More of the story
"We are sorry," eleanor replied, "I can not help myself sometimes." Kate looked at her closely one more time. Started to speak a souple of times but stopped herself finally satisfying herself with,
"Well, it is not my place." Eleanor shrugged while Rex stared, still not so sure about what had just happened. Kate went on, "I assume you are hungry?"
"Yes!" Eleanor replied, she did love food.
"Lovely. I’ll go get you some refreshments." Kate left, leaving Rex and Eleanor to reflect on what had happened so far that day.
"she is delightful!" Eleanor said. Rex was aghast that she said it without even a hint of sarcasm.
"you are kidding, right?"
"no, not at all. She acts tough but I think there is a light heart underneath it all."
"She gives me the heebie jeebies."
"Dust bunnies give you the heebie jeebies lately, Rex. You need to calm down and enjoy this."
"You do realize what the punishment would be if we got caught?"
"I do."
"I think she knows." he whispered in a consipiritorial tone.
"You think who knows?"
"Kate. I think the scary serving lady knows."
"maybe. I do not think she would tell any one though."
"I do not know how you can just make statements about people’s characters like that."
"hey. Your bad attitude is throwing off my groove." Eleanor said with a laugh, she walked over and hugged him "Everything is going to be fine. Just look at how well our very first audience went. we didn’t even make fools of ourselves." They amused themselves by directing the servants who had brought their trunks from the carriage. Eleanor delighted in hanging up all of her clothes in the grand dressing room. When Kate returned with wine and a cheese plate she was practically applauded. They were hungry after their long day to say the least.
Rex convinced Kate to dismiss all of the other servants, though she refused to stray far herself, just in case they needed anything. She sat on a small chair against the wall and immediately started fixing eleanor’s clothes. Eleanor and Rex made them selves comfortable on couches in front of the window. Eleanor asked Kate over her shoulder,
"so, Kate, how long have you been working in the palace." Kate was a little disconcerted to find herself so addressed by her charge.
"ten years."
"and do you like it?"
"It is...an honor to work for the leaders of our country."
"That sounds enthusiastic," Rex added laghing. Kate smirked appreciatively.
"Some of the nobles are very, and I do so hate to say it, demanding."
"That is very honest." Rex said quietly. Kate looked at him without shame.
"well, I think the present company will not really mind an insult to the nobility."
"I knew it!" Rex shouted mouth agape. Kate smiled, Eleanor laughed, and rex kept repeating, "Eleanor I told you."
"Calm down Rex," she replied, "she obviously doesn’t care all that much as she is sitting in the corner repairing my undergarments."
"That...is true," he had to admit.
"If I may," Kate began, "I recognize the fact that you are not nobles, not even a little bit-"
"We are ruined! See we can not even fool one person! We are going to be hanged." re said with a small moan of despair. Kate laughed openly that time.
"As I was saying, I know that you are not what you pretend to be, however, it is not at all my place to do anything with this information. Frankly, if anything, I would love to assist you - depending, of course, on what your motive actually is." Rex collapsed sideways on his sofa with a sigh,
"I was about to have a heart attack. I may still." Eleanor patted him patronizingly on the head and told Kate,
"well, since you have been nothing but obliging to us, I think it is only fair that we tell you the truth: we are pretending to be the Lord itaglie Montego Miamortio Mila and his Lady, Lady Sicilia Delmara Paprizio Miamortio Mila because we want to steal lots and lots of goods and money." Rex started his sighing and muttering anew at this complete confession to an almost complete stranger. Kate, however, just smiled, and replied,
"I see."
"What do you see?" rex asked, desperately, "You’re going to turn us in. I can tell."
"No not at all. I want to help you if-"
"there is always an if." rex muttered
"If, sir, I get to have a part of the plan."
"you want money?" Eleanor asked.
"Well, yes, but more I want to leave this place."
"What, you do not like being the bitch of snooty aritoscrats day after day?"
"No." Rex, calm ow that he knew they could trust this woman, replied,
"Well, I think we have ourselves an accord." He walked over to Kate and offered his hand, she shook it, "so, you get ten percent and a pass out of the castle."
"fifty percent," she corrected.
"Hell no! twenty."
"forty percent."
"We’ll all three split it evenly." Eleanor compromised. Kate nodded, Rex sighed, and eleanor ate another peice of cheese.
