A/N: Sorry y'all that I've been MIA, been feeling pretty uninspired but I think I've got some idea where to go now so we'll see. Please comment and follow, any ideas or feelings about where the story is going etc. Also definitely not Tamora Pierce.
The night with the wolves set the theme for the rest of the spring and into summer, Daine and Sarra finding moments to make laughs, even through the boring lessons on how to be a noble lady. Mayhem and Breeze were becoming more independent, spending their time following around guards around on watch, joining hunting parties, playing with the children. Eclipse and Banshee were attached to the girls, where they went so too did their wolves, at first some of the stricter in the house had objections to the growing wolves being inside the house, specifically the head cook, but once they saw that they were relatively well behaved and stayed laying by their mistresses most of the time, no one really mentioned them.
Daine grew more and more anxious as time passed, when midsummer came Daines fears only expanded. Daine attended a fitting for her gown for the end of summer, Sarra helped her learn to dance, Juliana taught her manners and the rules of the nobles. The idea of being a noble in a real situation was a far-off idea that Daine was nervous of but it didn't feel real until the first of the guests arrived.
xxx
The weather was still hot the night Daine was summoned to the Lady's sitting room. Daine entered with Banshee at her side, to see Lady Juliana embroidering, Sarra reading, and Eclipse passed out on the rug "Daine, do you know what tomorrow is?" The lady didn't look up from her work, she wore soft cotton gloves to keep any stray strings from catching on her hands.
"Monday? My lady, is tomorrow a special day?" Daine's language had improved vastly in the last few months, even if the idea of anyone from her old village hearing her gave her the shivers.
"Don't be pert. My dear, guests will begin arriving tomorrow morning. I'm not quite sure who will be here first but we must be prepared for the worst because eventually, it will be here." Daine looked at Sarra who wouldn't meet her eyes, "my husband's aunt, she is the one you will need to impress if you are to succeed, Lady Mirabelle has the ear of many powerful conservatives and even some of the progressives and can impact any future marriage prospects for all our children. She's a powerful woman and you'd do best to stay away from her unless necessary. Just be your shy little self, and tell her what she wants to hear." The looks around the room seemed defeated, "just get some sleep, and try to look your best, whoever it is you'll need to make a good impression, this is your first chance to practice meeting a noble stranger who didn't already like you." Lady Juliana gave a small smile to Daine as she curtseyed and left for bed.
xxx
Daine woke up much the same as usual, surrounded by the birds who claimed her room as their own, and Banshee who was taking up an increasing amount of space in her bed. Jess entered with the servants with the hot water for her bath then helped Daine wash up, and then get ready. Jess put her hair in a half-up style, with intricate braids which aimed to keep her thick hair back while looking put together, they did the same light makeup she normally did, darkening her lashes, and just working to make her look more alive and awake. The dress that Daine wore was pale blue, light and flowy, the gown was tight in the bodice with thin sleeves that capped her shoulders, it was exactly the amount of feminine that Daine had grown to be comfortable in, underneath she wore a corset unfortunately but her dresses were made to fit sheaths, the dresses that were made had holes to reach wallets and the such, but Daine wore sheaths with small knives, it was a bad habit but Daine was not one that would ever grow out of it, she couldn't imagine going around unarmed all the time, even if she couldn't have her bow.
Daine walked down to breakfast, all of the house was a bustle of activity, servants running around fixing up rooms, cleaning, making sure everything was ready for who ever showed up. Daine entered the dining room to everyone in their finery, with even the twins dressed fit to meet the king. Their nursemaids were hovering, working their best to keep the kids as clean as could be. Daine sat next to Sarra and dug into her porridge, it was rich with cream and dried fruits like every day, Daine would never get sick of it. The meal went quicker than normal with everyone feeding themselves. When they were done they all gathered in the front hall, Juliana giving everyone an inspection making sure that not a hair was out of place. Stephan, asleep, was brought down from the nursery by his wet nurse and handed off to his mother. There was the sound of hooves and wheels that made them all look up, one last check and they filed out of the front door and stood in a line with Daine on the end. Daine waited quietly with her head down, the twins were between Daine and Sarra each holding the older girl near them's hand. The carriage stopped in front of the keep, the door opened and out came a man dressed exquisitely, he stepped out and held his hand for the woman in the cart to hold on to, the woman who exited was older, dressed in a high necked, frilly, deep purple dress, she exuded money and when she looked over the family, her eyes falling on Daine her face pursed in disgust.
"Marquess Rayner and Lady Mirabelle of Roquessard, welcome to our home." They all curtseyed after Juliana finished, "Allow me to introduce my family."
"Lady Juliana it is a pleasure to be welcomed so warmly to your manor." Lady Mirabelle nodded her head.
"This is my eldest daughter, Sarralyn of Beneklan, she's 9. These are the twins, Juliet and Annabelle they have just reached their 5th year. Then there is Stephan who is our most recent son. Finally, this is Veralidaine, she is our adopted daughter, her parents died tragically while working as convoys to the Tortallan government, she will be staying here until she comes of age, she is 13 now." Each curtseyed as they were addressed, Lady Mirabelle scrutinizing them head to toe.
