Three Years Ago

PART SEVEN

Lord Ivan's maid glanced up from a romantic note she had received from one of the royal guards to see a small girl of perhaps fourteen years with close-cropped hair and wearing a rough suede jacket, (far too big for her), and brown corduroy trousers. She was carrying a rather untidy package in both hands.

“Oh!” the maid quickly hid the note in her sleeve, “Sonia, you startled me.”

The girl held up the package and began to speak in a flat, insincere voice. “I want to give my lord Ivan, second only to our great leader, Chrystal, and who is her adopted son, this gift, which I have slaved over for-”

“Yes, yes. I'll take it in for you.”

The maid was used to this kind of talk, it had been decreed by their great leader, Chrystal, that young Lord Ivan should be addressed and talked of in this manner, but hardly anyone did. In her very private opinion, which she shared with no one but the guard, who was secretly her admirer, the title was ridiculous. No one really had or needed a name that long, or so far as she knew, and if they did, no one would use it in casual conversation as they were ordered to do.

The girl didn't move.

“Come on.” It was not this girl's place to act so to her superiors, the maid thought. She should go and tell Mirabell about this, he was in charge of keeping the training force, as they were called, under control.

The girl continued in the same expressionless tone, “I wanted the privilege of giving it-”

“Alright, alright. On your own head be it if you get into trouble with him. But don't you say I didn't warn you.”

The girl bowed low and said, “Oh no, ma'am. It was farthest from my thoughts to say that you, oh most virtuous and kind lady, were to blame.” She bowed low again. The maid opened the door to a very comfortable room, entered behind the girl and knelt on the carpet in front of a large armchair, on which sat a boy of about seventeen, playing with the end of an ornate stick with a tassel attached. Beside him was a table, heaped with presents from various people.

“Lord Ivan,” she began, “second only to our great leader, Chrystal. You have another visitor with yet another present for you. Lord Ivan, I would have taken it to you myself, only she insisted. I would-”

The boy on the chair in front of her leapt to his feet and struck the maid with the stick on the side of the head. Sonia winced slightly as the blow was struck.

“Silence, slave!” said the boy, “When I desire excuses I shall ask for them. Now, leave me!”

“Yes, my lord.” replied the subdued maid. She rose, and silently left the room. The boy then turned on Sonia.

“And what do you want, Sonia?!”

Sonia walked sharply forward and kicked him on the shin.

“Happy birthday, Ivan.” She said, sarcastically. She placed the parcel on the table and walked out the door, leaving the stunned Ivan to himself. He sat there for a long time, then went over to the table to open the package. Inside was a small, iced, chocolate cake.

Meanwhile, Sonia, as soon as she had left the bright light of Ivan's quarters safely behind her, ran as fast as she could down the steps into the dimly lit world of the lower class living areas. As she sped through the bottom gallery overlooking the great hall, she ran straight into another small girl with auburn hair and a dancer's dress on. It was so dark Sonia wouldn't have been able to tell the colour if she hadn't known who it was.

“Sorry, Shine. I didn't see you.”

She rushed off again with the other girl's shout echoing after her, “You'd better be sorry! I was practicing my dance for this evening and now I'll have to start all over again! I'm going to tell my mother and she'll make you sorry!”

Sonia skidded to a halt and turned to shout back, “No you won't! Your mother never even looks at you!”

It was cruel, she reflected, as she began running again, but so hard to resist. And Shine didn't always behave like an angel to Sonia, so she felt partially justified. Shine was Chrystal's daughter but was never treated like one. Chrystal hated girls and so kept her at the far end of the palace and instead lavished her care and attention on Ivan, her adopted son. Shine lived with her nurse, Rhoda, who taught her to be a dancing girl at Chrystal's orders. Sonia teased her at every opportunity.

Sonia soon found herself in the training force's area. She didn't slow down until she reached the dormitory, where she fell on her bed and burst into a fit of hysterical laughter. She felt more like crying, but crying was weak. Everyone would make fun of her if they saw her crying. After about ten minutes, however, she got to her feet and went about her duties as usual. That evening as the training force was eating its dinner, a servant ran wailing down the steps and announced that Lord Ivan was ill from eating a chocolate cake given to him by Sonia that afternoon. No more than three days later, Sonia was left in the cold forest to stay for three years.