Story Time!
T
"Just answer the question."
"Okay, okay. Calm Down, Rex. He is a moderatewho thinks we shoudl um...damn, i forgot, oh! Got it! He wants to curb arstocratic spending, passive foreign policy, and dislikes confrontation of any sort."
"Good."
"Well thank you master, I am glad I’ve done you proud." she replied sarcastically
"Now ask me one!"
"Fine, what time do the nobles eat?"
"9 o’clock except on sundays,"
"When they eat at....?
"five"
"what does a normala dinner consist of?"
"5 courses. Soup, fish, protein, cheese, dessert, all accompanied by copius amounts of wine and ale."
"Now ask me one."
"Oo, I have one you’ll like!"
"What is it?"
"Fashion. Ladies and gentlemen’s."
"Oh come on, do we really need to study this?"
"Yes, I have absolutely no idea of the fashions so you must enlighten me."
"I can not believe youre taking this opportunity to rup it in my face that I have one flippish interst."
"Just answer it, please."
"Alright, men wear long tunics and breeches in dark neutrals ussualy accented with as many jewels as the family owns encrusting the lapel and shoulder of the tunic jacket. Women’s fashions chage almost daily. The more excessive ladies wear huge full skirted dresses in garish colors, more subdued and classy ladies wear more simple a line outfits that are extremely detailed. For all, accessories and embellishments include feathers, jewels, lace, embroidery,. Only on the truly stupid are these elements combined. The perfect ladies outfit is elegant and neither understated or overstateedd."
"That was fr more specific then I would ever care to know."
"Hey, you asked, I answered. It’s just to show how magnanimous I am."
"You are not magnanimous."
"Yes I am. I am also benevolent."
"You do not know what either of those words mean."
"I do too!"
"Sure you do, Ele."
"I do. Benevolent means kind."
"and the other one."
"I do not know if I could give a definition."
"Then you do not know what it means."
"That’s not true, I know how to use it in a sentence."
"That doesn’t exactly mean you know what it means."
"Yes, yes it does. It is one fo those words."
"One of what words?"
"One of those words that nobody really knows what it means."
"I know what it means."
"Fine, define it."
"No, I want to hear you do it."
"You just do not want to define it because you do not actually know what it means."
"I do too, I just want to hear you define it."
"You define it first."
"No, you."
"No, you."
"No, you."
"No, you."
"No, you."
"No, you."
"No, you."
"No, you."
"No, you."
"No, you."
"No, you."
"No, you."
"No, you."
"No, you."
"OK, let’s stop this."
"Fine. Ask me another one."
"Alright, outline for me what we are going to do once we get into the city."
"Well we haven’t exactly decided that one yet have we."
"That was invitation, my dear."
"Ah, I see. Well I figured we owuld go through the city gate."
"How charmingly specific," elanor replied laughing at his sarcasm, "I meant, how are we going to introduce ourselves. I doubt if you are allowed to just walk up to the king and queen and say’well howdy there! we are a lord and lady you’ve never met before.
"You are quite right," said rex, ""and that is why we are going to find my friends in the city who know a little bit about what’s going on everywhere in the city. They’ll know how we should proceed."
"I thought you said you no longer had any friends in the city."
"Well, these two do not count. They are not afraid of saying they are friends with me. Trust me, they can talk their way out of anything."
"Can they be trusted? We can not just go telling people orur secret willy nillly."
"Willy nilly? is that a term you really want to use?"
"Bite me" elenor replied, though still laughing. She was disposed to laughing, and hated letting things get to her. Eleanor sought for the fun in any situation, even the most stressful.
"Yes, they can be trusted."
"You are sure?" she asked,
"definitely, you are going to love them."
They made it two the city in two days. They slept on the road both nights to save on money just in case they had to buy any thing before they presented themselves at court. Rex didn’t know what to aniticpate and was begnning to feel like they were going to be in way too far over their heads even with the help of WIll and Marcus, his two friends. Eleanor, on the other hand, enjoyed every step of the journey. From teh small incident with te broken carriage wheel to getting to drive the carriage and almost running it into a tree, she enjoyed herself every step of the way with nary a care for their tenuous grasp on what the future might hold.
They met Will and Marcus at a seedy looking tavern just inside the gates of the city. Night was about to fall and they had made it in just before the gates closed. The keeper of the tavern had looked at them strangely when asked to take care of their fine horses and carriage, things as nice as that hadn’t come his way without a sneer for a very long time. Eleanor eyed all the seedy looking customers of the seedy pub with an appreciative eye, treating it as another adventure. Rex led her to the back of the room where two men in dark coats and hoods sat drinking ale and made the introductions. The boy who they had hired to drive the carriage into the city lurked nervously behind both of them, still waiting to be paid for his service. Rex and Eleanor ignored him and scooched into the booth will what could only be Will and Marcus. Despite their somewhat sordid appearance, two nied boys could not be founf in the entire city. They practically charmed the pants off Eleanor, which irritated Rex more than he would ever like to admit.
