Edaedien

Chapter II

A/N: Sorry this updated so late today! It was a really long chapter, and I didn't have much time to finish it during the school week, so I had to do it today. I hope you enjoy reading it :)

Rosemary.

"Rose! Will you take this basket down the street to Miss Alicia, please?"

"Of course, Mama!" I take the empty basket from Mama's hands and stuff it will rolls, buns, and a few bagels. I choose a yellow napkin, unfurling it with one hand and letting it slowly float down over the bread in the basket, which I then balance on my hip as I open the door to exit the bakery.

I hum softly to myself as I walk down the street, smiling and waving at neighbors as they pass me, remarking on the niceness of the weather. A light breeze blows against my face and tousles my hair. In the pure bliss of the moment, I twirl, letting my dress swirl in waves of fabric around my shins.

Miss Alicia lives just down the street from my bakery, in a little brown-bricked house surrounded by a lovely assortment of flowers. I smell her garden before I see it and slow down, now stepping carefully over the path to the door, on which overgrown grass tickles my ankles.

"Miss Alicia!" I call, knocking on her door a few times. She comes promptly, smiling wide when she sees me and her breadbasket.

"Oh, come in, come in, darling!" Miss Alicia steps aside to let me in, the corners of her deep brown eyes crinkling in happiness. "I was beginning to wonder when you'd arrive! Oh, you can set that on the dining table, dear."

I follow the familiar turn to Miss Alicia's dining room. I've been here-and in almost every other of my neighbor's houses-a million times, so I know exactly where the table is.

"Thank you very much, dear," Miss Alicia says, handing me another basket-this one empty, save for a few crumbs, "Here's last week."

"Thank you, Miss Alicia," I respond, "I'll see you again next week!"

"You can count on it!" she calls back, waving to me as I skip out of her garden.

I begin to return to the bakery; I'll get another basket, or a few, if Mama has any ready, and run them to their owners. Then, I'll take all the crumbs and burnt bread out to the chickens, and maybe collect some eggs. I think it's Gavin's turn to milk the cow, so after I care for the chickens, I can get inside and help Mama-

A tug on my skirt interrupts my thoughts. I turn to see a little girl; she must be only five or six, and her head only just above my waist, but she has an infinite amount of joy in her big, brown eyes as she stares up at me.

"Oh!" I exclaim, crouching down to her eye level, "Well, I don't think I recognize you... What's your name, little bird?"

"I'm Paisley!" she exclaims, hopping up and down as little children do when they've just been given a copper.

"Oh, what a pretty name!" I say, smiling at her. She's wearing a pink dress, which is unusual enough in itself, that seems to be made of cotton, an expensive material. Isn't it odd that someone would spend so much on this to give it to a 5-year-old, by whom it will most definitely be soiled?

Well, I reconsider the scene before me as I glance around myself; she seems to be alone. Perhaps her mama had only meant for her to sit pretty in the dress, and she ran away.

"Do you know where you mama lives, little bird? What does your house look like?"

"It's a big, big house," the little girl chirps, spreading her arms as wide as she possibly can to demonstrate, "with a hundred billion rooms and a big, pretty garden with bluebirds as big as you!"