July 29, 2010

In Which Roderick Is Told What Everyone Knows

January 17, 1168

Despite his disappointment, Roderick couldn't say he was surprised; he'd scarcely seen Severin since the whole ordeal with Deian. The man was effectual enough in times of desperation, as soon as he'd cooled off from that last incident--as soon as he'd felt he was no longer needed--he'd collapsed back into his grief, shriveled into the same morose figure he'd been since Alina's death. From what Roderick could gather, he spent most of his days sleeping--perhaps only trying to sleep.

Wherever Severin was and whatever he was doing, however, Roderick was not impressed. "You're looking quite pretty today, your lordship."

Raia set down the stylus and looked up at him, her brown eyes as tired and exasperated as her father's ever were. "His lordship is indisposed. Can I do something for you, your majesty?"

Roderick sniffed; he had not ridden all this way to deal with a twelve-year-old girl. "Indeed. You could get him for me--or at least the steward or your brother."

"Falidor has the day off, and my brother is out," Raia told him as she rose from the chair and emerged from behind the desk, "as are my other two brothers and my father's page, before you ask for them. Unless you think whatever you personally came for is better discussed with a groom or a kitchen boy than with the daughter of a lord, you're just going to have to get past the fact that I'm a girl."

He felt the corners of his mouth pull his lips into a tight scowl. It was a man's business, but even before that, it was a noble's; he could not discuss this with some peasant. "If you must know, my priest has informed me that your shire's tithe barns were found empty this season. They were empty at harvest-time as well, but that was a time of turmoil and he was grieving, so I decided to let it slide; this time, however, I will not be so lenient. Where are the tithes?"

The girl's heavy eyelids drooped, leaving only a thin, piercing sliver of brown between her thick lashes. "My father no longer believes in the importance of tithing. You may deal with that as you see fit, but he will not force his subjects to pay their tithes, nor will he pay any of his own."

Ridiculous. Seething, Roderick tapped his foot against the hardwood. "But tithing is the will of God!"

"So was the death of my mother." She crossed her arms and looked him in the eye, unblinking, unfaltering. "If our family can live without her, then I see no reason why God can't do without Veldorashire's tithes."

Roderick's brow twitched. "And I trust that your father agrees with you?"

"On the contrary, I agree with my father; he did say it first."

This was even less of a shock than stepping into the study to find Raia in Severin's stead; disgusted, Roderick gave a false-dismissive wave of his hand. "Well, I suppose there isn't much I can expect of Severin these days, is there? Why should good Christian decency be an exception?"

"Christian decency?" Raia snapped in repetition. "Robbing the poor peasants of their income just to satisfy a church that already has more money than anyone knows what to do with? Is that what you call 'Christian decency'? Taking from the needy?"

"You can hardly call your father 'needy'; this whole notion of his is blasphemous. Of course, I must have been blind not to see this coming. The crazed liberalism, the general depravity, the necrophilia--"

Enraged, Raia jabbed him in the shoulder with her finger, her other hand curled into a tight fist. "My father is not a necrophile! There's a big difference between loving a dead woman and fucking her corpse!"

"Who taught you such filthy language?" demanded Roderick; he hadn't expected a young maiden to know the word 'fucking', much less 'necrophilia'. "I've half a mind to ban you from playing with my girls!"

Raia appeared unthreatened, the anger in her eyes as resolute as before. "I will not stand to hear false accusations against my father!"

"False or not, your father has abandoned his duty," he stressed; at the very least, she would have to understand this. He would make her understand this. "I'm tired of having to pick up his slack, and I think I speak for Lornian and Octavius as well!"

"Well, I'm sure both of them would agree that he's been picking up yours for a hell of a lot longer!"

Roderick fell rigid with wrath. She hadn't really said that--had she? "How dare you!"

"How dare I what? Say what everyone else already knows?" She allowed herself a second to regain some ounce of calmness, though the fire in her did not cool. "With all due respect, your majesty, we've discussed what you've come to discuss; I see no reason why you should still be here."

How was it that she got the nerve to address a king so rudely? Regardless, this had gone on long enough. "I certainly see no reason why I should want to be!"

"Good!"

