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Rue knocked on the door to Ahiru’s room. “Ahiru? Are you awake?”
“Rue?” Her voice was slightly muffled through the door, but she sounded fully awake. “Yes! Come in!”
Rue turned the knob and went in. Ahiru was sitting on the edge of her bed, putting her shoes on. She smiled as Rue entered. “Morning, Ahiru. You ready for our day together?”
“Of course!” Ahiru nodded, beaming. “A-are we going now, though? I wanted to have breakfast first…”
“No, no, we’re going to have breakfast here,” Rue assured her. “I just wanted to be sure you hadn’t forgotten. Bring your money with you so we can leave right after we eat, if you want.”
“Okay! And don’t worry, I didn’t forget!” Ahiru sprang off the bed and followed Rue back out of the room and towards the playroom, practically bouncing on her little feet. “I – I’ve been really excited about it, and kinda nervous, cause what if I don’t find a costume I like and I come home empty-handed and I don’t get to dress up on Halloween and that would make me really sad and…”
Home. Rue smiled to herself as Ahiru babbled on about her worries. There was a time, not even all that long ago, it seemed, when Ahiru wouldn’t have referred to the castle as her home, when she still fretted about being sent back to the orphanage she’d lived in for five years. She remembered well what she’d been like when she first came to live with them: she’d been cheerful and excitable, as she always was, but there’d been deep fear and loneliness beneath that. She’d reminded her of a little lost duckling who’d been separated from her mother and siblings. It was good to see her feeling secure in the fact that the castle was her home now; she gave off an air of being content, rather than lost and afraid. “Don’t worry so much. I told you they can do custom orders, remember? So even if you don’t find what you’re looking for in the shop, you’ll still get your ballerina costume and get to dress up for Halloween.”
“Yes, but… what if it doesn’t get here in time?” Ahiru bit her lip. “What if it arrives the day after Halloween or something?”
“Oh, now you’re really being silly.” Rue’s gentle laughter belied her words. “I’m sure there won’t be a problem either way, you’re going to have a fun Halloween, I promise.”
She opened the door to the playroom, and stood back so that Ahiru could go in first. Fakir was already there, but was so absorbed in his book that he didn’t hear them come in. Rue glanced at Ahiru just in time to see her eyes light up as she spotted him, and a smirk played around her lips for a fraction of a second. Well, well. It was looking more and more like the crush she’d begun to suspect Fakir of having on Ahiru was indeed mutual. This was going to be interesting.
“Fakir!” Ahiru bounded across the room and dropped into the seat next to him. He glanced over at her as she sat down, unaware that Rue was carefully studying him out of the corner of her eye as she chose her own seat across from the two of them. “G-good morning! What are you reading?”
There had been a time, mere days ago, when he would’ve acted annoyed to have been interrupted, but instead he calmly told her about the book he was reading and answered her questions patiently. Rue figured he’d eventually go back to his normal, pricklier self, but ever since the events of Wednesday he’d been extra careful to avoid upsetting Ahiru in any way. If Ahiru herself noticed that he’d been walking on eggshells around her, she hadn’t said anything, but Rue had been noting his unusual behavior and mentally filing it away.
“What are you going to do while we’re in town?” Ahiru asked as she buttered her toast. “Or are you going to come too?”
“No, I think I’ll stay here.” Fakir dropped some sugar cubes into his tea. “There are some things I’ve been meaning to do.”
“Aw, that’s too bad, you could’ve gotten a costume too.” Rue held her breath as Ahiru removed a dangerously large glob of marmalade from the jar, but it all miraculously managed to stay on the knife until she began to smear it on the toast. “Are you going to dress up at all?”
“No. I haven’t in years, and I was never terribly into it anyway.”
“Awwww.” Ahiru ate some of her breakfast, and then spoke up again after swallowing it. “What was the last costume you wore? Do you remember?”
“I do,” Rue broke in, before Fakir could say anything. “It was years and years ago, so he might not, but I definitely remember. He dressed up as a little knight, and he had a wooden sword and shield and everything. It was adorable.” She couldn’t help but giggle as Fakir gave her the first real glare she’d seen out of him in days.
“Oh, I bet!” Ahiru’s eyes sparkled, and Fakir’s cheeks turned a little red. “I wish I could’ve seen! Are there any pictures?”
“Hmmm, there might be.” Rue smiled at Fakir before returning her attention to her own food. “Chrestomanci did take some of the both of us – I dressed up as a fairy that year – but I don’t know where they’d be now. I’ll have to look for them sometime.”
