The Country Lady
By General Luigi
Author's Notes
This story takes place in Sarasaland, a place that Nintendo has provided almost no information on. What is known about Sarasaland is that she consists of four nations: Birabuto, Muda, Easton, and Chai. Much of Sarasaland, therefore, has been improvised for this story.
In addition, Toads have been made very humanoid in this story, as is the case with all of my stories. Keep in mind, though, that they still have the same heads. Otherwise, they are essentially small humans. The mushroom-like top of a Toad's head will be referred to as a cap in this story. You should also avoid being fooled by the beginning; this story is not pure romance. In addition, if you read the entire first chapter, you will see that Nathaniel is not as easily seduced as one might think from his encounter. I understand that several of the paragraphs are quite long and descriptive, but please do not be too quick to judge the story as pure words and no action, because it has a plot. Also, if you are reading Shellfino, this story contains a number of spoilers.
Foreword—1896
Twelve years have passed since Mario's death in 1884. In 1887, the Mushroom Kingdom invaded the Mushroom Kingdom and claimed nearly half of her land and most of the Boo Kingdom. By 1896, though, the Mushroom Army was nearing its limit. Resistance factions are growing in power and even the Mushroom Kingdom knows that the war must end soon if she is to have any hope of victory. So far, most countries have remained neutral, but both the Mushroom and Koopa Kingdoms are extending their influence elsewhere to ask for support.
Empress Daisy Rose of the Sarasaland Union, currently neutral in the war, recently abdicated the throne and married Luigi Star, a Koopa Kingdom Admiral. With no heir, Archduchess Morgana Chai was given the throne, Chai being the most powerful of the four Duchies comprising the Union. Morgana's husband had died in an attempt at Morgana's life two years earlier. Nathaniel, Morgana's son, recently turned seventeen.
Chapter 1—Marta
Morgana and Nathaniel were on a visit to Naritsya, a rich-poor territory in Birabuto, to visit José Klips, Duke of Naritsya. Naritsya's capital, Gasantki, was a mix of two different environments. The rich owned vast plantations stretching across the wide, muddy Naritsya River, a portion of the delta extending across Birabuto and the neighboring rainforest nation of Muda. The fields most often boasted rice and other water-dependent plants that were nearly impossible to grow anywhere else in Birabuto, being predominantly desert. The gaudy abodes of the rich landowners overlooked the river, often with a private dock on the river with a few expensive boats. A long, decorated driveway would lead from each mansion to the main avenue on that side of the river. On the other sides of the avenues were the clutters of houses, apartments, and homeless shelters that comprised the poor part of the capital. These buildings were made of some ghastly material that cracked easily. Windows were often just holes in the walls with no glass or even a wire screen. Few cars were visible on the roads, as few could afford the cars. However, there were plenty of shoddily constructed roadside stands, selling all manner of things.
As the car, a red and white limousine with an especially long engine area, went into the Klips Estate, Nathaniel noticed the familiar architecture of the famous Birabuto architect, Elsiro Ubite. The manor itself was inside a twelve-sided wall that had been arranged in the shape of a +. The manor occupied the northernmost part of the wall, overlooking the river, while the garage, holding an immense fleet of cars, in the northern part of the eastern section. The southern part of that section held an apartment-like building that housed the many servants and guards. The driveway came in from the south, cutting between two gardens holding large numbers of two-tone trees imported from Boggly Woods in the Mushroom Kingdom. Bushes carefully shaven into boxy hedges aligned the driveway, which appeared to be pure marble. To the west was a multi-layered pool arranged to look like a giant fountain. Red ivy clung to the walls separating the layers, gaps only appearing where a staircase was. In the center of the estate was a gigantic gold statue of what must have been the Duke and his family. It was very well-kept and did not have a single molecule tarnished.
