Anyways, that up there (meaning the title) is a Shakespeare quote. Like y'all didn't KNOW that, but I hafta say it. I claim no ownership to it. It's just that quotes make better titles in a world of people like me, who can't think of one on their own. =)
I don't feel like telling you which names have meanings and which don't, so I'm only going to tell you one for the sake of all the Andreas out there (it's a beautiful name, btw!): your name means strength and courage. ;) Pretty cool, huh?
Oh, and with the Yamani Islands I'm trying to do them as best I can according to what I know - Tamora Pierce *seems* to be making them a lot like Japan (only way cooler and way more tolerant - which is important to the story!), and since I lived in Japan, it helps somewhat. ;)
Sorry, one more thing ... about Jonathan talking Kalasin out of being the first girl page who didn't have to disguise herself ... yes, he did. Just ask Tamora Pierce!! :)
The little Princess did not scream or even utter a sound as the Yamani Priests and Priestesses entered her nursery and carefully picked her up. She did not wail as they led her on horseback to the fastest boat they had, at a dock a ways outside of Corus's bustling port. Not a moan escaped her mouth as she was lifted cautiously but speedily onto the fastest boat they had, and sailed away quickly. She was absolutely silent, in fact, until the day that they reached the Yamani Islands.
The Goddess had been there, appearing only to her, telling her stories, smiling, doing anything to distract her and keep her quiet. It worked. The baby Andrea was unlike any baby the Yamanis had ever seen. Already, she knew a little of their ways, it seemed. The Divine Prophecy, perhaps, would not be so bad for the Yamani people - twelve years with the Quiet One from Tortall, the gods ordered? She was one of them already. It was nothing.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
I was almost done packing when the Sun Priestess entered my room looking solemn - as usual. I looked up, making my face smooth and clear as it always was, up until a few days ago when the King had come. The Sun Priestess was not in her ceremonial kimono, but a simple, everyday kimono and soft inside shoes.
"A gift," she whispered in Yamani, blessing me with a small smile. I barely had to work to hide my surprise - I'd had so much practice - but I was shocked. The Sun Priestess? When had I ever spoken to the Sun Priestess, except in prayer? Never. I lived with the Tortallan ambassador and his wife - at least, I had, until the King came and I was taken away from them to leave nearer to my parents in the guest-wing of the emperor's palace.
I took the tiny, beautifully carved and painted box the Sun Priestess offered me, and looked up. It was clear that I was supposed to open it right there. So I did, and discovered four lucky Yamani cats, like the ones on the expensive shelf in the pottery and glasswork shop that I'd admired for so long. It was hard, now, to hide my amazement.
"Thank you," I returned gratefully in the same language, bowing.
"Four is your number," she told me softly. "Do not let these cats leave you, for they will hold great magic indeed." I bowed again, but she was already gone. What had she meant? Why had she given me the cats? What would they ever do for me that required magic??
Mystified but still in a bit of a rush, I packed the cats away gently, trying to finish before I had to make King Roald II and his wife, Queen Sengati, wait for me ... the Princess Andrea of Tortall. I shook my head. It was too hard, adjusting to being in the Royal Family of a completely different country! Here I had had my share of dining with the emperor, and knew the children only tolerated me because I was "chosen by the gods" as a baby and brought here, but it had always seemed right that I was here, amongst the Yamanis. Soon, they learned to tolerate me because they liked me, and I had a few friends by the age of twelve; or I once had, because it looked like I would never be seeing them again. I'd said a tearful goodbye to my dearest friend, Gazali, who had just become part of an entertaining dance group called the Vanishers, who were experts at dancing, fencing, *and* disguise!
I'd met all my friends when I was allowed to have free time in the palace - at meals, I ate at the highest table, where only the emperor and the closest circle of important Yamani Islanders sat. The emperor told me it was because I was a divine sign, or a god-chosen girl, and I was allowed to learn important combat skills along with the young Chosen warriors-in-training.
Even dining with the emperor, however, wasn't like dining with the King. Nothing was like dining with the King. He was the King and he knew he was the King. He was royalty. He was in power of the entire nation of Tortall, and could speak for all of them. And nothing could stop him, I had soon learned. He was, of course, the King!
I was finished quickly. I picked up four gigantic, bulging bags carefully, and strode into the main audience chambers, my face emotionless, my ears alert to any sound that reached me before I reached it.
