A/N: Finally, after a really looong time, we have another chapter. I once again apologize, though this time the delay was because of some re-planning with the story (I hit a small wall with the story and had to get it done again before I could continue). So here you are, the seventh chapter. About six plus an epilogue to go.

Enjoy!

7.

Rella leaned heavily against the commode in their bedroom crouched over the washing bowl breathing heavily having just thrown up a moment ago. She felt Falad coming to stand behind her and starting to rub her arms.

"Rella, are you alright?"

She nodded and after wiping her mouth with the towel, she turned around and leaned against Falad's chest. "Yes, I'm okay now. I wonder if I'm sick or something, I've had this nausea ever since the ball, but I haven't thrown up before."

Falad frowned worriedly. "Perhaps it is because you're here, in another country? I've heard that some people get sick for a few days when they arrive to a new country."

"Maybe", Rella said. Whatever this was she hoped it would pass soon.

"Perhaps you should stay home today and rest", Falad suggested.

"No, no. I don't want to stay home. I'll be perfectly fine, I promise", Rella answered. "Besides, I promised that I'd meet Anastasia today."

Falad raised his eyebrows. "Really?"

"Yes", Rella smiled. "She apologized to me at the ball and well, I wanted to talk to her so we agreed to meet today. It's only after lunch though, so you don't have to worry about me abandoning you right away."

Falad smirked charmingly. "How nice."

He then bowed down to kiss her, but Rella put her hand against his mouth. "Heaven's sake, don't! I taste like vomit!"

"Oh, sorry", Falad blinked and straightened. "Well, you better have something to eat or drink then so that the taste goes away."

Rella nodded and followed Falad into the dining room. She drank some juice and nibbled a little some fruit while staying far away from the coffee cup that had gotten her to throw up. Something in the smell made her feel ill. Falad drank the coffee quickly and then they hurried to the yard where their carriage awaited to take them to the castle. They were going to work with the agreement for the morning and socialize in the afternoon. Hopefully this was going to be a good day.

….

Rella took a deep breath and tried to calm herself. There really wasn't any need to be nervous. Really. She was just meeting with her stepsister, who she hadn't seen in six years and who used to trip her in the stairs when they were children. So no, no need to be nervous.

Right.

Rella shook her head as she walked along the corridor towards the gardens. She wondered if she was able to fool anyone since she wasn't able to do that to herself. Hopefully she wouldn't appear awfully jittery with Anastasia.

At least the day was beautiful for a stroll in the gardens and thankfully a warm one too. She had been slightly cold nearly the whole time in Elethia having gotten used to the warmer climate in Dherr'eshaan. Oh, how she missed their own gardens. The labyrinth of pathways, that wove through the beautiful and exotic plants, shrubs and trees with fountains, small streams and sitting areas here and there.

Rella slowed down slightly as she neared the entrance to the garden. She peaked outside carefully seeing no one. Anastasia hadn't arrived yet, then. She took another deep breath and stepped into the sun and looked around herself for a place to sit. There were several benches around the large fountain that dominated the yard and Rella headed to them. She would be perfectly visible from there.

She sat down to wait and began to finger her small pouch that was hanging from her bronze belt. She was wearing a chocolate brown dress with bright and warm orange. Rella wondered if ti was too flashy, but she liked the colors.

"Cinderella?"

Rella jumped at the sound of her name, her heart nearly stopping as she gasped.

"Anastasia! Please, don't startle me so", Rella held her hand against her chest and tried to calm her wildly beating heart while Anastasia smiled apologetically. "And call me Rella, please. It is my name now."

Anastasia nodded. "Of course. I'm sorry I startled you."

"That's alright", Rella said and smiled weakly.

They stood quietly for a moment, neither of them moving and the air vibrating with unease. Finally Anastasia moved and gestured hesitantly towards a path.

"Um… shall we?"

Rella nodded smiling weakly again and headed to the path. Anastasia fell into step with her and they walked in silence deeper into the garden. When the other wasn't looking they glanced at each other, both wondering and arguing with themselves how to begin. Though they had lived a great part of their childhoods together in the same house and in theory as a family, they felt as if they were walking next to a stranger. The events six years ago and after had changed both of them conclusively. Though, considering their history, this could be seen as a perfect opportunity to start anew from a clean table so to speak.

