The Tale of the Warrior Woman
A/N: I hope everyone enjoys this story. I know that the "girl becomes warrior" thing has been done before but just read me out!! Thanks! ~*Mac*~
Prologue
Meredith Thomas wasn't your average woman, especially in her time. The young ladies were expected to sit in the corner and be as quiet and timid as mice. The were expected to marry at a young age and have many children, taking care of their husband's house and lands. They were not supposed to have any type of thought, or be able to fight at all. Their hair was expected to be long and kept in a braid if they were unmarried and a bun if they were. Their dresses were supposed to be wide and long, and their skin white as snow, with soft skin.
Meredith, as stated above, wasn't like this at all. She was not content on just sitting in the corner, pretending to be invisible. If she had something to say, she would say it, no matter to who. As for being timid, Meredith was far from it. She would stand up for her ideas and ideas. A village blacksmith had made certain advances on her, and she had fought him alone. Men in the village no longer talked to the young lady anymore, let alone came near her. Meredith, or Merri, had surpassed the normal age of marriage, and her aunt had resigned her niece as being a spinster, though the girl was not even twenty. Men did not call on Merri, or court her. They didn't want such an outspoken and un-ladylike wife. Merri was able to come up with good strategic plans, such as sneaking out of her house during her aunt's punishments. They always went off without any problem, and she normally snuck into the forest to practice sword fighting, self defense and archery. She was a born fighter, ready for anything.
Even her appearance offended some of the village conservatives. Merri wasn't ugly—most village men would concede she had an air of beauty and interest. It was the fact that Merri kept her auburn hair short, the longest pieces falling to her shoulder, the shorter pieces framing her face at her chin. Natural blonde highlights gave her hair an exotic look. Her green eyes were always sparkling with natural intelligence and curiosity. She didn't wear the normal dress of someone of her station. Her father had been a well-off merchant and her mother the daughter of the village judge. Her aunt had married an officer in the royal army, and their daughter was the town beauty. Yet Merri wouldn't wear the long, many layered dresses her cousin wore. She normally wore something simple, and if she could, pants. The town conservatives disapproved of Merri's peasant blouses and skirts that fell only past her knees and had a slit. Merri's pants were only worn during her training sessions.
Her aunt had long given up hope on turning her rebellious niece into a proper lady. Even the thoughts of dishonoring her dead parents didn't subdue the feisty girl. Her father, before his death when she was eleven, had started to teach his only child to fight. He, on his many travels, had picked up the self-defense Merri excelled at. Her mother even supported the lessons, for her daughter to protect herself from the unsavory men out in the world. Her mother, however, disapproved of a young girl practicing archery and sword fighting. "Merri should learn to sew and run a household. Usefully things for a woman now a days," she would say, yet sadly, for she longed for her daughter to have a better future than she did. "But sword fighting and archery aren't the way, Edward!" Merri remembered one conversation she snuck down the stairs to overhear once. "Education can! Books, math, logic, they can help her more than what you want!"
"Rebecca, I too want our daughter to be educated. Yet, I think she needs to know these skills as well."
"Edward, leave it be with just the self-defense." Rebecca Thomas swept out of the room as Merri went back to bed.
Her father didn't stop her training, just kept it secret from her mother, who arranged a tutor to come in for Merri. Then, Rebecca had caught ill when Merri was nine. Day and night, the girl and her father sat by the woman's bedside, holding her hand and pleading with her to live. A month later, the gentle woman gave up her final fight and slept into the next life. Edward and Merri Thomas were devastated, especially hard on Edward who lost his brother in a battle three months earlier. In the absence of her mother, Edward Thomas invited his brother's widow and daughter into his house. From the moment Margaret and Georgia Thomas crossed the threshold, they found fault with everything Merri did or said.
Georgia was accomplished at the tasks expected of a young lady. She could play the piano, and thought she had the best singing voice in the kingdom. (Merri and Edward were too polite to say anything to the difference.) She was able to recite the proper ways to serve tea and greet guests. Georgia was also considered the epitome of beauty. Her long blonde hair was silky smooth and brushed into the traditional braid. She had blue eyes, white, soft skin, and didn't speak unless spoken too. Merri felt that her cousin didn't have a thought of her own in her head. Georgia would just let some man tell her what to do for the rest of her life.
Aunt Margaret found it very distasteful that her nine years-old niece still hadn't learned to play any instrument. Merri had already made a sampler, yet detested to sew. Margaret saw to it that her niece soon learned to play the flute, though Merri detested it. If she was going to do anything with the arts, Merri would prefer to be allowed to sketch, an acceptable pastime for young women. Yet, Merri learned to play the flute, and the clarinet as well. Whenever Merri's appearance was ever brought up, her father shot down any changes at all. Rebecca had always kept her daughter's hair short, normally pulling it back into a ponytail. One time, Merri had begged to grow her hair long and wear it in a braid like the other girls she saw at church. Rebecca gave in and allowed the girl to wear it that way. Yet the style didn't suit Merri's hair, especially hiding her highlights, which both women prided on. A month later, Merri claimed the hair style was too restricting and her mother gladly returned the hair to it's original style. Edward himself picked out his daughter's wardrobe, saying the type of clothing would allow her more freedom.
Though well respected in the village, the village conservatives found Edward a bit too liberal for their tastes. Many told him so on trips to his store, or told Merri herself. Merri would just take their comments, thank them for their opinion and go on her way. The conservatives had to admit that the girl knew herself and didn't care about what others thought of her, and secretly admired her for that. When Edward passed on two years after his wife, the entire village mourned. Merri was entrusted to her aunt, who now had no road blocks to turning her niece into a proper young lady, like her own daughter. Margaret was not going to marry Georgia off at fourteen, as was town tradition. Instead, her daughter would be debuted in the city at the age of twenty, a privilege secured for her by her father's station in the army. Merri was to be married at the proper village age, if Margaret could change her. She didn't count on Merri's stubborn streak to be the size of the kingdom. For five years, Merri resisted any marriage attempts by her aunt. Then the incident with the blacksmith stopped any marriage requests and Margaret couldn't ask anymore. That's when she reserved her niece for a spinster. "If it means I will remain a spinster for my life, fine!" Merri said, in one of her and her aunt's normal arguments. "Who needs a man to tell them what to do anyway? If I marry, I want to marry someone who loves me for me and will let me be who I am."
"Foolish girl with foolish dreams! Who would ever marry someone so unladylike and stubborn as you?" her aunt countered back. Little did they know that their would be someone out there who would.