I followed Fer inside the cottage and closed the door behind me. Inside, was a plain home. A small bed in the corner, a fire burning inside a fireplace in the back with chair in front of the fire. There was a small table near the doorway with two chairs and a shelf of books leaning against the wall. It reminded me of the witch's cottage I once stayed at.  All it was missing was the herbs hanging from the ceiling. Oh, and that awful smell of burning hair that always seemed to linger no matter how much you try to air out the place.

Fer sat down in the chair by the fireplace and pointed towards the bed. “You can use the bed tonight. I don’t need as must sleep as humans do.”

I sat down on the bed and dropped my bag on the floor. I stayed quiet for a minute waiting to see if she would begin her story. When she didn’t say anything, I asked, “Are you going to tell me the story now?”

Fer stared into the fire and closed her eyes. “Yes, I suppose I can.” She was quiet for a moment before she opened her eyes. Looking at me, she sighed. “I guess you want to know more about Rosabella and the manor. That was the reason why you were wondering around the manor.”

I nodded my head eager to finally hear a tale of Fer’s past.

“Rosabella was a human girl I met a long time ago. She and I became quite close, however she fell in love and married.” Fer sighed, a look of sadness churning across her face. It was obvious that she was carrying hurt because of what happened and I began to feel the guilt slip into me. Fer, however, continued before I could say anything. “Her child would later be the future queen, Cinderella.”

“Cinderella? You mean the commoner that married Prince Phillips one hundred years ago.” The guilt did not last long as curiosity begam to overpower it.

“Yes, unless there has been another queen named Cinderella.” she replied. She closed her eyes again leaned back into the chair.

“No." I replied. "To be honest, I did once wonder who Cinderella’s mother was. It is nice to know."

"Well, I’m happy for you." Fer said dryly. There was a hint of annoyance in her voice.

Quickly wanting to change the subject so that Fer wouldn’t stop talking, I asked, "So, were Cinderella and her mother Rosabella part of the Le Rod family's end?”

She nodded her head. “Yes. Most people believe that Cinderella was an abused servant who Mother Fate blessed. However, this was not true as she was part of the family through Rosabella.”

Questions started swimming around my head. How was Rosabella related to the Le Rod family? Was it through marriage? What did Fer mean by through Rosabella? Was Cinderella not the child of Rosabella’s husband, the man in the portrait? And how did this cause the end for the Le Rod family?

However, before I could question her, Fer looked back into the fire and said quietly, “Humans believe that every tale has a beginning and ending. The beginning of this tale began long before the downfall of the Lord Le Rod’s family or even before the birth of Cinderella. Rather, it started many years earlier when I came to the human realm for my annual hunting trip.”

“Hunting trip?”

“Yes, hunting trip.” she snapped. “Listen and stop asking questions. Did people often interrupt your storytelling?”

“No.”

“Then don’t do it to mine. I will explain everything to you in time.” She relaxed again and muttered, “This is why I don’t like telling humans my tales of adventure. That, among other annoying things they do.”

She was silent for a minute before continuing. “Now, as I was saying, I was on a hunting trip in the human realm. As you know there are many monsters that live in this forest. Because of this I made an annual trip to this forest to make sure that the monsters were kept at bay. Now on this day…”