by Dave Kirk
Her heart sank. Daphne realized just holding the stone would not grant her instant control of Sonya.
"Instead of a prideful, rebellious, tantrum prone BRAT, requiring beatings, I have unthinking obedience. Folk will mar-vel at your devotion. That river fever saved you from much discomfort, possibly death." She patted Daphne on the head. "Forgot you would ask for henbane on arrival."
"No, you didn't, mistress." Daphne muttered shaking off the hand.
"Attitude there... Emotion and attitude are everything in magic. He, he, needy lit-tle you not only listens but, deep, deep down, you actually want to please big me! You miss being cuddled by your mom." Sonya hugged Daphne. "Such a child."
Daphne stiffened and pushed Sonya away. Until now, Sonya's playful cuddling was good. Cuddling, made the child she was, feel safe and loved. Tonight, it only emphasized how small and defenceless she was. "You're not my mom."
"Close enough. Your mom and I are related, distantly. No matter. You feel guilty about her death. So you want to please her IE. Me."
"I... It... not true. NOT true! It's NOT!" Daphne watched the amused smile grow.
"No. True. It's what made our story time SO effective. I desired calm and cooperative, and so you calmed. Surprised me, until I figured it out." She ran long fingers though Daphne's wet hair. "Gotten easier and easier each night. Lately, you go into a cooperative trance even without the stone."
"Oh no." Daphne broke free and backed away from an amused Sonya.
"Oh yes! You tell me everything. Such a good little helper. Now that I know how, you are easier than any others. ...By far. Remember our first days, how I ran! Tomorrow, YOU, start running." Sonya mockingly stuck out her tongue then laughed. "Don't worry, I'll always have hugs and praise for my good lit-tle helper."
Daphne pouted. "Witch! Won't obey. Won't! Don't want to please you. Did this to me, so mean to me, lied..." Daphne paused to hand a hairbrush to Sonya's waiting hand. "Here mum."
Sonya lightly rapped Daphne's outstretched wrist, then gave the brush back. "Never call me witch again! Don't correct your elders. I am always right. Do not resist me! Or you'll get more than a wrist rap. Now, be a good servant and return this. Reception feast tonight is to welcome us, ...well me here. Tomorrow we get measured for our wedding clothes."
"Ow." Daphne shook out her hand frowning, the witch was enjoying this! "You can't marry the prince. It's wrong." Daphne's lip was out in a pout. Her foot stomp only made a tiny click.
"The only one who cannot marry Prince Adam, or, anyone at all, this season, is YOU. An infant betrothed! That would be wrong. Very wrong. Not that you lack for looks, ...cutie." Sonya laughed hard and long at this.
Wiping away her tears of hilarity she continued. "I'll let you listen in as we share love that night. Hm. How about; I tell you about my marriage bed ...when you get old enough! There will surely be smelly diapers in your future, one day soon. Ah, the true joys of motherhood! Are all yours!" She sat and doubled up in mirth. As she rocked in laughter, Daphne noted a further outrage. Her princess tiara sat upon this usurper's head!
Daphne was red faced in helpless rage. "I'll stop the wedding. I WILL! ...Somehow."
"No. You will now become PART of my wedding. Be still." The stone barely flickered.
"Won't." Daphne felt nothing? She exulted, she was prepared for that one.
Sonya scratched her chin thoughtfully. "Hm. Perhaps some central role in front of all the court. One where you must quietly listen to the vows and more importantly watch us kiss. Yes, you will watch me ascend to third in line to the throne of Galt. All while you quietly serve from its lowest tier, visible to all but barely noticed. Perfect."
She placed hands on her wide hips as chuckles bubbled from her throat. "How richly ironic. That would forever set the tone of our relationship. Excellent! It is decided. I will discuss the matter with the wedding planner."
"Never! I am not your servant, I am a royal of the Tombore house of Tobermoor!" Daphne screamed with renewed rage, then blinked and yawned with sleepy calm. A glance upward showed the stone's glow fading as the witch smiled.
"Gets easier with practice. Good. Oh! You were saying something? SERVANT."
Daphne eyed the quiet stone and spoke carefully. "I AM a princess."
