Steps One Shots (ish)

Lesson in Ladyship (part 3)

I planned to upload this tomorrow but I can't keep it a secret any longer so have it today I guess.

William had begun preparing for him and Elizabeth to move back to Kittivale Hall immediately, but it still took a couple of weeks before they could finally move home. For most of that time Elizabeth had been very excited indeed, although William had tried his best to keep her calm, despite him being excited too. He had always been more down to earth than his younger sister and was very aware that even if parts of the house had remained untouched they would still likely appear very different to them than they had years ago. Elizabeth had been so excited she'd written her own letter to Faye, as technically the only person now who could tell her she wasn't allowed was William, to tell her of the good news. It had only been quite brief, and the writing had been rather messy where she hadn't exactly been able to practice for quite a while, but it did the job of keeping Elizabeth's promise to Faye. Elizabeth was sat eating dinner at the time she received Faye's reply, but had wasted no time in opening it. It turned out Faye was very happy for her friends indeed. But now today was the big day. The day that they were to go home.
"William, come I need to show you something." Elizabeth whispered, shaking her brother's arm that morning.
"What? Lise it's super early." He replied.
"Yeah, but I need to get something from down the garden and I should do it before too many people are up." She told him. "Come on, I don't want to go alone."
William sighed. "Alright, alright let me get changed at least." He said.
Elizabeth nodded. "I'll be waiting outside." She said before standing up and slipping out the door to the room.

A few moments later William was ready, still looking rough from his morning wake-up call, but ready all the same. "This had better be important." He moaned as she dragged him through the basement, dodging the cooks who were starting to prepare breakfast.
"It is." She replied. "W...Well to me anyway."
She led him out the door and up the stairs into the gardens, ducking through the bush arches and dodging the branches and thorns of plants that were almost reaching out to them, and then along the paths to the back of the garden. The gardeners weren't up for morning watering yet, so they were quite safe from any unseasonable showers. They went all the way to the back of the garden, though a small gap in the hedge, which Elizabeth had to push her way through to open a gate, and then on through that into the overgrown further back garden where there was a pond and more plants that William recognised from the secret garden they'd had at home, but could no longer name. They crossed a fair way through the garden to a shed. It was old and weathered, but when Elizabeth slipped a key tied to a piece of discoloured ribbon she often wore around her neck into the lock, the door swung open with ease. William peered inside, but he couldn't see much except dust and some old furniture. When his eyes grew more accustomed however he could see there were old dresses, clearly ones which had belonged to Faye, in there too.
"What is this place?" He asked quietly.
"The secret garden. If you keep on walking that way you'll eventually reach a gate that leads into Kittivale's garden. Officially I think this is actually part of our gardens, Faye and I once tracked the stream and it runs to the lake that father always said was the boarder of the grounds. Although our gate into here is probably madly overgrown I'd of thought, so I'll have to see if I can find it once we move back in." Elizabeth stated.
"Yeah I could tell it was the secret garden but, this... shed... I guess? I mean what is all this stuff?" He asked.
"A lot of these were Faye's old dresses. This is where she used to come and read for years, and when you couldn't find us anywhere when we were younger this is where we used to come and play. She started hiding her dresses she's outgrown and that Clarabella wouldn't wear in here not long after our parents died and she's been doing it ever since, knowing that someday if we ever got our house back I'd need some dresses until I had some of my own that fitted." Elizabeth explained.
"And we're here because?" He asked.
"I need some dresses to wear at home, even if they don't fit the best." She told him.
He sighed. "Fine. You're so lucky though."