Hello, lovely readers! Yes, I'm terribly late, and the chapter's not even that long. I could bore you with all the reasons that real life is overwhelming me right now (and there are many), but I know you want to get to the story. Hope you enjoy the chapter – nothing belongs to me, of course, and all mistakes are mine.
The feast in the guests' honor passed in a blur of decadent food, festive performances, and light conversation. It was understood among all present that graver matters would be left for the morrow.
Isabella, though she played the part of the carefree royal beautifully, was internally eager for the meal's end that she might enjoy time with her countrymen. In turn Edward, who was slowly becoming more attuned to his wife's moods and tells, marked her preoccupation, though only Leonardo shared his observation.
"What troubles you, my lady?" he leaned in and asked quietly as the company's chatter buzzed about them. "Is the food not to your liking?"
Isabella looked at him a moment, surprised that he had noticed her mood. "The food is delicious as always, my lord," she said finally. "I am merely eager to retire with my family. I was a maiden and an Arizian the last time I saw them. Much has changed in the intervening months, though it feels as though it has been years, and I am keen to discuss the events in both our castles since."
He nodded, pondering her words. He was uncomfortable with the knowledge that most of the events she had at her disposal to relay would reflect poorly on him, and he did not wish her family to have cause to dislike him.
That thought drew him up short. Mere weeks ago, he was relishing in Lord Charles's humiliation and the downfall of Arizia. Now, he was anxious of what his wife could say to the man that might turn his opinion in an unsavory direction. He decided to ponder his attitude toward the Arizians in a more private setting later, as it seemed that he would not be spending the evening with his wife.
After another round of pleasantries exchanged among the two parties, the feast finally came to a close. The native Arizians retired to the sitting room attached to the chambers that Charles and Renee were using.
"Oh, my darling," Lady Renee started dramatically once they had all seated themselves comfortably about the room. "It has been so long! You are a married woman and have been all alone with these Englasians. I do not know how you've managed!"
"Mama, it has not been as bad as all that," Isabella chided gently. "My reception was cool at best, I'll own, but things have improved greatly in my relations with these people in recent weeks. They are not barbarians, you know. Well, not all of them at any rate."
"Has your husband been good to you?" Charles asked stiffly.
"Father, we both knew long before I left Arizia that my husband would not earn any accolades for his behavior in the role," she said with a small smile. "But though the prince and I had a rather difficult start, we are working toward an amiable accord."
Jacob interjected. "Indeed, I would fear being married to you and bearing your animosity," he said with a smile. "You are a rather terrifying creature."
"And you are amusing nobody with your mockery of my person," Isabella returned with an ill-concealed smile of her own.
The hours wore on with such banter, sometimes gay and sometimes grave. Isabella, though she avoided the details of her husband's exploits, told them of Lady Lauren's antics with the letter and of her own subsequent spike in popularity in Englasia. The rest of the party told her of the happenings in Arizia, the people's changing attitude toward them and specifically toward the king, and the rebels' ability to spread discord among the people. It was nothing that Isabella hadn't been told by Eleazar and Edward, but the new perspectives shed light on the hurt felt by all in the room at many of their people's turning against them.
They also brought the joyous news of the babe growing in Leah's womb and the engagement of her brother Seth to a Lady Elisa. To Isabella's delight, they also relayed the news that Seth was to arrive at the castle any day, having travelled separately from the group. He had had business that he was required to complete before he could leave the country and thus did not depart with the other delegates. Isabella, who was fond of if not close with the boy on the cusp on manhood, eagerly anticipated his arrival.
Leonardo was strangely silent throughout the night, though Isabella knew he'd seek her out at a later time for a more intimate and frank discussion. Their relationship had always been private, as he was the person she trusted the most in the world and the one who kept all her secrets. The group would be in Englasia for a week, and she knew she had plenty of time to steal with him.
The elder delegates from Charles's council did not add much to the conversation either, willing to allow the closer friends and family to catch up with the beloved princess. They were content to listen to the conversation and witness the happiness that the reunion brought to all parties involved.
After many tales, much laughter, and some sadness, the party decided that their respective beds were calling and departed, knowing that the morn would bring more time together.
"Isabella," a voice whispered in her ear. "Isa, wake up, my dear. The night sky calls to us."
