Side Story: Bel and Her Small Piece of Happiness
Bel liked these few minutes right before dinner, as dusk turned to night, because she would get a good wash and hear stories about her grandmother, whom she looked up to. It could be her favourite part of the day…
She sat in a barrel of water with a soft washcloth soaking next to her. In the winter, the water was so cold that it hurt your bones, but in the summer, it was just right.
Elise pulled out the washcloth, squeezed it out, and started wiping Bel’s back with it. As someone who was always on the run, there weren’t many luxuries in a fugitive’s life.
Elise couldn’t always give the little girl a good bath, but she was still determined to do what she could. She worked with Bel’s other guardians to keep her clean and presentable, if not shining. She wasn’t going to let a descendant of the Great Wisdom of the Empire go around looking unattractive.
Not on her watch. So, she started gently stroking the young girl’s skin to clean it.
She stopped doing what she was doing and put her hand and washcloth on a delicate shoulder blade. Below was a back that was thin and didn’t have much fat or muscle. She bit her lip.
Bel’s skinny, skeletal body reminded her of herself when she was younger, and her skin didn’t have the softness and shine you’d expect from a princess.
You should be eating better…living better… I want you to, but… Oh, Mia, I’m so sorry…
A wave of helpless pain was about to swallow her up.
“I still can’t believe she hit such a big fish away with her fist. Grandma Mia must have been a great swimmer. Right, Mother Elise?” asked Bel in a happy treble.
Elise was startled by the question. The suddenness of it stopped the flow of her sadness, but a second wave of quiet regret came soon after.
Bel was also very smart, just like Mia.
She must have noticed Elise’s mood getting darker and chose to talk about something funny on purpose.
God bless her. She wants to make me feel better…
When Elise realised this, she forced herself to answer in the same happy way.
“Yes, it looks like she was very skilled. Anne-neechan said that when she swam, she was beautiful, like a crescent moon in the water.”
“Wow! That’s so cool!”
Bel didn’t think about how to swim like a crescent moon. She didn’t try to picture what it would look like in real life.
She liked how it sounded, and that was enough for her. She cheered because she liked the way the story was told, not just the words. Bel was a nice girl who was honest and willing to take things as they were.
“That’s not all, know what I mean? Your grandmother seemed like she could do anything. I heard that she was also good at writing poetry and plays. The first time we met, she not only read the book I was writing in the blink of an eye, but she also guessed the rest of the plot I had in mind.”
When she thought about that moment from the first time they met, she still got the chills. The feeling of surprise it gave her had not changed at all over time. It was almost like magic how she told the exact story Elise was planning to write and then praised how good it was.
“I was so happy about it…”
Bel listened with her mouth open and her eyes wide.
“Wow, Grandma Mia was a very interesting person, wasn’t she?”
“Yes, she was. What else was she good at? Let’s see… Oh, sure. She was a great horse rider.”
“Riding horses?”
“Yes. She was in the horsemanship club at Saint-Noel Academy, and her skills were said to be top-notch. I’ve heard that she even rode one of the legendary winged horses…”
Bel’s eyes would have been even bigger if they could have been.
“A horse with wings?! They exists?!”
Elise smiled when she was asked this very good question…
“Hmm… Well, who knows? Maybe it was just a joke, or maybe it was a figure of speech. But based on what I know about her, I wouldn’t be surprised if it were true.”
Elise answered like a politician! It would be a lie to say that winged horses did exist. Even Bel wouldn’t believe such a blatant falsehood.
Probably.
Elise’s answer, on the other hand, tried to hide the meaning by saying that she didn’t know if winged horses were real or not, but she wouldn’t be surprised if Mia did ride one.
In this way, she didn’t give a clear answer.
So, she could say she had a good reason to doubt and brag about how calm and logical she was, while at the same time using that supposed objectivity to praise Mia’s skill.
She changed the question from “Do winged horses exist?” to “If they did exist, could Mia ride them?” so she could answer with a resounding “yes.” It was a very sneaky way to do things.
Poor Bel had no defence against such sneaky tricks, so she fell for it right away.
“Grandma Mia is so cool!”
She was such a nice girl, though. Elise was pleased by her childlike wonder, which made her even more excited.
“You’re right. And if she could ride winged horses, it’s likely that she could ride any horse perfectly. All of them, big ones, small ones, fast ones, strong ones. She might even be able to ride a unicorn.”
“No way! A unicorn?”
Bel was taught well by Elise, Anne, and Ludwig, who were Mia’s most loyal servants. As a result, she grew up to be honest, trusting, and quick to believe what other people said.
She was a really nice girl. So nice that it made you worry about what would happen to her.
“That’s so amazing. I wonder what she looked like when she was on the horse. I wish I’d been able to see Grandma Mia on a horse.”
Bel’s eyes kept shining with surprise.
Bel enjoyed these fleeting moments, one of her small pieces of happiness, while her beloved Mother Anne finished making dinner and her beloved Mother Elise told her stories about the grandmother she admired.
