Work Text:
Books, to me, are everything. While I may not have more than a few pennies to my name, I have travelled the world, met all sorts of fascinating people and so much more, all without ever leaving the home of whatever dreadful family I was governess for at the time.
Meeting Maia, however, has made me want more than that. I want to give her the world, in all its beauty, not just through the pages of a book. I love Maia more as a daughter than a pupil, and it is very rare indeed for me to feel that way about a child. We may be in the Amazon, but not truly. The world we live in is artificial at best, and the Carters do not allow us any freedom to see the colourful world outside of their walls. Our existence is dreary and pale compared to the beauty beyond the white, chemical sprayed walls in which we are surrounded.
I want more than that for her. I want to show her the brightly coloured flowers and hanging vines and birds and everything marvellous I’ve read about the rainforest. I want to take her to many countries and show her everything the world has to offer, and to see it at last for myself after all these years of reading about it. But I cannot. I am but a governess, and a poor one at that. So for now, I will simply have to be content with my large trunk of books, and the knowledge that one day, whatever I have to do, I will give Maia a better life than she has now. It’s the least I can do for her. The girl has changed my life in so many ways, it only feels right to repay her in whatever way I can.