Current mood:	accomplished
Entry tags:	writing post

First New Year's Resolution Done!
I was getting worried about completing anything this year, but I've been writing much more this summer than in the earlier months, and I just finished this one.

Title: Cinderella's Journey
Part: 2: At the Train Station
(1)
Warning: Feminine Issues
Note: Second version of this; I lost the first in a computer crash!



"Miss Baker! Miss Baker! It is the eighth hour and a quarter!"

Cecile groaned before she realized she was in pain. She groaned again when she realized she was suffering from menstrual cramps. "Of all days!" she muttered, before yelling to Dawn, the maid, "I'm getting up, but I'm going to need padding, and painkillers!"

"I'll get them, miss!" Dawn called back.

Truly, of all days. Except of course one day exactly five weeks from now. So perhaps she should take this as a good sign. Of course, that was pretty hard when her stomach was killing her.

She struggled to stand up straight. It was very necessary that she do so today. But try as she might, she reached the bathroom hunched over with her hands clamped to her abdomen in what was just about the most unladylike position she could think of.

The hot water of the shower soothed her a little, but as she was drying herself off, Dawn came in with a frown. "There's no painkillers in the house, miss. Your mother has agreed to lend you some of her salve."

Cecile considered throttling whoever had done the shopping. Her mother's salve was meant for pain considerably more minor then her cramps. But throttling certainly was not ladylike, so she accepted the salve and spread it over her lower torso, watching as the skin absorbed it. This reduced the pain enough that she was able to stand up straight, but she was still very grateful when Dawn offered to dress her up.

The maid took a sprayer of oil and applied liberal amounts to Cecile's arms, lower legs, face, and neck and shoulders, though she was careful to avoid the places where it could interfere with the salve. Then she helped her into her corset, which had been padded, leggings, and skirt mesh. Then came her outfit for the day. Her mother had picked it out weeks beforehand, when Cecile had agreed to do this. Her dress was emerald in colour, and had no decorations, though it needed none, for it was made of a fabric that caught the light in its creases and made the wearer glow in the sun like a jewel. Over the top of the dress was tied a sleeveless ivory jacket. Cecile stepped into the pair of ivory heels Dawn placed in front of her and turned towards the bathroom mirror as Dawn hurried to fetch a brush and comb. With nothing to distract her from the pain, she groaned again.

"Please try to shush, Miss," Dawn said gently. Cecile thought that was a fine thing for Dawn to say before attacking her hair, yanking horribly at her scalp. By the time it was pulled into braids and flowers, her abdomen wasn't the only part of her body in pain.

Still she did her best walk out of the bathroom, and merely nodded when Dawn informed her that various delays that morning meant she would have to skip breakfast. "I'll pack you something for the train."

Standing at the top of the stairs, Cecile heard a murmur of voices at the bottom. The entire household must be gathered. She knew something like that would be occurring to see her off. She was no longer worried about her posture; her corset had settled in and would keep her up straight.

Everyone in the downstairs room burst into applause as she appeared. She had been preparing to force a smile, but to her surprise, she felt a genuine one form. It almost made her forget about the pain. Almost.

She reached the bottom step, and her father received her hand. She had never seen him prouder.
"My dearest daughter." he started. "Long has this day been in the making. But I never dreamed that when you left home, it would be to woo and win the heart of the Prince of our country!" Everyone cheered.

"And so, my most beautiful daughter, it pleases me, more then anything, to give to you our prized family heirloom." And Cecile heard Dawn's footsteps behind her, and heard the clatter and beads, and knew what it was. Her mother's sapphire choker.

