Music Recommendation: Reforestation – Ilian Eshkeri
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Lucy held a couple of sticks in her hands that were covered with meat, eating them one at a time while the toy was placed on her lap.
While Lucy continued to chew her treats, her eyes met Theodore’s, and she asked, “You aren’t going to have any of them?” She asked it because Theodore had barely eaten more than three of them, while it looked like she had been starving for the last two days.
“I am fine,” replied Theodore, watching Lucy, who was busy enjoying and savouring every bite from the food she ate. “Was there something else you wanted to watch?” he asked her, and Lucy shook her head. They had gone around looking at every stall, spending time and buying some of the things.
“I had lots of fun today. Thank you for bringing me here,” Lucy thanked him.
The fair had been much more exciting than she used to think and she could only hope that she would be able to come back here again next year, just like this.
“I didn’t do anything. It was you who came here today,” replied Theodore, picking up the toy that was on Lucy’s lap to have a look at it. “But I am glad you came.”
Lucy nodded her head, “Me too…”
She took another bite from the stick, chewing it slowly while not looking at the passerby, who seemed quite surprised by seeing the number of sticks they had brought to eat.
“Do you have any fond memories of when you were young?” she asked Theodore while he looked at the doll.
“It would be hard to say. I feel if I tell it to you, you might start crying out of pity,” a chuckle escaped his lips.
“I would not!” a frown appeared on her face. “I will try not to,” she promised, wanting to hear more about Theodore. In the past, it was always her who used to blabber things while he would only smile.
A sigh escaped Theodore’s lips, and he said, “I guess the most memorable moment was when I broke into a house where a celebration was taking place. I didn’t care to know what it was about because all I could smell was the warm food that wafted in the air. It was the first time I had seen so much food, food that I never imagined,” he paused for a moment and then continued, “And I ate what I could get. Even cutting the cake that was kept there, but I was caught, not that I cared until I was handed to the village town’s guards.”
Hearing this, Lucy’s eyebrows rose, and she leaned forward to ask, “What happened then?”
“I escaped from them. It isn’t that hard for a scrawny boy to run away from the guards when some of the alleys and walls are thin,” explained Theodore. “And then one day when I was getting beaten up, a lady came up to the alley. A black umbrella in her hand and her eyes and lips red, waving her hands so that the men would leave me alone. Actually she paid them so that they wouldn’t bother me.”
“Seems like you used to get into trouble a lot,” commented Lucy. The highest amount of rules she had broken didn’t hold a candle to Theodore’s past actions.
“I did. It is what my memories are made up of,” replied Theodore, staring at the people who still hovered around the stalls that would be closed soon. “The woman took me in. Gave me clothes and fed me, taught me how to be part of the higher class. Madame Fraunces was too generous.”
“She taught you well,” said Lucy.
Theodore had held back the information for a long time, but he decided it was time with the conversation that had come up.
“Madame Fraunces was an important person to me. It would be strange to call her mother, because we didn’t share a relationship like that, but she knew me well and I learned about her. When I followed Calhoun to the castle, I never would have thought that she would end up being one of the pawns who would be used to threaten me. Morganna ordered her death.”
A deep frown came to settle on Lucy’s face. She remembered the time when Theodore had been sent for execution. That time, everything had been a mess and confusing to Lucy.
“She was killed in her house. Before her death, I thought I could handle everything around me, that I was in control,” explained Theodore, a distant look in his eyes. “If I chose you, no one knew what the outcome would be. Your grandmother wanted to keep her power and I didn’t want you to end up in the middle of it.”
They could hear the distant chatter and murmur of the crowd coming from the fair. Lucy didn’t need Theodore to explain more as she understood the rest of it.
Theodore had tried to protect her.
Madame Fraunces. Lucy wondered why the name sounded more familiar to her than she was supposed to feel.
“Like Aunt Monique said, it seems like grandmother deserved what she got,” replied Lucy, her words cold as she didn’t forget in what state she had found Nana. Even after these years, the bitterness for the previous Queen only grew more in Lucy’s heart. “I wish I could have been there for you at that time,” she whispered.
“It would have not been possible,” stated Theodore. He had pushed her away from him so that she would never speak to him. Taking a deep breath, he exhaled before getting up from his place and said, “You shouldn’t let your mind weigh things of the past when there’s present and the future.”
Lucy had finished eating the meat from the sticks, and she stood up, brushing the front and back of her dress for crumbs of meat and snow to dust off from her dress.
“We should head back to the castle,” proposed Theodore, and they left the place where the fair had been set up.
On their way back, Lucy held the stuffed toy close to her, looking at the things outside the window as they rode the carriage.
