Rhyannon gazed out of her window from her room high in the castle while Hilda prepared her dress for the party that would be commencing in an hour. She placed her chin in her hand and sighed as she looked at the sunset, a certain desire beckoning her past the confining brick walls of her castle in which she has spent her seventeen years.
Hilda's voice soon shook her out of her reverie. "Come, love," she cooed. "Your father will be expecting the guests soon. You must get ready for the party."
Rhyannon sighed as she turned away from the window and unwillingly allowed Hilda to put on her white dress with green trim. "Seems like we just had a party," she mumbled as Hilda tied her corset tight, making Rhyannon hold her breath.
Her servant grinned. "Ah, but this is an important party, my love," she told her. "Your father will be sharing exciting news to your family and friends."
Rhyannon rolled her eyes. "Friends," she scoffed. "I assume they are only friends when they come to our home and drink our wine and eat our food. But they sure are quick to gossip when they see the opportunity. In fact, they practically try to sniff it out every time we have one of these soirees-"
"Hush, my dear," Hilda said softly. "I wouldn't want you to get too winded with another rant of yours."
"I'm sorry, Hilly," Rhyannon said sadly. "It's just...just...I'm bored with this life. I feel that there's so much past these walls, yet I can't even traverse past the fountain in the middle of the courtyard."
"It's for your safety," Hilda mumbled.
"I just feel like I am meant for so much more than parties and tea and riches."
Hilda paused after she has tied off her corset and patted Rhyannon's shoulder. "Dear, I've known you since you were a wee baby...and you've always had an extroverted spirit. If you feel this strongly...you need...to follow your heart."
"Father would never listen..." Rhyannon said simply.
"Have you ever told him?" Her silence is enough for the old maid. "Then...tell him."
Rhyannon looked at Hilda with a hesitant expression, but the soft, reassuring touch of her hand brought a small smile to the princess's countenance.
They soon went downstairs and as they crossed the corridor that led to the ballroom, they were greeted by Jacquelyn, Rhyannon's sister, who exclaimed with arms raised high, "Oh, this party will be so much fun!"
Rhyannon smiled. Jacquelyn was but fourteen and was still naive about the world around her. She was used to being given everything. "Jackie, calm down," she told her. "You'll ruin your pretty pink dress."
"I don't care!" Jackie said, grinning ear to ear. "I'm going to dance all night until I drop."
Lady Astrid intervened between the twirling girl and her mature sister to interrupt them, smiling and saying, "Girls, your father is waiting for you. Hilda, help Jackie straighten the bow on the back of her dress; she's been spinning incessantly since I helped her put it on."
"Yes, ma'am," Hilda said, holding Jacquelyn's shoulders to stop her spinning.
"Mother," Rhyannon said, taking her mother's hand and looking into her eyes. "Why must we have these parties? They are always filled with the same people who want nothing of us but the latest dirt..."
Lady Astrid stopped the questions her daughter had asked her too many times. "Rhyannon Laufeina," she scolded. "You shouldn't speak so of our friends."
"They're not our friends!" Rhyannon insisted, not allowing her mother to quell her frustrations this time.
"Who are not our friends?" came her father's bellowing voice. Lord Astrid stepped out of the ballroom where he had been monitoring the housekeepers as they prepared for the festivities. He walked closer to the women and Rhyannon coyly looked at her feet.
"Rhyannon," he said, looking down at her. "Are you once again questioning the integrity of our associates?"
"Father..." she began meekly, but bravely raised her eyes to him. "I...I don't want to go tonight."
Her father's eyes widened. "You, young lady, must go to this party. As a member of this family, you are also playing hostess to the associates and families that are dear to us."
"They are only dear to us in a monetary aspect," Rhyannon told him, growing impatient "They do not share our sentiments...our hopes and dreams..."
"Hopes and dreams?" Lord Astrid asked. "This isn't a fairy tale and you are not a little girl."
"Then why must you parade me around like a-"
"Parade you?" her father demanded. "How dare you accuse me of such things? You are going to this party, Rhyannon! And that's final!"