One of the servants provided a mirror so Cecile could see Dawn carefully place the choker around her neck. This piece of jewelry had been bought by Cecile's father by her mother several years ago when they had really started to grow rich, and there had been an understanding immediately that it was to be handed down to Cecile, so she could have a jewelry inheritance like the noble girls did. This was because while Mr. and Mrs. Baker were merchants by trade, low-born, and pure bourgeoisie, they were hoping the wealth he had managed to earn would put their daughter into a higher society. For years, Cecile had been very aware of her option of marrying up. It had been her father's idea for her to go and try for the prince. Cecile was also very aware of the fact that the prince would not be the only eligible man at her destination. Right behind the train that brought potential wives for Prince Leonord would be one that brought potential husbands for his twin sister Leonora, as no marriage had been arranged for her either, and many of the men there were noble-born, and Cecile, who didn't really think the Prince was going to choose her, had a vague idea of snagging one of those after the Princess made her choice and all the rejected young men started looking for a wife elsewhere. She was four months from nineteen, about the age her mother had been when she had married, and everyone agreed it was time for her to find herself a husband.

"Oh my darling, you look so lovely!" Cecile stepped into the floor of the room and was promptly embraced by her mother, who was crying her eyes out. Cecile hugged her back, but wondered if she should mention that she was in pain at the moment. She decided against it.

“Mr. Baker! The carriage is here!” The room exploded into a flurry of activity. Cecile felt several people try to grab her hand to escort her out, jostling her and knocking her against furniture, which did nothing for her already aching body.

The cold season wasn’t quite over, and the chill hit Cecile’s bones almost instantly. Her father helped her into the carriage, which wasn’t much warmer, but at least they’d been able to get a very comfortable one, and she sank into the cushioning, and discovered to her delight that there was a magical warmth current on the bottom of them. It even soothed the small of her back enough to disassociate her pain from her mind, and she felt joy.

He closed the door and gave her a kiss on the cheek. She leaned out the window and blew kisses to her family, and her father yelled at her not to poke her head out the window; it was dangerous, but when Cecile ignored him he let it go. She continued to blow kisses until the carriage turned the corner, and her family was out of sight.

Down the streets of Dalebarn the carriage clattered, and while Cecile had previously found the noise annoying, now she saw its purpose: it let everyone know that she was passing by. So she kept her head still poked out of the window, laughing and waving at those who stared after her, seeing admiring looks from the young and disapproving ones from the old, which delighted her equally. Already she felt like a noble’s wife.

Elsewhere in Dalebarn, not too long after

Elysha was beginning to feel tired. She had been up all night, after all, and now it was several hours into the morning. As soon as she was on this train, she hoped to get some long-awaited sleep.

The train station was in sight. Leonora had described what it looked like to her, but the description wasn’t necessary. The crowd of girls in front of the huge black doors was enough.
As she got closer, Elysha noted they were forming a line. She was just moving to the end of it when a very flashy carriage pulled up, and blond girl clothed from head to foot in gold so that she looked like an oversized carriage knob got out and shoved Elysha out of the way to get in line in front of her.

Knowing that this was very rude, Elysha started, “Excuse me.”

The girl whirled around, glared at her hard, and demanded, “What do you want, street rat?”

Elysha blushed, wondering how this girl had managed to attach this description to her, when she had thought her transformation of the previous night so thorough.

But she knew she couldn’t back away at the slightest intimidation, so she forced her courage together and said, “You took my place in line. You should get behind me.”

“Oh?” She drew herself up until she was a full foot higher than Elysha, her face split in half by her sneer. “And why should I, pray tell, give up my space to a girl who shows impudence just by being here?”

“I’m not showing impudence!” Elysha cried. “I have just as much right to be here as you do!” Or at least, she had been sure she did.

“Unfortunately, you may by law,” sniffed the girl, “but to ask me for my place in line you do not. Oh, what is this kingdom coming to? Can you even read?”

“I can read!” Elysha protested. At least, she reminded herself, she could read a little.

But as she finished this speech, her attention suddenly seemed diverted to another girl, a redhead in a green dress with a strangely wide skirt who had gotten out of a carriage hunched over as if she had a big load of wood on her back.

