up timidly, casting a look down at Benjamin.
"Oh!" Henrietta started, probably remembering that there was another one of her gift receivers in the same room. "Right. vell, Benjamin," she spoke to my skunk-turned-boy in Kyrrian, "vhy are you being so lazy? Stand up!"
He finally spoke, his voice nasally and raspy, probably from disuse. "I can't," he answered through gritted teeth, "My one leg is broken, and the other doesn't work at all. You know that."
I had to admire his obstinacy for speaking to Henrietta in such irrespective manner, but I supposed living as a skunk for six years had rid him of any inclination towards apprehensiveness.
"Vell," Henrietta tsked in annoyance, "zat simply von't do. Ve can't leave you laying here, a spectacle, ruining this extravagant party."
With a wave of her wand, she conjured up a small wooden wagon. Big magic. I knew Kami would highly disapprove but I watched with awe anyway. She also conjured a simple pair of breeches and a clean, white tunic. "Cazerine, help him up into ze clothes and zen onto the wagon, zere's a good girl."
I rushed forward, so happy to have another order to obey. I found each moment without a command quite difficult, found myself yearning for someone to tell me what to do so that I might have the joy of obeying them. I hastened to keep my eyes carefully averted as I helped Benjamin into his clothes. I had grown quite attached to him in his skunk form.
"Cazerine vill look after you," Henrietta informed Benjamin, who sent a scared look my way. I would have smiled at him reassuringly, but I was trying to pretend I didn't understand their conversation.
"But-but she doesn't speak Kyrrian! And I don't speak any Ayorthian! How will that work?"
Henrietta had tucked her wand back into her sleeve and was examining her nails. "You'll just have to make do, von't you, create a pidgin of some sort if you can? She must now a little Kyrrian since she is half Kryrrian. My friends and I really must depart now; we have anozer engagement to attend to." She turned to me. "Now Cazerine, please take good care of Benjamin. Both of his legs are useless right now, so you must look after him until ze broken one heals and he can hobble around as he was use to."
I beamed at the instructions and curtsied to her, murmuring my thanks over and over. She laughed, the sound soft and musical. "Now take him and run along, Cazerine."
I was delighted to. Without another word, I gripped the handle of the wagon and began to pull it as fast as I could towards the nearest exit.
On a logical level, I understood that my joy was false; I was only happy because I had been ordered to be. I still understood why I had hated the gift. But it was all-consuming, and each order that I obeyed had me feeling full of light and happiness and other emotions that had no name. I imagined obeying commands in the future, awful, grisly, terrible ones, and positively glowed at the thought. I decided to find Mother. If anyone were to give me casual orders, it would be her. I pulled Benjamin behind me in the wagon along the outside of the barn, panting from the exertion. I could hear the wagon jostling over the uneven ground and Benjamin's whimpers of pain.
"Slow down!" He called out desperately in Kyrrian. Though I was eager to find Mother, I was glad to heed his order. I slowed to a more leisurely pace, and turned to smile at him. He was gaping at me.
"Do you understand me?" He asked, his lapis lazuli eyes wide.
"Yes," I replied in Kyrrian, "I was only speaking Ayorthian to fool the stupid faerie."
"That was very smart of you." he observed.
"Thank you," I said simply, well aware that my plan had been successful, at least on that level. I longed to tell Benjamin of my gift so that he could order me about, but I still derived satisfaction from listening to Father's old command to never tell a soul. I distracted myself with his story. "So you are named Benjamin?"
"Ben," he amended, nodding.
"Why did she turn you into a skunk? If you do not mind my asking."
Ben sighed. "When I was younger, I went into the village with my mother one day, and there was an accident. The Crazy Cabbage Chum's cart had gone out of control; I think it was on fire, again. I didn't pay attention to what was happening around me because I caught sight of a pretty maiden around my age. She saw the cart before I did, and yelled at me to run, but I didn't hear her warning in time. He had crashed into a poll that fell on my leg when I had ducked out of the way." He patted his right leg, which hung limply outside of the small wagon; "I eventually learned how to move about with only one working leg. My father had given me my grandfathers old cane that he had used before he died. But it was awful. All of the other servant children made fun of me, and the children of the manor were especially cruel. They liked to push me down and steal my walking stick. "
"That's awful," I said quietly.
