Once Upon a Time, in France, there was a prosperous city named Cerise, which was French for Cherry. It was named after the city's mayor, Mayor Cherrypip, who lived in the center of the city with his wife, Mayflower, and two mouse-lings, Elsa and Alexander.

Cerise was a beautiful city, though some thought it a little overcrowded. It had the winding, narrow roads France was famous for, and the neat little cafe's on the corners, their warm lights shining out even on the most misty of nights. The streets were clean and neatly paved, the houses freshly painted with window boxes filled with bright flowers and scarlet doors facing the street. On the weekdays, the streets were crowded and so full that not a motorcar could get through without much honking and yelling of the driver. However, on the weekends, the streets were clear but for a few who needed to be somewhere.

The weekends were blissful in Cerise. You could hear young mouse-lings laughing around the corner, the singing of a maid moving around the house, the sound of a door opening, or the milk cart making its early rounds. All of these were part of the weekend days. (It is on a weekend day that the story starts, but that will be gotten to in a moment.) Parents of mouse-lings slept in on weekends, not looking forward to Monday, when they would have to become part of the active world again. They would take their mouse-lings to school, go to work, and make their way through the packed streets. It was all quite chaotic during the weekdays. That is why the weekends were so wonderful.

Cerise was cut off from the rest of France. It was situated high in the mountains, where the air was fresh and nipped at your nose if you did not wear something warm. However, in summer, as it is now, it was glorious. In summer, the countryside was alive with flowers, the trees throwing out their blossoms to welcome the butter warm air. Many mice lived in the countryside just to be closer to the natural beauty surrounding them.

For entertainment, young mice had races through the air on their dragonflies and butterflies, trying to out-maneuver each other. Other mice had races on the ground, running their ants or grasshoppers across the fields, brushing aside grass and flowers alike. Girl mice joined in, though mothers tsked at the unladylike-ness of it all. Or the mice went to an opera or to a play held in the city theater.

In Cerise (now we start the story) there was an orphanage. No, this is not going to be one of your sad stories about a little mouse-ling that grows up in a poor orphanage with a cruel head master or mistress, and then the mouse-ling must go into the world and face a hard journey to finally become happy. This is actually a very nice and happy story. And the orphanage is a very nice orphanage called Fernbed. And it is run by a very nice mouse called Mademoiselle Peppermint by other mice, and 'Mere' by the orphans. The orphanage, funded by Mayor Cherrypip, was a very nice place, many stories high, and its own little garden, filled with beautiful flowers and vegetables in the front. It used to be a big, old church until it was remodeled at Mayor Cherrypip's order. In both wings were the dormitories for the boy mouse-lings and the girl mouse-lings. The main part of the building was reserved for other things, such as the study, the kitchen, the dining room, the school room, and the living room. There was also a backyard, reserved just for play.

To describe the lives of the mice who lived in Fernbed is simply to say they were very nice ones. However, as is the case with most orphanages, the older mice do not get adopted very often.

Happily, Mademoiselle Peppermint makes sure that the unadopted mice do not have to go live a lonely life. Because she is well acquainted in Cerise, she teaches the older mouse-lings crafts, then sends them out to start a life of their own. Their are many of her 'children' in Cerise. All of them are nice, respectable mice, with good jobs, healthy habits, and some already starting families of their own. They even visit Mademoiselle Peppermint at the orphanage, bringing along the family to meet their 'Grandmere'.

There was one, small drawback to beauty and peace of Cerise, however. It was that the mice left curiosity and inventing to the inventors and scientists. They themselves never wondered about how things worked, how the planet rotated, or why they lived in comfort. That they were not curious was a fact. Any mice that were curious, were brought up in a far away monastery to become scientist or historians and never see their family again. The other option was for the parents to teach their children to never be curious, which was much harder work. It was just a fact of living in Cerise.