"Ah, my daughter!" the King exclaimed, smiling at my entrance. "Are you ready to do your duty for your home?"
Which one? I wanted to ask, thanking the servants who picked up my bags. But I just smiled warmly and, of course, said yes. Hugging Queen Sengati as I thought I probably should, and bowing to the Tortallan ambassador, his wife, the Sun Priestess, the Moon Priestess, and the emperor himself, who had come to see me off - I was delightfully honored at this, but couldn't show it - and was flanked by servants, I left with my "new" parents.
Two weeks later, I was in a gorgeous dress, made by the best seamstresses in the palace out of the finest material they could find. It was silvery and "matched my gray-green eyes in a flattering way," (said the Queen) and, just this once, for the ball being held in celebration of my "return," I didn't mind wearing a dress. It seemed like every lad in the palace wanted to dance with me just because I was the Princess, and the minute we stepped into a song they would bombard me with questions about the Yamanis, my childhood, the King, the Queen, everything. It was overwhelming and a little annoying at first, but I began to enjoy talking to them, especially the pages and squires.
At thirteen, I could have been a third-year page myself, but like a tall, lanky boy named Nathan of Hollyrose, I intended to start late. When the servants put out a table of food and all the boys dashed to it, I had a chance to talk with the only girls who were aspiring knights among this lot.
"Lord Saxen is openly in favor of lady knights -" the oldest girl, Squire Tessa of Hannalof, remarked during our conversation.
"As long as they can fight with a sword," laughed Page Lexana of Drell Valley, the youngest, and the wittiest, I'd gathered.
"Does a glaive count?" I asked shyly, feeling a little out-of-place in my splendid dress, although Tessa was wearing a simple gown.
"Of course, as long as you can learn a 'true sword' in about a month," Page Kiara of Tasride told me. "And make no mistake, you duel with my lord himself until either he gets sweaty or you win. Only one's ever beaten him."
"Who?" I wondered.
"Whitley of King's Reach," Squire Tessa answered. "And mind you, I'm going to be the second."
"She is, too," Kiara assured me.
"She's good," Lexana seconded.
After a bit of a silence, Tessa inquired, "So do you want to be a lady knight?"
"Of course!" I informed her. She looked slightly ashamed, and blushed, as though she wanted to take back what she'd asked.
"King Roald will talk you out of it," Kiara warned darkly.
"Or at least, he'll try," Lexana amended, attempting to glare at Kiara and look at me with a radiant smile at the same time.
"What can he do about it?" I asked them sharply, taken aback. I looked uncertainly at all of them, then shook my head with a stubborn smile. "Well, he's not going to do anything about it. I fought plenty with the Yamanis, and I'm going to become a knight of Tortall whether the King likes it or not!"
"The King?" Kiara asked, confused. "Isn't he your father?"
"Of course," I said. Page Lexana caught my eye, and grinned.
"Andrea is of course referring to King Roald's charming tendency to remind everyone who he is and what title he holds so that there is no mistake," she explained. Tessa laughed, if a little nervously.
"His father didn't do that," Kiara remarked.
"His father didn't have to!" Lexana told her.
"Jonathan had a presence," Squire Tessa finished. "A real presence."
"Yes," I added, "and he seemed to pass on his dislike of free minds in his children." I had heard about Jonathan from the Tortallan ambassador in the Yamani Islands: he'd talked his daughter out of being the first page who took advantage of the proclamation decreeing that girls could be knights. I remembered that, now, when Kiara mentioned what Roald would do.
Nobody laughed, but just then the boys returned, and a fourth-year page swept me into a dance before I could utter a parting word to the cheerful girls. I wished them all luck silently, and I was glad that not many were afraid to fight alongside boys anymore. I also thanked Mithros for Lord Saxen's tolerance - this would be probably the last time I did so.
"I'm Kander of Naxen," the page was saying.
I grinned. "Can I call you Kand?"
"Can I call you And?" he returned, blushing - why did everybody have to blush when they weren't calling me 'Highness' or 'Princess' or something? - and I laughed. "Well, really, everyone calls me Kand - I hate my name," he admitted. "But Eryk over there, of Spedret -" he jerked his head towards a huge boy with dirty-blonde hair and bright black eyes - "makes every opportunity to make fun of the nickname, so I've learned to appreciate Kander more." He smiled wryly.
