[Wild Roses]
Title: caught
'Verse/characters: Wild Roses; Arianhrod
Prompt: 61B "sparkle"
Word Count: 1380
Notes: follows Trickster moment, the next morning. The maid was visible in trouble talking.
Once she knew what to look for, the spells were everywhere, light as cobwebs abandoned by their spider. It was nearly--no, it was embarrassing. Her mother would have spotted this the first afternoon, not the last morning.
She ignored the tiny logical voice in her head that sounded like her husband, saying that her mother had spent far more time in the company of foxes, and was far older than she was in any event. Instead she lied through her teeth to her hosts to get privacy, lied by omission to her Hand, and completely failed to lie to her maids as she rolled up her sleeves and tore down invisible spells, wrapped them around her fingers like a skein of yarn, knotted them tight with spells of her own, then threw them away.
Her maids were intensely glad that it was the last day. Glad to be going home, glad that she was only now acting as strange as she was. They whispered when she was out of the room, but their focus was so intense she couldn't help but hear, even knee deep in the storage pantry. It was awkward, holding an invisibility spell up with one hand so the cook didn't have a heart attack while she worked, but infinitely preferable to being caught at it and having to start the explanation with someone else's pranks and end with last night's escapade with the best cheese knife.
There was something deeply satisfying at working surrounded by food and potential food, chasing off the traces of a predator and laying down better mousetraps in their--his--stead.
One of the local maids caught her on the back stairs, and very nearly punched her before Arianhrod caught her fist in a firm grip.
"I'm--" she sighed, loosened her grip as the maid's eyes grew huge. "Shall we start over with a hello?"
"The lady ambassador wouldn't be back here!" the maid hissed. "It's a really stupid choice of face!"
She blinked. Then compressed her lips, trying not to smile. "And of course if I asked you what the lady ambassador could do to prove it was really her instead of whoever's been playing with your heads all this time, you'd reply that's exactly what an impostor would ask. I'm Arianhrod Sabaey, my dear, and I really am the lady ambassador, and the thing I did with the cheese knife last night that the cook is still ranting about was chasing off the actual impostor. Can you actually trust any of the footmen?"
"Only the ones who like boys," the maid said, bone dry. "And only after they start a conversation."
'Ah, he must have liked you,' she thought. 'Simple annoyance wouldn't have got all this reaction.'
"I still don't believe you," the maid added, uncoiling slightly but still very thoroughly on her guard.
"I'll prove it," she replied, far more cheerfully than she probably should have, and started walking up the stairs again, towards her rooms. "What you've been dealing with, by the way," she said over her shoulder, "is a wandering-fox. They have different names depending on where you are and what stories are being told, but they're foxes when it comes down to it. And you shouldn't have been able to see me--the cook didn't, or any of the other people on the stairs--which might be why he was so very annoying to you. You saw just enough to make it a game."
The maid had a scattering of fading freckles across her forehead and cheeks, more visible when she was looking down at the stairs, frowning in thought. She might almost have been someone's granddaughter.
"And what are you, then, who knows foxes?" the girl asked when they crested the stairs and Arianhrod turned the correct direction to go back to her rooms. "--and your way around the castle."
"I told you--I'm the ambassador. Also I've been wandering around all morning and you really have to have a good sense of direction where I come from, otherwise you might end up emerging on the other side of the river and have to take a ferry back."
She got a deeply unimpressed look for her trouble, suppressed another grin. No need to remind the girl of the fox. Or her little brother, who probably would have started flirting as soon as he nearly got punched.
"More seriously, I'm a mage. You've probably heard stories about how we arrived--I'd be stunned if they hadn't gone around a few times by now. I should have realised what was going on faster than i did, but I didn't actually see him until last night."
She didn't notice she was visibly angry until after the maid had backed up a step, then shook her head, half apologetically. "I would have done something about it faster if I was home--we have a system set up there that allows someone having trouble to ask for help, and get it. Here, though, no-one knew to ask, or could give me permission."
" . . Should you have--done whatever you did, last night?"
She winced. "No, I shouldn't have. It sets a bad precedent, for both of us--the bigger predator gets to do whatever they like."
"But giving you permission makes it alright, somehow?" The girl had raised an eyebrow, her guard slipping and the maid's-face nearly gone. She was pretty, in a slightly sharp fashion--Arianhrod could see why the fox had played harder, especially considering the game the girl had unknowingly started.
