Elin pulled me all the way into her home and sat me at the table in the dining room. The house was spotless and perfect. I wish that mine was always clean and gave me extra time to even offer to do other things. It took so long to clean up after the pigs that were my family in this story. I hated it.
In no time at all, Elin came back into the dining room with a plate. It had a heaping sandwich sitting on it. It was the kind of sandwich that had tons of meat, cheese, lettuce and tomato. And just the sight of it was enough to make my empty stomach rumble and my mouth water.
"Ha ha." Elin heard the rumbling sound and laughed. "I can tell that you are hungry. Sorry, it is just this, I will make breakfast and dinner for you as well, so just stop by when you can to get them until things get better."
"No, Elin, I can't do that." I protested but she just pushed the plate and a glass of cold lemonade toward me.
"I wasn't asking you, Ashenella. I was telling you. Come by to get food whenever you can."
"OK." I smiled and conceded to her forcefulness. "Thank you." With that, I picked up the sandwich and took a huge bite out of it. "Mmmm! This is so good."
"Ha ha. I guess it would taste that way when you are that hungry."
"Who is hungry?" I heard a gruff sounding man's voice coming toward us.
"Jannick!" Elin smiled and ran toward the door. "I found a friend in the woods. Her stepmother is being so rude to her, so I offered her food. She has been starved." I saw Elin kiss her husband on the cheek as she greeted him.
The man that came into the room was tall, tanned, and very strong. I could tell that he was used to working hard. He looked like a blacksmith or something like that. There was even soot on his clothes. Perhaps he had just gotten off of work somewhere. That would make sense, it was actually approaching dinner time. And I would need to get back to the house sooner rather than later.
"That is a shame. It is good that you fed her. We can't have people starving now, can we." He smiled at me and sat at the table's lead position. "It is nice to meet you. My name is Jannick."
"Nice to meet you. I am Ashenella." I swallowed the bite of the sandwich a little too soon so I could talk, that ended up making it stick a little and I choked just before I spoke. Still, I managed to get the words out with no issue.
"Well, Ashenella, as you can see, my wife loves to help people. She will not rest until you are well taken care of." Jannick looked like someone that wouldn't be nice, but he was definitely not what he appeared to be. And for that, I was thankful.
"Thank you. Both of you. I truly appreciate it."
"Think nothing of it." Elin smiled just as someone knocked on the door. The sound echoed throughout the whole home. "Who could that be?" She asked as she hurried out of the room.
Elin seemed to be talking to a man at the door for several moments. I could hear the sound of curiosity and awe in her voice, but I couldn't make out the actual words that she was saying. To me though, it felt like she was asking the man outside a lot of questions before he just left and went about his business. Finally, though, she came back into the dining room with a rolled up piece of parchment in her hands.
"What was that about, dear?" Jannick asked with a tilt to his head. He was just as curious as I had been.
"It was a castle messenger. It seems that there is going to be a ball. The prince is apparently looking for his bride and all eligible ladies in the entire kingdom are required to attend. At first I wasn't even going to take the notice from the footman, but then I thought of Ashenella. I know that she needs to go, but I have a feeling that her family will not allow her to attend this ball at all, even though it is required by the king. I do not want Ashenella to get in trouble at all."
"Just so you know, you're right. They won't let me go. I am pretty sure that they won't even tell me about the ball. They will keep it a secret from me." I shrugged as I said it. I knew it was true, there was no need to hide it.
"That is despicable. How can people be so cruel to their own family." Jannick sounded furious as he spoke. "Well, don't you worry, Ashenella, you will be going to that ball. It is required after all. I can't let them get you in trouble like that." His smiling eyes and soft smile were both showing me that it wasn't just his wife that was supporting me in all of this. It was just too bad that it wasn't going to help me at all.
"Thank you, but I just can't go. I mean, I would have nothing to wear to the ball. And I am so filthy, I can't go to the castle like this. I can't meet the prince in this condition." However, I had to go, and I knew that. And not just because of that paper that said so. I needed to go because this was the last thing that I had needed to prove the story that I was in. That little piece of parchment was all that I needed to tell me that the stepfamily would do all that they could to keep 'Cinderella' from going to this ball.
"I will help you. I have dresses. You can wear one of mine. And clean up here. I will help with it all. It will be fun. And maybe you will marry the prince and be done with that family of yours."
"Maybe." I smiled at her. This was just telling me that my 'fairy godmother' was actually this sweet young woman that was close to my own age. Well, whatever the story wanted to do to get me there.
"Yes, Elin will get you ready for the ball. And I will take you there with our carriage. You need to be presentable after all." And there were the mice turned into horses and a driver. Isn't this nice?
"Thank you, both of you. Thank you so much."
By the way, when I went back to the house, I was right. I knew that the footman had already been there, but when I went to make dinner for that horrible family, none of them told me about the ball. They were going to make me miss it. Well, they were going to try to at least. They just didn't know that I had people on my side to help me as well.