Edwina Knight (1)

Edwina Knight devoted her life to her studies. For nineteen years she had spent every day honing her intellect and it had taken her very far. At twenty-four years old, she was now the Grand Historian. The King of Wintenborough had appointed her personally, due to her exceptional performance at the Royal Academy. She was the first commoner to receive a role on the King’s Court, made up of only his most trusted advisors.

Born in a remote village to the south of the capital, her parents were kind, simple people. Her father had worked as a stablehand and her mother worked as a maid for Baron Schloss. For the early part of their lives, they had lived in the servants’ dormitory but after marrying and giving birth to Edwina, they had moved into a small house in town.

Together they raised Edwina diligently and they were happy. Edwina never remembered much from this time, but when she tried to recall this period of her life she felt nothing but warmth.

When Edwina was four years old, her father suffered an accident at the stables. A horse kicked him in the temple while he was checking its hoof and he never regained consciousness. Edwina was too young to comprehend what had truly happened. She remembered her mother spent many evenings crying when she thought Edwina was asleep.

After the incident, the task of raising Edwina became communal. Every day she would travel with her mother to the manor. She would sit in the kitchen and watch the staff hustle and bustle. Sometimes other servant’s children would come and visit and she would spend time playing with them in the kitchen’s gardens.

When she was five she got her hands on a book for the first time. It was a particularly rainy and gloomy day at the manor. Her mother had left her in the care of the kitchen staff as always. She was supposed to stay there, eat sweets and stay out of people’s way, but Edwina had always had a willful spirit. Her mother said she took after her father in that way. While the staff was busy preparing lunch, she slipped away and explored the manor.

She toddled all the way to the manor’s library. Lord Schloss was only a baron, but he was a famous scholar. He had served as a royal advisor to the king before the death of his wife. When he returned from court to the estate, he commandeered one of the manor’s ballrooms and converted it into a library. This was decades ago but the servants still liked to gossip about their eccentric baron.

Young Edwina was awestruck when she saw the ballroom library for the first time. The room was filled with tall oak shelves. Rows of them created small corridors and hallways in the once open room. A large crystal chandelier hung at the center of the ceiling, the ballroom’s original signature piece, illuminating the room.

She had no idea what the strange colorful objects lining the shelves were. She pulled out several and had them spread out all over the floor. Her stubby fingers traced over the pretty manuscripts with illuminated art. The pages would shine in the light and five-year-old Edwina could not get enough of it.

The Baron found her there amidst the books. The Baron was an older man in his late 60’s and while once he had been a fierce stern man, time and loss had dulled his edges. His wife had died decades ago. She had been a kind woman who had borne him three children. The first child had died at the age of 6. The family mourned the loss, but the baron’s wife never recovered from the loss. A few months after the child’s death, she chose to follow him.

The Baron raised his remaining two sons by himself. The servants whispered about his parenting methods. He was always overly strict with the boys, pushing them both in their studies and their physical activities. The boys left at the age of ten to begin their studies at the Royal Academy. The Royal Academy agreed to take them even though they were two years younger than the usual admission age. They never returned to the manor to visit.

The strict baron of yesteryear was no more. Loneliness had seeped into his soul. He became kinder to the servants and all those around him.

He smiled at Edwina who was surrounded by books on the floor of his library and picked her up.

“Do you want me to read them to you?” he asked with a sparkle in his eyes. Edwina nodded fervently. She didn’t know at the time what this “reading” was but she knew she wanted to know all about the strange objects she had found. He moved her over to a reading chair by the fire and picked up the most colorful book she had stolen from the shelves. It was a book about local fairy tales. He began to read to her, his voice steady and deep.

Edwina fell in love at that moment. Not with the Baron, but with books. As the Baron told her tales of kings and queens she touched the pages. She would look back and forth between him and the book while he narrated. He seemed to be getting these tales from the object. She wanted to know how to do it too.

When the story finished, she stared at him in awe, “How did you do that?” Her voice was hushed. She felt like she had witnessed magic at work.

“Do you want to learn how to read?” the Baron asked.

“Yes, I want to do what you just did.” Her eyes were filled with sparkles.

“If you come here every day at this time, I’ll teach you.”

Edwina couldn’t form words. She just stood up in his lap and gave him a big hug. Her mother walked in at that moment. Her mother pulled her off the baron and apologized over and over.

She scolded Edwina and told her she wouldn’t be allowed any sweets for two weeks! But Edwina didn’t care about sweets. She had just been promised something even better.