Post by Octavia nó Camellia(D) on Jun 5, 2006 3:03:30 GMT -5
I stood very still, staring at my brother’s feet out of the corner of my eye. He was tapping one toe in a kind of spastic rhythm, he never really stopped moving. He probably could have made me seem calm, with all his fidgeting, even if I was merely an average child, but I never really was. I didn’t run around, I didn’t enjoy games like that. Any children’s games actually. I’d sit and watch vaguely, but I never joined in, not even if I was invited. Not that I usually was, I was too queer for the other children to do much more than point.
We were in the most unbelievable house I’d ever seen. It was even bigger than any of the inns we’d ever bartered room and board out of, I didn’t know that it was a great House of the Night Court. I didn’t even know what the Night Court was, we’d only just come to the city of Elua from Namarre. I didn’t know that either at the time, I learned that later, from listening as Alyssum sold me.
That was the House we were in. Modesty. It was sweet of him to take me there rather than just leaving me to be shuffled out of Cereus where I’d never have belonged. I’ve always attracted attention. I know he thought I’d be happy there.
He was talking about me, I knew, but I didn’t know what about. They were using a lot of words I didn’t know, and actually, I think I was trying not to listen. I knew I’d be staying there when he left, he’d explained that to me already. And I was worried that I wasn’t more upset by it. I didn’t even cry and it seemed to me that I should have.
He kissed my brow and said goodbye, before literally running off. And that was it, that was the end of my family.
But I really was happy at Alyssum. The children there weren’t as rowdy as the street urchins I’d grown up with, having been one myself. And though I wasn’t as shy as they were, they were as quiet as I was and I was left, by and large, alone. But I didn’t quite fit their mold, and they thought I’d do better elsewhere. I thought it would be Dahlia, I’d learned enough by then to know that it was the likely choice, they thought it too for a while, I know.
But being well cared for, properly fed and scrupulously cleaned, I’d quickly blossomed into a beauty which had really only been hinted at when we'd walked in off the street. More than beauty actually. Perfection. For Camellia said yes when they so seldom do, and I was packed off into the world of the perfect. Slowly and by degrees I perfected everything they told me to. I didn't make friends left and right but no one asked me to and that was fine.
We were in the most unbelievable house I’d ever seen. It was even bigger than any of the inns we’d ever bartered room and board out of, I didn’t know that it was a great House of the Night Court. I didn’t even know what the Night Court was, we’d only just come to the city of Elua from Namarre. I didn’t know that either at the time, I learned that later, from listening as Alyssum sold me.
That was the House we were in. Modesty. It was sweet of him to take me there rather than just leaving me to be shuffled out of Cereus where I’d never have belonged. I’ve always attracted attention. I know he thought I’d be happy there.
He was talking about me, I knew, but I didn’t know what about. They were using a lot of words I didn’t know, and actually, I think I was trying not to listen. I knew I’d be staying there when he left, he’d explained that to me already. And I was worried that I wasn’t more upset by it. I didn’t even cry and it seemed to me that I should have.
He kissed my brow and said goodbye, before literally running off. And that was it, that was the end of my family.
But I really was happy at Alyssum. The children there weren’t as rowdy as the street urchins I’d grown up with, having been one myself. And though I wasn’t as shy as they were, they were as quiet as I was and I was left, by and large, alone. But I didn’t quite fit their mold, and they thought I’d do better elsewhere. I thought it would be Dahlia, I’d learned enough by then to know that it was the likely choice, they thought it too for a while, I know.
But being well cared for, properly fed and scrupulously cleaned, I’d quickly blossomed into a beauty which had really only been hinted at when we'd walked in off the street. More than beauty actually. Perfection. For Camellia said yes when they so seldom do, and I was packed off into the world of the perfect. Slowly and by degrees I perfected everything they told me to. I didn't make friends left and right but no one asked me to and that was fine.