It has been storming for the past few days, and no one can come in or leave the Manor. Well, except Loveday. She can use the secret tunnels to get here. I'm not allowed to use the tunnels, though. Since no one is supposed to leave, Mrs. Heliotrope has given me extended lessons with only a lunch break and a ten-minute break that I can use at any given point during the day. The classes only end at dinner time. I've almost forgotten that my birthday is at the end of the week. I'm just glad that the weather took everyone's minds from my birthday to when the rain will stop.
Robin's POV: During the storm, Loveday filled me in on their plan for Maria's birthday. I must keep her busy on her birthday until an hour after twelve. I have to keep her away from Silverydew because someone might accidentally spill the surprise, and I also have to keep her from the forest cause people might try and take a shortcut through it. I'm going to take her somewhere I doubt she has ever been. Everyone knows about the surprise and has agreed that we will not talk or bring up her birthday. We are going to pretend that we have forgotten all about it. Loveday came up with this plan the day that the rain started. Loveday believes that the rain will stop right before her birthday. Hopefully, she'll be right.
Maria's POV: The days have been long and cold and dull. I'm starting to hope that the weather will begin to clear up. The best days are when Mrs. Heliotrope lets me finish with our lessons early, and Loveday is here. I discovered that her tunnels also lead to the De Noir castle and the back of her friend's store in Silverydew. I absolutely hate being stuck inside! I wish I could use the tunnels too.
Sometimes when Mrs. Heliotope ends our lessons early, all the adults will meet in Uncle Study. I'm not allowed to go with them. I doubt they are hiding something from me because nothing has happened since the storm. Maybe it has to do with the manor's doors being locked all of a sudden, or perhaps the thing with Robin and I sort of being in charge of Silverydew. I was starting to feel lonely. I hoped that Robin and Wiggins were doing okay.
I sat down on the piano bench, Wrolf was by the fireplace sleeping, and all the adults were in Uncle's study. I was bored and feeling quite lonely. I wished Robin was here. I looked out the window. It was still pouring outside, but it didn't seem as much as the days before. I looked at the keys of the piano, and I started playing. It seemed to flow from my heart to my hands. It wasn't Uncle's and Loveday's song but something that seemed dear to me. I couldn't remember where I had heard it, but I knew it meant much to me.
"Maria?" Someone asked almost as if it were a question. It startled me and I immediately stopped playing. I turned to see Loveday and, following right behind her, the other adults with puzzled facial expressions.
"Maria, dear, where did you learn or hear that song?" Loveday asked.
"I- I- I can't remember Loveday. I remember hearing it many times as a child, but I can't remember who played it for me or where I heard it." I said truthfully.
Loveday asked, "Mrs. Heliotrope do you remember hearing anything like that when Maria was a child?"
"Um, not that I can remember, no. Why, is there something wrong?" Loveday looked at Uncle Benjamin, and he nodded.
"Did I do something wrong?" I asked, looking from Loveday to Uncle Benjamin.
"Well, there's this legend." Loveday started to say.
"Another Moonacre legend," I asked nervously.
Loveday laughed and said, "This isn't like the other one. This one is much different. It has always been that a Merryweather would be granted a gift every couple of generations on a rainy day." Loveday was now sitting beside me, and Uncle was behind us, gently laying his hand on Loveday's shoulder. "See Maria. It was a gift handed down around every three to five generations. It never came two generations in a row. Your Father, Maria, had this gift. The song you just played is a song that you can't learn or teach to someone. It's a way of finding your soulmate. One day your Father was playing the piano, and your Mother came and started playing with him. We found out later that it was from the Legend, and that's when your Father realized he had met his soulmate."
"Your Father, my brother, tried on multiple occasions to teach me the song, but it was as if something was holding me back, and I grew frustrated and gave up. The surprising thing is that I took piano lessons growing up. Your Father couldn't sit still long enough to learn. So you could imagine my surprise when I discovered that your Father could play such a simple song, yet I couldn't." Uncle Benjamin said, thinking back to the memories from years ago.
Marmaduke stepped in and said, "I think the two of you are forgetting the full story. I'll help you remember. Long ago, before the time of the first moon princess, every generation, one Merryweather child would be blessed with this gift. It had stopped coming to every single generation when the first moon princess put a curse on the valley. But Maria ended the curse, and everything returned to how it once was. Wrolf is back to lion form, the manor isn't falling apart anymore, and the magic has returned one more to Moonacre. Maria is part of the newer generation of Merryweathers, restoring the magic to Moonacre. She could receive this gift and truly return everything to how it once was." I'm unsure if I had completely broken the curse remembering the moon princess's face. Something still felt incomplete.
