"Maybe it's more witches?"
"Whatever are you talking about?" Edgar asked, looking up from his cards.
Ever prepared for any situation, Edgar had produced a pack of playing cards for them to help pass the time.
Dia looked up from her cards and pointed to the ceiling of the tunnel. "Maybe our mystery guest is actually mystery guests and they are more witches, and the mistress is the leader of the coven."
"Oh now really, Dia," Edgar said, "There is no such thing as witches."
"I'm not so sure," Cinderella said, picking up a card, "They could exist."
"Yes, in the form of your stepmother," Dia said.
Cinderella snorted and shook her head then leant back against the tunnel wall, moving her cards around in her hands, watching the lamp light flicker across the Ace of Diamonds. "No, not like her... of I'm basing anything know off my uncle's stories."
"Ah yes, the portable magic," Edgar said, his voice softening slightly as he drew a card.
Dia giggled. "The whole world would be magic if we went by those stories."
"It would be nice is any magic actually existed, I could unlock this damn cuff," Cinderella said, adjusting her legs, the chain on her ankle clicking.
"And we could magic up an invitation to the ball," Dia muttered, a sudden sadness falling across her face.
"Dia," Edgar hissed.
Cinderella reached across and settled a hand on Dia's shoulder, making her look up and Cinderella smiled.
"One does not need magic for that," she said, then grinned, "They merely needs the right connections."
Dia and Edgar stared at her for a moment, then Dia's eyes widened.
"Connections like a personal attendant to the Crown Prince?" she asked.
"Just like that," Cinderella said and Dia's hands flew to her mouth.
"So that's why you're mood improved so much!" she gasped, "You got an invitation. Oh thank goodness!" Dia threw her arms around Cinderella and Cinderella laughed, hugging her back. "I'm so relieved! Thank goodness," Dia said again, leaning back, "There's no way the mistress can stop you attending if you have an invitation from someone like that, you'll be expected after all."
"That's the idea, for now, though I don't think I'll say anything until the night of the ball."
"A wise decision," Edgar said.
"But then you will need a dress, do you have one?" Dia asked quickly.
"I do," Cinderella said, smiling, "It is old but it will do. Do you have a dress?"
Dia nodded, an excitement in her eyes. "The mistress has promised me one of her daughters' old dresses."
"Well make sure she doesn't forget, you have an invitation after all, she can't stop you from attending," Cinderella said.
"Perhaps we can go together," Dia said, suddenly gripping her hand, "There's no way the mistress will let me ride with them in their carriage."
"And we'd all be surprised if they let me travel with them," Cinderella said.
"And you know what these parties are like."
Cinderella laughed. "I haven't attended anything like this in years," she pointed out.
"But you still went. You know what happens, the order of things. What are the order of things?"
"I'm honestly not sure," Cinderella said, smiling, "Usually the guests would arrive and be announced to the room; they would then greet the king and queen before moving off to socialise and wait for other guests to arrive and the entertainment to start. But I highly doubt that will be the case this time. There will be simply too many people. I mean, courtiers alone, they can make up to around a thousand individuals – depending on how many are at court at the moment. Then there are the foreign guests and their companies then every eligible lady and her family and then the extra male guests. It's impossible to announce and greet that many people in one night; they'll still be there by the end of next week. I suspect all that will happen will be you arrive and hand over your invitation. Your name is crossed with the guest list and you enter the festival. Only those in the inner courtyard, where the royal family are will be introduced and... are you alright, you look slightly pale."
Dia was staring at her and Edgar suddenly laughed.
"She's just slightly overwhelmed," he said.
"It's all very simple and boring," Cinderella promised quickly, smiling.
"What if I do have to meet the king and queen though?" Dia asked in horror, "Do you just curtsy? Do you say something? Can you look at them? What if I humiliate myself?"
"You almost certainly won't meet them," Cinderella said, smiling again, "But if you do, you curtsy, you don't have to say anything unless they ask you something and of course you can look at them."
"You'll ride with me, won't you?" Dia asked, gripping her hand again, "I don't want to go alone."
"It will be fine, Dia," Cinderella said, "It really isn't as scary as you fear. But I will ride with you. We can take the pony and trap."
"Won't we be laughed at for turning up in a trap?"
"Every eligible lady, Dia, from maids to duchesses. All manner of transportation will be seen there – it will be quite the sceptical really and if people do stop and stare, pay them no mind. Head high, expression proud, whatever nerves you are battling underneath."
"Spoken like a true lady," Edgar said, nodding proudly.
"Well it's all very well and good if you don't suffer from nerves like Cinderella," Dia pointed out, "I'm not as confident as that."
Cinderella smiled. "Neither am I," she said.
Dia opened her mouth when Edgar held up a hand, looking above them. He let out a sigh and took the cards from the girls.
"Seems our guest is on the move already."
"Not even an hour?" Dia said, surprised.
"Clearly no witches planning some gruesome crime," Edgar replied, making his way to the steps and pushing the trap door open. Dia passed him up the lantern and climbed out.
"See you soon," she whispered back to Cinderella.
"See you soon," Cinderella replied, before the door was closed on her once again and she was returned to darkness.
