[Anita]. chapter 7

                          

Anita.

Chapter 7

        Blake was off somewhere and everyone else was busy doing things. I was left alone and the whole family was under the pretense that I was asleep. Instead I found a piece of paper and decided to write to Christoph.

        Dear Christoph,

                How is everything at home? Is Mother well? And how is Father? How have you been?

                I miss you all very much, but it is very lovely here. The Alpha and his family are very kind to me. Blake is no longer ill and I and very much enjoying his company. He is still a bit of a mystery to me, but becoming less of one every minute we spend together.

                Everything here is wonderful and Blake's friends have made me feel extremely welcome. Cathleen is attempting to teach me to cook. It is surprisingly easy and quite enjoyable as well.

                The other night, Blake took me to the most beautiful place I have seen yet on Island. I don't recall the name, but there was a large oak tree, a cave which lead to a waterfall and it was simply marvelous.

                I can not wait for your reply.

              Love,

              Anita.

I took the letter, folded it and stuffed it in an envelope. I wrote Christoph's name on it and tucked it away inside my pillowcase. Later, I thought. With nothing to do and no one around, I sat in the window seat. It overlooked the front of the yard. Norah was playing by herself in the dirt and Chloe was sunning herself on a chair.

        Bear was coming down the street, thankfully without Nathaniel. Chloe saw him, straightened out her blouse and stood up to greet him. I couldn't hear what they were saying, but Chloe seemed to be glowing with joy.

        They seemed to have a special connection, different than I had seen here so far. Their faces both brightened when they saw each other, yet they had no relationship that was known. I wondered if perhaps they weren't allowed to have a relationship like Blake and I have. Of course they have rules here such as that, I thought.

        My mind wandered to a time when all types of relationships, even the most friendly, were forbidden to me.

        “Do you understand, Anita?” Anita, are you listening to me? ANITA!”

        “Yes!” I snapped my head in Father's direction, startled. He sighed in frustration and pinched the bridge of his nose.

        “Come away from that window, child, closer to me so that I know I have your full attention.”

        I did as I was told, sad though, to leave the summer breeze of the outside that had warmed my face through the open window. Lately, the castle had become colder and colder in temperature, it seemed, as the days got warmer and warmer. When I was close enough to Father to make out the crest on his robe buttons, I stopped advancing and stood still, ignoring the itch on the back of my leg.

        “The Alpha and his children and coming to the feast tonight, child, and I expect you to be on your best behavior. Tonight, you are the daughter of the King. If the Alpha does not like what he sees, then he may not sign the treaty and there will be a great war. You don't want that, do you love?”

        “No,” I told him, not meeting his eyes. “No, Father, I do not.”

        “Good girl,” he smiled. “Now run along for your riding and if you see your brother, please tell him that I wish to speak with him.”

        I dipped a little curtsy and scurried away down the large hall. As soon as the doors closed behind me, I let out the breath that I had been holding in.

        This can not be happening, I thought to myself in earnest. I walked out the side door of the castle, down to the stables. I could already see Kevin there; hear him whistling a happy tune as he brushed down Eve. My spirits lifted a little when he looked my way and waved. I wished at that moment that I could skip down the hill like I had seen all the young servant girls do, but my pretty dress and glossy black shoes proved such a delight unfeasible. I continued at my rather slow pace down the hill.

        Kevin's whistling died off when I approached him and Eve, and he set down the brush. I reached up and stroked Eve's neck, leaning against her, feeling comforted by her warmth.

        “Are you feeling alright today, Highness?” Kevin asked. I sighed and watched him retrieve Eve's saddle from its place on the wall. I stepped away and let him put the saddle on.

        “I'm getting betrothed in a week,” I sighed, shrugging. Kevin looked at me with the strangest look on his face.

        “Why?” he asked.

        “To unite our kingdom and another nearby,” I explained, “a sort of peace treaty, I suppose. Father is going to make the announcement to the kingdom tomorrow; he'll explain it better than I will.”

        “But I'm not going to be in the city tomorrow,” Kevin reminded me. “I'm gonna be here, same as everyday, polishing boots, cleaning saddles, and mucking shi-”

        “Kevin!”

        Kevin jumped at Siward's voice, and I giggled at his expression. Siward ducked under the side entrance door to the barn, and stood watching us, muscular arms crossed over broad chest.

        “Good day to you, Highness,” he nodded stiffly in my direction. I smiled back. Siward turned to Kevin, who refused to meet his eyes, busying himself with the straps of Eve's saddle. “I'm sure there will be television stations galore to cover the King's announcement,” he stated. “And if you could manage to stay on my better side for the remainder of the day, I just might allow you to my house in the evening and you could watch the King make the announcement. That sound fair to you, boy?”
“Yes,,” Kevin piped. I could see him mocking Siward to the dirt. His open distaste both appalled and intrigued me. I knew that Siward could see it, too, but he didn't do anything. The relationship between the two of them; apprentice and teacher, boy and man, scoundrel and responsible; had baffled me. Most of all the time, Siward was snapping at Kevin or roaring with anger, but there were some times, that never lasted long, where he would put on the hat and play the part of the father that Kevin had never had.