Now, back to Fernbed. In Fernbed there lived a mouse-ling (which is what young mice were called until they reached adult hood, which was eighteen) called Sophia. Sophia was particular because she was curious, and had remained curious despite Mademoiselle Peppermint's effort to stop her being curious. However, Mademoiselle Peppermint had decided not to send Sophia to the monastery (it was optional) because she was fond of Sophia, despite her curiosity, and shuddered at the thought of never seeing her again. However, in doing so, Mademoiselle Peppermint had doomed Sophia to a very lonely life. No mouse with common sense would adopt a mouse-ling with curiosity. They were a liability and every mouse knew that a mouse who was curious and had not been sent to the monastery could never settle in one place. Curious mice would forever roam around, looking for something to sate their thirst for new things.

Sophia had light brown fur with a few extra long hairs on top of her head, which were always curling out of place. She had a long pink tail, bright black eyes, a tiny pink nose, and large pink ears. Her paws were tiny and delicate and she had a splash of white fur on her front. Over all she was a very pretty little mouse-ling.

Sophia liked to invent things, making things out of nothing. The first thing she had made that exposed her curiosity was an irrigation system for the garden in front of Fernbed. It was made out of hollow bamboo, which she had borrowed from the gardening house down the street. Mademoiselle Peppermint had of course praised her but after that had come the difficult decision on whether to send Sophia off, or keep her in Fernbed. Mademoiselle Peppermint had made her choice, and was now grooming Sophia to become the next Mistress after Mademoiselle Peppermint had gone.

Sophia was eleven years old, too old for most mouse-lings to be adopted. So she watched the young mouse-lings leave and invented contraptions to entertain herself. Planes made of paper, wood, and rubber-bands that actually flew without help. Long chutes to slide marbles down. A pulley system to sneak down in the middle of the night to the kitchen, without having to cross in front of Mademoiselle Peppermint's bedroom door. Mademoiselle Peppermint had very keen ears and had caught many a mouse-ling sneaking downstairs for a midnight feast. She did not agree with eating after nine at night or before six in the morning.
Sophia was also adventurous. She liked to climb out of the dormitory window and clamber onto the orphanages rooftop to watch the moon and stars. She had even charted their patterns, which were different each season. As you can see, she was a very clever little mouse-ling.

Every day, at precisely seven-o'clock p.m, Sophia and the other mouse-lings would gather in their classroom after breakfast and be taught their ABC's, 123's, Arithmetic, English, and how to speak nicely to others. How to carry on a debate (though they were a little flat because no mouse-ling had the curiosity to find out information on the subject), how to run a store, to obey orders from the higher authority, and other trivial and not to trivial subjects. History, Science, and Fables were left out of these studies because they provoked curiosity in the mouse-lings. History and Science were only taught in monastery's to curious mouse-lings.

To replace this lack of knowledge, Sophia had to make up her own questions. Why was there day and night? Why did it rain? Why were some types of earth soft and others not so much? Why did plants need water? How did cars run? Why did the lights turn on and off? Why did mice have to eat and drink? What was blood made from? Why were there clouds? What was lightning? Why were the butterflies they rode on different in size to the tiny butterflies she saw flapping around the garden? The same went for dragonflies and other insects. How did plants grow? Why were there flowers? There were so many questions and not many ways to find out the answers. So Sophia experimented. In her spare time she experimented, trying to give fresh information to her hungry young brain. The others in Fernbed left her alone when she was attempting to answer her questions through experiments because she was always distant during those hours. The mouse-lings had long ago come to terms with the fact that she was a curious mouse and always would be.

So now we start the story.

It was a weekend day, Sunday to be exact, and the air was quite but for the sound of laughter and the close of doors, and the sound of breakfast cooking. Sophia was loose once again. She had escaped with an apple into the city streets. She wore her red coat and her straw hat tied around her neck, which flapped loosely on her back, for she never actually wore it. She just took it along because Mademoiselle Peppermint insisted.

Her black boots beat a quick rhythm on the stone ground as she scampered down the streets, munching her apple happily. She swung around a lamp post then swung around another, then hopped into a puddle sending a splash into the air. She took another bite of her apple and sat down on the sidewalk, watching a group of pigeons, the small kind, in front of her. She tossed a piece of apple to them and watched them flutter and scramble over it.

Sophia finished her and apple got up, throwing the apple into a nearby garbage can, then started to hop again, as though she were playing at hop-scotch. Then she bumped right into a mouse!

'Whoa!' the mouse said, coupled with a 'oof' as the air was knocked out of him.

