WINDOWS: A BROKEN FAIRY TALE

by Bramble, Casey

  Since her question had finally been answered, and feeling the subject was a bit boring, Sarah asked what they were going to do about furniture. Raven grinned and suggested a shopping trip.

  The next three days passed quickly. The furniture they purchased had been delivered the next day and they spent another day and a half arranging and rearranging everything until they were both satisfied. The stuff in the living room was mostly Sarah’s decision since Raven tried to buy everything purple she could get her hands on. Sarah thought to ask Raven, once, if they had to pay off the debt. Raven told her that each of the Chandlish daughters had a trust fund set up for when they moved out of the castle. Sarah decided to not ask exactly how much they’d spent, figuring the answer would just depress her.

  Finally, the day after they were done setting up the shop and apartment, Sarah was ready to get started on work but Raven had other ideas.

  “You haven’t even seen Valentria yet!” She was rocking back and forth on her heels, eager to show Sarah around town.

  “We’ve been shopping and have to get started if you want to make any money.” Sarah explained things in very simple terms. A useful trick necessary to combat Raven’s extraordinarily short attention span.

  Raven ran forward and pulled on Sarah’s arm but the blonde held her ground. “I’m serious. We have to focus on getting the shop in order.”

  Raven rolled her eyes. “Look, the grand opening is in three weeks, right?”

  “Right.”

  “And how long does it take you to make a sword and shield?”

  “A day for the sword, another for the shield. Why?”

  As she talked Raven ticked off the points on her fingers, “It will take me one, maybe two, days to inscribe each of those. Then we have to force-- err-- convince Stephen to wear the sword out in public to build up some interest. While he’s doing that we’ll be working on more merchandise. We have plenty of time to go sight seeing and relax before getting to work.”

  Sarah knew she was beaten. Had, in fact, known it from the moment Raven started pestering her to go out for the afternoon. Resignedly, like a hiker facing another tall hill, she grimaced. “Okay but I want to at least take a shower first.”

  The winner cheered, “Alright, you do that and we’ll leave in a little bit.” Then Raven seemed to lose her train of thought and looked intently at Sarah, long enough for her to get a bit uncomfortable.

  “Why are you staring at me?” Sarah finally asked.

  “I’ve been thinking. I say ‘little bit’ to you a lot, don’t I?”

  “I guess so. Why?”

  “That’s your new nickname.”

  “What is?” Sarah was getting extremely confused by this conversation.

  “Lil’bit.”

  “Why do I need a nickname?”

  “Because I want to give you one.”

  ‘My head really hurts’, Sarah thought as she rubbed her temples. “Do I get a choice in this?”

  Raven grinned brightly. “Sure you do. It’s either Lil’bit or Gaknar the Unclean.”

  Muttering to herself about demented, flaming haired witches Sarah shut the door and got ready for their day out.

  The two girls spent the morning exploring the various spots in Valentria. Sarah learned that, unlike Vestavia which was set up in a rigid, grid like manner, Valentria was easy to get lost in. At one point Raven strolled down what seemed like a dead-end alley but after turning a hidden corner Sarah found herself staring at a huge public park. Two sports fields complete with bleachers for the spectators and a snack stand lay on the left side. On their right Sarah watched a few children and their parents enjoy a well maintained playground surrounded by a short chain link fence. One little boy’s voice, carried on the warm wind, begged his daddy to push him higher. Snaking through the park was a concrete path. Sarah’s eyes followed it and saw that it ran over a small bridge spanning a pond where ducks and geese floated serenely.

  “Pretty nice, ain’t it?” Raven asked.

  Sarah took Raven’s hand. “They don’t have anything like this back in Vestavia, that’s for sure.” She almost said back home but that place was no longer where she lived. Sarah decided right then that she loved Valentria and was finally where she was meant to be.

  They left by a different path than the one leading to the park and after about five minutes they were again surrounded by buildings and shops. The park had been like an oasis for Sarah, growing up in a city where buildings towered over trees to scrape the heavens. The only grass she could remember were yards in the nicer parts of Vestavia, parts she rarely had any business to visit.

