Chapter 29
Ralph was extremely content to be able to show his visitors around Rosings. He would not have wanted to be so audacious as to ask Lady Navi de Bourgh directly, but he was lucky enough for her to have invited them herself.
"I suppose," he said, "that I should not have been surprised at her invitation, for she is a very kind lady who helps everyone and would like to meet everyone. But so soon after your arrival! At that I am still in awe of your good fortune."
"It's not so much our good fortune," Captain Piratian said, "as much as Lady Navi's upbringing. It is, to my understanding, standard practice for the noblest ladies to invite guests of the town to their homes."
For the rest of the day and the following day, scarcely anything was talked about besides the upcoming visit to Rosings.
At last, on Sunday evening, everyone prepared themselves for dinner. Ralph said to Tetra, "Do not worry too much about your appearance. Lady Navi does not expect from everyone the kind of dress that fits her and her daughter. Just choose something a little better than your average wear."
Tetra looked at him disdainfully for a moment—she was a princess, after all—but she said nothing as she went to her room to change.
With much urging—since Lady Navi hated to wait for guests at dinner—Ralph soon got his wife and their guests to exit the house and walk to the Rosings in the pleasant spring weather.
Farore was becoming more and more nervous as she approached the door to Rosings, since Ralph's depiction of Lady Navi's elevated status frightened her. Captain Piratian was slowly betraying his nervousness, as well. Tetra, meanwhile, as a princess, was very familiar with the upper class, and was completely unfazed by the prospect of meeting the mayor of Faron Village.
As they entered, Collins gave a brief tour of the entryway and hallway to the guests, and they made their way to the dining room, where Lady Navi, Lady Ciela, Mrs. Neri Jenkinson, and another servant—Mr. Leaf Jenkinson, Tetra later learned—were seated.
Lady Navi, with great condescension, rose to greet the group. Nayru introduced the visitors to her, as she and Ralph had earlier agreed. Captain Piratian nervously bowed to her, and Din and Farore curtseyed awkwardly, before they all sat down. Tetra noticed that they seemed to be much more intimidated by Lady Navi than they were by the Queen of Hyrule—that was something she would have to talk to her mother about.
To Tetra, Lady Navi was a standard noblewoman, if a little snobby. She spoke and acted elegantly, but equally with an air of superiority. Lady Ciela, meanwhile, was exactly as Tetra remembered her from a few days ago. She was small, frail, and sickly. She spoke very little, and her voice was quiet and meek, unlike her mother's authoritative voice.
The dinner was handsome, served by kitchen servants. Mr. Leaf Jenkinson and Mrs. Neri Jenkinson apparently were hired simply to dote on Lady Ciela, and to make sure that she wasn't getting any sicker; Lady Ciela, in turn, spoke only to them. Din and Farore felt that it would be out of place to speak, and the men only spoke to marvel at the dinner or the fancy architecture of the dining room. That left Nayru, Tetra, and Lady Navi in an awkward silence.
Finally, after dinner, the party withdrew to the drawing room, where they held a conversation. Tetra and Lady Navi found themselves sitting next to each other, and so they conversed. Tetra could feel Lady Navi judging her critically with every question, some of which were dangerously personal to ask a princess. She spoke, as well, to Nayru, Din, and Farore, but her attentions seemed to focus primarily on Tetra.
"Do you sing or play an instrument, Tetra?"
"Yes, I do both."
"Why, that is lovely. And do you draw?"
"No. When I try, the image that I produce is never anything near what I had in my head."
"Ah, that is a misfortune. And your sisters?"
"One of them is fascinated by insects, and often draws them."
"What a peculiar interest for a young lady! And are any available for marriage?"
"Yes, all of them."
"All of them! All at the same time? Is it not tradition for the oldest to marry first, before the younger ones?"
"Yes, but I don't see why the younger sisters of a family must wait for so long, especially if the oldest is unfortunate enough to not want to find a mate—or not to attract a mate. The youngest daughter has just as much a right to find a husband as the oldest."
Lady Navi folded her hands in her lap. "Well, I am surprised that a princess such as you would be so forwards in your opinion. How old are you?"
"What do you think?"
Lady Navi frowned, unaccustomed to having no direct answer. "You cannot be older than twenty years old. You have no reason to hide your age."
"I am not yet twenty-one," agreed Tetra.
Exasperated, Lady Navi turned to Din to speak with her instead.
The men soon came into the room, and they set up a card game, along with Lady Navi and Nayru. Din, Farore, and Tetra found themselves instead with Mr. Leaf, Mrs. Neri and Lady Ciela, for another card game. The two servants did not play, but made sure that Lady Ciela did not fall over suddenly from illness.
Night soon fell, and Lady Ciela sent for her carriage to see the visitors back to Hunsford, though it was just next door. They said their pleasant goodbyes.
On the trip back, Nayru asked Tetra what she thought of Lady Navi. Tetra replied, for her friend's sake, with a more favorable impression that what she truly felt. This prompted Ralph to dive into another one of his speeches about Lady Navi's benevolence, which Tetra pointedly tuned out.
Character Notes: This chapter has Lady Navi de Bourgh, Lady Ciela de Bourgh, and Mr. Leaf and Mrs. Neri Jenkinson. We've heard a series of references to Lady Navi before, and a few to Lady Ciela; Navi is the wealthy noblewoman of Faron Village, and Ciela is her sickly daughter. They replace Lady Catherine and Anne de Bourgh, respectively. Mrs. Jenkinson is the servant whose primary job is to make sure that Lady Anne is comfortable; I've split her into a couple instead of a single person here.
These four characters, in their original games, are all fairies, which I thought was appropriate because of the fairies' association with the forest, where these four characters reside in this story. Navi is the infamous exposition fairy in Ocarina of Time who guides Link through his journey. Ciela, Leaf, and Neri, meanwhile, are lesser-known fairies from Phantom Hourglass. Ciela is Link's main fairy companion in the game, and she initially has amnesia, which corresponds to Lady Anne's sickliness. The two other fairies also accompany Link later on (they are the Spirits of Power and Wisdom, respectively), and have appropriate connections to Ciela. A rather irrelevant side note: Leaf is one of only two known male fairies (the other being Tael from Majora's Mask).
Published January 26, 2015