"That is settled then." Kate started, "Now. First you are going to tell me your real names, then I am going to get some more wine, then we are going to start discussing everything you need to know."
"Hold on, hold on," Rex interjected, "If you, young lady, knew almost instantaneously that we were outsiders, how will anybody else figured it out." To Rex’s chagrin, this was very funny to Kate, who laughed like a woman who hadn’t had anything to laugh at for a great while. She explained,
"I know more about the people in this palace than anyone else here. I could spot an outsier a mile away. Not to toot my own horn, but I am the only one who can do this. You’ve already fooled the aristocracy, and with my help you can fool the servants too." rex and eleanor accepted this explanation and with a mutual glance placed themselves completely at Kate’s command.
"Tell us what to do. Make us Lord itaglie Montego Miamortio Mila and his Lady, Lady Sicilia Delmara Paprizio Miamortio Mila." Eleanor said. She did exactly that.
Kate, though she was fairly young, was a stern woman unused to taking orders. She took charge of this situation immediately. Rex was more relieved than he let on, Kate could clearly be of great use to them. PLus, for rex this whole thing wasn’t really about the money, and more about convincing eleanor that they were meant to be together for the rest of their lives so giving part of the money away did not hurt him all that much.
With great enthusiasm, Kate set to work coordinating and rewqorking everything from tehir wardrobes, their furniture arrangement, their dining. She ordered a tailor to add more to their small wardrobes, arranged for more servants to swell the size of their importance, talked with eleanor extensively about the ladies fashions and what she should wear, got them food and baths, cut Rex’s hair, put eleanor’s into curlers for the latest style, replaced their room accessories to make the room even more elegant and opulent then it was before. While she coordinated the seeming hundreds of serving ladies about the apartment she explained in detail almost everything Rex and Eleanor could have helped to know about court, court life, and how things worked in the palace - everything they would be expected to know as outsiders plus more to give them the advantage.
Rex, at first, was concerned
The pair were exhausted after a couple nights of little to no sleep and this energetic fury didn’t exactly imspire them. Kate didn’t let them laze though, and as the sun began to peek through their sheer curtains their rooms were spotless and they all felt more prepared for the day ahead then they could have expected.
And the day to come would be busy. That night there was to be a great ball and the King had sent orders that the Lord itaglie Montego Miamortio Mila and his Lady, Lady Sicilia Delmara Paprizio Miamortio Mila would be introduced at this ball. The Lord itaglie Montego Miamortio Mila and his Lady, Lady Sicilia Delmara Paprizio Miamortio Mila were not so excited at this idea but Kate had complete confidence, especially from hearing from her friends about the palace the impression that Lord itaglie Montego Miamortio Mila and his Lady, Lady Sicilia Delmara Paprizio Miamortio Mila had made in the recieving room the day before.
They only managed a few hours sleep. Kate woke them up around eight o clock. Their first order of buisness, she told the couple, was giving them a tour of the palace. They started at the main gate that they had entered through yesterday set in the great wall that separated the rest of the city from the palace area. It was large, large enough to fit three carriages abreast and taller than the three story homes surrounding it. Inside the gate was a court yard which led to the stables, the training grounds, and the small number of barracks that wrer actually kept in the palace grounds. From the court yard you got your first view of the palace. It was, as said before, constructed almost entirely of white marble, carved and cut in such away that you could get lost in the complexity of the wall. Even the windows, which were numerous and open for the breeze, seemed to draw and push away the eye in a mysterious fashion. The palace had started out fairly small but each king had added more to it, so the complex was disorganized and sporadic. Kate started by showing them the recieving room again, today, being a weekend day, it wsa completely empty. They then moved on to the ball room, which was at least three times as slarge as the recieving room. The walls here in the ballroom were not, however, inticately carved like those in the rest of the palace. The marble was smooth and glossy and all over the walls were hung portraits.
"In the past," Kate whispered, as the room carried every noise and amiplified the sound exponentially, "these portraits hung in their own gallery, but as the arrogance of the aristocracy along with their wealth, they decided they wanted pictures of themselves on display where everyone would see them as often as possible. King Ottoman II actually had this ball room designed for that purpose, before then the recieving hall was the ballroom. Now, all the Lords and Ladies have balls as often as possible to show off all of their wealth and fripperies and a larger room is neccessary."
