Two
When Aunt Cordelia returned the next year weighed down by expedition equipment and a various multitude of superfluous logs, maps, and journals, not to mention the gifts of woven reed and bark that her tribe had bestowed upon her parting, and now always smelling of the fresh air and the sea, she swooped me into a large hug, spun me about the room, and asked,
"So, what did you learn while I was away?"
Every summer Cordelia was away at school I had promised to learn a new fact or skill everyday. It was my savior from boredom, and Dee Dee believed it would make me "well-rounded". Unlike most females from the ages thirteen to fifteen on this side of the island, who got promised to a pledge, lived in his home for a year, then were married, Dee Dee chose to further her education past a private tutor up until the age of 26. So she was expecting me to spout out a spew of knowledge as she was accustomed to, but I had neglected my tasks this summer while she was away in favor of spending all my time with Octavia learning how to be beautiful.
Squirming, I backed away from her. She would not be proud to know how I had spent the summer with my first real friend.
"Well, Isobel?" she huffed impatiently. "Do not evade me. I await your answer..."
Avoiding her stifling glower, I recited,
"Ever day this summer I spent with my friend, Octavia, and she taught me how to be pretty and ladylike. I learned sewing and knitting. I learned how to properly brush my hair with no less than a hundred strokes each morning and how to apply rouge and how to line my eyes with charcoal. I learned how to curl my lashes and apply lip stain. I learned what dress fashions are in style this summer and which accessories to wear to certain events. She showed me that blue is my ideal color and that I wide-brimmed hats suit me. I don't manage a lot of jewelry well, and with me simplicity is the right choice. I learned how to keep a home and which servants to employ, the proper way to dance at a ball, and which men are eligible for pledges. I learned which foods to serve when I host an event and who to invite if I do. I learned standard responses to questions concerning my promising and that in two years I should be ready to be promised. But most of all I learned how to feel beautiful and how to be a good friend."
I did not meet Cordelia's eye as she was silent in shock for a moment. Then she spoke after what seemed like an eternity,
"Izzy, I did not think you the sort of girl to run about focussing on frivolous pastimes and become so engrossed in such...VANITY. I expected more out of you after having me as your teacher and role model. In fact I was quite prepared to recommend you to Headmaster Thomkins about starting at the Academy early. I had such high, high hopes for you. I-" here her voice caught, and she cleared her throat. "I put so much faith in you. Being a lady is not a measure of of your looks, it's a measure of your drive and intuition! "
I could feel her disappointment deep in my bones. I felt sick to my stomach. My mother bustled in unannounced, smelling of her sickly sweet perfume, of most refined and proper manner.
"Well I for one think it's simply marvelous! Bella has finally matured enough to realize that the important things in life, not books and useless information, are what are going to get her married to a suitable husband!" she remarked cheerfully as she leaned to kiss Dee Dee on the check. "And welcome back dearie! I certainly missed your...unique opinions and the way you always speak your mind! Seeing as it's so refreshing, why don't you go enlighten Roger with some tidbit of knowledge, and a gleaming trinket of your intuition!"
Dee Dee sighed, and stomped away hurriedly to go and find my father for this proposed discussion. Sometimes I think my mother exasperated her. She seemed exhausted, from the trip home, my recent change in attitude, or her sisters cloyingly endearing welcome I don't know.
Aunt Dee Dee and I always shared a loving bond. She was my closest friend and family member, and my most trusted confidante. She would claim with that hearty, brash laugh I had come to love, that she "knew me better than I knew myself!". In a crowd, I sometimes fancy that I see her short frame with the shiny auburn hair. Sometimes I swear I can just see the adept twinkle in her deep carmel eyes, or her crocked, lopsided grin. To this day I often wake suddenly late at night and call out for her, waiting for a ghost who will never arrive to offer comfort again in her soothing, eloquent voice.
Pinching my cheek affectionately, my mother whispered to me with a smile,
"Oh, love, don't mind you aunt. She never was one for glorifying herself, and I know that you've made the right decision. Now you are truly who you are meant to be! Besides that, Cordelia is just cross from her trip back home. I'm sure she had no intention or meaning behind was she said."
Cordelia suddenly returned, ignoring my mothers protests and urgings to, "Go! GO! Lest dear Roger fancy himself a round of cards with some comrades and leave before you find him!"
Dee Dee sidestepped my mother and focused her burning gaze directly on me.
She spoke softly, with a touch of sadness and regret in her voice. She seemed to have a sort of motherly longing as she peered into my eyes, and my soul. "You seem so different now, Izzy. I feel as though I don't even know you anymore."
I was angry and annoyed with her stupid opinions. Why couldn't she be happy that I was growing up? It's not as though she had been here to guide me this summer, it's not like she cared. Everyone else seemed to be grateful to Octavia for waking me up and forcing me to see the world outside of my inner walls, but hers was the opinion that mattered the most to me, and ruefully it was against mine. I was happy enough about it, so why couldn't Cordelia be happy for me? I may have changed for the better, but if anyone was different after that summer, it was my aunt, who never seemed to regard anything, specifically me, the same way again.
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