Ella Enchanted (12 page)

As they finished, clouds rolled in and a gentle rain fell, although the sky had been clear when the ceremony started. The giants spread their arms and tilted their heads to receive the drops.

I looked down at the fairies. The two plain ones were smiling, but the beautiful one was rapturous. She seemed to be singing, and tears rolled down her cheeks.

The giants pantomimed their lives together. They farmed and built a house and brought a series of older and older children from the audience into the imaginary home, and then more babies for grandchildren. It ended when they lay down in the grass to signify their deaths together.

Then they sprang up. Benches were overturned as giants poured onto the field to hug them and exclaim over the ceremony.

I stayed in my place, marveling. These giants were lucky to see their lives laid out so sweetly before them. Did the pantomime help? Did it stop ogres from eating you? Did it prevent droughts and floods? Did it keep you from dying before your children were grown?

Except for the beautiful fairy and a number of giants, everyone started back to the house, including Father. I stayed to watch the fairy, hoping — praying — that she would reveal herself to be Lucinda. She pushed her way to the newlyweds through a crowd of relatives and wellwishers.

In a few minutes the giants drew away from her. The bride and groom clutched each other. Both were crying. Uaaxee appeared to be pleading. She crouched before the fairy so that their faces were level, and her eyes never left the fairy.

The fairy stroked Uaaxee’s arm sympathetically, but Uaaxee flinched at the touch.. Finally the giants turned and walked slowly back to the house. The fairy watched them go, smiling blissfully.

This had to be Lucinda. There was every sign of it. She had probably bestowed a gift on the newlyweds that was as gladly received as mine had been.

“Lady…” I called, my heart pounding.

She didn’t hear me. As I spoke, she vanished, without even a puff of smoke or a shimmer in the air to mark her departure. Now I knew for certain she was Lucinda, the only fairy in the world who would disappear in plain view.

“Fool!” I called myself. “Idiot!” I should have spoken to her the moment I suspected who she was. She could be in Ayortha by now, or soaring over an ocean.

I returned to the house and found that the giants had grown somber, although the small people were still merry. I wandered through the hall, munching on this and that, while watching out for Father. Where should I go next? How could I continue my quest?

The other fairies might still be here and might know where Lucinda had gone. Quickening my pace, I began to search, and in a few minutes I saw them, standing together and looking as sorrowful as the giants. When I had almost reached them, Lucinda materialized in their midst, still smiling.

I pretended to be utterly absorbed in the problem of cracking a gigantic walnut I had taken from the banquet stool.

“I won’t waste my breath telling you how wrong it is to disappear and reappear as yogi do,” the gentleman fairy told Lucinda. “I hope you don’t plan to do it again in the middle of this crowd.”

“No, Cyril. How could I leave the scene of my greatest triumph?” Her voice was musical. I smelled lilacs.

“What horror did you visit on this poor couple?” he asked.

“No horror, a gift!”

“What gift, then?” the other lady fairy asked.

“Ah, Claudia. I gave them companionship and felicitous union.”

Cyril raised his eyebrows. “How did you accomplish that?”

“I gave them the gift of being together always. They can go nowhere without each other. Isn’t it splendid?”

The walnut almost slipped from my hands.

“It’s frightful,” Cyril said.

“What’s wrong with it?” Lucinda thrust her head forward defiantly.

“They’ll hate each other within a month,” Claudia answered.

Lucinda laughed, a pretty, tinkling sound. “No they won’t. They’ll love each other more than ever.”

Cyril shook his head. “If they argue — and all loving couples argue — they’ll never be alone to recollect themselves, to find ways to forgive each other.”

“You know nothing about,it. Not all couples argue, and these two won’t. They’re too much in love.”

“Imagine he bites his nails, and she doesn’t like it,” Claudia said. “Or she rocks back and forth when she talks, and he doesn’t like it — they will never have any respite from the quality they don’t like. It will grow and grow until all he sees in her is rocking and all she sees in him is nail-biting.”

“My gift has nothing to do with nails and rocking. It has to do with the heart, which loves to be near that which it loves.”

I forgot my walnut and stared at the mad fairy.

“Visit again in a year,” Cyril challenged. “You’ll see what the heart loves.”

“From now on all giants will elope,” Claudia said, “rather than risk a wedding with you as a guest.”

“I shall return! And I’ll be right and they’ll thank — What are you staring at? I mean you! Wench!” Lucinda whirled on me.

