Page 5 of The Baroness of Sin
When Martha opened her mouth to inquire where the girl had come from, the little girl spoke first, whispering for some reason, “Are you one of the faeries?”
Martha was stunned into silence. She must have misheard. “I beg your pardon?”
“Are you one of the faeries?” the little girl whispered again, this time very insistently as if she had asked the most obvious question in the world.
“A... fairy? No, no, I don’t believe so,” Martha managed. “Why do you ask?”
“Oh.” The girl seemed disappointed but didn’t answer Martha’s question. “Are the fairies inside?”
“No, I don’t think so,” Martha clarified. “I don’t think there are any fairies here at all. May I ask why you think there would be?”
“All the colored lights,” the girl said, while she pointed at the party decorations, “and the music. This looked like one of the fairy parties that Old Nann would tell me about.” The girl crossed over to a nearby bench and sat down, kicking her legs while she explained. “But that isn’t what’s going on, is it?”
“No, it’s just a normal party. A ball. I am glad you liked how colorful my decorations are, though,” Martha said as she joined the little girl on the bench. “What’s your name?”
“Amanda,” the girl answered.
The Baroness waited for a moment, hoping the child would add any other indicator of where she had come from, but none came. “Nice to meet you, Amanda. I’m Martha.”
“Nice to meet you, Martha,” she replied in turn, and Martha felt confident that this wasn’t some errant child of a servant but rather a child of the aristocracy, even if she had a bit of an issue with the rules of decorum. Perhaps one of the guests’ daughter?
Martha was going to ask more about the girl’s origins, but the strangeness of the situation pressed her curiosity in another direction. “Why were you looking for fairies? I thought people were supposed to avoid fairy parties. Won’t they come and kidnap you or something like that?”
“Sometimes they do,” Amanda nodded with sage wisdom beyond her years. “Sometimes they switch you out with a fairy person who looks just like a human person, but sometimes they grant wishes.”
“Were you looking for a wish?” Martha asked with a light laugh. She didn’t want to condescend to the child, but she couldn’t help but be delighted by Amanda’s innocent determination.
“Sort of. I was kind of hoping the fairies could give me a new mother,” Amanda explained rather matter-of-factly.
“What’s wrong with the mother you have now?” Martha wasn’t sure if this was still sweet, or if she should be worried for the poor girl.
The girl pouted a little before answering her, “My mother died when I was very little. It’s not fair that I don’t have one now.”
This small statement struck Martha, leaving her without anything to say for a long time. Amanda simply sat next to her and kicked her legs staring at the grass while she did.
“I actually lost my mother at a very young age, too,” Martha was surprised to find herself saying. She almost never talked about it with anyone, not even her own sisters. Now she found common ground with this strange child, and it felt natural to talk about.
“Really?” The girl looked at her with wide innocent eyes.
“Really. It hurt a lot, even if I was small,” Martha said, unconsciously kicking her own feet right along with Amanda.
“Did you end up getting a new mother?” the girl asked.
“No. My sister and aunt were there to help take care of me, but I really took care of myself a lot too. I’m not really sure what a new mother would have done for me if I did get one though,” Martha mused. “What do you want a new one for?”
“You know,” Amanda said as if it were obvious, “for things that mothers are good for. Like comforting you when you are sad or hugging you in just the right way.”
“That might be nice. But other people can do that too,” Martha explained, “like your father.”
“Fathers are different,” the girl shook her head. “A hug from Papa makes me feel better about some things, but it's not the same.”
“Oh,” Martha nodded as if she understood and part of her did. “Well, do you have any siblings?”
Amanda shook her head. “It is just me and father in our family.”
“Oh,” Martha said again. “Well, you can always have friends that help you feel better.”
“Friends?”