"Alirght, settle down you three," he said sterly, "we have a plan and we need some information and assistance if you do not mind."
"Not at all," marcus said
"just aske and ye shall recieve of us," Will added. Eleanor giggled, Rex turned to glare at her.
"Okay, our plan is this: we are posing as a lord and lady who are recently deceased. We are the only ones who know of their death. we are going to go to the palace, act as the lord and lady, then, when we get tired of court life, take all of the valuables we can find and get out of there."
"That is a risky plan, my freind." Will said admiringly, "let’s go somewhere more private to talk about this."
"Sounds good." Rex replied. Marcus offered Leanor his arm and she tittered and took it. Rex looked on dissapprovingl and too harshly ordered the boy to follow them wth the horse and carriage. Will whispered to him,
"Man, you are really head voer heels are not you chum?"
"What? No? Yes. How could you tell?"
"Well teh holes you are burning in the back of Marcus’ head with your eyes right now was a slight clue," he replied and moved ahead to the front of their little procession before Rex could respond. Will and Marcus led them through the city sarting around the gate where the most impoverished residents lived, moving through the merchant district with the middle class homes, and finally through the richest part of the city. The strange thing about the city was the fact that only those on horse back and in carriages took the actually city streets. Pedestrians moved entirely above them. On the roof top of every building were path ways, gardens, markets, anything you would imagine in a city, merely two or three floors above. Every building was connected by bridge - rope in the poor areas, wood in the middl,e and often marble for teh richest areas.
They finally descended from the richest part and ffound themselves at the bank of the river that flowed along the city. THe palace lay on its bank, the richest areas wrapped around the palace and so on and so forth in a rough semi circle to the cities walls. They were about a mile down bank from the river and they sat under a large willow tree.
"This is what you meant by more private?" Eleanor asked.
"Well, no" Marcus admitted, flopping down under the tree, "but it is more lovely."
"You dragged us all the way across town just for a more pleasant clime?"
"Yes," they replied in unison. Will and Marcus were almost as tall as rex but were blonde and tan. They were identical twins but Will had a scar above his eye brow from some prank he had played on Marcus as a kid. Rex’s glaring became even more furious.
"So glad we marched all the way across the city so you rpincesses could show yourselves off in a better light."
"Oh lighten up," elanor said.
"Anyway, you needed our assisatance." Will said
"Yes, yes we did." Rex replied
"Yes, we do." eleanor added
"So, you heard out plan, now we just need to work out the details. what’s the right way to enter the palace? How should we act? When do we bow? How should we behave? Should eleanor wear a hat? Will we be granted housing in the palace? Should we find our own maid? How do we address the king?" Rex asked in only one or two breaths. Will and Marcus had worked in the palace for a lttle while, in fact they had worked almost everywhere in the city, and were able to answer all of rex and eleanor’s questions plus give them a few useful tips.
Will and Marcus led them to an inn where they could stay for the night, dignified Lords and Ladies didn’t normally arrive at eleven o colock in the evening. Rex, feeling a little high strung, could not sleep and and stayed up all night watching the city. He saw the stars twinkle lightly over the sleeping ville, watched the sun slink up stealthily over the horizon bringing light to t he dramatic differences int he two parts of the city. One side bright with color and luxry, the other dark and grey even i the full light of the sun.
King Grummond the Third and his Queen, Anastasia sat on their thrones in the recieving room. Grummond himself was small middle aged man who didn’’t exactly give off the air of a leader, his eyes, however, were intelligent and alert. Queen Anastasia looked dull and disinterested she was handsome for her age, and had probably been pretty as a girl, but she seemed lifeless as she listened to the complaints and needs of her people.
Behind them stood the prince, Leon. Prince Leon was excessively handsome. He had pale blond hair, dark and strong eyebrows over ice blue eyes, a strong nose, and sharp cheekbones. Even for all of his charm, grace, and good looks he appeaed cold and imposing as he stood watching the peasants approach the dias. Even when he smiled at something one of his parents said, the smile never reached passed his mouth. He was the picture of princely elegance but as each supplicant ooked over the faces of their monarchs they rushed over the features of the prince, too afraid to even examine his perfectly symmetrical face.
The three royals listened to each who came into the room. Some were peasants complainging of petty disputes and squabbles that needed to be resolved, some where merchants come in search of ermits for their buisness dealings, some just wanted to see the faces of their king and queen, and he who would one day become their king. The recieving room was a grand hall, in the original design of the palace it had been intended as a grand dining hall and ball room, but as the palace had expanded this room the size of a field was delegated to the recieving room. It was in the style of the rest of the palace: white marble in intricate sculptures and cut outs with as many windows as possible, mot of them permanently open as the climate was reletively arid even next to the river and ever stray breeze needed to be taken advantage of. The dias where they sat was decorated profusely with rich silks and velvets, hundreds of fresh lilies, and the golden chairs of the King and QWueen. It was resplendent but still light and pleasing to the eye.