She led them on through the numerous court yards and gardens, past all of the aristocratic apartments. She showed Rex and Eleanor the dining hall, the room of the council, the entrance to the royal chambers, the old portrait hall which still held pictures of important personages from very long ago.
The palace was like a convoluted maze. Each new monarch, wanting to put his stamp on the palace so his name and power would be remembered, added a new wing, garden, building, etc. to the already huge complex. What had started off as a relatively small seat of power had grown into a sprawling expanse of white marble. Going through each wing was like looking at a piece of history as, though they were all constructed of white marble, the King building it had had it designed with the highest architectural fashions of the era in which he lived. Eleanor was awestruck and stood gaping like a happy fish at each new room they entered. Rex, always the more realistic, thought with each new expression of wealth and splendor about the public works projects that could have used that money more effectively and to the benifit of many more.
They made it back to their own quarters just in time for lunch. Kate didn’t even get lost in the most convoluted areas of the palace and found the way as if it had been a simple ouple of passage ways, which it wasn’t, not at all. Rex aniticipated a relaxing afternoon as Kate had said their only task would be to prepare for the ball that evening. He was sorely mistaken. Preparing for the ball required a team of tailors, hair dressers, dance instructors, etc. There was even a group of maids there for the sole purpose of putting on their shoes. Even Eleanor resisted this extravagance at first but Kate assured them that it was neccessary and some nobles required more fuss than this just to get ready in the morning, let alone for a gala event and Eleanor, always eager to spend more time on dresses, was happy to let it go on. Rex, on the other hand, stood in shook as a whol team of ladies fussed around him and did things to him like bathing him and dressing him, that he never expected strangers to agree to. What seemed like days later, but was really only hours, they were ready.
"Alright," Kate whispered in Rex and Eleanor’s ears, "this ball is to celebrate the prince’s twenty seventh birthday, so the evening will start with a small ceremony. Just clap when everybody else does and you two will be fine. That is in the recieving room, and I will lead you there."
"No we will not," rex protested, Kate continued on without listening to him,
"After the ceremony there will be a dinner in the dining hall, I showed you where that is this morning."
"But I do not remember how to get there!"
"After the dinner, you all will go on to the ballroom,"
"How do we get there from the recieving room?"
"In the ballroom will be where the dancing is. Remember your lessons from earlier!"
"In the waltz is it left right left or right left right right?"
"There will be hors d’oeurves, but do not eat too many. Dance with anyone who asks, Eleanor. And Rex, you have to dance with at least five different ladies. Good, we’ve made it to the receiving hall, stand close to the back but not to close-"
"What do you mean by that?"
"Alright, good luck! I will see you both on the other side." Kate walked off quickly before Rex could detain her as he was wont to do. Eleanor nudged him hard in the gut with her elbow.
"Calm down spaz." She said with a smirk,
"What you’re saying you are not freaked out at all?" he asked her as she gently laid her hand on his arm.
"No, this is going to be fun. I promise."
"I do not believe you."
"hey, grumpy pants, just stay calm." she replied. They started walking towards the door. There was a line of noble couples waiting to be intorduced into the room and they were, to Rex’s dissapointment, the last ones. He didn’t want so much attention drawn to them.
"The Baron Sparrow Montegomery D’Escaba Glenmore and the Baroness Elizabeth Renee D’Escaba Glenmore." They heard the footman say.
"My God. We are going to walk in there and I am going to trip and fall on my ass."
"You just need to stop thinking about it."
"I can not stop thinking about it, our very lives are at stake."
"Drama queen." Eleanor muttered as she smiled and waved in a ladylike way a mean looking pudgy lady who was glaring at them. "Why is that lady staring at me?"
"It is because she knows! We are ruined!"
"Or it is because she is jealous of my fabulous outfit." Her outfit was fabulous. A white long empire waisted gwon with gold embroidery, a red shrug, and gold cap with feathers. The glaring womanwith the pug nose and small beady eyes was wearing a gigantic emerald green gown with a bell skirt almost twice her size, all accented with silver polka dots on the bodice and black lace trim. She clearly did not belong to the party of ladies feeling that in fashion, less was often more.
