Birth of a Crimson Feather

•MEMORIES• Price's Visit

Mrs. Picket, still in shock, tried to take a very long and much-needed breath. She wiped her head and hands with her white handkerchief and went to the kitchen where the stuff was waiting for her. She entered the glass doors and saw the cook and Mr. Heracles turning their heads when they heard her.

"Mrs. Picket, are ye ready?" Mr. Heracles asked in a very prominent accent. He lived his younger years at sea, he was a captain, and the time he spend there made his accent thicker. At first, she would find it so difficult to understand him, but after many years of living in the same house, she had no issue anymore.

"Yes, Mr. Heracles. Our guest is close, please make sure to go and greet him, take his carriage away, and tend to the horses," she said as naturally as she could. "Miranda, dear, I hope the food is still warm, I would hate for our guest to eat it cold!" she asked the cook.

"Oh, oui oui, mon cher ami. I made sure to leave the food inside the furnace the entire time you were absent. Everything is kept warm, don't worry!" the cook answered and got back to preparing the plates and glasses.

"So if everything is well and done here I should get going, I need to tend to Kynthia. I will see you all during the dinner," she said and left the kitchen in a hurry. She almost run up the long staircase and opened the girl's door without knocking, which made her jump up from her chair. The girl looked confused, and worried, and almost screamed at Mrs. Picket for entering like this.

"Mrs. Picket, why did you think it was ok to enter my chambers in this informal way?" Kynthia said jokingly, expecting a witty reply. As she was looking at Mrs. Picket, though, she noticed the worrying expression on her face.

"Kynthia, whatever happened between you and your papa, I will not ask to learn in detail, but I beg of you to be as cautious as you can be love."

"Mrs. Picket, I will be careful, I want to be able to eat as many sweets as I can. Father said if I succeed in today's mission, he will let you know I am allowed to have them for a whole week!" the young girl said as she was brushing her hair with an ornate comb.

Mrs. Picket understood very well how the girl saw this situation, she thought in her mind this was a game. A game she would be well rewarded if she ended up winning. She felt oddly reassured by the young girl's way of answering that she left the conversation at that. Mrs. Picket would be her guardian through this, just as a proper governess should be. She got up and opened the big closet to her vanity, pulled out three of the most beautiful dresses she could find, and put them on the bed.

"So, my pretty lamb, these three dresses are made of the finest linens and lace. Which do you fancy for today's dinner?" she asked calmly while showing one after the other to the girl.

"The purple one! I like that one the best!" she said and got the garment from Mrs. Picket's hands.

She knew this was the girl's favorite color, she would dye her shoes that color whenever her father made a mistake and bought white ones for her. With that thought on her mind, Mrs. Picket helped the young girl get dressed and did her hair in a very pretty updo. The girl looked unimpressed, simply because she enjoyed having her hair down, but she knew Mrs. Picket would never approve anything less than an updo for this occasion. She calmly stood still and let her governess fix her hair while she daydreamed about the food she would soon be eating.

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The carriage was approaching the big fountain that stood for years in the front yard of the house Nevil. His wife, Kynthia's mother got her father to sculpt this for her so she could keep koi fish and watch them swim. She loved the ocean too, but she felt like koi fish were prettier than any ocean fish in the world. Nevil never liked it when they were newlyweds, he felt like people who visited would find it hard to drive their carriages around but she convinced him to keep it when they learned she was pregnant with their first child.