Disclaimer: I don't own the Shadow-Thieves, Athkatla and anything else that appears familiar to you. Cara, Olan, Salida and her family are mine... as is the stupid dress.
Summary: Salida, a fourteen-year-old half-elven girl from a rich Athkatlan family, finds out that her parents want to make her marry against her will.
Author's Notes: Welcome everyone... well, I don't have much to say about this. I wanted to do something a little more funny for a change, and I hope you enjoy...
Chapter One: Silver
"Miss Salida! Miss Salida!"
The girl awoke as she heard the house-maid calling her name. She sleepily blinked one of her bluish-purple eyes.
"Huh?"
"Get u-hup!" sang the always cheerful maid and happily pulled away Salida's bedcovers. Salida instinctively clung to the warm covers and was pulled out of her bed together with them. She landed on the marble-floor in a heap of white cloth and some feathers that had escaped it, while the elderly house-maid just smiled good-heartedly and shook her head.
"Oh Miss, it is the same every morning. And I thought elves did not like to sleep so long. Your father never does."
Salida fought her way out of the white heap and finally came to stand in front of the woman. Although she was bowed with age, Salida with her fourteen years was even smaller than her. Her size and maybe her ears seemed to be the only thing that was elven about her.
"You know I'm only half-elven, Alena," she murmured sleepily, stepping past her maid and towards the huge set of drawers and the closet at the wall opposite of her bed. Alena followed on her heels.
"Wait, wait, young miss, let me help you get dressed."
Salida nodded absent-mindedly but started searching through her clothes on her own. Before the old woman had even arrived at her side, Salida had chosen some simple brown riding breeches and a loose-fitting linen shirt. She tossed the clothes onto her bed and started to strip out of her white nightshirt, but Alena stopped her.
"Miss, your parents told me to have you dressed up nicely... they said they had to discuss something very important with you," Alena revealed, beaming at the young girl, who for her part just took a short look at the clothes on her bed and then turned back towards Alena with an innocent expression.
"Well, this is very nice, no? Now would you-"
She wanted to pull the nightshirt over her head but Alena caught her arm.
"No, no, no. It is your fourteenth birthday today. You wear the dress."
Salida curled her lower lip. Obviously it was serious. Usually she was left more liberties at her birthday, which was mainly why she had chosen the most comfortable - and also the shabbiest - clothes she possessed.
"No, please," she pouted, "It's my birthday! Can't I dress the way I want to at least once a year?"
Alena shook her head, still smiling patiently.
"Other girls would be happy to have dresses that are as nice as yours. And you are fourteen now, a young lady, and ladies don't wear trousers."
Salida took her maid's arm.
"Alright I'll wear whatever you say, even something with no legs, but please, not the dress!"
Alena smiled and sighed.
"Sorry young lady, but this is exactly what your parents demanded."
Salida curled her lip even more and made the biggest moo-moo-eyes she could manage, but to no effect. Alena had raised too many children already to get weak now, and smiling but unyieldingly she went to take the dreaded dress out of the closet.
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Half an hour later, Salida stepped out onto her balcony above her family's garden. She had breakfast out there as often as she possibly could with regard to the weather, and as it was a warm and sunny spring-day, everything was prepared for her already. She had a brief look around to be sure all the servants were gone, then lifted two fingers to her lips and let out a short, bird-like whistle. To her left, something rustled in the old beech that was even taller than the rather impressive house, and a moment later a young woman clad in black leathers and an equally dark cloak fell out of the tree. The way she landed on the balcony reminded Salida of a cat.
"Good morning, Cara," she said and smiled. Cara smirked and tossed back her dark hood, revealing her shoulder-length, slightly curling reddish hair.
"Good morning, milady," she replied with a certain irony in her voice and tossed her a small box wrapped in brown paper.
"Happy Birthday... is this why you're dressed up so posh already so early in the morning?"
Salida made a face and sat down at the breakfast-table. She hated the silver silk-dress she had to wear for most festivities, and unfortunately this seemed to be a festive day.
"How are things going in the guild?" she asked, more to distract from her clothing than out of interest. Cara growled something incomprehensible, sat down opposite her and grabbed a roll from the basket in the middle of the table. She nibbled on it for a moment, then finally stated, "Not well."
Salida raised her eyebrows and started unpacking Cara's gift; it was a single silver earring shaped like a winding snake. She put it through her left ear while asking, "Why not?"
"Because one of the guild-masters is apparently planning to have Renal Bloodscalp assassinated... Of course Uncle Aran isn't very happy with that since Renal is one of his best men. But unfortunately, we have no proof of that bastard's treachery."
Cara had finished the small roll, took a knife from a pocket of her armor, snapped it open and used it to pick and peel a green fruit with a hard skin.
"Plus," she said while peeling, "Some new guild is trying to snatch away our members. Many of our best thieves and assassins do either leave the guild or find a sudden, unexpected death lately..."
"Oh," was all Salida could answer. She was not really into politics, but in the time she had known Cara now she had probably learned more about the Shadow-Thieves than most of the Athkatlan citizens even cared to know.
She smiled remembering how she had met Cara about six years ago on a hot summer's day. She was almost three years older than Salida and had tried to pick the rich girl's pocket that day, but one of Salida's guards had caught her. The man had wanted to punish the little thief, but Salida had felt sorry for her. She had insisted that Cara was her friend and that the two of them had been playing hide and seek, and she had explained to the guard that it was obviously a very clever idea to hide right behind the other's back because they would never search there. Finally, both of the girls had been close to tears and screamed at the poor guard for ruining their game and Cara's great idea.