The redhead groaned, but she didn’t seem to be paying attention to either of them. Elysha stretched her arm and leg out and tried to help her over without losing her place in line.

The girl in gold laughed unpleasantly. “Birds of a feather.”

“Oh, last thing I need,” the redhead murmured through her groans. “A snob from Chank.”

“Chank?” repeated Elysha.

“Yes, don’t you recognize the accent? You don’t happen to have any painkillers?”

Unfortunately Elysha did not, and if the Chank snob did, she was unlikely to actually give them over. The poor redhead was forced to crouch in line behind Elysha, and hang her hand out in front of her. “Cecile Baker. What’s your name?”

It took Elysha a moment to remember to shake the other girl’s hand, but then she did, and replied “Elysha Briante.”

“Briante?” demanded the incredulous Chank girl. “No way can you have a last name like that. You’re making it up aren’t you?”

Elysha was too terrified by this accusation to respond, but Cecile said, “She’s even worse than I thought. Being so silly as to assume someone’s last name doesn’t belong to them? How long has she even known you? Five minutes?”

“You are from Dalebarn,” replied the girl, “so you ought to be able to recognize her voice for that of a street rat! They never have names like Briante.”

“Well, I guess they do now,” said Cecile, and Elysha privately noted she was very right about them doing so now.

“Oh, and you said your name was Baker? Ah.” Apparently she did not think this name required further comment, for she turned away without giving any, much to the relief of both girls.

Though Cecile obviously couldn’t feel relief over much, though Elysha couldn’t for the life of her figure out what was wrong with her, though she thought most of the other girls in the line could, but because they kept glancing at Cecile, then turning and whispering and giggling in a manner that suggested they knew what was going on.

Elysha would have asked what was wrong, but something, she wasn’t sure what, gave her the general feeling that she wasn’t supposed to. Instead she tried to focus her attention on the girls nearer the front of the line, but they were such a jumble of shapes and colors they hurt Elysha’s eyes. Most of them she couldn’t even take in with all their details at once; she had to focus on a face or a limb or a skirt. It was no wonder the Chank girl had guessed she was a street rat; she looked drab next to all the others. Why hadn’t Leonora given her something more appropriate?

There were already two girls in line behind Cecile, and from a dark wood carriage with a simple but pretty design there came a third girl, and as a murmur passed through the girls nearby Elysha’s eyes was captured and held by the magnificently shaped and gloriously bright blue crystal that hung from a black cord on her bosom.

“With a stone like that, she’s got to be a Warlock at least!” Elysha heard one voice say from somewhere behind her.

“Warlock?” answered another voice. “You idiot! She must be much higher than that!”

“That’s a Sorceress Cut, isn’t it?”

“Doesn’t the color mean she’s a priestess?”

“She’s gotta be a priestess, with robes like that.”

“That’s the River Goddess’ color, isn’t it?”

The Sorceress/Priestess of the River Goddess noticed none of it. She got in line at the end and gazed about looking through the crowd around her. Elysha thought she was in some sort of general fog about things. She found herself thinking, That girl wouldn’t last two minutes on the streets, magical powers or no.

“Sorceress?” Cecile reached her hand out. “Sorceress? Help...”

This got the girl’s attention. “Can’t walk into any place without someone begging my help, can I?” she commented to the girl next to her. “Save my place, will you?”

Another girl had already gotten in line behind her, and she stayed dutifully in place as the sorceress made her way over to Cecile. Elysha knew it was probably rude, but she couldn’t help staring, fascinated, as the sorceress placed one hand over Cecile’s stomach, and with the other fingered the crystal around her neck. Then she placed her second hand over the first, and Cecile sighed in relief.

“Thank you...” she started, before looking quizzically at the other girl.

“Alexa Nellop,” the sorceress answered. Cecile held out her hand, but Alexa Nellop had already turned and was making her way back.