As the foot man called, "The Lord Frederico Maximillian Feraldo Delmar and the Lady Varina Pamela Roy Delmar," The puggish lady and her spindly sickly looking husband went in to the recieving room.
"Well we know their names." Eleanor whispered.
"And we know to avoid them,"
"Oh, really? They both seemed so charming." Eleanor and Rex laughed as quietly as they could. "ooh, look, we are next." All of the humour receded quickly from Rex’s face and he looked pale.
"I think I am going to be sick."
"Stay calm."
"I do not think I can do this."
"Yes, yes you can Rex."
"It’s going to be fine."
"The Lord itaglie Montego Miamortio Mila and his Lady, Lady Sicilia Delmara Paprizio Miamortio Mila would be introduced at this ball. The Lord itaglie Montego Miamortio Mila and his Lady, Lady Sicilia Delmara Paprizio Miamortio Mila," the foot man announced. Rex tried to make a break for it and Eleanor had to grab his arm and hold on tightly so he didn’t run away. The foot man had to announce them again, "Lord itaglie Montego Miamortio Mila and his Lady, Lady Sicilia Delmara Paprizio Miamortio Mila would be introduced at this ball. The Lord itaglie Montego Miamortio Mila and his Lady, Lady Sicilia Delmara Paprizio Miamortio Mila!" Eleanor pulled him through the grand doorway.
Before they entered they were Eleanor and Rex, the baker’s daughter from the country and the scam artist from the city, but as they passed through the door way there was an almost magical transformation. Their shoulders squared, their chins turned upwards, Eleanor put a serene smile on her face, Rex turned up his nose, and they really became Lord itaglie Montego Miamortio Mila and his Lady, Lady Sicilia Delmara Paprizio Miamortio Mila would be introduced at this ball. The Lord itaglie Montego Miamortio Mila and his Lady, Lady Sicilia Delmara Paprizio Miamortio Mila more than the Lord and Lady themselves had ever been.
There wasn’t a single suspicion that they were not what they claimed to be. The King and Queen nodded at them benevolently as they did everybody else and, as always, the other nobles watched in silence and evaluated each other as condescendingly as possible.
In fact, not only did they seem as noble as the other aristocrats, they seemed to attract attention. The prince in particular from his spot of honor on the dias seemed to be unable to take his eyes off of eleanor. She felt like she was the only one who noticed his eyes following her down the room.
Rex and Eleanor took their place near the back and watched as a group of almost identical priests performed the ceremony that officially made Prince Leon King Grummond’s heir. It was a long ceremony and the priests shuffled back and forth on the dias intermittenly sprinkling the prince with holy fluids, chanting in a montone, and, finally, placing the crown of the heir on his head.
Eleanor, sitting in the back next to rex, kept nodding off as hard as she tried not to. rex shoved her with his elbow as subtly as poossible everytime but thankfully no one noticed. It was over at last. The large group of nobless walked out of the room and moved towards the dining hall. eleanor nudged Rex and whispered,
"see, we do not even have to know where we are going. We just follow all of these other people."
"That is the least of my worries," he replied
"What? What is your problem now?"
"we could slip up. You could call me Rex. You could make a randy joke like you always do that no real noble lady would ever make. You could -"
"Why are all of these mistakes I could make?" They had to stop their conversation as the pug nosed lady walked up to them.
"Well, I should introduce myself to you new people. I am Lady Delmar and this," she said shoving her waifish, unhealthy looking husband into their circle, "is my husband, Lord Delmar. Where are you from exactly?"
"We are from Escabele, about forty miles-"
"Oh," the Lady delmar interjected, "how delightful. And how was your trip?"
"Delightful." Rexc replied
"Oh? Lovely. I do love your dress Lady Mila,"
"Well thank you."
"So where are your quarters?" Lady Delmar asked. Rex raised his eyebrows at the immense quantity of questions she was asking.
"We are in the west wing of the palace."
"Ah, so you have those lovely views of the river? Well me and Lord Delmar, our quarters are in the northern iwing, the view is of the city instead but I think that is just as majestic, plus we have more space.
"Is not that nice," Eleanor siad as pleasantly as possible, while inside she was annoyed by the obnoxiousness of this lady.
