Chapter 2: Chapter Two: Navigating The Baby Years
Over the next year, Celeste surprised her new parents with just how strange she really was. Of course, Celeste was aware of just how unbaby-like she really was. Babies do not usually learn to roll properly before they are two months old. Nor do they usually crawl before they are four months old.
And while some babies do indeed learn how to stand at six months old and may even manage to take a step or two with the aid of whatever wall, furniture or adult happens to be around. They are not usually capable of running around on their own from one end of the mansion to the other at the same age.
Somehow, before she had turned 10 months old, Celeste's baby babble had turned into proper words and sentences. Her words were even clearer than her brother who was three years older than her. Much to the amazement of the servants in the house.
They had grown used to finding their young miss, not in the nursery where she should have been at 8 months old, but in the massive library surrounded by piles of books on various topics. Usually her brother, Chris, could be found next to her, watching his baby sister in sparkling amazement as she read out loud the contents of the book they were reading and teaching him at the same time. By this time, Chris had fully learnt just how unusual his baby sister was and seemed to love her all the more for it.
There was an unspoken agreement amongst the servants of the Duke's House and Celeste's parents that no one would speak of just how advanced the young miss of the house was, for her protection. No one wanted her targeted out of desire or jealousy.
Even Chris was remarkably protective of his sister, remaining guarded whenever he met with his friends on the arranged play dates and they spoke of wanting to meet her. Eventually, he knew they would run into her, although he did his best to keep them out of the library whenever they had their meet ups at his house. It was inevitable really, despite him managing to do so for a over a year.
One day when Celeste was around a 18 months old, she was surprised by the library door banging open. She looked up from her history books to find a little blonde haired boy running through them to hide behind a bookshelf. 'Oh, is brother and his friends playing hide and seek?'
Celeste studied the boy in curiosity while he remained unaware of her presence. His hair was ruffled and untidy from his activities although his clothing were reasonably neat and tidy. He looked close to five years old. She decided to make her presence known.
"Hello. Are you and my brother playing hide and seek? Or is there a bad person following you?"
The boy jumped in surprise at hearing a young girl's voice behind him. Looking back, he spotted the small girl at a table behind him surrounded by books. Her silvery blue hair was neatly braided on either side in the front and leading to the back to keep it out of her face, whilst the rest were loose around her shoulders. Her silvery blue eyes were bright and clear, and staring at him in obvious curiosity and amusement.
"Um... Hello... Sorry... I didn't mean to interrupt your studies... Are you Chris's sister?"
"Yes, I am. I am Celeste Anna Marie Von Drake. Please call me Celeste. May I ask the name of the person I am speaking to?" Celeste responded as she got down from her chair, walked around the table and performed a curtsy in greeting. The boy was shocked to see just how young the girl really was, and just how graceful she moved despite her age.
The boy bowed in turn. "I am Theodore Adam Harris Michaelise."
Celeste's eyes widened in surprise and she dropped into a deeper curtsy. "My apologies, your highness, I didn't expect to be greeting the Crown Prince. Please excuse my bad manners."
"Not at all. I found you very polite despite not knowing who I was. I'm more amazed to find a toddler studying in the library rather than playing in the nursery like my own little sister is at a similar age." Prince Theodore walked closer to Celeste. His gold coloured eyes sparkled as he studied her. 'Cute...'
"Ah... I am an oddity I guess, though my family do not hate me for it." Celeste smiled fondly at the thought of her family.
"I doubt anyone could hate a cute girl like yourself, Celeste. Though I do understand now just why your brother keeps you hidden as he does." He reached out a hand to lift a stray silvery blue strand that had fallen over Celeste's cheek during her curtsy. 'Soft...'
Celeste blushed slightly as she stepped back a little pulling her hair out of his hand while doing so. 'Dangerous... Isn't he a little young to be flirting like this?' "Should you not be getting back to my brother and the rest of your friends, your highness? I'm sure they are looking for you."
"Hmm, considering we're supposed to be playing hide and seek, if they haven't found me yet, I must have found a really good hiding place." Prince Theodore smirked.
"That is because my brother would not be expecting anyone to hide in the library. I'm pretty sure this is supposed to be an out of bounds area for his friends."
The library door slammed open just then. "Celeste, you haven't seen a stray boy in here have... Oh, Theo, you are here. Why are you annoying my cute little sister during her studies?"
Prince Theodore laughed. "I came in to hide and found a cute nymph while I was at it."
"Who are you calling a nymph, your highness? Please keep your teasing to your future fiance and leave me out of it." Celeste folded her arms across her chest in annoyance and turned to Chris. "Dear brother, please take your precious friend away to play. I need to get back to my studies before Father comes to test me on it."
"Of course, Celeste, I apologise for letting him disturb you. Come on Theo, the others are waiting."
Prince Theodore could only look back in regret at Celeste waving bye with her hand as she headed back to her chair and books while Chris dragged him out of the library behind him. The library door closed behind them blocking his view of Celeste.
"Your sister is quiet remarkable. She's nothing like Amelia even though they are the same age." Prince Theodore remained staring at the door as if he could see through it, though he really couldn't. Celeste had fascinated him.
"Now you know why we are so protective of her. She's our little treasure. I'm sure I don't need to say it, but please don't gossip about my sister to the others. You're all my precious friends but I won't hesitate to squash any bugs hovering around Celeste. Even if you are my precious friends."
"Not to worry. I'm in no hurry to let other bugs know about that cute little nymph. Though don't expect me to stay away from her either." Prince Theodore grinned at his friend's grumpy face.
"Ugh, I think our meet ups had better be elsewhere for the next few years." Chris stormed off dragging the now laughing prince behind him.
....
A couple of years later, Celeste had gotten used to her brother's friends dropping in to see her when they came over to play. Chris had given up trying to stop them from seeing her. Well, it wasn't like he could really stop Prince Theodore in the first place and the other two, Peter and Hughes, had grown curious as to where their friend disappeared to during their visits.
So one after the other, each friend had discovered Celeste studying in the library after spying on the prince and each became fascinated by her in turn. Chris spent a lot of time mumbling about getting rid of bugs to Prince Theodore's amusement and Celeste's confusion.
By the time Celeste had turned four, she had grown used to having her brother and his three friends join her lessons. Her father had finally consented to getting her a tutor to teach the things he and her mother could not.
At first Celeste's tutor, George, was shocked at just how advanced his student was and was under strict instructions to not talk about her under any circumstances. He was proud of his student and badly wanted to show her off. But George understood exactly why she was kept hidden as well. It was already bad enough that Celeste's brother and his friends would interrupt their lessons with their visits. They seemed to struggle to keep up with her level of lessons at first although they did try hard to not fall behind too far.
They seemed to thrive on the challenge and eventually, seemed to join her every day. Since each of their respective parents were pleased at the result of their unofficial lessons, they arranged privately with Celeste and Chris' parents to make the lessons official and compensate George for it. So Celeste's one on one lessons then became a daily class of five.
Celeste was only glad that George kept the boys teasing to a minimum during their lessons. Prince Theodore was bad enough with his teasing outside of the lessons and the others while not as bad were fairly close to it. Poor Celeste spent a lot of time being seemingly passed around from one eight year old boy to another while maintaining a brightly flushed face due to their teasing antics.
Her only relief from the boys teasing came from her brother. Even then, it only dropped to the bare minimum and only because he clung to her like a leech himself glaring at anyone who dared to approach her.
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