July 16, 1179
What was the title of that book again? Mona had never been one for recreational reading--it was all well and good, but she preferred doing things, thank you very much--but there was little else to do once her chores were done, and lamenting that fact to Anna had only prompted a book recommendation.But reading did sound better than nothing, so Mona had taken it. Anna had told her which shelf and which row and she remembered those instructions just fine, but the title of the book? It had a phrase, a short one. It may have started with 'That'. Or 'This'? She hadn't quite been listening until after she'd agreed.
Hmm... there didn't seem to be any of 'This'. Or any of 'That', for that matter. 'There'? 'The'? 'Then'? None of the titles before her jumped. 'These'...?
To hell with it. Even if the suggestion was forgotten, she supposed anything beat boredom. She picked a book at random and pushed herself out of her squat. It would have to do.
"Love poetry? I wouldn't have thought you the type."
Love poetry? Was that what this shelf housed? Embarrassed, Mona shoved the book into a spot slightly too tight and turned to see Zareth lingering some feet away. "I, er... I like the parts when they die."A rough sort of grunt charged from his mouth as he rounded the shelf and set himself across from her. It was probably how he laughed. "I need to ask you something."
"To-the-point, aren't you?" Zareth said nothing. Mona tucked her hair back before meeting his eye. "Fine. What do you need?""My sister is sending me to recover one of our ships. It was stolen by some escaped pirates during a mass break from one of the island prisons." An odd thing to be asking her about, but regardless, she nodded. Zareth crossed his arms and took a half-step forward. The room seemed to shrink around her, but somehow, the world seemed a little larger than before. "They have a head start and it may take weeks to find them, so I'm allowed to bring one servant. Yours was the first name that came to mind."
Huh. That came out of nowhere. "You want me to hunt pirates with you?"
He sniffed--no doubt his way of saying 'Yes'. "Given everything you've passed up in recent times, I take it you find life unsatisfying; if some degree of adventure is what you want, then that is what I offer."
Adventure. Yes, that was what she wanted--something to remember when she was old and dying, something she could tell her grandchildren that was worthy of more pride and prestige than something so commonplace as her wedding or her coronation or some other ritualistic passage. And she wanted that rush, that freedom of not knowing where she was or what she was doing or when she'd be back again. And she wanted to accept.
Meanwhile, Anna would still be here, in her place, all alone save for Adrius and the books. And for all she wished it would, the thought refused to leave. "Doesn't An--her majesty need me here?"
It may have been the first time she ever saw him smile. "Hardly. I can't imagine you're any good at what you do. Even if you are, there are dozens of other girls around here who could do just as well--if her majesty needs a maid at all, self-sufficient as she seems.""But she might get lonely."
"She has my nephew; apart from this library, each of those two is all the company the other seems to need." His grin vanished. She ought to have known it wasn't long for the world. "You feel guilty."
"No!" The word was cheery, enthusiastic. Too cheery, too enthusiastic. "I mean... no. Why should I feel guilty? I just--"
"Do you think there haven't been a hundred girls before you who would have done the as you did if they hadn't lacked the guts?" His nostrils flared, eyes thin as those of needles. She tried to blink but nothing came of it. Breathing was all the struggle she could handle. "You pulled a risky trick and it's only a matter of time before the truth gets out; if you're going to spend whatever weeks or months you have making beds and tying laces, I'll never believe you if you say it was worth it."NEXT CHAPTER:
5 comments:
Slightly sick-ish. Hopefully it's the kind of thing that can be slept off :S
I feel your pain, Van. *blows nose*
Interesting how Zareth assumes that the truth will come out eventually ... well, that's only to be expected, but how long is "eventually"? Would Anna and Adrius be married before the truth came out? For that matter ... why aren't they married yet? I can't imagine Roderick would be happy to know that his "daughter" was sitting around the castle and not queen yet.
Zareth, however, certainly got Mona. She doesn't want to spend her time of adventure sitting around the castle making Anna's bed and lacing up the back of her gown. Pirates seem like just the ticket.
And hopefully Anna can hold things together until Mona gets back.
Lucky for me, a good night's sleep mostly did in whatever it was. Hope you feel better soon :S
Adrius and "Mona" (whoever she may be at the time) are set to be married on Christmas Day in accordance with Carvalli tradition. The jig may be up by that time, or it might not be. Or it might sort of be, but not fully.
Phrased like that, I don't think Mona could've ever resisted. But Anna is quite capable and has managed well so far.
So Adrius and ... whoever he's going to end up marrying (*waves Andrius flag*) get a betrothal period of exactly a year. Interesting. These Carvalli do have a clever way of doing things. From what I understand of medieval European history, usually the bride would arrive and they would get married within a few days or weeks, depending on how much stuff they had to get ready. And sometimes the bride would be married by proxy beforehand (although maybe that's more Renaissance/Englightenment Europe).
It's almost like the Carvalli are asking for all this trouble. ;)
Yep. The Carvalli have a few time-related superstitions, one example being that it's good luck for a couple to marry exactly a year after their first meeting. But I'm guessing that more often than not, this would work better for all involved than a week-long betrothal anyway: they can get to know each other, everyone can figure out if the girl is a good fit personality-wise for the guy's household, each can get an idea of the other's health, etc. ;)
Part of the reason I pretty much exclusively write about made-up places is that I can make up rules that lend themselves to my nefarious plotting ;)
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