“Maybe I’ll do that today.” Fakir glowered at her. “And destroy them.”
“Oh no! Please don’t!” Ahiru looked upset. “I really really want to see them, cause I didn’t get to grow up with the two of you here and I don’t have any childhood pictures of myself so I think you should save whatever you have.”
“… Fine.” Fakir sighed.
“Oh, good!” Ahiru brightened again.
They finished breakfast soon after that, and bade farewell to Fakir as they eagerly set off for their day of shopping. It was a pleasant day, crisp and cool and only slightly cloudy, so they didn’t need to bring their umbrellas with them.
“Now, I hope you don’t mind, but I already visited the castle chef today with a list of things I asked her to make us for the sleepover tonight,” Rue said as they walked through the streets of Gold Crown. There were still signs of damage here and there – cracked windows, loose cobblestones, roofs being patched – but overall the village was recovering just as swiftly as Chrestomanci had said it would. “I know a lot of your favorites, so I made sure to include them. Is that all right?”
“That sounds great!” Ahiru clapped her hands together in excitement. “I – I can’t wait! I’ve never done anything like this before!”
“Neither have I, so it’s exciting for me too. Oh, here’s the shop I mentioned!”
Rue held the door open for her, and had the pleasure of seeing Ahiru’s eyes light up for the second time that day, though out of an entirely different sort of delight this time. The costume section had been expanded in anticipation of Halloween, taking over nearly the whole store. A dizzying array of colorful options was before them, and Rue privately hoped that what Ahiru wanted was among them. They each headed to opposite ends of the selection to begin their search for a ballerina costume.
It took a while, but as they neared the end of their search and Ahiru’s morale was flagging, they found what they were looking for. Ahiru’s expression became one of deep joy and reverence as she gazed at the ballerina costume they’d found. It was a lovely shade of pale pink that, happily, did not clash with her bright hair, and had elaborate golden embroidery on the bodice and the tutu. Included in a small bag attached to the hanger was a pair of matching ballet slippers, sparkly white tights, and little sheer detached sleeves that on Ahiru would probably reach nearly to her elbows.
“Oh, this is lovely!” Rue exclaimed. “You’re going to look so pretty in it!”
“You think so?” Ahiru tentatively stroked the fabric. “I was kinda worried it’d be too nice for me, that it doesn’t suit me…”
“It suits you perfectly, so don’t let me hear you say something like that again. Too nice for you? Not possible.” Rue shook her head and considered the items contained in the bag. “Oh good, it comes with shoes too. It’s a nice set.”
“Yeah, I really like it.” Ahiru nodded. She looked at the price tag, and her face fell. “Oh… I don’t think I can afford to buy anything else if it costs this much…”
Rue frowned. “What else were you thinking of buying? Isn’t everything in here already?”
“Well, I was thinking, um, maybe some kind of fake necklace or something, and maybe a little tiara… it feels like it’ll be incomplete and not look right without that stuff.” Ahiru hung her head. “Maybe I should wear something else…”
“Don’t be silly.” Rue shook her head again. “Get the costume, because it’s what you really want to wear. I’ll loan you a necklace for the night, or a bracelet, or both – whatever you want. And we’ll make a little tiara for you out of some flowers from the gardens. I think that’ll suit you even better than some gaudy fake thing, and you can press the flowers afterwards as mementoes of a lovely evening.”
“Really?” Ahiru peered up at her. “But – I thought we weren’t allowed to pick flowers from there.”
“I can get permission for us to do that. I have before, when I wanted to make one for Uzura.” Rue studied Ahiru, and began to smile. “I know just what flowers will look best with your hair, and they should all be in bloom on Halloween.”
Ahiru blushed. “Th-thank you so much, I think I’ll really like that! And for letting me wear some of your jewelry, and helping me find a costume, and… and for being so nice to me all the time.”
“You deserve it.” Rue patted her arm. “Now, let’s go pay for this if you’re ready.”
They idly browsed the rest of the store for a little while after Ahiru made her purchase, but there was nothing of interest to Rue and Ahiru wanted to save the rest of the money she’d brought with her. She confessed to Rue as they left that she was trying to save up her money because she knew Christmas was coming up in just a couple months and she wanted to be sure she had enough money to buy nice gifts for everyone. It would be her first Christmas with them all, and she didn’t want to skimp.
