I'm so sorry it took me this long to write the next chapter!!! My teachers
love to load up on homework and projects right before spring break, which,
luckily, is this week. Hopefully I can get a few chapters done on break,
since I'm not going anywhere. ^_^ Thanks for putting up with me. Enh, if
you want a disclaimer, you little copyright agent minions, go back to any
of chapters 1-5.
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"Oh, no," Lianne groaned. "Please tell me this isn't happening…" (I just inserted the last bit of dialogue again since you couldn't really tell what Julian was replying to.)
At the base of Lianne's sofa-chair slouched an unmistakably drunken Liam; drool dribbled down his slack jaw, and he protectively clutched an empty wine jug. Obviously, this jug had not been his first of the afternoon. He gazed witlessly up at his sister and friend until he finally recognized the two faces, upon the occasion of which he grinned, eyes rolling back into his head, and pleasantly threw up on his tunic shirt.
"Yes," Julian replied in a quite revolted tone, "I'm sorry to say that it is happening."
After staring at Liam in disgust for sufficient time, Lianne inquired, "What do you say we do about him? I'm almost tempted to leave him here," she added bitterly and uncharacteristically. From his ridiculous dueling in the early afternoon to his present idiotic and infuriatingly masculine state of stupor, Lianne empathized very little with her brother at the moment. However, he was just that—her brother.
"No," she disagreed with herself at last, "I suppose it would be too cruel to desert him."
"Hmm, I really did like that idea." Julian sighed. "Oh, well. Let's get him up to his room, then."
"Wait—wouldn't Roald hear us come in?" Lianne suddenly considered, remembering that as the brothers were knightmaster and squire, their rooms were connected.
"No, Roald will be at supper," Julian said, stressing the last word as he glared resentfully at Liam. "But you have a point; their floor is eternally swarming with servants and visitors. Not that it wouldn't do Liam any good to suffer the little pride deflation of gossiping servants," he continued, prodding the semi-conscious, slobbering huddle that was his friend.
"Come on," Lianne said. "We'll take Liam to my rooms."
Trying to ignore the awful stench that arose from his breath and his vomit, Lianne hauled her brother up by the underarms and nearly toppled under his limp weight. The sitar slung over his shoulder by its small strap, Julian helped her lift up Liam, easily supporting most of his mass. They towed the prince, carefully avoiding any sound of servants, up two flights of stairs and through three hallways to Lianne's luckily nearby chambers.
When Liam successfully rested on her bed, dirty tunic removed, Lianne fetched cool water and a damp cloth for his forehead. As she washed his face with the water, she noticed Julian still scowling fiercely at him.
"I know why I'm angry with Liam," she remarked, "but I don't know why you are. I'm sure you wouldn't be this upset only about missing a meal."
"Don't be that sure about the meal," Julian responded. "I happen to enjoy my food. But you're right." He ran a hand through his dark hair. "Liam—likes to drink, which is all right in moderation. The trouble is, wine, ale, anything alcoholic, makes him…someone he's not. Makes him loud and obnoxious—at least worse than usual. More than irritating though, he can get violent. He has a tendency to drink too much, and the wine sends him into his own dark world. Right now, he's drunk completely senseless, a good thing considering the alternative, but I still can't see why he would take the chance of hurting anyone, including himself."
"You're a wonderful friend," Lianne told him quietly, a bit in awe of his loyalty and caring for her brother. "Go get yourself some supper."
Julian nodded distractedly and left without a word, ten seconds later reappearing in the door to ask, "Do you want anything? Or something for Liam?"
She smiled. "No thank you. Though Lady haMinch taught me an excellent hangover concoction, I think Liam should take at least a little bit of responsibility for his actions."
"Right-o, milady," he replied with a grin and departed again, this time with a noticeably more buoyant manner.
Once he had was gone, Lianne collapsed onto a chair in total mental and physical exhaustion, only to jump back up at twang of instrument strings.
After checking that the sitar to verify it had sustained no damage, Lianne hesitantly plucked at few strings and immediately delighted in the resulting exotic euphony. She eagerly sought the sheets of music she had brought from the University, then regretfully remembered leaving them in the music library downstairs.
"Oh well," she sighed. Liam mumbled something in protest at the noise, and, forgetting her earlier irritation with him, Lianne moved to his side to smooth the hair off his moist forehead. "We'll just have to make up our own music, won't we?"