"When I was…ten, I think. It is kind of hard to remember. Well, Henrietta appeared. She was just suddenly…there. My parents were so happy to find out she was a faerie and that she wanted to help me. But she said that she wanted to give me a simple life, free from the cruelty of humans. We just wanted her to fix my leg. She said she would give me five years in this 'comfortable' new life, and then turn me back. My parents begged her not to, but that idiot turned me into a skunk! Of all the things to do!" Ben broke off angrily, shaking his head. I nodded in sympathy. I knew, on a rational level, that Henrietta was an idiot of a faerie, dangerous and impetuous, but I would be forever grateful to her for giving me my gift of obedience.
"Don't worry," I told him, "You can stay at our manor until we can find your parents." Ben managed a weak smile, looking very miserable, indeed.
We met Mother at the gates of Dolostone and NoahElla's farm.
"Mother!" I called out to her as she started to step into her carriage, and she turned to face me in shock. She did not seem angry to see me out of Gallagher's; she actually grinned when her eyes found me.
"Kuki!" she said happily as I ran to her.
"I ran away from Gallagher's," I told her, not caring if the confession upset her.
She barked out a laugh. "I knew you had great gumption in you, you are a Johnson after all. Except you do not have my impeccable bone structure, that came from your father. And are you still a mouthy little brat, or have they transformed you into a proper young lady that I can present to a civilized court?"
"How shall I show you?" I asked her, hoping that she would issue me a command. My wish was granted.
"Demonstrate your finest curtsey." She commanded me.
I swept into one gracefully, thrilling at the order. Hopefully, it would be the first of many.
Mother noticed Ben. "And who is your lazy friend?"
"This is Benjamin," I told her, wishing she had demanded the answer from me instead, "And he is not lazy. His leg is broken, and the other is lame. I befriended him on my travels and hope to bring him home with us."
Mother pursed her lips and fixed Ben with a beady stare. Ben gave her a small smile.
"Well, Kuki, as touching as I find it that you've managed to find friends just as odd as you, the cripple isn't coming with us. What use is he to me?"
"P-please," Ben choked out, "I'm willing to work. I have no place else to go."
"That is not really my problem." Mother replied as she turned towards our carriage.
I followed after her. "Mother, Benjamin is my friend. Please do this as a favour for me."
She turned and faced me with a calculating look. "Well, quid pro quo, Kukihana; what do you have for me?"
"Anything," I said eagerly, clasping my hands together and bouncing on the balls of my feet, "Only tell me what to do and I will obey you." I cheered silently. I could both save Ben and satisfy my thirst to obey more orders.
Mother stared at me for a moment, before a triumphant smirk spread across her face. "Outstanding. You are striking enough, I suppose. Stupid of me not to have thought of you before. Get your friend into the carriage, Kuki. We'll leave straight away."
"Shouldn't we bid farewell to NoahElla and Dolostone?" I asked as I wheeled Ben forward.
"That grease ball and his abnormal wife? They are too busy sobbing over some gift a faerie gave them. It is a pity…I heard three faeries were in attendance at this wedding, and I saw no sign of them." Ben and I exchanged a small glance, oh the irony.
Once the carriage driver and I had lifted Ben inside and we had all settled in, we began to move. Ben soon fell asleep, and Mother finally addressed me.
"You are just in time to put your deportment training to good use."
"Just tell me what I must do."
Mother remained silent for a good while. I began to fall asleep.
"I am bankrupt."
AN: Oh wow, I do so hoped you like this chapter, there were about 700 words I cut out after Josephine said that she as bankrupt. But I decided to put it in the next chapter.
Any guesses on who the maiden that caught Ben's eye is? It is really easy if you read my stories.
Next chapter: I wanted to do the wedding bells this chapter, like I said last chapter, but I thought I would leave it to your imagination! It's not Ace, like some of you thought so.