Adoption[]
I was bored. The headmistress had come in a short while ago, telling me that there was a very nice Courier lady looking to adopt me, then left me with a bunch of other girls in a tower room.
“Who do you think she’ll be?” I whispered to one of the other girls waiting for their potential families to come and see them. “Do you think she’ll be nice?” She shrugged.
“What does it matter anyways? Adoption is what it is. Anything is better than here.”
I didn’t agree with her, but there was nothing to do but wait in the small barely lit room for what felt like hours, so I didn’t argue with her. Eventually I felt like falling asleep, and leaned against the wall and closed my eyes to do so. I drifted into sweet, sweet silence. Suddenly I heard a small noise. My eyes snapped open.
“Did you hear that?” The girl looked at me strangely.
“Hear what? Everything’s quiet.” I bit my lip. Was I going crazy? I was sure I had read something… I looked out the window and almost screamed in surprise. There was a young man hanging onto the ledge by a few fingers as he climbed the castle wall, and he looked up at me with an embarrassed smile on his face.
“Hello. I’m Jonathan, what’s your name?” Normally I wouldn’t give my name to strangers, but this young man was rather nice, and I answered him with a smile and my name.
“Sadie.”
“No last name?” I shook my head.
“No, I’m a orphan. I’m just waiting here for my potential mother to show up - she should have been here by now.” Jonathan gave a short laugh.
"Get used to that, Sadie. That’s just what the headmistress wants you to think, she’s probably waiting for you.” Now I was getting really confused.
“How would you know that? Do you know the lady who might adopt me?” Will grinned.
“Nah, not at all. I just know from experience.” I got the feeling he would have said more, but the door creaked open and the old headmistress came in to start bringing us out to be interviewed. I wasn’t very optimistic about the whole thing, I had gone threw this process several times before, and had always been discarded as an option because of how I acted. Something about me being too wild I think.
“Sadie. Come along girl, we haven’t got all day.” I bowed my head as if I was actually feeling sorry for being late, then followed the headmistress to another, cleaner brightly lit room where the lady was seated behind a table. I gulped. She was wearing pure white gown that was the mark of a Courier. This was no ordinary Courier, but Lady Pauline herself, the head of the whole organization. I had absolutely NO idea why she would want me, of all people.
“Me?” I managed to squeak out one word as I sat down before her. The woman nodded, smiling, and I felt a little more at ease.
“Sadie, I’d very much like to adopt you. You would come back and live at Castle Redmont with me, and learn my craft as well.” After a few moments of awkward silence the headmistress nudged me painfully in the back.
“Um… Of course… I mean…” I took in a deep breath and started all over again.
“Well, Lady Pauline? Why do you want me? I mean, of course I say yes, I really want to get adopted and get out of this place -no offense headmistress- so I’ll jump at whatever chance you give me.”
Lady Pauline smiled.
“Then everything is in order. Sadie, I had your stuff packed ahead of time and sent outside.”
The headmistress stood up abruptly at that, and Lady Pauline gently took me by the arm and led me out of the castle to where a few horses were waiting.
“Wait…” I stopped in my tracks.
“What, do you not know how to ride?“What, do you not know how to ride? If so you can ride behind me.”
“I just… I can ride, it just feels unreal to actually be leaving.” My new mother smiled again and took me by the hand.
“Well, I’m glad you said yes. I think you’ll really like it at Castle Redmont.” We walked down to the horses, and I noticed that there was another person there, like a guard, but they were wearing the mottled garb of a Ranger. He turned to look at me, then looked away again, speaking with Lady Pauline in a quiet voice. She glanced at me, still smiling, and I wondered if her mouth was hurting from all the smiling she was doing.
“Yes, this is Sadie. We’re ready to go home now.”
Home. That was something I would have to get used to I thought as we trotted down the long dirt road to Castle Redmont. I was going home.
Written by: Sadie O'Carrick