twispitefic

Title: A Tale of Two Sisters, Part One
Author: GoneIn30Seconds
Fandom(s): Hetalia: Axis Powers
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 2,553
Inspiration: She was merciful to the warlike knights, but she took away their lands and castles and made them take up honest trades. From the second chapter of Feminist Fairy Tales, "Princess Questa."
Warnings: Strong language
Summary: When their new queen takes away their home and money, sisters Lovina and Felice Vargas embark on a journey to save their grandfather from homelessness.

Once upon a time, in a faraway land called Víteliú, there was a great knight named Augustus Vargas. He was blessed with a keen intellect and a charismatic disposition, which, in time, earned him the rank of general in his king's army.

Unfortunately, his luck was not destined to hold. The king grew gravely ill, and after his death the throne was usurped by his long-lost daughter, Questa. Immediately after she came to power, the young queen stripped all of the knights in the kingdom of their lands, their wealth, and their homes.

"You harassed and tried to force yourselves upon me when I was princess," she told them. "Now you may go out and take up honest trades."

"Your Majesty," said Augustus, "I beg you to see reason. Without knights, you will have no army to defend the nation in times of war or to give aid to our allies. These men know no other profession; if you do this to them, they will not be able to feed their families. Is taking revenge for the asinine comments of a few drunks and asses really worth risking the kingdom for?"

Questa was unmoved. "The country has no need for an army, since we are not going to war. I am granting you knights a mercy. Now get out of my sight."

Now Augustus had two granddaughters, both of whom were considered great beauties and whom he loved dearly. Lovina, the eldest, was brown-haired and green-eyed, with a love of gardening and a very colorful vocabulary. Felice, the younger, was auburn-haired and amber-eyed, good with her hands and as cheerful as the day is long. The two greeted Augustus when he returned home that night and were shocked to hear that they were now little more than beggars.

"What the hell is this woman thinking?!" Lovina shouted, pacing up and down the room and waving her hands above her head. "Does she fucking want to lose that throne of hers this early?"

"Lovi is right, Grandpa," said Felice. "The knights must be very angry."

"I tried to make her see reason, mi carissime." said Augustus sadly. "But the queen is a bitter woman. And now we have no home, no money, and only have enough food to last us three days. I don't know how we are going to manage!"

"Don't be sad, Grandpa," said Felice, "Lovi and I will think of something!"

That night, their last night in the only home they ever had, Lovina and Felice discussed what they could possibly do.

"What we really need is money," said Felice. "And our pocket money isn't going to last long."

"Damn straight," Lovina said. "But how to go about getting some?"

Her eyes wandered over to her jewelry box, and she got an idea.

"We could sell our jewels. That ought to get us some money."

"But Lovi, the queen's guards aren't going to let us take them with us. How will we sneak our jewelry past them?"

Lovina thought about it for a moment, and then she grinned as another idea hit her. "Let's sew the jewels into our clothes. Then the guards won't see them, and if they can't see them, they can't take them."

Felice's face lit up. "That's perfect, Lovi! Let's get started right away."

And so the two sisters sat up for a few hours more, sewing as much of their jewelry as they could into the hems of their petticoats and next to the stays in their corsets. They also decided to each bring one of their late grandmother's cameo lockets with them, to honor her memory. They sewed these lockets into their warmest coats. Then they put what little pocket money they had into their shoes, and turned out the lights.

The next morning, the three of them were taken from their home by the queen's guards, given enough food for three days, and left in a small village.

"Remember, Augustus," one of the guards said, "it is only by the queen's mercy that you get even this much." With that, they turned and left.

"Some mercy," Lovina grumbled. She took off her shoe and dumped her money into her palm. "Let's see if we can't find an inn that'll take us."

With their pooled pocket money the girls were able to rent a room at the inn for two days. Once they got into their room, Felice took a pair of small scissors she had hidden in her sleeve and started to cut open the hem of her petticoat, much to her grandfather's bewilderment.

"What are you doing?" Augustus asked.