“Does the castle get decorated much?” Ahiru asked as they walked down the street, carefully hugging her costume to herself. “They did a little at the orphanage, but not much, and we didn’t even get a tree or do much…”
She didn’t mention her uncle’s house, but she didn’t have to, and Rue wouldn’t have thought that that dreadful man would have done anything that would’ve brought a little girl any amount of happiness, at least not without snatching it away almost immediately. Her thoughts drifted to the investigation of his mansion that Chrestomanci and Mr. Katz were conducting today – the reason they were able to come down here and shop instead of attending lessons – and what Ahiru had told Fakir earlier about lacking childhood photographs, and found herself wondering and hoping that some sort of precious memento would be found there amongst all the illegal goodies. Ahiru had had so little of her own before coming to the castle, and had given up one of the only things she had left of the mother she’d never known, so Rue desperately wanted her to get something back out of what was happening today.
“Much?” Rue smiled. “Oh, it gets decorated a lot. And even better, you’ll get to help if you want! You can put ornaments on the tree, and make wreaths out of the cut branches, and anything else you’d like. If you want, you can even make some homemade ornaments of your own to add in. We’ve all got some that we hang up, and you should complete the set with some of yours.”
“R-really?” Ahiru’s eyes shone. “I – I mean – I – I draw some stuff sometimes, but I’m not really good at it, and I don’t know what I’d make but… but it sounds fun, and if it’s really okay…”
“It’s more than okay, I’d say it’d be incomplete without yours now that you’re living here. And don’t worry, there’s no way whatever you make could look worse than Fakir’s.” Rue giggled. “He is just not artistic at all, unfortunately. He wanted to destroy his ornaments last year, but Uzura protested so loudly that he hung them up anyway.”
Ahiru giggled too. “He’s kind of a softie sometimes, isn’t he? He doesn’t like to show it, but he really is so nice underneath all the grumpiness.”
“… Yeah.” Rue tried not to laugh at the look on Ahiru’s face; it was bordering on dreamy. She had to admit to being a little bit surprised that those two would’ve taken to each other the way they had, but then again it somehow just worked in a way she couldn’t quite explain. “Anyway, yes, the castle gets nicely decorated, and we do some fun stuff for the holidays. The duck pond usually freezes over, so we’ll have to go skating, and Uzura will want to play in the snow, and there’ll be a lot of good food, and all kinds of other stuff. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.”
“That sounds wonderful!” Ahiru tripped over a broken cobblestone and nearly fell on her face, but Rue caught her just in time. “Th-thank you. Um, as I was gonna say, I – I really can’t wait, it sounds like so much fun. I’m so glad I’m living here now, I’m really happy here.”
“I’m glad you are too.”
They strolled around the village for a while after that, taking in the sights and doing some window shopping. Some areas were in better condition than others, and some even looked like nothing had ever happened. Once, they caught sight of Pike and Lilie, but when the two of them saw that Fakir wasn’t with them and that Ahiru wasn’t alone, they lost interest and wandered off.
“I really don’t like them,” Rue remarked as she watched the two go into a witchcraft supply store that looked much more respectable than Bookman’s had. “Before, I could just use them to tease Fakir, but now that they did that to you, I actively dislike them. I’m worried they’ll try to do something to you again at some point.”
“I hope not.” Ahiru shuddered. “Um, why do you think they’ve never tried to approach you?”
“I honestly don’t know. Maybe they think I can fight back better or something? They might have thought you were an easier target since you only just moved in and they assumed that you don’t know as much magic. Who knows?” Rue shrugged. “Either way, we both need to be careful in case they try to get up to more mischief.”
“What do you think they’re capable of?” Ahiru asked nervously.
“At this point, you know them better than I do, because you’ve actually spoken to them. I haven’t.” Rue frowned. “They just went into that witchcraft store, so clearly they can use some magic, and that’s something to be cautious of… but they don’t know your weakness and you’re much more powerful than they are, so it should hopefully come to nothing if they try something.”
“What if they get something illegal, though? Like dragon’s blood?”
“I doubt they know where to get that, and it’s even less likely now that Bookman’s is shut down. The store they went into has passed all inspections, as far as I know from overhearing Chrestomanci’s shop talk at dinner.”
“W-well, that’s good.” Ahiru fell silent for a few minutes before gathering up the courage to speak again. “U-um, does anyone keep that kind of thing at the castle? Y-you know, to – to use in stuff? I know it’s illegal, but does the government get any special exceptions?”
“Well… this is just a rumor that floats around the castle, mind you…” Rue glanced around carefully to make sure no one was listening. “But I’ve heard that Mr. Katz is allowed to keep limited supplies of certain things for top secret government experiments.” She gave Ahiru a curious look. “Why do you ask?”
