I woke up the next morning to see Paris standing over me. She bowed her head and I sat up. My room was brightly lit with a pink hue from the sun streaming through the curtains. I yawned and stretched.
“Good morning, Paris.” I said. Paris lifted her head and set my slippers next to my feet.
“Good morning, Miss Maybeli.” She said. I put my feet into the slippers. They felt warm and soft on my feet. I stood and let Paris lead me to my closet. I usually picked my own clothes every morning, but every once in a while, when there was a special occasion, my mother had one of my handmaids come up and choose my outfit for me. She didn’t trust my sense of style, since I usually only wore riding clothes.
“What’s the special occasion?” I asked. Paris ran her hand along my dresses, seeming to be flustered by all the choices.
“I was told to let your mother tell you.” She said. Paris was probably my favorite maid. She would bring me treats when my mother would make desserts. Since my mother wanted me to be skinny and fit until I got married, I rarely got her desserts, but Paris would sometimes bring me one or two of them. She’d also tell me what special occasion was going on, but this was not one of those times.
“What is it that you can’t tell me?” I asked, grinning a bit.
“It’s too good to spoil!” Paris whispered. She took a cream colored turtleneck dress along with a matching corset and stockings off of the rack and handed them to me. She showed her pearly white teeth at me and then ran to the shoes, fetching me a pair of heeled boots the same shade as the dress. I huffed.
“Well, whatever it is, I don’t like it. This is my least favorite.” I said, grudgingly pulling on the stockings and setting the corset into place. Paris came behind me and started pulling the strings. I gasped and held onto my chest.
“I know it’s painful, but your mother strictly forbade me to let you wear anything flowy. She wants you looking like a proper lady in front of proper men.” She tied the strings together and patted my back. I wheezed and hobbled over to the dress. I slipped it onto my body while Paris put my boots on.
“Although, I can’t always let her ruin your style.” Paris winked and I smiled. She put my hair into a tight bun and put a choker on me. It had a painting of a willow inside it. We headed downstairs and into the living room. My father stood next to the fireplace beside my mother who was sitting in her knitting chair. My father was wearing his starched suit with a white collar. His hair was pulled back into a ponytail. He looked immensely uncomfortable. Mother was sitting upright, trying her best to look dignified and honestly, it was when she looked dignified that I thought she could rule the world. One look into her eyes and you either had respect for her or were afraid. Right then, I was both.
“Maybeli, sit down. We need to discuss something with you.” Mother said. I sat down into a chair.
“Maybeli, your father and I have decided that it’s time for your sister to settle down. We’ve already sent for about a dozen suitors to come and see if they’d like to marry her. I wanted to warn you before you ran around acting like a boy. So, for the next two weeks, I don’t want to catch you riding Gallade, alright? You’ll be taking a coach to and from town. And if I catch you going into the stable, you’ll be locked up in your room, window and all. Understood?” Mother said.
There are moments in your life when you lose something, knowing in the end that you’ll gain it back and more when the trouble times are over. You might even lose everything, but you always gain more than what you lost in the end. Losing Gallade was one thing. If ever I lost Gallade, I would be alright because I would have my sister. But losing both my sister and my horse and losing my sister forever? I couldn’t handle that.
