^*^Dun Wanna Be a Lady (I'm Just a Girl)^*^
/By 'lanna the Lioness\
A/N: YAAAAAAAAYYY!!!! *screams*
Yayayayayayay!!!!!!!! *bounces around* PERFECT SCORE ON MY WORLD HISTORY EXAM, and
it's LABOR DAY WEEKEND!!!!! *squeals* Last night, I was pretty pissed when I
read that someone called me a 'pervert' and a 'sick jerk'. I was planning to
post a nasty story today, but since I'm in a good mood now, I'll save that for
some other time. Hehe. This was really fun to write, cos I got to 'invent'
Alanna as a kid.
*stops, then begs* Pweeeeeeeeeeeeease visit my
sucky Tortall site!!!! Pwease? Go here…. http://www.geocities.com/ladyalanna2000/frames.html
And sign up for the RPG and do the debatiiiieeeesssss!!!! Pwease? Pwease oh
pwease oh pwease oh pwease *jumps up and down*. (It t'ain't finished yet, but
you can do SOME stuff.) An' if you wanna see Emelan, go here…. http://www.geocities.com/ladysandry2000
. Not mine, but mah frennies designed it!
DISCLAIMER: THE CHARACTERS ARE NOT MINE. ('Cept for
Loraine.) NEITHER IS THE SONG, "Just a Girl" By No Doubt….which will appear
later in the story.
AHEM. Here we go. Mwahahaha. ^..^
/*~*\
6-year-old Thom of Trebond
flattened himself against the trunk of a tree, his violet eyes peering around
curiously. He looked sharply around for any kind of movement, his breathing
slow and quieted. He had lost before….he would succeed this time.
"When I'm a great
sorcerer, no one will escape me," he said softly. "I'll be the
greatest sorcerer in the land. I'll help ladies and duel evil mages. I'll live
at the palace and never have to lift a sword again. I'll-"
"WHHHHEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!"
the shriek was uttered from above. Thom looked up, but it was too late to
escape the blue-and-copper blur that dropped from the tree. Within seconds, his
sister Alanna lay on top of him, giggling.
"'lanna!" wailed Thom.
"You cheated!"
She rubbed his copper
locks, mussing them. "You lost again, brother!" she shouted gleefully. "I won!
Now you have to hide from me!"
"Aw, 'lanna!" He
protested. He pushed his sister off of him and began to tickle her. She giggled
helplessly, trying to shove his hands away. Instead, she placed her hands on
his neck and brought him closer for a hug. He held his little twin tenderly,
stroking her long copper hair; so much like his, except for the length; which
she was to keep for the day she became a lady. Alanna hated being reminded of
this, and he knew it. He also knew that there was no way he could become a
sorcerer when all the young noble boys of his age were destined to be knights,
not mages; surely Lord Alan would want his son out of his way as long as was
possible, he thought glumly.
And I'll have to say
good-bye to 'lanna. How can I? She's the only one I've ever loved; the only one
who's ever understood me; the only one who knows just how to duck me in the
fishpond. What if she fell through the ice again, and I wasn't there to help
her? Tears welled up in his eyes,
and his lower lip trembled slightly at the thought.
His gloom was interrupted
as Alanna started tickling him back. Laughing, he pushed her off and seized a
pile of sod, hurling it at his sister.
Splort.
Alanna blinked, then
looked down at her blue silk dress, which was now decorated with brown.
Suddenly, a wide grin spread upon her face, and she scooped up a handful herself,
throwing it back, giggling as it hit Thom squarely on the nose.
"Children!"
The two looked up, arms
poised in mid-throw. There, on the pathway, was a middle-aged woman of medium
height, her dark brown hair riddled with streaks of gray. Thom pouted and
dropped his sod. Did Loraine always have to spoil all the fun?
"You are to return to the
castle and change into something suitable. The Lady Catherine will be arriving
any moment now, and I want you to be presentable." She said firmly, taking
Alanna by the hand and gasping, recoiling as if she'd been bitten by a rat.
"Goddess and Mithros! You, Lady Alanna, are filthy! What have you
been doing? Romping around like some sort of…some sort of ruffian?
Ladies do not play in the dirt, Alanna. A lady must learn to fear the dirt, and
bathe daily, to keep her skin and appearance fresh."
"But I like the
dirt, Loraine!" Alanna protested, yanking her arm back. "And I won't bathe,"
she declared firmly, looking Loraine in the eye. "I don't need to. I only need
to change clothes. And you will leave me to do as I please; ruffian or no. I am
not a Lady yet."
"Such impudence!" gasped
Loraine, her fingers twitching with the urge to slap the child. "I'll have your
father see to this, make no mistake! He'll see to it that that foul tongue of
yours is whipped enough to silence you like a proper lady should be! And if
that mother of yours had had any decency, she would've arranged for a governess
for you before you were born!"
"How dare you speak ill of
our mother?" Thom was livid, hatred burning in his eyes. "You'll not speak to
my sister so, Loraine."
"Oh?" she whirled on the
boy. "And what shall you do about it, Lord Thom?"
she sneered.
"This." Alanna seized one
of Loraine's arms, Thom the other. Together, they pushed her into the puddle of
slop near the stream they'd been playing by and joined hands, running through
the trees to the castle.
"Your father will
hear of this!" screamed Loraine, glaring at them from the muck. The
twins looked at one another and burst out laughing.
They laughed all the way
to Castle Trebond.
/*~*\
"Where were ye?" Coram
Smythesson, the man-at-arms at Trebond, looked at the twins suspiciously over
his tankard. "Been up t' no good, eh?"
"Oh, no," Alanna said innocently.
"Just playing by the stream."
"O' course," Coram said
sarcastically, then looked around, frowning. "Where's Loraine? Didn't she come
back with ye?"
