SkrivarSara - Tales from an Aspiring Writer

So early the next morning, she sneaked down to the dressing room, where her stepsisters kept their gowns. Their ball gowns were lovely: well-cut and quite simple, in expensive fabrics and golden embroideries. One of them were a deep shade of red and the other midnight blue. Cinderella looked longingly at them, but knew that she could not wear any of those, but one of the discarded ones that still were hanging in the wardrobe behind. She choose a cream-coloured one, that suited her perfectly, and took the dress to a shed in the garden, where no one ever went, and hid it there.

   The hours went by, and the seamstresses came to pick up the left-over dresses. Cinderella did her duties without complain for once, with a knot of triumph in her chest at the thought of the gown in the shed. At three o'clock, Cinderella was finished with her chores, and her stepsisters had begun to get ready for the ball.

   Cinderella saw her stepmother receive a letter, which left the lady with a thoughtful crease between her eyebrows. She called for Cinderella.

   "Dear child", she said, knowing that Cinderella hated that way of addressing her, "this is a letter from the royal house, saying that because you are part of the family, you are indeed allowed to come to the ball tonight."

   Cinderella's face lit up. It was a very long time ago since the lady had seen her stepdaughter smile.

   "Do you mean that?" Cinderella asked in a trembling voice.

   Her stepmother nodded. "Now I only hope that we find a dress for you in time."

   "Don't worry about that", said Cinderella breathlessly, already on her way to the shed. "I have the perfect gown."

   When she come back to the drawing room, her stepmother and the stepsisters were all seated on the sofa. Cinderella glanced at their serious faces and became a bit anxious, but held up the borrowed dress all the same. Wordlessly, the lady looked at the gown a second, then gave Cinderella the letter. She read it with trembling hands. It was a request from the seamstresses, saying that the cream-coloured dress was missing. Fury rose in Cinderella.

   "You tricked me!" she spat at her stepmother, throwing letter and dress at her.

   "A way to get you to admit your crime", said the lady sternly, smoothening the gown. "Stealing is a serious business , young lady, and one I do not tolerate in my house. Go up to your room and prepare to leave, you are not staying here anymore. There is no need for you to say goodbye to us, or go anywhere else in this house. You are hereby confined to your room, until I have found another place for you to stay. You can withdraw."

   Cinderella stared at her, open-mouthed, and then went heavily up to her room, knowing nothing but despair. How could she go to the ball now, without a ball gown?

At last, the stepmother begun consider to move to the other end of the country, to find a future for her shunned daughters and herself. Before she could decide, however, a letter arrived. The letter was from the royal household, who invited every young unmarried girl of noble birth to a ball at the palace, in which the prince hopefully would find a woman to marry. Cinderella was furious when she was told that the letter did not include her. Her father, though rich, had not been a nobleman, but both her stepmother and her stepsisters' father belonged to the noblesse, and her stepsisters was therefore going.

   Crying, Cinderella ran to the outmost part of the garden, without caring that she was supposed to help with the dinner, and sobbed her heart out against a tree trunk.

   "I want to go to the ball, I want", she sobbed, and wiped her nose loudly on her sleeve. " And I will, I will!"

   She stood up and marched back into the house, ready to pick a fight with her family. Her stepsisters was running around, trying to decide what to wear and how to get nice dresses in time. Their mother stood in the middle of the drawing room, planning and organizing, her glasses firmly on her well-shaped nose and a long list in her elegant hand, her other index finger running down it. She looked up when Cinderella entered, and eyed the girl's greasy sleeve and her damp skirt, dirty with mud, disapprovingly.

   "Where have you been?" asked the lady. "You are supposed to be in the kitchen"

   "I want to go to the ball", said Cinderella sullenly, with a stubborn expression on her face, something the lady was only too familiar with.

   "No", was the only thing she said, returning to the list, knowing what to come.