'Sorry, sir.' Sophia said,quickly backing away.

'S'alright.' the mouse said. Sophia looked up at him. He was a tall, handsome mouse with small, pink ears, a black nose, black eyes, and dark, gray fur. He was dressed very smartly with a nice coat, a high collar around his neck, shiny boots, and a ruffle of white lace at his throat at cuffs. His companion, another male mouse, was dressed much the same, except his fur was a creamy-white color.

Sophia quickly stepped aside so they could pass.

'Good day, sirs.' she said, looking up at them, eyes wide with curiosity. She had never seen such finely attired mice in this part of the city before. 'And sorry again,' she added.

'It's quite fine.' the dark furred mouse assured her. He bowed slightly to her and his companion did the same, then they walked on, their pink tails lifted smartly off the ground to avoid dust and abrasion (because tails are very tender).

Sophia walked on, this time careful where she was going, though the streets were entirely empty. Small birds sung overhead, skimming down low to catch small bugs from the air. A massive dragonfly, with a whooping mouse on its back, swooped overhead, scaring the birds away. It was followed quickly by a butterfly, its rider determined to catch up to the faster dragonfly. Sophia wondered what it would be like to ride a dragonfly or butterfly and soar into the sky without anything to hold her back. However, Mademoiselle Peppermint did not want to waste good money on such fancies as that. Instead, they owned two ants, which they used to bring goods from their garden into the city to sell.

Sophia had walked quite awhile when she decided that she might as well return to the orphanage. Whenever she made these 'escapes' of hers, she always put a time limit on them, restricting her time to wonder about, just in case Mademoiselle Peppermint should worry about her and call the constable as she had done once before.

When Sophia arrived back at Fernbed, she did not enter through the front door. She crept to the side of the building to the East Wing and climbed up the ladder there, which was hidden in thick ivy. She crawled through small window at the top and into the girls dormitory. It was empty, all the other mouse-lings downstairs eating lunch. Sophia looked around the room, taking a moment to wonder at what she had created in her eleven years.

Since Sophia had first started inventing, she had filled the dormitory with every creation she had ever made and was not using at the time. The roof of the dormitory, was very tall and arched, perfect for suspending things from its rafters. Stain-glass windows covered the walls as well as countless drawings pinned up by mouse-lings, and many of Sophia's inventions. The roof was covered with many pipes, wires, wheels, and even a suspended train track with a train moving swiftly across it, wound up and down all over the roof, passing places and pressing buttons on the track that started different systems. Sophia had timed it all perfectly, so that if something needed to be stirred every hour, the train would pass over a certain piece of track once an hour. That piece of track had a lever or button on it, and when the train went over it wires would tighten, wheels would turn, and the liquid would be stirred. Just to the side of Sophia's bed was a table that she used to make and mix experiments on. It was covered with jars, cloths, and a pair of fire tongs used to hold hot things.

Other than Sophia's inventions, the room was quite boring. Rows of beds pressed against the wall, all neatly made, with a tiny chest at the bottom of each bed to hold clothes and personal treasures. A tall grandfather clock stood against the wall, chiming every quarter hour. A door at the far end of the room led onto a landing with a door right across from it where Mademoiselle Peppermint slept. Stairs led down to the rest of the house. The other Wing, the West Wing, was on the other side of Mademoiselle Peppermints bedroom. It was the dormitory for the boy mouse-lings, and looked much the same as the girls.

Sophia put her hat and coat away in her little chest and changed her shoes into the tiny slippers all the mouse-lings wore when they weren't going into the city. She looked at the grandfather clock. It was time to water the garden.

Sophia scampered down the stairs. She could hear mouse-lings laughing and screaming with delight in the backyard as they played. A few of the older mouse-lings, around Sophia's age or older, were busying themselves in different ways. Practicing trades, reading books from Mademoiselle Peppermints study, or cooking in the large, brightly-lit kitchen that led to the backyard.

