Happily Ever After (part 2 of 2)

Writers: Emma, Yvonne
Date Posted: 27th November 2008

Characters: Thalia, Carlan
Description: Thalia doesn't take the news of Ishek's upcoming marriage very well
Location: Garnet Valley Hold
Date: month 13, day 9 of Turn 4

That evening Thalia chose to eat in her apartment rather than face the whispers and gossip that would flow through the Dining Hall like water. Ishek was getting married, after all, and to a fosterling rather than the mother of the heir the way everyone had anticipated. It would have made things so much easier if she'd just married the man when she was asked, but Thalia, whether it was out of grief or a giddy, newfound sense of freedom, had refused.

And now she was paying for it.

Thalia sat down in front of her vanity table and solemnly looked herself over in the mirror. Pretty and soft, with blond hair, blue eyes and a nose that turned up a little too much for her liking, she examined her reflection carefully for signs of age or weakness. There were no lines at the corners of her eyes, and the skin of her neck was smooth and supple. She filled out the elegantly embroidered green and grey dress she wore admirably – perhaps too much so, if one looked at her belly rather than her breasts. She turned left, then right, to check for blemishes, before reaching for a little terracotta pot full of cream that she applied to her cheeks and forehead.

So what if she was a widow. Aswic had been many turns her senior, and although he'd been kind to her, she missed him more for the protection he had provided than out of love. She was of the Blood, and marriages were based on convenience or trade rather than emotion. They gave their lives for the Holdings, and while some of the other holders for whom arranged marriages weren't a necessity didn't understand it, Thalia did, and she'd gladly done her duty and produced an heir.

It was Aswic who hadn't fulfilled his part of the bargain. Thalia set the jar of cream aside and began unpinning her hair from the elegant updo she'd worn that day. Aswic was supposed to be here – to protect her and her son's claim to the Hold. It was very likely that the Conclave hadn't stipulated that Ishek's heirs were invalidated as potential heirs to the Hold since when it was drafted, it was expected that they marry. **It was stupid of you not to,** she told her reflection. **And situations like this are why marriages ought to be arranged rather than fallen into by chance.**

She removed the last hairpin and her hair fell down her back in gentle golden waves. The Lady gathered the pins in the palm of her hand and put them away in a jar blown from cobalt blue glass with an enamelled lid. A silver handled hairbrush fit snugly into the palm of her hand, and she began to brush out her hair. **One,** she thought, **two, three…** Each stroke was counted: her mother had taught her to always brush her hair with one-hundred strokes.

The counting calmed her, and by the time she was done she no longer held the brush in a white-knuckled grip. She set aside the brush, then stood and went over to her jewellery box. Into it went her rings and the jade pendant she'd worn that day, and then she contorted herself to undo the lacings and eyelets that fastened her dress. She'd sent her maid away earlier that evening: the girl would ask her about Ishek, no doubt, and Thalia couldn't bear to answer.

What would happen to her and Aslian? She was more useless than a mother-in-law now that Briata was here, and she would have to relinquish her role as Lady of the Hold. Would Ishek honour his promise to guard her son, or would he manoeuvre it so that a future son of his own would take Aslian's place? Or perhaps Briata had designs on the Hold for herself or her family, and she intended to use her children to take it. What of their stipend – would Ishek keep paying it, or would he cut her and Aslian's money and leave them destitute? Would Briata convince Ishek to impoverish them as a way to undermine their power within the Hold? And what of her own family at Eastern Point Hold – would their trade agreement be reneged on because Ishek had found a new bride? Had she been sold in marriage for nothing?

No – not nothing. She had her son, after all – Aslian was heir, and if she had any say in it, he'd stay that way. The dress slipped around her ankles and she tossed it carelessly over the dressing screen in the corner for a drudge to put away in the morning. Her silk shift followed, and then her stockings so that she stood naked in the middle of the room.

A full-length mirror hung on one wall and reflected her body back at her. Thalia stepped back to examine herself. Her pale skin seemed to shimmer against the dark of the room, and her hair gleamed golden around her face. Her breasts were larger now than they had been when she was a girl, but they were still firm and did not sag. Her belly protruded slightly and she put a hand on it with a frown, but at least her thighs remained creamy and smooth. A woman's body. A soft, helpless woman's body, and nothing more. Quickly she pulled a sleeping shift over her shoulders to hide herself from view, then slipped her feet into a pair of crimson slippers and padded from her chamber into the living room, then through another door and into Aslian's nursery.

Her son lay asleep on his back with his fists clenched tightly, as if to ward off an attack. Thalia smiled down at him, then reached out to smooth a lock of his pale hair from his forehead and tuck his blanket higher beneath his chin.

When she was young, Thalia had hoped for a 'happily ever after' – a loving marriage, a Holding she could preside over, and children of her own. Instead she was married off to a man she was barely friends with, was widowed at twenty, and cast into a role that she didn't like or feel comfortable with: that of a fierce guardian and protector. As she watched her son sigh in his sleep, she silently vowed that although her own happy future was doomed, she would make sure that her son's would come true.

The uncertain future frightened her, but she could be brave for Aslian.

Last updated on the December 4th 2008

Welcome to Triad Weyrs!

Happily Ever After (part 2 of 2)