The Isle of Fairies

The Arrangement - Eleanor

"Nell! My beautiful darling girl, please, come forward!" Mother chided happily as she gestured a polished hand towards herself. "Good Morning" I greeted with a sweet smile. My eyes were suddenly drawn to Mrismah, who looked paler than ever. Her own eyes were glued to mine, which grew the suspicion in my unconcealed brow. Mrismah's eyes were so intense that I wondered if she might unlock the key to telepathy if the vein in her forehead grew any more exposed.

"Whatever is the matter?" I asked softly between the two women with a nervous chortle. The difference between their expressions was perplexing, to say the least.

I could see Mrismah was about to speak with her lips parting hesitantly, but my attention was drawn away by Mother taking my hands in hers. "Nothing, my darling. Please, your Father is waiting for you in his study with very important news." Mother gestured over to the large dark polished oak doors next to us. The doors seemed intimidating when I was a child, but somehow even more so now.

I nodded apprehensively to Mother before I turned to the doors and pushed them open with a small creak, peeking my head inside to gauge the situation I was about to walk into.

"Father, you wish to speak with me?" My voice carried softly, bouncing off the bookshelves and mingling with the crackles of the fireplace that kept the room comfortable from the cold that always seemed to seep into the walls and floorboards.

He, who sat in a wooden chair, peered up from his glasses to view the owner of the voice requesting entry to his sacred chamber. "Yes Nell, please come in."

His voice seemed to have a cheerful disposition, which was unnaturally alarming to me at the moment. Not that Father was especially cruel, but I supposed my discomfort came from the suspicious behavior of my sister and Mother.

Father, or as most knew him, Ferguson Q. Harbor, was what some would call: the most successful merchant in all Llydran. Working his way up from the poor villages of the Kingdom along the borders of the country, he worked as a merchant's apprentice until he married his beloved wife Annora, who eventually conceived both my sister and I. Her father bestowed a generous dowry that allowed Father to expand his business ventures until she passed soon after I was born. Very soon after her passing, he met the woman Mrismah and I call Mother: Minerva. Her dowry paid for Father's remaining ventures, such as the ships that he owns that sit at the bottom of his estate that I love to look down on every morning. Those ships are used to export cloth and silks to Foliogg, as well as the people of Llydran, who praise him for the successes of his ventures.

This success story is an inspiration to those who are not so well off in Llydran. It has even given people hope that one day they too may be the next Furguson Q. Harbor.

Both Mrismah and I have always admired his success, but from a young age, we knew we would never inherit his golden empire... Of course, the profits would eventually be divided between our husbands... Which always allowed us to marry well. As I walked down the rug to his desk, I recalled the times during those endlessly cold winter nights when Mrismah and I would huddle close at the end of her bed and tease one another about marrying weak-willed men so that we could do with our dowry as we pleased one day.

"All of you, come come, gather. This is a very special announcement indeed." He welcomed as he pulled off his reading spectacles and gently set them on his faithful wooden desk.

Per Father's request, all three of us gathered around his desk where he sat comfortably with his arms folded against his chest. Mother took her position by Father's side, placing her hand on his shoulder as she leaned into him grinning proudly at me. Glancing at Mrismah, I could see her. Although she was looking at Father, I could see the same look in her eye that she had when she would peek over her book while Father would punish me. I shifted uncomfortably in place in front of his desk, my eyes darting to the ink stain on the wood of the desk.