Isabella groggily opened her eyes and rolled over the face a fully dressed Leonardo wearing a large grin.
"Leonardo, you cannot possibly mean to take me out of bed at this hour," she said with a glance out the window at the star-spangled sky.
"I have done so on many occasions, my dear," he responded brightly. "Why should this one be any different?"
"In the past, you were my tutor, and I was a child in a loving court," she answered sleepily, "Now I am a married woman in a court whose favor is fickle at best. 'Tis no longer proper."
"Oh, hang propriety," Leonardo said immediately. "We have much to discuss, and the stars have e'er been witness to our talks and our secrets. Or has your new situation caused you to lose your sense of adventure and your individuality?"
"I have lost neither my sense of self nor my sense of adventure, and I'll thank you for not insinuating so," Isabella said, more awake now that he was pushing the buttons he knew so well.
"Then why are we sitting here, in a room decorated to suite the tastes of others, while you refuse to participate in one of your favorite pastimes on the basis of what others might think?" he asked, knowing the matter was already settled.
"You remind me why I have always avoided arguments with you," Isabella said with a smile. "One can never outwit the person who taught them how to think. Now turn around while I prepare myself."
After Isabella had dressed and gathered blankets from her wardrobe, she led her mentor swiftly and soudlessly through the castle, along routes that she expected would be empty. They made it out a servant's entrance with no trouble and made for the forest at a brisk pace. She led him to a small clearing where she and Edward had often spent mornings when time forbade them from going to their meadow.
They both set out a blanket and lay on their backs as they gazed at the stars. For several minutes, they simply enjoyed once again experiencing their long-held tradition.
Finally, Leonardo broke the silence. "I can see you cataloguing the stars, as though greeting them after a long absence," he said. "It troubles me to think of your ceasing to expand your intellectual horizons and failing to preserve the ones you've already conquered. I hope that, no matter what you do or who you become, you never lose your thirst for knowledge. And I hope you always take time to behold the stars, that they might remind you how small you are."
"The stars will ever make me feel small," Isabella responded. "I simply have had no time to appreciate them."
"Yes, so you disclosed to your family when you explained how frightfully busy you've been," he said. "Are you going to tell me the full story?"
"I don't know where to start, Leo," she said on a sigh.
"Do you regret your decision to come here?" Leonardo asked directly.
"No, not for a moment," Isabella responded. "I know you are the reason my father held off choosing a husband for me long past what is conventional, and I know you were hoping that I would someday be able to choose my queen-consort based on affection. I will never be able to thank you enough for your influencing him to wait, even though your original purpose was not realized. Providence knew that I would need to stay alone until such a time as my marriage could save my people."
"But what of your husband?" he asked. "I did not save you from a union with an Arizian pansy that you might marry an Englasian cad."
"He had four mistresses when we wed," Isabella said with a wry smile.
"Indeed?" Leonardo said mildly. He was the one to tell her, in no uncertain terms, how most men viewed their marriage and their wives.
"Yes, and his lack of political understanding was quite appalling," Isabella said. "I was cold to him for the first three months, and he eventually lost patience with my reticence. When he confronted me about my attitude toward him, I gave him quite a candid evaluation of his character. Through further discussion with me and with his kin, he has since dropped the mistresses and begun to educate himself on his future role."
"So you've made quite the impression on him," Leonardo prompted.
"Yes, and he now has begun a campaign to win my affections," Isabella said exasperatedly. "He takes me to a meadow in these woods, prepares picnics, and attempts to woo me in the bedchamber."
With any other person, she would never speak so freely of her intimate relationship with her husband. But this was Leonardo, the man who had taught her about the human body and all its capabilities. Her mother had given her the standard, vague, simplistic explanation given to all girls of her station, and Isabella had feigned ignorance on the matter to avoid a conflict regarding the liberties Leo had taken in her education. But she had been fully aware of what is involved in the coupling between a man and a woman long before her engagement had been negotiated.
"You speak as though you cannot contemplate a fate worse than an affectionate relationship with your husband," Leonardo said, still prompting further discussion from her rather than adding to the conversation.