"No. Not any more, as I said. Nobles! Consumed with high titles and your oh so exalted name. All gone now. Not much of anything anymore." Sonya scratched her chin. "Hm. I think I will ‘nudge' everyone to utterly forget the name of my in-sig-nif-i-cant servant Sonya. No matter how often you remind them." She leaned down nose to nose, her face menacing. "Which won't be at all in MY hearing. Yes. Soon, by late tomorrow, all will only call you little one or refer to you by some other non-title. Uh-huh, a non-title for a complete non-rank nobody."
She turned from Daphne as if she were nothing. "Hey you. Feast next. Come a-long."
Chapter 11: The Reception feast .
On the way, Daphne found herself frightened by the adults crowding the halls. It wasn't just the prospects of being stepped on. They were so huge and imposing! She shyly clung to the shelter of Sonya. She looked up to see if the stone glowed but it stayed quiet.
Sonya noticed then crouched down confiding quietly. "Shhh. I'm here. Do not fear."
Daphne startled. The witch sounded sincere. She kept her eye on the stone.
"No, not my doing, this shyness is common to children, your age, in a strange place. You must find courage or be ill at ease. I will try to help if you allow me." Sonya's hands caressed soothingly. "Its OK, I'm here sweetie." She hugged Daphne tenderly, then. "OK? Come a-long?" She encouraged gently.
Daphne held the proffered hand feeling more like a dependant child than ever.
Sonya smirked as she felt the small digits tightly grip her index finger.
They arrived at the main dinning hall only to be separated. Scurryfunge noted their approach with disdain. Junior maid Marie was dispatched to intercept Daphne. She curtsied. "Milady, milord Chamberlain has sent me to remind you that your little one may not steward you by Galt law. If it please you, milady, I am to feed her now with the other servants."
Sonya crouched. "You be a big brave girl OK? Marie will take good care of you. Right?"
"Am too big." Daphne muttered as she steeled herself and found holding Marie's hand comforting. She cautiously smiled upwards at the teenager.
Sonya nodded satisfied. "You are to stay with her? Good. After, take her to the rose garden."
"Very good milady. Come. Please? Be my big girl?"
They went by the kitchens to a narrow room nearby. Marie lifted Daphne onto a bench then laughed as the child's head was even with the tabletop. "My, you are a tiny one. Find something for you to sit on, OK?"
Daphne sighed, looking at the underside of the table and the servant's legs. Back home, growing up, each room had special furniture her size. Changed each year until she was teen aged and could easily use full sized furniture. Growing up, she had never thought about the trouble father had put the castle carpenter through. Sonya won't do that, likes to watch me to struggle onto furniture. Special furniture will only be for HER children. Always took such things for granted. “I miss father.” She murmured.
Marie came back with two plates. "Madame Appleby says for you to sit in my lap. Oh, Ellen says hi? You know her?"
"We met today, Mam. Matron thought she was close to my age." Daphne sighed.
"She is. Call me Marie please. Mam is my boss. Up we go. Ugh." As she settled Daphne into her lap, Marie somehow silently conveyed that Ellen was more than a year underage for working.
Was this the sight? Daphne recalled Ellen mentioning that she could work only because a priest said she was of age. She decided to keep this insight to herself. "Thank-you Marie. You got her a job in the scullery?" A hunch or another insight?
She looked impressed at this. "Uh huh. Ellen is my cousin. She lives with my folks now."
Daphne sighed re
alizing Ellen's parents were both recently deceased. Best to drop the subject.
Marie's lap was small and her legs skinny and bony, neither of them were comfortable. How she hated being small. Everything was now far bigger than Daphne could easily manage. Even the cutlery was unwieldy for her small clumsy fingers.
Marie took away Daphne's knife and cut up their food. Then tied a cloth on her for a bib.
This was even more demeaning than when Sonya helped her. Daphne frowned tugging at the bib. "Not a baby." She fiercely hung onto the fork making Marie laugh.
"No, you are a big girl. Wear the bib, for me? In case I spill? Your mistress would tan us both for stains on your finery. You're lucky, get new clothes soon in Galt colours." Marie smiled.
"Oh. Look like you do, soon. Wish I never left home." Daphne sighed, lip trembling.
Marie sighed and tried to be consoling. "Hey. I know you lost everything recently. Yeah all the staff knows. Things will get better. You have your whole life ahead of you. You're young."