Sophia walked through the main hall, and approached the door. The entire house was a magnificent piece of work. The inside was a polished, dark wood, carved into graceful swirls and designs. The floors were also wood, covered with big, heavy mats. Wood doors led to different rooms, each door frame carved artistically. However, instead of being dark, as I know you were imagining the main hall, dozens of colored lights filled it. The lights came from the many, beautiful stain-glass windows positioned around the large, heavy wood door. Many times mouse-lings jumped in and out of the colored lights, laughing when the other turned a brilliant red, or sapphire blue. Sophia herself was one of those mouse-lings. She now walked through a rainbow of colors to get to the door. The colors turned her fur blue, green, yellow, red, orange, purple, pink, and brown. She opened the heavy door and ran down the stone steps out front.

Sophia loved the garden. She always found it a place of peace and beauty where she could answer millions of questions, and discover another million to ask herself. It was filled with flowers in the front, and vegetables and herbs in the back. A neat little path made of white cobblestones ran down the front and around each side of the garden. A white fence surrounded the entire orphanage, closing in the garden. Butterflies, the tiny kind, fluttered delicately from one angelic flower to the next. They were joined by jewel colored hummingbirds, also the tiny kind. The sky above was a glorious blue, with splashes of white clouds scattered across it. Birds, this time the big ones, zipped overhead in a complicated pattern. Sophia could hear the joyous cries of the riders as they clung tightly to their mounts. A soft, mid-summer haze filled the air, making it hum and shiver with delight after the harsh winter.

Sophia was on the path when she suddenly kicked off her shoes, touching the sun warmed stone path with her paws. She liked to walk without any shoes, even though Mademoiselle Peppermint always reprimanded her about it.

Sophia made her way to a tiny, metal box attached to the white fence. It was connected by a long, hollow pipe to the orphanages main source of water, which sat in a huge barrel beside the house. It was constantly in the shade there, no matter which way the sun turned, so the water was always cool. The metal box was also connected to two smaller pipes which led into the garden. One split into many smaller tubes which stretched to each patch, while another ran under the cobblestone walkway and into the garden on the other side, splitting in the same fashion as its twin.

Sophia knelt beside the box and pulled a slot cleverly set into the side of the box. She opened it slowly and water trickled into the pipes, becoming stronger as she opened the slot wider. Sophia could hear the water rushing through the pipes, then the sound of it hitting dry earth and giving life to the plants.

Sophia was the only one who could work her, as she called it, 'Irrigation System' and the other mouse-lings gladly let her do it, afraid to break it and not know how to fix it. It also scared them, though they would never admit it. It was just another invention they could use, just like they used sinks and electric lights. However, having known the mouse-ling who made it made the invention far too personal for their taste.

Sophia stood and noticed that a patch of garden, right in the middle of the right side (the side she was on), was looking dry and wilted. The pipe must have broken there, she guessed. But it was in the middle of the garden...

Sophia decided to take a risk at Mademoiselle Peppermint's ire over dirt and green plant-stained clothing. For a moment Sophia stopped to wonder why plants stained clothing with their juice and what their juice was made from. She decided she would figure it out in a moment, but first she had to fix the pip so water could get to the dry area.

Sophia gently brushed the tall plants aside and stepped into their midst. She disappeared in no time, as the plants were taller than she, and all that could be seen of her progress was a rustling of the tall flowers going in a steady line towards the wilted patch. Where other mouse-lings, or mice for that matter, would have gotten lost in the tiny jungle, Sophia had an excellent sense of direction and did not waver from her course. Her bare paws squelched in the muddy ground and grasshoppers flew at her, the tiny kind, mind you. She soon reached the wilted area. The ground was dry and crisp, dead leaves littered it. Sophia saw the source of the problem immediately. She had been correct. The pip that usually fed the plants water had become disconnected from the main source, and now another set of plants were getting more water than what they actually needed. Sophia made her way to the pipe and fitted it back in, happily hearing the flow of water as it bounced off the insides of the pipe and splashed onto the dry ground, sinking in quickly.

Sophia was just about to make her way out when she heard voices. Two male voices talking, and apparently arguing by the sharpness of their words. Sophia made her way towards them and peeked out from between the big leaves of two sunflowers. There were the two mice that she had bumped into earlier! They were standing at the entry way of the orphanage. One, the dark furred mouse, was pointing at the orphanage, while the cream furred mouse pointing further down the street. Finally, the cream furred mouse pulled a map from his pocket and the two mice lapsed into silence as they consulted the map, pointing to various locations on its surface. Were they trying to find the orphanage? Sophia wondered. She decided to ask them. She had never been a shy mouse, though she was instinctively wary of strangers. But these two mice were obviously lost and she was safe as long as she was inside the orphanages white fence.