"I wish I could be one of you," I sighed, looking at his face. His gray-green eyes were nearly the same shade as mine, and his friendly face and tousled brown hair was a welcome change from Eryk's big, hard features.
"You mean a page?" he asked. "What, why can't you? You'd be the first in the Royal Family." He looked as though he felt guilty for giving me false hopes, like talking of playing in the sun to someone on his deathbed.
"Roald would talk me out of it," I told him. "I'm foolish not to have seen it before, and Kiara just said it, now."
"She's a third-year page," he said slowly. "I don't know her that well, but what I do know suggest she's a little - ah - open."
"You mean tactless," I suggested, grinning again. He returned the grin.
"Well, you could still be a page," he told me, avoiding the 'tactless' issue. Obviously he thought he'd been too blunt with the King's daughter. "There's always the disguise," he added jokingly. I laughed, but I was still determined, and I thought about what he'd said all through dancing with Farrell of Nicoline and Evan of King's Reach, before the ball finally ended and I had to leave. I looked longingly back at the pages and squires, who had a full day of work to look forward to.
"But I don't understand it! It's madness!" I screamed, more used to showing my feelings now that I'd been in Tortall for a month.
Roald looked completely calm and composed. "You have to marry," he informed me. "And nobody will want to marry you if you're a lady knight. Do you know how many neighboring nations are still against that?"
"But what if those neighboring nations don't have anybody I wish to marry?" I challenged. "What if I'd like to marry a Tortallan?"
He smiled. "That doesn't change a thing," he announced. "I will be sorry, of course, and you will be distraught and angry, but the fact is that you were born into the Royal Family and you have to marry whoever will bring Tortall the most benefit. You were born into it, and you have to accept it. That's what being royal means, my daughter. Now, I can give you the chance to say no to a suitor that you don't like - as long as you marry one before you turn sixteen - as long as you give up the idea of becoming a page. Deal?"
"You - this - is madness," I repeated angrily, then sighed. "Give me a week to think?"
"Fine," he said shortly, and motioned for me to leave. I stormed off, thinking harshly that I'd much rather be back in the Yamani Islands with a cool, emotionless face than here amongst finery and an all-too-kingly father. Not paying attention to where I was going in my anger, I turned a corner and slammed right into Kander of Naxen.
"Oh, sorry!" I exclaimed, meanwhile marvelling that I remembered his name - he was only just another page I danced with, after all.
"Highness," he said respectfully, bowing.
"Oh, stop it, I hate when people do that," I said, still nettled about my father, and blushing - half embarrassment for being so careless and half fury at the King. "It's Kander, right?" I asked, a little more kindly.
"Yes," he told me cautiously, looking up.
"Do you have a moment, or do you have to run?" I questioned him. It had been so long since I'd talked to someone friendly, and I liked all the pages. Most of them knew things that they could teach me, sometimes unwittingly, and I picked all their little tidbits about fighting, working, and etiquette eagerly.
"Er - well - I was just getting my spear," he stammered.
"Sorry then," I apologized, disappointed, and trying not to show it. "I'll let you go then. Have fun in -"
"You could walk with me to pick it up," he said hopefully. "My room's just down the hall."
"Sure! So did they tell you that it's the Quee - my mother's birthday in two weeks?" I asked, falling into step next to him.
"No, but they don't usually tell us that far in advance," he admitted. "How is she? How are you? Are you settling into being a princess?" I was touched. Nobody had ever asked me how I felt about being shoved into royalty!
"I'm - I'm doing well," I told him, still a little shocked. "The queen's doing wonderfully. But it's hard to - adjust. Get used to - the King being my father. And not being able to do things I used to do in the Yamani Islands. And everything."
"Roald talked you out of being a page," he sensed immediately. "I kind of figured he would. The girls, I think, have been talking about whether you would 'make it.' That's too bad ... I'm sorry."
"I -" I cleared my throat. How could he tell? Was I that obvious? I was getting distressed, and I felt weak and angry and helpless. "Th - thank you ..."
"Well, I should be getting back to class ..." He trailed off, and looked into my eyes, gripping his spear tightly. I looked back for a moment, and then he said, "If we can go to the ball for your mother, I'll bring a knife along and teach you some tricks I learned from my best friend in the city. All right?"
