Tortall and many of the places/people in it belong to Tamora Pierce, duh :)
haha this chapter... I smell drama coming... :P
Corus was busy in the spring, although not in the ways Corrin had wanted.
Raoul wasn't in, as the King's Own had been called out to help with both flooding in the north and raiding pirates, who had pushed further inland this spring than in years past, along the costal hills. Corrin asked the King if there was work that needed doing—border patrols, anything—but there was little that needed to be done. It was a time of relative peace, and all the necessary knights had been sent out while Corrin and Tallis were away.
"You could always ride north with me," Tallis suggested in the practice yards the next morning, when Corrin told him what the King had said. But the prospect didn't appeal to Corrin. As much as he loved Tallis as a brother, something stirred in him, telling him that wasn't what he wanted to do. That wasn't his answer.
Mostly he spent his time having discussions with the more engaging of his former teachers, or practicing with his sword or lance, riding Fury or Nimble in the woods around Corus. Many knights who weren't in the field were in Corus looking at potential squires, so Corrin had a number of knights to spar against. When they realized that he was far cleverer with a sword than he was with his shy tongue, Corrin found himself with more than enough partners to practice against.
The court was a swarm of garden parties, now that the weather was reliably warm enough for being outdoors. Nearly every day that week, Corrin found himself invited to ride with Lords and Ladies or other knights, half of the women eligible ones. He went on occasion, remembering his father's command to find a wife if he wouldn't have one picked for him. The prospect did little to change his feelings. He was not immensely fond of court functions or parties, but his father's threat of finding him a wife hung heavily on him.
If he had to marry, he wanted it to be on his own accord. With that, he made Tallis and Matias, another of his knight friends, accompany him to those of the parties he did force himself to attend. Many of the ladies were beautiful, and a few were even kind and interesting, but he could barely bring himself to talk to any of them.
"I saw you joust last year," a blonde lady said to him on one of the rides he attended, trotting her little white mare up alongside Corrin's Nimble.
"I'm surprised you remember," he said.
"You unhorsed my brother. I'd curtsey, but it's a little hard to do a-horse. I'm Liene, by the way."
"Corrin," he said. "Who's your brother?"
They talked for much of the ride, joined occasionally by other nobles. Seeing that Corrin was actually speaking with a woman of his own free will, Tallis kept a distance, watching him like a mother duck watches a duckling. The whole group picnicked on a hill, and then rode back.
"Who was that?" Tallis asked him afterwards with a smile, as they walked back to the palace together.
"Who? Oh, Liene?"
"She's pretty," Tallis said, looking over his shoulder to see if any of their riding companions were within distance to hear. None were.
"Oh, I suppose."
"What? Was she dull?"
"No," Corrin said, and blinked, realizing it was true. There was nothing to dislike about her. She was funny, and had seemed kind; mannered, but not uptight. She was from a good house, one that his father would not wholly disapprove of. They even shared some interests. In one conversation alone, they had discussed horses, archery, and Tortallan history.
"Then what?"
"I don't know," said Corrin. "Maybe I'll see her again." If he thought about it hard enough, he could imagine some hazy future with her; for all that he didn't know her.
The next morning, after much deliberation and pacing back and forth, he wrote out a note on heavy parchment.
The Lady Liene of Irimor
I enjoyed speaking with you during Lady Wilma's riding party.
Might I request the honor of your company tomorrow evening?
Sir Corrin of Erwold
Tallis snorted when Corrin showed him the card.
"How old are you, seventy? Just talk to her," Tallis said. Corrin gave him a pleading look. "Alright," Tallis said, after a moment of silence. "Maybe you're right. But you talked to her once already, didn't you?"
"But this way, if she says no, I don't have to see her face," Corrin said.
"Alright, fine. Do it."
Corrin found a serving woman and gave her a copper to deliver the message.
"If Raoul isn't back in a week, I'm going to go find him," Corrin told Tallis, later that same day. They were both seated on their big destriers, lances balanced on the stirrups of their saddles and held upright with one hand. With the pages practicing an assortment of weapons on the ground, the younger knights had taken over the quintain and other jousting targets, both for fun and in preparation for that summer's jousting season.
"What about the fair lady Liene? You seem quite attached, to think about leaving so soon after asking for her company."
"Oh, well. I'm sure I'll know whether she'd like to see me again, before the week's out."
"Alright," Tallis said. "How about we ride for Raoul together, then? I can't promise I'll stick around after that, but I'll at least go that far with you. Maybe he'll need another sword."
"I'm sure he wouldn't mind one," Corrin said. While he hated to wish for disaster, he did hope that Raoul could put him back to work, at least for a little while. His time in the field with the Own had felt full of purpose, not like now.
"Ho, Corrin!" A voice called. Both knights turned around.
Waving at them from the other side of the fence was Lady Liene, with a riding party. Corrin nudged Fury forwards, still balancing the lance, and Tallis followed.
"What are you doing over here?" Corrin asked, unnerved by the coincidence.
"We were taking a shortcut, and I saw you," she said cheerfully.
"Well, that's… good," he said, blushing, uncertain what else to say. Regular conversations were far easier than ones like these.
"Wait," Tallis interrupted, looking at one of the other riders. "Did you sing in Port Legann? I think we saw you."
"You may've," the woman responded. "I've certainly played there before."
Corrin remembered her instantly. She had sung that night in the Fat Mongrel, and he had almost worked up the courage to speak to her. Her voice had been captivating. Everything about her had been.
"Oh, Ellie's a wonderful musician," Liene said cheerfully. "We heard her in Corus last night, and she agreed to play at a party I'm having tonight—which is why I stopped actually," she said, with a short laugh. "I got your card, and I was wondering if you'd like to attend. Your friend is welcome, of course," she said with a nod to Tallis.
Corrin nodded mutely.
"We'd love to, thank you," Tallis said, with a wolfish grin.
"It's at my family's summer house in Corus," Liene said. "I'll have my maid deliver the address to you."
The riding party rode off, leaving Corrin and Tallis sitting on their horses on the other side of the fence. For a long moment they both watched the riders retreat, saying nothing.
"What are the chances?" Tallis said.
"It's a small world," Corrin agreed.
"I didn't mean the singer. I meant, a woman likes you."
"I'll hit you for that one once we're on the ground. Women have liked me before!"
"Well, not ones you've actually spoken to."
"Feel free to stop talking at any time."
"You don't seem particularly thrilled about Liene," Tallis remarked as they both walked back to the quintain, which was empty of other knights for the moment.
"Hm," Corrin said, and charged, lowering his lance as he did.
He hit the target squarely and rode past the swinging sandbag, hoping that Tallis wouldn't push the point. He didn't know how to feel about Liene. He supposed that he should feel thrilled, but he didn't. If he was excited to attend her party, it was partly just because he knew the other woman—Ellie, Liene had called her Ellie—would be there. And that was crazy. He didn' t know a single thing about her, apart from her voice.
