Tales of a Darkened Heart
By Stor-E-Phool
Baking was not Jane's forte. Having to measure out the ingredients and combining them in the right order was, quite simply, much too time-consuming in her opinion. Time could be far better used out on the battlefield where her skill was needed, not in the castle kitchens! But, alas, this was the price one paid to bear child.
Jane smiled and lowered her eyes toward her swollen stomach. Sighing contentedly, she stroked it. Six months down, three to go.
"Lady Jane! Lady Jane!" A young voice called from outside. Jane glanced up to see Princess Lavidia bounce through the door. "Have you a present for me? Its my Birthday today, you know!"
Jane laughed and stood heavily to her feet, supporting herself by the chair in which she had been resting. "Yes, Princess. I am aware of what day it is. In fact, little Miss Thirteen, I am baking your cake this very moment. See it there in the hearth?"
Princess Lavidia closed her eyes and shook her head. "No, no, no, Jane! The Birthday Girl must not see the cake before it is time to blow out the candles! Don't you know ANYTHING about Birthdays?!" the serious expression on the Princess' face summoned yet another laugh from Jane. Though the Princess was turning thirteen--imagine! Time went by faster and faster with every year that passed!--she still maintained a very child-like manner.
"I should say I do! I've had a whole eighteen of them, myself!" She laughed and picked a bit of lint from the Princess' lacey shoulder. Her new Birthday Dress was most certainly a beauty. It was a brilliant, deep green color made from a soft, light material. She was a vision of loveliness in it, with her hair all up in an elegant chiffon. Jane smiled and turned back to her baking ingredients.
"Lady Jane?"
"Yes, Princess?" Silence. Jane turned to see a beet-red Lavidia with her eyes downcast. "Princess?"
"Well, I, uh... this is a bit of a personal inquiry, but I've been wondering this for a while now..." Princess Lavidia's color darkened and she met Jane's eyes. Jane had a pretty good idea where this was going.... "...How is it that you and King Pheobis--of all people--got married?"
Jane smiled, and sunk back into her chair. She pulled a bowl of sweet dough from the kitchen counter and gestured for the young majesty to take a seat. "Well, Highness, this is quite a long story, but I suppose you're old enough to know." Princess Lavidia practically leaped into the seat across from her impregnated rolemodel and leaned forward, listening intently to what Jane had to say. Jane smiled softly and leaned back to take stress off of the baby and her belly. Her poor stomach was so big these days that it nearly rivaled even Sir Ivan's girth. "...You remember the big stink over Dragon a couple of years ago, do you not?"
"Of course! The one just before that big ol' fire on the mountain that awful summer, right?"
"Exactly right, Princess. That was what started it all, you know. The Big Stink."
A/N: Gasp! Jane in the kitchens? Married? PREGGERS? How? Why? Whom? Well, it seems Jane is about to explain the whole story to Lavidia and us. Better tune in later for the next Chapter!