"We pushed her in the
mud," Thom said bluntly, his eyes sparkling. "She's still there."
"Good," Coram grunted. He
took another swig of brandy before setting it down. "Keep her there. That woman
is enough trouble to make the Gods' own ears hurt."
/*~*\
"What do you suppose
father will say?" mused Thom when they were in Alanna's chamber, sitting on the
bed.
"Nothing," shrugged
Alanna. "He doesn't care about us anyway, after all."
"You're right," sighed
Thom, putting an arm around his twin. "He doesn't."
They were silent for a
moment, watching the sun sink between the evergreens through the window, the
reddish-gold glow shining in their faces.
"This is pretty," Thom
approved, his purple eyes regretful. "I don't have anything like this in my
room."
Alanna's face lit up.
"D'you really like it, Thom?" she asked eagerly, seizing his shoulders. "This
is nothing." Her eyes sparkled. "I know the perfect place!"
Thom grinned at the
enthusiasm on his sister's face. She was bound to be scolded terribly soon. He
supposed this was the least he could grant her. "Show me," he whispered.
Not long after, two small
children watched the sun set from the roof; their copper hair silhouetted
against the amber sky. Alanna sighed as the late summer breeze ruffled her
tresses and lay down on the roof, her arms folded behind her head as she
watched the first stars get born in the evening sky.
"You never told me you did
things like this," Thom looked disappointed. "If you had, I would've been up
here every day, just to get out of my prison."
Alanna giggled. "Your room
is not a prison," she argued, yanking off her satin slippers and kicking them,
where they tumbled over the roof and landed in the valley below. She didn't
look in the least regretful. Then she stood and pulled her dirtied dress over
her head, tossing it under her through the window.
"'lanna!" gasped Thom.
"What if someone sees you?"
"So?" snapped Alanna.
"I've a petticoat slip on. These clothes have too many layers anyway! Loraine
makes me wear everything!"
Thom stared as the horses
that ran where her slippers had landed reared and ran across their endless
bounds, their mane streaming orange and scarlet in the sunset.
"Some day, I'll be as free
as a horse," Alanna murmured, her eyes misty and thoughtful. "I'll run for as
long as I please, and I'll do great deeds; be a hero. I'm going to be a warrior
someday, Thom."
Thom knew it was fruitless
to point out the unlikelihood of this, and he enjoyed the fantasizing. He
grinned and lay back with her, snaking an arm around her shoulders. "I'll be a
sorcerer. I'll learn spells and magic that are known throughout the kingdom.
I'll be famous; a black-robed Master, and I'll be invincible!"
Alanna turned her head to
look at him, her purple eyes serious. "You will be, too. I know you will." She
squeezed his hand reassuringly.
A slight rustling of the
gravel turned the twins' attention to the other side of the roof. Cautiously,
they crawled to another tower and peered over the edge. A jewel-encrusted white
marble carriage embedded with gold and drawn by three white stallions had
crossed the Trebond drawbridge. Squinting, Alanna could make out the servants
that had gathered below; heads bowed respectfully. An elegantly-dressed footman
stepped from the carriage and held a hand to someone inside. On the door of the
carriage was a crest of two silver swords crossed with a dragon between
them--the Rendairr coat-of-arms.
"Oh no," moaned Thom, his
eyes widening in dread. "It's her!"
Lady Catherine du Rendairr
stepped from the carriage, her head held high; the cold blue eyes that so hated
to see children underfoot darting around as she took in Trebond's surroundings.
Then her red lips stretched into a graceful, faux smile as she curtseyed to
Lord Alan. He took her hand and kissed it, while she fluttered her eyelashes.
Alanna crawled over to the
tower by which they had come out and beckoned for Thom to follow. He silently
slipped in after her, taking care to take Alanna's forgotten frock with him.
Once they were inside, he handed it to her, and she slipped it on carelessly, not
bothering to search for a more suitable dress. Dashing barefoot for the stairs,
Alanna shrieked,
"Ill race you, Thom!"
"No cheating!" he
protested, seeing her hop onto the banister and begin her 8-flight long slide.
Grinning, he jumped on himself, speeding fast for the bottom. He could see his
sister's billowing copper hair as she stayed a flight ahead of him, laughing.
They passed a castle servant, causing her to start, drop the basket of linens
she was holding and clutch her heart, gasping. She opened her eyes to see the
twins waving at her cheerfully. Sighing and shaking her head, she recollected
the bundles, a tiny smile on her face.
"I'm catching up to you,
'lanna!" laughed Thom as he got closer and closer. Alanna giggled and tried to
go faster. She was nearing the bottom, and she would win. She had just let out
a triumphant cry when the front door was opened and the castle's visitor
stepped in, arm-in-arm with Lord Alan.
…………Thom watched in horror
as his sister sailed into the arms of a very flustered Lady Catherine.
/*~*\
Mwehaha. Do you like it so far? Tell me! ^_^
A/N: To all the other Tamora Pierce/HP fans
(Radella, GMG, etc.) We are being watched. Mwahahaha. MSN has its eyes
on us. Go here http://www.msnbc.com/news/621503.asp
. Ummmm…..and no, I do not write slash to those preparing to call me a sick
pervert again. *WARNING WARNING* ThE aUtHoR iS gOiNg To LoSe HeR
tEmPeR…..*glares at the flamers; smoke starts coming out of her ears* BLEEP!
BLEEP! Self-destruction in 5 minutes and counting…..
Yes, another chapter coming soon!
Remember… visit http://www.geocities.com/ladyalanna2000
….and PARTICIPATE in Tortall! Pwease make me happy! ^_^ And don't sign up as a character already being played (read
the rules)….I already have two Daines. *glowers*