A/N: Sorry for taking so long again, I've had a busy year so far. But here's chapter four, I hope you'll enjoy!

Thank you for all of the reviews!

4.

Rella paced in front of a large double doors waiting for Falad. She was nervous again and she hated it. She was tired of being nervous because of her stepsisters and stepmother even though she hadn't even met them properly yet. Somehow it made it even worse. This was their third day here and she was already a wreck, she was beginning to think that maybe she shouldn't have come.

On the other hand, as Falad had pointed out when she had opened up to him, they couldn't do anything to her anymore. She was a representative of another country and a wife of another representative. They couldn't do anything, not without serious consequences.

Rella sighed and stopped. She smoothed out her evening dress, it was burgundy with dark green embroidery and silver in the edges of the wide sleeves and in the sash that was tied around her waist. Her pillbox hat matched the color of her dress and the scarf that covered her hair was dark green with tiny silver embroidery.

The king had arranged a ball and that was where they were going once Falad had managed to sort out the matter that one of their servants had brought to their attention. She hoped it wasn't anything too bad. Rella gazed down the hall to see if she could see Falad, but he was still gone. She walked to the wall next to a narrow servant's corridor and leaned against the wall. Rella closed her eyes and tried to calm down. Anastasia was sure to be there as would be the prince. Drizella and stepmother were a bit more uncertain. She didn't know if they were going to be there. She hadn't heard anyone mention them when she had been here nor did she know what they could be doing. Did they even know she was here? Had Anastasia recognized her? She wished she knew.

Rella focused on the sounds surrounding her and breathed deeply in and out. She needed to calm down. As she breathed she heard the muffled sounds of a large crowd from the ballroom along with dance music, the rustling of clothes as the guards next to the ballroom door shifted on their feet and something strange. Something, that sounded vaguely familiar, small and slightly squeaky. The voices were coming from the servants corridor, the other voice seemed to be explaining something to the other in a frustrated tone. Rella turned to look at the narrow corridor and frowned slightly. She knew those voices, from somewhere long ago. She took a step forward before stopping and glancing hesitantly back at the large main corridor. Falad would be back any minute, and they had agreed to meet in front of the doors. He would be worried if she wouldn't be there. This wouldn't take long, Rella decided. She would go and see who were the owners of those voices and return quickly.

She turned back towards the corridor and walked swiftly. As she moved along the corridor the voices became clearer and she was able make out that the frustrated voice was trying to explain to the other, what appeared to be the millionth time if the tone was anything to say, that you couldn't go beat up a cat. Rella frowned, she was certain she had heard the argument before. Rella slowed down as she approached a crossing. The voices appeared to be coming from there. Rella squinted her eyes in the dim light of lanterns and observed the crossing. At first she couldn't see anything, but then something told her to look from the floor and she noticed a pair of mice in small shirts, jackets, shoes and caps arguing about the cat. Rella's eyes widened as she recognized them.

"Jaq? Gus?" she said disbelievingly. "What are you doing here?"

The mice froze for a split second before turning around and running as fast as they could towards a small hole in the wall.

"Wait! I won't hurt you. Don't you remember me?" Rella said quickly and kneeled on the floor. "It's me, Cinderella."

Once again the mice froze, this time next to the hole, and turned slowly to look at Rella. They were clearly wary. Rella raised her hands slowly and removed her hat and scarf and smiled reassuringly to the mice. A recognition flashed in their tiny faces finally and they smiled widely.

"Cinderelly!"

The mice jumped up and down before scurrying quickly towards Rella who reached down with her hands and raised the mice up as they jumped into her hands. Rella smiled at them, it was so long when she had last seen them. She chuckled slightly as they continued to jump up and down exited that she was here and drowning her with enormous amount of questions. She answered them all, telling them what had happened to her after the ship had left, how she had met her new family and later Falad and how they had ended up married. This particular detail seemed to cause a little confusion to them.

"But what about the princey?" Jaq asked confused.

Rella smiled at them a bit sadly. "Nothing. It was six years ago, and now I'm happy. Happier than I would have been with him I think, I hope. I love Falad, the prince… I think he was a dream, a wrong kind of dream. I made him out to be something in my head that he's not."

Jaq nodded but seemed hesitant about something while Gus congratulated Rella for her happy life. Rella looked at Jaq.

"What is it, Jaq?"

The small mouse shook his head. "Nothing."

Rella tilted her head. "Jaq?"

Jaq wringed his tiny paws and seemed to be pondering furiously something. Finally he sighed.

"The princey… the princey came after Cinderelly."

Rella blinked. "What?"

Jaq nodded furiously. "Jaq and Gus told princey that Cinderelly is the one the princey danced when Cinderelly was being taken to the ship. But the princey was late and evil stepmother used the wand again" Jaq ended with a sigh.

She looked at Jaq disbelievingly. "The prince came after me? But…"

"Rella?" she heard suddenly behind her and turned to look.

Falad was standing at the corridor Rella had walked along here and looking at her a bit strangely. "Who are you talking to?"

