A/N; This was pretty much the only scene I could come up with when I first got the idea to do the fairy tale 'Bearskin'. Since I couldn't come with much other than one vague scene, I forgot about it until now. The original sisters were going to be Hiromi and Chika like I did in 'Rebel of my Destiny', but that felt a little too cut and dried in how it would play out.
And then my mind remembered a different set of sisters I've used, and well… it's almost sad how much more sense the father's actions are now.
Birthday Bash Prompt 6: Tea Party
"So, would this dress be better for the dinner party tonight, or should I go more traditional this time?" Ahiru begged, gesturing at the two ball gowns draped lovingly over her bed.
Rue tore her eyes off of her book in order to glance at the two dresses, combing back some of her black curls in order to do so. "That depends on what mood you're in. I'll be wearing my red gown."
"That one again? It makes you look like you're in the army," Ahiru complained as their other sister put her sewing down to examine the dresses.
Rue shrugged before returning to her book. "Mytho thinks it's a good color on me, and Father agrees. Of course, you could show up in a potato sack and Fakir would like it."
"Well, she is the only one that can make him smile. I think the yellow one will look better against her hair color," the middle sister offered. "The blue and grey one makes me think of tea parties, and the yellow one will give her legs more room to move. You were planning to dance, weren't you, little sister?"
Ahiru gave her second oldest sister a worshipful look before wrapping her arms around her waist for a deep hug. "At least one of you offers decent fashion advice. So what are you wearing tonight, Haru?"
Haru sighed while returning the embrace. "Probably my blue one, since I've been forbidden from the grey one and you're wearing your yellow."
Rue fought back a small laugh as she reached to her vanity for a brush and started running it through her bouncy hair. "You do have to admit that shade of grey is very close to white, Haru. It would spread rumors that you and Lord Waul are going to beat me and Mytho to the alter."
The brown-haired sister felt herself die a little inside, but she returned to her sewing like nothing was wrong. "No fear of that, Rue. Father would never stand for it." 'He can barely stand that custom dictates I marry before Ahiru.'
If anything, there was only one reason the marquis could stand his second child being courted at all.
Quite nearly on cue, their bedroom door opened to reveal a young maid with two thick ponytails. "Lady Haru? Your father is requesting your presence downstairs."
"What, Father's back?! Ahiru squealed and made a run for the door as Rue excitedly placed a bookmark within her pages.
Despite knowing what it meant when he wanted to see her alone, Haru very calmly stepped in front of the door to block the younger sister off. "Don't worry. You know full well he will come up soon enough. I'm sure what he has to tell me won't take long." Her tone was calm as she folded and slipped her sewing into a small pocket of her plain mauve dress.
"Oh, come now," Rue complained, placing her hands on her hips while giving her brunette sister a soft glare. "What could he say to you that he wouldn't say in front of us?"
'Oh, I don't know. That he's using me to pay off his debts before you become queen?' "I'll let you know if it's important," she lied, giving Ahiru one more squeeze and slipping out the door before either of them could follow. "Study? Library?" she quickly asked the maid.
"The foyer. He has a… um. Guest," Lillie finally phrased with an uncertain smile.
Haru decided not to waste time on more questions. Although it was unladylike to run, she still managed to get to the stairs in record time, and only her father's presence at the bottom could keep her from sliding down the banister to quicken the pace.
"What took you so long?" he hissed in a surprisingly low tone as she performed the delicate balance of descending the staircase in her high heels without tripping or falling. It would have been easier if custom didn't dictate corsets and heavy petticoats, but years of training didn't count for nothing.
"My sisters wanted to know what you needed just me for," she explained while she had the chance, her heart beating like mad as she kept one hand on the banister, even after reaching the bottom step.
As suspected his expression turned a shade more gentle at the mention of his other two daughters, but the steel soon returned. "It appears you're getting what you want, after all. I brought home a much richer suitor than Lord Waul for you."
'I could have almost have bet money on that,' she inwardly groaned. Being a future brother-in-law to the king was something most noblemen would pay through the nose for.
He gripped her by the arm, and almost painfully pulled her close in order to whisper in her ear. "By 'rich', I mean 'more money than even the king'. He has promised more than a king's ransom if you are to his liking. Go into the library, and be to his liking, even if it kills you. Understand?"
