Title:Freedom
Disclaimer: Don't own HP.
Challenge info: QLFC
Team: Arrows
Position: Seeker
Round:3
Prompt info: Use Arrows and word limit: 950-1200
There was never enough time to learn everything. Life was too short to pause too long. Rowena Ravenclaw never got the chance to do it much. Her life, though her legacy carried on many years after, was a tragedy by the end. It was a difficult world she lived in.
Her education was high for a girl- it was unheard of that women could read but she was sent for education so that she would get a good price. She was young and willing to learn. She saw the world differently.
Her youth was spent diving into books, learning how to ride a horse, and on occasion archery. It was improper for a girl to use a sword but the short bow was suited for those of smaller stature with less body strength. Her father was a paranoid man, whose business sense, foresight, and cruelty was well-known.
Rowena was his only child since he had gotten into a duel and been cursed so he couldn't give seed to get other children. As such, Rowena was treated as a boy in most aspects, while learning the softer arts. The teachers looked down at her but they weren't paid to criticize her.
The ones that took the time to look past her gender found an apt and attentive student that didn't hesitate to ask questions. She had many suitors but couldn't love any of them. It wasn't her choice on who to marry and she had to be a virgin on the eve of her wedding.
She was his fathers' only asset in that respect. Many came to visit- and she found that many of them were boorish and dull in the head while strong in the body. Yet- when she was twelve she was engaged to a thirty year old earl. He hadn't been one to visit her but he could have just been among the many that didn't approach- just watching her.
She sighed and stared at her hands. It was calloused and tough despite spending most of her time in study. She held her bow in her hands and strung an arrow and let it fly towards the center of the board. It hit with a clang and shook. If she had been a boy- she would have probably been sent with an escort to learn how to use a sword and bow.
She touched her hunting knife handle. It wasn't like she was entirely defenseless. She had been trained in secret by her mother who had been taught by her mother. It wasn't the only thing that she was taught in secret. She had magic. Yet to use magic was extremely dangerous and the more tools she had- the better it was for her to defend herself.
She had spent hours with the fletcher learning how to make arrows. It was a relief when she could do it herself. She knew how to find the wood, feathers, and how to make everything but the tip herself. She grimaced at the phantom aches of making them the first few hundred times.
It wasn't like she would ever use it but a young woman who was the only daughter of a Baron was a dangerous position. No amount of guards would keep her safe if anyone wanted to use her against her father. She never realized how liberal her freedom was until she was sent to the church to continue her education.
There was naught to do in the cold hard building. She was allowed to go on rides on her pony but her knives and bow and arrows were taken from her. It wasn't like she would have anything to hunt since the land was owned by the church- therefore a sanctuary for men and animals alike. She hated the way the clothes chafed, the disproving looks as they gave her lessons only to find, that at least according to them were backwards or that she understood some of it better than her teachers.
Her life was sheltered but when she became sixteen she received two messages that would change her life. Her father had been killed in a raid against her home and the castle was currently over run with enemies. The second was that her future husband had passed away in a duel. She didn't know how to feel over the loss.
She had loved her father and her future husband was supposed to give her a good life. She was adrift in a world that she had no place in. She had two lives: the public one where she was training to be the perfect daughter and son and her private one where she practiced magic and pondered the teachings she was taught. It was difficult to balance the two.
She didn't want to find herself without a husband and children but she was already past the age that women were married. She was given a reprieve so that she could continue her education and bear children safely. She knew twelve year olds who had already been married. A sigh burst from her chest and she looked up to see a disproving look from her teacher and she blushed.
It wasn't like her for her attention to wander away like a wayward child. She tried to focus on the words but they just moved their lips and try as she might she couldn't understand a single word from the womans lips. She must have looked vacant because she was dismissed an hour early and given leave to ride her horse.
Going to her room, she saw that there was her bow and arrows with her knives, with a note from the head nun. She was given permission for now to use them since her father and potential husband died. It wasn't like the old woman to give her relief but as she put the bow and arrows on her back she gave a grin. Changing into more appropriate clothing she left the building and went to her horse to ride free.