Wow, two updates in a row, that is unheard of from me.
Anyways...
I must say, I am disappointed in you guys. I wrote OVER a ten thousand word chapter last night because I expected to receive that many reviews. But alas, I was left disappointed when I only received four. Well, beggars cannot be choosers as a wise old man (not Dumbledore for once...lol, I don't recall who said the quote.) once said. I just hope to receive more reviews in the future..
Disclaimer: I really own Codename: Kids Next Door just like I own Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Words: 4,555
Previously on Kuki Enchanted:
She gathered me in her arms. "What's the trouble, sweet?" she asked, rocking me back and forth.
For a few minutes, I continued to cry, it was too hard for me to speak. When I was able to control myself, I told her. "Did I do right?" I asked at the end.
"Come with me, sweetie." She grabbed my hand and half dragged me to her room, passing several servants in the hall, one of them Barney who was humming his bang song, that stupid song that had been stuck in my head. Once there, she closed the door and turned to me. "Kuki, you did right. Now I am going to do right, something I should have done a long time ago. Get behind the curtains, love."
I hesitated, pushing back the urge to obey. "Why?" I asked.
"I'm going to settle scores of scores with Henrietta. I want you to see me do it, but I don't want her to see you."
I did what I was told and hid. Peaking out in-between the curtains so I could see what was going on.
"Henrietta! I need you." Kami shouted, hands on her hips.
The scent of lilacs filled the room. I stifled a gasp, closing the curtains in fear of her seeing me. I could only see Henrietta's shadow as it played along the drapes.
"I never thought the day would come when the kitchen fairy would call me. I am delighted. How can I help you, dear?" She asked in her honey sweet voice.
"Don't 'dear' me." Kami sighed. "But you're right I need your help."
"And I love to help." Henrietta responded.
Safely hidden, I grimaced at her.
"I've been gathering my courage to ask you ever since the fairy ball." Kami stated.
"One has only to ask and I shall appear." Henrietta interjected in her annoyingly cheerful tone.
Kami sounded regretful. "At the ball I got into an argument with Melt and April."
"You shouldn't have. I never argue. It causes wrinkles and headaches. Plus there is no point in instigating them anyways." Henrietta said, sniffing loudly.
"But I do. And the argument was about you. Melt said we should suggest you try being a skunk and April suggested you try being obedient. If you gave it a fair trial that is– three months as a skunk, three month as an obedient human – you'd find out that your gifts aren't so wondrous after all. And the children you bestow them upon have anything but happy, carefree lives. Having to make sacrifices for the people they love because they are afraid how the curse would impact that new part of their life." Silent tears trekked down my face at the end of Kami's speech.
"The children who they are bestowed upon are quite successful. Just the other day I saw one of my participants and she was extremely happy as she walked along her husband who was in a huff."
"And what gift did you bestow upon this young maiden?" Kami inquired.
"Why, after her parents untimely, and extremely unfortunate death, I gave her the gift of eternal happiness no matter life's difficulties."
"This is what I am talking about, Henrietta!" Kami said. "You need to experience your gifts, for not all of them are truly wonderful."
"I don't have to try out my gifts to know they're magnificent." Henrietta stated.
"That's what April and I said you'd say. There, I can tell Melt I won the argument." I said you'd be too afraid you were wrong to put it to the test."
Henrietta vanished. She must have been too angry with Kami to continue the discussion. But then Kami laughed. "Don't forget to be obedient, little one. Here is a nice walnut. I'm sending you to a comfortable park." She paused. "You can come out, Lady."
"Did she really turn herself into a skunk?" I emerged cautiously.
"She did." She said.
"Do you think she'll learn?" I asked her
"If she doesn't, she's even more of a blockhead than I think."
"What if an animal eats her?" I asked. If Henrietta were to be eaten by an animal, she couldn't take back my curse. Though it would spare others from having the same fate.
"If that happened, I would have to fear for the poor, inauspicious animal that would consume her." She chuckled. "What a terrible stomachache it would have."
"If she learns her lesson, will she undo all her gifts?" I asked hopefully.
"I don't know. I just had to stop her mischief. You may yet break the curse yourself."
"But if she discovers how wrong she was, she will want to lift the spell."
"Perhaps. But it would be more big magic." Kami drew me into a hug. "Oh, love, I know what that spell does to you."
I pushed out of her arms. "You don't know! And how can you warn against big magic when you just summoned Henrietta?"
"Nothing one fairy does to another is big magic, Lady."
"Stop calling me 'Lady.' You call Mother that." I said, not liking being called the same name as my mother. I was nothing like her.