Sophia stepped out and pattered silently over to the two mice. Their backs were turned to her, so they didn't hear her until she stopped and asked,

'What place are you trying to find, Messieurs?'

The two mice whirled, looking at her with astonishment.

'I can help you,' Sophia said, wondering why they looked so astonished. Suddenly she remembered her appearance. She must look as though she had been rolling around in the dirt! And without shoes, too! Why, she must look like a beggar to them! To reassure them, she said,

'I live here,' pointing at the orphanage. Then she added, 'Please excuse my appearance. I have just been fixing my Irrigation System in the garden.'

The two mice seemed to accept this and the cream furred mouse bent, holding the map at her level so she could see it easily.

'We are trying to find Mademoiselle Peppermint's Fernbed Orphanage for Young Mouse-lings. Do you know where it is?' he said. He had a definite accept that slurred his words a little but Sophia couldn't tell where he was from. He spoke French fluently, however.

'This is it.' Sophia said, again pointing behind her at the orphanage.

'What?' the cream furred mouse exclaimed, straightening. 'Where is the sign?'

'Oh, the sign came off in a storm and Meme hasn't gotten anyone to fix it yet.' Sophia explained.

'See!' the dark furred mouse exclaimed, laughing at the look on his companions face. 'I knew this was the place.' He had the same accent as the cream furred mouse, though less prominent. He also spoke French very well.

'Would Messieurs like to come indoors?' Sophia asked, stepping away from them and towards the orphanage. Then she remembered her Irrigation System! The plants were getting too much water!

'If Messieurs would forgive me, I will be right back!' Sophia exclaimed, zipping down the pathway, and around the garden corner, and over to the water box. She quickly closed the slot and found her shoes. She scrapped the mud off her paws and slipped her shoes on, then straightened her dress and cleaned her tail and forepaws.
'What's that?' asked the dark furred mouse from beside her. They had followed her, curious, yes, curious, and were now gazing at the Irrigation System and its pipes and how they disappeared into the garden.

Sophia paused, aware that she could give herself away as a curious mouse. Then something struck her as odd. They spoke the same way she did, though with the accents. They spoke in the same, lively and curious manner. Asking questions at the drop of a hat. And they were not trying the hid the questions in their eyes. Why not? Were they inventors? If so, why were they looking at an orphanage? Were they looking for a curious mouse-ling? Or were they just pretending to be curious? If they were, why? Sophia decided to tell them that she had made the irrigation system.

'I made it.' she said.

'What is it?' the dark furred mouse asked again.

'My Irrigation System.' Sophia said, facing them both, inquisitive eyes meeting inquisitive eyes.

'How does it work? And wherever did you get the idea?' the cream furred mouse asked. He sat down on the dry stones, careful not to crimp his tail, and the dark furred mouse followed his move. Sophia thought it must be okay to sit, so she did, carefully arranging her skirts.

'I made it to carry water to all of the plants instead of having the mouse-lings here carry lots and lots of water back and fourth from the water barrel. It was very tiring and we could never get to the center of the plants. To fix this I decided to make something that would water all of the plants an even amount without all the work. So I created a little box,' Sophia pointed at the box, 'that has a slot in it that covers one end of the pipe, while the other end feeds directly into the water barrel. The main pipe is filled with water all the time and every day, when it comes times to water the plants, I open the slot, slowly, though, so as not to break it, and water filled the little box then pours into those two pipes, which then branch off into both gardens!' Sophia explained, pointing at the disappearing pipes.

'That is absolutely brilliant!' the dark furred mouse exclaimed, laughing.

'I must agree, Terrence.' the cream furred mouse said, smiling delightedly.

The two Gentlemice got to their feet and Sophia scrambled quickly to hers.

'Do you want me to show you in?' she asked, now that her explaining was done, and the Gentle-mice seemed ready to depart.

'Certainly,' the dark furred mouse said. 'though I think we found what we came for.'

