The Tale of Tales

Chapter 2

She looked down at the plate of bread and cake Lucy was eating from.

"You little thief! How dare you steal from the table!" She siezed Lucy by her arm and prepared to strike her only to be stopped by the other girl grabbing on to Minerva's dress.

"She didn't steal them Stepmother I gave them to her!" The girl objected.

"Why on earth would you do a stupid thing like that?!"

"She looked so hungry I thought maybe she needed something to eat. Oh please don't hurt her Stepmother. If you must punish someone punish me!"

For a moment it looked like Minerva was going to strike the girl but she stopped.

"Come Juvia your father is waiting for us."

She grabbed the girl called Juvia roughly by the arm and pulled her along as she walked back to the ball.

The was the first time Lucy had received any kindness since her parents died and that gave her hope that not all people were cruel and that if she honored her mother's dying words then she would indeed find happiness.

Ten years passed and even though Lucy continued to spend her days as a scullery maid, working in ash and soot while wearing only rags she grew up to be a lovely woman with hair as golden as the sun and eyes that seemed to resemble stardust.

"Lucy! Where are you?! Yukino and I want our breakfast now!" Sorano screeched for one morning.

"Coming!" Lucy called as she added the finishing touches on their morning meal.

"I specifically said that I wanted four minute eggs! Not four one minute! And where in God's name is our bread?!"

"Sorano please there's no need to yell." Yukino said.

Lucy walked into the dinning room carrying a tray of eggs, bread, and fruit with a teapot and cups. She sat the tray on the table and began to pour the tea.

"What kept you?" Sorano asked.

"Sorry Miss, you said that you wanted duck eggs for breakfast and they're so much harder to find than chicken eggs."

"That's no excuse and look at you, covered in ash and soot. I swear Lucy sometimes I think that you're no different from a pig. After all you're ugly like them, you're dirty like them, and you smell like them."

"I think that was a bit too harsh Sorano." Yukino said. "After all Lucy does sleep by the castle fire place instead of sleeping in a warm bedroom like the rest of us. You know Lucy we do have an extra bedroom that no one uses so perhaps-"

"Be quiet Yukino! She's a servant not a guest! Don't treat her like one! Now Lucy leave and get started on your usual chores."

"Yes Miss."

As usual Lucy worked her fingers to the bone. Cooking breakfast, lunch, and dinner, sweeping and scrubbing the floors, waxing the tables, polishing the silver, and washing and mending the clothes. She did each of her chores without complaint and still found ways to be hopeful and happy. Once she finished her chores she returned to the castle but not before visiting the graves of her beloved parents. Some time ago Lucy had found a hazel twig and planted it on her parent's graves. Over the years she had watered it with her many, many tears resulting in a hazel tree growing on their graves. Lucy treasured that tree because she felt that it symbolized the notion that somehow her parents were still with her. After visiting their graves and tending to the tree, Lucy retried to her place in the kitchen where she found her friends the mice waiting for her.

"Hello my little friends. Are you hungry?" She began to feed bits of her bread crust to the hungry mice. Though she knew the mice could not speak she knew that they understood her whenever she talked to them and sometimes all a person needs is someone to listen to them.

Suddenly she heard the sound of glass breaking. She quickly stood up, grabbed a broom that was by the fireplace, and slowly without making a sound walked toward the direction of where the noise had come from. The source of it was a man in a cloak who appeared to be stealing some of the bread.

"Thief! Get out!" She swung her broom and hit the man, knocking him to the kitchen floor and began to hit him repeatedly with it. "How dare you break into the kitchen and steal!"

"I'm sorry! I was only going to take one loaf!" He said.

"Yeah well guess who will face the queen's wrath tomorrow morning when she finds out a thief robbed her? It certainly won't be you I'm sure!"

"Stop that! Ow! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! But I haven't eaten in days and- I'll pay you for it!" He threw a pouch at her feet. She picked it up, looking inside she saw that there were gold coins inside. "There? Satisfied?"

The young man stood up and removed the hood of his cloak showing her his face. He was a very good looking man with a certain charm to him but Lucy was much too angry at the moment to notice.

"Sir if you can afford to buy bread why did you not buy it from the bakery?" She asked suspiciously.

"Because I'm trying to run away and I don't want anyone to recognize me."

"Are you a criminal?"

"No. I just...Look that gold is enough to pay for the bread and anything else you might need so can we please keep this encounter hush-hush?"

"Fine."

"Thank you. I bid you good night dear lady."

He then ran off out the back door of the kitchen leaving Lucy to wonder who on earth that man was.