“Oh, no, no reason!” Ahiru waved her hands and smiled nervously. “I – I was just curious!”
“Hmmm. Okay.” Rue had the distinct feeling that Ahiru was hiding something, but if she didn’t feel comfortable saying what it was, she wasn’t going to press the issue.
They ended up eating lunch at the same café where Rue had taken her the day she’d had her encounter with those girls, and Rue insisted, over much protesting, on treating Ahiru so she could save her money. Rue won the argument when she pointed out that she had been receiving regular pocket money for much longer than Ahiru had, and thus she could more easily afford it. Ahiru was still embarrassed and guilty, but acquiesced in the end, though she ordered the most inexpensive thing she could find that still appealed to her, and tried to get away with only drinking water. Rue refused to let her do that, though, and even ordered a dessert for them to share.
After they were finished, they went back to the clothing store where Ahiru had gotten her new clothes when she’d moved in, and Rue spent some time browsing the hair ribbons and nail polishes. She ended up buying a few new ones of both, which she admitted were for later in the evening after getting Ahiru to give her opinion and say what she would wear herself.
By the time they got back to the castle Uzura was already up from her nap, and met them at the door to insist that they take her for a walk around the gardens. She followed them upstairs as they put their purchases away in their respective rooms, first complaining about how Fakir was being weird and hiding away in his room and then asking questions about Ahiru’s costume and Halloween and wanting Rue to make a flower tiara for her too. Their walk together was unfortunately cut short, however, much to Uzura’s displeasure, when the already cloudy skies grew threatening and they had to hurry inside.
“No fun zura,” Uzura complained as they ushered her into the playroom. Just outside the windows, it was already starting to drizzle a little bit. “I wanted to try and find the secret garden again zura.”
Rue and Ahiru exchanged glances over Uzura’s head. “I don’t think we’re supposed to go in there anyway, though,” Rue said carefully. “Your mother told us it’s kind of dangerous and that we were lucky we found the way out ourselves before she had to come get us.”
“It was pretty though zura.” Uzura walked over to one of the toy cabinets and struggled to open it; Ahiru hurried over and took out some toys for her to play with, and the little girl settled onto the floor to play with a toy dinosaur and some of the fairy ballerina figures. “I liked it zura.”
“Well, yes, it was,” Rue conceded. “Still, though, we should listen to your mother and stay away from now on, unless she takes us in there herself for some reason.” She felt that Ahiru, of all of them, was most likely to taken back there at some point to be instructed about its secrets, but she didn’t want to say that aloud and cause Uzura to cry unfairness and demand to know why only Ahiru got to. It seemed like a good way to get the conversation onto topics that Uzura wasn’t old enough to hear about.
They played with Uzura for some time, and scarcely realized that the dinner gong hadn’t rung until a maid poked her head in to inform them that as the investigation of Drosselmeyer’s manor was running late, their dinner would be served in there that night. Fakir showed up not long after that, slipping quietly into the room but not escaping anyone’s notice.
“There you are.” Rue raised an eyebrow at him as he sat down in one of the armchairs near where they were playing with Uzura. “Where’ve you been all afternoon? Uzura was complaining that you were hiding away in your room and being weird.”
Fakir gave her a look of cool disdain. “Idiot. Why ask if you’re just going to answer your own question?”
Rue sighed. “Fine. Let me rephrase: what were you doing all afternoon that required you to temporarily turn hermit?”
“None of your business.” He opened a book and began reading it, indicating that the conversation was over.
“Charming,” Rue muttered. She stole a glance at Ahiru to see how she had reacted to this, but if she thought anything of it she didn’t show it, instead focusing on whatever new scenario Uzura had concocted for the toys. “Uzura, I assume you want to eat dinner with us when it gets here?”
“Of course zura!”
Dinner was roast beef, mashed potatoes, gravy, rolls, and a tureen of buttered peas; Uzura made a rather unappetizing mess on her plate of the potatoes, peas, gravy, and a roll that soon became a soggy glob, but was more than happy to eat it all without any idea of how terrible it looked to anyone older. Luckily, it did not put the rest of them off their food, though they did carefully avoid looking at Uzura’s plate.
Rather unexpectedly, a knock came at the door just as they finished dinner. They all turned to see Chrestomanci enter the room, a small box in her hands. She smiled. “Good evening. I hope I’m not interrupting.”
“Mama!” Uzura sprang out of her chair and rushed over to her. “You’re back zura! Are we going to have our sleepover now zura?”