SHE’S PROBABLY another supplicant,” Cyril said, “come to beg you to take away a gift you gave her at birth.”

“Don’t turn this one into a squirrel. I can’t bear to watch it.” Claudia grasped Lucinda’s wrist. “You can’t know squirrels lead ‘charming, contented lives.’ I’m sure she prefers to be a human maiden.”

A squirrel! I had to keep her from making a squirrel of me.

“Abensa eke ubassu inouxi Akyrria,” I said, wondering if she spoke Ayorthaian. I had just told her I didn’t understand Kyrrian.

Lucinda’s expression softened. “I’m sorry, my sweet,” she answered in Ayorthaian. “I asked why you were staring at me.”

“You’re so beautiful.” Let her think me simple.

“What a darling child! What’s your name, dear?”

“Elle.” This was Ella in Ayorthaian.

“Beauty isn’t important, Elle. Only what’s in your heart is important. Do you understand that?”

“Yes. I’m sorry I stared.”

“No need to be sorry, sweet child. You did nothing wrong.” Her smile was dazzling.

“Thank you, lady.” I curtsied.

“You may call me Lucinda.” She lifted her chin. “They would not have me say so” — she indicated Cyril and Claudia — “but I am a fairy.”

“A fairy! That’s why you’re so beautiful.”

“My friends—”

“Are shopkeepers,” Cyril said firmly, also in Ayorthaian. “We sell shoes.”

“For tiny feet.” Lucinda laughed.

“For children,” Claudia amended.

“Oh,” I said. “I don’t need shoes, but I need help, magical help. Can you help me, Lady Lucinda?”

“You don’t need her help,” Claudia said. “You should leave her while you still may.”

“I’d be delighted to help you. You see, Claudia, they do need us. Tell me, Elle.”

“I want more mettle, if you please, lady. Whatever anyone tells me to do, I do, whether I want to or not. I’ve always been this way, but I wish I weren’t.”

“The maiden is naturally obedient,” Cyril said. “Isn’t that one of your gifts? And she doesn’t like it.”

“I knew how sweet you were the moment I saw you. Obedience is a marvelous gift, Elle. Sometimes I give that gift to little babies. I certainly won’t take it away from you. Be happy to be blessed with such a lovely quality.”

“But…” I began, then stopped as Lucinda’s order gripped me. My mood changed, and I smiled joyously. The curse had been turned into a blessing. “Thank you, lady! Thank you,” I said, almost forgetting to speak Ayorthaian. I kissed her hand.

“There, there. You don’t have to thank me. You only needed to see it in the proper light” She patted my head. “Now run along, Elle.”

My first order in my new state. I was delighted to obey. I rushed off.

I knew I was happy only because I’d been ordered to be, but the happiness was absolute. I still understood why I had always hated Lucinda’s gift. But I was glad nonetheless. I imagined future commands, awful ones, ones that would kill me, and I glowed at the idea of obeying them.

For the first time since Mother had died, I was free of fear. I would embrace whatever happened. I felt as light as a cloud.

I decided to find Father. If anyone would have commands for me, he would. I found him outside Uaaxee’s house, climbing into his carriage. He turned when he heard my voice, and I received a shock. He was actually pleased to see me. I had never before seen him smile without guile.

“Ella! My dear!”

I didn’t care if he was angry. “I ran away from finishing school.”

He laughed. “I knew the lass had courage. And are you a lady now or still a clumsy cook’s helper?”

“How shall I show you?”

“Curtsy for me.”

I swept him my finest.

“Excellent.” All his cunning returned. “You are pretty enough. Foolish of me never to have thought of you. Get into the carriage, Eleanor. I trust you will not damage your gown this time.”

“Shouldn’t we say goodbye to Uaaxee?” I asked, climbing in.

“She won’t miss us. She’s too heartsore over a gift from a fairy.” He frowned. “They say three were here, and I never saw a hair of them.”

The carriage began to move. I didn’t care where we were headed.

“You are just in time to put your training to use,” Father said.

“Only tell me what I must do.”

His eyebrows rose. “This is more transformation than I had hoped for.” He was silent for a long while. I began to feel drowsy.

“I am a ruined man.”

His voice startled me. “What?”

“I sold an estate that didn’t belong to me. The gnomes who bought it have found me out. When we reach Frell, I shall have to repay them, and it will take all I own. I shall have to sell our manor, our furniture, the carriage. And I shall have to sell you, in a manner of speaking. You must marry so that we can be rich again.”