"Giving me permission, or asking me to do something you can't means that it's not just me doing something because I feel like it." She frowned, trying to think of a way to articulate something nearly as deepseated as the colour of her hair, then snorted gently. "Shall we prove who I am?"
The girl blinked, then blanched as Arianhrod swept into the ambassadorial rooms without knocking, held a short conversation with another maid about how certain things were being packed and whether or not her jewelry had been yet, then held the door open into the smaller sitting room for the girl.
"My lady, I'm so sorr--" she broke off when Arianhrod shook her head, sitting down.
"The suspicion does you credit, my dear. I'm not offended in the least."
The girl's eyes grew wide when the teapot flew past, wider when Arianhrod started assembling hot water, leaves and the pot without bothering to set it down on a solid surface, and nearly fell out of her head when Arianhrod looked up at her, and said "May I ask a favour of you?"
"You want a favour of me?!' the girl's face demanded wordlessly, but she didn't protest out loud.
"I've chased him off once, but I have no way of knowing if it will stay that way. May i leave a way of calling me with you?"
The girl stared at her for a long moment, then made a mental connection. "Permission."
"Exactly." She smiled over her teacup at the girl, then rose, thinking rapidly. She rarely had reason to be displeased by her lack of cheap jewelry, but right now it wasn't exactly helpful.
She settled, eventually, on one of the sets of enameled earrings, keying a very visible if largely useless spell onto them before she handed them over. The girl'd seen through a light-laid illusion already; she might be able to spot the spell.
"What should I--?"
"While you're holding them, say something like 'Arianhrod Sabaey, the fox is back'. I'll be there as soon as I can."
The girl nodded, slowly, still thinking, and took her leave quietly.
The rest of the packing went quickly, and she found herself at the base of the stairs in short order.
"Oh, my lord--" she caught one of the more together local nobility as he was saying his goodbyes. "I gave a pair of earrings to one of your maids--she was very helpful after I got terribly lost looking for the baths. Would you please make sure no one accuses her of stealing them? Thank you."
She dropped the fox-tail stone into the verge of a pathway, just before gathering the threads to take herself and her entourage home. She was reasonably sure she imagined the sparkle as they faded out.
'Verse/characters: Wild Roses; Arianhrod
Prompt: 61B "sparkle"
Word Count: 1380
Notes: follows Trickster moment, the next morning. The maid was visible in trouble talking.
Once she knew what to look for, the spells were everywhere, light as cobwebs abandoned by their spider. It was nearly--no, it was embarrassing. Her mother would have spotted this the first afternoon, not the last morning.
She ignored the tiny logical voice in her head that sounded like her husband, saying that her mother had spent far more time in the company of foxes, and was far older than she was in any event. Instead she lied through her teeth to her hosts to get privacy, lied by omission to her Hand, and completely failed to lie to her maids as she rolled up her sleeves and tore down invisible spells, wrapped them around her fingers like a skein of yarn, knotted them tight with spells of her own, then threw them away.
Her maids were intensely glad that it was the last day. Glad to be going home, glad that she was only now acting as strange as she was. They whispered when she was out of the room, but their focus was so intense she couldn't help but hear, even knee deep in the storage pantry. It was awkward, holding an invisibility spell up with one hand so the cook didn't have a heart attack while she worked, but infinitely preferable to being caught at it and having to start the explanation with someone else's pranks and end with last night's escapade with the best cheese knife.
There was something deeply satisfying at working surrounded by food and potential food, chasing off the traces of a predator and laying down better mousetraps in their--his--stead.
One of the local maids caught her on the back stairs, and very nearly punched her before Arianhrod caught her fist in a firm grip.
"I'm--" she sighed, loosened her grip as the maid's eyes grew huge. "Shall we start over with a hello?"
"The lady ambassador wouldn't be back here!" the maid hissed. "It's a really stupid choice of face!"
She blinked. Then compressed her lips, trying not to smile. "And of course if I asked you what the lady ambassador could do to prove it was really her instead of whoever's been playing with your heads all this time, you'd reply that's exactly what an impostor would ask. I'm Arianhrod Sabaey, my dear, and I really am the lady ambassador, and the thing I did with the cheese knife last night that the cook is still ranting about was chasing off the actual impostor. Can you actually trust any of the footmen?"
"Only the ones who like boys," the maid said, bone dry. "And only after they start a conversation."