  “How do I find my way around?” Sarah was becoming completely disoriented as Raven steered them through the teeming mass of mid-day shoppers. She finally got used to random people pointing and whispering as they passed. Raven, who seemed oblivious to anything that wasn’t interesting to her, never paid any attention.

  “It’s easy,” Raven pointed up at a large clock tower that stood above all the other buildings, “each face on that clock is the direction you’re facing. See that N on the face?”

  Sarah nodded. She hadn’t really looked at the clock since she was trying to learn the streets.

  “That means we’re facing north. After that, it’s just a matter of learning where things are.”

  Just then a little blonde girl in pigtails ran up to them and stared at Raven. “Are you Lady Branween?”

  Before Raven could answer the child’s mother rushed to grab the girl’s hand. “My apologies Lady Branwyen,” the mousey woman bowed her head and stared at the ground, “we meant no disrespect.”

  Raven clucked. “Don’t do that, you’re blocking traffic.” The woman stood as Raven knelt down on one knee, causing even more of a jam. Sarah didn’t bother saying anything.

  “That I am little one.” Lady Chandlish offered her hand to the little girl who shook it with all the solemnity a child could muster. “But I don’t know you’re name yet.”

  “My name is Alma Berksdale. This is my mommy, Beverly.” Beverly looked terrified by her daughter’s cheekiness but didn’t dare interrupt a member of the royal family. “We just moved here from Savannah.”

  Raven smiled at the girl, “Well Alma Berksdale from Savannah now living in Valentria, there is one very important rule we have here. Do you know what it is?”

  “Lady Branwyen,” Beverly started to say something but a slight gesture from Raven’s hand silenced her.

  “In Valentria it’s a rule that my friends have to call me Raven. Do you think we can be friends?”

  The little girl’s face lit up like she had gotten the best present in the world. Her mother, though, was aghast. “Lady Branwyen we could never.”

  Raven’s head cocked to one side quizzically. Sarah almost laughed at the comical expression. “We can’t be friends?”

  “Of course we can. We’re just not used to… I mean…” Beverly sputtered before blurting out, “Thank you Raven.”

  “You really made that little girl’s day.” Sarah said as they sat at a small table outside a café Raven swore had the best sandwiches in the country. A cool breeze carrying the promise of rain frolicked through the winding streets, a welcome relief from the humidity. Dark clouds loomed on the distant horizon but for now the sun shone brightly on Valentria.

  Raven agreed, “I’m glad Alma and her mom moved here. The Irsays run Savannah and they’re a bad crop all the way around. They don’t serve their people; they expect the people to serve them. You saw how Beverly reacted to me. She was terrified.”

  Sarah admitted it seemed she was.

  Raven continued. “There’s a rumor that the current Duke of Savannah, George, had his father murdered because he couldn’t wait to rule. Of course, by all accounts his dad wasn’t exactly a shining example of humanity either so it’s pretty much a wash.”

  “Are the Irsays really that bad?” Sarah asked after they had given the waiter their order. She’d never really been interested in politic
s in Vestavia so had no idea what things were like in other parts of the country.

  Raven stirred her tea idly. “They take in the people’s taxes and spend it on themselves. The duchy is falling apart around them but as long as they get to wear nice jewelry and throw fancy parties they couldn’t care less about commoners.” She made quotation marks in the air around the last word.

  “But I thought all members of the aristocracy lived off taxes.” Like you, Sarah didn’t add but Raven understood.

  “Valentria has the lowest taxes of any duchy in the country and we, my family, spend maybe one percent of them a year and all of that goes to the castle’s upkeep and the servants there. The rest we put back into Valentria. There are of course the taxes that go to Florence, but those are the same in every duchy.”

  This revelation managed to surprise Sarah. “You mean all the money you have doesn’t come from taxes?”

