Alessandra and Helga
Alessandra leapt and tackled Kara to the muddy ground at the edge of a pond. Laughing, she stood and ran in the opposite direction.
Glancing behind her, she called out, “Got you!”
Kara stood and ran towards Xander, who had paused for a drink, tagging him easily. Alessandra was positive that the galtrop let Kara catch him; she never caught him that easily. While clearly unfair, this didn’t bother Alessandra; life wasn’t fair. Besides, Kara was easy to catch; she was so slow that the Bad Guards wouldn’t even have to run to catch her. In any case, it was more fun to be chased by Xander. The galtrop in question roared and pounced on her, picked her up gently with his mouth, and threw her into the pond.
“Kara, Alessandra, Xander, that’s enough,” Miss Etain called out.
“AAWWW Mom, it was just getting fun. Xander was just getting tired enough that we could actually catch him,” Kara pleaded.
“You children have ripped up enough of my gardens for the day. You can destroy another one the next time Alessandra comes over. It’s time to come inside and get cleaned up,” Miss Etain said in the no-arguments voice Alessandra suspected all mothers had.
Alessandra dragged herself out of the pond and, suddenly exhausted, trudged over to Mother, who was smiling for some reason and held up her arms silently pleading to be carried.
“No, I will not carry you. Just because you like being muddy and wet does not mean I do,” Mother said heartlessly while taking a step back. “Come on, let us get you a quick bath and see if Kara has a dress you can borrow.”
Alessandra thought of pointing out that she had just been thrown in the pond, so she was more wet than muddy but thought better of it. A hot bath sounded nice, and pointing out the obvious to adults never went well.
“Xander, don’t even think about coming inside until you have had a bath,” Miss Etain said to the galtrop while dragging a pouting Kara behind her.
“Will I have to take another bath tonight since I’m taking one now?” Kara whined.
“We’ll see,” Miss Etain said.
Alessandra tried walking slow enough for Mother to pick her up, however this ploy failed when Heartless Miss Kat started pokeing her with her sheathed sword, so she had to run to catch up or get pushed over.
Eyes wide, Kara asked, “Your guards are allowed to touch you like that?”
“Yes,” Alessandra grumped, “Mother and Father say, ‘It’s for your own good; you’ll thank us someday.’ Miss Kat is the worst about it; she seems to enjoy making me do stuff I don’t want to.”
“Ooohhh, my guards always get my Caretakers whenever I start to do something I’m not supposed to.”
“My guards don’t stop me from getting into trouble; they only stop me from ‘being a brat’ or from ‘making trouble’ when I need to hurry. I have Caretakers, but Mother says that they won’t be around much longer ‘cause I need to learn to do stuff on my own. I’ll be sad when Miss Yvette goes, but not Miss Suzzane; she’s mean.”
“Yeah, Caretakers are mean. ‘Do this. Wear that. No, it’s study time, you can’t play.’”
“Yeah, Miss Suzzane is always telling me that the things I do aren’t ‘ladylike,’ and I need to stop. ‘Use a fork, not your hands. Don’t throw your shoe at me. Put your dress on. Don’t run around in your undergarments.’ It’s annoying.”
“You threw your shoe at your caretaker?” Kara spluttered.
“Yeah, only once, though, Miss Kat spanked me for that,” Alessandra said, rubbing her bottom at the memory.
“YOU GET SPANKED BY YOUR GUARDS?” Kara shouted.
“Don’t shout, Kara. It's impolite,” Miss Etain said.
“Only Miss Kat or Arabelle is allowed to spank me, and only when I’m a ‘special kind of bad,’” Alessandra said. The group came to a door, and Mother and Miss Etain herded the girls inside. Alessandra gawked at the marble room and the golden clothes hangers. “WOW, your bathing room is pretty.”
****
Not wanting to get involved with the adventure that was bathing two hyperactive, overtired children, Helga and Etain retired to a nearby sitting room to await the inevitable summons for one of them.
“While we have a minute free from the children, what can you tell me about Alessandra that little ones shouldn’t know?” Etain asked.