'For the chance to escape Lord Waul and you?' Although she didn't mean one ounce of affection in the gesture, Haru patted his arm and turned her body toward the library where the rich suitor was waiting. "Please attend to my sisters. I will attend to our honored guest."
That was the closest to a warm smile she had ever seen the marquis give her. It was a shame it only lasted long enough for him to release her arm and run up the stairs.
'Maybe this suitor won't be so bad. He's at least insisting on a meeting before trying to arrange anything permanent. Better than that count that thought I was going to come with a dowry, that's for sure.' Steeling herself and taking in a deep breath, Haru squared her shoulders, held her head up like the lady she supposedly was, and fixed a polite smile on her face as the designated chaperone of a butler opened the door to the library.
Her jaw barely had time to drop as a name came out in a stumbled gasp. "Catskin?"
There was little doubt of his identity. There were only rumors of one giant cat that walked around the seven kingdoms as a man. His orange and cream fur was tousled and messy, but there was no denying that tail that swished this way and that with nerves as he looked up from his worried pacing.
For supposedly being wealthy beyond measure, his clothes looked like they belonged in a rag heap. Almost all of him looked like he should have been there.
Catskin offered her a nervous smile and bow when he saw her. "I see my reputation proceeds me. I trust you've heard nothing good?" he asked with a certain resignation.
More intrigued than afraid, Haru let the butler close the door behind her to get a closer look at him. He didn't smell all that clean, but she did her best to ignore it in favor of satisfying her curiosity. "The rumors my sisters and I hear are very muddled, and the worst ones are clearly exaggerated. Not to be rude, but you don't have the right build for someone that's eaten every fish in the sea," she added, hoping to high heavens that he had a sense of humor.
Catskin could only shake his head and roll his large green eyes. "It would take a much more impressive glutton than myself to even attempt such a feat. Honestly! If I so much as help a child up when they trip over a rock, it inspires a mob to materialize with pitchforks."
'Poor man,' Haru couldn't help sympathizing. "Well, I promise not to scream out the window for one." A glance at the clock startled her. "But I could ring for tea, if you're interested."
His green eyes lit up at the prospect as his strange mouth fell into a dreamy smile. "I haven't had tea in two years."
"I'll ring for some," Haru promised, turning enough so that she could pull on the correct rope on a nearby rope.
"Actually, Lady Haru," he called out before her hand touched the rope. "I… used to be very good with tea blends. If you would not object."
Her large brown eyes turned back to him, her hand still extended for the rope. "I… could show you to the kitchens," she offered.
He grinned happily at the prospect, his arm almost automatically offering itself to her. But then he started at the sight of his own arm, like he couldn't believe his own daring.
Deciding that he could be trusted, she caught the arm as he tried to reposition it behind his back out of embarrassment, linking it comfortably in her own. "Right this way," she directed with a smile, tugging him gently to the door that the disgusted butler was opening.
He numbly let her lead him out of the library and down one of the many halls of her father's manor. "… You are… being disturbingly calm about accepting me as your suitor."
"I have completely selfish reasons, Catskin," she assured him with a warm smile. "I've been curious about you since rumors have reached the capitol, and I don't care much for the suitor Father was planning on selling me to before you came along."
The tall feline gave a sound of incredulity before tugging her to a halt. "What makes this suitor so repulsive that I look like a catch by comparison? Is he old enough to be your grandfather?"
"That would be the only thing to make it worse," Haru muttered under her breath, taking a deep breath before looking up at him. "He's young and handsome enough, but his idea of a wife is a silent ornament that hangs off his arm for social functions. It's all I can do to keep myself from falling asleep when Father arranges for him to escort me, or from strangling him when he decides my opinions for me. You are already a better conversationalist."
He kept staring at her, so she tugged on his arm to keep heading toward the kitchen.
As she did so, she caught a glimpse of the scandalized butler behind her. "Father already knows what I think of Lord Waul, but you can tell him I repeated myself if you feel the need, Takeshi."
He made some more shocked noises, but she wasn't slowing down for the chaperone or the half-cat that was completely shocked at her blatant honesty.
Haru looked up at him with a little annoyance. "You did want me to sample your tea blend, didn't you?"