She sighed and dropped back against the wall, gently brushing away a spider she could feel crawling over her fingers and looking down the tunnel.
Originally it had been an escape route for the family – from a time years and years before – so that they might escape into the forests beyond the estate should they ever be in danger.
There was an exit, a very distant exit that was locked and barred up. Cinderella had found it once when her stepmother had been rushing to hide her away and forgot to chain her up.
She had found the sturdy bars, covered by the undergrowth. One would never know there was a gate there if they were passing by in the woods.
After she had vanished that one time, her stepmother had been sure to never, ever, forget to chain her, just in case she escaped without anyone knowing.
A scampering around her skirts drew her attention and she reached out, touching fur.
"Hello," she said softly into the darkness, "It's been a while, I wonder if we've met before."
The mouse darted onto her hand just as she heard the door above open.
"Well hurry up the pair of you, there's work to be done," Lady Constantia snapped and she heard Edgar and Dia walk out before the trapdoor was wrenched up and her stepmother looked down at her. "Who are you speaking to?" she asked, throwing the keys down to Cinderella.
Cinderella caught then, freeing her ankle before looking up.
"Oh, just a friend," she said, climbing up the stairs.
"A friend?" Giselle said, appearing behind her mother, peering down at Cinderella. "What friend could you possibly have?"
"Would you like to meet him?" Cinderella asked, before holding up her hands and revealing the mouse.
Giselle let out an earth shattering scream of terror, almost knocking her stepmother down the stairs as she hurled her aside and tore back into the kitchen, screaming bloody murder.
"Giselle! Contain yourself!" Lady Constantia snarled, before rounding on Cinderella and slapping her hard across the face. "And you, we have no space for childish pranks in this household. Get to work; you're behind schedule as it is, such a lazy child."
With that, she swept out of the room and out of the kitchen.
Cinderella rubbed her cheek and slowly opened her hand where the little mouse was curled up.
"Well I would be ahead of schedule if I hadn't been stuck in a tunnel for an hour," she muttered then smiled at the mouse. "Sorry for the scare," she said, kneeling down and putting the mouse back where she had found him.
She then went to wash her hands and return to the work she'd been doing before she'd worked on her stepmother's hair.
Making last minute adjustments to the gowns for the ball.
"Quite the scare you gave Giselle just now."
Cinderella looked up as she walked up the stairs to see Jezabelle leaning with her arms folded on the balustrade, watching her.
"She wanted to meet my friend, so I introduced them," Cinderella replied simply, "Who was our guest?"
"Now you know I can hardly tell you that when Mama went to the trouble of shutting you up," Jezabelle said.
Cinderella pursed her lips, walking passed her and into the dressing room.
Jezabelle followed her in and Cinderella noted what she was dragging behind her. It was one of her old gowns, a particularly beautiful golden one.
"I haven't seen that dress in a while," she said, picking up her needle and thread where she'd left them and turning to Giselle's over-sized wings.
"I was thinking of lending this dress to Dia for the ball," Jezabelle said, tossing the dress onto an armchair. "I think she would look rather fetching in it."
Cinderella looked at her in surprise. It was true, with her dark skin, Dia would look glorious in a dress of gold, but that dress had also been one of Jezabelle's favourites.
Cinderella still remembered when she had nearly broken Giselle's wrist when her little sister had tried to borrow it.
"I never wear it anymore," Jezabelle said, seeming to catch Cinderella's thoughts. "And the style is no longer the top fashion. Make sure you tailor it to Dia's shape though and make it fit for a masquerade."
"And what do you propose I style it as?" Cinderella asked. "A sunset? A field of golden wheat? A butterfly?"
"She's more fitting as a golden goose than a golden butterfly," Jezabelle pointed out with a laugh and Cinderella openly glared at her. "Oh come now, can't a girl make jest amongst friends?" she asked, smiling. "And a golden goose is something of a compliment... at least its golden."
"You know as well as I do that Dia is no goose when she dances," Cinderella replied and snatched up the dress, dragging another mannequin to the centre of the room and starting to fit the dress to it. "I shall make her costume something befitting her dancing skills."
"Fine, fine, be drab, I shall leave it to your expert hands. And you? What will you go as?"
Cinderella's fingers paused on the ribbon at the back, then she schooled her face into an expression of confusion and looked back at her stepsister, finding that she had taken up residence on one of the armchairs.
"As we said before, the snow at sunset, if I were going," Cinderella said.
"Ah yes, the missing invitation," Jezabelle said, nodding.
"It's hardly missing if you never received one in the first place," Cinderella pointed out.
"Would you like one?"
"What?"
"Would you like an invitation if you could get one?" Jezabelle elaborated, looking lazily out of the window. "Even though Mama forbade it, would you like a chance to attend anyway?"
A real look of confusion formed on Cinderella's face. "Of course," she said.
Jezabelle looked towards her then nodded. "What's for dinner tonight, by the way," she then asked and that was it. Her stepsister stayed with her for the next two hours, chatting easily through various topics as if it were the most normal thing in the world.
~~~~
Next: Thursday
Art By: Google Image