Just something I've been entertaining myself with lately.
She sat on one of the clean linens laid out on the floor while he stooped over her on the stripped down bed frame, meticulously sorting through her hair with a fine metal comb he'd produced from one of his many bags.
As she sat near to and facing the fire, she wasn't cold at all, though her skin felt oddly tingly after the thorough scrubbing. She doubted she'd ever been so clean in her entire life. She smirked to herself; though her new mentor was adamant about explaining the why behind everything else under the sun, what to her seemed excessive cleanliness was one thing he took for granted that she'd simply understand.
He threw another something over her shoulder into the flames and another twist of awkwardness knotted her stomach. Not even her mother had fawned over her so, and here this man whose very presence intimidated her fiercely sat grooming her as if he was some handmaiden, and she some important lady rather than a farmer's daughter.
Serpents of shame and excitement fought in the pit of her belly the more she considered this, so she shoved them both down by returning to something she ought to be pondering- the conversation they were having before her bath.
"Master?" her voice croaked after such a long period of silence. She cleared her throat and tried again, more delicately and, she hoped, more humbly. "Master?"
"Yes Elizabeth?" his reply terse as he unwound another unruly knot with his deft fingers.
"I was thinking about what you were saying earlier, about the sword and the swordsman."
"That pleases me."
The wriggle of pleasure was short lived as apprehension strangled it again. Though he specifically stated that no question of hers would go unanswered, still she was terrified of being impertinent. She took a deep breath to steady herself. "Am I to be your sword?"
"Ah, what a wonderfully relevant question!"
His voice sounded pleased, so she waited patiently while finished picking, drizzled more oil on her scalp and began to drag the comb through it again.
"Like most answers I give you, this is complex, so please listen to all before you pass judgement." He gave a few tugs when the comb became snarled, then gave up and started in with his fingers again.
"Yes girl, you will be my sword, but only for as long as it takes you to know what it is to be a sword. No no, don't scowl so... " He lightly slapped her forehead where her brow had started to crease with concern. "Hear me out.
"Part of my arrangement with your father was that he would become a land owner and in turn, a landlord. I have every faith that he will be a goodly landlord because he has known all his life what it is like to be a serf. He understands that a productive tenant pays more in tribute, he knows what it is like to pay oppressive fees when the harvest is bad. Thus will he assist his tenant to the profit of both, and have mercy when the droughts come.
"So you shall know what it is to be a sword, to continue our allegory, so that when you are ready to wield your own power, you may do so with precision and experience. And when the time comes, as it inevitably shall, for you to wield others as your tools, you may do so with grace and wisdom."
As she sat near to and facing the fire, she wasn't cold at all, though her skin felt oddly tingly after the thorough scrubbing. She doubted she'd ever been so clean in her entire life. She smirked to herself; though her new mentor was adamant about explaining the why behind everything else under the sun, what to her seemed excessive cleanliness was one thing he took for granted that she'd simply understand.
He threw another something over her shoulder into the flames and another twist of awkwardness knotted her stomach. Not even her mother had fawned over her so, and here this man whose very presence intimidated her fiercely sat grooming her as if he was some handmaiden, and she some important lady rather than a farmer's daughter.
Serpents of shame and excitement fought in the pit of her belly the more she considered this, so she shoved them both down by returning to something she ought to be pondering- the conversation they were having before her bath.
"Master?" her voice croaked after such a long period of silence. She cleared her throat and tried again, more delicately and, she hoped, more humbly. "Master?"
"Yes Elizabeth?" his reply terse as he unwound another unruly knot with his deft fingers.
"I was thinking about what you were saying earlier, about the sword and the swordsman."
"That pleases me."
The wriggle of pleasure was short lived as apprehension strangled it again. Though he specifically stated that no question of hers would go unanswered, still she was terrified of being impertinent. She took a deep breath to steady herself. "Am I to be your sword?"
"Ah, what a wonderfully relevant question!"
His voice sounded pleased, so she waited patiently while finished picking, drizzled more oil on her scalp and began to drag the comb through it again.
"Like most answers I give you, this is complex, so please listen to all before you pass judgement." He gave a few tugs when the comb became snarled, then gave up and started in with his fingers again.
"Yes girl, you will be my sword, but only for as long as it takes you to know what it is to be a sword. No no, don't scowl so... " He lightly slapped her forehead where her brow had started to crease with concern. "Hear me out.
"Part of my arrangement with your father was that he would become a land owner and in turn, a landlord. I have every faith that he will be a goodly landlord because he has known all his life what it is like to be a serf. He understands that a productive tenant pays more in tribute, he knows what it is like to pay oppressive fees when the harvest is bad. Thus will he assist his tenant to the profit of both, and have mercy when the droughts come.
"So you shall know what it is to be a sword, to continue our allegory, so that when you are ready to wield your own power, you may do so with precision and experience. And when the time comes, as it inevitably shall, for you to wield others as your tools, you may do so with grace and wisdom."