Chapter 2: Heiress Apparent

Ellie Navarrete supposed it could've been worse.

Her mother could've actually killed her. She certainly looked like she was a split second away from doing so, what with her eyes bulging out and her spit flying all over the place. The vein in her neck pulsed. Her face rivaled a tomato. She had to pause to take a deep breath before launching into what Ellie guessed would be another half hour of screaming.

"What's wrong with you?" Hilda had Sunflower's leash wound tightly around her fist. The dog in question was elsewhere, forbidden from being in the house. "I told you to never, ever go anywhere without her. What were you doing?"

"She was getting a haircut and I couldn't wait."

"Couldn't wait for what? It couldn't have been class because you weren't there."

"Yes, I was." Ellie reached for the easy lie. "Ask Zinnia. She'll back me up." Unlike Ellie, Zinnia was pursuing secondary studies out of her own free will and interest. She was a sit-at-the-front-of-the-class and jot-down-every-word-the-teacher-said kind of girl. Zinnia dreamed of leaving the town some day to go to a northern university, in a town twice as advanced as Stockbrunn. Ellie didn't see the point in that. Neither of them were ever going to be free enough to leave.

"I did. I asked her and you know what she told me? She told me that you haven't been to any of Guarin's lessons in weeks. Weeks, Ellie!!"

That traitor was too honest for her own good.

Ellie flinched. "Okay, I haven't been going. I've been getting notes from her."

"Don't lie to me."

"I'm not!"

"You know what our agreement was. I'd give you space, all the space you'd need to grieve, and you'd study like you're supposed to." Hilda said. "I don't make you do any fieldwork. I don't make you join me for deliberations. I don't make you help the townspeople with their tasks. I don't make you do sword lessons. I'm not making you apprentice with anyone.

"And yet, you have the audacity to skip off into the woods instead of doing the one thing I ask you to do. No, it's not audacity. It's stupidity." Her voice, hoarse from all the yelling she did earlier, dropped to a whisper.

"Who cares about Gaurin's lessons? They're for people who want to go to university. Primary school's good enough."

"How are you supposed to correspond with other villages in Casterne if you can't read and write at an advanced level? How can you deal with village-to-village economics if you don't have a deeper understanding of history?"

"I can hire someone to do all that stuff for me," she said.

Now it was Hilda's turn to throw up her hands. "What is it that you want me to do, Ellie? Seriously, I'm all out of ideas here. If I give you space, you lie to me. If I pressure you, you get upset. What do you think I should do?"

Ellie knew this line-of-questioning was a trap of some kind. "Keep doing what you're doing?"

"No." Hilda said. "I've let you use her as an excuse for long enough."

"An excuse?!" Ellie's voice rose sharply.

"That's enough. You're going to Gaurin's lessons. You'll help your aunt and uncle in the field in the morning, then go."

"This isn't fair. I'm not ready!" Why was her mom doing this to her? She didn't understand. She didn't know what it was like.

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A/N: This is an interactive fantasy serial. Voting takes place on Thursdays through Sundays on the story's main site. The most up-to-date chapters can also be found there, but uploading will happen in parts on RRL as well. Chapter 7 (the most recent chapter) will be posted some time on February 25th on the site. Voting will end by February 28th at 11:59 PM EST.