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  “I can’t wear these things!” she finally burst out. “I’m not—”

  “You are, Mistress,” Hob said sternly. “You are every bit as important in rank as an Empress, and when the time comes, you must wear these gowns, and wear them without a second thought. Appearances are important, Mistress, and the time will come when you will speak with Royalty and they will know you for their superior, the gracious bestower of gifts that they have humbly asked of you.”

  She shook her head, unable to even picture that in her own mind.

  “But don’t worry so much,” Lily told her, with a wave of her hand. “Most of the time you’ll be dressed like Madame does around here—because most of the time you need to look like one of the common folk.”

  “Oh, not exactly like Madame,” Robin demurred.

  “Madame’s choice of colors is—well, in a fine lady of her age, it is delightfully eccentric. In a young woman—” He visibly groped for words.

  Lily did not. “You’ll look like a motely fool, or a colorblind Gypsy,” she said bluntly. “Don’t worry; you’ll not be mistaken for a mountebank in what we give you.”

  Finally the measuring and selection—none of which she got any chance to make for herself—was over, and the Brownies let her go. She sought refuge in the kitchen, where The Fairy Godmother

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  Madame was making a cold Ploughman’s luncheon with her own hands, slicing meat, onions, bread, and cheese.

  Of course, this was a better luncheon than Elena had seen in months, perhaps even years.

  “Ah, they’ve released the prisoner. Come have something to eat,” Bella said cheerfully, and Elena hurried to help her with the platters which they placed on the table. “Eat well; you’ll be working very hard this afternoon.”

  When luncheon was over, with her wand in her pocket, Elena followed her mentor to a secluded room at the back of the house. Her heart was literally in her mouth, but she kept her chin high and told herself that if she was not fearless, she could, at least, look fearless.

  Bella closed the door; the room was utterly empty except for a few shelves that held a book or two and some oddments. But Elena did notice something odd.

  The swirls of magic around her did not drift through the walls as they did elsewhere in the house. In fact, they never got closer to the walls than a foot, and the same held true of the floor and the ceiling.

  “Elena, do you see magic, now that the Queen has given you her power?” Madame asked. And the way she emphasized the word “see” made Elena very careful with her answer.

  “I think it’s magic,” she said carefully. “It’s like swarms of dust motes that glow the way dust motes glow in the sunlight, only in different colors. It’s rather thick around me,”

  she added, hoping that was helpful.

  “Ah good.” Bella’s expression cleared. “That makes things easier.”

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  “Some people don’t?” Elena hazarded.

  “It does vary. Most people see it, but I know of Godmothers and Wizards who hear magic as music, some who taste or smell it.” Now Bella pulled her own slender wand, a bit of walnut carved with a delicate hint of vines and leaves, out of the pocket of her skirt. “Right, well, since you can see it, now you’ll learn how to move it about.”

  Elena spent what was possibly the most curious afternoon of her life, the flying cart notwithstanding, as she herded flocks of colored dust motes about, first with, then without her wand. It was easier with the wand. As she did the herding, she began to notice that some of the motes would always escape, drift towards her, then—vanish.

  “Why am I losing magic?” she finally asked.

  “Because you’re using it. The only power in this room is yours and mine, and I’ve pent mine away from you.” Bella half smiled, and raised an eyebrow. “You are moving your own power about, the power that has built up around you, trying to bring your life into The Traditional path. You will probably use most of it up, learning how to use it.”

  “Oh.” Then what am I supposed to—

  “And part of that learning will be how to acquire more power,” Bella went on, before she could voice the question.

  “Though if you absolutely must, there is no other choice, and you can convince them that it is in their best interest, the Elves will probably share power. But you do recall how I told you that others like you often wish to lead ordinary lives?

  That is one source of power that we often avail ourselves of, and there are others that I will teach you.”

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  Ah.

  “And now, my dear, we must get back to work.”

  On the face of things, these lessons would have sounded to an outsider as if they were easy, and so, in a way, they were, just as walking is easy. But suppose that someone was possessed of two good, healthy, strong legs, yet had never used them, and had not, in fact, ever known that they could be used? This was the position that Elena found herself in now.

  It was, to put it fine, hard work. It took real physical effort, and more concentration than she had ever put into anything in her life. Finally Madame called a halt to the lessons, which by that point had graduated up to containing the power.

  She might not have been sweating, but she certainly felt limp with exhaustion when Madame sniffed the air, declared that she could smell supper, and allowed her to stop her current exercise. “Go tidy yourself up, child,” Madame told her, with no sign whatsoever that she was exhausted. “We’ll hold the meal until you join us.”

  The sun was just starting to set, and deep golden light poured in through the western windows, a light as thick and rich as honey. The walk up the stairs was as hard as it would have been after an entire day of running about tending to the household chores and multiple errands for her stepmother and stepsisters.

