Eleanor had her arms very full as she tottered upstairs to the bedroom, but moving slowly she managed not to spill anything. Her mother and father were expecting guests over for dinner, so she was to take food up for herself and her sister. Her father had requested that she come back down to say hello, but her mom did not want the responsibility of caring for two small children while she was meant to be entertaining the traveling traders. Eleanor was perfectly happy to eat upstairs. Little Triss had learned to crawl and dearly loved to play with her big sister, and Eleanor adored her. Here was one person who just wanted to play with Eleanor, one person who didn’t care what she ate, how messy her hair was, whether her smile was crooked, or if she was wearing shoes or not. Triss had no need for manners, only for laughter, and Eleanor was more than happy to give her that, even when Triss woke up hungry and crying in the middle of the night. Eleanor had become quite good at calming her, so that she didn’t even have to wake their parents anymore, and could soothe her sister all on her own.
Eleanor leaned back against the door at the top of the stairs and, standing on tiptoe, used her elbow to turn the handle and push her way inside. Triss squealed and giggled and tried to crawl Eleanor’s way. Eleanor knelt down to quickly drop the plates and cups she was carrying on the floor and kick the door shut. Then she dashed to her sister and grabbed her around the middle to tickle her sides. Triss flailed about happily, laughing so hard she squeaked. Eleanor rolled her over gently onto her back to get her to sit still momentarily and reordered the food on the floor for them so she could start dinner. Triss squirmed her way to a sitting position again quickly, but she still had trouble keeping her balance that way and it took both of her hands on the ground to keep her steady. Eleanor picked up the little bowl of mashed porridge and greens and shuffled over to put it by her bed. Then, she pulled Triss to lean back against the bed, too, so she could clap her hands and be steadier for eating.
“Right, who’s hungry?” Eleanor asked brightly. Triss giggled a lot. “Is anyone hungry? Is Miss Triss hungry?” Triss clapped at the sound of her name and patted her tummy with both hands. Eleanor laughed and grinned, too. Eleanor could say Patricia now, though she’d had trouble with it when Triss had first been born. Eleanor wasn’t certain if Triss knew that Patricia was her real name, yet, but she had understood Triss for a while, now, as Eleanor talked to her constantly. She hoped that Triss was old enough to start talking, soon. Playing was very fun, but she was getting a little lonely without anyone to talk to. Her father had spoken to her more as an infant, but a lack of trade and a bitter marriage had left him quieter in recent years. Eleanor scooped out a spoonful of dinner and held it out to Triss, who tried very eagerly to lean forward to it, but overbalanced again and only caught herself just before toppling completely over. Eleanor waited for Triss to right herself before holding the spoon out to her again. This time, Triss remembered to lean back and wait, and Eleanor was able to help her get a relatively clean bite. Triss giggled at her success, and in so dribbled a fair bit of her food down her chin. Eleanor rolled her eyes and mopped her up with the towel she had brought along.
The process of food took about ten mostly successful minutes, after which Triss was still pretty clean and quite full, and Eleanor was very messy and feeling peckish. Unlike her mother, Eleanor did not mind being messy in the slightest, and didn’t even bother to do more than rub her hands on the towel before digging into her own food. She continued to entertain Triss while she ate, making faces, humming folk songs, and reaching over to tickle her sister’s stomach again. Today, Triss was mostly content just to watch her sister and giggle to herself. Eleanor didn’t mind of course, Triss was easier to entertain this way than if she were upset over something, but it did make her wish again that Triss was able to talk. She seemed to have a lot to say and Eleanor was impatient to hear it, and to share her own thoughts with someone who could respond to them.
When Eleanor finished, she piled all the dishes on the towel by the door, then hopped on her bed and pulled Triss into her lap. “Do you want to sing? Want to sing a song, Triss?” Triss squealed happily and clapped. “You’re going to have to help me. You know I’m not so good. You’ll sing, too, won’t you?” Triss grinned up to Eleanor, which she had to assume meant yes.
