Title: The Grand Game
Pairing: Implied Leliana/Marjolaine
A/N: Marjolaine compares the Grand Game of Orlesian politics to chess. I used the French names for the chess pieces and such but I also made sure to clarify which piece they were talking about. Also, the noblewomen are mentioned by Leliana in-game.
)O(
She was a commoner, born of a Ferelden woman in Orlais and raised by an Orlesian lady. Still, Leliana considered herself a citizen of Ferelden, and someday, she would go to her mother's homeland, but not today.
Being a commoner as she was made it that much more surprising for Leliana to find herself here, sitting at a table surrounding by Orlesian noblewomen, and her bard master.
She loved the Game, the excitement it brought to her otherwise dull life, even if it did often require her to do things she regretted in hindsight. Sacrifice was always necessary, Marjolaine said.
Currently the four ladies, excluding Leliana and Marjolaine, were all siting with drinks in their hands. They had formed a kind of alliance. Hence is was acceptable that they converse with a bard-master and her student together. As long as none of them were secretly plotting against the others which would be rude. That was the whole reason for bards to exist. It was rude to do such things in the public eye. It made the Game less fun that way.
"I hear the little tea party went well, Leliana." Lady Adele spoke up. She had requested Leliana's service in pretending to serve tea at a local brothel, all the while keeping close watch over Adele's cheating husband. Seduce him, Adele had instructed, and maybe rough him up a bit. Lady Adele did not allow him to have mistresses, though it was common among the nobility. She was a rather self-centered woman, despite the charity work she did to appease society.
"Yes, it went quite well indeed."
"Bonne! It would be a shame to have one of my lovers suffer an unfortunate...accident." She grinned wickedly, and just a for moment, Leliana's blood turned cold.
"You would just find yourself another before the week was out." Lady Clarabelle chimed in, sipping from her glass. She was a woman of odd tastes, but brutally honest when it came to judging others.
"You're one to talk, Clarabelle, with all the rumors going around about you and that one-armed boy who tends your garden." Adele shot back, still smiling.
"She has a point," Lady Alles agreed. "Why else would you employ a man who was missing a limb to do manual labor unless he was tending your other garden as well?"
They all laughed. Leliana blushed.
"I do hope you are paying him extra for such a service!" Adele scowled.
"What a brave man!" Alles added.
"My private affairs are none of your concern." Lady Clarabelle snapped, glowering at the others.
"Ah, but that is why we are all here, is it not?"
They all looked in the direction of the new voice. Lady Catarina, a quiet and dim-witted woman, sat in the corner with a number of knotted cherry stems spread out on the table before her. She had the uncanny ability to tie them using only her tongue. Such a skill made her very popular with the men, though she remained unmarried. Catarina didn't want to commit herself to someone who loved her solely based on what she could do with her tongue.
She was the kind of person who believed in happily ever afters and true love conquering all. But as Lady Adele often told her, there was no reason she couldn't just marry another should she come to regret it.
"True enough," Lady Adele held her glass high in the air, as if giving a toast. "We are here to get back at our cheating husbands and women who have finer things than we do."
"Then you have come to the right place." Marjolaine's velvety tone cut through the merriment like a knife. Everyone fell silent. She had been watching from the shadows for sometime. That was when Leliana noticed there was a chess board set out in front of her.
"The Game," she began, "is a lot like échecs."
"How so…?"
"It is simple, really, ma chère Catarina." Marjolaine scowled, holding up two pieces: the king and queen. "The roi and dame represent the nobles, that would be you. When they are gone, the Game is over."
"Simple," Lady Alles declared.
"Ah, but I am not yet finished." The bard master picked up a pawn and showed it to the group of eager noblewomen. "We bards are pions: discreet, loyal, essential, yet virtually expendable. If you can afford it we will kill for you, even die for you, and everything in between. We see the Game most clearly because we are objective. It allows us to protect ourselves, as well as your interests."
Leliana was shocked. Marjolaine had not explained to her what their roll was nearly as eloquently as she was now. They really were pawns, weren't they? Suddenly, she wasn't sure that was what she truly wanted.
"What about the cavalier?" asked Lady Adele, gesturing to one of the knights.
"Oh! They are the chevaliers, yes?" Clarabelle guessed, apparently through being angry at the other nobles.
"Right you are, my good lady." Marjolaine nodded. "They like to be close to the nobles, sure to stay in their good graces. They are respected for their skill and feared by their enemies, as well as some who believe they have too much power." She paused for effect, then picked up a bishop next, turning it over in her hands thoughtfully. "The fou of course represents the Divine and the Chantry as a whole. They would prefer not to play the Game, to stay out of the way. But alas, it comes with the territory, no?"
The ladies chuckled along with her.
"Finally we have the tours," she went on, pointing to the last piece. There were three of them in total, one in each corner of the board. "They are Orlais itself, as well as its people. In a sense, they are trapped, but they play the Game because they must in order to free themselves. They are stuck between chevaliers and bards, not a good place to be."
Everyone was quiet for a long time. They all let Marjolaine's words sink in. For some it took longer than others.
Leliana's mentor turned to look at her then. "Come, my pretty thing," she said, "I think our patrons have enough to occupy themselves with for now."
And so she left the table, the chess board, and the noblewomen. It had never felt more like a game than at that moment. Never had she felt more insignificant yet needed. She was a pawn, but it could be worse.
The Grand Game must go on, always, even if sacrifices had to be made.