"I had –"

"I was –"

They tried to speak at the same time and stopped to stare each other. Rella smiled hesitantly and Anastasia held out her perfectly manicured hand.

"Friends?" she asked also smiling hesitantly.

Rella took the offered hand and nodded. "Yes, friends."

They continued their walked slightly more relaxed. "You go first", Anastasia offered, letting out a small and nervous laugh.

"I…" Rella began and paused to organize her thoughts. She sighed. "I forgive you. But, I want you to understand, I do not – will not – forget. Probably ever."

Anastasia nodded with a relieved smile. It seemed as if she was suddenly standing straighter. "Thank you", she breathed. "And I know – I mean, I understand. I don't think I would forget something like that either."

Rella nodded. "Quite. However, I don't think I can forgive you mother or your sister. They were… something else."

Anastasia shrugged. "That's alright. In this, between me and you, they don't matter. I'm the one who needs to live with myself for the rest of my life, not them. Druzilla is living in another country and mother is eventually going to die. I, a bit surprisingly for me, am actually quite relieved that I don't need to live with them anymore or listen to what they say about other people or do what mother tells me to do. I was amazed when I realized that."

Rella stared at her, amazed how much her former stepsister had changed. They continued walking and Rella looked at her surroundings curiously. She had never seen the royal gardens since she had been acting as a maid. It was strange to think that if stepmother hadn't gotten the wand, she would have seen these gardens thousands of times with the prince. They arrived to a small pond and stopped. Rella could see beautifully colored fishes swimming around. They sat down on a bench facing the pond.

"How long will you be staying here?" Anastasia asked suddenly.

Rella blinked. "Oh… Until both of the agreements are done. The other one is pretty much ready."

Anastasia tilted her head as she thought. "So, a week or maybe two before you leave?"

Rella nodded "Yes. Why?"

"Well, I was thinking if you and your husband would like to have dinner with us sometime. Just us I mean, nothing official or anything. Just us and maybe the children. I'd like to actually meet your husband", Anastasia said talking quickly.

Rella smiled. "Sure, I'd love to and I don't think Falad has anything against it either", she frowned thoughtfully as she thought about something Anastasia had said. "Children? You have more than one?"

"Yes, we have three children. I thought you knew?" Anastasia answered looking slightly confused.

"No, I haven't been following the happenings in Elethia in a long time. After I arrived to Dherr'eshaan it was too close, I didn't want anything to remind me of here and later I had other things in my mind", Rella explained looking down at her hands for a moment before raising her gaze to Anastasia. "What are their names? How old are they?"

"Their names are Leopold, Elaiza and Richard. And Leopold is five, Elaiza is three and Richard is two", Anastasia answered smiling fondly as she thought about her children.

Being a mother suited Anastasia, Rella decided as she watched her. It made her want to have children too. She and Falad had agreed to not take any stress about having a child, but they still had been married a little over a year already and most couples had their first child by then. She hoped she wasn't unable to bear children or anything. Falad wouldn't care whether they had children or not, she knew that, but it would cause problems between Falad's family and them. His mother was already slightly against her because of her foreign looks.

"The king must be happy now that he has grandchildren", Rella said.

Anastasia nodded. "Yes, he is. It's almost impossible to get him to do any work anymore when all he would like to do is spoil the kids", Anastasia laughed.

"I can imagine", Rella smiled as she thought about the kind king. "I wish I had children too."

"I'm sure you'll have them", Anastasia reassured her. "You have not been that long married yet if I have understood correctly. Some women just don't get pregnant that easily, or, if you don't mind me being so bold, you've had bad luck with the timing."

Rella broke down into giggles. "Trust me, you are not being bold compared to my mother in law."

"Oh?"

"Yes. Her first words, when we returned from our honeymoon, were 'Well? Are you knocked up already?'"

Anastasia's eyes widened. "No!"