Girls, girls, throw your arms out free
Girls, girls, spin around
Boys, boys, come and dance with me
All across our little town
Girls and boys together dance,
Brothers, sisters, each find romance
Girls, girls, come join with me
Come and dance on Springstart day
Triss, to her credit, la-la-ed along as best she could. Eleanor was nearly certain that Triss had learned the tune, even though she had no way to understand the words yet. As Eleanor sang, though, Triss did bounce on her lap in time, and waved her arms around happily. Eleanor guided her hands gently, so that Triss didn’t whack her in the face on accident, or lose her balance and topple off the bed. Triss didn’t need much guidance these days, however. Dancing seemed to come quite naturally to her. It had taken Eleanor an absurdly long time to learn how to walk. She did not think Triss would have the same problems. Triss was in control of her body most of the time, able to crawl and sit up right and sometimes even walk a bit if you held her steady. Eleanor’s body on the other hand, even at five, still sometimes had ideas of its own. If she was too nervous, her hands and feet got very hot and pale. Sitting helped this, so Eleanor had sat down unexpectedly quite a lot as a toddler, much to her parents’ frustration, as she could not tell them why she couldn’t bear to stand on feet that felt like they were burning. They were near to giving up teaching her to write. It wasn’t that Eleanor didn’t want to learn, just that holding the pencil was very difficult in her right hand, especially when her fingers tingled and went numb from heat. But Triss would be better, and then, maybe she and Eleanor could try learning these things together.
When her lap got sore, Eleanor clambered to her feet again and pulled Triss down. Still singing, she kept a steady grip on Triss’ arms and let her giggle and kick her feet out awkwardly in front of her. Eleanor let her lead the way in a sort of off-beat, hobbling two-step, that was quite as fun to mimic as it was to watch. When Triss stumbled, Eleanor held her steady, and when she leaned too far over, Eleanor bent down to scoop her up again.
Ma, Da, won’t you dance with me
Families, friends, come round
Dearest boy, give a kiss to me
Then twirl me right around
Girl and boy together dance
Start with friendship, take their chance
Girls, boys, come and join with me
Dance on this Springstart day
Eleanor let Triss drop to her knees and flopped down to tickle her again. Triss squealed loudly, too loudly, and Eleanor tried to hush her a bit too late. She was making the ‘quiet now’ face at Triss, who tried to mimic it back at her with her tongue out, when she heard their mother’s clicking footsteps on the stairs.
“Eleanor!” came the snap from the other side of the door.
“Sorry, Mom! We’re being quiet now!” Eleanor called back as loud as she dared. It wasn’t loud enough, and her mother started to open the door, which knocked over all of Eleanor’s carefully piled dishes.
“Eleanor, what— oh, Eleanor, look at this mess,” Gilda Muggeridge sighed.
“Sorry, Mom, I didn’t know you were coming in. I tickled her too much. I’m sorry, I’ll clean it up, and we’ll be quiet.”
“Put your sister in the crib and bring these plates down. Your father wants you to pop in, and you may as well while you’re getting more towels, but brush your hair and wipe your hands, Eleanor. Hurry, now, before that sits.” Gilda Muggeridge snapped the door shut again and clicked away downstairs. Eleanor sighed, and turned around to Triss, who was still sitting on the floor and trying to make the ‘quiet now’ face. She wasn’t succeeding. Eleanor bit her lip to stifle giggling and went over to her sister and picked her up again.
“You’re getting big, Triss. I won’t be able to do this much longer. Come on, in the crib, and I’ll go down for towels then be back,” Eleanor said. She climbed up the step-stool she used to get Triss in and out of her crib, and set Triss down on the other side of the low bars.
“You’ll be good, right? You’ll be quiet and polite for me, and wait here till I come back?”
“Nor!” Triss shouted. Eleanor blinked.
“Triss? Triss, what did you say?”
