Jonathan

The house II

Enderby Hall had one hundred and twenty-six rooms and peacefully sat on a one hundred and ninety-seven acres land, that now belonged to the prince. His old nanny Daphne and Mary's mother who was the housekeeper, remained in the residence with sufficient staff to look after it.
Mary was two years younger than the prince but Justine as many others of her time, entrusted the service to the highest levels and often became very dear as part of the family, this encouraged more loyalty among them and it wasn't strange for them to serve a lifetime and have their families following into service.

Mary knew Jonathan very well and they played together as little children. In fact she was the only young child he knew until he moved to the palace. At that time Mary and her mother followed them, but later returned to the family's residence.

By the time Mary had ten years old she returned to the palace and started training as a maid under Jacob's supervision to be exclusively taking care of the prince. They knew each other well and she became to him a person of complete confidence. She was his ally when it came to sending messages privately to his love interests and she was probably with Cynthia, the two people who knew him more intimately from his normal self to his sick one and helped him in his worse physical version. There was nothing that Mary hadn't seen or anything she could be shocked or surprised to witness. She was the only maid allowed in the prince's chambers when he was there, if there was something she needed help with, Jacob the butler would be the one to assist her, but even he had to knock and wait for permission to enter. Mary didn't. Although she knew the prince so well, that she knew exactly how to move around without making herself too noticeable, and by now she would already anticipate to all his needs.
Mary could talk to him as an equal like Cynthia, Jacob hated that, he always reproved the girl when she addressed Jonathan directly without him asking her for a suggestion.

At Enderby, the father had given Jonathan a horse when he was born. The beautiful black foal was brought and raised for the child. His father used to take him to see it, and also spent time visiting the animal in the stables, he was very excited for what magnificent horse it'll become for his son. Soon after Jonathan turned ten months old, he passed, and never saw his son riding that horse.

Jonathan became very attached to it and they grew up together. The horse became a close friend and once established in the palace, he became a close partner and his shelter, something from his father he so much needed, all the love he couldn't express or receive from him was in Storm, his horse, together with all the love he never got to feel for his mother.

Storm meant too much to Jonathan. The emotional attachment he had for the animal had no end and he was so beautiful, strong and huge, the different hairstyles his caretaker experimented on him were already very well known. And he had the best instructor to learn to ride him.

Mr. Jefferson took the prince under his care from the moment he arrived. He would train him from then on. Jonathan became the best archer and won every event year after year. They even created a special competition in his name, that became very popular among the youngest archers especially among women who competed in them. After some years he stopped competing in his own event and only made a special demonstration but he still gave away the prizes, this made the whole thing even more appealing for everybody.

The prince never stopped practicing and often Mr. Jefferson took care of the other children too, but in the end there were only Benjamin, Christian and the prince. They were trained in all different disciplines, and his wife taught the children in other areas. Studies were never hard for him, but neither he enjoyed it too much. He was extremely good with languages but as for sciences and others, he often skipped turning in his homework and assignments and this would have him isolated from other activities he enjoyed such as Mr. Jefferson's riding excursions or Mrs. Jefferson's cultural picnics.