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Sophie looked up from her homework when she heard a knock on her door. Edaline smiled at her and she smiled back, glad to have a distraction from her never ending homework. It seemed skipping school to almost die a few too many times will have the assignments piling up uncontrollably.
“Are you busy?” her mom asked.
“Yes, but I would love to ignore it,” Sophie replied, causing Edaline to raise an eyebrow. “I’m almost done, I promise. I was going to take a break anyways,” she reassured her.
“Alright, then why don’t you come downstairs? I made mallowmelt.” Sophie perked up at the announcement and quickly made her way down to the kitchen with Edaline following close behind. When the two got there, they found Grady already happily helping himself to multiple slices.
“Grady, shouldn’t you be in the pastures?” Edaline asked.
“I was but then I smelt mallowmelt,” he said, causing his wife to glare. “And now I will make my way back outside,” he continued with a nervous smile.
As her dad shut the door behind him, Edaline laughed and said, “Let’s see if your dad left anything for us. Have a seat.”
With half the cake left, Edaline didn’t bother properly slicing it and just split it in half. She pulled two plates out of the cabinets and placed a quarter of the mallowmelt on each one. When she set a plate in front of Sophie, the girl had already scarfed most of it down before Edaline could get a proper seat.
“I’m glad you like it,” her mother told her with a warm smile on her face.
“So why’d you bring me down here?” Sophie asked.
“What do you mean?”
“You’re wringing your hands like you always do when you want to tell me something.”
When Edaline looked away, Sophie decided to comfort her about what she assumed was bothering her, “You know Edaline, I’m not upset about you giving Jolie’s dresses to Biana. I mean when have you seen me put on a fancy gown willingly? Biana would get a better use out of them anyway.”
She stuffed another spoonful of mallowmelt into her mouth as her mother took a deep breath.
“I know you’re not upset but I’m upset with myself that I didn’t even ask you if you wanted anything.”
“You already apologized and it’s okay!” Sophie reassured her. “And Edaline, my ginormous room and closet barely have enough space to store your gifts,” Sophie pulled Edaline’s hand into her own, “it’s really okay.”
Sophie’s wide eyed confession had Edaline erupting in laughter which made Sophie smile.
“Thank you for that, but I did want to do one more thing for you if you’d let me.”
“Okay but Edaline, it really is okay. You don’t need to do anything else to prove that you love me. I already know.”
“Alright that’s enough, you’re going to make me cry if you don’t stop.” She stood up and continued, “Now that you’ve finished your mallowmelt, let’s go upstairs.”
The two of them walked up Havenfield’s grand staircase to Sophie’s room. Right before they entered, Edaline conjured a large white box into her hands.
Inside, they two took a seat on the flowered carpet at the base of Sophie’s bed before the girl voiced her confusion. “So what’s that?” she asked, referring to the white box Edaline was holding. It was wooden with two drawers and two small doors where each had a white pearl for a knob.
“This is Jolie’s jewelry box,” Edaline explained fondly. “I forgot we had it because she took it with her to school so it wasn’t in her room, but I remembered it after the dresses and I wanted to see if you wanted anything from inside.” Edaline then opened the whole thing up. The doors opened to two more drawers and the top was a lid that opened to a mirror, spots for rings and earrings as well as hooks for necklaces.
“Whoa, there’s so much in here,” Sophie remarked. Each drawer was filled to the brim and the necklace hooks were overflowing. Earrings and rings dotted the plush organizers leaving no space in between. Everything sparkled in metals of gold and silver and colours of the rainbow.
“She really loved her jewelry. She never left the house without at least ten pieces. It was the way she customized her uniform because she always hated how everyone looked the same in them.”
“Are you sure you want me to have these? Why don’t you take anything?” Sophie asked, unsure.
“Sophie, I’d love to see you wear anything from here and I know she would too. In fact, if she were here, you’d already be jingled around with everything she would’ve made you put on.” Sophie still looked at her unsure. “I already took my favourites out of her stash. Don't worry, choose whatever you like.”
“I honestly don’t know what to take,” Sophie breathed out.
“Well what don’t you want? We can start there.”
“I guess I already have a lot of things around my neck so maybe no necklaces?” Edaline nodded but when she started closing the lid, a sparkle caught Sophie’s eye and she put out her hand to stop her mom. “Or maybe I could take one,” she said as she pulled one out. When it snagged on another one she said, “or two.”
They spent some time going through the different drawers, Edaline helping her pick out what she liked. Sophie was holding two bracelets when she looked down and confessed,
“But Edaline, you know I never wear this stuff. I feel bad taking anything.”
“I still want you to have at least one piece, even if you don’t wear it. Maybe one day you’ll decide you want to wear something nice for the day,” she said, “And you’ll definitely need something for a special occasion like graduation. Which for the record, I hope takes all the time in the world to get here.” Sophie playfully rolled her eyes at the comment.
“The point is, there’s nothing wrong with taking some of these. If you like anything, I want you to have it.”
Edaline pulled out a thick, bright red ruby bracelet. “Now this, I know you’d never wear.” This got Sophie laughing again. “But what about this one?” she asked, pulling out a thin gold chain with a few tiny diamonds throughout. Sophie nodded, entranced. She still couldn’t wrap her head around the fact that elves just had expensive items only the richest humans owned, without batting an eye.
They stayed like that for a while with Grady walking in later to find the two giggling over the jewelry box, necklaces and bracelets strewn about.
“Quiet it down you two,” he joked, “I’m headed to bed.” Sophie looked out the window and realized it was completely dark out. The sun hadn’t set yet when they started and neither of them realized how long they had been sitting, surrounded by jewelry.
“Are you sure you don’t want some earrings?” Edaline asked playfully. The face her dad made in response had Sophie bursting out in laughter.
Any doubt from Edaline giving away the dresses were gone. She really did feel like she was part of the family.
-
When Sophie woke up in the morning she decided to put on some of Jolie’s jewelry before school. She put on a pair of small silver hooped earrings, a matching ring and a silver chained bracelet. They were simple but she was happy with herself for the effort she had made.
Right before walking out the door she turned back and grabbed her charm bracelet to add a bit of herself into the mix. She forgot to wear it most of the time but maybe now that Jolie’s jewelry was constantly staring her down, she would remember more often.
She walked down the stairs to say bye to her parents before going back up to the leapmaster. The teary eyed look her mother gave her when she told her, “You look beautiful,” had her ready for the day.