The
Twelve Stories of Christmas – Day 2 Lizzy Requelst
I looked at the
pile of beautiful presents all under the tree and sighed. I was the first one
up on this Christmas morning and I just could not wait until everyone else was
up and about. Of course, I did not expect them up for at least another hour because
we had gotten in from our trip late last night. We had planned to stay at the
estate until tonight, but then Adam had become so worried that Santa Claus
would not find him that Uncle Christian decided that instead of trying to
explain that Santa Claus could find you anywhere, he and his family decided to
leave early, which made us decide to leave too.
Quite honestly I
was perfectly fine with the decision and was even happy for it. At the estate
there was very little for Mary to do and so she often bothered me to pass the
time. I had complained to my parents once and they had talked with Mary. She in
turn gave some excuse that she had had no idea that it had upset me so, but of
course the very next day she bothered me even more out of revenge. After that,
I never told on her again. Mary never got physical with me, but there were
times when I worried that she would. So far of course, she had stayed her
hands, but due to some close calls I stayed as far away from her as I could
when I could.
So now that we
were back at the palace she could go off and gossip with all her friends and
gain the favors of all her men and basically ruin someone else’s life. However,
I stayed happy and kept myself busy, though I was often alone. I noticed that
Mother and Father had both been taking an active interest in how much time I
was spending alone. Mother worried that I wasn’t being socialized enough when
it came to proper social interactions and etiquette and Father worried that I
wasn’t happy. I had tried telling them both that I was happy and that I knew
enough etiquette to last me a life time, but they seemed unconvinced. Well I
was telling the truth about the etiquette part, but the happy part was
different. I would have liked someone my own age to talk to, but everyone who
came was at least fourteen or fifteen and the younger ones that did come
usually stayed to their rooms and were forbidden to go to any parties. So as it
was, I hardly say anyone this side of fifteen.
“Good morning
Lizzy,” my mother said.
“Good morning
mother! Is father up yet?”
“He is right
behind me, as is your sister.” I looked up as they both came walking out and we
all sat in chairs around the tree. As tradition demanded, my father opened his
first and then my mother, then Mary and then me. If Peter were here, he would
have gone after my mother and before Mary. Oh, I just wanted Peter back home,
where we could play games again and talk and maybe I would finally have a good
and gentle sibling. When we were all finally finished, I looked at my presents
and smiled. I had four new outfits, a new deck of playing cards that were
beautifully hand painted and new china for teas. I had my suspicions that this
was a subtle way for my mother to tell me that I was going to be hosting many a
tea from now on.
“There is one
more gift and this one is for us all.” My mother said going to her writing
desk. She pulled out a thick letter and handed it to my father who unfolded it
and read it to us.
My dear family,
I hope you are all doing well! I am writing this letter to
say that I hope you are all having a very Merry Christmas and to bestow my
gifts. In this letter will be smaller letters for each of you telling you where
you may find my gifts to you. However, there is one gift I can give to you Mary
and Lizzy and that is that I have agreed to Mother and Father’s deal and I am
coming home in March. I should be there early on in the month. Cannot wait to
see you all!
Merry Christmas,
Your Brother and Son Peter Requelst
“Peter is coming
home!” I jumped up when I said this. Mother and Father laughed in mirth and
Mary just rolled her eyes at me.
“Yes child. Now
calm down and I will give you your letter.” I squealed in delight.
“Oh come on
Lizzy, grow up!” Mary yelled, standing and snatching her letter from my
father’s hand.
“Mary,” my
mother scolded, while my father snatched the letter back from her. “You have no
right to yell at her sister so. I will agree that such a reaction is a little
childish for her age, but it pertains to a much beloved brother and it is
Christmas.”
“Yes and your
disrespect to me,” Father said, “will mean that you will get your letter last.”
He gently handed me my letter and I ran to my room and quickly opened it.
Lizzy,
Thank you for your gift. True, I haven’t received it yet,
but I’m sure I’ll love it. You always send the nicest things. Now all I have to
say to you is that you need to go to the barns. Once they see you they’ll know
what to do.
Peter
I threw on my
coat and ran for the barns on the other end of the main gardens. It was about a
fifteen minute run, but it felt like forever. I really did hope that Peter
liked what he got from me. I knew not what the others got him, but I had sent a
new dinning coat since he had mentioned in one of his letters that he had
stained his at an important dinner for one of the foreign prince’s and since
then he had nothing to wear to formal dinners so he had not been invited. I of
course thought that this was ridiculous, since they could have easily given him
one as a loan, but we all knew that for whatever reason the entire royal family
had taken a dislike of Peter. Mother wouldn’t say for sure what had gone wrong,
only that Peter had unknowingly insulted one of the princesses so badly that it
would seem that they would never quite forgive him. Mother was actually pretty
good friends with Corilan’s queen and she seemed greatly pained that this queen
would not forgive Peter. Though it would seem that mother understood their
customs well enough and would not further insult them by asking them to forgive
him.
Finally I saw
the barns and I picked up my speed. As I neared the barns, I saw a stable hand
look up run back inside. When I reached the doors, all of the stable hands that
I had made friends with over the years stood there and were grinning with such
pleasure that I thought that they out shone the sun.
“What is going
on here?”
“Princess Lizzy,”
Fred, the oldest of the stable hands, said stepping forward. “Your brother has
a present for you and has asked us to keep it for you until today.”
“And that would
be?” I wondered if it were a horse, but that hardly made sense. He knew that I
had a horse already and that I liked her a lot. It couldn’t be a dog because
mother would not allow them in the house or a caged bird because she hated
their smell.
“This Princess.”
He motioned for a young stable hand and he stepped forward with a tiny kitten.
She had a big red bow tied around her neck, which she was trying to bite off.
“Oh she’s so
pretty! It is a she right?” I asked as I took her in my arms.
“Yes, all calico’s
are.” I nodded and looked down at her as she looked up at me with her green
eyes.
“She’s so tiny
and pretty.” As if understanding me she started purring and she tried to
rollover in my hands.
“Oh she is positively
adorable! Cute as a button.” She purred louder when I said the last phrase and
I smiled.
“You like that name?
Buttons?” She yawned and I took that as a yes. I looked up and smiled at the
stable hands.
“Thank you all.”
“Oh, it was our
pleasure Princess. Your brother wrote to us asking us to find you a kitten and
we did that. You should really be thanking your brother.”
“Thanks I will.”
I turned and ran out, wishing them all a Merry Christmas as I did. I had a
thank you letter to write and Buttons was going to help me do it.
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