“Not much. Her gifts, which I cannot disclose even to you, Etain, will make her a power to fear. I can say that her being with Jerome and I will keep her from ever being a political pawn for anyone when her power becomes public. I’m not saying you couldn’t give her a loving home, just that someone would try to use her in some plot or other. My nobles know better than to ever try that with one of my kids.” She paused to sip some tea that a maid had dropped off. She idly wondered if the girl was a regular maid or one of the secret bodyguards that the Royals were rumored to have. “She is already grasping the basics of mana control with her primary gifts, which I will confirm are Death and Shadow, and a secondary has started to manifest, which I will not say what it is. Evan is going to start her instruction in finer control in the next day or two after he finishes refreshing himself on the Guild-approved curriculum. On a more personal note, she is a scarily smart and observant child. Even without using her magic, she is adept at making herself unnoticeable.” Helga took another drink of her tea, sighed, and continued. “She is still sneaking food into her room and hiding it, which is a behavior her Counselors have told us she will probably never fully quit, but they do believe she will keep less around in time. Apparently, this a common behavior among children who have suffered from food insecurity for prolonged periods of time.” Helga refilled her tea, thinking that it was quite excellent and she would have to ask for the blend's name. “The only behavior that really worries her Counselors and us is her blasé attitude to death. When her Counselor brings up all the death she’s seen in therapy, her reply is along the lines of it happens; why should I be bothered by it? We plan to take her to Deaths Sanctum to have a member of their Clergy talk to her about it, hopefully they can explain why she shouldn’t treat all death so casually.” Realizing she was falling into things she should not be revealing, she took another drink and indicated she was finished speaking.
“I see,” Etain replied. “I notice you didn’t mention the adoption, and she was calling you Mother. Does this mean you’re ready to finalize it?”
“Her Counselor thinks that she is beginning to really see us that way, which is what Family wanted to see before they would sign off. The Fluffies informed us yesterday that, as expected, they had not been able to find any family, so they have no objections. She has just really settled in, so Jerome and I would like to give a bit more time for her to get used to us before we finalize it. We will, of course, finalize everything before we had back to our lands.”
“Do try to give me a day or two notice; I want to have a welcome to the family party for her.”
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“I’ll try, but with how things have been going….”
“True, this has been such a restful vacation for you,” Etain said with a mischievous grin. Helga stuck her tongue out at her. Before either woman could continue the conversation, the door swung open, and a little girl wearing a purple robe burst in screaming, “MOTHER ITS GREEN!!!!!!!”
“Alessandra, that robe is not green; it is very purple,” Helga said as Alessandra scurried behind her chair. Countess Moor came charging in, grabbed Alessandra, threw the thrashing and screaming child over her shoulder, gave a curt bow to the Queen, and marched out.
Etain looked from the door to Helga and back at the door as Helga continued to drink her tea as if nothing had happened.
“Are you not going to see what that was about?”
“No need, I’m pretty sure I know. But your right, I should go deal with it,” Helga looked at her empty teacup with a sigh, set it down, and headed for the baths muttering, “At least she was not naked this time….”
****
The bath had been both good but weird. It was fun having a bath with a girl her age. The soaps and shampoos smelled different than her usual ones, but that was ok; trying different things was fun, and as long the soap didn’t burn, Alessandra was fine with it. Burning soap was no fun. It was also fun when Miss Kat growled at Kara’s Caretakers when they wanted to stop the splash fight. It was even more fun when MIss Kat pushed one of them into the bath while still wearing her clothes when the Caretaker told her to know her place. It was weird in that the Caretakers made the Maid-Thiefs undress her and Kara instead of doing it themselves, and even weirder when different Maid-Thiefs, in thin dresses, washed them before they got in the bath, but Miss Kat and Kara didn’t object so Alessandra went along with it. No one got in the bath with them either, which Alessandra was not used to, but that was ok because that meant that her and Kara could roughhouse, which Mother never allowed.
When the Caretakers and Miss Kat (mostly Miss Kat) decided that the girls were “wrinkled enough,” they got out of the bath and went to get changed. This was also a new experience for Alessandra. The Maid-Thiefs dried her and brushed out her hair, which was normal though Mother or one of her Caretakers always did this. They then put her in a robe, which was soft and fluffy, which she would have been perfectly happy to wear all day, but this got her a scowl and lecture from one of Kara’s Caretakers and a laugh from Miss Kat, who told her that while she understands, its socially unacceptable to wander around in public wearing only a robe. Pointing out the Palace was Kara’s home didn’t win anyone other than Kara to her side, so she followed the Caretakers into a changing room. Why you needed a whole room to change in was a mystery that Alessandra would never solve.
For some reason, even though only women were allowed into the room and Alessandra and Kara had spent the last half-hour in a bath together, Kara and Alessandra were taken behind separate changing screens. The Maid-Thiefs had found some new undergarments in her size, which, even though she would never admit it to Mother or her Caretakers, Alessandra really appreciated. However, before she could start changing, she saw THE DRESS that they wanted her to wear.
“NO!” Alessandra yelled, backing away from the evil that was THE DRESS.
“What’s the matter with the dress,” the Caretaker asked.