"Well, if the mutt stays quiet no one will notice how plain she is." Lady Mirabelle was obviously part of the group of people that believed if you were not entirely Gallan, then you were less of a human, and Daine obviously had other blood in her, her dark hair, skin that tanned, showed she wasn't pure Gallan. Daine was used to the scrutiny, at home she was looked down on for being a bastard and for not having the Gallan looks. Daine clenched her free hand in her skirt, she felt the knife that lay on her thigh, 'that is a very bad idea, the old one reeks of mage', one of the cats had come up to Daine and was nudging her head against her ankle. Daine took a deep breath, she knew it was a bad idea and the cat just emphasized that The People always were more logical than humans. "Sarralyn you look more and more like your mother every day, hopefully, you will be a better lady than she is, at least your slender. Hmph."
The family was stiff and upset but they couldn't show that they were bothered by what the old crone had to say. Her stay at Beneklan estate was going to be painful for everyone, Daine couldn't see her being one of those nobles who treated their servants well. Daine had gotten used to the Beneklans who even the stuffiest of them treated their servants kindly. If Daine was going to survive the week she was going to have to stay as far as possible from that woman, maybe she'd pretend to be super high maintenance and keep as many servants she could from the lady, but that would probably require her to look much more put together than she ever cared to.
xxx
No one else arrived that day, and midday was taken separately so Daine didn't have to see the guests until dinner. Daine and Sarra shared their midday like usual, hiding in Daine's rooms with their wolves who have been carefully hiding in the stables. The girls, their maids, and their pets stayed in Daine's room as long as they could until about an hour before dinner when Sarra finally relented to getting ready and Daine finally coaxed the wolves to return to the hounds' man to be fed dinner. Jess got Daine ready putting her hair into a more complex version of what she previously had, Daine's corset was tightened, and her dress changed. This dress was not nearly as comfortable with a stiff bodice that emphasized any vaguely feminine shape she had, the sleeves were thin and hung off her shoulders, all in a dark purple with silver accents it was a very formal dress, it was one of her best. Jess reapplied her facepaint adding a pink lip and some eyeshadow that matched her dress. The whole thing together was very beautiful and made Daine look much older and put together than she was.
Daine thanked Jess, gathered her nerves and then left for dinner. She met Sarra on the way down, she was dressed similarly in a pink gown with cap sleeves, and a layer of a translucent sparkly fabric that shimmered when the light hit it. The duo walked silently down the stairs to the dining room and entered, just the sound of their shoes and the fabric in their skirts making it known they were there. They curtseyed and then walked to their spots and sat, Daine trying her best to be as invisible as possible.
"Veralidaine you look almost like a lady in that dress, it's a good color for your complexion." Lady Mirabelle's compliments cut sharper than the best knives Daine owned, they were meant to cut someone down.
"Thank you My Lady, you are too kind." Daine looked at the lady and then bowed her head looking back at her lap.
"You have good manners for all you were raised in a barbaric country, maybe you have learned something." Lady Mirabelle pursed her lips as she spoke as if what she was saying didn't taste good. The woman turned back to Lady Juliana and continued whatever conversation they were having previously. Daine tried to discreetly listen in but could only pick up every few words, mainly 'Marriage', and 'mutt' stood out to her, along with a few other choice words about Daine. The twins came with their nursemaids dressed in coordinating dresses in pink and purple, much like how Sarra and Daine matched, they were on their best behavior, meaning they were silent except for slight whispers with their maids. They sat down and the servants brought out their meals.
The food was rich and the meal was silent save the talk between Lady Juliana and the two guests, and due to the guest the meal was long, instead of it being very self-sufficient and paced as they usually ate, the courses were brought out one by one and the pace was set by Lady Mirabelle who ate painfully slow. After the main course, the twins started getting antsy needing more push from their maids to stay still and more bribes to behave. Dessert was the only saving grace for those two, being 5 there was little that could be wrong when there were sweets in front of you. With the end of dessert, servants came to collect dishes, and everyone was able to leave. Daine and Sarra went to follow as the twins were carried out by their nannies when a cough drew their attention to where Lady Mirabelle was sitting stiffly, swirling a glass of wine. Lady Juliana covered her emotions better than either girl was able, but it was still obvious she was just as nervous as the girls. They walked over and curtsied then waited silently for the Marquess to speak.