        “All set, Highness,” Kevin smiled. “I polished your boots last night, and they're in the bathroom waiting for you, along with your riding dress.”

        “Thank you, Kevin.” I responded, in the crisp manner that I was supposed to talk to all the servants in. The two of them, Kevin and Siward, exchanged a smile, before I walked into the bathroom at the back of the barn.

        As much as I disliked my fancy shoes that were an everyday necessity in the eyes of my mother, I think that I disliked my riding dresses even more. The fabric was always too coarse, a precaution, Mother always told me, because the thinner fabric will wear faster, and leave your skin to get a rash from the movement. I stripped off my regular dress, and lifted my riding dress over my head, practicing Kevin's mocking faces in the mirror. They made my face look ugly and distorted.

        I suppose that the uncomfortable dress was accounted for in the loveliness of my riding boots, though. As I slipped them on my feet, I smiled. They were leather, soft leather that I remember Siward explaining to me as 'distressed' when I was a few years younger. The copper clasps on the sides made a satisfying click when I closed them. They stopped two inches away from my knees, so the fanciful design at the top was rarely seen. I heard the telephone in the barn ring, and stepped out of the bathroom.

        “Yes, Highness, of course,” Siward was saying to Father on the phone, “of course, yes Highness. I understand, yes. Thank you, good day.” Then he turned to me. “Your Father wishes for you to have an escort on your ride today.”

        All of my hopes for a long ride on the trails, whistling and thinking to myself, came crashing down then. I straightened my stance and brushed my hair away from my face.

        “As he wishes,” I responded. I walked past Siward, out to where Kevin was waiting, arms ready to hoist me up onto my saddle. I accepted his help, and scooted into a more comfortable position as someone approached us down the hill.

        I squinted in the sunlight, trying to see. From the way that the figure was walking down the hill, I knew that it was a man.

        Norah's screams pulled me back to the present and out of my past. She was playing with Bear; he had her on his back and was running around. Chloe seemed amused by the childs play.

        It looked as though Bear and Chloe had made their relationship through Norah. I never saw the two of them without her. Their giggles continued for some time as they played. As soon as little Norah was too tired to go on, Chloe brought her inside and went right back out to see Bear.

        They sat on the grass, sun still shining and talked. I wished I could hear what they were saying, even though it was rather nosy. Father would have scolded me for merely watching them. At this time of day, he would have told me to go to my riding lesson. But Father was not with me, so I could do as I please and he can not have a say in any of it. He was always one for rules and being proper. He would most likely rather wage war than have me be free as I am here. If he only knew of the things I am allowed to do here, he would take me back and declare a war against Island. This is why he will never know of it; he would ruin the only true happiness I'd ever had.

        Bear and Chloe were laughing now about something I'd missed while thinking about my Father. While they continued to laugh, I though about Christoph and I when we were just children without a care in the world. When I wasn't at my reading and writing lessons and he wasn't at his, we would run around the castle playing. We would pretend to be knights and fight with imaginary swords. We would run through the flowers of the vast, colorful garden and play hide and seek in the castle. As we grew older and matured, we stopped prancing around and started attending lessons for everything. We had lessons for education, riding, manners, and I had my princess lessons to teach me how to rule the kingdom, but with his, he also had to go with Father to diplomatic meetings.

        Even as we grew older, we still made time to spend together. This was the most amount of time we had ever gone without means of contact. Hopefully I could get my letter to him sometime soon. The only question was how to get it to them.

        “Hello?” Someone was at the door, I went over to open it. Bear was standing in the hall.

        “Oh, hello,” I said. I had obviously been too preoccupied with my thoughts to see Chloe and Bear break apart.

        “Hey, how are you?” he asked.

        “I'm doing quite well, how about yourself?” I noticed now the grin on his face.

        “I need your help with something.” I was intrigued and worried at the same time about what he could possibly want my help with.

        “And what might you need my help with?” I asked skeptically.

        “It's Chloe,” he paused, “i like her and I don't know what to do.” I felt like I had just been blown away. I could see something between them, but never did I imagine one of them would tell me.

        “And?” I prompted him.

        “Well, I would really like to take her out, but I don't know how to ask her or what she'll say.” I guessed that he would be heart broken if she rejected him.

        “Have you tied bringing her a gift?” I asked. He frowned. “Oh, well then, have you tried just asking and not thinking about it?” He frowned even more. I could tell that he was really having trouble with this.

        Bear seemed to have such an ease with everything he did, so why not with this? The little voice inside my head told me that it was because boys all had a hard time understanding what girls wanted and when. Innocent, brown-eyed Bear was one of those guys and he was afraid of messing up with Chloe. Wide eyes and a puppy dog face, Bear awaited my advice. I told him to get flowers and show up here later today with them. After that, I would have further instruction.