“She won’t wear that color,” Miss Kat said while deftly blocking Alessandra’s retreat. Alessandra scowled at her. “You were informed nothing green, were you not.”
“I was, but there is nothing wrong with the color of the dress. She will look cute in it,” the Caretaker grabbed the dress and tried to hold it up to Alessandra, “See, hold still and look in the mirror, girl. She should be grateful that the Queen is willing to let her even wear the Princess’ castoffs. I mean, she’s just a jumped-up street mouse at the end of the day. She should be grateful that the Duchess is kind enough to feed her, let alone be her guardian.”
“What did you just say?” Miss Kat asked, letting go of Alessandra to glare at the Caretaker. Alessandra took that opportunity to Shadow-walk away and rush down the hall toward where Mother was waiting. Recognizing one of her Mother's Guards, she barged through the door she was standing by, shadow-walking past a grab by the Queen's Guard, whose eyes went wide.
“MOTHER, ITS GREEN!” she cried out, running behind her chair and making herself as small as possible.
“Alessandra, that robe is not green; it is very purple,” Mother said flatly.
Before Alessandra could reply, Miss Kat stormed into the room and picked Alessandra up before she could Shadow-walk away. Miss Kat threw her over her shoulder while Alessandra struggled futilely while screaming and crying out to Mother for help.
“Stop squirming around like a wet cat, Alessandra! I’m not going to make you wear that horrid thing,” Miss Kat said in exasperation. “I sent that horrid dress and woman away. You aren’t in trouble for running away, but you can’t run around wearing only a robe, is that understood, young lady?”
“ Yes, Miss Kat,” Alessandra said in a voice that meant she was just saying what the adults wanted to hear. Miss Kat set her down facing her and stared her in the eyes.
“I’m serious, Alessandra. You are about to be one of the highest nobles in the land. While your situation lets you ignore much of noble etiquette, you must behave somewhat civilized, otherwise no one will take you seriously.”
“I don’t quite understand, but I will try to behave. But it was GREEN, I just had to get away from it.”
“I understand, I really do. However, you should have stopped on the other side of the changing screen, not run around the palace barely clothed.” Hearing the door open, Miss Kat and Alessandra glanced over to see who it was.
“MOTHER!” Alessandra yelled and shadow-walked in front of her and hugged her. “MissKatsentthegreenawaysoI’mokaynow.”
****
As Helga left the sitting room, she noticed the Queen's guard inspecting a magical tool, she didn’t get a good look, but she thought it was a suppression field generator. When she got to the changing room, she noticed a human-shaped dent in the wall across from the door. Pausing, she rubbed her temples; she knew she would soon have a headache; it was just a question of what would be the cause, whatever Alessandra had done to that magic tool or how badly Kathrine had hurt whoever that dent was made by.
“My Lady, the Caretaker was taken to the infirmary,” a Guardswomen said, “We do need to talk to Countess Moor to find out why she felt the need to throw a ROYAL Caretaker across the hall hard enough to dent a wall.”
“I understand. I’ll get her.”
Opening the door, she was almost immediately latched onto by Alessandra.
“MOTHER!” Alessandra said way too loudly. “MissKatsentthegreenawaysoI’mokaynow.”
“That is good, dear. Go wait behind the changing screen; Miss Kat and I need to have a quick chat outside; I will join you shortly.”
Kathrine, to her credit, simply nodded and followed her into the hall. Queen Etain was studying the dented wall, and the Guardswomen, upon seeing Kathrine, started glaring at the woman.
“Hhmm, I didn’t think I had thrown her that hard,” Kathrine said, examining the dent.
“Countess Moor, while the dent is impressive, would you care to explain your reasons for creating it with one of my daughter’s caretakers?” Queen Etain asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Of course, Your Highness. The creature in question ignored instructions and brought a dress in the one color that she had been asked to avoid. It then proceeded to insult Alessandra, who was thankfully distressed enough by the dress in question not to notice. The creature was lucky in that regard, as I had yet to put Alessandra’s suppression bracers back on. By myself I could not have stopped her if her Death Aura had left her control. The creature lives because it is yours, My Queen. Punish me as you see fit.”
After a minute, Etain said, “I see.” She turned to a maid and continued, “Go to the infirmary and instruct them to halt treatment on the Caretaker and send her to a clinic in the Slums. Then go to the paymaster and collect any monies owed to her and send them to her at the clinic. Countess Moor, hold out your hand, please. Guard a dagger, please.”
Kathrine complied. The Queen held the dagger with the flat facing Kathrine’s wrist and slapped her with it.
“Bad Countess, bad. No throwing my servants against the wall. Next time just dispose of them; firing them is so annoying.”