Hello everybody
William POV
The joust this year was amazing, but one knight especially, silver armored nobles fell one after another under the lance, a lance of thunder with a silver horse of fire!
The last two contestants where pawing the dust as they flew on winged horses lances aimed, screams pitched 'Somerset SOMERSET!' or 'HAMPSTEAD' the latter was a small lord, pitched against the son of one of the most influential men in England! I think you know who won…
With a roar Somerset launched himself at his opponent, caked in dust he looked like a demon he tore the helmet off the victor with a scream.
Then it was poor Hampstead's turn to scream the poor boy…
No I shot up standing everyone craning jumping to see the girl, the girl that, that, what that crazy! How could a tiny slip of a girl win a game for men?
Catherine POV
They grabbed me glaring screaming cheering, denials from the knights that fell before my lance 'oh I knew he um she was girl' 'I went easy on a girl obviously ha'. I saw my ogre of a great aunt staggering in horror at what I had done, I had just won a joust in front of king Henry IV and the queen Catherine of Aragon, beaten the best knights in the country, no doubt I'll be fined to papacy, imprisoned, executed or sent into exile. Mutely I bowed stiffly before the king and queen who rose and inspected me, my hair was roughly cut into a chin length and my face was bruised from my helmet being torn off. "I like her." The simple sentence might have saved my life, the queen smiled and I trembled in my armor " I will take her as my lady in waiting and train her to be a lady"
The corset was too tight, but the dress was a beautiful sky blue a slight rebellion in the Tudor green crowd, my French hood far back on my head, with my hair carefully trimmed with tow curls framing my face. As soon as I entered the queens rooms I felt like I was entering a battlefield, the heavy hoods and even heavier atmosphere, it was like a church full of dead bodies, dead nuns sewing shirts for the poor, dead nuns reading the bible, chattering in the corner. Aaaaaarrggghhhh. My mouth was dry as I slowly stepped towards the queen; rumors came in my dignified wake 'whore whore whore' 'slut' 'prostitute' 'look at her French hood' 'so French' was all I heard but I smiled serenely gliding, a lady composed of ice. "Your Grace" I murmured as I sank into the deepest curtsy I could go, "You may rise, Lady Hampstead is it?" before I could utter a word she continued "I hope I did the right thing helping you yesterday, I will be watching you but I hope that you become a lady" her speech accented and not flowing though she had the words of a battle commander.
The scowls of the ladies as I passed through them to an empty corner huddled with some scraps of cloth to sew. A thin blond woman glared shuffling away whispering to her neighbor everyone stared simply goggling at me as if I was a bear in a baiting pit. I gritted my teeth sat down and sewed as if 100 dead nuns weren't staring at me.