The Noble Ladies' Orphanage

Chapter 1

Susana focused on the damp forest floor so she wouldn't trip over a knotty root or wayward vine. The spring green leaves fluttered lightly in the breeze, but she had no time to stop and admire them because she could hardly keep up with Agnes. Susana's cheeks, ears, and hands were cold, but the rest of her was warm with exertion.

"Agnes, wait!" she called. Susana picked up her billowy skirts and ran after her. Agnes' plain gray dress swished behind a tree up ahead.

"Hurry up, slow poke!" Agnes called. "Come see what I've found!"

When Susana finally caught up with her, panting and out of breath, she found Agnes crouched over a perfect ring of exquisite mushrooms.

"They're too beautiful to pick," Susana said, bending low over them and running a finger over the smooth top of the closest one. "How do they grow in perfect circles like this?"

"It's their nature. They're born to follow the pattern," Agnes said. "Like you." Then she put her basket on the ground and carefully began harvesting the mushrooms with a curved knife and putting them in her basket. "Cook will make something delectable out of these."

"You couldn't just let them be, could you," Susana said.

"Of course not," she said. "There will be other perfect mushroom rings, but there will only be one supper on the evening of the 15th of March, year of our Lord 1674, and I'm going to have mushrooms."

"We have servants to get food, you know," Susana said.

"Yes, but why should the servants have all the fun?"Agnes asked.

Susana shrugged but refused to help her destroy the perfect mushroom ring. Instead, she found a horizontal log nearby that harbored a large mushroom crop. Susana rummaged under the ferns and picked three large mushrooms to add to Agnes' basketful. One particularly large mushroom caught her eye. She picked it and turned it upside down. The delicate underneath folds tickled her finger, and she wondered what it would be like to be small enough to fit in those folds. Agnes was done. Her basket was overflowing with perfect mushrooms, and Susana knew they'd be heading back to town.

Susana had to take about ten steps for every six steps Agnes took. Her long skirt trailed behind her like a small dog tripping at her heels. Susana asked her to slow down.

"You still have lessons to do today," she said. "We won't have time if we don't hurry."

"If you slow down, I'll practice my German with you while we walk," Susana suggested.

Agnes looked back at her student but didn't slow down. "We've got to toughen you up," Agnes said. "You don't get out enough. Perhaps we should always practice your German while we walk."

"If you think it would be best," Susana said. "But I'll never be as tall and strong as you. I'm made like my mother."

"It wouldn't hurt your mother to get out and walk either," Agnes said. Susana walked faster and even passed Agnes temporarily. While she walked, she toyed with the large mushroom in her hand and thought of her mother, pale in her giant walnut bed.

Susana heard children playing down by the river. From their clothing she could tell they were peasant children. Two small dark-haired boys hid behind a tree and waited for a little girl to look for them. Then they jumped out from behind the tree wielding sticks. The girl screamed, the boys laughed, and then she chased them up the hill. The children didn't seem to notice Susana and Agnes until they ran right in front of them.

The girl grabbed the boys' arms, and all three children looked up at Susana. They smothered their laughter and curtsied. Susana smiled and nodded at them, and they ran off, giggling into the forest.