  Raven shook her head, “Nope. We own a rather large business with various holdings. Sis is a VP, Liz is our corporate lawyer and Mandy is studying business administration which means she’ll follow Sis and eventually they’ll run the whole thing together.”

  “Why aren’t you in the company?” Sarah was still flabbergasted. She knew the Chandlish family had a lot of money but this was something she didn’t expect.

  “I am. More to the point, we could be.” Raven hinted as the waiter sat their sandwiches down in front of them. She had been waiting for the right moment to broach this subject with Sarah.

  The sandwich was in fact the best Sarah had ever eaten, with toasted bread and a hint of nutmeg in the grilled chicken. She swallowed the first bite and told Raven to explain.

  “Elspeth asked me the other night if our store could a subsidiary of Chandlish Rose Corporation. In effect they would pay us to develop new magic and new weapons.”

  Sarah was felt herself slowly getting angrier by the second. Why wasn’t she asked about this? Were all of her ideas going to be stolen by a huge company? She spat the questions out at Raven, ignoring the looks of passerby’s.

  “Calm down Lil’bit.” Raven held up her hand but Sarah was having none of it. From the very moment they met she had been lied to and she wasn’t going to take it anymore and said so, slamming her hand down on the table emphatically. The glass top wobbled and threatened to come crashing down.

  “Nothing is being stolen. If you want to sell your ideas to the company you’re more than welcome to. If not, then you keep them.”

  “What are you talking about Branwyen?” Sarah nearly shouted, “If they’re paying us to make new weapons we have to give them to ‘em.”

  Raven smiled and Sarah almost threw water in her face but stopped at the last instant.

  “You don’t understand.” Raven was careful not to use Sarah’s new nickname. “If you come up with, say a new alloy, it is ours to use. Chandlish Rose will pay you a very hefty price in addition to a tiny fraction of each product sold that’s crafted using your method. If you don’t want them to have it, we don’t have to sell it to them. We just can’t sell it to another company without first giving CR the right to match that price.”

  Thanks to the dollar signs floating around in her head, Sarah was beginning to calm down a little. “I don’t have to sell my ideas to your family?” She asked, still a little suspicious.

  “We haven’t signed a contract yet so you don’t have to sell anything to anybody.” Raven took another bite of her sandwich while Sarah stared at hers, working through this new information.

  “If I don’t sign the contract then what?”

  “We’re on our own, sink or swim. The shop and furniture are ours to keep thanks to my trust fund.”

  Sarah sipped her tea to have a moment and collect her thoughts then asked what the benefits of signing were.

  Raven leaned forward and propped her elbows on the table. “Everything will be cheaper for us. Shipping, for one, since we’d pay the rates CR does, and the company ships literally thousands of tons of goods a year so we get the best rates. Cost of materials is another. Advertising will be easier since the Chandlish name is already well known. Plus we’d have my family’s backing in any legal matters.”

  ‘This sounds too good to be true’, Sarah brooded. If life had taught her anything up to this point it was that things that sounded too good to be true often were. She cringed when she remembered the contract she had signed with Mr. Jackson. “What are the downsides?” She was more than a little wary but decided hearing the whole offer wouldn’t hurt.

  “We’d be known as a subsidiary of Chandlish International. Chandlish has the right of first offer on any of our ideas. Sis can come and go as she pleases.”

  Sarah’s ponytail swished the nape of her neck as it shook. This contract sounded too simple and straight forward. She wondered out loud why such a huge company would be willing to let them have a contract so obviously one sided.

  Raven beamed and Sarah pointed out a bit of spinach stuck in the otherwise perfect teeth. Raven sucked it off with her tongue before explaining. “Because it’s not really a business contract per se. As one of four Chandlish daughters Elspeth is not about to let me fall into rack and ruin. This contract is simply a way for her to help us legally if necessary.”

  “So when do we have to decide?”

  “Liz is drawing up the papers today so we can sign whenever you want to-- if you decide you want to. We can run over to her house tonight and she’ll go over everything with you in detail and see how things go from there.”