By this time Elysha and Cecile were getting close to a wall, at which point the line turned and went the other way. The girl from Chank reached it first, and when she turned sharply around she nearly knocked over the girl in front of her, who turned around with an angry, “Hey, watch it!”

“Take care how you speak, Miss,” replied the other coldly, “when your skirt is as wide as it is.”

Elysha had by now decided that this girl from Chank was a perfectly horrible person who was probably wrong about most things, but she had to admit, there was a point about the skirt. It was this huge yellow thing that spread itself out several feet from her.

But Cecile leaned over and whispered to Elysha, “I bet she would wear a skirt that wide, if she could afford enough fluss to make it.”

Elysha had heard of fluss being a very expensive fabric. “So that girl’s richer than her?” she whispered back.

“Actually, probably not. It’s more likely her skirt’s made of a cheaper fabric. Mine is. I could definitely never afford fluss.”

Elysha wondered what her own dress was made of. It could be made of anything, she thought, because she was sure that Princess Leonora could afford all the fluss she wanted. At least she knew what the cloak was made of: fur.

As she moved behind the Chank girl, she got a slightly better view of all the girls in front of her in line, and now, with her eyes getting used to the flashiness a little, she took note of the various skirt sizes. Cecile’s was amoung the widest, but there were many skirts as wide. There were also many skirts that clung to their wearer’s legs, the same way Elysha’s did, though most of them were longer than hers, which still meant more fabric. And by the time the line had bent again and Elysha was facing in her original direction she had also noticed that the narrower skirts often seemed to have special qualities in their fabric. She spent a long time staring at one dress, worn by a blond girl, which fell gracefully not far below her knees, and seemed to glimmer all over, reminding Elysha of a stream she had seen with Leonora once, where the sunlight had been caught on the surface and the running water had taken on a glow, making Elysha think of what a bubbling cauldron might look like, though she had never seen one.

It was obvious that the front of the line let people into the train station, though it was a long time before those in the back could see exactly what was going on in the front. At last, however, Elysha and Cecile could see that there was a desk with a man behind it, and he asked each girl questions before she went through one of the huge double doors.

It wasn’t long after the man and desk became visible to them that the girl with the glimmering skirt reached the front of the line. By now they were close enough to hear what the man was asking. He first asked for her name. When she responded, “Kathryn Liass,” everyone in the crowd began murmuring to each other and stealing glances at her, while she turned red. Elysha felt sorry for her, but more confused as to who she was.

Seeing her confusion, Cecile leaned over and whispered, “Her father was accused of poisoning the old King, George I, but there wasn’t even proof that the King was poisoned in the first place, so no one could do anything except pressure him into leaving the public sphere. Personally, I think the King’s food was just poorly cooked and they’re all making much ado about nothing.”

“Magical powers?” the man was asking. This confused Elysha too. Weren’t all people with magical powers obvious, like Alexa Nellop?

“I can alter liquid temperature a little bit,” said Kathryn Liass. The man wrote it down on his piece of paper without any kind of comment.

So could other people do little things like that? It seemed so. The terrifying thought occurred to Elysha: could she do some sort of random magical power? But then she decided that she couldn’t possibly; otherwise she’d probably have noticed.

The man also asked about medical conditions, and then family history, but when the girl turned red again, he sighed and added, “I think we can skip that one.” Then came place of origin, and she went through the doors.

One by one, the girls between her and Elysha did the same. Elysha listened to their answers with some interest at first, but then she started getting bored with them, and by the time the Chank girl, whose named turned out to be Taylor Ressetini, spent a possibly an hour or even longer describing her family history, finishing with a, “But of course, that’s the short version, you can read the rest under my family’s name in the Mountain Scrolls,” Elysha would have grown irritated if it wasn’t for her growing anxiety. How was she to tell that man that she had no family history, and came from South-Southwest Dalebarn?

When she was at last standing in front of the table, and was asked for her name, Elysha felt her tongue tie itself into a knot and role in on itself.