"Of course," lady delmar continued, basically ignoring everything Eleanor said, "We, me and Lord Delmar I mean, we have been staying at the palace for years, so we have, you know, seniority. But that is just the way it is. Of course, do not think we are all about seniority. No, not at all. that just would not be right." While she spewed petty bile like this at them and they took their places in the dining hall, unfortunately the couples ended up next to each other, Rex watched Lord Delmar. He spent half his time giving sickly smiles to some and the other half glaring at others. Rex could only assume these were his political allies and enemies.
Eleanor and Rex sat at their table in between lady delmar and a man who introduced himself as Lord Cardenio. It was a lengthy six course meal. The first course was a rich pumpkin soup with a creme fraiche garnish. It was followed by an arugula salad with goat cheese, candied walnuts, and golden beets. The third course consisted of fresh whole fish dressed with lemon and pepper corns. The fourth was a rack of lamb served with creamy mashed potatoes, roasted green beans, and rolls. Then was a cheese course with a selection of cheeses, fruit, and light sesame crackers. The dessert was a gargantuan cake in the shape of the palace. When it came out there was applause from the diners.
Eleanor, as usual, ate way too much even after only peching at the fish course (she did not like fish). Rex ate lightly, the stress had sucked all his hunger away.
"You have to eat something. People will think you are dying." Eleanor told him
"I will eat something if you do not drink any more." he replied under his breath.
"I am thirsty!"
"then why aren’t you drinking the water in front of you."
"Here, have some of my mashed potatoes."
"I am taking away your wine glass."
"Do not do that!" she was stopped from protesting too much by Lady Delmar who just would not shut up.
"Is not this just so tasty?" Lady Delmar blathered, "I just can not get enough of this lamb chop. Oh, my that is a big rack you have there?" Eleanor almost burst a vein in her head trying to supress the "that is what she said" joke that was just too easy. Rex hid his face in his hands in exasperation at the effort this took her and moved her wine glass to one side. As Lady Delmar chattered on passive aggressively in the background eleanor continued her conversation with Rex,
"I said do not do that." She said, pulling the glass back to her,
"If you keep drinking, you will just increase your chances of making a fatal mistake," he whispered in her ear. Lord cardenio, the man beside them, laughed. Eleanor and Rex snapped around to stare at him.
"No, no," the old man said, "do not mind me. I just think it is cute, your bickering."
"We are not bickering. We are..." Eleanor protested,
"we are bickering," Rex said.
"no. No we are not." Eleanor replied.
"yes we are,"
"No we are not"
"yes we are,"
"No we are not"
"yes we are,"
"No we are not"
"yes we are,"
"No we are not"
"yes we are,"
"No we are not"
"yes we are,"
"No we are not"
"yes we are,"
"No we are not"
"yes we are,"
"No we are not"
"yes we are,"
"No we are not"
"yes we are,"
"No we are not"
"yes we are,"
"No we are not"
"yes we are,"
"No we are not"
"I’m sorry. I didn;t mean to cause any strife." Lord Cardenio stopped them.
"No, no trouble." Eleanor said with a laugh, "we bicker. It is what we do."
"I know that well. My wife loved to argue." thye spent the rest of the dinner and the walk to the ball room talking to Lord Cardenio. He was very old but also funny and warm for all of his years.
The ball room was even more splendid with the chandeliers lit than when they had seen it empty during the day. The colorfully dressed lorsd and ladies like a pile of jewels sparkling in the reflected candle light. Rex stood staring at the spectacle for a few minutes. When he finally looked around he saw Eleanor already dancing with Lord Cardenio (slowly, but dancing nonetheless). Rex, not knowing anyone else turned to the lady next to him: Lady Delmar.
It was an awkward dance to say the least. Lady Delmar had run out of things to insult him on at dinner so the dance was conducted in silence. The awkward problem was even worse by the fact that Rex, still unsure of his dancing abilities, kept his eyes on his feet and counted out the beat the entire song.
Eleanor fared much better as Lord Cardenio was a charming conversationalist and a surprisingly capable dancer for his great age. Her next partner was not quite so charming. It was Lord Delmar. As pale and sickly as he looked, he was just as petty and vindictive as his wife. His topics of conversation consisted of the hilarious things his most important friends said, how much money he had to spend and what he had spent it on, and a lot of boring political details that Eleanor didn’t care about in the slightest and wouldn’t have been expected to.
