M'Lady a Musketeer?

Chapter 1

"You better be careful! You wouldn't want to fall. Your mother would have my head if you got hurt, Anellia," the blonde haired girl warned as she called up to the two young people who were engaged in have a "sword fight" in the loft of the barn.

"You needn't worry about me! You should worry for your brother's sake!" the red haired girl, Anellia called down to the girl. The young man in front of Anellia charged at her and at the last moment she darted out of his way, cause him to nearly fall out the barn loft window. He regained his balance only to fall on his rear, his breath coming out fast. 

"T-That was a c-close one," the boy muttered under still not regaining his breath. His eyes wide and his hands shaking slightly. 

"It's lucky your sister didn't see. There's no telling what sort of earful we would have gotten," Anellia stated as she too sat down to regain her breath. The boy sitting across from her grimaced at the mention of a lecture.

"Where did you learn to fight?" he asked changing the subject, his chest not moving as rapidly as before. Anellia stared up at the ceiling with a nostalgic expression before staring at her hands where she still held the broom which she had been using as a sword.  

"My Grand-pere," she replied her voice in a whisper, her gaze anywhere but on him. 

A long silence stretched between the two of them for the span of a few minutes. "He was a  great man," the boy finally said, his brown eyes staring at the floor. He had only met her grand-pere once. His head titled far to the side when he finally looked up at her. The look that he gave her made her feel the urge to throw something. She had seen that look so many times before, always filled such pity and "sorrow." An expression that seemed to follow everywhere Anellia and her sister went.  

"The best," the curly red haired girl announced, as her hands began to tear apart a piece of straw she had found from the floor. Anellia swallowed multiple times with growing difficulty. A another long silence stretched between the two of them as they were caught up in their own thoughts. The boy shifted in his seat, his eyes darting from Anellia then quickly away. He rubbed his the back of his neck as the silence stretched.   

"Anellia! Anellia!" yelled a young female's voice. Anellia recognizing the voice, sprang up from her seat to peer out of the window. There was an urgency in her voice. A small girl with curls that bounced around her face ran she ran up the road. Her knees of the girl's stockings has dark brown smudges on them.  

"What is it Daisi?" Anellia called down to her younger sister. Who was trying to regain her breath bent over her small chest expanding and contracting so much that she was making a quick and wheezing breath. Anellia's heart clenched as her gaze peer down at the girl.   

"Beau-pere wants you back home im-mediately," Daisi announced with some difficulty. Daisi was still she had a hard time saying some bigger words. Anellia sighed at sound of her step father. Her hands clenched at the thought of her step-father. Her gaze intensely glaring at at nail sticking out of one of the boards of the floor. Anellia swiftly handed the broom back to the boy as she stalked over to the ladder that led to the ground floor of the barn. 

"Au revoir Mademoiselle Anellia," the boy bid called farewell to red haired girl as she appeared from the barn and began to walk down the road her younger sister in tow. His smile rather tight-lipped and narrow.

"Au revoir Monsieur Bennet! Perhaps next time you might be able to best me in a sword fight!" Anellia yelled over her shoulder, sending him a teasing cat's grin over her shoulder. 

"Did you fall again," it wasn't a question. It was clear as day how Daisi's stockings had been ruined, especially now that Anellia was closer to her sister. Her palms had smudges on them from where she had caught herself. Daisi's gaze found Anellia's, her small eyes were wide. Her brows taking up a crease that Anellia had seen far too often.