The Girls from Downstairs

Fifteen: Your Godmother

Sorry about the wait! time passes like it never happened for me.  anyway, enjoy!

<3 XDee

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I gulped.  Jasmine’s eyes never left mine as she sashayed over to the couch Aurora and I shared.  Her long ponytail swung behind her, her tiger, Raja, two steps away at all times.  Flanking the Sultan’s daughter were Pocahontas and Mulan.  Leave it to her to have her own posse of strong “colored” women.

The other queens in the room crossed their legs, a warning sign that an argument was about to happen.  Something told me it would involve me.  Hooray.

“Jasmine, do you want to do this now?” Aurora asked.

“Yes.  I’d rather get it over with,” she snapped.

“Really, Jas.  Is this the right time?” Cinderella asked.

“Or place?” Snow White added.

“We’re here to celebrate Tiana,” Aden said.  Her voice was soft but extremely high pitched.  I didn’t know what would come out of her mouth, but not that noise.

“Would you all rather I sit in uncomfortable silence?” she asked.  No one spoke.

“No, I suppose you’re right,” Snow White nodded.

“As I thought.”  Jasmine returned her gaze to me.  “I have done some extensive research on your past, child,” she said.

I had to clear my throat a few times before I could speak properly.  “O-oh?”

“Yes.”  She crossed her arms.  Her next sentence was obviously very difficult for her to say.  “It appears there might be a chance that I am your grandmother.”

The room, which held a quiet murmur, now hushed.  I laughed nervously and pushed a piece of loose hair behind my ear.  “Um, what?”

“The man claiming I was his ancestor might actually be telling the truth.  There are only a few things left to check.”  She leaned down, lifting my chin gently with one of her soft fingers.  “Forget everything I or Aladdin or anyone else has said about your family being crazy.  Remember, you are to people what you make yourself out to be, not who your family was.  Even if your great-uncle does, indeed, turn out to be crazy.”

I smiled softly.  “Thank you.”

“There’s no need to be intimidated by me,” she continued, moving to the empty couch behind Aurora and me. 

“Who said I was intimidated?”

Esmerelda snorted.  All eyes went towards her.  “What?  I’m sorry, but now is the only time I’ve ever seen her when she shook at the sight of someone and didn’t have some sort of snappy retort.”

I covered my face with my hands.  This girl was seriously going to have to pay.  I have a reputation in Somnoria that this Reality chick was not about to ruin now.  Certainly not in front of Jasmine, who, for the first time ever, didn’t sneer at the sight of me.

Jasmine smiled.  “Just like me, when I was her age.”

“But, you’re how old?  Like, a hundred years?  Yet you still look like you’re maybe twenty!  All of you!  How does this work?” she asked.

I groaned.  “I’m sorry, all.  Somehow Felix forgot to mention to his ‘special girl’ not to ask about your age.”  I turned to her.  “Isn’t it a non-spoken rule in Reality that you don’t ask a woman’s age?”