September 14, 2009

In Which Celina Gains a Sense of Closure

October 19, 1161


It had been her first decent nap since giving birth to Rona, Celina realized as she woke to the sound of Aldhein's voice; it might have been nice to have been able to enjoy it for a longer period of time.

"Sorry to disturb you, your grace," he apologized quietly.

"Don't trouble yourself, Aldhein," insisted Celina. "What is it you need?"

He appeared suddenly grim. It was not an expression that Celina had never seen on him before, but she did find it rather unbecoming. Where was the teasing, carefree young man who had always greeted her when she had called at Roderick's castle? He had his inner demons, she knew, but he had once been fully in control of them, reluctant to let anyone else know they existed; now, it seemed he simply did not care. Had Geneva truly broken him so? Celina had half a mind to start looking for a girl who could fix him.

"Uh... there's someone here to see you," he told her, seemingly weighing each word before he spoke, "but I doubt that you will appreciate this visit. Give me the word, your grace, and I will say that you are not here."

"Oh, don't!" Celina protested. "You shouldn't have to lie on my behalf, Aldhein."

Closing his eyes, the steward nodded. "You're right. I shall simply say that you do not care to entertain today."

That hadn't been what she meant. "No, that would be terribly rude. Please tell whoever it is that I will see them."

He did not smile and nod and turn on his heel as he usually did when she asked something of him; instead, he simply stared at her. "Trust me, your grace... that is the last thing you want to do."

"If someone rode all the way up to the castle to see me, then the least I can do is receive them," she stated firmly. "Aldhein, please--send them in."

Sighing, he slowly turned around and made his way out of the sitting room and into the corridor. "Don't say I didn't warn you, your grace."

"I won't."

From the second the door clicked shut behind him, she dismissed the conversation as a weak attempt to find some amusement in the monotony of his new, adult life; however, the moment that his absence was filled by the arrival of the visitor, she realized that she might have been wise to heed his warning after all.

"Hello, Celina."

For the first time in months, Celina was without words--not only verbally, but mentally as well.

"Forgive me for startling you, but of everyone here, I figure you're the most likely to keep my presence here a secret," Geneva began, apparently oblivious to Celina's newfound state of shock. "How are things? They say that Roderick married Karlspan's widow and Alina's had about a dozen more babies. Is that true?"

She couldn't even bring herself to nod. Geneva, however, didn't seem to notice.

"Speaking of babies, I simply can't believe you've had four," the other woman continued. "My God, Celina--you have the figure of a seventeen-year-old! You're very fortunate, you know. I imagine Alina also looks much the same as always, though; that woman will live to be eighty and not age a day.

"Anyway, I heard tell that Roderick is quite happy with Laralita. Do you know for sure? The man did deserve someone, you know--I do hope he's found her, though I admit I was rather startled when I first found out. I imagine it's only a good thing that only Medea and I--and now you, of course--know he's a bigamist. He himself doesn't even know! A story to tell the grandchildren, certainly... but it should be kept under wraps for now, don't you agree?

"But you might be wondering why I'm here. As I'm sure you know, it never did a parent any good to be separated from their children for any significant period of time, yes? Well, it's been about four years now--I know, I can't believe it either, how time flies--and I was heading this way anyway, so I figured I would drop by for a glimpse of my babies, you see. Anyway, is Eilyssa around, or...?"

Finally, Celina felt motion return to her. She slowly pulled herself to her feet and locked eyes with Geneva--but only for a moment.

"You dare show your face here?" she screamed as her outstretched hand flew past the former queen's face. "The nerve of you! What right have you to even think
about setting foot in this castle?"

She barely noticed the stinging of her own hand. Never before in her life had Celina struck another human being, and perhaps in a moment, she would feel guilty--but for now, all she knew was a sense of closure.

Clearly taken aback, Geneva proceeded to blink rapidly. "What the hell was that for?"

Celina couldn't believe it.

"As if you didn't know, you whore!" she spat, surprised at the ease with which she had voiced this forbidden word that had never before breached her lips. "You committed adultery against my cousin, slept with my husband, broke my friend, and abandoned your own children! And then you just come back here and babble on as though everything was normal? Are you even aware that there other people in this world other than yourself, you vile witch?"

Geneva sighed. "Celina... please. I just want to see my daughter..."

"Not on my watch, bitch!" Celina declared, unconsciously releasing yet another new noun. "The moment you left was the moment you decided you weren't going to be a part of Eilyssa's life; don't lead her on by coming back to her and just running away again like you did before. She doesn't need that--she deserves better than that! And so do your other children, and Roderick! Now, I'm only going to tell you once, so you'd better listen: get out of my castle. Get out of my castle, and get out of this kingdom! Do you understand, or do I need Aldhein to fetch me a knife so I can carve the written instructions into your arm for future reference?"

