Chapter Three: Red Herring
In which three years pass, alcohol flows freely, marriage is discussed, and Arthur gains a secret admirer.
The first few months of being Queen proved difficult, but manageable. When neither earthquake nor fire appeared, Arthur began to relax. He quickly fell into his new routine and impressed the other nobles with his diligence and hard work. Even if very few people actually liked the aloof Queen, all but the most biased recognized that Arthur was capable and intelligent. Unfortunately, Arthur's older brothers remained among the later group of incessant naysayers, still convinced they could do a better job, even as one year passed, and then another, and then a third. As commander of the Spades Navy, Arthur dealt with that problem the best way he knew how—by making sure to assign his brothers to positions far, far away from Ace, the capitol city of Spades.
Yet as the years passed, more and more voices raised the same concern: why did Spades still lack its King?
Some began to wonder in hushed whispers if the Queen's Clock was broken. They even speculated that Arthur had tampered with the clock to ensure his own selection and that in so doing he had destroyed its ability to select a king. They noted that Arthur had not had a birthday party in the Grand Hall, so there were no witnesses other than his own parents if he had chosen to manipulate the clock's inner workings. Arthur retorted that the King's Clock had chosen him as well and that he had never seen that clock until Chun-Yan handed it to him on the night of his 18th birthday. But no matter how logical his explanations, the rumors continued to spread.
Arthur started to dread spending any time with the Royal Council and their sidelong glances. Fortunately, Arthur's duties as Queen occasionally required travel to the territories of Spades. These trips quickly became Arthur's favorite part of the job. He loved traveling by sea and he felt quite a home with sailors, who liked their alcohol almost as much as Arthur did. Drinking on a ship with sailors who just loved a good time was a chance for Arthur to let loose and live a little, like the young man he actually was, as opposed to the old man he felt like some days. It reminded him of his rebellious days at boarding school.
One night on a trip to the northern part of Spades, after several glasses of grog, Arthur decided that the first mate's repeated flirtatious glances at Arthur held the promise of an interesting evening. Arthur resolved to investigate further by inviting the young man to his cabin for a glass of rum. He knew he had interpreted the glances correctly when the first mate agreed with a bold wink. Once in his cabin, Arthur poured out two glasses of rum while the young man introduced himself as João. They both drank in silence while Arthur openly admired João's short, curly brown hair, light green eyes, and well-tanned body. João returned the favor with an appraising look of his own. Arthur preened a little, knowing how many people considered his green eyes beautiful, his pale skin exotic, and even his eyebrows handsomely distinctive since they were a prominent marker of his family's wealth and power.
"Been to port lately?" Arthur asked as he sat down on his bed, one hand idly loosening the buttons at his collar.
"Not in quite some time." João smiled knowingly.
"A pity, I know how sailors enjoy time in port." They both grinned, knowing exactly why sailors enjoyed port. It wasn't for the alcohol. Or at least, it wasn't only for the alcohol.
"Well, I find that I can have a good time still on ship," João replied.
"Mmm," Arthur agreed, knowing exactly what João meant and enjoying very much where the conversation was headed. "Well then sailor, shall we have a good time?" He asked with half-lidded eyes as he leaned back on the bed.
João licked his lips and smiled. Within a few moments they were both having a very good time indeed. Arthur realized he missed this type of casual tryst—boarding school had been a wonderful time for experimentation. Now, however, his duties as queen always seemed to keep him from satisfying his own desires. But here he had the freedom of being just another ship passing in the night with no need to think of commitment or responsibility. João, who clearly understood the importance of discretion, returned to his own room before morning.
When Arthur returned to Spades, he decided that trade negotiations were not the most difficult test of his diplomatic abilities. No, that honor belonged to tea time with his mother.
"Arthur, darling, you're 21 years old, why haven't you settled done with someone nice yet? I know all sorts of young ladies dying to meet you," his mother asked as they sat sipping tea in Arthur's garden. Arthur instantly regretted allowing her to enter his sanctuary. His mother continued, oblivious to Arthur's discomfort. "You're young, you're handsome, you're wealthy, you're Queen, and you're a Kirkland. There's no reason you couldn't make a suitable match and every reason why you should."
"I'm rather busy being Queen, mother," Arthur replied. "And I've met many of your young ladies, and they don't interest me." Arthur had tried to humor his mother, but he could easily tell that the young women were primarily interested in the reflected glory of being the Queen's consort. Arthur didn't consider himself a romantic sap (no matter what his brothers said), but he wanted someone who appreciated Arthur for himself.
"I realize you have your duty to Spades, but don't forget, you also have a duty to your family," his mother reprimanded. After a pause, she added, "If you would prefer a young gentleman, there are plenty of them too. It makes the heirs slightly more difficult, but the family has managed before."
"Mother, you're starting to sound like Elizabeta." Arthur scowled, thinking of Elizabeta's recent efforts to try to set him up with the King of France. ('He's the King of a different country,' Arthur had complained. 'So what?' Elizabeta had replied. 'You need a King, he's a King, it's perfect!')