So that he could be rich again. “Yes, Father. Gladly. When?” I understood the monstrousness of his plan, but nothing could lessen my joy at the prospect of obeying.

“What did you say?”

“I said, ‘Yes, Father. Gladly. When?’”

“You ask when, not to whom? You are so anxious to wed?”

“No, Father. Only to do your bidding.”

“What did they do to you at that finishing school? No wonder you ran off.”

*

WHEN WE reached our manor, Father stayed outside to speak with the coachman while I hurried inside to find Mandy. She was scrubbing vegetables, and a parrot perched on her shoulder.

She hugged me so tight, I could barely breathe. “Ella! Ella, my sweet.”

The parrot squawked in Gnomic, “!chocH !choe echachoed dh zchoaK !chocH”

I wished she’d never stop squeezing me. I wished I could spend the rest of my life as a child, being slightly crushed by someone who loved me.

Father spoke from the doorway. “I shall be away from home this evening. However, tomorrow we shall entertain. Elvish mushrooms will arrive from the market. They’re a delicacy, Mandy. Serve them as a first course for Lady Eleanor and her guest.”

“What guest?” Mandy asked after Father left.

“My husband perhaps. I’m so glad, Mandy.”

She dropped the pot she’d been washing. It fell into the washtub, but rose back into her hands a moment later. “Your what?”

The parrot squawked again. “!chocH” Mandy had named him Chock, after his favorite word, which was an exclamation in Gnomic meaning “oh,” or “oh my,” or even “eek!” In this case, I’m sure it meant “eek!”

“My husband. Father has lost all his money. I must marry so he can be rich again.”

“This tops all,” she stormed. “What is he thinking about, marrying off a chick like you? And why are you glad about it?”

“Not just glad. I’m…” I couldn’t find the right word. “.. ecstatic to do it, if it will please them both, my father and my new husband.”

Mandy cupped my chin in her hand and examined my face. “What’s happened to you, child?”

“I met Lucinda, and she made me happy to be obedient.”

“No, baby. No, honey.” Mandy blanched. “She didn’t.”

“It’s much better this way. I don’t feel cursed anymore. Don’t be sad.” I smiled. “See. I’m giving you an order. If you obeyed it, you’d be happy too.”

“She turned you from half puppet to all puppet. I’m supposed to be glad about that?”

I didn’t answer. While Mandy stood dumbstruck, I looked around the kitchen, greeting every familiar object.

Finally she muttered, “Lucinda’s up to new tricks.” Then she spoke to me. “I’m starved. Are you ready for dinner, love?”

We supped together in the kitchen, only the two of us and the parrot because Father had dismissed the other servants.

“He must like my cooking too much to get rid of me,” Mandy told me over cold chicken wings and warm bread. She spoke no more of my new obedience, but it must have been on her mind, because she changed toward me. She stopped being bossy. I suppose she wouldn’t give Lucinda the satisfaction of using my new state. However, Lucinda wouldn’t have known, and I was denied the joy of obeying.

*

THE NEXT afternoon we prepared the broth for a fish stew with wild onions — dinner for my guest. I was slicing the onions when a boy brought the mushrooms Father had promised.

Their carton bore the label “torlin kerru.” “Kerru” meant mushrooms, but I didn’t know the meaning of “torlin.”

Examining the box, Mandy frowned. “Sweet, would you look up that ‘torlin’ word for me?”

” ‘Torlin (tor’lin), n., justice; fairness,’ ” I read in my dictionary. ” ‘Tor’lin ker’ru, justice mushrooms; induce feelings of liking and love in those who eat them; used in elvish courts of law to settle civil disputes.”

“I’ll torlin kerru him!”

“It doesn’t matter,” I said.

“It matters to me.” Mandy yanked on her boots and flung her cloak over her shoulders. “I’ll be back soon. Please keep the broth from coming to grief.”

I stirred the soup and thought about our dinner guest. I would be glad to marry him, but would I be glad afterward? He might be cruel or dull-witted or mad. Father wouldn’t concern himself with my happiness, only with his own.

If he were terrible, Mandy could order me to be contented anyway. Or perhaps I could persuade my husband to issue the command.

Chock landed on my shoulder and pecked lightly at my ear. “!chocH !jdgumkwu azzoogH”