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About an hour later, Julian returned the princess's chambers. When he neared the door, he could detect the distinctive sound of a rapid sitar melody wafting from inside. Julian hesitated at the door; for some inexplicable reason, the music lightened his heart, and he didn't want to interrupt. At last, he knocked lightly and identified himself.
"Come in," Lianne called back, not ending her playing or decelerating the fast tempo. She smiled up at him from a nest of blankets on the floor, fingers deftly flitting through the instruments strings as if it had been born into her hands. On her bed, instead of tossing and turning distressedly as he had been when Julian left, Liam slept deeply and soundly and snored heavily.
"I thought you said you were going to let him suffer," Julian commented, noting his friend's clammy, pallid hue had disappeared. "May I ask what you did do, though? Because it certainly has helped."
"What?" Lianne's fingers slowed to a stop, and she responded, half laughing, "I haven't done anything for Liam."
"He has no trace of ever being drunk tonight," Julian insisted.
"The entire evening, all I've done is wash his face and play music," Lianne declared, equally insistent. She quietly, almost unconsciously, began plucking out an absentminded melody on the sitar. "Perhaps my songs actually are to some degree actually decent," she suggested jokingly. "Would it be so unbelievable that he happened to like them?"
"Not in any way unbelievable," Julian replied. "You're a very gifted musician. What is so unbelievable is that Liam has miraculously and single- handedly recovered from a seemingly unalterable drunken stupor in less than an hour with no help from either of us."
"You should've been a scholar," Lianne said, shaking her head and placing the sitar on the floor. "As it is, I'm dead tired, and I have no problems with accepting Liam's state of health as a fluke of the natural world and going to bed this instant."
"And you say I should've been the scholar?"
"You're making such a big deal about this!" Lianne exclaimed. Now that she had ceased playing music, there was nothing to distract her from her extreme fatigue, and her nerves were quickly wearing thin. "Urgh, I'm sorry, Julian, you've been very kind to me today. Thank you for everything. I'm just so tired."
"You're perfectly welcome," he assured her. "Thank you for letting me accompany you. I think you are quite right, however, so I will take this sleeping dolt back to his rooms. Goodnight, Lianne."
"Goodnight, Julian."
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"Lady Lianne?" Lianne's maidservant, Rhiona, appeared on the sun-warmed balcony where her mistress was taking breakfast. "Lord Julian of Cherell is here to see you. Shall I let him in?"
"Yes, please," Lianne replied. "Thank you." She sipped the last of her strong orange tea and stood to meet her friend, whose face was strangely exuberant. "What in the world is it?"
"Come in here," Julian said, motioning her out of the sun and into her main room. "I have this theory."
"You aren't ordering me around until I know exactly what you're doing," Lianne persisted.
"All right," he conceded, amused at her Contè stubbornness. "I have a theory that your magic—you do have the Gift, correct?" At Lianne's affirmation, he continued, "That your magic works through your music. I brought Willas's scrying crystal to test this, since it'll let me see your Gift."
"So, are you suggesting that by playing the sitar last night, my Gift was unconsciously released and healed Liam?" she confirmed. Julian nodded, and she consented to the experiment with interest.
Sitting in her new favorite armchair, Lianne fought frustration at her inability to formulate a new melody; finally, she relaxed her mind, and her fingers automatically started easily flowing through the strings.
"Is your Gift brownish-greenish-goldish?" Julian inquired in a whisper.
"You make it sound so glamorous," she teased, opening her eyes and smiling gently. "Do you see anything?"
"Yes, yes I do," Julian said. An irrepressible responding smile rose on his face, which inspired another notion. "By any chance might you have persuasion as your Gift?"
"Yes…"
"I think that when you play music, your persuasion Gift kind of…leaks out and convinces the listener to emulate your emotions. Your caring for Liam traveled through your music and eased his condition. Just now, your peace and relaxation traveled through your music to me."
Lianne stared, impressed, at Julian, who most definitely should have been a scholar, and an idea began to form. "Do you think that maybe—maybe I would have a chance if I participated in the Games this year?"
Julian grinned. "I told you that even before we found this out about your Gift. Of course I think so. In fact, you could do so in both the musical division and the magical division."
"Really?"
"Really."
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Long, long, long section this time! Also, be prepared for a MAJOR time lapse between this chapter and the next, so I can skip a whole load of dry details. By the way, I want to thank all the reviewers who have taken time to comment, I really appreciate it! Also, I'd like to give a special thank- you to Jossie; she's read and reviewed practically every chapter, and she's so sweet. Thanks, Jossie! ^_^ Peace, y'all.