“Name?” the man repeated impatiently.

“Her name’s Elysha Briante,” Cecile told them. “She’s from Dalebarn, and so am I, by the way, you can skip family history, and I think the answer to most of the rest of your questions would be ‘none,’ right?” Elysha just nodded. “Good. Off you go.” And she pushed Elysha through the doors.

The interior of the train station was unlike anything Elysha had ever seen. The ceiling was the first thing she noticed. It was high, high up above her, but so vast and thick and celestial, like dark pearl. But it shone more like gold, emitting a glow like a strong magic spell.

She could hardly tear her eyes away from the ceiling, but below it the rest of the great room was equally as dazzling. The walls were of dark highly-polished wood, with windows of stained glass, some of which were so big a carriage could have driven through them. They had elaborate designs, and the center of one of them glimmered so brightly that when the sun shone through it Elysha had to look away. She looked down at the floor, but it was gold marble, and it was all so overwhelming she had to close her eyes.

That was how Cecile found her, and gently squeezed her arm. “You all right?” she asked.

“I don’t know.”

“Come on, then, let’s get out of here.” Elysha’s arm was slipped into Cecile’s, and the other girl guided her through the crowds, through the fancy dresses and hairstyles and the people who all had to be looking right at her, the one who very clearly didn’t belong here, and why hadn’t Leonora warned her?

“I wish I knew someone here,” Cecile was commenting. “Can you believe it, all these months, this train ride was the only thing anything I or my friends could take about, and now I’m the only one to actually do it. Don’t you hate it when that happens?” Elysha didn’t have a response for that, but Cecile didn’t wait for one. “The noble girls are going to give us the runners. Hopefully most of won’t be as bad as her Ladyship Ressetini. I think we should bunk together, what about you?”

“Oh yes,” said Elysha, whose mind hadn’t even traveled that far. She’d just wanted to get on the train. Leonora would take of her after that.

For the first time, a voice inside Elysha said, She’s done a great job taking care of you so far, hasn’t she?

She beat that thought down. If it wasn’t for the Princess, she’d be living her life in cowed misery. She owed her everything.

“Great!” Even if Cecile seemed to be a little unusual as well, she didn’t seem to be letting it bother her much.

Elysha hadn’t even tried to figure out just how the big the room was. All she could really tell was that it was very, very big. But as Cecile briskly trotted them along, she noted that they seemed to have gotten halfway across it.

But the closer they got to the other wall, the more and more Elysha felt the stares. Especially because it seemed the dresses and hairstyles were fancier on the far side of the room. Maybe the richer girls had been let in first? Then why was Cecile leading her here? “Are we supposed to be over here?” Elysha asked, as quietly as she could.

“What did you say?” Cecile asked, and Elysha repeated the question only slightly louder.

“Are we supposed to be over here, is that what you’re asking?” she repeated in her normal slightly loud volume. Elysha nodded and tried not to see if anyone else was looking at them.
“Yes, we are, this is where we get on the train. It’s considered fashionable to mingle first, but I think we can skip that today. Now where’s the Princess?”

She was supposed to be there? Elysha started looking around, not sure whether she wanted to see her or not.

As it happened, Princess Leonora found them first. They learned that she had when a girl looking a little younger than them in a simple lavender wrap with wispy light brown hair tapped them on the shoulders. “Excuse, Miss,” she said to Elysha, “is this girl with you?”

“Is she?” Elysha wasn’t sure how to respond.

“Yes,” said Cecile, “I am.” Elysha nodded, relieved.

“They perhaps you both should come with me. Her Highness has requested your presence, Miss Trinhem-”

“Trinhem?” repeated Cecile. “I thought you name was Briante.”

“-as she wishes to settle you into your bunk personally, and if you, Miss...” She looked at Cecile.

“Baker,” said Cecile, very brusquely. “Cecile Baker.”