"Now you're a lady too. If you would have just put yourself first and married the prince like you wanted too, someone would have come along to harm him and Kyrria, sure as The Crazy Cabbage Chum has bad luck when it comes to his cabbages. You're a heroine, sweet."
"I'd rather be his wife." The tears started to well up again, and I threw myself across Kami's bed, burring my head in my arms.
She sat next to me, stroking my back and murmuring. "Oh, sweet, my Lady. Perhaps all will become right with time." She shifted her weight. Something crackled, and she exclaimed, "What's this? Oh, I forgot! When I posted your letter, there was one for you." She pulled a letter out of her apron pocket.
I flew up. Hoping it was from Wally, that he was now on the move, heading home, and he wouldn't be able to receive any mail.
"It's not in the prince's hand, love." Kami said, noticing my expression, that now lay crestfallen.
It was from Mother, saying she would not come home. My servitude pained her, but not enough to return her to the arms of her odious, though beloved, husband. She wrote,
"When I find a husband for you who is rich enough to satisfy me, you will be released from my Monty. Until then, I urge you to be, as always, my stalwart daughter."
I fell back on the bed, laughing wildly. Mother would make my letter to Wally come true. She would marry me off to an ancient man who would soon die and leave me enormously wealthy. The irony! I could not catch my breath. Tears ran down my face, and I did not know whether I was laughing or crying.
Kami held me until I quieted. While she rocked me, I thought that Henrietta still might save me. Kami might be wrong. Once Henrietta knew how it was to be obedient, she would not be able to leave me cursed. She would have to help me.
A week later, I saw in my magic book that Wally had received my message. I opened to an illustration in which he was burning my letters. I was glad to see his image, no matter what the image was doing.
After I gazed awhile and ran my fingers over his shape, I turned the page and found an entry in his journal.
There was more. In addition to minx, he called me flirt, harpy, siren, enchantress, temptress, and even monster. He ended by writing,
"I wish I weren't in Ayortha. The silence here offers too much time for thought. A thousand times a day I swear never to think of her and our correspondences. At least now I can promise never to write or speak of her again, and can force my pen and my voice to keep my word."
I endured six months of Ace and Nigel and Sir Montgomery by imagining my freedom when Henrietta released me from the curse.
I did not give up writing to Wally. Since the new letters were never posted, I told him the truth about my life in Sir Montgomery's household. When Ace told me all the different girls he was courting, I laughed over the absurdity of it to him. When Nigel made me recount stories to him
When Sir Montgomery had me clean out the root cellar, and I found a tabby with her litter of kittens, Wally learned of my delight. And when Kami taught me cooking secrets, I shared them with him.
I also described my future without the curse.
"My first act," I wrote, "will be to confess that I love you. I'll beg pardon a thousand times for causing you unhappiness and make reparations by making you laugh a thousand times."
The night before Henrietta's reappearance, Ace awakened me when he returned from a cotillion. He said I had to retrieve his laundry and prepare his bed (Okay all you perverts, you can laugh now...) I had never had to before, so I waited to learn his real reason.
"Tonight they talked of nothing but of the Royal Family's return next month," he began while picked up his clothes from the floor.
I knew exactly when Wally was coming home, so why was my heart beating so?
"They say that King Xavier is going to hold three royal balls to welcome them.
They say the prince will pick his wife at the balls. (oh god... what is with all of the innudeos! Geeze...) Ouch! Be careful."
I had stabbed his with a stay pin that he had me remove from his collar. For once, it was an accident.
"Poppa says if I . . ."
I did not wish to hear anything more. Were the balls Wally's idea? Or had they been Sydney's? I knew from previous letters that he and his sister were very close. Did he really mean to find his bride there? Had he already forgotten me? Could I make him remember our love when Henrietta freed me? If Henrietta freed me?
Ace dismissed me eventually, and I spent the hours till dawn imagining my release from the curse and thinking about my reunion with Wally. I could not decide whether I should steal one of Sir Montgomery's horses and ride to Ayortha to surprise him, or whether I should wait and amaze him at the balls.
In the morning, I woke Kami and tried to convince her to feign illness so she could call Henrietta immediately. But no, first we had to prepare Sir Montgomery's breakfast and wash all the dishes, and Kami wouldn't use the smallest magic to speed the process.
When we were through at last, Kami and I retired to her bedroom, and I hid as before.
"Henrietta! I need you!" Kami shouted and the brilliant flash of light that signaled Henrietta's appearance appeared. But something was wrong.
This time the room did not fill with the scent of lilacs when Henrietta arrived. From my hiding place behind the curtains, I heard a rustling noise and then the sound of weeping.