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"Oh, no," Lianne groaned. "Please tell me this isn't happening…" (I just inserted the last bit of dialogue again since you couldn't really tell what Julian was replying to.)
At the base of Lianne's sofa-chair slouched an unmistakably drunken Liam; drool dribbled down his slack jaw, and he protectively clutched an empty wine jug. Obviously, this jug had not been his first of the afternoon. He gazed witlessly up at his sister and friend until he finally recognized the two faces, upon the occasion of which he grinned, eyes rolling back into his head, and pleasantly threw up on his tunic shirt.
"Yes," Julian replied in a quite revolted tone, "I'm sorry to say that it is happening."
After staring at Liam in disgust for sufficient time, Lianne inquired, "What do you say we do about him? I'm almost tempted to leave him here," she added bitterly and uncharacteristically. From his ridiculous dueling in the early afternoon to his present idiotic and infuriatingly masculine state of stupor, Lianne empathized very little with her brother at the moment. However, he was just that—her brother.
"No," she disagreed with herself at last, "I suppose it would be too cruel to desert him."
"Hmm, I really did like that idea." Julian sighed. "Oh, well. Let's get him up to his room, then."
"Wait—wouldn't Roald hear us come in?" Lianne suddenly considered, remembering that as the brothers were knightmaster and squire, their rooms were connected.
"No, Roald will be at supper," Julian said, stressing the last word as he glared resentfully at Liam. "But you have a point; their floor is eternally swarming with servants and visitors. Not that it wouldn't do Liam any good to suffer the little pride deflation of gossiping servants," he continued, prodding the semi-conscious, slobbering huddle that was his friend.
"Come on," Lianne said. "We'll take Liam to my rooms."
Trying to ignore the awful stench that arose from his breath and his vomit, Lianne hauled her brother up by the underarms and nearly toppled under his limp weight. The sitar slung over his shoulder by its small strap, Julian helped her lift up Liam, easily supporting most of his mass. They towed the prince, carefully avoiding any sound of servants, up two flights of stairs and through three hallways to Lianne's luckily nearby chambers.
When Liam successfully rested on her bed, dirty tunic removed, Lianne fetched cool water and a damp cloth for his forehead. As she washed his face with the water, she noticed Julian still scowling fiercely at him.
"I know why I'm angry with Liam," she remarked, "but I don't know why you are. I'm sure you wouldn't be this upset only about missing a meal."
"Don't be that sure about the meal," Julian responded. "I happen to enjoy my food. But you're right." He ran a hand through his dark hair. "Liam—likes to drink, which is all right in moderation. The trouble is, wine, ale, anything alcoholic, makes him…someone he's not. Makes him loud and obnoxious—at least worse than usual. More than irritating though, he can get violent. He has a tendency to drink too much, and the wine sends him into his own dark world. Right now, he's drunk completely senseless, a good thing considering the alternative, but I still can't see why he would take the chance of hurting anyone, including himself."
"You're a wonderful friend," Lianne told him quietly, a bit in awe of his loyalty and caring for her brother. "Go get yourself some supper."
Julian nodded distractedly and left without a word, ten seconds later reappearing in the door to ask, "Do you want anything? Or something for Liam?"
She smiled. "No thank you. Though Lady haMinch taught me an excellent hangover concoction, I think Liam should take at least a little bit of responsibility for his actions."
"Right-o, milady," he replied with a grin and departed again, this time with a noticeably more buoyant manner.
Once he had was gone, Lianne collapsed onto a chair in total mental and physical exhaustion, only to jump back up at twang of instrument strings.
After checking that the sitar to verify it had sustained no damage, Lianne hesitantly plucked at few strings and immediately delighted in the resulting exotic euphony. She eagerly sought the sheets of music she had brought from the University, then regretfully remembered leaving them in the music library downstairs.
"Oh well," she sighed. Liam mumbled something in protest at the noise, and, forgetting her earlier irritation with him, Lianne moved to his side to smooth the hair off his moist forehead. "We'll just have to make up our own music, won't we?"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
About an hour later, Julian returned the princess's chambers. When he neared the door, he could detect the distinctive sound of a rapid sitar melody wafting from inside. Julian hesitated at the door; for some inexplicable reason, the music lightened his heart, and he didn't want to interrupt. At last, he knocked lightly and identified himself.