'What's you name, mouse-ling?' the cream furred mouse asked, smiling at Sophia.

'Sophia.' she said.

'What a pretty name!' the cream furred mouse exclaimed.

'What are your names, Messieurs?' Sophia shot back, staring expectantly up at them. She knew that when a mouse told another mouse their name, the mouse always gave its name in reply. No questions on either side, of course, but in this case it was different.

'I'm Sky,' the cream furred mouse said, holding out a paw to shake Sophia's.

'Terrence.' the dark furred mouse said, also shaking Sophia's paw.

'Nice to meet you, Messieurs.' Sophia said, curtsying, though a little shakily because she rarely curtsied, although Mademoiselle Peppermint had taught her how to long ago.

'Likewise,' they replied, bowing sedately to her.

Sophia brushed past them and ran up the steps of the orphanage and pushed open the heavy door, yelling at the top of her voice, 'MERE! TWO GENTLEMICE HERE TO SEE YOU!!'

Terrence and Sky winced at the piercing noise, but it brought instant action. There was a multitude of squeaks and scrambling as mouse-lings rushed into the kitchen from their play to wash, at the indignant protests of the future chefs.

Mademoiselle Peppermint appeared, drying her paws on an apron. She had been in the kitchen supervising, not in the yard. Sophia saw that she looked a little frazzled, so Clara must have been cooking. Clara burned everything, though she was determined to become a great chef.

'Messieurs!' Mademoiselle Peppermint exclaimed, rushing towards them, her bustle moving rapidly and her pink dress rustling swiftly over the floor.

'Thank you, Sophia,' she said, her quick eyes taking in Sophia's appearance. 'Now go upstairs and clean yourself. I will be doing the roll call in a few minutes.' Mademoiselle Peppermint ushered the two Gentlemice into her study. A moment later, the two mouse-lings who had been reading in there came out, grumbling at being torn from their books.

Sophia was swept upstairs when a sudden horde of squealing, mouse-lings burst from the kitchen, taking half of it with them. Some wore pots and pans on their heads, others were caked with flour, while others, the ones who were doing the cooking, held trays of food and were protesting at the top of their voices, which remained unheard in the hubbub. When they reached the stairs, the boy mouse-lings split from the girls and both groups ran to their respective dormitories. The girl mouse-lings rushed into their dormitory and flung themselves upon wash basins and water. Sophia was not the most gentle of mouse-lings and squealed and scampered like the rest.

Despite all the distress, missing outfits, arguments, stains, clothes put on backwards, or even upside down, cries of alarm upon finding a brush gone, the ensuing scramble for a new one, and the fitting of shoes upon paws, all the mouse-lings were downstairs and arranged into neat rows in the front hall by the time Mademoiselle Peppermint came out of her study with the two Gentlemice. Sophia was near the back with the older mouse-lings, looking over the heads of the little mouse-lings. Monsieur Sky saw her and winked while Monsieur Terrence smiled at her. Then they were both calm mice without any curiosity about them. Their eyes had become a little dull in that unquestioning look that Sophia had grown up with all around her. However, they didn't lose the ability to look smart and crisp.

'Mouse-lings,' Mademoiselle Peppermint said, standing in the center of the row with the Messieurs a little behind her. 'these are Messieurs Sky and Terrence. They have come on order of Seigneur Equator to find a possible mouse-ling to be Seigneur Equators heir to his costly estate.'

A murmur of subdued talk swept through the ranks of mouse-lings. Sophia's mind raced. They were from a Seigneur? And they were trying to find a mouse-ling as an heir? To an estate? So that was why she had never seen them before. Every mouse-ling knew that all the wealthy mice, except for Mayor Cherrypip, lived in the countryside in massive manors and owned a lot of land and many dazzling mounts. Oh, how Sophia wished they would pick her. She would be the best possible Heiress in the world! She would even stop being curious to be chosen. Except, the two Gentlemice were curious, although they were very good and hiding it. Did Seigneur Equator like curious mice? Or, did they hid it from him, too? All these questions passed naturally through Sophia's head, while the other mouse-lings seemed to accept it without question.

