Chapter 1 part 2

The nursery was filled with a strange light. It hung about the room like a lightning strike, frozen. Heliotrope giggled and cooed in her crib. The rocker creaked as the nurse rose to her feet. She walked across the stone cold floor to the crib. Just as she reached for the baby the light suddenly fled from the room. Outside there was a tremendous rumble of thunder. The room shook and one of the windows rattled loose and swung violently open. At that moment the sky released its rain in driving sheets. Heliotrope continued to giggle as heavy drops of rain fell onto the nursery floor. Lightning flashed and thunder roared as the nurse wrestled with the window. At last she was able to latch it back in place. With the click of the window the new Princess began to cry and wail.

"Shhh little one," the nurse wrapped Heliotrope in her blanket the purple ribbon crisscrossing her tiny body. She brought the baby to the rocker and sat. She gently rocked and began humming and cooing to soothe the baby but the name kept getting tangled up in the nurse's mouth. "Heal? No. Trope? No. Really, what an enormous mouthful of the name you have.” The nurse lapsed into silence rocking the Princess who continued to whimper and fuss.

Outside the storm moved quickly. Shafts of light pierced the thick heavy clouds and the thunder became a distant crackling. The rocking chair squeaked rhythmically and the nurse's arms settled into a firm numbness but the Princess continued crying. The nurse had drifted so far into her own thoughts that she did not hear the initial knocks at the door. Only after the timid knocking became the firm rapping did she rise.

The nurse lifted the door latch and the door burst open. "Now I know I didn't wake you. I could hear her highness the whole time I was out there." The cook entered the room the silver clattering on the tray as she bobbed across the floor. She moved lightly despite her plump figure. She was a rumpled little form of a woman. Thick wisps of gray and black hair escaped her cap and her eyes sparkled bright green. She placed the tray on the table, "come on. Sit down. Eat!" She removed the lid from a beautifully decorated silver bowl. Wafts a heady smelling steam drifted across the room.

"Thank you," the nurse crossed to the table.

The cook pulled the chair out and reached for the baby, "Go ahead you can give her to me. I ain't afraid of no squalling baby. I raised five of my own. And where do you think all the little ones end up in this castle? Under Cook's feet, that's where!"

Slowly the nurse handed the baby to the cook. She did not worry for the baby’s safety but there was a pang of guilt giving her rather troublesome charge to another. The cook folded Heliotrope in her thick arms. Her threadbare dress and apron were soft and smooth against the baby skin. The Princess looked up into the Cook's round face and began to coo and burble. "See no problem. Eat!"

The nurse took her spoon and stirred the soup, potato and leak. She took her first mouthful the soup was thick and warm with a rich light unique taste. The nurse closed her eyes. Somehow, the soup tasted like the warm cottage she longed for, "This is amazing."

"You’re just hungry. It's just potatoes and leeks." The cook rocked the baby and tickled her little tummy. The princess giggled in delight. "Heliotrope? What a dreadful name. You poor little thing. That's got ta be a curse for sure."

"She seems to really like you." The nurse said between mouthfuls.

"Try the bread while it's still warm." The nurse obediently tore off a piece of bread covered it with a bit of butter which melted into the warm white interior. This kind of bread was never seen outside the castle. Common folk only ate the rough grain bread that ground down your teeth. The nurse had tasted this bread since coming to the castle but never warm.

The cook paced the room cooing and singing to the baby. Like the nurse she tried out short little names to replace Heliotrope. "Lee," she tried. The baby giggled. "Lee, Lillie Lee," the Princess kicked with delight. "I think she likes that."

"She does seem to. I have not seen her like much in her short little life."

"Then we will call her Lee. It will be our little secret. I don't think their highnesses would take kindly to the commonness of it."

"Perhaps not," despite herself the nurse was making a friend.  With the princess so content, she tucked into her meal enjoying the perfectly balanced flavors and textures.  The nurse was a practical woman by nature. She had never believed in magic, great or small. So it was easy for her to miss the glimmer of kitchen magic in the food she ate and the Fay features on the woman who had brought it to her. 

The princess was fast asleep as the nurse finished her meal. The cook tucked the baby into the nurse's arms and collected the tray. She whispered, "My name is Dee. You know how to find me. Just walk down and follow your nose. If you come to the dungeon you have gone too far down, but not by much." She left the room with a bit of a chuckle closing the door silently behind her. The room felt even bigger and emptier.

She placed the baby in the crib thankful that the infant did not wake. In the corner near the dormant fireplace was a small bed for her. She slipped her feet out of her shoes and lay down. The mattress was too soft, but she was soon asleep. She dreamed as she always did of heavy rains and rising torrents of angry brown debris filled water. She woke before the baby.