  But there was water in the ewer beside the basin in her room, waiting for her, a luxury she hadn’t enjoyed for so long…. With her face and hands washed, she felt much more like herself, and trundled back downstairs. It couldn’t 116

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  be said that she did so in a more cheerful frame of mind, because, despite the hard work, she was enjoying herself. This was challenging, she was doing things she had never even dreamed of, and it was all real—

  But now she was able to feel something besides exhausted, and ready to do full justice to whatever was on the stove for dinner.

  For some reason, Rose seemed a trifle more friendly over supper. Lily chatted away, sounding very much like Madame Fleur, and Robin and Hob, though mostly silent, made it clear even in their silence that they approved of Elena. So evidently the entire household was happy with her now; she didn’t know why, but she could guess.

  The Elven King’s approval had impressed Lily, and probably that was why the atmosphere had warmed all the way around. The Fair Folk all bowed to the Elven King and Queen, no matter what race they were; the Royal Pair were the supreme authorities in their sphere. Apparently, having the Queen’s blessing was one thing, but earning the King’s was quite another level of achievement.

  “I’d say she’s made good progress today,” Madame Bella was saying, as Elena brought her wandering attention back to the conversation and the meal. “I must say, there is a great deal to be said for bringing in an older Apprentice; there’s nothing flighty about you, my dear.”

  Elena was saved from having to say anything by having a mouth full of excellent rabbit pie.

  “Some of the stories I’ve heard,” said Rose, with a disapproving tsk. “Girls whining and complaining about being buried in the country—as if they were going to have time The Fairy Godmother

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  for anything but learning the job of Godmothering! Girls half afraid of everything around them. Girls carrying on with young men—”

  It suddenly struck Elena—Bella had intimated that she had been a maiden lady all her life. Did this mean that Godmothers were n
ot supposed to have anything to do with men? She felt a moment of mingled shock and dismay.

  Not that any man ever showed any interest in me—but is it worth giving up the possibility?

  “There is nothing wrong with a young woman being interested in young men,” Bella retorted.

  “A young woman, certainly. But a young Godmother?”

  Rose snorted. “Madame, think of the risk! The Tradition has no room in it for wedded Godmothers! And any young man falling in with a Godmother is going to be forced by The Tradition into some familiar path! So what does that leave?”

  Rose gave none of the others a chance to answer that question. She counted off the options on her fingers. “The Rogue, who will leave her broken-hearted, and perhaps in difficulties. The Betrayer, who will lead her enemies to her.

  Or the Enemy himself—whether he is the Enemy or later becomes the Enemy….”

  “Or something new,” Madame said firmly. “The Tradition can be redirected. Witches have married Wizards and made good matches of it, and Sorceresses joined to Sorcerers, and there used to be no place in The Tradition for that.”

  Rose snorted again. “Only if the Godmother is strong of will, and if it isn’t only the Godmother who has the will to steer it into a new path. And from what I’ve heard, there 118

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  wasn’t a one of those girls that had the will to turn a goose from grass, much less The Tradition from its chosen path.”

  Madame laughed, and shook her head. “Only rumors, dear Rose. And really, if a girl is that unsuitable, she’s generally run away from all the hard work before the Queen gives her blessing. I would not have taken Elena to the Queen if I had not thought that she was suitable, and the Queen has her own means of weighing candidates.”

  Rose nodded grudgingly. “Well, you were careful, Madame, and there have been those that just took the first girl to cross their path with a wreathing of magic about them.”

  Finally she turned to Elena. “I have to say, even though I thought Madame was rushing you, I must admit that Madame was right about you. I’ve never heard of the Queen giving a blessing to anyone on their first day of being an Apprentice.”

  The talk turned then away from Elena, and to, of all things, the small doings in the nearby village. Elena did what she had learned to do among Madame Klovis’s servants when she wanted to learn things.

  She stayed quiet, and listened.

  This was how she learned that Madame Bella not only was thought of as one of the local White Witches, but that people made the long trek out through the forest to the

  “cottage” on a regular basis. Furthermore, there was a less-powerful Witch who served as Bella’s agent in the sale of potions, healing draughts, and herbal remedies, with a stall on market day in the square of the largest village.

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  don’t suppose you know much of concocting,” she said, dubiously.

  “Common things, yes,” Elena replied, and pulled a face.

  “My stepmother never spent a penny on anything other than herself and her daughters, so I had charge of the stillroom—”

  “Ah, good!” Bella exclaimed. “Then tomorrow we’ll work there, and I’ll see how well you follow a recipe. If I am content, I will leave you to work alone, and once you have produced the actual potions, I will show you how to infuse a little magic into them. Not a great deal, but enough to make them work efficiently and effectively.”

  Elena’s look of surprise must have been very obvious, for Bella laughed, and so did Rose. “Godmothers aren’t always going about lobbing magic swords in the paths of rightful heirs, or giving younger sons the right answers to riddles!”

  Rose exclaimed. “They do as much good with the little magics as they do with the great ones, I’ll be bound. It’s more working with The Tradition; the happier and healthier a Kingdom is, the harder it is for the Evil Ones to insinuate themselves into it.”