"This fellow certainly is not modest," Nathaniel thought as the car drove by the statue and stopped in front of the manor. The manor was five stories high and was built out of marble. The walls were probably reinforced on the inside. The three-story doors into the foyer were sitting between stained-glass windows just as tall. A butler, a Toad with a rather tan face, wearing a white tuxedo, came up to the car and opened the back door for Morgana, Nathaniel stepping out after her. The instant he stepped out of the car, he noticed how warm it was. It was a dry heat, but it was converted into humidity as it passed through his suit. As a result, Nathaniel's face began to turn red from the heat. He and Morgana followed the butler to the tall red doors. The butler motioned to the four doormen, two on each side of the doors, to open the doors and let the Empress and her son in. The doormen were also in yellow, but they were much more tan and considerably larger and stronger than the butler. They slowly opened the doors that literally weighed a ton each. Nathaniel felt a rush of cool air from inside.
"Please come in, Your Majesty," the butler said, leading them in. "I am Rodrigo, one of the butlers. The Duke is waiting for you in the parlor. Shall I lead you there?"
"Yes, please," Morgana said.
Rodrigo nodded and led Morgana and Nathaniel up a dark red wooden staircase, which had a white carpet running down the middle. The staircase stopped briefly at the second story and continued along the walls all the way up to the fourth story. A red chandelier the size of King Bowser I of the Koopa Kingdom hung from the ceiling. Nathaniel had little time to look at the rest of the foyer, though, as he was led down a hallway with numerous valuable paintings and tapestries hanging on the walls. On occasion, a candelabra with strontium salt wicks would stick out of one wall. The carpet was white, just like the one on the staircase, branching off into any door they passed. The area of the floor near the walls was made of a dark red wood. Rodrigo stopped before a door and opened it, motioning for Nathaniel and Morgana to enter the parlor.
The parlor was just as gaudy as the rest of the manor. The table in the center held an immense porcelain pot of flowers and was covered in a silk tablecloth dyed specifically to have a red and white pattern on it. José was waiting in a velvet armchair, wearing a red uniform. He had a yellow pattern on his cap, shaped somewhat like a fleur-de-lis, and was also tan, as could be expected in a sunny region such as Naritsya. His white cape was hanging on a coat rack near the door.
"Welcome to my estate, Your Majesty," he said. "I would assume the young gentleman beside you is Lord Nathaniel, is that correct?"
"Yes," Morgana said.
"Well, Nathaniel, Marta, one of my daughters, is quite eager to meet you. Would you please grant her the pleasure of meeting you?"
"Very well, my lord," Nathaniel said. "Would you know where she is at the moment?"
"Of course. She's in her chambers. Rodrigo will lead you there."
Nathaniel followed Rodrigo out into the hallway again and up the stairs to the fourth floor. Rodrigo went to the door to the left and opened it, motioning for Nathaniel to enter. He walked into a hallway just like the one on the second floor. He passed by an open door and heard a gasp coming from inside. He stopped and turned back to the open door, knocking on it when got near enough.
"Come on in," a female voice said. "I'd have the door closed if I didn't want anyone to see me."
Nathaniel entered the room. The carpet was white all across the room. The windows were stained glass, all of which had images of Stars in them. Nathaniel recalled in the back of his mind that his mother had mentioned that the Klipses were Starists. A large king size bed was against one wall, made of red wood with white sheets and a white silk canopy reducing everything on the bed to shadows. There were two pictures hanging near the bed, one on each side, both depicting scenes from the Star Scriptures. Nathaniel recognized one as Ztar's Betrayal from Main Sequence. The other was The Forging of the Star Rod from Nebula. A large vanity table was in one of the corners, the mirror pure silver with a gold frame, not some cheap aluminum mirror that most people are fooled into buying that makes the user look pale. In another corner was a large red velvet couch across from a television that had to be at least two meters wide. A young Toadette was lounging on the couch, looking at Nathaniel.