Rella nodded, now calmed down. "And when it became clear that I wasn't, she interrogated me extremely thoroughly in front of all Falad's relatives. Needless to say, we were both very embarrassed. And Falad isn't even the heir to the family."

"Oh dear. I would have died if that would have happened to me!" the redhead exclaimed and the two young women, now feeling comfortable around each other for the first time in their entire lives, launched into a long conversation about everything.

They were so engrossed in it, that they did not notice a pair of narrowed eyes staring at them from the cover of the trees and shrubs.

…

Hours later the two women walked down the corridor of the palace in search for their husbands. They were still, in some matters, slightly strained in their discussions but otherwise they were acting like two friends seeing each other for a very long time. As they had searched for their husbands, they had made a small detour and Anastasia had introduced Rella to her children, who were under the care of the royal nanny when Anastasia herself wasn't present.

Leopold had been very polite and charming, very unusual for a five year old child, Rella had thought, but it had been awfully cute as well, when the small boy had precociously tried to impress his mother and her friend. The tiny boy was a spitting image of his father except that his hair was flaming red as his mother's.

Elaiza on the other hand had not been in a very good mood. The last of her milk teeth was growing out and it apparently caused some aching in her jaw. Other than that the little girl looked like a princess from head to toe. She was going to be a heartbreaker with her deep blue eyes and hair as black as raven's feathers when she grew up, everyone could see it.

Little Richard had just started his negative age and had been very rude. Rella had gotten to hold him awhile, but their nice time together had ended up with Richard trying to eat her scarf. The little terror had come to his father even more than Leopold with his black hair.

That had been awhile ago and the men should have gotten the day's work done by now. They were now heading to the prince's study where Rella and Falad often worked with the prince. Anastasia was explaining about a party last year to Rella when they reached the door and Anastasia raised her hand to knock lightly before entering. However, before she could knock, the door opened revealing the form of the prince, turned slightly back as he talked to someone behind his back.

"Oops", the prince let out as he came to a sudden halt right before he would have collided with Anastasia. "My apologies, dear Anastasia."

Anastasia smiled happily. "Oh, that's alright. We were just coming to see if you were done for today. You've been in there far too long. I don't understand how Rella can do the same. "

Rella shrugged. "I like it, agreements and whatnots are interesting."

Falad smirked as he came from behind the prince and snaked an arm around Rella's waist while planting a kiss on her forehead. "How was it?"

Rella smiled a bit embarrased. "I almost chickened out."

Falad pretended to look shocked. "What? No, you're the bravest lady I know!"

Rella glared at him slightly and Falad grinned at her disarmingly. Rella rolled her eyes and turned her attention to the other couple. Anastasia was just explaining to prince Charles of her plan to have a little dinner for the four of them and maybe the kids. Falad raised his brows and looked at his wife.

"It must have gone better than you thought it would if you have made a dinner date already", Falad said.

Rella shrugged. "Well, she suggested it and I didn't see any reason to say no. Will you come?"

Falad nodded. "Sure."

Rella smiled and the two of them joined the conversation for awhile before they decided to leave for the Embassy. Falad was tired of a whole days of paper shifting and Rella wanted to continue the illumination a little bit further. They bid them goodbye and headed to the courtyard where the carriages would be waiting for them, some lackey having informed their driver by now.

Rella leaned against Falad as they walked. "I met Anastasia's children today."

"Oh? Were they nice?" Falad asked.

"Leopold was lovely, Elaiza cried a lot and Richard tried to eat my scarf", Rella told him and sighed wistfully as they stepped into the carriage. "And now I want children too."

Falad looked at her with high brows and a mischievous glint in his eyes. "Oh?"

"Yeah."

Falad smirked. "Well then, perhaps we should get to work then", he said and leered suggestively at Rella.

Rella blinked and stared blushing at her husband. "Falad! We are in a carriage."

"So", Falad said pulling her tightly against him and leaning her down to seat capturing her lips at the same time. "We can start here and continue… when we get back home, yes."

The driver rolled his eyes amused as he heard Rella giggling in the back. He wished he had a woman like that too.