Godsmother, Part One
Lady Catherine doesn't like Squire Alan, and she is quite sure he returns the feeling wholeheartedly. Unfortunately, there are things that tie them together. Parents, for one. Alan is from a good family—one of the best—and Catherine's mother thinks that Alan would make her as good a match as any. And then there is Eleanor. Catherine is not quite sure what Eleanor sees in Alan, but because of her friend's infatuation, she is forced to spend more time with him than makes her happy.
"Why Alan?" she asks Eleanor. "Of all the squires… he's certainly not the most handsome, or the kindest, or the best-liked. And you've told me time and time again it's not his family you care about."
"It's not," says Eleanor sharply, and Catherine can't say she blames her. They've been through this at least a hundred times, and Catherine can see why it might become wearing. "It's just…" Eleanor says, and then she's at a loss for words again, as she so often is when it comes to Alan of Trebond.
"Just what?" asks Catherine, although she knows already that she's not going to get an answer.
"He's… Well, he's…" says Eleanor. "You… you should spend more time with him, Cat. Maybe you'd see, if you got to know him better."
Catherine hates to be called 'Cat.' "I already spend too much time with him as it is," she informs Eleanor coldly, aware that she is echoing her thoughts of a minute before. "You really shouldn't force me to be near him anymore than I absolutely have to." She pauses, takes a bite of the lemon tart that's been sitting in front of her, untouched until now. "He's a pig, Eleanor. Still without a knight-master, after two years. He can't even fence, and he spends all his time with his books, and he doesn't even notice you unless you're speaking to him—"
"Do you think I hadn't realized that?" Eleanor asks, and there is the tiniest hint of desperation in her voice, and in her eyes. Catherine pities her instantly, although she knows she shouldn't. That's her greatest flaw, really, that undeserved pity to anyone who looks like they might need her help. That's how she met Eleanor, after all, and look at all the trouble that's gotten her into.
"I suppose you would have," she says dryly, not letting any of the pity into her voice.
Eleanor, who knows her too well, finds it anyway. "If there's anyone you should feel sorry for, it's Alan. Perhaps if you were a little less cruel to him, you wouldn't find him so…"
"Unbearable?" Catherine finishes for her. "I doubt it, but I suppose it's worth a try."
