Esmeralda; Beginnings

Chapter 4

Esmeralda dreamt of her old home. The flowers were blooming over her mother's grave, the blooms a pale blue with tiny petals like tears. Growing above it, the apple tree's boughs waved in the breeze. The house was empty as usual. It had belonged to her mother and was Esmeralda's inheritance from her. Unsure what to do with it, she left it be. Unable to tear it down or sell it away. 

But as she climbed the old wooden steps of the house, she saw the door to her mother's old bedroom ajar. It was the room where she had passed away. Someone stood there in the middle of the room, looking round. 

There came footsteps up the stairs again and she turned around to see a family friend, the innkeeper in the village, coming up, "That's enough. You've been in this house for too long. Essy told me not to let anyone in anyway. This isn't your home anymore. You get out now or I'll drag you out myself." 

"Just another moment," the man replied. 

"No," old Thaddeus said, "No one in the village is happy you suddenly came back and stayed. You leave tomorrow morning or I'll throw you out of my inn myself. A week is long enough," he snapped. 

The man turned around and Esmeralda woke up because a blasted bird had landed on her window sill and started twittering loudly and madly. 

"You curst, wretched creature!" she cried, shocking it to fall of the sill and fly off, "I'll roast you over a fire and feed you to your seed!" she yelled after it.

"When you yell at a bird, I worry I'm overworking you." 

Esmeralda almost fell off her bed. "Master Emeric!" 

Master Emeric was standing at the doorframe, looking slightly surprised and amused. "I just got a shock, that's all," she told him quickly, pushing her hair back and trying to tame it. Master Emeric raised an eyebrow, "Well hurry up and get up. You slept through breakfast and I'm not letting you sleep through lunch. Not when there are corrections that need to be made on the work you did last night," he said. 

She groaned and stretched her legs. 

He left her to wash up and change. With the usual morning difficulty of braiding and tying up her hair, Esmeralda went to the parlour to eat lunch. Master Emeric was there, already tucking in. "Now, what were you so angry at the little bird for?" he asked, and she blushed. 

Esmeralda sat down and pulled a plate of sausages towards her, "I was having a dream." 

"Oh?" 

"I saw my father." 

This made Master Emeric look up from his book, "Your father?" 

"Yes," she said, "And it felt so real. Like I was really there- back home." 

Master Emeric looked at her, "Are you sure it was really him? It's been- how many years?- since you last saw him," she said. 

"Seven years," she answered, "But I haven't seen mother for that long as well and I still remember her. I remember her face. Her laugh. Her smile. Everything." 

She played with her food for a moment while Master Emeric watched. Then, she got up abruptly, "I'm going to go through the mistakes and try to correct them," she said and left the room. 

He didn't stop her but he sat there to think for a moment. 

He finished his lunch and went to the study. The pile of corrections were done and set next to her. Finished with the work he had set for her, she was slumped over her table doodling on a piece of scrap paper. When she saw him enter, she sat up properly and quickly grabbed a book on her table.