As instructed by Will and Marcus Eleanor and Rex arrived near the end of the King and Queen’s recieving hours. THey only sat for a couple of hours a day to listen to the complaints of the their people. In fact, before King Grummond any hours at all where unheard of. Grummond, as unregal as he was, wanted to end the genreations of suppresion to the impoverished and unittiled. The footman at the door entered before them and as they made their deep bow of prostration in front of the great doors the footman announced,
‘To see their majesties, the King and Queen, may I present the Lord itaglie Montego Miamortio Mila and his Lady, Lady Sicilia Delmara Paprizio Miamortio Mila." The King and Queen nodded tehir regal heads graciously, which was a signal to Rex and Eleanor to raise them selves out of ther respective bows and curtsies.
To say that these two elegant aristocrats were Rex and Eleanor would be an injustice. Once in their court wear and in the expansive recieving room of the King and Queen they had actually tunred into individuals of elegant bearing and dignified composure. They commanded the attention of the entire room in a seemngly effortless fashion. Eleanor especially drew the eye. Even though she wasn’t particularly handsome her high waisted navy bule gown accented with a white brocade jacket with a grand feathered hat atop her head, drew the eye even more than some of the excessive outfits of the court ladies. In all, they looked more noble than anyone in the room.
Eleanor, in a way very unlike herself, was nervous. Her heart was beating a million miles a minute and as her face stayed composed and elegant, her hand was shaking. Rex, who was holding one of her hands, squeezed it lightly and comfortingly and she smiled at him. If anything, Rex could only have been more nervous than she was and knowing that he needed her to be strong made her calm again. She was grateful to have Rex with her through this experience. She loved him, but didn’t want to tell him because he would expect comittment, and committment was just something she could not do even knowing her secret.
THe pair advanced towards the dias and stopped a couple of yards before it and bowed again, per the instructions of Marcus. They waited until the king said,
"Rise Lord. Rise Lady. Welcome to the White Palace." Rex, though nervous, knew exactl what he was epected to say and drew comfort from the acceptance so far.
"We thank you, your majesty. We have come a long way from our northern lands in order to pay our homage to you fair majesties." Rex answered. The king gave a signal to one of the servants standing quietly along the wall.
"Your devotion is dear to us. Please, Lord and Lady Mila, do us the honor of staying with us for a time. You will be granted quarters in our palace."
"Our gratest thanks, Your majesty." Rex answered. Eleanor curtsied again, and Rex bowed and, the common civilities over, waited for the King’s dismissal. He gave it quickly with a nod, and they both backed towards the door. Finally out of that recieving room, Rex’s shoulders and neck relaxed visibly, Eleanor gave his hand an encouraging pat. The servant that the king had signalled was waiting for them and bid them to follow him to their new palace quarters. Eleanor’s fears evaporated completely then. So far, their ruse had worked. Plain and simple.
Rex’s first impression of their quarters was one of awe. By their simple standards the set of three rooms was gargantuan and lush. In fact, compared to the other apartments in the palace this one was fitting for the provincial lord and lady at court for the first time and completely without influence that they were pretending to be. The first room was the largest, it had a dining area and a sitting area around the fire place. Eveything was open air and light. through the large arched windows Eleanor could hear the song of the flowing river and hear the birds. Their view was one of the better ones, looking out on the river and the edge of the city as it ran onto the river bank.
The second room was a dressing room, empty and massive but Eleanor was already speculating on all of the dresses she was going to buy, and the third was the bedroom with a big fluffy bed that took up almost the entire room. Eleanor was tempted to run through the rooms jumping on the furniture but there was a serving lady already waiting for them in the first room, and she didn’t look like a woman who would take a lot of crap. She was tall and thin with an angular face and bright, intelligent eyes. Serving ladies, as a species, were generally a timid lot, but this woman met Rex’s eye appraisingly.
"Welcome," the fierce looking serving lady said, "This, as you could probably deduce, is your new apartment."
"Well, thank you." replied Rex, somewhat taken aback by her stern outlook. Eleanor hid a giggle behind her hand and whispered to him,
"You are so cute when you’re intimidated." Rex shushed her. The maid continued,
"I am Kate, I will be your serving lady while you are here. If there is anything you require just ask for me,"
"Alright great," Res said. He was eager to be rid of her so he could relax. Eleanor, completely unintimidated by the lady’s hawkish eye, wandered around looking at all of the room’s features.
"Of course, I will remain here most of the time, my quarters are behind the dressing room. I am here completely to furnish your needs."
Other her shoulder, Rex saw eleanor stop in her wanderings and make wierd faces at Kate behind her back. He wasn’t completely successful in hiding his laugh, and Kate turned. She stopped, and started looking back and forth from Eleanor’s face to Rex’s. All the laughter seemed to flee rex instantly. She had this way of looking at him that made him want to shrink back into the the cave from hwence he came. Eleanor froze where she was, contorted face and all. There was a long pause where eleanor and rex felt like school children about to be reprimanded, and Kate took long appraising looks at both of them. To their great shock, Kate smiled, in fact, she almost laughed but she wasn’t really a laughing woman.
"Well that is new." she said. Eleanor could not help but smile in return.