        He left, and once again, I was alone. Blake's room was larger than Chloe's. My belongings still remained in Chloe's room. Soon though, they would be in here.

        Blake's room had pale green walls and white furniture. He had a wardrobe and put his clothing into that instead of using his closet. He also had a dresser and my favorite part about the room was the seat cut into the wall with the window.

        Peter had very recently put a night stand and a book shelf in as well for me; I had already begun filling the shelves with Shakespeare. Some of my books still remained in my room at the castle. Eventually I would return for them. They were one thing my Father could not dictate in my life. I used to sit on the stone benches in the garden and read every chance I could. And if I wasn't reading, I was writing. I would write wondrous stories of everything to mermaids to faeries to creatures no one had ever heard of before. Sometimes I would just write about what it would be like if I were not a princess.

        When Kevin and Siward weren't tending to the barn, I would go sit outside of the barn, underneath the willow tree that sat near the river bank. The shade was nice on warm days, and it was lovely to only hear the sound of the rushing river. Sometimes, Kevin would sneak up on me and that helped me to train my senses and become hyper aware of my surroundings. At one point in time, he was no longer able to sneak up on me. Now the only one who could sneak up on me was Blake.

        Blake has been gone far too long, I thought. He left right after lunch and hadn't been home since. Three hours is nothing to worry about, I thought to myself. My mind wandered to all the different things he could be doing at the moment; he could be running around as a wolf, or with Peter, or maybe he just went on a long walk.

        I decided to go on a walk and clear my head of life past. Chloe, Bear, and Cathleen were no where to be seen, but little Norah was in the living room.

        “Hai, Nina!” she squeaked. She jumped up from her mess of pillows on the floor and into my arms. I held her on one hip and assessed the damage to the room. It wasn't too bad, all the pillows and cushions had been ripped off the couch and thrown onto the floor. Other than that, Norah's toys were everywhere on the floor.

        “Norah, where is everyone,” I asked.

        “Umm, I nunno,” she said as she shook her 8-ball vigorously.

        “Well, why don't we go find someone.” We closed and locked the front door and headed towards town.

        “No!” Norah yelled. “I doe see my Sip!” She pointed towards the path in the woods where Blake had taken me.

        “Norah, what is a Sip?” Her face grew angry and she began to yell again.

        “I doe see my Sip! I doe see my Sip! I doe see my Sip!” Clearly, this 'Sip' was very important to her. I thought it best to go where she wanted. I carried her to the path, then set her gently on the ground. She held my hand as we walked through the quiet wood. Trees grew tall here and all types of flowers blossomed. The flowers lined the path, highlighting it. Birds sang a lovely tune that soon had me humming.

        Out of nowhere a wolf appeared. Its fur was a mix between light brown and black with a white patch behind its head. My body felt paralyzed, I screamed and that seemed to release the tension in my muscles and I picked Norah up, holding her close to my chest. I still didn't have function of my legs, so I stopped screaming and stood, silent and motionless. My breath was shallow and my body was shaking; Norah seemed utterly calm. I thought about out chances for survival and guessed that they were slim. The beast advanced a bit further before sitting and laying down.

        “I doe see my Sip!” The wolf bared its teeth as Norah squirmed.

        “Sh-h-h, Norah!” I whispered with as much force as I could muster. She continued to struggle against my grip. The wolf then walked behind a large bush. A groan came out from behind the bush and I shivered with fear.

        “Norah,” Blake suddenly popped up from where the wolf had been. “I told you that you were not going to see Scipio today and especially not with Anita!” He was furious, “it is way too dangerous to bring her!” Norah's face saddened as Blake's grew more angry.

        “Sawy, Bake,” she said softly.

        “Norah, I don't think you understand just how serious that is.” He looked directly at me now, his face full of sympathy. “I didn't mean to frighten you, I shouldn't have let you see me like that yet.” My voice was caught in my throat. I forced my mouth to open and words to come out.

        “I-you-wolf-how?” my voice cracked. “It-it couldn't have been you. The fur and your hair an-”

        “Anita, calm down,” he said, cutting my off, mid babble. I didn't fully comprehend why he wasn't coming out from behind the bush until Norah said she didn't bring him clothes. That was the final straw, I blacked out.

        My head hurt and someone was calling my name from far away. I opened my eyes to find Blake, fully clothed, beside me on his bed.

        “Wh-what happened?” I asked. His brow furrowed and his eyes grew sad.

        “You saw me as a wolf and freaked out, then you passed out.” His voice was level, calm and even soothing.

        “But, your fur wasn't the color of your hair.”

        “No, it turns black to show that I am the Alpha, my father is stepping down soon.”

        “Oh, and you were naked?” I gulped, I could feel my face reddening. He chuckled and kissed my forehead.

        “Yes, dear, that's what happens when we turn into our wolf form.”