"Stop sniveling," Kami said, her voice eerily derived of emotion for the foolish fearie.
The weeping became louder, more despairing. "I can't." The music and lilt were gone from Henrietta's voice. I heard panting as she fought to catch her breath. "But if I were still obedient," she puffed, "I would have to stop crying just because you told me to." More sobs. "What did I bring upon those poor, innocent people? How could I have done big magic? And so carelessly!"
"Your gifts weren't a boon?" I had never heard Kami be sarcastic before.
"They were dreadful, terrible," Henrietta wailed.
I wondered if her experiences had been at all like mine.
"What happened?" Kami asked, her voice kinder.
"It was much worse to be obedient, but being a skunk was bad enough. Half the time I was cold and wet, and I was always hungry. I never got a decent night's sleep because I was too cramped, curling up in knotholes. Once, an eagle carried me off. I was only saved because it flew into a violent storm and dropped me into a lake. And even then I had trouble swimming ashore."
"And when you were obedient?" Kami asked.
"I turned myself into the eight-year-old daughter of shopkeepers. I thought it was only fair to be a child, since I always bestowed obedience on infants. I suppose my parents meant well, but they insisted I eat the most awful food, and I had to go to bed before I was sleepy. My parents would not let me disagree with them about anything. My father loved to read parables aloud, and I had to listen to every word. They commanded me to think about the morals, so even my thoughts had to be obedient.
"And all this I suffered at the hands of good people who loved me! If anything had happened to them, I shudder to think what would have become of me."
"You won't bestow any more gifts, then?" I could hear the smirk on Kami's lips.
"Never. I wish I could take them all back."
I stepped out from behind the curtain, even though I had promised I would not. "Please do take them back."
Henrietta gasped.
I gasped too. She was not Henrietta. Or was she? The enormous blue eyes were the same, but not the height. This fairy was stooped with age. And her perfect skin was wrinkled, with a mole next to her nose. I was seeing the real Henrietta, unshielded by magic.
"Kami, who is this? You brought a human to spy on me!" She straightened for a moment, and I saw a hint of the young, beautiful Henrietta. Then she sighed. "You look familiar. Are you one of my victims?"
This was my chance, the chance for the freedom I always should have had, the chance to escape from my stepfamily, the chance to win Wally back. But I was so nervous my voice was gone. I could only nod.
"What did I do to you, child?" she whispered, as though afraid of my answer.
I found my voice. "You made me obedient. Now you know how it is."
"I do, child."
She touched my cheek, and my heart rose.
"But I can't help you. I renounced big magic."
"Oh, Lady," I pleaded, "it would be a wondrous gift. I would be so grateful."
"Kuki . . ." Kami warned.
"Kami, don't you think? Just this once." Henrietta shook her head, and wispy gray curls fluttered. "No, I mustn't. But if you ever have need of small magic, call on me. You have only to say the words, 'Henrietta, come to my aid.'" She kissed my forehead. "I remember you now. I thought you only spoke Ayorthaian."
I begged her. I told her about my circumstances. I wept. She wept with me – sobbed harder than I did – but stood firm. I pleaded with Kami to persuade her, but Kami refused.
"I can't, Lady," she said. "It was big magic to cast the spell in the first place. But it would be big magic to undo it too. Who can guess what would come of it?"
"Only good would come of it. Only good."
"I can't bear this," Henrietta wailed, wringing her hands dramatically. "I can't bear your distress. Farewell, child." She vanished.
I stormed out of Kami's room and rushed to the library, where I knew I could be alone, where no one was likely to make me scour anything or sew anything or say anything.
Now I could not go to the balls. Ace and Nigel would go with Sir Montgomery. They would be free to dance with every other young lady in Frell. I knew Ace has a secret infatuation with the princess, she was only a year to our junior. Moreover, some lass would win Wally over. His nature was loving, and he would find someone to love.
As for me, I would be lucky to glimpse him on the street. He would not recognize me. My dirty servant's garb would rule out identification at a distance, and he would never be close enough to see my face. He would stay with his wife, the Queen, and their children surrounding them. And I would look at him in sadness, forever haunted by my dream of what we could be.
I could neither go to the balls nor escape from them. Ace and Sir Montgomery talked of nothing else. Even Nigel was interested to the extent of worrying about his outfit.
I cooked and scrubbed and waited on them in a fury. For two weeks I wouldn't speak to Kami. The only sounds in the kitchen came from pots and pans as I slammed them down.
Then it came to me. Why could I not go? Wally need not know I was there. Everyone would be masked, at the beginning at least, although most would unmask quickly so he could admire their beauty. I never would. I would see him, but he would not see me.