I grinned. "Thanks. Sorry I kept you." He was already running towards class, and he just looked back and winked. I watched until he was out of sight, then I shook my head, confused, and returned to my rooms. Kander was breaking all the rules of etiquette whenever he talked to me, and he was going to get in serious trouble if he was caught teaching me knife tricks! I just didn't know why he was so willing to do all this for me. Was it just because I was the Princess? I didn't think so - but I couldn't even think about the other reason. It was too absurd.
"Will you be needing anything, Highness?" a servant asked, who was fluffing the pillow on my bed for the thousandth time.
"No," I answered awkwardly. I could never get used to having servants around! I never knew how to talk to them. I wished I could just dismiss all of them, but the King and Queen would have a fit. My mother and father would have a fit. "No, I don't need anything. You can go, if you like."
"As you wish, Highness," she said briskly, and left. I let out a humongous sigh and sat down heavily on my richly canopied bed, on a slight rise from the rest of my room. I needed to think.
Most importantly, there was the problem of me getting to be a lady knight. I was determined, no matter what happened, no matter what Roald said. Would I agree to his terms? All of Tortall would practically shun me if I did. And would I ever marry?
Just because I was a lady knight didn't mean I didn't want to marry. I did, in fact. And I wanted to marry whoever I wanted to marry. I cared more about the happiness of my life than for the good of Tortall, and I certainly didn't want to marry someone just so my country would prosper! I wanted to be happy. And if no other royalty would marry a lady knight, then it was just as well. I knew there were plenty of people who wouldn't mind. And I was going to marry someone that didn't.
But now was not the time to think of marriage. I was only thirteen! What I was thinking about now was, would I accept Roald's decision?
Even if I said no, I was almost sure he would force me one way or another, and try to disguise it. I knew that Queen Sengati could no longer have any children, and I had no brothers and sisters. There had to be an heir to the throne, and it was me who had to provide it.
Roald had siblings, though, I thought angrily. They could do it. It didn't have to be me. Why was all this put upon me?
Because Roald wants his own child to rule, a sly little voice in my head answered, and I knew that was right. Roald would never let me be a lady knight willingly. But what if he didn't have to know ... I remembered Kander's words - "there's always the disguise" - he was right, even though I knew it was a joke - remembered my friend Gazali - she would be fifteen now, and a full Vanisher ...
Vanishers are experts in disguise.
A vanisher could help you disguise.
In disguise, you could become a page, and therefore a lady knight.
I was shocked at my own daring. So many things could go wrong! And what about my real self? People would wonder where the Princess had gone, for sure.
You could visit the Yamani Islands.
The people would love that.
You could choose to marry a suitor there.
But what about the husband I chose to marry? If he was in on the plan ... if I could trust him ... suddenly it all fell together in my head. I would marry the emperor's son, pretending to agree to Roald's plan, and I knew I could trust him. We hadn't been together much, but those who knew him said he was trustworthy, and he looked sturdy. Like a good, solid, loyal friend. I would marry him, and find Gazali, and she would disguise herself as me and disguise me as a boy. I knew she could do it. She had been good even before she became a Vanisher. Everything would appear to be fine, and I would go as a boy of some small fief who nobody would know in the first place, and nobody would think to check. Or maybe ... maybe I could be a victim of a fief ravaged by immortals - I knew of a couple - and everybody would have sympathy, not skepticism.
I quickly went over the plan in my head, checking for errors or discrepancies. I realized that I could do it, all of it. It was done. I could be a lady knight.
A strange excitement filled me, and I walked in circles around my bed, trying to contain my excitement. I practically flew down the corridors back to Roald's rooms, and found him doing paperwork in his cozy library.
"Father ..." I swallowed. "I'll marry. And I must be able to choose." He smiled confidently, as if he'd been waiting for me to come back and agree at once - I seethed with rebellious triumph, he was going to be blown away when he knew in eight years - and nodded.
"Of course," he agreed. "In exchange for no more impossible notions." He gazed sternly at me for a moment - very different from the way Kander had looked at me, but, I realized with a jolt of my heart, I didn't want to ponder that at all! - and then motioned for me to go, turning back to his papers. I walked out calmly, trying to seem as frustrated and distressed as possible, but it wasn't easy when I was so happy and impressed with my own cleverness and daring. I couldn't help it! I was going to be a lady knight!!