"Come in," Lianne called back, not ending her playing or decelerating the fast tempo. She smiled up at him from a nest of blankets on the floor, fingers deftly flitting through the instruments strings as if it had been born into her hands. On her bed, instead of tossing and turning distressedly as he had been when Julian left, Liam slept deeply and soundly and snored heavily.
"I thought you said you were going to let him suffer," Julian commented, noting his friend's clammy, pallid hue had disappeared. "May I ask what you did do, though? Because it certainly has helped."
"What?" Lianne's fingers slowed to a stop, and she responded, half laughing, "I haven't done anything for Liam."
"He has no trace of ever being drunk tonight," Julian insisted.
"The entire evening, all I've done is wash his face and play music," Lianne declared, equally insistent. She quietly, almost unconsciously, began plucking out an absentminded melody on the sitar. "Perhaps my songs actually are to some degree actually decent," she suggested jokingly. "Would it be so unbelievable that he happened to like them?"
"Not in any way unbelievable," Julian replied. "You're a very gifted musician. What is so unbelievable is that Liam has miraculously and single- handedly recovered from a seemingly unalterable drunken stupor in less than an hour with no help from either of us."
"You should've been a scholar," Lianne said, shaking her head and placing the sitar on the floor. "As it is, I'm dead tired, and I have no problems with accepting Liam's state of health as a fluke of the natural world and going to bed this instant."
"And you say I should've been the scholar?"
"You're making such a big deal about this!" Lianne exclaimed. Now that she had ceased playing music, there was nothing to distract her from her extreme fatigue, and her nerves were quickly wearing thin. "Urgh, I'm sorry, Julian, you've been very kind to me today. Thank you for everything. I'm just so tired."
"You're perfectly welcome," he assured her. "Thank you for letting me accompany you. I think you are quite right, however, so I will take this sleeping dolt back to his rooms. Goodnight, Lianne."
"Goodnight, Julian."
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"Lady Lianne?" Lianne's maidservant, Rhiona, appeared on the sun-warmed balcony where her mistress was taking breakfast. "Lord Julian of Cherell is here to see you. Shall I let him in?"
"Yes, please," Lianne replied. "Thank you." She sipped the last of her strong orange tea and stood to meet her friend, whose face was strangely exuberant. "What in the world is it?"
"Come in here," Julian said, motioning her out of the sun and into her main room. "I have this theory."
"You aren't ordering me around until I know exactly what you're doing," Lianne persisted.
"All right," he conceded, amused at her Contè stubbornness. "I have a theory that your magic—you do have the Gift, correct?" At Lianne's affirmation, he continued, "That your magic works through your music. I brought Willas's scrying crystal to test this, since it'll let me see your Gift."
"So, are you suggesting that by playing the sitar last night, my Gift was unconsciously released and healed Liam?" she confirmed. Julian nodded, and she consented to the experiment with interest.
Sitting in her new favorite armchair, Lianne fought frustration at her inability to formulate a new melody; finally, she relaxed her mind, and her fingers automatically started easily flowing through the strings.
"Is your Gift brownish-greenish-goldish?" Julian inquired in a whisper.
"You make it sound so glamorous," she teased, opening her eyes and smiling gently. "Do you see anything?"
"Yes, yes I do," Julian said. An irrepressible responding smile rose on his face, which inspired another notion. "By any chance might you have persuasion as your Gift?"
"Yes…"
"I think that when you play music, your persuasion Gift kind of…leaks out and convinces the listener to emulate your emotions. Your caring for Liam traveled through your music and eased his condition. Just now, your peace and relaxation traveled through your music to me."
Lianne stared, impressed, at Julian, who most definitely should have been a scholar, and an idea began to form. "Do you think that maybe—maybe I would have a chance if I participated in the Games this year?"
Julian grinned. "I told you that even before we found this out about your Gift. Of course I think so. In fact, you could do so in both the musical division and the magical division."
"Really?"
"Really."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Long, long, long section this time! Also, be prepared for a MAJOR time lapse between this chapter and the next, so I can skip a whole load of dry details. By the way, I want to thank all the reviewers who have taken time to comment, I really appreciate it! Also, I'd like to give a special thank- you to Jossie; she's read and reviewed practically every chapter, and she's so sweet. Thanks, Jossie! ^_^ Peace, y'all.