Adrift: A Little Mermaid Retelling

8: Daniel

I wished Agnes hadn't taken the comb. I wished she'd left it where it was. Something about it felt wrong. Maybe I was nervous about being caught rifling through things, stealing.

But off she went, and I couldn't very well call her back. So I put the stone back in its place over the hollow and built up a fire. Then I went to sweep the porch, tidying up the place in anticipation of guests. I glanced out across the landscape. Master Allore's manor stood not very far from the sea; I could see the gray haze of it on the horizon past the cliffs where the land dropped sharply away. It hadn't snowed yet, but it was certainly cold, and the wind coming up past the cliffs was cruel.

I went in and spent the rest of the morning helping Sorla in the kitchen. She was red-faced and ill-tempered, which wasn't new, but I took pity on her that day because of the extra stress of guests. I did what I could to make it easier on her.

They began to arrive a little after lunch time. I stood by the door, taking coats and mufflers, while Sybill showed them into the parlor one-by-one. There, chairs and refreshments had been made ready for the comfort of the guests, and Master Allore stood to welcome them. They were mostly men, people I expected he knew from Annisport, the more-or-less capitol city of the western Reachlands. It lay on the shore about an hour's ride away by horse, two hours by ox-cart. I had not been there since coming to the plantation, but Master Allore was some sort of dignitary in the government there and usually went once a fortnight.

Of the nine or ten guests who arrived, I counted only one woman, one of their wives. The only person among them I recognized was Master Leisher, Ness's arrogant stork of a teacher.

They carried with them the smell of the cold and the sea wind. The field hands did not come up, none except for Dervin, who was wearing his best shirt and had shaved, for once. Wylliam and Cuthbert were there with their father, greeting the guests, and Mistress Allore was there, too. She sat on the edge of a seat, her pale bosom rising and falling above the low neckline of her amber silk dress, which spilled over the sides of her chair and gave her figure the illusion of more generous curves than she possessed.

Fifteen now, I found my gaze lingering. I tore it mindfully away. I wondered where Agnes was. Her harp was sitting ready in front of a low stool in one corner of the room, but she was nowhere in sight.

Just as this thought crossed my mind, Agnes came down the stairs. Sybill must have gone up to get her, and now she followed the little mistress, making a last-minute fuss just before they came into the sight of the guests in the parlor over the precise placement of the puffed sleeves on her dress. Agnes's hair had been tied back with a ribbon. I didn't think I had ever seen her with her hair done up before, and it took me aback. She usually wore it loose and half-combed. In fact, she looked very grown up that night; her dress was made in the fashion of a woman's, and I could no longer see her ankles beneath her hems.

Ness took a few steps toward the parlor and looked in with startled eyes, as if realizing at last what her father had set her up for.

Standing in the shadows just outside the parlor door, I quietly cleared my throat. She glanced at me, and I smiled, tipping my head just a fraction toward the room full of people. I wasn't sure what she had to be afraid of. She was only going to play a bit of music, and she loved music.

She did not return my smile. She looked shaken. I saw her mouth something. Later.

Worry knotted itself into my stomach. Of course I couldn't help but think about the mysterious box and the comb. Had she given it to her mother? Perhaps it hadn't belonged to Mistress Allore at all. A token from the master's first wife? The legacy of a lover?

Either possibility would have been enough to sour what Ness surely thought would be a happy gift.

"Ah, Agnes, my dear!" boomed Master Allore. With his heavy footsteps near rattling all the cups in their saucers, he came up to the front of the room and put his hands on Ness's narrow shoulders, ruining all Sybill's fussing and fluffing over those sleeves in an instant. He bent down to kiss her brow. Then he turned to address the people.