Lovina, who had also started to open up the hem of her petticoat, said, "Don't panic, Grandpa. We had an idea last night." And she explained how she and Felice had hidden their jewels in their clothes so that they might be sold.

The relief on Augustus's part was great. At least now, he thought, we will be able to buy food and a house.

Unfortunately, the three of them could only find one merchant in town, and the man refused to buy from them.

"Please, sir," Felice said. "We don't have any money at all, and we can only stay at the inn for today and tomorrow. Can't you buy at least one?"

"I'm sorry, little miss," he said, "but times are hard, what with the wars and the taxes and all. I can barely feed my own family." At the despondent looks on the family's faces, however, the merchant softened and he said, "Listen. I can't really help you, but if you go to one of the bigger cities you can probably find somebody to buy them from you at a fair price." He handed them some coins. "This ought to be enough to buy you three passage on a caravan."

"Thank you, my friend," said Augustus. "You have done us a great kindness."

The next day, Augustus, Lovina and Felice bought passage and left on a caravan to a large city, and five days later they arrived. As the merchant said, they were able to sell the girls' jewels at a fair price there, and they bought a small house once they returned to the village. Augustus worked as a carpenter, Lovina grew food in the small garden, and Felice mended clothes. And for about three months, they were content.

However, at the onset of autumn more bad luck befell them. The young queen had, by that point, realized just how little money the kingdom had after the late king's wars. The problem was, she had promised that taxes would not increase for the general population, and so she decided that she would once again lash out at one of her favorite scapegoats: her father's former knights.

"Those foul knights fought my father's wars, and now they shall pay for them," she told her councilors. "They shall feel the greatest brunt of the taxes until the kingdom is no longer lacking in monies."

Almost all the money Augustus and his granddaughters had managed to save up from the jewel sale and their three months of hard work was taken from them, so heavy was the taxes on them. Even the monies Augustus had started setting aside for his granddaughters were not spared, despite his pleas.

"I beg of you," Augustus cried, "this money is for my grandchildren, so that they may be provided for when I am gone from this earth. Surely you would not deny an old man that peace of mind!"

"That is of no concern to me or to the queen," the tax collector replied. "And I expect the same amount in three months’ time, or this house is forfeit."

In the end, the three of them were left with only enough money to buy bread for the next two weeks. Even worse, Augustus became very, very sick a few days later. The medicine was very expensive, and with Augustus unable to work their income severely decreased. By the end of the month, Lovina and Felice were almost beside themselves with worry.

"We aren't going to make nearly enough to pay that bastard tax collector when he comes around again," Lovina said, fidgeting with her needlework. "If we don't think of something really frigging fast, we'll lose the house. And if Grandpa gets sick again..." Her voice trailed off.

Felice drummed her fingers on the table, trying to think. Think, Feli, think! How can we get more money? She looked out the window, and she realized the answer so quickly she was dumbfounded that she hadn't thought of it before.

"Let's go out and get work," she said to her sister.

"Feli," said Lovina, "no one in this town has work."

"Then let's go out of town! We can go to the cities and get work there and send Grandpa the money! There must be some people who need a little more help!"

Lovina set aside her needlework. "Grandpa won't like it. And the next caravan doesn't get here 'til mid-winter. We'll have to walk."

"I know," said Felice, "but we are out of money and running out of time and I can't think of a better idea."

Lovina sighed. "Me neither. All right, I'm in."

As the girls expected, Augustus was not pleased with the idea of his two beloved granddaughters going out into the world unprotected, even if it would bring in more money for the family. But the two sisters would give him no rest about it, and so, with a heavy heart, he gave them leave to go.

"But don't send me all the money you make," he said. "Save some to take care of yourselves. And write to me often."

"Of course, Grandpa," said Felice.

"Why the hell wouldn't we?" agreed Lovina.

The girls each packed some food and water for the road, put on their warmest coats, and kissed their grandfather on both cheeks as they told him goodbye. Augustus held them close, unwilling to let them go.

I wish there was some other way, he thought.