   "I want to go to the ball!" Cinderella shouted, red-faced and with curled fists. The lady sighed and eyed her stepdaughter sternly.

   "That is out of question, my dear", she said calmly but firmly. "You are not of noble birth, however noble your dear father was at heart. Noble birth counts in royal marriages, and you", she could not resist that chance, "are not noble, neither of birth or at heart. Go to the kitchen, or to your room, and stay there so you don't get into our ways."

   Cinderella wanted to shout more, but her stepmother hurried out of the room, leaving her dripping mud on the costly silk carpet. Dirty and furious, Cinderella sneaked up the stairs to her room, and thrown the filthy dress carelessly into a corner.

   "I want to go to the ball", she said to the pale moon, "and I will go, no matter what!"

The True Story of Cinderella

Once upon a time, there was a girl who recently had lost her mother to an illness. Her father, now a widower, was a rich merchant and often gone on faraway travels. Therefore he thought it was only his duty to remarry, so that his only daughter did not miss the company of a mother. He choose an equally rich widow of noble birth with two girls of her own, and they settled in nicely at the merchant's country house, close to the capital.

   These good days did not last, however. One day it happened, that the merchant did not come home from his most recent journey. A messenger brought them the sad news of his death, and a quiet funeral was held. His beloved daughter was, of course, devastated. She was a very beautiful young lady, with curly golden locks and even features that was like milk and honey, with lips red as the roses of love.

Sincerely Sara  

But just as you know, I'm still tired. I slept too long this morning;P

*****
Title: His Majesty's Dragon, Throne of Jade, Black Powder War and Empire of Ivory
Author: Naomi Novik
Genres: Historic Fantasy, Alternative Universe

Set in an Alternative Universe, the Temeraire series explore a big What if: What if the Napoleon Wars were fought with dragons? Captain William Laurence was an officer in the British Navy, and wished no other life. But when he and his crew captured a French ship, they discovered a dragon egg that was nearly hatching. The newly-born dragonet then choose Laurence as his captain, and Laurence was not a Naval officer anymore, but one in the Aerial Corps. He gave the dragonet the name Temeraire, and together they fought against France, travelled to China after the dicovery that Temeraire was a very rare Celestial dragon, in China they uncovered a plot against the Emperor's live, got  the albino Celestial Lien as a deadly enemy, travelled back to England through Istanbul and there stole two dragon eggs belonging to England, fought in the battle of Jena and Auerstadt, lost it and came home to England, only to dicover that all their dragon friends were ill in an apparently uncureable illness. For finding a remedy, they had to travel to Africa, where they where captured by an African tribe, escaped and came back to England with a cure. The British leading officers had decided to spread the Plague to France, from where the illness surely would spread to the rest of Europe. Unable to stand it, Laurence and Temeraire commited treason and took the cure to France.

The story centers around the relationship between Laurence and Temeraire, and it is very well developed. Laurence is a very law-abiding man, loyal to the king and the army. Temeraire, however, is quick to see wrongdoings against dragons, and have a will to revolutionize it. The relationship is strong in that way that they compromize for each other: Laurence agrees that there are things that need changing, and Temeraire follow his captain's lead when he think it is to much. The loyalty and love between them is very apparent throughout the books, and I could not hepl to love them too.

There are also historic people in the books, Napoleon and Nelson probably the most famous. Laurence's father, Lord Allendale, is supporting Wilberforce and Clarkson's ideas about abolition, and the Swedish soon-to-be-king Bernadotte is mentioned in a passing reference. For a history nerd like me, it is quite fun to read about them this way.

The story's pace is not the quickest, except in the battles, but that is not a drawback. Temeraires relationship with Temeraire is more important, and Novik flashes out most of the other characters nicely. The story is written in third person, Laurence's point of view, but Temeraires character is well formed and Novik gives even secondary characters their own voice.

All in all, the story gets five stars, and it is only for me to wait for Victory of Eagles, the next book. I can hardly wait.