“Yes, Miss Baker, if you would perhaps like to bunk with Miss Trinhem...”

“Briante,” Elysha interrupted. “I know I’ve been Elysha Trinhem until very recently, but I’ve just taken on the name Briante, because I don’t want my parents’ name any longer.”

“Then yes,” said Cecile, and she smiled again. “I would like to.”

“Good.” The girl, looking much relieved, took both their hands and led them through the crowd. The other girls made way for them when they saw who was leading them. They clearly realized that she had to do with the Princess, which only increased their stares, but Elysha steadily reminded herself that they were going away from them now until their young guide pushed them through a door on the far wall.

The train waited on the other side of the platform; Elysha had never seen a train before, and she stared in awe at the great big engine, and the long, shiny carriages that lined up behind it.

“Ah, Elysha, there you are!” Princess Leonora was a tall girl, much taller than Elysha, with hair that she could make change color with her hands, by a process that was called flopping. The Prince was said to be able to do the same thing. At the moment her hair was black, and she was dressed in sleek, floor-length glimmering silver. “And this is...”

“I’m Cecile Baker.” Cecile dropped into a curtsy.

“Welcome, Miss Baker.” Then she turned to her attendant. “Dawn,” she said, “I think these two girls can bunk together in the first carriage. Let’s get them both on board. Do you have much baggage, Miss Baker?”

“It’s not here yet, Your Highness. It should be coming in an hour or so.”

“We’ll see to it, then. Come along.”

Elysha had already been told what this next bit entailed, and was not surprised when the Princess prodded her in front of Cecile, directing her to board first. At the entrance to the first carriage she knelt down, bent her head, and said, “I, Elysha Briante, by stepping onto this train, do place myself complete in the hands of His Highness Prince Leonord, to marry or to reject as he chooses, so let myself be cursed if I go back on this word.” This bothered her just a little bit, that according to this oath, the Prince would now be able to marry her even if she met him and discovered she didn’t like him at all. At least it didn’t matter in her case, because she assumed the Prince knew that she was just the poor girl here because of his sister and would ignore her, but as she stepped onto the tiny metal ladder that led into the train, and suddenly found it difficult to keep her balance in her new shoes, she heard Cecile repeating the oath, and hoped she wouldn’t come to regret that in five weeks time.

Getting up into the carriage wasn’t easy; her feet stumbled on all three of strange rungs; she wished for solid earth beneath her feet. But she managed it, and found herself with a floor under her, a wall at her back, and a door in front of her, though she felt the strange sensation of being elevated up off the ground. She tried the door but found it locked.

“Let me see to that, Miss,” Dawn stepped up onto the train with no difficult, Cecile following her with equal ease. Behind them Elysha could see another girl in similar garb, leading in Alexa Nellop. She unlocked the door and led the two of them down a thin corridor; Cecile’s wide skirt bunching up against both walls. Dawn had to wiggle in front of her to unlock another door and push it open. “You two will be sleeping here, Misses.”

The compartment looked clean and sturdy, if a bit cramped. There were two bunks on the other wall. Elysha sat down on one of them and noted how soft it was. Not as soft as what she’d slept on when she’d been traveling with the Princess, but far, far softer than what she had slept on every other night of her life. She put her head down and felt, again, how tired she was...

“And if you find anything wrong, or there’s anything you need, don’t hesitate to ring that bell.” The attendant pointed to a small brass bell by the door. “Good day, Misses.” The attendant curtsied and hurried off.

Cecile was half turned around when a snore startled her. She finished turning around, looked, and nearly laughed to see that her new roommate had fallen asleep. And claimed the lower bunk in the process, darn her.

She heard two more voices down the hall, and recognized one of them as the sorceress’. “...is typical.”

“Very good, Miss.” Cecile assumed that had to be another attendant. “Now, pardon me, Miss, but I’m going to have to put a mechanism in your room; I’m afraid it can’t be avoided.”