Jaq and Gus squeaked in panic and tried to run again and Rella turned her attention back to the mice for a moment.

"No, no, no, it's alright", she said quickly and tried to stop them from running. "It's just Falad, my husband, remember."

The mice paused, climbed back to Rella's hands and looked at Falad warily. Rella rose from her knees and turned to Falad who lifted and eyebrow.

"Remember the mice I told you about", she said holding her hands up and smiling.

Falad blinked and looked at the mice a bit more closely. "The ones you used to talk with?"

Rella smiled brightly and nodded. "Yes, and I can still talk to them."

Falad looked at them a bit warily and lifted his hand in greeting. "Err… Hi."

Rella stifled a laugh. Falad looked like he was feeling a bit foolish right now which was a quite a feat since he wasn't very easily shocked by anything usually. Jaq and Gus greeted him as well, although a bit hesitantly and Falad looked at Rella.

"You do remember that I have no idea what they are saying, right?" he said.

Rella gave him a slightly sheepish grin. "Oh, sorry. No, I didn't remember. They said hi to you."

Falad nodded to the mice and then turned back to Rella. He looked at her apologizing with his eyes.

"Love, the ball."

Rella's eyes widened a bit. She had completely forgotten the ball. She looked at the mice.

"I'm sorry. We need to continue this later. Where do you live here? Would you be able to come to the embassy?"

Jaq nodded. "When is Cinderelly leaving? Jaq and Gus can come to the main doors then."

Rella glanced at Falad. "How long do you suppose we need to be here?"

"Well, we can't stay very late, we have the meeting in the morning. Shall we say twelve o'clock?"

"Okay, meet us then", Rella told to the mice who nodded to her and scurried quickly to the hole in the wall. Rella waved at them as they disappeared and turned to Falad who had picked her hat and scarf from the floor. Rella smiled as she reached for them, but Falad smiled and started to arrange the scarf over her hair telling her to stay put.

"Everything alright?" Falad asked.

Rella nodded. "Yes. I am glad that Jaq and Gus are alright, I've missed them."

Falad nodded. "It is amazing this gift elethians have, to be able talk to animals."

"I'm glad I have the gift", Rella said. "They were my best friends as I grew."

Falad frowned disapprovingly at the thought of Rella not having anyone else to count on in her youth. They had talked about it before, but it still made his blood boil. Falad took the hat and set it over the scarf. Rella took Falad's hands on her own and looked at him pointedly as their eyes met.

Falad rolled his eyes. "Yes, I know. It's in the past, over and done. But I still don't like it."

Rella smiled and stepped closer wrapping her arms around Falad's waist. "I know, it's okay. It makes me feel much better for some reason."

Falad smiled and gave her a peck on the lips. "Good."

They stood there hugging each other for a while until Falad parted, took Rella's hand and placed it on his arm.

"Shall we?"

Rella smiled and they returned to the main corridor. When they approached the ballroom doors the guards looked at them a bit strangely but opened the doors quickly. Nobody announced them this time when they stepped in, a fact which Rella was quite grateful. She really didn't like attention being drawn into them in such a way, it made her uncomfortable. As they strolled slowly around the ballroom mingling with other guests, Rella tried discreetly to see where Anastasia was and if Drizella and stepmother were here. She still couldn't find Drizella or her stepmother anywhere but she found Anastasia talking to some ladies not awfully far away from them looking stunning in her beautiful dress, beautiful hair and beautiful jewelry. If she hadn't known that the stepmother had taken the godmother's wand she wouldn't have believed that this woman was the same Anastasia from six years ago. But she supposed that they had used the wand to make Anastasia more beautiful and it had obviously succeeded. She was now probably the most beautiful woman in Elethia.

Wonder if they had done the same to Drizella? Rella certainly could picture it, although Drizella hadn't ever been quite as vain as Anastasia since she had been a bit prettier than Anastasia, a fact she had endlessly bragged about to Anastasia. Sometimes Rella had almost felt sorry for her, almost. Now, she wasn't sure where she stood with them. Six years changed people, though stepmother would no doubt still think her beneath the trash at her feet.

She sighed drawing Falad's attention to her and he followed her gaze to the beautiful princess of Elethia.

"Do you think she's your stepsister?" he asked. They had talked about her on the previous evening when they had returned to the embassy after the long day struggling with the treaties.

They continued strolling, Falad leading them through the crowd as Rella studied the guests. She had just noticed the child from the previous day who had been with Anastasia and she tried to see, if she recognize any features in him, when she distractedly heard Falad talking to someone introducing them to whoever it was he was talking with. Rella sighed uncomfortably as she watched the child, suddenly she wasn't feeling very well.

"Rella, love", Falad said touching her arm and she turned away from the child. "This is her grace lady Tremaine."

Everything in Rella seemed to freeze as she suddenly noticed to be face to face with her stepmother.

…..

A/N: Hah! A cliffhanger! Tiny one, I know, but I couldn't resist.