“Yes, we are.” She bent to ruffle her daughter’s hair. “Mama ran a bit late, but she got home in time for that. If you’d like, you can come down to the kitchens and have dessert while Mama has her dinner.”
“Okay zura!” Uzura peered up at the box her mother was holding. “Oooohhh. Is that a present for me zura?”
“No, I’m afraid not.” Chrestomanci smiled, and Uzura pouted. “It’s something for Ahiru; some things found in her uncle’s house that should be in her possession.”
“Things of… mine?” Ahiru stared in shock at the little box, barely able to comprehend the idea.
“Yes.” Chrestomanci walked over and set the box beside Ahiru’s empty plate. “You don’t have to look at them right away if you don’t feel ready. But they should without a doubt be with you.” She turned around and scooped Uzura into her arms. “Now then, Uzura, let’s go have ourselves a nice evening.”
“Hooray zura!”
Ahiru continued to stare at the box after they left. She could barely wrap her mind around it – she hadn’t expected to have anything of hers or that should be hers be discovered in her uncle’s house. Just what had he kept hidden from her? The more she thought about it, she wasn’t sure she was ready at all to peek in there and find out. Not just now.
“Ahiru, are you okay?” Rue asked. What she’d hoped for earlier in the day had come true, but Ahiru didn’t look at all overjoyed about it.
“I, um… yeah.” Ahiru nodded. “I just… I don’t know if I can look at that stuff right away, is all.”
“Understandable.” Rue nodded. She set down her napkin and stood up. “Come on, why don’t we go to my room and get started having fun?”
“Y-yeah, okay, that sounds good.” Ahiru looked over at Fakir. “Um, goodnight, Fakir, I – I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Yeah.”
She took the box with her when she left, and set it down on Rue’s bed while she dashed off to her own to get a nightgown and bathrobe. Rue had changed into her own sleep clothes by the time she got back, and Ahiru darted into Rue’s bathroom to do the same.
“Wow, you have such a nice room,” Ahiru said admiringly as she came out of the bathroom. “I really like it!”
“Thanks, so do I.” Rue spread an old, somewhat frayed blanket on the floor. “Here, I’ll use this for painting our nails, and when we have our snacks. Which we should do in the opposite order, actually. Anyway, stand back away from the bed.”
“But why? Oh…” Ahiru trailed off as she saw the bed shimmer, and shudder, and then split into two smaller beds that slid apart across the floor.
“There. Just for tonight.” Rue grinned. “None of that sleeping on the floor nonsense!”
“Oh.” Ahiru blinked. “I – I didn’t even think about that. Good idea!” She wandered over to the shelf of items Rue had against the wall near her wardrobe. She had some books neatly arranged there, and a porcelain figurine of a ballerina, and some other assorted items. One of the ones that caught Ahiru’s eye was a box of cards. “Ooh, what are these?”
“Those?” Rue paused in unpacking the polishes and ribbons she’d bought that day to glance over at what Ahiru was holding. “Oh, those are my fortune cards. I only bring those out on New Year’s Day, since they’re for predicting what the rest of the year will bring. You can do it on birthdays, too, but that seems kind of redundant, and I like doing the predictions for everyone in a group more anyway.”
“Oooh, neat! I can’t wait to see what you predict for me!” Ahiru traced her finger over the box. It was older and shabbier than most of the things on Rue’s shelves; she could tell it was well-loved. “I didn’t know you had an interest in fortune-telling.”
“Y-yeah, a bit.” Rue blushed as she ripped open a package of ribbons. “I – I mean, maybe it’s a little beneath me, but I like it anyway.”
“Beneath you?” Ahiru looked confused. “How would it be beneath you?”
“Well, because it’s considered a ‘lesser’ form of magic,” Rue explained, shoving a lock of hair behind her ear. “It’s not enchanter level magic. I haven’t really admitted my real interest to anyone before because of that, it’s a little embarrassing. The only reason I get away with reading everyone’s yearly fortunes with the cards on New Year’s is because I treat it like a game. Well, I mean, it kind of is a game, but at the same time I do take it seriously, and I’ve had things I read for people come true sometimes. I don’t think anyone else remembers that I predicted them, they probably all forget by the next day, but I remember.”