'I want all of you on your best behavior and to stay here while I call each of you by name. When your name is called, please walk calmly into my study where these two Gentlemice will talk to you. Please answer clearly and cleverly for their benefit of understanding you.' Mademoiselle Peppermint finished, and led the two Gentlemice back into her study. The mouse-lings relaxed a little. Then Mademoiselle Peppermint's voice rang out.

'Richard, please come into my study.'

Richard, a very young and rather dull little mouse-ling walked into the study, closing its heavy door behind him.

A few minutes passed and Richard exited. Mademoiselle Peppermint continued to call the youngest mouse-lings into her study. Then she moved onto the older mouse-lings names. It took up most of the day. The Gentlemice were able to meet and talk personally with each mouse-ling while the mouse-lings were able to tell them what they liked to do. Mademoiselle Peppermint had given each mouse-ling something he or she was supposed to like, and told them to perfect doing it. Over time the mouse-ling actually did like to do it, no matter what it was.

Sophia was not called during this time. When all the other eleven year old mouse-lings were called, Sophia remained where she was. As always. She berated herself silently. Why would she think this time any different? She was never called. Mademoiselle Peppermint had chosen her to play her part in life and Sophia would never be able to say, “I wanted to get adopted. Those mice actually wanted to adopt me. I don't want to own this orphanage my whole life. I want my life to be my own.” Mademoiselle Peppermint would not hear it from her!

Finally, all the mouse-lings names were called, except Sophia's, and there was long silence from Mademoiselle Peppermints' study. The mouse-lings milled around, bored, as an uncurious mouse-ling usually was. Sophia's was too occupied by millions of questions to be bored over long times. She had, to distract herself, decided to answer the question about why plants stain ones clothes. She had long ago answered the question about why they needed water, hence her irrigation system, and she now thought about this new question inside her head. Then she heard long awaited for words.

'Sophia, please come into my study.'

The mouse-lings grew quiet. Sophia was going into the study. Sophia herself was stunned, even though she had wished time and time again to hear those words. She walked over to the study, pushing open the heavy door.

The study looked very different to her, now that she was entering it as a possible future mouse-ling Heiress. That is, if the Gentlemice picked her. The study was very large, many thousands of books lining the walls. Chairs of all sizes ringed the room, creating cozy spots that attracted the eye of a reader. A massive window, build with thousands of colored glass pieces filled the room with a beautiful light. In front of the window was Mademoiselle Peppermint's seat of power. A high backed armchair made of dark wood and velvet red padding. Before her was a wooden table with many papers and folders spread over it. Before Mademoiselle Peppermint was Sophia's folder, open on the table. Each mouse-ling had a folder that told the future adopters all about the mouse-ling. Their habits, their quirks, their likes, their allergies, how they got to be in the orphanage, what their attitude was like, what foods they liked, etc. Sophia had not seen her folder open ever since she had first shown herself to be curious. On that day, Mademoiselle Peppermint had called the curious Sophia into her study, taken out her folder, and stamped in red ink 'UNAVAILABLE' on the top. Then she had told Sophia that she was going to be the next owner of the orphanage. Sophia now stared at the open folder in amazement. It was really happening.

Before the table, in a set of three seats sat the Gentlemice and between them was the seat Sophia was supposed to take. She did, staring at Mademoiselle Peppermint for further instructions.

'Answer only when you are spoken to, Sophia.' Mademoiselle Peppermint said. She did not seem happy about loosing Sophia, but then she also seemed confident that Sophia's evident curiosity would not let her get adopted.

'So, Sophia,' Monsieur Sky said, smiling at her. 'I hear that you are a curious mouse.'

'I am,' Sophia said. They already knew this. Why were they asking again? And they weren't even asking. They were talking in the voices of mice who were not curious. Nothing was ever a question. Just an assumption or the stating of a fact. A sudden streak of panic ran through her. Had she said the wrong thing in owning up to her curiosity? Sophia quickly added, 'At least sometimes I am.'

Mademoiselle Peppermint smiled in satisfaction. Future adoptive parents usually lost interest right now. Then she noticed that neither of the Gentlemice from Seigneur Equator seemed uninterested. In fact, they actually smiled! The absurdity of it all!

'I must be interesting to be curious. Tell me something about it.' Monsieur Terrence said.

