Beauty and the Beast: Chapter I

She looked up at her home one last time. The white stone walls reached up proudly, balconies stuck out at tasteful intervals with flowers dripping out of pots set on them. She had planted the roses on the balcony directly over the thick oak double doors when she was ten. Her chest swelled; it hurt so much, leaving all this behind. It was all she had ever known. This mansion, these grounds, this seaside town, these people. She breathed in a ragged breath. Brave. She had to be brave and strong. Yes, there was no "should," she simply had no choice but to be strong.

Her two sisters held hands, tears streaming down their beautiful faces. Estelle tried to be strong, she really did, but this trial had twice as heavy on her as it had been on an of them. As the eldest at nineteen she had been engaged when their father's business had began to decline. Bellden believed she had liked the man, Vernell, but did not love him. Anyhow, when her father had gone bankrupt Vernell's father had swiftly broken off the engagement. Estelle had been heart broken. Not only had she lost a young man whom she had considered a close friend, but she had also lost their last chance at salvation to the immense poverty that consumed them.

It broke Bellden's heart to see her sister like this, her bright blue eyes spilling over with tears, her golden curls rumpled with a lack of sleep, her rosy cheeks sunken in with stress and hunger, even her slim shapely body was slumped in defeat.

But while Estelle at least made an attempt at being strong Searlait simply collapsed. Her deep auburn hair fell like a waterfall around her as she dropped her sister's hand and wrapped her arms around their father and sobbed into his shoulder. Bellden almost felt like sighing, she loved her sisters but sometimes their wild and unchecked emotions tried her patience. To be fair though, they had not (for the most part) cried throughout this entire ordeal. Just little sniffles when they thought no one could hear them.

Bellden was hardly one to judge, she thought, she had sobbed out her heart long ago, long before they had sold all their furniture, long before the engagement had been broken off. It had been the night news that the fourth ship had disappeared had reached them. That night they'd had bean soup for dinner it had been then she'd realized what was happening and what was to follow. She had quickly excused herself from the table and had gone up to her room, buried her face in her pillow, and wept. She had not cried since.

She shook herself from her reverie and took Estelle's hand in her own. "Come sister, let me help you onto your horse." Estelle's big sky blue eyes met her own dull brown eyes thankfully "Yes." Bellden cupped her hands two feet above the ground and let her sister step on them as a step to gain a seat on the bag laden gray mare. Sitting on the once fine horse her hair tousled by the wind Estelle looked as regal as a queen and despite her pink eyes her voice was steady when she spoke, "Father it grows late, we want to arrive at our new home in daylight."

Her words awoke father from his listless stupor "Yes, yes, come along Searlait my dear," he smiled kindly, "Do not weep, this is no longer our home."

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Bellden hummed mindlessly, trying to hold the looming darkness at bay. They had passed through endless moors and were deep in the dark forest of Gelf. Bellden's mind constantly returned to the night last month when an former employee of her father's had come to them after hearing of their plans to sell the mansion. Jean was his name, he had entered the bare book-less study boldly and met father's eyes squarely saying that if he planned to move away from the coast and he knew a cottage just on the outskirts of his own village that was being sold for next to nothing. Father had quickly agreed that a place in the county would be best for them and spent the last of their little money on the cottage.

She was not overly opposed to living in the country as Searlait was, manual labor was not something that scared her. It was more not being able to do it well enough that scared her. But knowing that Jean would be there neighbor and would being wiling to help them get started was a great comfort. She was curious as to what her father had done for him to make him so grateful, but then again, people so easily fell in love with her father. With his kind easy going manner and huge smile that crinkled the wrinkles around his eyes. Everything about him was lovable.

Her head jerked around at a sound from within the deep darkness of the trees that huddled around them, their thick roots crawling onto the roughly cobbled path. "Father?" he turned in his saddle just ahead of her "Almost there love, see if you squint you see the light of the tiny town." Her face was graced by a small smile, "Its a village," if the darkness had been but a bit thinner she would have seen her father roll his eyes, "Pfft, village, tiny town, same difference."

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A not so short half hour found them in front of their new home. Bellden's first thought was, no, this cant right, I had doll houses bigger than this. It was a tiny slightly disheveled wooden shack (in their eyes anyhow). She walked up to the house hesitantly, her shoulder weighed down by a heavy sack containing all of their kitchen supplies. The weight hastened her steps to the door, "Searlait, could you get door?" she jumped forward and held it open for her. As Bellden passed her, Searlait whispered quietly, "Are you okay Belle? You look pale." Bellden turned back, her sister's heart shaped face was outlined in moonlight as she looked in concern at her. Bellden smiled, meeting her sister's green eyes, she reassured her, "Oh I'm fine, just a little cold."

That night they all slept poorly. Fall tinted breezes swirled throughout the three roomed cottage brushing over the dreams of every person within. Except Bellden's who sleep had not been kind enough to visit. She lay looking up at the wooden rafters above her. She was covered only by a thin rough gray blanket but on her left, fighting off the cold, were her sisters lending her a little of their warmth. Turning her eyes to the tiny shuttered window on her right she gazed at the pinpricks of stars and quietly wished aloud "May we be safe here."

. . . . . . . . . . Two Years Later . . . . . . . . . . . . .

"Ahhh! Jean could you possibly be less gentle!" Sweat beaded Bellden's flushed face as she shouted. The brown haired man gave her a sympathetic look, "Sorry little lady, but you dislocated your knee, there isn't no gentle way to do this."

All of Bellden's energy was going into not swearing in front her father. He knew moving to country had roughened his daughters but she need not let him know just how much she in particular had been roughened. Despite her current job of a farmer she still wished to, at times, keep up a ladylike facade for her father.

