“Hey, Ice! Don’t forget your friend!” Amelia shouted followed by high-pitched laugh. Simeon who was standing nearby snorted a laugh as well. Nari who had been returning to the house from a visit to the gardens was struck across the face with the rock-harboring snowball. The ice queen remark had turned into her nickname sometime in the last five years being shortened simply to Ice. All her cousins called her by it. The last time she heard her name spoken was from Amanda. All the servants referred to her and ‘my lady’ or ‘miss’. Even her Aunt Priscilla simply called her ‘girl’ or ‘child’ or managed to avoid using her name altogether. Perhaps she didn’t remember it.
For this reason, names were not important to her, and she decided that Ice suited her just fine she would save her real name like a secret thing to be shared with only those whom she loved and cared for.
Ice felt a small sting across her cheek telling her that the rock had nicked her. Bending slowly, she picked up the rock and turned her gaze slowly towards Amelia. She drew one side of her lips up into a smirk and arched her eyebrow in mock amusement. Raising her hand above her head in front of her she dropped the rock back into the snow never breaking eye contact. With a final dry laugh she turned and sauntered back to the house.
“Creep!” Simeon shouted.
“Ice. Ice!” Amelia screamed behind her as she shut the door. Ice had been very clever in learning to survive this house and its crazy occupants; learning each ones likes and dislikes, what food they enjoyed and which they despised and what comforted them and what made them worry.
She had just used this to her advantage with Amelia knowing that if she saw her injured or angry it would fuel more bullying, but if she received the opposite, she would become paranoid that Ice was out for revenge. And of course, the longer she had to wait for the revenge to come the crazier it drove her. Which was exactly why Ice wasn’t going to do anything about it at all.
Finding the kitchens busy preparing for the supper hour Ice sought out the head cook Emily.
“Emily would you be so kind as to send my supper to my room tonight?”
“Of course, not my lady! Just be warned it might be a tad bit late. Those cousins of yours have put this kitchen through its paces today they have! Did you know they’ve changed their minds four times about what their highnesses wish to be served for supper tonight! Four times! I’ll tell you, you’re the easiest person I’ve ever had to feed around here. You just take whatever I send you and enjoy it just the same! Of course, I can have your supper sent to your room my lady!” The woman proceeded to resume punching the dough for the next day’s bread.
“Thank you very much.”
“Certainly.” Ice was just about to go when the cook finally looked at her. “My word! What happened to your cheek my lady?”
“It’s alright Emily; just a little scratch. I’ll clean it presently.”
“Alright, then. If you’re sure.” Emily gave her a searching look. “But I think I’ll send up a bite of extra dessert just the same! There ain’t nothing in this world that heals better than a good hardy apple pie.”
“Certainly.” Giving her a final nod and a smile Ice left the kitchens and headed up to her room. In the five years she had lived here her boundaries had not changed. When she was eleven, she felt sure that it was because of her age but now that she was sixteen, she believed it was probably more likely that her Aunt Priscilla wanted to keep her contact with the rest of the family to only when absolutely necessary.
Entering her room, she smiled in the simplicity of it. She had once seen her cousins' bedrooms when William was showing off trying to make her jealous at their massive and elaborately decorated rooms. Ice much preferred hers, finding the emptiness didn’t bother her as it seemed to bother the rest of the household. Crossing to her bathroom she inspected her latest wound inflicted by their jokes. It was not bad it had already stopped bleeding. After carefully cleaning it, she headed to sit in her window seat and watch the garden until the sun went down.
Supper arrived soon after she sat down. The young kitchen maid leaving in a hurry to help serve the rest of the family in the dining room. Ice usually ate her meals in the kitchen, or her room very rarely did she receive a summons to dine with the family and for this she was grateful because it was almost always an unpleasant affair. The first time it had been pleasant was last year when Roger had briefly stopped home during his travels. He had been so animated talking about the places he’d visited that she had been left alone.
On an evening like this she would have loved to sit and write a nice long letter back home to Amanda. But that was impossible as her aunt had decided it would not do for her to keep mixing with people below their family’s station and so had not given her the address of her friend. Even Charlie could not get a hold of it. Nor did he remember it apparently, they hadn’t been very useful when he had come to pick her up, he’d had to resort to asking several people about Amanda and herself before he found her house.
She did the
next best thing since writing a letter was impossible, she would often imagine
telling Uncle Zeb and Amanda all about her day and what she learned and did.
Most of the conversations would be very boring if they were real since most of
what she did day to day was take lessons on how to be a proper lady. Posture,
grooming, fashion, etiquette, reading aloud, making speeches, basic arithmetic,
and many forms of handwriting were practiced. From elegant print to calligraphy
script. If left to her tutors she would have become a very stupid woman in her
opinion, but as it happened Charlie’s map and regularly updated servant’s
schedule were invaluable in planning
As she gazed out the window reflecting, she noticed something she had never seen before. In the north wall of the garden there was a gate the gardeners used for moving big tools and moving new trees to plant. It led into the city. Now it was open. She could see it blowing open very slightly before the wind pulled it shut once again. Ice had not left this property since she had set foot inside it for the first time. Eagerly she scoured the rest of the garden and seeing that Amelia and Simeon had indeed already returned to the house grabbed her cloaked back off the hook and swiftly made her way back downstairs. She used the servant’s hallway to be certain she wouldn’t run into any of the family and although she passed a handful of servants none of them questioned her route as she used the back ways more often than not; they had quickly become accustomed and comfortable with her presence. Once out in the garden she walked along the straight walk for some time crunching through the snow. After crossing several old tracks and walking from the gate back to the garden shed and greenhouse, she decided she had covered her tracking well-enough. Doubling checking that the yard was, in fact, empty she crossed the yard one last time making sure not to slip on any patches of ice from the greenhouse to the gate. A look at the windows of the house showed mostly darkness no one standing in the windows of the lit ones. She had not expected there to be any. Most of the servants were busy finishing the last chores between supper and bedtime when they would have to stoke fires and all her family would have made their way to their separate rooms by now which were all in the front of the house.
Taking a breath to calm her nerves Ice slipped out the gate and into the city beyond.
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