"How come I don't remember that part in the story?" Uncle Benjamin asked.
"When your brother had this gift, your Father turned to mine to figure out the mystery. I still remember helping my Father. I've never forgotten the day when he read the legend out loud for me the first time." Marmaduke gave a quick nodded, then disappeared and probably went to make dinner.
"Well, that explains that," Loveday said with a small laugh.
"But I still don't understand how is this supposed to help me find my soulmate?" I asked.
"Only your soulmate will know the rest of the song. And together, the song will sound whole." Uncle continued, "I remember listening to your Father and Mother play the song together. It wasn't like anything I've ever heard before. If you just listened to the part your Mother knew, it would sound soft and gentle, but if you only listened to your Father playing it, it would sound rough and hard. You would have never realized that the parts that sounded so different would sound perfect together. It was a beautiful thing to listen to. You probably heard your Father and Mother playing it together before your Mother died."
After that, everyone left me to my thoughts. I closed my eyes and listened to my heart. I let whatever my heart said flowed to my hands. I put all my emotions into this song, letting them play it out. When I finished, I realized that the song sounded incomplete. I wondered how it would sound once I met him. What if I've already met him? What if I never met him? What if he's... Nope. But he could be. No, it couldn't be. We're just friends. Just the thought of him makes butterflies fill my stomach. But at the same time, it makes me want to throw up from how fast I'm falling for him. Ugh, I just wished he would make it clear if he likes me or not. I think he likes me, but I'm second-guessing myself. If he doesn't like me in that way, that's fine with me. We are great friends anyway. But, if he actually likes me, my heart might explode. I hate how fast I'm falling for him, but at the same time, I wish he was here with me.
The following day I woke up, and the sun was shining. Not a rain cloud in sight. Finally, it took long enough. Today Loveday laid out a light blue dress with light blue morning glory flowers on top to match. I got my vase that has some flowers from before it started raining. I realized that the flowers were the same as some of the ones in the meadow.
I hurried down the stairs. I hope that Mrs. Heliotrope will let me have the day off since I've been working extra on my studies and it's the first time in a couple of days that it's not raining.
Once I got there, I ate a few cookies that were on the table and asked, "Mrs. Heliotrope, may I be excused from my lessons today? It's finally stopped storming, and I hoped to get out some."
"You have worked very hard in the past few days. I guess we could just do this once, though." Mrs. Heliotrope said.
"Thank you, Mrs. Heliotrope!" I said, about to walk out.
"Maria." Uncle Benjamin said.
"Yes, Uncle?"
"Don't forget to be home before dark."
"I won't, I promise," I said merrily.
I hurried out and quickly saddled up Periwinkle. I jumped on and grabbed the reins. We went through a little path in the forest.
I was deep in thought until something or someone must have started Periwinkle. She started going faster and faster. I tried to calm her done, but nothing was working. I screamed as I slid off Periwinkle, but her reins started getting tangled in my arms. "Slow down, girl. It's okay." I yelled, but she just kept going faster and faster. I felt like my arms were going to rip off.
"Periwinkle, stop!" She completely pulled to a stop once I said that. I untangled my arms, and I landed on the ground. I hurried up to check on Periwinkle. "What's wrong, girl? What scared you?" I asked. I looked at her legs and noticed a few cuts on her back leg. She was bleeding. She must have walked too close to a thorn bush.
I looked around. We were close to the meadow. I slowly walked to the field with Periwinkle. Once we got there, she lay down close to the river. I ripped a small piece of my dress off and dipped it in the water. I gently put the cloth to clean up her blood.
Once I had finished, Periwinkle had fallen asleep. I looked at my arms. They had started turning blue and purple with red cuts. To take my mind off the pain, I wandered around the forest but made sure not to go so far away from Periwinkle. I want to take her back to the Manor as soon as she wakes up.
Someone grabbed one of my arms from behind and yelled out in pain. The person quickly let it go. I turned around. It was just Robin.
"I'm so sorry, but what happened to your arms?" He asked, worriedly staring at my cuts and bruises.
"Um, it's nothing. Well, when I was riding Periwinkle, some thorns cut her leg, which started her, so she began to go faster and faster. She wouldn't slow down, and I was starting to fall off her, but my arms got tangled up with her reins. Eventually, I got her to stop, and I was able to untangle myself from her reigns." I said while looking at my arms.
"If I knew or had seen you, I would have come to help you right away to help you. I'm sorry." Robin said.