"Damn!" a loud popping sound filled the hay strew barn and her facade broke down. "Shit, would a bit of warning killed you Jean" she moaned, pulling herself into a sitting position. She slapped away the helping hands of Jean and her father. "Really Belladonna such language" tutted Jean grinning. She glared at him, stupid nickname, "Shut up snotface."

Jean was like the brother she had never had, it seemed she had known him all her life, like their teasing and pushing was something they had been doing since infancy. The only hick in this picture was his engagement to Estelle. Perhaps it wasn't a hick, perhaps the engagement only strengthened the bother-sister like relationship.

Searlait's auburn head peaked into the small cow scented barn, "You okay Belle?" her beautiful face was creased with concern. "Dinner is ready, it's potato soup-" here she smiled, "- and Estelle made a loaf of her spice bread." Jean's face lit up, but Searlait quickly said, "It's for Bellden," he sighed loudly. Father laughed at the smirk so clearly worn on Bellden's face. Her smirk morphed into a grin as she jumped up and ran out of the barn favoring her left leg. She took Searlait's hand, dragging her to the house. She no longer thought of it as a shack, though sometimes, at night when she's all alone, she would remember that she used to live in a house with over thirty rooms in it. But it hadn't been her who had lived there, in that huge house, no, it had been some other pale weak girl who had never seen a day of work in her life.

The first couple of months in the country had been sheer torture. Bellden didn't doubt that if it hadn't been for Jean they wouldn't have survived. They'd had no knowledge on anything agricultural besides what Bellden had read in books, which wasn't exactly useful in real life. Another harsh truth was they simply were weak. None of them had ever dealt with physical labor which made planting, plowing, seeding, weeding, fixing, building, harvesting, and even watering their crops hard. They had almost starved that first winter but in had walked Jean. He helped them purchase their first cow, shared his own food with them, taught them what plants they could take from the woods that towered tall and green a mere twenty meter behind their house. Jean's own house was situated only fifteen meters away from their own which resulted in him being at their house much of the time.

She often wondered if it was their close proximity to Jean that finally sparked Estelle's affection for him. She knew exactly when Jean's love for Estelle had been born. It had been within their first week there, he had been over helping father fix a hole in the ceiling and had fallen off the ladder and landed directly on top of Estelle who had screamed and dumped their laundry water on his head. Then she realized who it was. She had apologized a thousand times all the while attempting to dry him off with her apron. Bellden had seen the look in his eyes ever after.

Bellden rushed into the house memories flying away behind her in the wind, "Hurry Searlait I'm getting that spice bread first!" Searlait laughed, "As though you never get the first slice anyway" Bellden grinned lighting up her sun kissed face. Estelle looked up from setting the squat little table, clay plate still in hand. "You're tracking dirt into the house! I just swept!" even as she shouted with irritation she smiled.

"How's your knee sweetie?" she asked as she set down the last plate. "I'm fine, pain is a small price to pay to finally have that stupid broken support beam down at long last" "How did you knock it down with your knee?" Bellden looked a little embarrassed. Before she could answer father entered the kitchen and exclaimed jovially, "She kicked it."

Estelle rolled her eyes but didn't look surprised. In a disorderly fashion that involved the scraping of chairs and gentle nudging of elbows they seated themselves. Bellden took her usual seat next her father who loudly complimented Estelle's cooking as he took a large spoonful of the hot white soup. They spoke over each other, then to each other, then went silent as they listened to one person's story. Eventually they all reverted back to talking over each other.

It made every bit of sweat, every flame of held back anger, every prick of pain ignored worth it when they sat together and ate like this. Above all things Bellden valued family. Sure she had new friends here in the country, friends like Pasclina the baker's daughter, or Lorraina the sister of the blacksmith, but family was family.

Once the air had settled and everyone was reclining comfortably in their chairs father cleared his throat. "You know the messenger that came the other night?" Bellden along with everyone else nodded. A secret sparkled deep in his eyes, "He brought word from Elborn, the investments I made in the Linderal's trade scheme last summer paid off big time." Searlait gasped, "Oh father! We can afford Estelle's wedding now!" her face was alight with excitement. She reached over and took both of Bellden's hands in her own, "We can bake her a proper cake and there will be flowers and she'll have a beautiful white dress and... and, oh! We can have new dresses too! Oh Belle this is wonderful!" Bellden laughed and kissed her sister forehead, "And frosting for the cake." Searlait pushed her waist length hair over her shoulder her smile beaming like rays of sunshine, "Belle this is wonderful." Bellden laughed, "Yes Shar, its wonderful but God forbid any other soul ever call me Belle."

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The next morning two hours before the rise of dawn only Bellden was awake to wave off her father. She hugged him tightly and said softly, "Be well father," he held her at arms length and smiled that heart winning smile that warmed his weathered face with his too long gray brown hair falling onto broad forehead. "Don't worry I'll be back in the blink of eye," she smiled, "I'll be sure not to blink." He laughed and pulled himself on to his horse, "You have a sharp tongue when you care to use it." "Words are the only thing I have in my favor," she said dryly gesturing to her ratty washed out once red dress, her tangled hair, her lightly freckled face, and heavily calloused bare feet. "I'll bring you back a flower daughter," she nodded still smiling warmly, since she was eight whenever he went traveling he had brought her back a flower. "I expect no less, ten year old traditions don't just die on a whim."

He waved as he set his horse into a slow trot, "Be well!" he called, she waved back, "Don't talk to strangers!" She saw him laugh. Soon his figure was swallowed by the dark Gelf woods. She let out a long heavy breath, "Come back safely."