  Sarah nodded and they finished their lunch in silence.

  CHAPTER 9: A GRAND OPENING

  The fireplace cast its warmth over the stone chamber and light streamed through the windows, bathing the pale redhead in a soft glow. She seemed to be focused, standing very still and muttering a strange incantation under her breath. She was so intent that she failed to notice one of the pictures adorning the wall move. The picture was of a blonde girl in a pony tail. It slid silently over the stone, finally coming to rest just to the right of the three pictures over the hearth. The name on the plaque changed as well, the letters rearranging themselves to spell out the name, “Lil’bit.”

  In the dark half of the room, the shadow slumbered, only occasionally sending out a tendril that smoked and shriveled as it hit a patch of light.

  Three days later Raven looked up from the sword she was busy inscribing. Sarah leaned against the door way, curling her lips into her mouth to keep from laughing. The redhead was wearing a pair of bifocals that enlarged her eyes to gigantic proportions making her look like a carrot topped, purple insect.

  “I’ve decided to sign that contract.” Sarah snickered as Raven took off the glasses.

  Leaning her chair back on two legs, grinning happily, Raven asked. “You sure about this?”

  Sarah wiped her face with a towel. Soot smudged one cheek blushed with honest labor. In Raven’s opinion, life in Valentria was really agreeing with her business partner. “There’s really no downside that I can see. We can get out of it with no cost to ourselves plus we’ll need some advertising to get the business started.”

  Raven’s smile grew so wide Sarah thought her face would split open. “Let me be the first to welcome you to the Chandlish Rose Corporation. If you want to, we can go sign as soon as I finish up this sword. It’ll make a nice gift for Stephen.”

  “I’m going to take a bath, alright?” Sarah was distantly annoyed that Raven, though working just as hard as she was, wasn’t coated with sweat and grime. Maybe it’s from being born an aristocrat, she thought, always looking perfect.

  Thirty minutes later, Bryson gently touched down at the steps of Chandlish Castle. As she slid from his back Sarah asked, for the tenth time by Raven’s count, if they had to sign at the castle.

  “Since Elspeth is the president of the corporation, yes.” Raven pointed out for the tenth time.

  It wasn’t that she disliked the castle or anyone in it but Sarah was used to working in a small shop without a
lot of money. The magnificence of Chandlish Castle was still more than a bit unnerving for her. She figured she would get used to it sooner or later though. After all, this was the fifth time she’d been here and each time it was becoming less uncomfortable.

  The doors opened at the first knock and the maid greeted them with a bow. “Her Grace is waiting for you in her office, Lady Branwyen, Ms. Petty.”

  They wandered through a labyrinth of halls with Raven leading. Sarah considered dropping breadcrumbs incase she needed to find a way out but cursed her unpreparedness when she realized there weren’t any. She’d just promised herself to bring some string next time when Raven pushed open a heavy wooden door and strolled inside. The other members of the family were gathered and looked up with warm smiles. Raven rushed to join Bekah on the couch. Felicity motioned for Sarah to join her in front of a large desk. Lady Chandlish stood and extended her hand which Sarah shook politely.

  When she sat down, and motioned for Sarah to do the same, Elspeth began speaking, “There is normally a much larger meeting than this, Sarah, to witness a merger between ourselves and another company.”

  One of the hardest things Sarah experienced since moving to Valentria was conversing casually with Duchess Chandlish. She mustered enough courage to say, “Yes, Your Grace.”

  It seemed the right thing to do because Elspeth continued. “However this is a different set of circumstances. Normally a small start up company would not even be noticed by us but you are going into business with my step-daughter. It would not be prudent for me to allow your company to fail.”

  Another expectant pause, “Yes, Your Grace; I thank you for the opportunity to become a member of Chandlish International.” Sarah repeated the words that Raven taught her on the way from the shop.

  “You are aware that we hold the right to match any offer another company makes on your products?”