When the Toadette, who he assumed must be Marta, got up, he was able to get a better look at her. She had yellow markings on her cap similar to those of her father, her long, wavy hair the same color. Her hair went all the way to her very thin waist. Oddly enough, her hips were gigantic in comparison. She was shorter than Nathaniel. Nathaniel himself was somewhat short for his gender, especially at his age, when most Toads grow at an alarming rate. Marta had a long white dress on, no sleeves, no straps, very suggestive. The dress was cut, starting at the hips and going all the way down to the ankles. As for the upper half, it looked quite loose; it looked as if a single nudge would make it fall off. Much of her tan skin was visible. Nathaniel's eyes wandered down from Marta's face and stopped where her dress began concealing her body. He quickly caught himself and brought his eyes back up. Marta laughed.
"It's okay," she said. "Look all you want; just about every Toad who visits me looks there."
"Well, it is s-still not very polite to do so," Nathaniel said, feeling himself blush. "Anyway, your father said you wanted to see me."
"Oh, yes. I've been very eager to meet the heir to the throne. Nathan, correct?"
"I prefer Nathaniel."
"Nathaniel it is, then. Tell me, why are you so pale? I know it's not that sunny in Chai, but I'd still expect a bit of a tan on you. Even Elizabeth, one of the maids–a Boo, I might add–is less pale than you are."
"I spend my time at the library, not the beach." Marta lied down again on the couch, laughing.
"I've never seen the ocean in my life," she said. "I got this tan sunbathing on the balcony. It wasn't easy, either, what with some of the male cleaners lusting for me. Eventually, I just decided to ignore them and go ahead and tan all of my body. I think they knew better than to let their voyeuristic desires get the best of them, what with my father being the Duke. Besides, the Stars deserve to see something beautiful here in Naritsya, considering that most people in this territory are so lacking in money."
"Since when did money determine beauty?" Nathaniel asked. Marta laughed again.
"Poor people are too busy trying to live what they so ridiculously call a life to afford beauty."
"Perhaps you should keep in mind that Empress Daisy married someone who has been poor almost all his life."
"And I still think she made a mistake. Peasants and nobles should not intermarry; it would bring shame to our superior blood."
"Nobles are in no way superior to peasants," Nathaniel said, beginning to feel offended, even though he was a noble himself. "Have you done anything for the Union?"
"Does it matter? Nobles are nobles because of birth, not actions."
"A person's value is not determined at birth."
"Why, of course it is! One born a peasant remains a peasant, and one born a noble remains a noble. It is the natural hierarchy."
"What would that make the illegitimate children of nobles? What would that make those born of both a noble and a peasant?"
"Mistakes," Marta said with a laugh. "You are a very good actor, Lord Nathaniel. You almost had me convinced you believed we were equal to the rabble."
"I was not acting," Nathaniel said, now quite annoyed. "I beg your leave." Nathaniel walked out of the room and looked for a quiet room for him to read in. Marta was the most attractive woman he had ever met, but she had the most prejudiced mind he had ever had the misfortune of encountering. He eventually found his way to a sitting room on the first floor and reached into his book bag, now just waiting for his mother to be done talking with Duke José. He shuddered as he thought of how Marta had tried to flirt with him. He was quite aware of his mother's intentions to find a suitable wife for him. Marta was about as suitable for him as the Shadow Queen. He may have been seventeen, but his appreciation of peasants separated him from a decent number of Sarasaland noblewomen his age. "I would rather become Emperor alone than alongside a spoiled whore," he thought to himself as he opened the book and began to read.
A Toadette noticed Nathaniel in the sitting room and came in. She looked about thirteen or fourteen, and was wearing a white dress like Marta, but it had long sleeves, a tall collar, and stopped just above the knees, no cuts. Judging by the familiar yellow pattern on her cap, Nathaniel concluded she must have been Marta's sister or some other relative of hers. Her long yellow hair was tied back in a single large braid that went down to her knees.
"You must be Lord Nathaniel," she said.
"I am," Nathaniel responded. "Who would you be?"
"Yesenia Klips; I'm Marta's younger sister. I'm kind of surprised to see you here. Marta had pulled out all the stops. I'd think she'd have you in bed with–"
Nathaniel coughed loudly at the thought. "Only if someone's life depended on it! I would never be caught anywhere near her!"