  “Meanwhile, your day isn’t done yet, my dear,” Bella said, as Hob cleared away the dishes and Elena moved to stand up. “I want you to come along with me.”

  Now what? she thought, with dismay. It had been a very, very long day—

  But Madame led her straight to the library, and after studying the shelves for a moment, selected three books and handed them to her. “Here you are, your work for tonight,” she said.

  “Read them, and ask me for more when you’ve finished.”

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  “What are they?” she asked, turning the books over and seeing no title worked into the leather covers.

  “The earliest histories of the Five Hundred Kingdoms,”

  Bella replied. “Priceless books, in their way; I don’t think there is more than a handful of copies in existence that are not in a Godmother’s library. I want you to read them, see how The Tradition has grown and changed over the years.”

  Elena nodded, but felt a thrill of greedy glee. As if being told to read was some sort of work! She took the books and went upstairs, where the lamps were already lit.

  She settled in with the books, and paused to look about herself, and marvel at how her life had changed. It was, literally, unbelievable.

  I had better get used to believing in the unbelievable, then, she told herself, and turned her attention to the first of the books.

  After the first few pages she realized that above all else, Madame was right; she had a lot to learn. But it would not be the first time, and she had everything to lose—

  —and everything to win.

  Every waking moment of every day from that moment on was filled and overfilled with something having to do with being a Godmother’s Apprentice. From the lessons about magic to the work in the stillroom, from the forays into the forest to collect the wild herbs that would not grow in a garden (though those were few, with a Brownie being the one doing the tending) to her long nights studying the history of the Godmothers and their work in the Five Hundred Kingdoms, she had no time to spare and little opportunity to think of herself.

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  Not that Madame was unkind! But she was an implacable taskmistress, expecting no less than total dedication, for that was what she herself gave to the job.

  For virtually every waking moment of Madame Bella’s day was given over to Godmothering, and Elena could easily see why Madame wanted to pass her position on to someone younger. Within the first three days, Madame was gone for nearly an entire afternoon and evening, and only returned well after moonrise. Elena heard her weary footsteps on the path to the door, and flew to open it for her.

  Elena had been in the stillroom this afternoon and had not seen Madame leave; she loved being and working in the stillroom, for it was the one place where she was on firm ground. She had made up dozens of items in the Klovis household when the housekeeper had quit. Madame Klovis was “above” dirtying her hands in the stillroom, there was no one else who cared to take on the task in addition to their own, and Madame would not spare the money to purchase needed infusions, tinctures, and ointments in the market. Perfumes, face and land lotions, goodness yes, but common burn ointment was a “frippery.” So, as usual, it had been Elena who had found herself with the task on her hands.

  She had enjoyed it, though; stillroom work was anything but boring, and it wasn’t hard labor. Here in the Godmother’s stillroom, it was even more enjoyable, for she had the finest of ingredients to work with, in generous measure, and a recipe book that featured such delights as rosewater, jessamine lotion, and tincture of lavender. Bella had spent no more than a quarter of an hour supervising her initial 122

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  labors; after that time she had laughed, stated that there was nothing she could teach her Apprentice here but the final infusion of magic, and left Elena with a list of what needed to be made up.

  It made Elena very happy to know that here, at
least, she was actually contributing to the household. When she had a bit of free time, she was making up scented candles and as a special surprise, a pair of scented gloves for Madame.

  She busied herself until darkness fell, then after a dinner with the House Elves, went to her books. Madame did not return until an hour after that.

  Elena heard her at the door and ran down the stairs to open it for her. When she opened the door, she saw to her astonishment that Madame was garbed in what Rose called

  “the full rig-out,” from the top of her powdered wig to the silver buckles on her satin-covered high-heeled shoes. No ball-gown could have been more resplendent; the rose-pink, lace-festooned confection fitted her like the proverbial glove.

  The lace alone probably cost enough to buy the nearest village; the satin overskirt had been embroidered with an allover pattern of rosebuds, and the underskirt was festooned with cascading tiers of more lace, sparkling with tiny faceted beads of rose crystal. She carried a staff rather than a wand; made in the manner of one of the highly fashionable, tall walking-canes, it was surmounted with a globe of rose-quartz caught in a winding of silver vines. Madame leaned on it heavily; she looked exhausted.

  Rose took charge of her the second that Elena opened the door; she somehow whisked Madame away before Elena had time to realize that Bella needed help. And roughly The Fairy Godmother

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  half an hour later, Rose summoned Elena from her own rooms to cross into Madame Bella’s.

  It was the first time that Elena had been there, and she was not at all surprised to discover that the rooms were furnished in an older style than her own. Madame favored the medieval; the walls were hung with tapestries, the furniture looked too heavy to move, and the overall effect was frankly sumptuous. Madame herself had been stripped of her festive gown and elaborate wig and was sitting before the fire, wrapped in a dressing-gown, sipping a cup of tea.