'Ah, he must have liked you,' she thought. 'Simple annoyance wouldn't have got all this reaction.'
"I still don't believe you," the maid added, uncoiling slightly but still very thoroughly on her guard.
"I'll prove it," she replied, far more cheerfully than she probably should have, and started walking up the stairs again, towards her rooms. "What you've been dealing with, by the way," she said over her shoulder, "is a wandering-fox. They have different names depending on where you are and what stories are being told, but they're foxes when it comes down to it. And you shouldn't have been able to see me--the cook didn't, or any of the other people on the stairs--which might be why he was so very annoying to you. You saw just enough to make it a game."
The maid had a scattering of fading freckles across her forehead and cheeks, more visible when she was looking down at the stairs, frowning in thought. She might almost have been someone's granddaughter.
"And what are you, then, who knows foxes?" the girl asked when they crested the stairs and Arianhrod turned the correct direction to go back to her rooms. "--and your way around the castle."
"I told you--I'm the ambassador. Also I've been wandering around all morning and you really have to have a good sense of direction where I come from, otherwise you might end up emerging on the other side of the river and have to take a ferry back."
She got a deeply unimpressed look for her trouble, suppressed another grin. No need to remind the girl of the fox. Or her little brother, who probably would have started flirting as soon as he nearly got punched.
"More seriously, I'm a mage. You've probably heard stories about how we arrived--I'd be stunned if they hadn't gone around a few times by now. I should have realised what was going on faster than i did, but I didn't actually see him until last night."
She didn't notice she was visibly angry until after the maid had backed up a step, then shook her head, half apologetically. "I would have done something about it faster if I was home--we have a system set up there that allows someone having trouble to ask for help, and get it. Here, though, no-one knew to ask, or could give me permission."
" . . Should you have--done whatever you did, last night?"
She winced. "No, I shouldn't have. It sets a bad precedent, for both of us--the bigger predator gets to do whatever they like."
"But giving you permission makes it alright, somehow?" The girl had raised an eyebrow, her guard slipping and the maid's-face nearly gone. She was pretty, in a slightly sharp fashion--Arianhrod could see why the fox had played harder, especially considering the game the girl had unknowingly started.
"Giving me permission, or asking me to do something you can't means that it's not just me doing something because I feel like it." She frowned, trying to think of a way to articulate something nearly as deepseated as the colour of her hair, then snorted gently. "Shall we prove who I am?"
The girl blinked, then blanched as Arianhrod swept into the ambassadorial rooms without knocking, held a short conversation with another maid about how certain things were being packed and whether or not her jewelry had been yet, then held the door open into the smaller sitting room for the girl.
"My lady, I'm so sorr--" she broke off when Arianhrod shook her head, sitting down.
"The suspicion does you credit, my dear. I'm not offended in the least."
The girl's eyes grew wide when the teapot flew past, wider when Arianhrod started assembling hot water, leaves and the pot without bothering to set it down on a solid surface, and nearly fell out of her head when Arianhrod looked up at her, and said "May I ask a favour of you?"
"You want a favour of me?!' the girl's face demanded wordlessly, but she didn't protest out loud.
"I've chased him off once, but I have no way of knowing if it will stay that way. May i leave a way of calling me with you?"
The girl stared at her for a long moment, then made a mental connection. "Permission."
"Exactly." She smiled over her teacup at the girl, then rose, thinking rapidly. She rarely had reason to be displeased by her lack of cheap jewelry, but right now it wasn't exactly helpful.
She settled, eventually, on one of the sets of enameled earrings, keying a very visible if largely useless spell onto them before she handed them over. The girl'd seen through a light-laid illusion already; she might be able to spot the spell.
"What should I--?"
"While you're holding them, say something like 'Arianhrod Sabaey, the fox is back'. I'll be there as soon as I can."
The girl nodded, slowly, still thinking, and took her leave quietly.
The rest of the packing went quickly, and she found herself at the base of the stairs in short order.
"Oh, my lord--" she caught one of the more together local nobility as he was saying his goodbyes. "I gave a pair of earrings to one of your maids--she was very helpful after I got terribly lost looking for the baths. Would you please make sure no one accuses her of stealing them? Thank you."
She dropped the fox-tail stone into the verge of a pathway, just before gathering the threads to take herself and her entourage home. She was reasonably sure she imagined the sparkle as they faded out.