After what felt like forever, Lady Mirabelle spoke up, "please girls, join us in the library, we have a good amount to talk about and I would prefer we got it in the open so we can discuss it more easily the rest of the week." The girls curtsied again and walked to the library. Neither was particularly happy about having to spend more time with the harpy, they'd both rather be in their beds with their wolves. They still complied and when they reached the library they sat down on the couch next to each other. When the adults walked in Lord Rayner stopped outside to briefly talk to a servant and then joined them. "We might as well start now unless we wish to stay up until the early morning. Daine you're 13 right?" Daine nodded while trying to keep eye contact, it was one of the things the Lady and Sarra were trying to get her more comfortable with since her usual posture of staring at her feet didn't exactly reek of confidence. "Have you started your monthlies?" Daine blushed and had to fight to not shift her gaze from the older woman's face, but she nodded, she had started them when she was about 11 and a half, her mother was a midwife so she was quite more knowledgeable about what the monthly bleeding was and what it meant. "Good, good, then we can look into an arrangement sooner rather than later." Everyone in the room jerked to look at her, obviously she hadn't made this known to anyone in the room including her husband, "don't look at me like that Reyner, shes young still, but shes strong, - a little too strong – and by the time we work out a match she'll be older, it'll take at least a year to find someone and make the arrangement, maybe we should look in Tortall since you already have lived there, we can iron it out later but we might as well try to look for someone now, we'll have to work hard to find someone, and you young lady, when you eventually have to meet one, I don't want you to scare them off, so be this quiet mouse even if it isn't true, I don't care." Lord Thomas' aunt was just like him when it came to giving her orders, they were not requests, Daine would be doing this either willingly or kicking and screaming they didn't really care. "You're going to need to get better at your manners and behavior and when you are told you will meet them and you will behave if it's the last thing you do. We've been corresponding with the king, he is going to look into diplomatic matches, something to gain favor with other countries, since you are an adopted orphan cousin taken in by this kind family, you are good for pollical moves." Daine was feeling less and less like a person and more like an object used to barter. This was going to end with her married off to some old man forced off to a distant land, stuck inside to be used as nothing more than bed warmer and to take care of the resulting children, this wasn't an appealing idea for her future, maybe she'd get lucky and he'd die quick, making her a respectable widow. The saddest part of all this was that she was hoping that her future husband wouldn't last long into their marriage.
"My Lady, when should she be ready for meeting potential matches?" Lady Juliana took the reigns and spoke up.
"Well at the ball at the end of this week has a good amount of possible matches coming in, mostly just to get a chance to see if you're worth the fuss, but I will be speaking with any who wish to, but truly I don't think any will be all that interested in you once you open your mouth, that dreadful accent of yours and all. I'd say by next summer ideally, she will be young still so we'll start with other young men who aren't looking to get married straight away. I won't hold your breath on any of them, most likely they'll just be in for possible matches for Sarralyn. If we don't have anything worked out by the following autumn season when you are 15, you'll be at the palace so we can see how that goes, possibly work with the king for some foreigners, or if anyone there is interested in you and hasnt already been considered. So ideally you have about 2 years to get into shape. When we're able I'll come to see your progress, hopefully before the men come next summer." This woman was so strict, the idea of her coming back and possibly teaching her was horrifying. "Then off to bed ladies, you need your beauty sleep, and so do I, I'm not getting any younger." Sarra and Daine got up and curtsied before leaving as quickly as they could.
"I'm sorry Daine, I know this isn't the life you want," Sarra look down at her feet, "maybe you'll get lucky and he'll never be home, you'll have a few children making it worth it, and then maybe he'll die." Sarra voiced what Daine had been thinking, truly if she was going to be trapped in a loveless marriage, then maybe getting a baby or two out of it would make it more tolerable. "Or maybe you'll find a way and run, or you'll get someone who prefers men so you'll just be friends or ignore each other completely. Or he could be amazing, be kind and it'll be a good match, you'll be happy and everyone will be so jealous of how lucky you got. There are so many ways this could go, don't get too down about it before it even happens. Plus we both have 2 years, it's sooner than you expected but better than nothing, and we can at least ride together when we both leave." Sarra was always able to find the good in everything, Daine couldn't help but smile at the girl. "Plus anyone you meet next year will likely be possible suitors for me so you can tell me all about them, who to avoid, and such." Sarra giggled, Daine glad to be moving past her most likely terrible future joined in, intertwining their arms and continuing on to their rooms.
The rest of the walk they talked about frivolous things and walked slowly, and when they eventually parted both girls were feeling much more relaxed. Daine walked into her room and was immediately jumped by 50 lbs. of white fur sending her flat on her back. Banshee whined and wiggled on top of the girl, licking her face making Daine giggle and laugh. When Daine finally got Banshee calmed down and off of her did she realize she could understand her, finally. You were gone so long I missed you so much, that mean two-legger kept you away too long, I missed you so much… Banshee kept rattling on half scolding, and then the other half of the time telling her how much she missed her while interrupting herself to lick and check Daine for injury. Daine couldn't help but giggle at the young wolf's enthusiasm. Banshee and her siblings were getting big, but they hadn't even reached a half year and if they were in the wild they wouldn't even be hunting with the pack regularly, but by the time winter set in they would be nearly full size and still full of puppy energy, it was going to a long winter. Daine finally after a lot of coaxing she got up off the ground and walked to her bed-chamber, slowly because Banshee was still jumping and yipping at Daine as she walked. Daine got ready for bed and flopped down, having to scoot over when her shadow jumped up and laid next to her taking up the majority of the bed.