They danced furiously for the first hour and were exhousted by the time the ball was even half over. They met again over by the wall in the corner of the crowded room.
"Oh dear lord, I am never dancing again. My feet have swollen to the size of watermelons."
"You think you have got it bad, that last lady i danced with did not stop talking the entire time. Just nonstop blather about shoes. Shoes!"
"Oh my god. Do not talk. My feet got stepped on eight times Eight!"
"We are both in pathetic shape. Let’s not fight about this, I do not have the strength for it."
"You’re right. What we need now is wine."
"I think you’ve had enough honey."
"Hm. Maybe you’re right." Eleanor and Rex made fun of the most pompous aristocrats in the room and ate from the trays of snacks that went around the room. They were right in the middle of mocking one woman wearing what looked like a pink bird cage on her head when they had to abruptly cut off their conversation when Lord Delmar, standing close by talking to a group of politicians, awkwardly pulled poor Rex into the conversation,
"WHat do you think, Lord Delmar?" Rex stared with his stuffed mushroom half way to his mouth.
"What do I think of what?" Eleanor raised her eyebrows, enjoying his confusion and embarassment more than she should, and shoved him forward into their conversational circle.
"We were just discussing the possibility of conflict with Attimar." One of the lords informed him.
"Oh. You were."
"Yes, yes we were." Said Lord Delmar with a smirk that only Rex could see, "Lord Mila, I, we actually, were very curious to hear what you had to say on the subject." It was clear that Delmar thought that since Rex was a newcomer he wouldn’t have any idea what he was tlaking about and would, therefore, make a fool out of himself in front of all of those important politicians. Rex couldn’t help but think what a great first impression that would be.
"Well...I...I think that," he started. Then, drawing on the gossip that Will and Marcus had mentioned, "I think that since Attimar doesn’t actually have any legal or historical claim to the Island of Leigh, and we as a nation have inhabited the island since the 600s, we really have more of a right to it then they do. That said, we still have no right to automatically declare war on them at the slightest provocation. We should only use military force as a last resort when there are no diplomatic options to pursue." Eleanor smiled at his graceful and intelligent answer and left him to continue his conversation iwhile she searched for more stuffed mushrooms. While pursuing a tray held by a servant that she could just see bobbing above the heads of the party guests she was stopped by none other than Prince Leon himself.
"Excuse me, Lady Mila?"
"Yes," she responded, slightly flustered that this austere looking monarch approached humble old her, "Good eveving, your highness." He smiled slightly,
"I was wondering if I could, perhaps, have the honor of a dance with your ladyship?"
"With pleasure, your highness."
It was an awkward dance for Eleanor. The prince was an excellent dancer, but he was stiff and formal. She had expected a cold silence from the prince, but to her surprise he insisted on keeping the conversation alive. In fact, more than conversation, he seemed intent on even flirting her. She was disturbed deeply for more than just the obvious reasons of her supposedly being married to Lord Mila. Something about the prince sent chills down her spine. Not only was he cold, but he reminded her, strangely, of some kind of lizard: cold and quiet, but austere until suddenly it bites. She did not want to be involded in this asp’s bite.
After the dance, she pulled Rex away from his political conversation (much to his disapointment). She wanted to tell him about the Prince’s mysterious behavior.
"Hey, I’m just going to steal Lord Mila away from you charming gentlemen this morning," she said with a gracious smile for them. They were enchanted by her charm and let Rex go.
"What do you want, Lady Mila?" He asked.
"I just want to tell you something."
"OK, make it quick, I want to hear what Lord Stasio was saying about King Grummond’s foreign policy, and how Cardenio (you know Cardenio, Right?) wants to encourage him to be more open with regards to the more northern countries."
"Why did you think I wanted to hear all of that?"
"I was just trying to explain to you why I wanted you to rush your explanation."
"Next time just say, ‘I want to get back, please hurry’ and then let me speak."
"Did you have something to say?"
"Oh, right, yeah. I just wanted to tell you, the prince just asked me to dance."
"Well, that is great, it means he noticed you."
"No, that is not what I was trying to say."
"Oh, then say it then. Remember: foreign policy, Grummond, Cardenio."
"I am sorry. As I was saying, I had to dance with the prince and he was really creepy."
"Eleanor, he is the prince."