“Nor!” Triss giggled, reaching up for Eleanor again. “Nor Nor Nora!”
“Is that my name? Is that me?” Eleanor cried. “Eleanor, right? Eleanor?”
“Nor!” Triss repeated, quite insistently. “Nor-ra!”
“I can be Nora,” Eleanor laughed. “It’s okay. There’s a lot of bits to Eleanor. I like Nora.”
“Nora!” Triss said again, then she started to giggle very brightly and Eleanor couldn’t stop herself from joining. She reached on tiptoe into the crib again to hug her sister tightly and lifted her out again.
“They’ll want to know. They’ll want to hear you. You said a word, Triss! You know my name!”
“Nora! Nor-Nora!” Triss started to kick out and used her la-la voice with her new word to sing Eleanor’s name to the tune of the song they had sung. Eleanor joined in more quietly with “Triss, Triss, Tricia-Triss,” swinging her sister back and forth on her hips and rubbing their noses together. Eleanor nudged the dishes aside with her foot, and balanced Triss carefully on one hip to swing the door wide enough for both of them to slide through, then she started down the stairs, Triss still singing away, and Eleanor trying to walk in step to the tune. They got most of the way downstairs, before their mother came around the corner at a trot, bearing a frustrated expression.
“Eleanor, what are you doing? Why are you bringing your sister along? Have you cleaned that mess yet?”
“We’re getting the towels, I promise, but Triss—“
“And you’re still a mess, too. Do you even know where your hairbrush is?”
“Mom, Triss said her first word!” Eleanor said quickly. Gilda Muggeridge did pause at this, and looked to Triss curiously. Triss smiled and happily supplied “Nor!” for her benefit.
“Oh, Eleanor, really?” Gilda moaned. “Her first word and you teach her to say ‘no’? Was that necessary?”
“No!” Eleanor cried, hugging Triss back to her chest. “No, that’s not—“
“Oh, just go get the towels and brush off your hands, and we’ll make do,” Gilda grumbled over her daughter’s protests. “Come on, give me Patricia, and go get those towels, I’ll put her in the crib, and I hope there aren’t any more traps by the door, you hear?”
“Nor?” Triss asked as she was pulled from Eleanor’s arms. “Nora?”
“Mom, she’s saying—“
“Eleanor, do what I say. Do you have to make everything so difficult? Is simply doing what we ask of you too much to manage? Get the towels, please!” Gilda snapped. She turned with a sigh to take Triss back upstairs, but Triss suddenly realized that she was being taken away from her sister and opened her mouth and screwed up her eyes and bawled. Gilda was so taken aback that she stumbled down a step, but Eleanor ran forward to reach up to her sister’s feet and grabbed hold of them to soothe her, while Triss just screamed.
“Patricia!” Gilda hissed, “Patricia stop that! Shh! Hush, Patricia, the guests!
“Triss, I’m right here, I’m not going anywhere, I’m right here, Triss!” Eleanor tried, blinking away tears that were threatening in her own eyes.
“Nor!” Triss shrieked. “Nor! Nor! Nora!”
“Of all the words!” Gilda groaned.
“Give her back to me, Mom. I’ll take her up. I’ll make her quiet,” Eleanor begged. “I’m right here, Triss. Nora’s here, Nora’s right here.” But for the moment, Triss was beyond hearing her mother or her sister. Her screaming melted into sobs and hiccups, and she kept trying to call out “Nora,” but mostly she just cried, even when Gilda finally gave in and dropped the unhappy toddler into her sister’s arms. Eleanor rushed back upstairs, clutching Triss very awkwardly and kicked the door shut behind them. She set Triss down on the bed and held her tightly while she choked out the last of her tears.
“I’m here, Triss. I’ll always be here, even when I can’t be. And one day, they’ll understand. One day, things will be better. Very soon, I promise. I’ll make it all better, Triss. I love you.”
The stain on the carpet never quite came out after that, but Nora had never minded being a little messy.