"But, Father!"
"That is...final!" With that, he turned ands stepped away with heavy strides.
Rhyannon tried to hold back her frustrated tears as her mother put her hand on her shoulder. However, she shrugged away and proceeded to the courtyard where she customarily spent her lonely hours in wonder.
The guests began to arrive, the maids and butlers taking their expensive coats of furs and fine dragon-skins. They greeted Lord and Lady Astrid as if greeting old friends, feigning want of more communication between them and the fact that they do not celebrate their friendship as much as they should.
Rhyannon quietly sat at a table where a certain suitor, George XI, tried to engage her in conversation about his abilities and his lack of fear of the most ferocious creatures.
She discovered quite quickly that George was not at all her type. He was not cultured, though genial, but he would rather talk about his stable of horses and brutish hobbies than speak of books and other lands, much like she preferred. Rhyannon tried her best, at least for her parents' sake, to be interested in his ramblings, but before he could utter yet another compliment to her about her hair, she was spared by her father's sudden appearance in the center of the ballroom as he gently tapped his champagne glass with a knife.
"Friends and relatives, neighbors and confidants," he happily announced. "I am pleased and honored that you have graced us with your presence at this glorious event...for I have exciting news that I feel, in my heart, should be shared with you all, who have always been generous and gracious in our affairs."
A tense hush fell over the ballroom as Lord Astrid motioned toward Rhyannon, saying, "My oldest daughter...is to be wed to the honorable George XI."
Rhyannon's jaw dropped in horror as George stood up and bowed to the barrage of cheerful applause that pounded furiously in her ears. He noticed the shock on her face, but took the expression to mean that she was splendidly speechless at the news, and he took her hand to coax her to stand beside him.
Rhyannon snapped out of her daze and stood up and exclaimed, "No!"
The remnants of her protest bounced off the walls of the ballroom and over the collected gasps of the stunned guests. Lord Astrid's glared sternly as he stepped to his daughter. "Rhyannon...don't do this..." he whispered.
"I did nothing, Father," she whispered back. "You did..." She then pushed away from George and angrily stepped from the ballroom.
"Young lady!" came her father's low, demanding tone as he followed her into the corridor. "How dare you embarrass me in front of our-"
"Don't call them friends!" she exploded, not caring who heard her. "I'm sick of this lie, Father! This isn't me!"
"You are...an Astrid!" he stated, firmly. "We are a proud line of warriors and -"
"I am not proud of what we are, Father!" she said, tears building in her eyes.
Lord Astrid took a deep breath as he stomped over to her and clutched her arm, saying, "You will fulfill your father's wishes...and marry whom he chooses."
"I refuse..." Rhyannon retorted.
He released her from his tight grip and frowned upon her. "Then I have no daughter..."
He turned away, returning to his still amazed guests as Rhyannon rushed upstairs to her room, sobbing. She slammed the door to her before Hilda has a chance to mollify her.
"Rhyannon...dearest heart," she called out, but was interrupted by the door closing in front of her. She outside the door and listened to the girl's distraught crying, bringing on tears of her own that she soon had to wipe away as she descended the stairs to the ballroom.
The guests soon said their good-byes and imparted words of encouragement about the young bride-to-be. "It's just pre-wedding jitters." "She's happy...really." "They'll make a lovely couple."
Lord Astrid was now sitting at the table where his daughter and her betrothed had been, and he sighed as he finished a bottle of champagne. He had been angry at his daughter, he had to admit, but she must have understood that he only was securing her future. George could provide for her, give her everything she could want and more. However, the lord of the Astrid household began to feel a bit of grief at what he just told his oldest daughter. He decided to let her sleep, nonetheless. Perhaps the morning time would be a better time for discussion, so he could explain his intentions for the match.
Little did he know, however, that Rhyannon was now making her way past the fountain in the courtyard and sneaking past the guards, armed only with a small bag of clothes and food and a hope to find a better life.
By the way, when reviewing, keep in mind that this story has two authors, Joker n Harley and Alex Snape. Spread the love!