"Rex. I’m being serious." And she was. Rex was shocked to see Eleanor looking so somber. Even when she was angry about something she didn’t look this serious. Now she just looked frightened. He started to listen more closely, "he kept trying to flirt with me and, I do not know, it was just so strange and not just beacause he is the prince and we are supposed to be married. It was more in the way he said it. I think he is dangerous. I do not trust him but I can’t put my finger on why."
"It’s oging to be OK," Rex said sympathetically, "there isn’t anything he can do to you. And, I will make sure you are OK. We will just keep an eye on what is going on. We just need to stay aware." Eleanor nodded, but she still looked shaken. They hugged briefly.
"Alright, I’ll be fine," she told him, "now go off to your new freinds. I think I’m going to go back to the apartment and get to sleep."
"Can you find it alright? I will come with you."
"No, it is good that one of us is here. If we both leave it might draw attention. Now go, be friendly."
"Alright. I love you."
"I told you not to say that to me," Eleanor whispered angrily,
"Sorry,"
"Just do not do it again. I do not want to hear those words anymore."
"I’m sorry, sometimes they just slip out."
"Commitment is a no. we’ve been over this,"
"I said I was sorry,"
"Alright," she said, forgiving him mostly because she secretly (though she would never admit it to herself) like hearing it, "now play nice with the other senators."
"I will. Have some water before you go to sleep, it will help with the hangover."
"I’m not drunk!" she protested, but Rex had already gone back to his conversation to the group of senators and a sulking Lord Delmar.
Eleanor slept like an angel on the luxuroius soft bed in their chambers. She was, however, rudely interrupted from her peaceful slumber at some ungodly early hour in the morning by Rex who, very excited, wanted to tell her all about what he had on his agenda today.
"Sniujrgbgh" she told him from in between the sheets.
"Good morning honey!" He was extremely perky for seven o clock. She let him know what she thought of his enthusiasm,
"snrog, glurf mungle ass."
"I’m good, and how are you peaches?"
"sngh."
"Guess what I’m doing today?" she, shockingly, deigned not to respond, he continued on unaware, "I get to go to my very first senatorial meeting! I get to listen to them deliberate on important political issues. And! Guess what the and is!"
"bleurgh,"
"Ig all goes well, tommorow I get to join the meetings as one of the senators! Apparently there aren’t very many requirements to be a senator, you just have to prove you aer not an idiot."
"humphle,"
"I know! Isn’t it great?"
"Alright, well you sleep tight, I will see you this evening at dinner."
"Snorkgrumpet."
"I love you too." And he was off. Eleanor, half asleep though she was, could have sworn he skipped out of the room. She couldn’t fall back asleep after such a persitent disruption to her REM cycle and so she dragged herself out of the blissfully comfortable bed. It was a gorgeous day. The sun shone through the large windows, illuminating the dust motes dancing in the air. There was a slight breeze that wafter in the scent of the fragrant flowers outside of their rooms, but none of thiese delightfu sensations awakedned her sense quite like the expansinve breakfast Kaate had pulled together and laid out on the table.
Kate herself was standing beside it. Rex, on his way to the policy meeting had ignored most of the spread and had just grabbed a banana on the go, so Kate was ecstatic to see that Eleanor would prove to be such an enthusiastic gourmand. Eleanor sat down at the table and started her meal off with glass of water, a pastry, and a bowl of fresh fruit salad, looking forward to exploring the bowl of tasty chocolate pastries in front of her.
"Oh, this is fantastic. I have not eaten like this since my cousin’s wedding when I was 12."
"I’m glad you like it," Kate said. As strict and controlled as she was Kate had a meternal nature at heeart and always liked to make sure her charges were as happy as possible. "now, we need to talk about your agenda for the day."
"Do we have to?"
"Yes."
"Are you sure, because I can just take care of this breakfast and go back to bed."
"You will have plenty of time to finish your meal I promise,"
"Time I may have, but initiative I will lack if you are just going to be sitting there staring at me the entire time."
"What do you want me to do instead?" Kate asked.
"I want you to sit down and eat with me."
"That is not allowed. I can’t just bandy about sitting down when my services may be required at any moment."
"Kate," Eleanor responded, "it is not like I really deserve to be served. I am an imposer on the role of a noble lady."
"I know, I am just so used to the way things have been."
"Even if I was a noble I would insist that we are, in point of fact, equals."