“Oh, that’s so cool!” Ahiru beamed at her. “I – I’ll try and remember what you predict for me so I can see if anything comes true, I promise! Do you do any other kinds of fortune telling? Some of the girls in the orphanage used to draw up horoscopes after we learned about them at the magic school we went to…”
"I’m afraid I’m very skeptical of those," Rue said with a sniff. "I mean, they have their interesting points, but the way that people will assume that being born in a specific part of a specific month, or in a certain year, means that you automatically have specific traits and strengths and weaknesses is a bit ridiculous, not everyone fits perfectly in such narrow categories even if you do have some things in common with the profile. And do you know what else is ridiculous?” Two spots of color appeared on Rue’s cheeks, and her eyes blazed with an irritation that had obviously been held in up until now. “The idea people have that because you’re born under a particular sign and someone else is born under the ‘wrong’ one means you’re romantically incompatible! As though that makes a jot of difference! What matters is who you each are and how you actually get along in reality and the work you both put into it, not some superstitious nonsense based on when you happened to be born! What idiocy to think otherwise!”
Ahiru tilted her head. “Um, don’t get mad at me for asking but… did some horoscope say you were incompatible with the prince or something?”
Rue’s mouth twitched as if she didn’t know whether to laugh or not. “How did you know?”
Ahiru giggled. “Just a lucky guess. Um, when’s your birthday, anyway?”
"I’m not actually sure." A look of sadness flashed across Rue’s face. "That’s another thing that makes me skeptical of horoscopes, because I have no idea what month I was really born in. I told you the night you first came here that I was found abandoned; well, they found me on a day in early November, but they weren’t sure how old I was, and I was too young to tell them. And then I was brought here on New Year’s Day, so… I sort of celebrate both. But if I don’t know when I was actually born, how can I know what star sign I really am? It loses even more possible accuracy that way."
“Really?” Ahiru’s face fell. “I – I’m so sorry! Here I am whining at Fakir about how I don’t have any childhood pictures of myself and you don’t even know when your real birthday is or anything about your parents, at least I have a picture of my mother, I probably made you feel bad! I’m the worst!”
“Ahiru!” Rue looked alarmed. “You most certainly are not! And you didn’t make me feel bad, so don’t worry about that. I’d love to know about my birth parents, yes, but I have a family here in the castle, so I focus on that. Besides, I get two things to celebrate out of the deal, and that’s not so bad at all.” She smiled. “Now, come on over here so I can try out some of these ribbons in your hair.”
Ahiru gulped down the lump still in her throat and nodded. “O-okay.”
She started unbraiding her hair as she walked over, and shook it out before sitting down in front of Rue. After marveling about how much hair she had and how pretty it really was – which Ahiru tried to deny but Rue would hear none of – Rue had her pick out which ribbons she wanted braided in and then got to work. She ended up coiling the lengthy, be-ribboned braid around Ahiru’s head and pinning it in place. When she was finished, Ahiru immediately rushed to the mirror to see it and was delighted by Rue’s handiwork, even to the point where she admitted that she did indeed look pretty like that. She then set to work on Rue’s hair, fretting and putting down her own abilities the whole time until Rue got fed up and gently scolded her. Rue ended up loving the surprisingly elegant braid she ended up with, much to Ahiru’s relief and joy.
“Are you hungry for dessert yet?” Rue asked as she sat back down. “I’ll summon up what the chef prepared if you are.”
“Oh yes, please!” Ahiru rocked back and forth excitedly. “I wanna see what you had her make for us!”
“Just a moment, then.”
Rue concentrated for a few seconds, and then an array of food appeared on the blanket between them. Ahiru’s eyes became huge with wonder at the sheer variety. There were multiple kinds of fudge, cupcakes, brownies, cups of custard, and some éclairs. A pitcher of milk and a pot of hot cocoa had also been thoughtfully provided, along with plates, cups, and forks and spoons.
“Oh! Oh, I don’t know what to try first!” Ahiru stared longingly at the assortment before her. “It all looks so good…”
“Take one of each, put them on your plate, and then pick some kind of order like… sampling them counterclockwise or something,” Rue suggested as she poured herself some milk.
“Oooh, that sounds like a good idea!”
Ahiru took a plate and did what Rue had suggested. Once they had both stuffed themselves with sweets, Rue sent everything back to the kitchen and reached for the new nail polishes she’d purchased that day.
“I think we should save this pink one for you for Halloween,” Rue said, setting that particular bottle aside. “It matches your costume perfectly. So which one do you want right now?”
“Hmmmm…” Ahiru gnawed on her lower lip as she considered it. “Um, maybe… I think… I’ll do this peach one. Is that okay?”
“Of course it is, it’s your nails.” Rue took Ahiru’s hand and began to apply the polish. “I think it’ll look lovely on you.”
Ahiru blushed. “Thank you.”