This time, Geneva said nothing; she simply nodded, then hurried through the door, not even bothering to close it behind her.

Now, Celina was alone in the room again. And yet, somehow, it did not seem emptier.

NEXT CHAPTER:

14 comments:

Van said...

Hi all. Just a quick note--if you see any bit of dialogue that you think deserves to be placed in the "Notable Quotes" section of whatever character's bio, please let me know. Thanks :)

Hope the surgery went well, Gayl. It was today (the 14th), right? If not, sorry :(

eclectictsunami said...

OHSNAP! Well played, Celina!!

Still, Geneva was really funny in this. The picture where Celina realizes who she is is PRICELESS. The look on her face!

I hope that selfish wench gets a load of what happened to Medea...

Still, it's fun to see our favorite amoral nymphomaniac whore queen again. Especially dressed like a peasant, of all things. I wonder if she's been employing herself as a prostitute? (She would love it, too.)

Van said...

Heheheh... *goes to shrine to modeling hack in the back of the closet in order to give thanks for Celina's expression in that picture*

I've been missing Geneva, actually. I'm not going to lie. She's quite fun to write :)

Heheh... prostitute sounds like Geneva's dream job.

You know, it's funny that she knows about Roderick getting remarried and Alina having all those babies... but not about Medea. It seems like the sort of thing people might be talking about. Really, the only reason Geneva wouldn't know is because somehow, whatever deranged psychopath writes this stuff must find it INVALUABLY CONVENIENT for Geneva not to know about Medea.

Oh wait... I forgot... that's me :P

Phoenix said...

Oh man!! That...was...AWESOME!!! Hahaha!!!

Van said...

Thanks Phoenix :)

Penelope said...

What the- ? Geneva, you asshat.

I have to ask though- When Celina said, "broke my friend" did she mean Medea or Aldhein?

Van said...

She meant Aldhein. While Celina never had anything against Medea, they certainly weren't friends. If they had been, maybe Medea wouldn't have gone mad following Geneva's departure.

Penelope said...

Does anyone blame Geneva for Medea's madness?

Van said...

Hmmm... that's a good question.

With the exception of Celina--and perhaps Medea, but I can't say for certain what's going on in her head right now--everyone in Naroni pretty much believes she's dead, if only for lack of any evidence otherwise. A few probably think that Geneva was somewhat mad near the end as well, which was why she ran off... because let's face it, disgraced or not, how many queens would drop royal life like that and just run off? It was unheard of at the time.

Plus there is the fact that a lot of people didn't know just how close Geneva and Medea were, seeing as Geneva was not unfriendly to other people in group situations, so it didn't appear that their friendship was exclusive. I think the only person who might blame Geneva is Octavius, because he was probably the only one in a position to get that insight, as Geneva spent a lot of time at his castle, just chilling with Medea, so he was the only one who really knew just how close that friendship was.

Oh, and Roderick probably blames Geneva, since he's taken to blaming Geneva for everything. Hell, he probably even blames her for the occasional spell of lousy weather.

thewynd said...

thank you dinuriel! yes the 14th. i am slowly hunting and pecking my way thru the keyboard.

i loved this! i wondered if she would spring medea or not. maybe her next stop will be to see her as i doubt aldhein or anyone else will fill her in on what happened.

Van said...

Glad to hear it went well :)

Yeah, no one is particularly keen to see Geneva just now, even if they did think she was actually alive. She might have just assumed that after this and fled the kingdom. We shall see...

lothere said...

That was hilarious! Celina has always seemed to roll over and take anything that life throws at her so it was awesome to see her totally stand up to... what did Cassie call her... our favorite amoral nymphomaniac whore queen.

And how checked-out of reality is Geneva to come sashaying back in there displaying her supposed motherly instincts and expecting arms to just open to her?

What's up with Aldhein, though? Couldn't he just SAY "Geneva's here" or "our favorite amoral nymphomaniac whore queen is back" or whatever? What's with the mystery bro? Give Celina a chance to sharpen her claws first.

Van said...

Cassie's description of Geneva there is quote-worthy :)

The thing about Geneva is that she has this absurd tendency to just assume that everyone thinks along the same lines that she does. We've seen this a few times from her, most notably when Roderick went to chew her out for cheating on him and she was under the impression he was there for the sex. She's a total ditz like that.

As for Aldhein... he's pretty sensitive about Geneva. He has difficulty talking about her, since she pretty much abandoned their child and robbed him of his cushy job as the royal steward. I imagine it was difficult for him even to refer to her as subtly as possible.

Plus it was convenient for me to have him like that here :)

Adie said...

Whoaaaaa! That a girl!