Chapter Text
Sara woke up first that morning. The sun was barely peaking over the horizon as she sat up in her bed. She has no need to be up so early anymore, but old habits die hard. For a brief, fleeting moment, she thought she was back in the attic. But her fears subsided when she saw the velvet bedspread. Breathing out a sigh of relief, she turned to her beloved doll Emily and greeted her, "good morning, Emily." Then she opened the picture she had of her parents, taken when she was just over two years old. "Good morning Papa... Bonjour, Maman... I'm twelve years old today. I can't believe it myself. The only thing that could make today perfect is if you both were with me..." She set the picture back on the end table and dressed in a robe and slippers.
She walked down to the kitchen, where Dolly (the cook), Lucy and Maryanne (the kitchen maids) were preparing breakfast. "Good morning, Dolly... Lucy... Maryanne."
"Good morning, Miss Sara. Off to feed the sparrows again?" Lucy gave Sara some hard bread from the previous night.
"She feeds the rats, too, Lucy" Maryanne shuddered, being terrified of rats.
"As long as you make sure they don't come into my kitchen, Sara." Dolly ran her kitchen with an iron fist and could be quite scary. Temper aside, at least she never took it out on the girls.
"I'm sure they understand, Dolly. Rats are much more understanding than you think." Sara picked out a few choice rolls as Lucy continued, "Oh, Sara, isn't it your birthday? How old are you now? Eleven?"
"I'm twelve now, Lucy."
"Oh, that's right! Well, we've got to prepare for the party, so off you go, Missy." Lucy and Maryanne pushed Sara out of the kitchen once she got the bread.
Sara then walked up the four flights of stairs to the attic, scattering the breadcrumbs onto the slanted roof, greeting the sparrows as the sunlight of the dawn hit the rooftops "good morning. Dolly used a new kind of flour, I hope you all like it." From her robe pocket, she took out her beloved ocarina and started to play Morning Mood as the sparrows ate their fill. A few other servants, now awake, heard her playing, knowing that the sound of the ocarina playing meant "the little missus is awake". After she finished playing, she saw the familiar form of her carriage driver Peter walking down the street straight to the stable. After that, she stepped down from the stool and was back on the wooden floor, and a family of rats scattered about her feet. Sara gave the rats, christened as the Solomon family, bigger pieces.
"You all must be careful not to go into the kitchen. Maryanne is scared of rats, and Dolly doesn't take too kindly to you." The rats squeaked as they ate, taking the biggest of the pieces into their hole. Sara left the last half of a roll onto the ground. "For dinner and supper today. I may not have the time to come back today. It's my birthday, and I'm having a party. I wish you could be there." She gave the patriarch of the rats a gentle pat on the head and went back down to her room.
Becky was already awake and dressed, used to Sara's morning habits. Becky was the only other person trusted to dress Emily, who was dressed in a light lavender party dress. Since joining Sara as her personal maid and companion, Becky has certainly developed a sense of style, herself wearing a lovely forest green morning dress that suited her somewhat ruddy completion. Instead of putting on the pink morning dress Becky set out, Sara put on a golden yellow play dress. "I'm going to see Peter, Becky. He's probably already in the stable with Jump." Becky nodded as she filled Bonaparte's food and water bowls.
Downstairs in the stable, Peter was feeding Jump some oats, and a carrot as Sara watched, slowly approaching holding a tray of sausages, eggs, rolls, and a cup of tea, "Good morning, Peter."
Shocked at the sudden appearance of his mistress, Peter turned around and took off his hat, "G-good morning, Miss Sara. Oh, aren't you worried about getting your dress dirty in here?"
"It's alright, I wanted to bring you some breakfast." Sara sat the tray on a stool and smiled, "Maybe I can ask if Uncle Tom is willing to hire you on full-time."
"I'd love that, Sara, but I'm still worried about my parents. Mum's still sick, and Dad can only work so long in the shop..."
"Oh, you're right. I'm sorry, I just saw how well Jump takes to you..."
"Don't apologize, Miss. I know you mean well. Oh, right!" He pulled two small packages out of his coat, "Today is your birthday, isn't it?"
"Yes, it is, Peter. Will you be at the party later?"
"Of course. Oh, this smaller present is from my parents. The bigger one is from me." Peter smiled and blushed as Sara kissed his cheek, "Oh, thank you so much, Peter." Peter smiled a wide, goofy smile, "oh, it's no trouble, Miss."
"Don't forget to eat your breakfast, Peter. It'll get cold." Sara warned as she went back into the house.
Meanwhile, next door, breakfast was just getting started as Miss Amelia made an announcement: Sara is having a birthday party today! And all the girls were invited! Even the bigger girls were excited. They were to go at 11 o'clock. Miss Minchin heard the commotion as Amelia came into the office, putting the finishing touches on her own present for the girl.
"Surely you don't intend to give that ungrateful girl a gift, Amelia..."
Despite having publicly made amends with Sara, in private was another story. Still bitter about the loss of her show pupil-turned-whipping post-turned- diamond heiress, Miss Minchin made no attempt to hide her disdain, and it hurt her pride to no end to have such a large donation of Ten-Thousand Pounds. "That girl practically owns my school," she often lamented. And while Sara had agreed to be a day pupil when she left for India, when she came back just shy of a year later, that man had the audacity to hire her a governess! "What could a common governess know that I don't?!" Of course, Miss Maria Minchin was nothing but talk now.
Perhaps because of her wounded pride, she shrunk away from much of her teaching duties, leaving only Amelia or Madame Pascal as teachers for every other subject, except geometry and history, but even then she only taught once or twice a week. Maria never made any real appearances in front of the pupils anymore, leaving only Amelia to say prayers with the girls or taking them to church on Sunday. She wouldn't risk of seeing that girl.
Despite all these changes, Amelia made no attempts to hide her newfound confidence. Realizing how truly cruel her sister had become, something just switched in her, "Well, it's the least I can do after allowing you to toss her out into the streets on false accusations of arson."
"SHE DID AND YOU KNOW-"
"Tut-tut-tut, sister. You wouldn't want the children to gossip, would you?" Amelia was not going to let herself be cowed anymore. She knew which of Maria's buttons to push. After twenty-seven years of being sisters, she should know. Maria reluctantly backed down. "Just have the girls back by supper..." Amelia kissed her sister's cheek. Cruel or not, they were still sisters. She went down to the kitchen, where James and Molly were cleaning up after breakfast.
"Lunch won't be necessary today. The pupils and I are going to Sara's birthday party."
"That lazy little wench?!" Molly yelled out, but Amelia was having none of it, "As if you two can claim to be much better. You are not under orders of my sister to break the girl. You're under my orders to not slander her. Now, speak one more ill word of her, or I'll have you both packing by the end of the day." Was Amelia going a bit overboard? Perhaps, but her own guilt and complacency made her that much more vigilant. Sara really was a good child, and didn't deserve such treatment, but these two... They were lucky that Amelia made a new rule that the girls were to help clean. At first, it was naturally protested, but after a few letters of approval from parents, the policy stuck. It wasn't hard labor, of course, but there was now a chore chart and chores were rotated and assigned depending on age and ability.
When Amelia left, Molly grumbled into the sink, "That little brat is lucky she's no longer here... But why did she have to take Becky too?" James, meanwhile, looked at his wife, "Are we really that lazy?" "Of course not, you stupid man! Now help me with the dishes!" He sighed and joined her. Perhaps this was their penance; not losing Sara and Becky, but being stuck with each other.