What It Means To Be Marie

Carina was fully enjoying her excursion, even going so far as to hum as she walked along the crowded streets.

Marie was watching after her, wondering how she seemed as if she was an entirely different person. She felt bad for Carina, that in the mansion Carina felt as if she had to hide this side of her, that the atmosphere of the Rayburns pressed down on her so much she felt she had to bury any feelings of happiness.

She suspected though that the more calculated, cold side of Carina was necessary, especially when it came to dealing with someone like Vanessa Rayburn, though she also deeply wished Carina didn't have to challenge Vanessa so directly.

She worried for what might happen if Vanessa decided to retaliate in a way that Carina wouldn't suspect, and worried that she herself might not be able to prevent Carina completely from suffering any harm. Though she would certainly be trying her best. Marie knew it would be impossible to find an employer as strong and as kind as Carina.

In the beginning Marie had despised the idea of working under somebody as a maid, the idea of serving someone and being at mercy to their beck and call angered her completely. Her father had raised her to be a fighter, to be a soldier, and Marie had wanted nothing more than to prove her worth in the battlefield.

But then her father had passed away, had lost his life in a war, and she was handed off to her aunt, who regarded her as nothing but a frail girl. And girls didn't fight, girls didn't carry daggers under their sleeves, girls didn't go to war. So Marie was forced to work as a maid, and as soon as she was old enough, she was sent away to work for in the Rayburn mansion, doing nothing but cleaning day in and day out.

She thought it was a rather miserable existence, and she simply drifted from day to day, quiet, on her own, wondering each night as she went to sleep if it would be worth it to simply run away and leave everything behind.

She would have run, if she hadn't been too scared to, too worried that no one would be willing to accept her, a girl that only craved violence and action. She feared that everyone else would be just like her aunt, that they would only look down on her and label her as nothing but a fragile small young girl.

So she stayed, and resigned herself to a boring, unfulfilling life.

And then Carina had suddenly opened the door and let the light back in.

Carina had taken Marie by the hand, and led her into a new world. One where she was free to do as she wished, one where someone looked at her and thought she was strong, useful, one where she was valued and regarded as more than just another girl.

Marie could never be more thankful to Carina for giving her the opportunity to finally do something she thought was worthwhile, for believing in her.