Isabella propped herself up on her elbow that she might look into her mentor's face as her voice grew more vehement. "I have always hoped one day to have an amicable relationship with him," she said. "But I have little reason to trust him after only a few weeks of reform. Moreover, he seems to think that emotional attachment is a vital supplementary ingredient in conjugal relations and that, by the same token, conjugal relations should foster deeper emotional attachment."
"And you do not feel closer to him through your physical pursuits?" Leonardo asked.
"I admit that I experience confusing feelings when we are alone together in that way," she conceded, "but that is not the foundation upon which I wish to build a relationship. When you taught me what happens between a man and a wife, I accepted it as a physical, sometimes enjoyable, task given to a man and a woman to procreate. I thought it to be simply another facet of marital life. I did not expect it to have a profound impact on his or my thinking or on our affections. Is it not unwise to place one's heart in another's hands based solely on chemical reactions rather than on true merit?"
"My dear, the two are not mutually exclusive," Leonardo said with a small laugh. "You can learn to care about him based on tender private moments and also grow a fully logical and respectful appreciation for him due to his character and actions."
"But what happens when I allow myself to yield my heart to him, only for him to, say, fall back into the arms of a mistress?" Isabella said in a small voice. The fear was one of her greatest, and she would never have voiced it to anyone in the world save Leonardo. "What happens when he no longer feels he has to work for my affections because they are already won and falls back into the self-serving and egocentric patterns to which he is used? I cannot allow him to irrevocably alter me in such a way until I have absolutely no doubts that his changes of late are permanent ones."
"I do not disagree with you," Leonardo said. "But will there ever come a time when, based purely on reason, you will be able to conclude that he is fully reformed and will never again fall on old vices? I fear you shall never get to such a point until you surrender your emotions at least to some extent, even should such a concession be known only to you. For only then will you achieve the one thing that is needful for you to fully believe in him, and it is possibly the most illogical thing in the universe."
Isabella knew he was fishing for a curious prompt from her, and she humored him with a small smile. "And what would that be, Leo?"
"Faith, my dear," Leonardo answered solemnly, "Tis the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Faith has the curious effect of making real our intangible thoughts and imaginings. Perhaps what your Edward needs is the faith of one dear to him for his success to be reality."
"But faith, when proven misplaced, is not something that can be rebuilt easily, or in some cases at all," Isabella said quietly. "I suppose I fear, more than anything, giving him my trust only for him to fall and our concord as husband and wife and as future king and queen to be ruined forever."
"Only you know your own self and his person well enough to know how far your relationship can be tested before it crumbles," Leonardo deferred. "I pray you only take my words under advisement, that you not permanently place yourself in a state of aloof unhappiness. For gratification in the role life assigns you and preparedness for the challenges that await you were ever my only wishes for you."
From thence, the two redirected their attention to the stars. He quizzed her on their names and the constellations that housed them, and she reveled in the deep sense of fond familiarity the exercise fostered. Many times their thoughts and conversation drifted off the topic at hand and onto memories of her childhood in Arizia and of countless other nights under the same stars, during a simpler time when the world was Isabella's to discover and boundless opportunities awaited her. Now, with her fate and role in life set for better or worse, those times seemed all the more distant.
An hour before the sun was to rise, and therefore the servants to start their days, the two quietly made their ways back to the castle and through the passages they had traversed mere hours ago. Isabella took leave of him at her chamber door and swiftly changed back into her night wear before collapsing into bed for a few hours of slumber, her mind spent and her heart full.
There you have it. Drop me a review to tell me what you think!
I realize that it is a stretch for a princess to be able to sneak out of a castle in the dead of night. I plead artistic liberty with this, but here's how I view it: In Arizia, it was the castle's worst-kept secret that they went out at night, but they all loved them both and indulged them. In Englasia, nobody would ever imagine that they'd try something like that, so nobody was on the lookout for escapees from the castle. Isabella is also just very clever and observant and knows the castle better than anybody would expect.
I've had several people asking me very persuasively not to abandon this story. I know that the updates have been coming slower recently, but they will pick up again after my sister's wedding. But just so we're clear: I absolutely plan to finish this fic, and I give you all full permission to keep me accountable to that. I don't know if I'll take on any more projects after it's done, but I do promise to finish this at least.
Up next: The delegation gets down to business.
See you soon!
~vupgirl