"Be careful, mi carissime," he said.

"We will, Grandpa," his granddaughters replied. And with that, they set off from their house and down the road that lead out of the village.

They walked on and on through the day, wandering along the road for miles and miles, until they heard a woman singing around dusk, just as they were about to make camp for the night. Curious, Lovina and Felice walked on a little farther, and found a most peculiar sight.

The place they had arrived at was a crossroads, and sitting under the signpost was a woman in a cloak, strumming a lyre and singing about hardship. A small fire burned next to her, and a dark-haired dog sat at her feet.

For a moment, the two sisters were at a loss as to what to do, but then the woman finished her song and looked over at them.

"Hello," she said.

"Hello, madonna," they replied.

"What are two young things like you doing out in the forest this late?"

"We're going to the city to find work," Lovina said.

The woman raised an eyebrow. "Oh? The nearest city is some distance away. What could possibly possess you two to go so far away from your family?"

"It's a really long story," said Felice.

"I have time." The woman looked at the basket they were carrying. "If you share your food with me, I will share my fire with you. Is that fair?"

Lovina and Felice agreed that this was a fair arrangement, so they sat down with the woman and shared their dinner with her. As they ate, the sisters shared their story with her: the queen driving them to poverty, the jewelry plan, the tax collector's threat, their grandfather's illness, their decision to get work and save their house.

At the end of it, the woman said, "Alas, poor girls! An unfortunate story indeed."

"Yeah, well, not much we can do about it," said Lovina. "All we can do now is try to get enough money that the stronzo tax collector can't take the house."

The woman thought for a moment. "Listen," she said. "You two seem like good, resilient girls. I will give you some advice that might improve your fortune."

She pointed down the path leading west. "In the morning, the eldest girl should go down this path." Then she pointed to the path leading north. "The younger girl, meanwhile, should go down this one."

"You want us to split up?!" Felice cried. "But we don't want to be on our own!"

"That is merely what I think you should do," said the woman. "Whether you do it or not is up to you. However, I shall give you each a small gift; perhaps you shall find some use for it." With that, the woman gave Lovina a scrap of sailcloth and Felice a small piece of lyre-string. The girls put their treasures into the cameo lockets that were still sewn into their coats.

Satisfied, the woman said, "Now I must go. I wish you both happiness and luck in your future endeavors, no matter what you do." And with that, she and her dog disappeared.

Realizing that they the woman they had been speaking to was a fairy or a witch, Felice and Lovina lay down and fell asleep.

The next morning, the two sisters debated following the woman's advice.

"She might be a witch," said Lovina. "For all we know, she's just trying to fuck with us."

"I don't know, Lovi," said Felice. "I don't really think she would have given us things and wished us luck if she was trying to trick us. I mean, it didn't seem like she was trying to trick us."

"Maybe, but you can never tell with the magical types, Feli." Lovina looked back the way they had come the day before. "Then again, if it isn't a damned trick, can we actually risk not doing as she said?"

The two sisters looked at each other, at the road back to their house, at the two roads the woman had indicated the night before, and then back at each other.

They knew what they would do.

"Are you sure about this?" Lovina asked.

Felice looked down. "To be honest...not really." She looked back up at her sister. "But I still want to do it. I think that woman was being honest with us."

Lovina nodded sadly. "All right. It's settled, then."

The sisters ate their breakfast and divided the remaining food between them. The time had come for them to part.

"You'll be careful, right Feli?" Lovina said.

"I will. And you'll be careful too?" Felice replied.

Lovina snorted. "What do you take me for? Of course I'll be careful." She paused. Then, tears threatening to spill over, she wrapped her younger sister in a tight hug. "I love you, Feli," she said, voice cracking. "Make me and Grandpa proud."

Felice hugged her back, not even trying to stop her tears. "I love you too, Lovi," she said. "Take care of yourself."

The two of them let go.

"Ave atque vale, Felice," Lovina said.

"Ave atque vale, Lovina," Felice replied.

They turned and walked down their respective paths. They looked back frequently.