Have you ever heard of the tale of Cinderella? A beautiful girl forced to work as a servant in her own home, until she went to a ball and was carried away from her horrible life to live happily ever after with the prince, yes of course you've heard it. No one ever talks about what happens after because no one really cares except for the people involved. Well Mary was one of those people.
She was "Cinderella's" one and only daughter, by the way her name really wasn't Cinderella. Her name was Eleanor, which is a name she detested, mostly because of the unflattering nickname her stepsisters gave her. This story isn't really about her though; her story has been told and retold so many times surely most of you know it by heart. This story is about Mary, plain Jane Mary who wanted nothing more then to be invisible.
Her mother spent all of her life in an ashy corner of the kitchen craving someone to take notice of her and then there was Mary. She preferred sitting in the shadows of my older brothers but because she was the only daughter of the most beautiful woman in the country she was often asked for, everyone wanted a glimpse at the most beautiful woman's daughter but she considered herself only the watered down version. Luckily for her once they saw her quiet beauty against her mother's glory they returned their sites back to her mother, which she had no problem with.
I'm getting carried away, in order for this to make sense something about her mother's story has to be put into the light. I hate popping your bubble but Cinderella didn't have a fairy Godmother. She had a regular Godmother. Why didn't she come into play sooner when she was being abused? That's simple she lived across the country, and she was almost as blind as a bat and since she refused to get reading glasses, she often went without reading her mail, not that Cinderella was even allowed to send her anything.
The truth is, Mary's mother's godmother, Violet, was in town for the ball herself, she was in her thirties but she was still unmarried and so it was her duty to come when summoned. That is when Violet found Cinderella in her troubling state and came to the rescue. She had her servants clean the house, pick out the lentils, she found the perfect dresses for each of the three balls, and the shoes, which were really fur, not glass, were actually a little quirk of Violet's. Even though Violet had terrible eyesight she loved to hunt, and with all the animals she eventually killed she made good use of what she killed. So besides have mostly an all meat diet she wore a lot of fur, and that included her shoes. Then you know how the rest went.
It was Violet who had planned this trip, Mary realized as the traveled down the road in an unmarked carriage. Violet had put up the proposition that Mary could go to the neighboring kingdom and offer for one of the king's sons and even though Mary felt sick at the thought of leaving she didn't protest, because one just didn't protest with one's Godmother especially not Violet. Her parents didn't much like the idea but Violet talked them into it, for they also couldn't argue with someone like Violet. Sure she was short and old, mostly blind and slightly eccentric, but it was all part of her charm, and even if you could refuse her something she pulled out the "I'll be dead soon and then you'll be sorry" card.
So there Mary was, curled up on one side of the carriage while her handmaid sat opposite both completely bored out of their minds, they had been riding since early afternoon. The road was rough as it went through the forests of Adrian's Shadow. Mary looked out of her window just as it was getting dark and marveled at the beauty of the shadows of the trees. She had just decided the forest was well named when the carriage came to an abrupt halt right in the middle of it.
"Thieves!" Hearing the fear in his voice she pulled off her crest ring that her mother and father gave her just before she left and stuffed down into her bodice just as a blazing light from a torch burned outside the window. Mary didn't make a sound, unlike Anne who screeched when they reached for her to pull out of the carriage. As the man took Anne the opposite door of the carriage opened and grabbed Mary.
©2011 ~Pumpkin-frog
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