"Well, that is a very noble thought."
"Which is ironic, because I am not really a noble."
"That is not really ironic, more coincedental."
"See, you are even correcting my syntactical mistakes. Now sit down and eat this pain du chocolate."
"Are you sure? Wouldn’t it be more convincing if someone walked in and I was acting like a proper serving lady?"
"Perhaps, but we are all alone in here."
"But what if someone walks in?"
"Who would walk in?"
"I do not know."
"Then it isn’t a problem. Now. Sit." Kate sat, though still reluctant. Old habits die hard. Eleanor continued, "Now, you were saying something about today’s agenda. What have we got? Another swanky ball? A policy meeting like Rex? Dress fittings?"
"Not quite," Kate said, "you have to go to a ladies’ tea."
"Sounds delightful," Eleanor said
"Not really,"
"Oh?"
"Oh yes."
"Then what, exactly, does a ladies’ tea entail?"
"You get dressed up in the most fashionable clothes you can find. Go to one of the gardens or courtyards in the palace. Drink as little tea and eat as little as possible to show what a demure lady. Make inane conversation with the stupid ladies and make what appears to be simple small talk but is really political parlance with the smart ones."
"Sounds great! Except for the eating as little as possible, that doesn’t quite sound all that great."
"The most popular ladies eat practically nothing at all."
"Well, we will just have to change that."
"You seem very accpeting of this."
"I am," said Eleanor with a grin, "this kind of manipulative mind play is just my cup of tea, if you will." She laughed unnatractively at her own "tea" joke, Kate, the Ice Queen herself, even cracked a smile (less at the joke than at Eleanor’s admirance of it).
"I am happy to see that you think you are prepared for these ladies."
"What?" Eleanor replied, incredulous, "Do you think I can’t handle them? Let me tell you, missy, I can handle a couple of bitchy, ornery, bitchy ladies."
"You said bitchy twice."
"I know, it was intentional." Eleanor replied, as dead pan as possible. Kat enodded as if she understood,
"oh, they are more than a couple of bitchy, ornery, bitchy ladies."
"Explain then." Eleanor raised her eyebrow.
"Well," Kate explained, " these are women who have been raised since the cradle to verbally spar with the other women they meet. It is a defensive mechanism for a society where women have no political power, they gain influence over one another by showing their superiority through wit, disdain, and fine clothing, and the more influential they are among the women, the more their husbands take notice, and the more the husbands notice, the more they can influence their husbands opinion, and their husbands have the actual political power."
"You have way too much time to think about all of this."
"Yes, yes I do."
"Alright, alright. I see what you are saying."
"I’m glad. You are going to have to prove yourself to these women by not succumbing to their snide insults and passive aggressive taunts."
"what do they talk about?"
"Fashion, parties, gossip, things of that nature."
"I thought you said it was all political." Eleanor asked.
"Of course it is."
"Then why do not they talk about politics?"
"They do."
"Then why didn’t you include that in your list?"
"Because they certainly don’t talk about it directly."
"Why not? Wouldn’t that be more effective."
"You are so naive." Kate said with a sigh, "alright, I am going to come with you to keep an eye on you."
"Won’t they notice if I bring a babysitter?" Eleanor said with a laugh.
"No, no. Ladies bring their maids all the time. Especially since today will be hot. I will fan you."
"You’re kidding right?"
"Not in the slightest."
"I’m not oging to just sit there being fanned."
"You are going to have to." Kate said pulling Eleanor out from in front of her breakfast and urging her into the dressing room. "Now what do you think? The pink one with the pin stripe detailing or the teal one with the blue underskirt?"
"The blue," Eleanor answered, "I wasn’t done with breakfast."
"I don’t really care, dear." Kate said, "the blue is too swanky. This is an afternoon tea."
"No, I meant the blue on with the white petticoat."
"Which one?"
"the linen one."
"Oh, that one would be nice. With the white hat?"
"No the sparrow feather cap."
"You really like wearing that cap.
"Yes, yes I do. It’s is very pretty."
"If you wear it too much the other ladies will notice and mock you for it."
"That would be very shallow of them."
"Perhaps."
"Plus, they would never do that because they would be too busy being jealous of my feathered cap."
"You are kind of a strange girl."
"I am, I am indeed."