Arthur's mother smiled. "I like that girl. Such a good family. A pity she's taken."
"She's also the Queen of a different country," Arthur reminded his mother, "Not to mention, married. I expect that would be rather a problem."
"I don't know, I think you would make a lovely pair. Or perhaps that nice boy Kiku?" Arthur's mother had been very taken with the polite young man at the coronation dinner, especially when she realized the large importance he put on ancestry and honoring his elders. She had advised Arthur to learn from Kiku's example.
"Mother, please stop pairing me with other Queens."
"Arthur, I really do think it's time you found someone."
"You have four other sons! Perhaps you should work on helping them first? We all know they're the ones you want continuing the family line." Arthur realized as soon as he spoke that he didn't mean to sound so waspish and bitter. His mother was trying to show an interest in his life the only way she knew how, even if Arthur had no desire for her match-making efforts. But it still hurt that his family had always paid more attention to their other sons, only caring about Arthur now that he was Queen. His mother looked upset, so Arthur sighed and apologized, resting his head in one hand. "I'm sorry, Mother, I'm just stressed from my duties. I appreciate your concern."
Arthur's mother, for her part, accepted the tentative apology with calm grace. "Of course, dear, I've taken enough of your time, I should be going."
The rest of the day went equally poorly. Arthur and Chun-Yan snapped at each other, both stressed by the extra work that came from the lack of a king. Chun-Yan noted that she had done all three jobs for the year and a half it had taken before Arthur was crowned, so Arthur had nothing to complain about. For his part, Arthur was upset by the new rumors he had heard. Other nobles were beginning to speculate that it was taking so long to find a new king because the Queen's Clock could not find anyone who could work with Arthur. Arthur suspected his brothers had started these rumors, but he also began to worry that they held an ounce of truth. Many nobles had taken to calling Arthur the Ice Queen behind his back for his cold and harsh manner.
And so it was, after his mother's visit, his argument with Chun-Yan, and after learning of the new rumors, that Arthur entered his study in a particularly bad mood. He spotted a blue rose lying on his desk with a great deal of surprise. Wrapped around the stem was a note in rough handwriting that said "I think you're a good queen."
Arthur was unsure what to make of the note. He thought at first that it had to be some sort of trick, but there didn't seem much to the trick. He ended up putting the rose in a vase, placing the note in his nightstand, and falling asleep without giving any further thought to the matter.
A couple weeks later, Arthur found another rose in his study, this time with the message "You work really hard." Arthur snorted at the simple message, but was happy that at least one person had noticed. After that, every two or three weeks, Arthur would find a new rose and a new message in his room. He kept the rose in a vase by his window and kept the growing pile of notes in his drawer. They weren't love notes—just kind compliments from someone who apparently thought well of Arthur. "You're very smart." "Your garden is beautiful." "You're a credit to your country." "Thank you for being such a good queen."
Arthur realized, as soon as he began to look forward to the notes, that these gifts could still be a cruel trick. The notes could turn nasty or disappear and then Arthur would be even sadder than before. Even if they weren't a trick, there was something troubling about how well the note-giver understood Arthur. The notes were telling him exactly what he most wanted to hear. Arthur decided to put his intelligence to use and figure out who was sending the notes. The easiest answer was that it was one of the cleaning maids. They had access to the rooms during the day and the roses always appeared while Arthur was gone. Arthur surreptitiously checked the maids' schedules, he quickly realized that the maids constantly alternated schedules and that his room had been cleaned by different maids on the specific days when he had found roses in his room. Unless the roses were a conspiracy of several maids (possible, but unlikely), it seemed another culprit was involved.
The question of access was rather difficult. Unlike his bedroom, his study wasn't actually locked during the day, since members of the Royal Council or Chun-Yan might need to see Arthur's books and maps at any time. Anyone who entered this part of the castle could place the note, especially since they left roses so rarely. All of which meant that it would be very difficult to narrow down who was leaving the notes.
Next, Arthur considered the flower itself. Blue roses were exceedingly common in Spades—indeed, they were the national flower. However, roses only stayed in season for a month. The roses had started in rose season, but were now out of season. Whoever was giving the roses had access to a greenhouse. Arthur resolved to pay more attention to the blue roses in the royal greenhouse since it was the most likely source. Arthur smiled, realizing he could ask his fairy friends to watch to see who came to take blue roses. Several weeks later, when the next rose arrived, Arthur was disappointed to learn that his fairies had spotted no one other than the official gardener cutting blue roses. Either the 70 year-old gardener was his secret admirer (Arthur sincerely hoped not) or he was going to have to come up with a new tactic.
Arthur tried visiting his study more often on days when he expected roses to arrive, but the note-giver never appeared. Eventually, a new round of work arrived to steal all of Arthur's time, leaving him exhausted and too tired to play detective games any longer. He resolved to solve the mystery of the blue roses at a later time.
Author's Note:
João = Portugal. I know Portugal is often drawn as a woman, but I like the thought of Portugal looking and acting like a sassier Spain. Mmm, dat ass…