"Y-yes," he stammered, still staring at her as she half-dragged him to the kitchens. But there was a smile on his furry lips as he continued to study her, and now that he had the assurance that she wasn't going to pull away…
He tightened his own grip on her arm.
ooOoo
"… so, of course I couldn't resist asking 'cat got your tongue?'" Catskin nearly purred, making the girl on the other side of the simple table laugh, not bothering to hold it back anymore.
The table was in a small corner of the kitchen that the cooks usually ate their own meals on, and the usual occupants of the kitchen were going out of their way not to disturb them. If the brown-haired noble had bothered to look at their expressions, she would have been able to see both the disgust and the disapproval in their eyes at her familiarity with the filthy feline.
Unfortunately for them, her attention was fixed elsewhere. "So, did he ever answer you?" Haru asked eagerly, holding her teacup with both hands so she wouldn't drop it again in her mirth.
He smirked around his own teacup while taking a sip of their third batch of tea. "With my hand in his mouth? I doubt I would have understood a thing if he tried."
They both had a nice laugh over the latest amusing story.
"Go on. Your turn," Catskin urged once he had control of his mirth.
Haru took in a few cleansing breaths, still smiling wider than she had in months. She opened her mouth to speak but a polite cough from the doorway captured both of their attention.
The young maid from before curtsied respectfully. "My lady? Your sisters asked me to remind you of the ball tonight. If you hurry with the preparations, you'll only make them a little late."
Haru looked across the little table at her feline companion, who was quickly losing the light in his beautiful green eyes. "Would you be a dear, Lillie? Tell my sisters to go on without me. I'm having a splendid time with Father's guest."
Lilie wasn't very good at hiding her shock. "… Well… if you're certain…"
"I am. Wish them luck for me," the young noblewoman assured with a smile before turning her attention back to a now ecstatic feline. "All right, Catskin, here's a good one. My little sister Ahiru has always loved ducks, and we get them every year in the pond out back during the migration. I can't count all the times a governess had to drag her away from the pond if Rue or I weren't fast enough. One time, she got so mad that no one would let her play with the ducks, she intentionally ripped one of her pillows open and in her own words 'made myself a duck, and my dolls are ducks-"
Catskin burst out laughing again.
"… and the nursery is a duck," Haru added through her own mirth. "It was only one pillow, but it went everywhere! 'my bed is a duck, and my shoes are a duck'…"
"Th-the floor is a duck?" he gasped, trying desperately to breathe through his laughter.
"Right after 'and the curtains are a duck'." Haru finally forced herself to calm down so that she could coherently finish the story. "Father was laughing so hard, he didn't have it in him to punish her." 'If I had ripped a pillow, I would have kissed dinner good-bye for a month.'
This was going even better than she had hoped. Catskin had refused to explain why he was a dirty vagabond when he could produce enough gold to live in a palace, but her mind was quickly becoming set in stone. If it meant the company of a husband that would also be her friend, she'd leave this place with him in the morning.
Hopefully he wouldn't mind visits to her sisters. Haru couldn't help wondering what they were going to make about having Catskin in the family and their beloved sister turning vagabond…
It was difficult for the two to keep track of the time, but it was five more story swaps before the door opened again.
"All of you. I want you out of the kitchens for five minutes," a familiar voice commanded like his will alone had the power to move mountains.
Catskin looked down in surprise as he felt Haru's hand involuntarily flinch against his own, but when he looked up in worry, her face was drained of the warm joy that he had been enjoying. Even as the last of the cooks hurriedly left for the side door leading to where the wood logs were stored, his own features became stern.
Haru had been careful not to touch upon her relationship with her father, but was privately relieved that this last clue was enough to make future discussions an unneeded experience.
Once the last scullery maid closed the door behind her, the Marquis Yoshioka made powerful strides across the kitchen until he was standing next to the table, his hands on his hips like an impatient child. "Well, then? You have had several hours to become acquainted with my daughter. Is she to your liking or not?"
Catskin looked across the table at her, begging with his eyes for her permission.
Such a thing required no thought at all, even without the threat of Lord Waul. Able to smile at the thought of leaving her father for good, she gave him an encouraging nod.
Not needing more than that, the Cat Man finished his last cup of tea, stood up from his chair and gave a respectful bow to her father with a wild grin of his own. "If you would kindly show me to your treasury, Marquis Yoshioka, I should like to attempt demonstrating how much her hand in marriage is worth to me."