Equal and Opposite

It hadn't been in Arianna's plans for her birthday, fainting, but she couldn't deny the impact it had. By the time she had awoken, her things had been moved to a bedroom near her siblings' rooms, the doctor was watching over her while she was rested, and she could already see a veritable garden of bouquets sent by well wishers on every visible surface.

She had no pretense that this was because her father had suddenly changed and become a good man who loved her; stars above, he didn't even love Theo and Lucia. No, it would never be because he loved her, but it was easy to parse what was happening. She was suddenly being treated better because there was something to lose if she was not and something to gain if she was.

People had seen Arianna, and with Lucia's quiet support, they had seen the best possible sides of Arianna. A quiet, weak girl, who was visibly small for her age. It was hard to deny, when Arianna's mother was not secret and was taller than the Grand Duchess, that Arianna was still so much smaller than her half sister born on the same day. It could be blamed on her health, certainly, but her fainting gave way to a different narrative.

'Arianna Rosales had tried her best to prove herself for her family and pushed herself to the point that she passed out.'

That story would do nothing good for the Grand Duke. In fact, it would benefit the Imperial Family to be the one's who 'discovered' her circumstances. The Grand Duke knew how to spin a story, however, and by immediately providing her with so much care, the story would change.

'Arianna Rosales worked hard with her family, despite her poor health, due to their love for each other and their hopes to finally be able to celebrate her birthday, but the Imperial family chose to intentionally challenge the strength of these poor young children...'

It wasn't hard to see which of the two reflected the Grand Duke in a more flattering light, and the benefit he received from smearing the name of the Imperial family was intangible but not insignificant. He had been able to use the slight against him by the Empress and Emperor in his favour for years in negotiations. The power in that had started to wear thin exactly six years ago, when the Grand Duke's own illegitimate child was born. Now he used any tiny potential issue to patch the cracks in his power, and this was more than small.

Arianna slowly started shifting in the bed, groaning softly under her breath as she felt the pounding in her head. It was almost bad enough that she could miss the burning pain in her limbs that came from having over taxed muscles that by all rights should have been given weeks to strengthen before she attempted anything like that banquet, if not months. She slowly reached a hand up for her forehead, before her arm was taken and pushed back down at her side.

Arianna startled slightly, seeing a maid sitting at her side. She had seen the doctor, half asleep in the corner, but she hadn't seen the young woman in the room at all, let alone right beside her bed. Before she could even open her mouth to ask a question, the maid was already lifting her into a seated position and helping her drink a glass of water.

Arianna drank with a look of absolute confusion. She had been prepared for any number of changes with her and Lucia having gone back in time. She had not prepared to immediately be confronted with a woman she had never met before being the only one completely awake in her room while she slept. When her throat was finally moist from her drink, she cleared her throat. "What... What happened? Who are you?" She croaked softly, even as the young woman fluffed the pillows up to better support Arianna's posture.

Once the pillows were suitable fluffed, the servant took a step back from the bed and curtsied deeply. "My name is Charlotte, Miss Arianna, and I've been hired to be your personal maid." She said, her voice soft, though it broke partway. It was impossible to tell if it was from nerves or from a growth spurt as the servant kept a perfectly even smile on her face the entire time.

Arianna's brow furrowed despite herself. Charlotte seemed nice enough, but she hadn't been an employee of the ducal household as of the banquet, so that meant she had been hired in short order... Arianna was forced to assume that key steps in ascertaining the maid's allegiances had been skipped, so she immediately resolved herself to not trusting Charlotte. It didn't help that the girl had given no information about herself beside her name.

Giving her best pathetic face, Arianna forced her eyes to well up with tears. "W-where's my mommy? Where's Lulu? Where's Theo?" She sobbed, rubbing at her eyes to hide the fact that there weren't actually all that many tears rolling down her cheeks. Charlotte looked panicked, and hurried off to find one of the three, as Arianna's shoulders started to shake.

The previously sleeping doctor woke up from the sound of crying, looking as confused as Arianna had felt when she had awoken. She simply looked at the back of the rapidly departing Charlotte with a sigh, coming over to Arianna's side and grabbing her arm.

Perhaps due to her mind settling into the confines of her six year old body better, but the doctor's grip did send actual tears down Arianna's cheek. She had been very afraid of doctors originally, she didn't understand what they were doing and she only felt worse after they left. It seemed that fear response was ingrained.

The doctor pulled a stethoscope out and began checking Arianna's pulse, and breathing before she moved on to other diagnostics. Arianna bit her lip to forcefully stop the sobs her six year old form was trying to keep giving. By the time the doctor had finished the exam, the door opened, with Charlotte holding it for the Grand Duchess and her children.

The doctor spoke for the first time since Arianna had awoken. "She'll be fine. Her muscles seem a little tired, which isn't surprising, and she might have a few bruises, but they'll go away fairly quickly. No medicine required, though I will still leave instructions for things to help strengthen her, as well as a cream to minimize the appearance of the scar on her chest, as the Grand Duke ordered." The doctor then stood, packing away her things and bowing to the Grand Duchess before leaving.

Arianna's stepmother for her part had given a relieved smile to hear that Arianna would recover, before giving an eye roll about the Grand Duke's request.

Lucia's face had had a similar look across it for a moment, and the three of them knew it was simply about making Arianna presentable and not about any actual concern for her comfort.

Theo grabbed his full sister's hand and pulled her along as they scrambled up onto Arianna's bed and piled together. Lucia was far more gentle about it, but she had the advantage of knowledge that ten year old Theo didn't.

Theo held out a teddy bear to Arianna. "I brought Ser Snuggles for you to hold onto while you get better." He said, proudly offering her the cuddly knight.

Arianna wiped the tears from her cheeks and gave a real smile at that. Ser Snuggles was Theo's... But had been Arianna's near constant companion. Theo offered to let her borrow the toy every time she was sick, and as that had been frequent, Ser Snuggles had spent more time with Arianna than with Theo.

Her heart ached, remembering the day she had gone off to the palace. Theo had offered to let her take Ser Snuggles, now a very old and thread worn teddy bear, with her. To keep her company in the new place.

Arianna had thrown it in the mud. She didn't remember why.

She held onto the teddy bear a little tighter.