May I ask you a personal question?"
She looked up in query and made the graceful little gesture that I had learned was an invitation.
"Isn't Shevraeth a friend of yours?"
"Yes," she said cautiously.
"Then why the fan, and the careful words when you asked about your friend Elenet?"
Nee set her cup down, her brow slightly furrowed. "We are friends to a degree…Though we all grew up at Court, I was never one of his intimates, nor even one of his flirts. Those all tended to be the leaders of fashion. So I don't really know how close he was to any of them, except perhaps for Savona. It took everyone by surprise to find out that he was so different from the person we'd grown up with." She shrugged. "He was always an object of gossip, but I realized recently that though we heard much about what he did, we never heard what he thought."
"You mean he didn't tell anyone," I said.
"Exactly. Anyway, Elenet an old friend, of both of us, which is complicated by her family's machinations. Her safety is important to me. Yet in referring to it, I don't want to seem one of the busybodies or favor-seekers."
"I don't think you could," I said. She laughed. "Anyone can do anything, with determination and an inner conviction of being right. Whether they really are right…" She shrugged. "Well, if he wants to be king, he'll just plain have to get used to questions and toadies and all the rest of it," I said. Remembering the conversation at dinner and wondering if I'd made an idiot of myself, I added crossly, "I don't have any sympathy at all. In fact, I wish he hadn't come up here. If he needed rest from the fatigue of taking over a kingdom, why couldn't he go to that fabulous palace in Renselaeus? Or to Shevraeth, which I'll just bet has an equally fabulous palace?"
Nee sighed. "Is that a rhetorical or a real question?"
"Real. And I don't want to ask Bran because he's so likely to hop out with my question when we're all together and fry me with embarrassment," I finished bitterly.
She gave a sympathetic grin. "Well, I suspect it's to present a united front, politically speaking. You haven't been to Court, so you don't quite comprehend how much you and your brother have become heroes--symbols--to the kingdom. Especially you, which is why there were some murmurs and speculations when you never came to the capital."
I shook my head. "Symbol for failure, maybe. didn't win--Shevraeth did."
She gave me an odd look midway between surprise and curiosity. "But to return to your question, Vidanric's tendency to keep his own counsel ought to be reassuring as far as people hopping out with embarrassing words are concerned. If I were you--and I know it's so much easier to give advice than to follow it--I'd sit down with him, when no one else is at hand, and talk it out."
Just the thought of seeking him out for a private talk made me shudder. "I'd rather walk down the mountain in shoes full of snails.
She looked up in query and made the graceful little gesture that I had learned was an invitation.
"Isn't Shevraeth a friend of yours?"
"Yes," she said cautiously.
"Then why the fan, and the careful words when you asked about your friend Elenet?"
Nee set her cup down, her brow slightly furrowed. "We are friends to a degree…Though we all grew up at Court, I was never one of his intimates, nor even one of his flirts. Those all tended to be the leaders of fashion. So I don't really know how close he was to any of them, except perhaps for Savona. It took everyone by surprise to find out that he was so different from the person we'd grown up with." She shrugged. "He was always an object of gossip, but I realized recently that though we heard much about what he did, we never heard what he thought."
"You mean he didn't tell anyone," I said.
"Exactly. Anyway, Elenet an old friend, of both of us, which is complicated by her family's machinations. Her safety is important to me. Yet in referring to it, I don't want to seem one of the busybodies or favor-seekers."
"I don't think you could," I said. She laughed. "Anyone can do anything, with determination and an inner conviction of being right. Whether they really are right…" She shrugged. "Well, if he wants to be king, he'll just plain have to get used to questions and toadies and all the rest of it," I said. Remembering the conversation at dinner and wondering if I'd made an idiot of myself, I added crossly, "I don't have any sympathy at all. In fact, I wish he hadn't come up here. If he needed rest from the fatigue of taking over a kingdom, why couldn't he go to that fabulous palace in Renselaeus? Or to Shevraeth, which I'll just bet has an equally fabulous palace?"
Nee sighed. "Is that a rhetorical or a real question?"
"Real. And I don't want to ask Bran because he's so likely to hop out with my question when we're all together and fry me with embarrassment," I finished bitterly.
She gave a sympathetic grin. "Well, I suspect it's to present a united front, politically speaking. You haven't been to Court, so you don't quite comprehend how much you and your brother have become heroes--symbols--to the kingdom. Especially you, which is why there were some murmurs and speculations when you never came to the capital."
I shook my head. "Symbol for failure, maybe. didn't win--Shevraeth did."
She gave me an odd look midway between surprise and curiosity. "But to return to your question, Vidanric's tendency to keep his own counsel ought to be reassuring as far as people hopping out with embarrassing words are concerned. If I were you--and I know it's so much easier to give advice than to follow it--I'd sit down with him, when no one else is at hand, and talk it out."
Just the thought of seeking him out for a private talk made me shudder. "I'd rather walk down the mountain in shoes full of snails.
( Sherwood Smith )
[ Court Duel ]
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