'It is very interesting. I don't know how a mouse can live without it!' Sophia exclaimed, feeling more at home talking about her curiosity. 'Curiosity adds color to a gray day. Every day I ask myself millions of questions that buzz around inside by head. I answer as many as I can, then write the rest down in my diary to answer later. Curiosity gives a curl to my tail and keeps me interested. Right before I was called in, I was thinking about why plants stain clothes.'

'It must be interesting to see what you do in your spare time with such an imaginative brain.' Monsieur Sky said. It required skill if you were a curious mouse to ask questions without actually asking a question. Sophia was growing impressed with these two Gentlemice.

'I create things and I make experiments. The girls dormitory is filled to the rafter with my experiments. I like to find out how things work.' Sophia said, answering Monsieur Sky's not-question.

'You must be interested in many things, but nothing ordinary, no doubt.' Monsieur Terrence said.

'I don't like to cook, but I do like to draw.' Sophia said.

'This orphanage is very nice. I heard from Mademoiselle Peppermint that you will be staying here to run it.' Monsieur Sky said.

'Um, yes.' Sophia said, hesitantly. Were they wondering if she wanted to stay here? What should she say? 'I don't really want to run the orphanage, though.' she finally said.

'Sophia!' Mademoiselle Peppermint exclaimed, shocked.

'I'm sorry, mere.' Sophia said, wanting to stop her mouth from saying anything else that might hurt this dear old mouse. 'I want to see the world, though. And I can't have a family if I run an orphanage.'

'Sophia, we have been through this.' Mademoiselle Peppermint said patiently in a voice that spoke of the many times she had said these exact words to this small mouse-ling. 'The young mouse-lings in the orphanage will be your family.'

Sophia nodded and became silent. They had been through this many times before. Sophia was going to stay here and become the next Mademoiselle of the orphanage.

'Sophia, you must like gardening and growing things. So you don't kill anything, even for you experiments.' Monsieur Terrence said, ignoring Mademoiselle Peppermint.

Sophia looked up at him. Hurting something for her experiments had never occurred to her. She thought of a reply to him then said, 'I would never hurt something I am trying to find out about. Why would I? They are much easier to find out about when they are alive and when I am older I can always go to places, maybe, where I can find out how things work so I don't have to kill anything.'

'You would like to go to observatories, labs, and museums, I gather is what you mean from 'places'.' Monsieur Sky said, naming places that Sophia did not know.

'If those names are places where I can discover things, yes.' Sophia said.

'Maybe you would like to be taken in by Seigneur Equator as his heir. He likes curious mice.' Monsieur Terrence said.

'Really?' Sophia said, wondering if he was joking. No mouse liked curious mouse-lings.

'Yes, really.' Monsieur Sky said. 'And if you accept, you will be able to go all over the world, see the most amazing places, go where no mouse has gone before! You will also learn how to be an Heiress and go to balls and parties.'

To Sophia, this sounded remarkable and utterly amazing. Then a thought struck her. 'Will I be able to come back and see everyone at Fernbed when I want to?'

The two Gentlemice exchanged glances over her heard and then Monsieur Terrence said, 'Possibly. That is, if you have time to visit, or if we are passing through Cerise on some errand.'

'Mere, may I?' Sophia said, staring hopefully at Mademoiselle Peppermint. Mademoiselle Peppermint seemed undecided. On one paw, she wanted the best possible things for Sophia, as for all her mouse-lings. On the other paw, she wanted to keep Sophia safe from the world. Sophia had really found a place in Mademoiselle Peppermint's heart.

'Sophia, before any decisions are made, I must talk to these two Gentlemice a little more. Then we will decide. I take it your decision is to go with them, though. I will try and do what I think is best for you.' Mademoiselle Peppermint said.

'Thank you, mere.' Sophia said. She got up from her seat and walked towards the study door, then remembered her manners and curtsied to the rooms occupants before leaving and closing the door softly behind her.

Sophia's fate was at a balance, held in the paws of the mice in that room. Would she go and face the life of an heiress in the world of manors and riches, or would she stay and be groomed by Mademoiselle Peppermint to become the next mother of future orphans. You will have to wait until next time to find out.