July 4th, 1888 — Sanditon Resort
Paxton Fudge

The past few weeks had seen Flora miserable—not only was her home being eaten alive by fog, frogs, and now bugs, apparently, but this whole fiasco was putting a damper on her summer! She'd spent the entire last year mapping out her plans for school supplies shopping, but now she was stuck here with none of her friends to keep her company! Mama could find a way to keep herself entertained, but what was she—an idle eleven-year-old girl—to do?

There were, admittedly, a few options, but none of them were capable of capturing her attention for very long. While other children might be allowed the freedom to roam in packs, Flora was a lady, and that meant she always had someone on her tail. If she was predisposed towards trouble-making, she might have run off to seek a new source of entertainment; however, she was decidedly not, and thus had resigned to her boredom.

Except today was different, at least compared to the last few ones.

They'd gone to the shore today to look out to the sea, and there were people—children even! Though she'd stuck by her chaperon's side for the majority of the walk, it was nearly impossible to ignore the passerby after while. She took a deep breath, gathered what courage she had, and approached one of the other children with a smile.

"Excuse me," she prodded, looking up at them with wide blue eyes. "Everyone I've passed has one of those candies." She pointed to what looked like a taffy in their hand. "Do you know where might I get one?"

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If there was anything Paxton had noticed in the last month or so, it was that his family’s estate had suddenly gotten very busy and it wasn’t the usual ‘it’s summer’ kind-of-busy. It was more the ‘there is something happening and we all need to go to the Sanditon’ kind of busy. What was happening, however, was beyond Paxton’s scope or care. He didn’t mind, though. It meant he was able to meet some new people and cause mischief where he could.

Having been allowed to visit the beach with some of the other children, Paxton waded through the sand; bending down and throwing it into the air as if he was gauging out a giant crater. He walked up to one of the servants and handed her a clump of sand, “Keep it safe. I have plans for it!”

He then skulked off and began picking up odd-shaped and bright-coloured pebbles, passing them out to each of the children with no context. It was his gift to them – they deserved the beachtrash!

As he placed a few other pebbles in his hand, Paxton carefully examined the one he got for his own. It was a strange looking hue and appeared to have something growing on it. Squinting, he examined it though was pulled from his reverie fairly quickly when a girl came up to him and asked where to get one.

His eye lit up as if fireworks were blasting off into the sky. Word of his gifts had spread!

“I have one!” He exclaimed excitedly and reached into his pocket and held out the pebble for her, “There you go! Keep it safe!”

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What the boy handed her was evidently not candy—in fact, it looked like nothing of value at all!

A frown spread across her face, and she stared down at the colorful rock for a moment before glancing back up towards him. "Does it have any... magical properties?" she questioned, completely at a loss for why a boy would go around handing out ordinary pebbles. Surely it did something.

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Paxton nodded enthusiastically.
“Yes it does!” He exclaimed confidently.

Of course, Paxton had absolutely no idea as to whether the little pebble had any magical properties but it was making him happy and that, above all else, was absolutely magical.

“You stare at it,” He said with a grin, “and think reaaaallly hard,” Paxton nodded, “and magic happens!”

Magic absolutely did not happen if you did that.
Maybe she would listen and try.
That would be funny.

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The boy's explanation, while perhaps good enough for a gullible soul, made little sense to Flora. She cast him a dubious glance and mindlessly poked the pebble with a finger.

"I don't think magic works that way," she pointed out, flipping it over to examine it closer. "There has to be a catalyst of some sort for magic to work, and I don't think staring counts."

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“Well, yeah,” Paxton started and he held out his own pebble, “You have to shake it too!”

Biting his bottom lip, Paxton tried to contain his amusement. Oh, please please could she do it.

“Shake it and it will work! I mean it! It will!”

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Her brows shot up on their own accord, though no words left her lips. She didn't feel as if shaking it would do anything, either; however, she could humor him, if only for a moment.

She held the pebble out and gave it one, hard, unenthusiastic shake before her eyes found his again.

"Are you sure this is a magic pebble? I think you're telling me a fib," she teased.