Marie thought it understandable that the orphaned child seemed grieved for the rest of the meal. She cheered herself thinking the child would outgrow such things ...eventually. She WAS so young. She resolved to cheer the little tyke with fun in the garden.
*********.
By the time Sonya came to the garden to collect her hours later, Daphne had fallen asleep with her head in Marie's lap. As she was picked up, Daphne roused to hear Sonya talk about hiring Marie for a matron on a more regular basis.
"It means responsibility but more pay for you Marie. Little one seems quite taken with you. Having a hard time adjusting to here, you understand. Children need the familiar and comforting after all. Besides, milord Chamberlain worries about her safety as do I. You kept a good eye on her tonight. Must strictly control her, you know. Can't have her wandering off unattended. There is a young drudge she met. Heard good things about her, from madame Appleby. May hire her to companion my lonely little one."
"Oh yes milady! Ellen Fairlead. She is a hard worker and a good kid." Marie spoke hopefully.
Daphne blinked and started to talk but the stone glowed and she drifted off again.
"So sleepy, so cute..." was the last thing she heard.
*******.
She roused in their room groggy. Sonya was undressing her. "Ah awake good. You can help me with my hair. Up we go sleepyhead. Arms up!"
Daphne was soon in her nightshirt again. She rubbed her eyes. "Mistress, I sleep so much." She yawned then narrowed her eyes at Sonya's chest. The stone was absent.
"Nope. Normal not magical. Well, perhaps this once in the garden. Mind, it WAS easy, do it again if you cause problems. Hm. Small children DO need plenty of sleep. Some more than others. We both slept in our carriage remember? You even more than me the second week. Your needs may change when I get you to exercise more. Ah, to be so very young." Sonya laughed.
"Not my choice!" Daphne spoke sullenly but as Sonya waved the flat of her hand she swiftly amended. "Not by choice, mistress."
"Better. MY choice is to treat you well. Your upbringing will be similar to what you recall." Sonya smiled broadly. "You will never know distress or privation. Instead, you have clean finery to wear, tasty nutritious things to eat, and a bedroom fit for a royal. MINE." Her arms swept the walls expansively. "Best yet, you don't have marry a man you have never met." She grinned.
Daphne scowled at having her words thrown back at her. "I'm in a nice cage. Mistress."
"No more than I am little one. Unlike me, you will have free time, even playtime."
"Playtime?"
"Activities and outings for simple childish fun," Sonya's voice became mock serious. "So you won't have to strain to be sooo mature. I may even arrange for other kids to join you. Ah yes." She grinned cunningly as if considering new depths to this idea. “Kids YOUR age. Yes, ...other children WOULD be good.” She muttered.
Daphne wondered if it was to keep her infantile or to disprove any claim she might make of being trapped in a child's body. Perhaps, the former, if attitude truly was everything in magic. If so, she didn't know how to stop being so childish. Something, in particular, amused Sonya about it though? Later.
"Ahem. I arranged for you to see what happens to most children who work here. The poor things, grubby, unattractive, underfed. Fearful of their next beating. All things you avoid by being here with me. Relieving their suffering may become part of my enlightened rule, starting with YOU."
"That's why you bribed matron Mistress. You wanted me to talk to Ellen." Daphne groused.
"Ellen? Yes. Remember, no matter how you feel about me. Think of her. You will never be treated as she is treated, I swear. However, even worse things can happen to children servants than drudgery. Far worse." Sonya continued. "Your father's writ was inspired. Saved us both much grief. Armed with that, I can prevent others from mistreating you. It will continue, forever. I'll see to that."
"Yes mistress." Daphne sighed. Writ, inspired by your witchcraft to limit our guards, when YOU were afraid and little. Daphne spoke sourly. "Now, the writ gives you power, over me."
"Yes. Absolute and sole power. I am your guardian. You are mine! My property. You have no-one else..." Sonya became pensive. "Your new friend? Ellen? Rangy and tall?" She held a hand above her head, then looked at Daphne's height before lowering the hand to well below her bust line. "Tallish. You thought of her during our story time. She is Cinderella to you? Amusing. Such an infant."
Daphne's jaw dropped. That description could only have come from her own shortened perspective. Story time must reveal all her thoughts. Had she no privacy? “You can see from my viewpoint, mistress?”
“Can't be a complete surprise. You must have noticed, we share things when we talk. If, we are both calm enough. You, just pictures, likely.”