She stepped outside, saying, “Excuse me, but I just heard what you said, and I was wondering if I could watch. It’s just that these trains fascinate me.”

The attendant looked a little uncomfortable; maybe this was a hard task for her and she didn’t want to be seen not at her best? She seemed to look Cecile over before saying, “Well, all right, Miss, if Miss Nellop doesn’t mind.”

The sorceress shrugged, and they both followed the attendant. There were loose pieces of metal lined up in the corner already and the girl got to work as Cecile and the sorceress sat on the lower bunk and watched. If she’d had any anxiety at not being seen at her best, it actually hadn’t been well-founded; she worked quickly and efficiently, clearly making perfect sense of constructions that were a mystery to Cecile. “Do you know what she’s doing?” she whispered to Alexa.

She shook her head. “Mechanical magic is one of the few areas where I’m relatively ignorant, and I don’t think that mechanism is entirely magical anyway. It is partly; I can sense that, but the magic presence is weak.”

When the attendant finished she stood up and surveyed her grotesque, misshapen construction. “Not very pretty, I’m afraid, Miss. But if you would take a suggestion, pardon, but don’t priestesses usually set up cloth alters?”

“Oh yes, Miss Gail, perfect idea, thank you!” And she removed the waist-length cape she’d been wearing and with a few flicks of her wands, wafted it on top of the contraption and gently draped it down. “So covering it won’t hinder what it’s supposed to do.”

“Not at all, Miss.” The attendant smiled broadly, curtsied, then took her leave.

“She said my roommate was to be Kathryn Liass.” Alexa stood up and peered outside. “Where has that girl gotten herself to?”

“Can’t you use magic to track her down?” Cecile asked.

Alexa sighed impatiently. “It’s not really worth the effort.” Then she hissed, “Oh, very fine.”

“What?”

The sorceress beckoned, and Cecile joined her at the door, and saw Dawn leading Taylor Ressetini and another girl who looked like she was the same sort of snob from the same place. Cecile’s heart sank as Dawn opened another compartment door for the two of them. Having them as cabin-mates was going to be a real pain.

“The Princess will probably take the last compartment in this carriage,” said Alexa. “That would be consistent with the old traditions, though last time they did this, it was with a caravan. The Prince should be traveling with his sister’s suitors as well. I’m a little surprised at the choice of who else got the first carriage though.”

“You’re not surprised to find yourself here, I suppose.”

“No. But when one considers the Liass family history, I am very surprised to find Kathryn Liass as my roommate. Those two,” she gestured to the now closed door through which the trio outside had gone, “aren’t truly a surprise; I suppose the Princess felt obliged to give at least one of them the honour due to family connections, and is having her bunk with the other to spare anyone else having to bunk with either of them. But...I heard you and Miss Elysha Briante were the first onto the train? Is she truly your roommate?”

“She is, and I don’t know who she is exactly” said Cecile, expressing her confusion for first time. “The Princess asked for her by another last name, and she said she’d just changed it. She’s important to the Princess for some reason.” And because, like the snobbish Chank girl, she too had recognized Elysha’s accent, she said, “The thing is, I’m pretty sure she’s from the poorest part of Dalebarn. You know what I think?”

“What?”

“I think she’s a special agent. Don’t members of the royal family always have special people to do secret tasks for them? I think she’s one of them. I don’t know why she’s on this train, but that’s what I think she is, and why she’s in the first carriage.”

“Then why is she bunking with you?”

“Well...” Cecile considered. “I offered, and she didn’t object. I didn’t like the idea of bunking with most of the girls here to be honest with you; I know what a lot of them thinking about people like me. Maybe she didn’t refuse because she thought it look suspicious; they’d be even worse to her.”

“She was asleep in there, you know, when I left. I think she must have been up all night! Who knows what secret, dangerous things she was doing in Dalebarn late at night?