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“No I’m not!” Paxton furrowed his brows and shook his own rock several times, “You need to do it like this! You’re doing it all wrong!”

Ugh, he just wanted to make her look silly but… here he was. Shaking a plain old pebble and acting as if it was magic.

Pausing for a moment, Paxton pushed his own pebble into his pocket, “Maybe you’re a squib, that’s why.”

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There was no holding back the giggle that escaped her lips as he took to shaking the little rock. He looked terribly silly; she was glad she'd not fallen for the scheme! Had he been trying to dupe her, or had he been duped?

"Oh, no," she said, unsuccessfully trying to hide her smile. "I must assure you that I'm very magical; nobody in my family has doubts about that," she explained, peeking up at him with bright eyes.

"I think it is your pebble venture that lacks magic. You must improve your sales pitch," she teased.

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Paxton returned her giggle with a soft laugh of his own.

“Nuh-uh,” He shook his head, “It is magic you just have to try hard enough!” He laughed and threw the rock in the air, “See.”

He watched as it came down and landed in the sand, “It flew which means it must be magic! Yours hasn’t flown so yours is broken, not mine. And anyway, my father is a ghost which means I am right and you are not!”

The logic was flawless.
Plus, he liked telling everyone he had a ghost for a father at every opportunity he got. It was his one cool thing.

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A smile wide on her lips, Flora resisted the urge to roll her eyes. This was just silly, but it was an alluring type of silly—the type her strict governess would rarely allow her to indulge in without a minor scolding.

"Flying pebbles: the peak of magical inventiveness," she teased, rubbing her thumb against the smooth surface of her pebble. "If you really wanted to use them, you might turn them into little bracelets; I'd surely purchase one." Despite their uselessness, they were pretty.

She had little clue if the boy's claim of a ghostly father was true or not, but it was irrelevant to the argument nevertheless. No one's parents could make them inherently more reliable (at least not people like them).

"My Papa works at the Ministry. He does very important things there."

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“Why would I make bracelets out of them?” Paxton practically scoffed as he leant down and grabbed his pebble, putting it back into his pocket.

Standing back up to meet her gaze, Paxton furrowed his brows. Bracelets were girly and he was a man. Why on Merlin’s earth would he even attempt to make fashion accessories?

“And my father owns this place! So he is a lot more important. And he’s a ghost!” Paxton emphasised.

Oh, he wished his father would show up just so he could show this girl what a fun game really was.

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Flora looked at him, eyes wide and with an expression that screamed "isn't it obvious?"

"To make money of course! If your Papa owns this place—" Which was something she still hadn't confirmed, but she wouldn't put it past him to make something up after attempting to dupe her with his pebble antics! "—you must have inherited his business sense as well. You must seize every opportunity!"

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With widened eyes, Paxton saw the future. The sudden realisation that he could become a millionaire with these pebbles was inconceivable though by no means unrealistic.

Leaning down, Paxton frantically picked up as many pebbles as he could, “You’re right! Help me! We must get them all so we can become rich and buy our own estate! We can call it Paxton and… er…” Paxton stood up, frowning a little, “Paxton and… Erm… What’s your name?”

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How silly he was! Despite the ridiculousness of his suggestion, the manner in which he presented the idea made wiping the smile off her face impossible. Were all boys this silly?

"My name is Miss Flora Mulciber," she explained with an amused shake of her head. "It would do you well to be be more sensible, Mr. Paxton. You could hardly become wealthy from a pebble-bracelet business—unless, of course, you find a way to truly make them magical!"

Not to mention that she had no interest in business pursuits!

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“Miss Mulciber, we can enchant them to… do things!” What things, he wasn’t sure, “And Flora? Like a flower? We shall name it Fudge and Flower!” He nodded confidently.

Reaching down and grabbing another pebble, Paxton held it out to Flora.

“This one isn’t magical but you can have it. It’s a nice colour.” He nodded sweetly and moved to search the beach for more pebbles.

Turning his head to look back at her, Paxton motioned his hand for her to follow suite, “I’m going to need your help if we are to collect all of the pebbles.”

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