The henbane memory! Wait. The other herbs little Sonya had used in their potion, she knew their names now. They didn't match the ones adult Sonya had later proposed looking for! That was a lie too? Figures.
“May hire her, tomorrow afternoon, to keep you happy while I go sit for the painter. You like Ellen.”
“Thought you wanted to hire Marie mistress.” She didn't like Sonya being interested in her new friend Ellen.
"So you heard. After the wedding, my plan is hire servants full time to have them train you. Marie and Ellen may be perfect. So young, so junior to all, except YOU. They will watch you. You will have to call those two children Mam and do as they direct. Hm, yesss. As a princess, I am entitled to two handmaidens after all."
Daphne expressed shock. She hadn't thought of being junior to anyone. "Wait two? But I..."
"My good lit-tle helper." She spoke patiently as to one dim of thought. "You cannot be a handmaid for another four years or more. When you might, just might, become a lowly trainee."
“Trainee? Wha...”
Sonya grinned clearly enjoying the moment. "They will call me Milady or Mum. Only YOU alone will humbly call me mistress, now and forever. In honour of the day we met."
Daphne groaned. That first night, child witch had respectfully called her mum and she had screamed in reaction. She looked up sadly. "Mistress. Said I was sorry. Didn't mean to yell."
"But little Sonya had to call her princess Mistress all the same. Just as you will, evermore."
"Didn't want to be a mom. Anyone's mom. Mistress." She dug her toe into the floor.
"Ah. But I do. Very much so, this sudden womanhood makes me pine for my wedding night. You would not believe my longings, the dreams, involving the prince, I get most nights." Sonya laughed. "Of course not. You can't understand. You're just a ba-by! Sigh. Five more weeks. Can't barely wait."
"Not a ba-by." Daphne muttered then remembered to add. "Mistress."
"You will start saying that quicker." She spoke sharply. "Or I will paddle you like a ba-by!"
"Yes mistress." Daphne chirped. Suddenly she blurted. "This womanhood! It is why yo
u want me, along with the youngest drudge, and the smallest maid. Mistress! You want a family."
Sonya sat heavily as if struck. "Oh my... That's why I stopped the captain. I can't even bare the merest thought of you in distress or pain. We both lost our mom and first family at a tender age."
"Uh-huh mistress." Daphne wondered how this helped her. Just then, outside their open window two guards on the nearby battlement exchanged loud ritual greetings with their night relief with much stomping of boots. Daphne was so lost in thought that the transaction startled her, made her fearfully huddle against Sonya, hugging her fiercely.
"Loud noises, interesting. You remind me of a puppy I had. She trembled in thunderstorms also." Sonya spoke quietly. "Magic with you proves tricky and unreliable. Um,0 maybe I can train you without magic. Yes, you must learn what pleases me and what does not. I know MUCH about children, I remember being your age. He-he-he, like it was last week. Soon, like my puppy, you will be wary of my least displeasure. Grateful for my smallest smile. The perfect servile servant. My ‘pet' servant. VERY eager to please." Daphne's dismay must have shown, because Sonya nodded in satisfaction. “Yet, you will always know what you once were and can never be again. Unlike everyone else.”
Daphne looked up sharply at this but had only a moment to be upset.
"Now up on that chair to braid my hair for the night sock. Quickly!" She clapped twice.
"Yes mistress!" Daphne jumped at the loud sound and scrambled to unpin hair.
"Very good." Sonya continued. "Your father tolerated tantrums. I will NOT! Try screaming in public and you WILL nap then and there. On the spot! Later, you will awaken suckling your thumb with a crowd of admirers watching, including Marie. She will bring you to me for further punishment, in private." She swung a spanking hand, her tone menacing. "Am, ...I, ...clear!"
"Yes mistress!" Daphne chirped fearfully. She hung her head. Humiliated then punished.
"After. When you apologize to all present, I will simply say you were tired. From devotion to me, of course. Hm. You WERE a petite girl, rather tiny now. Always small? Hm. In the servant class, size is a form of rank. Small weaklings are at the bottom. You must build a reputation of servile meekness and politeness to all. Yes, that will help low rank you avoid fights and trouble with the other servants. Can't protect you from every insult but... Stay close to me child and none will mistreat you, not twice!" Sonya touched where the stone would hang.