Yes, Salida had always been a master of improvision, and not too bad an actor either. Whenever her father saw one of her shows - he was the only one who she could not fool a single time - he just laughed, took his daughter into his arms and said that she would make a great bard. Then her mother usually gave him a stern glance meaning 'This is not the life a daughter from a noble family should lead' and ruined all the fun. Salida loved her elven father a lot and wished she was more like him, but she had only inherited the pointed ears, the small body-size and a beautiful voice from him. She wished she had also had his soft hazel hair and his vividly green eyes, but her thick, long black hair was that of her mother, and the purple eyes also looked more similar to her mother's dark blue ones. Not that her mother was ugly, on the contrary, she was a rather beautiful human woman, but Salida felt that it was nothing compared to her father.
"Sal... Sal! Are you listening to me at all?"
Salida looked up at Cara a little confused, then smiled apologetically.
"Sorry, I was distracted."
Cara lent back in her chair.
"Yeah, sure, just let me know if I bore you, 'right?"
"Next time I will," Salida replied with a smirk. Cara sighed, then stood up and patted her friend's head.
"I have to go now, milady, or my uncle will... well that's nothing your noble pointed ears should hear."
Salida made a face again, as she always did when Cara had to go, but quickly stopped when the older girl imitated her face - it looked scary.
"Will you come back in the evening? Looks like it'll be nice weather for a supper outside."
Cara frowned.
"Judging from that silver nightmare you're wearing I'd suppose you have to be on some party with your parents tonight...?"
Salida shook her head no.
"It's only lunch I think, otherwise they wouldn't have made me dress up like that already."
"Alright then."
Cara shrugged and placed the hood back on her head, despite the warmth of the day.
"I'll be back at sunset... if you approve, milady."
Salida ignored Cara's usual sarcastic tone and laughed.
"I approve and grant thee audience at night-fall, Lady Linvail."
Cara had already climbed onto the balustrade of the balcony, but now turned back to Salida again.
"Oh, I almost forgot - the earring protects you from poison. Rather useful in my profession... I don't know if it'll be of any use to you, but from my experience I can say that most nobles sooner or later make someone want to kill them... have a nice day, milady!"
Salida wanted to protest, but a dark shadow had already vanished between the leaves of the old tree.
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At two minutes to noon, Salida stood before the high doors of the dining-room, but she did not enter yet because her mother valued punctuality as one of the greatest goods of modern civilization. When she finally knocked, the "Come in" came almost at the same moment her knuckles touched the wood. Salida figured that her parents, too, had probably been sitting at the table for ten minutes already, just waiting for noon to arrive. She knew that her father thought this, as well as many other things her mother did, to be complete nonsense, but somehow he also loved her fondly enough to leave the forests behind for her and move into a crowded, noisy city.
The tall doors were opened, Salida entered and kissed her father's cheek and her mother's hand, murmuring a 'good day' for both, then sat down at the long table with them. Dinner was already served and her mother motioned for the servants to leave the room.
"Well, honey, what does it feel like to be fourteen?" her father asked with a smile and started eating. Salida frowned.
"Actually it feels just the same as thirteen..." she answered, not sure what to think of this question. Her father gave her a fond look.
"Right you are, my love. Merely getting older does not change your life. It's what you experience that makes the changes."
"That is not always true," Salida's mother intervened, "What you experience often changes you, but getting older does, too. Today you turn fourteen, Salida, which makes you a young lady, and-"
"Oh, please, darling," her husband cut her off - something Salida had never seen him do before, "Let's talk about something less serious for now. Salida, did you like the book we chose as a present for you?"
Salida opened her mouth to answer that yes, she had been very happy about the book 'Arcane Magic for Beginners', but before she could say a word her mother gave her husband a both confused and a bit angry glare and said, "Elryn, I thought we had discussed that before and came to the conclusion that it is the best for Salida-"
"Please my love," her father addressed his wife, his face all sad - the first moment Salida believed that his ears would hang down like those of a sad animal, though she wasn't sure if this happened with elven ears, too. After all, she usually did not see herself when she was crying, and her father was a cheerful man; it pained her to see him like this.
"I know I agreed that sometime - but Salida is so young still..." Elryn continued. Salida's curiosity took over, and though she knew that she should not speak while her parents were talking to each other, she asked, "What? What is it with me?"
Her mother gave both her and her father a stern look and said determinedly, "Salida, turning fourteen makes you a young lady, as I tried to explain for at least ten times already this evening. Well, and for a young lady like you, from a family like ours, it is appropriate to get engaged with a young man at this age. And we as your parents will arrange that engagement."
"We already did without even telling her," Elryn said in a quiet voice, looking at his hands. His wife ignored the comment.
"Salida, we have invited Olan for today, a young man from good family whom we would consider a good choice for you."
Salida's stomach seemed to contract uncomfortably - she did not like the thought of getting married. Or at least not getting married now. And she was pretty sure that she knew this boy named Olan - he was the heir of one of Athkatla's richest families, full of himself to the brim of the stupid colored hats he wore most of the time and less intelligent then his mother's annoying poodle. She felt her stomach clench even more and found that fainting right now seemed a good idea.