Where was the harm, if he did not recognize me? I decided to do it. I would fill my eyes with him. If I could approach him safely, I would fill my ears. If anyone questioned me, I would not be Kuki; I would invent a new name. I would be content in his presence, nothing more. I would use my fake name, the one I used to address myself to Henrietta, Catherine.
I would have to be careful of Ace and Nigel and Sir Montgomery. They probably would not recognize me in a mask and an elegant gown, but I would do well to keep away from them, especially from Ace.
I made up with Kami and told her my plan. She did not comment on the risk I would be taking, only asked, "Sweet, why go and break your heart again?"
My heart was still broken. I would see Wally and it would mend. I would leave him and it would break again. There were three balls. It would break three times.
I had grown tall enough to wear Aunt Morgan's gowns, glad I had not inherited the short genes from Mother. Kami chose the best three and altered them in keeping with the current fashion, even adding a graceful train that would follow me everywhere. "Small magic," she said. She also found the mask I had worn at Mother's wedding, white with tiny white beads along its edges.
In the days preceding the ball, if there were moments when Wally and the balls were not in my mind, they were when I was asleep. Awake, I would picture myself, radiantly beautiful, mounting the palace steps. I would be late and the whole court would be there already. An old servant would mutter, "At last, a damsel worthy of our prince." People would turn to stare, and a sigh, of envy or appreciation, would rustle through the assembly. Wally would hurry to . . .
I would not allow him to see me. The old servant might approve me, but I would slip in unnoticed by anyone else. Within, noblemen in my proximity would beg me to dance with them. I would oblige them, and the steps would carry me near Wally. He would see me and wonder who I was. After the dance, he would attempt to find me, but I would elude him. The next time he would see me, I would be in the arms of another partner. I would smile at the stranger, and Wally's heart would be touched. He would . . .
My thoughts were nonsense. I would see Wally and be invisible to him. Perhaps I would see him fall in love with another maiden.
At night, I searched my magic book for illustrations of Wally or anything written by him. I cared not if it was about his hatred for me, only to see his face. But the book fell open to pages written in Ayorthaian – written by Abba in her diary. I read eagerly, having been happy to read of how my friend was doing:
She wrote,
The inn has never had such important guests before. Prince Wally and his knights stayed here last night! Mother was so nervous; she backed into the trestle table while curtsying. It went over, and Aunt Eneppe's vase smashed into a hundred pieces. Mother, Father, I, Ecree, Emaurice, Ollo, and even Achada went down on our hands and knees, picking up shards of the glass so the prince wouldn't step on something. It was so crowded on the floor that I bumped into someone's shoulder. I turned to apologize; and I came face to face with the prince, who was crawling about on the floor with his knights with the rest of us.
The prince insisted on paying for the vase. He said it would never have happened if not for him making Mother so nervous. Then he apologized for knocking into me! I could not answer him. No words would come out. I could only nod and smile and hope I did not seem too much of a bumpkin. My hands accidently landed on top of a knights, Hoagie, hands. I have to admit, he was pretty cute.
At dinner, when I brought him his ale, I did manage to speak to him, perhaps because I truly had a question, not simply a wish to impress him. I told him I had been at finishing school when Kuki had ran away, and I asked if he knew whether she was safe. When I said her name, one of the knights called out,
"The ogre tamer. Whatever happened to her?" It had been Hoagie who asked the question.
The prince was quite for so long after my question that I worried I had offended him. However, when he spoke, he did not seem angry.
"You were her friend?" he asked. "You liked her?"
I told him Kuki was one of my best friends I ever had. He paused again, and I feared he would say that she had died or had been eaten by ogres. However, he finally answered that he believed her to be well and married to a rich gentleman. He added,
"She is happy, I think. She is rich, so that means that she is happy."
Without thinking, I blurted out, "Kuki doesn't care about riches." Then I realized that I had contradicted the prince!
"How do you know?" he asked me.
I answered, "At school everyone hated me because I wasn't wealthy and because I spoke with an accent. She was the only one who was kind.
"Perhaps she has changed," he said.
"I don't think so, your highness." I contradicted him twice! "One does not change like the winds."
That was the end of our conversation, and I shall remember it forever. I watched him all evening, before and after we talked. Before, he had talked and joked with his men. After, he spoke no more. Married! How could it be? I wish I could see Kuki again. Ask her myself what has befallen her. Where she and the prince not as close anymore as they were when we were in finishing school? Did they have some fight? I long to see her again. I know that Rachel misses her just as much as I do.
I wished I could see Abba and Rachel, too. I wished I could have seen Wally's face when she defended me, but no illustrations accompanied her journal.
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