"Looks like she lost her bet, then. She made a bet that she'd have you head over heels in love with her very quickly. She got the most suggestive dress she could find and had alterations done to make it easier to take off than to put on. I really don't like her as much as I did when the two of us were just little kids. She started to get all snobby around ten. Ever since then, we've been getting farther apart."
"'Snobby' is an understatement. Anyway, what about you? You do not lookas ifyou spend your time sunbathing naked or showing off two thirds of your torso."
"I don't," Yesenia said, laughing. "I often go for walks through the slums. As a matter of fact, I've made friends with some of the people there." She pointed to her necklace. "I got this at one of the many stands on the roadside. I partly wear it just to spite Marta, but I still like it anyway. Marta thinks it's a piece of junk, but she'd refuse a meal at Dimitry's just because the owner is a peasant. Dimitry's is the best restaurant in town, and no one along the river has even been there."
"You seem much more fit to be a noble. The best nobles respect the people; it is their duty to protect them. I have met far too many nobles who purchase houses more expensive than that of Wario Ztar while their people starve and die in the streets of the capital. When I mastered Ztar magic, I was finally allowed to go through Chai City without an army of guards giving away my identity. Traveling the streets as a peasant is much more satisfying. People treat me differently the instant they see my guards."
"Same here. I usually go around the slums dressed no more expensively than the people living there. I never take any guards with me, either. Marta explodes more violently than a Bob-Omb every time I go there. It's nice; everyone there is much more kind than my family thinks. Even my father has some objections about me traveling the "criminal-infested slums". He's supposed to be helping them. It makes me support what Iced Land did with their new amendment after their revolution a few months ago. What was it? The Popular Election Amendment?"
"Yes, that was it," Nathaniel said. "They have the right idea. Nobles should be loyal to the people first, and their own ambitions second. However, thanks to our old tradition of succession, even the worst people become nobles. I shudder to think of the day Marta joins the Birabuto Assembly. You should succeed your father; you are far more kind to the people."
"No, that power might ruin me. I can't bear to risk losing myself to that kind of power."
"Nathaniel?" Morgana called. "Where are you? It is time to leave."
"Well, Lady Yesenia, it was a pleasure to meet you," Nathaniel said, shaking Yesenia's hand before leaving. "I hope to see you again."
"So long, Lord Nathaniel," Yesenia said.
Nathaniel followed his mother out to the limousine, which would take them to the train station. As the limousine drove along the avenue, Nathaniel saw several peasants glaring at it with the utmost hatred and anger. The windows were closed, but he could easily hear the jeers and curses. Many river cities in Birabuto were like that; the hated rich lived along the river on extensive plantations while the poor struggled to survive in the shadows of the immense mansions the rich owned. The peasants clearly thought José was in the limousine, or possibly despised Morgana for turning a blind eye to them. Either way, he wanted to make certain that there was no such line separating rich and poor once he became Emperor.
"So, did you enjoy yourself with Marta?" Morgana asked. "Duke José was saying that many of the Toads serving him lusted for her. She must be very beautiful."
"Only on the outside," Nathaniel said with disgust. "Her body is beautiful, but her mind is as ugly as the crisis in Desert Hill. Her sister, Yesenia, should become Duchess; she understands the needs of the people."
"Yesenia is rather young to be making decisions for the entire territory. Besides, the position has already been promised to Marta."
"Then I pity the people of this territory when Marta becomes Duchess. She is terribly regressive and could not care less about the people. Yesenia regularly goes through the slums to speak with the people. She even patronizes their stands."
Morgana said nothing as the ride continued. Nathaniel did not like Marta, and he hated the regressive nobles so common in Birabuto. "If I were Emperor," he thought, "I would dismiss the regressive nobles and appoint peasants to replace them. I might even try to push an election policy through the Union Assembly." The nobles of Sarasaland had grown too greedy; Nathaniel felt that a change was long overdue.
Author's Notes: This will most likely be a very long story, so please give the plot a little time to develop. Any form of advice would be greatly appreciated.