And it did – it was actually fairly close to her hair color, and looked good against her skin. Ahiru’s nails were so small that it didn’t take long to paint them, and she gave her a stern warning to avoid touching anything until they dried, while she considered what new shade to apply to her own. She eventually settled on a dark shade of purple, and Ahiru watched as she filed and painted her own nails.
“So, um… what else do people usually do at sleepovers?” Ahiru asked as Rue waited for her nails to dry. She herself was getting kind of fidgety – there wasn’t anything in particular she needed to do, but not being able to do anything was making her feel antsy.
“I don’t know, this is my first one.” Rue shrugged. “I think some people tell scary stories, but you said you don’t like those, right? Is it just because of how the other kids at the orphanage tried to scare you, or you just didn’t like them before that either?”
“Kind of both.” Ahiru stared down at her hands. “Some of it’s cause living in my uncle’s house was like living in a scary story, so I don’t really like them cause of that.”
“Oh. Yes, that makes sense.” The box caught Rue’s eye where it was sitting on top of her bed, reminding her of what had happened that day. “I… don’t think you’ve told me about what it was like. The house, I mean… not life with him in general. Do you feel comfortable telling me? It’s all right if you don’t, it’s just that the investigation today made me curious.”
“I-it’s okay, maybe it’ll help me if I tell you and get it out.” Ahiru took a deep breath. “Um, I don’t remember all of it all that well cause it was a long time ago, but it was really really scary. It was… there was all this dark wood inside, the walls and the floors and everything, and he kept it really dark inside, there was barely any light, so if I ever went into the little garden at the back of the house I’d have a hard time seeing when I came back in, even if it was a cloudy day. And he loved clocks, he had all these clocks everywhere.” She shuddered. “I kinda don’t like ticking clocks now cause they remind me of him. A-and puppets, he had so many creepy puppets everywhere too. Including a giant one he had made specially to look like him.” Ahiru frowned, trying to remember more details about a place she’d really prefer to forget. “Um, it was really big and confusing too. Not as big as this castle, but it seemed big to me back then and I always got lost. It was kind of a maze and I think there might’ve been secret passages or something weird because sometimes I ended up in the wrong place and I wasn’t sure how.”
“Hmmm. That’s probably why their investigation ran late.”
“Yeah.” Ahiru nodded. “They probably got lost a few times or turned around or both. I bet he had it that way on purpose cause he was up to no good and wanted to make sure people wouldn’t find stuff easily if they went looking.” Her eyes grew distant. “I found his workshop a few times, though, and he yelled at me to stay away and told me I couldn’t do magic and he couldn’t teach me. But now I know why, he must’ve found out about me being the next Chrestomanci from a fortune teller friend or something so he…” She swallowed. “I remember I got yelled at once for being in his workshop, but I’d woken up there and I didn’t know how I got there and now I remember that it was a couple days after my birthday and I’d gotten sick or something the night before… that was when he sealed my lives in the pendant.”
“Oh, Ahiru, I’m sorry.” Rue bit her lip. “You can stop now, I don’t want you to go to bed thinking about such awful things. Let’s talk about something else.”
“Okay. I – oh!” It was Ahiru’s turn to spot the box that Chrestomanci had brought her from her uncle’s house. “Um, um, do you think I could look through that box now? I mean, are my nails dry enough yet?”
“Yes, they should be by now.” Rue nodded. “Go right ahead.”
Ahiru leapt up and ran over to the bed, and brought the box back over to where they were sitting on the floor. Butterflies fluttered in her stomach as she stared down at the lid. For some reason, she felt ready and excited now to find out what the contents were. Taking a deep breath, she lifted the lid.
“Oh!” Ahiru gasped as she saw the first thing inside. Rue moved to sit beside her, and her eyes widened. It was a pair of pale pink pointe shoes, worn out from use, though the ribbons were still shiny and silky. Ahiru’s hands trembled as she reverently lifted them out. “These… these must’ve belonged to my mother…”
“Look underneath it,” Rue said in a hushed voice. “There’s more.”
Ahiru carefully set the shoes aside and looked down at the box. She gasped again as she saw what the shoes had been sitting on: a program from a ballet performance, its pages yellowed with age, but otherwise in good condition. It was for a production of Swan Lake, starring her mother as Odette and Odile, and featuring pictures of her in both roles. “I – I wonder if this was her last role,” Ahiru whispered as she gently thumbed through the pages. “I-it doesn’t say…”
“Either way, this is a treasure.” Rue squeezed her shoulder. “I think there’s a little more in the box, when you’re ready.”