Roderick turned on his heel and stormed toward the door, Raia's scowl burning into the back of his head; she was still glaring at him, he was sure of it. "Tell your father that I want those tithes--and the next time I call, I had better be speaking to him personally, or believe me, there will be hell to pay!"

NEXT CHAPTER:

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh, I knew we were going to get something really good as soon as I saw the title!

This, this was awesome. All of it. But especially Raia telling Roderick off. Go Raia!!

But I will admit, I am troubled by Severin's attitude toward the tithe barns. Don't get me wrong, I am not at all in favor of state-sponsored religious taxation. If Severin was truly taking a stand against injustice, I'd be applauding him. But from what Raia said, it almost sounds a bit ... childish. God took Alina from Severin, so Severin isn't going to give God his 1/10 of grain. I guess I'd just like to hear Severin's side of the story, not the version Raia got from him. :)

Oh, and one more thing about Severin -- no matter how kickass and wonderful Raia was, sending a twelve-year-old out to fight your political battles? Not cool. Not cool at all. Especially when that twelve-year-old is your own daughter. Yes, Severin's grieving. But so is Raia. And while Severin could learn to love again ... Raia's never going to get another mother.

Van said...

When I wrote this post, I had it in mind that Severin's absence was to play just as much of a role as Raia's presence. He is definitely going about everything the wrong way here, from the tithe barns to letting his kids pick up his slack (though in his defense, I doubt he was expecting this visit from Roderick--Raia was just doing some paperwork).

I'm not so sure about his other motives behind the tithe barns--I'll admit I just thought of that at the last minute to give Roderick a reason for actually showing up :P It does seem the sort of thing Severin might do on his own, or if some of his subjects complained about it. But yeah, the one motive we actually saw is rather childish.

And yeah, if he has to lock himself up in one of the guest suites all day (yes, he is still not sleeping in the old bedroom), he could at least have Falidor man the study for the day. I haven't decided exactly how Raia came to be there--clearly, she does have talks of a political nature with her father--but I can see her walking past the study and seeing that no one was there and deciding to take matters into her own hands. Likewise, I can see Severin maybe asking Raia if she could do a little bit of administrative work for him if he wasn't expecting company. In any case, it's a sucky situation, to be sure :(

But I will say one thing: sometimes, people need to get worse--much, much worse--before they can get better, and this seems to be the case with Severin. It would probably be better for him and his kids--not to mention, any future wife he might have--if he gets all his grief out of his system sooner rather than later.

S.B. said...

Oh god yes Raia rip him up!!! One of the things I love the most about your writing is the way you never hold back with women. Good bad or indifferent, they are real. They exist apart from the men.

Severin might need to travel farther down the dark road, although sometimes grief doesn't ever get all the way out of your system.

Van said...

Thanks Beth :)

One of the problems I have with some period pieces (including Medieval-esque fantasies à la Lord of the Rings) is that the women either don't have much of a role or just play some sort of virginal damsel in distress. I haven't seen this problem in any Sim stories, probably because most of the writers are female themselves, but I definitely think that in general, there isn't much variety as far as female characters in period pieces go (if this can even be called a "period piece"). Not all women have that cookie-cutter personality they were "supposed" to have back then, after all, and thank goodness for that :)

I doubt Severin will ever be fully over this, but he may need to sink pretty low if he even wants to pull himself back to ground zero some day :(

Penelope said...

OOOoooo rivalry! What if Veldora breaks with Naroni? Raia is walking a dangerous line here, though. I don't doubt that Roderick can be dangerous when insulted. He's an idiot but he is an exceedingly proud idiot. I imagine that there are few things that he hates worse than another person challenging him. Naroni is crumbling not just from outside forces like Deian but from internal conflicts as well. I mean holy crap-- This kind of split could be the end of everything.

Van said...

For sure. He is a king, after all :S

Raia is definitely playing with fire. Fortunately, Severin is quite possibly the only person other than Laralita whom Roderick might consider a friend. That and even Roderick realizes that if Severin was to split and start up the Kingdom of Veldora, Octavius would probably go with him, and if Lorn ended up staying, it could only be for Leara's sake.

But if Roderick and Severin were more distant--or if the other two leaders were closer and more politically aligned with Roderick than Severin--or maybe even if Severin wasn't going through any horrible transitions in his life--then this could have definitely been more than just a hissy little argument.