"It's okay. You couldn't have known. Anyway, I should check on Periwinkle to see if she's awake. She fell asleep by the stream while I cleaned up her blood and took the thorns from her leg." I said, starting to head back to Periwinkle. I hoped Robin would come with me. It's been a while since I've seen him.
"May I come with you, princess?" Robin asked.
"Sure, come on," I said. As we returned, we talked about what we had done while being stuck inside for the past few days. Robin's days were like mine, dull and full of extended classes. As soon as we got there, Periwinkle woke up.
"I've got to bring Periwinkle back to the manor so she can rest some more. Would you like to?" I asked, hoping he would say yes.
"Of course, princess!" Robin said excitedly. I smiled.
"Come on, Periwinkle," I said, grabbing her reins in one hand, and Robin held my other hand. We walked back to the manor. I put Periwinkle in her stall.
I turned around, and Robin was gone. "Robin, where'd you go?" I looked around, but he wasn't anywhere. I felt an acorn hit my head, and I looked up. Robin was climbing the tree! "Robin, what are you doing?" I asked while laughing.
"I'm trying to see something," Robin said.
"Hold on one second," I said. I hurried inside, up the stairs, to my balcony. I looked up at the tree. It was a bit higher than my balcony and a massive jump away.
"Robin!" I yelled as the branch he was standing on broke, and he was barely hanging on. I was so scared. What if he gets hurt? What if he falls? If he falls he can get seriously hurt. Why did he climb so high up? My mind raced with possibilities. My fears grew every second he was barely holding on. I felt absolutely helpless. What if something bad happened and there was nothing I could do to stop it? It felt as if time was going slow as I watched him struggle to hold on.
"I'm okay. I promise." Robin said as he tried to pull himself onto another branch.
"Robin, you need to get down now. You're going to get hurt!" I pleaded, hoping he would get down.
He was able to get onto the other branch. "See, I'm fine," Robin said.
Robin's POV: I'm not sure what I'm looking for, but I have a feeling that once I get up there, there is something important that I need to see. I looked back at Maria. Everything about her was pleading with me to get back down. She looked scared and worried. Everything told me to keep going up, but my heart told me to go back down. I looked up, then back at Maria. I carefully started going back down. Maria turned from her balcony and went somewhere inside. She came back outside, running towards the tree. I almost fell down, but I grabbed on tight and made it safely back down to the ground.
As I turned to face Maria, she quickly engulfed me in a huge hug. She whispered, "For a second, I thought I was going to lose you." That's when it hit me. She felt the same way I had felt when she jumped off the cliff to break the curse.
I quickly pushed her back so I could see her eyes. My hands were on her shoulder. I looked into her eyes and said, "I'm okay. I make it without a single cut."
"You could have died, and I just stood there helpless." Maria looked down as her she heald back her tears.
I hugged her and then said, "Hey, look at me. I didn't die. I'm okay, Maria. I promise. I mean, here you are worring about some stupid birdbrain, yet you didn't even realize we have a scar on the same hand." I hoped that would distract her from what she was feeling.
"You are a stupid birdbrain," Maria said with a little laugh, then continued, "I didn't even notice this. Must have happened this morning." I gently traced the scar on Maria's hand. It looked a lot like mine.
"I guess we were both helpless today," I spoke softly.
"What do you mean?" Maria asked, she was still looking at her scar.
"Well, I felt awful and helpless when I heard about you and Periwinkle, and you felt helpless when I almost fell."
"Why did you start climbing the tree?" Maria asked. She seemed to be feeling better.
"I'm not sure. I had a strong feeling that there was something important that I needed to see." I said. Maria nodded.
"I'm just happy that you're okay." She said after a few seconds of silence.
We spent the rest of the day talking and enjoying each other's company. For the first time, I'm excited to return home to ensure Maria's birthday gift is ready. I think that this will be her best birthday yet! I walked her to the door. Digweed opened the door and left to do something. I kissed Maria on her cheek, tipped my hat, and wished her a great night. I had to take a short trip to one of the village shops before I can forget. I got the most essential part of her present and headed home.
When I returned to my room, I opened my nightstand drawer, and the box I would put her gift in was all the way in the back. Beside it was part of her gift. The other part was already in my hand. I grabbed it, added the last piece, and put it in the box. I grabbed a piece of paper and a pen and began to write her a happy birthday note. Once I finished, I put the message inside the box and closed it. Tying the box close with a ribbon. The same ribbon I had in my pocket that day. It took a while to find, but it will be well worth it.
I set the box in the back of my nightstand drawer and went to take a bath. Once I returned, I grabbed the box and stuffed it in my pocket just in case Will found a way into my room again.