There were exactly two more things, actually: two photographs. The one on top was of Ahiru, much younger, in her uncle’s garden. She had on a bright yellow dress, trimmed with white lace, but the pendant was not yet around her neck; her hair wasn’t as long as it was nowadays, but was still very long, and held back in a braid. She was smiling, but not at the camera – she had a small bird in her tiny hands, and there were countless other birds surrounding her, perched on her arms and shoulders and hovering around her.
“I don’t remember anyone taking this!” Ahiru looked at Rue with wide eyes. “I – I don’t know how this was taken, I don’t even remember doing this…”
“Strange. Still, it’s a lovely picture.” Rue smiled down at it. “Now you do have a childhood picture of yourself.”
Ahiru brightened. “Y-yeah! I do!”
Ahiru’s happy smile froze on her face, however, when she set aside the one of herself in the garden and saw the one below it. It was of her mother, looking sick and weak but happy, and holding her in her arms. It seemed as though it was taking all of her strength to hold her newborn daughter and smile as she sat in her hospital bed, but she nevertheless clearly adored the infant girl she was gazing down at.
“I… I… I don’t… I…” Ahiru was having difficulty speaking around the lump in her throat. “She – she must’ve… wanted to take the picture when – when she knew she didn’t h-have…” She couldn’t speak anymore, and the tears started to pour down her face. Rue gently took the photograph from her hands and moved it and the other items aside so that she could hug her.
“Are you all right now?” Rue asked after a few minutes.
“Y-yeah.” Ahiru sniffled and wiped at her eyes as Rue pulled away from her. “I – I can’t believe I never knew about any of this… I mean, my uncle was horrible, but, but I don’t understand why he would hide this from me.”
“Who knows?” Rue shrugged. “With what I know of him now, I’d suspect anything awful of him. But, at least he didn’t destroy these things!” She squeezed Ahiru’s shoulder again. “That’s a good thing, so you should focus on that.”
“Yeah, I – I’m really glad I have them now.” Ahiru smiled through the last of her tears at the gathered items. “I’ll have to thank Chrestomanci tomorrow for bringing them to me.”
“Definitely.” Rue smiled too.
Ahiru carefully put everything back in the box, taking one last, long look at the photo of her mother holding her before putting the lid back on. She and Rue played a board game for a while after that, and discussed the upcoming holidays and their hopes for them in more detail, until finally they were both ready to go to sleep. The rain was still gently pattering away on the roof; Ahiru didn’t much like loud thunder crashes, but a soft, steady, almost musical downpour like this was somehow comforting and made her feel even drowsier.
Her one concern as she climbed into bed and Rue turned out the light was if she’d have a nightmare tonight. She’d had unpleasant dreams every time she’d gone to sleep since what happened on Wednesday , and she didn’t want to wake Rue up by making noise in the middle of the night.
Well, no, not every time. She blushed in the dark as she thought about it – about the dream she’d had when she’d fallen asleep in the playroom after lunch on Wednesday. She’d been a bit disoriented when she woke up to find herself in her own bed, but so many of the images of the dream had remained clear nonetheless. She’d been walking in the spring area of that mysterious garden with Fakir, and they’d held hands, and snuggled together under one of the cherry trees, and it was possible that they’d even kissed in the dream. Well, he’d kissed her hand, at least; she didn’t remember if anything else had happened, and she wasn’t sure when she’d woken up. Either way, she felt all warm and giddy just remembering it, and there were giggles bubbling up in her throat. She rolled over and buried her face in the pillow to muffle them so Rue wouldn’t hear.
Rue evidently heard something, though, for she shifted and spoke groggily. “Ahiru? Everything all right? The bed isn’t uncomfortable, is it?”
“Y-yeah!” Ahiru forced herself to suppress her giggling. “I – I’m fine, I’m just deciding how to sleep, is all. Y-you know how it is, being in a strange bed and all…”
“Mmmm, yeah.” Rue yawned. “Okay. Goodnight, Ahiru. Hope you sleep well.”
“You too! Goodnight, Rue!”
She kept herself quiet after that, though she still wanted to giggle uncontrollably as she continued to dwell on the dream. Fakir was such a good friend to her, and so handsome, and though it was embarrassing to admit even to herself, she couldn’t say she’d really mind having a dream like that actually happen. It was a nice thing to think about before going to sleep.
She drifted off with it on her mind, and was rewarded by happy dreams as she slept that night, though she scarcely remembered them when she woke up the next morning.