Disclaimer: Any scenes, terms, names, characters, ideas, etc. from Tamora
Pierce are not mine and any similarities to other books are purely
coincidental.
Author's notes: This is an extremely odd chapter, Eos gets alot of revelations here.
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Chapter 5:
Eos sat with her companions again, by a water fountain in one of the four huge gardens Ozorne had recently created for his guests. Lady Semally suddenly said, "I've seen you talking to Tristan Staghorn...what do you think of him?" Eos sighed inwardly, but easily gave out Tristan's "personality": "He's wonderful! He's a good dancer, can speak well about virtually any topic...he's charming and-". Tristan suddenly spell-whispered in her ear. "Eos, I never knew you liked me so much!" Eos blushed, but still leaned forward and said, "It is said that his imperial majesty, Emperor Ozorne, has promised extra land and wealth for Tristan Staghorn and his chosen wife." Lady Faza, the least verbose of the group save Eos, commented at this point, "But the question is, will he be able to keep those lands through imperial favor?" All nodded in agreement. Eos parried, "But he has been in the Emperor's favor since meeting him; why should he lose the emperor's favor and friendship so suddenly?" Inwardly Eos marveled at their composure so soon after the "assassination attempt".
Another lady suddenly floated over to their fountain. A notorious gossip, she loudly giggled, "Lord Tristan is originally from Scancra! To imagine such an accepted member of our court is from that barbarian country..." She delicately shuddered. Lady Semally's gaze sharpened on the gossip. "Do you mean to say that he could be of an impure bloodline?" This question raised gasps from all but Eos, who had turned white at Lady Alicia's revelation. *No wonder he found me so easily! I can't believe that that...monster is from my homeland!* Lady Alicia hesitated, loath to incur Tristan's wrath, then said, "Of course not! He is of one of the highest noble fmailies there; I think it's pronounced Sin-na-clar-i." At this, Eos dropped, trapped in a waking nightmare of swirling memories.
"Eos, dearest..." Mother began to rock 9-year old Eos back and forth. "Daddy's finally made peace with the other clan. Isn't that wonderful?" Eos hesitantly smiled through a tangle of wild red hair at her mother. "But Eos, love, Daddy and I...Daddy has to marry you to a son of that clan." At his point, Mother's eyes filled with tears. "And-and you'll have to live with his family in their castle. His name is Tristan. Tristan Staghorn Sinnaclari..." Eos ran away. "No!" she shrieked. Eos scrambled down the path with her baby brother and sister. Little Tylan began shivering. "Eoie, where are you taking us?" Eos distractedly replied, "Tylan, Mommy and Daddy want to shut me away. So we have to go..." Suddenly an army of men boiled out of the castle and caught her. A huge fist hit her. "Eos, where were you going?" roared Maggur Rathhausack. Eos tried to run away....
Eos woke to the putrid smell of crushed wakeflower. Tristan slapped her, and he demanded, "What, in the name of the Gods, happened? One moment Lady Alicia is telling you I'm from Scancra, then you suddenly black out on me!" Eos lifted her eyelids slowly. Tristan snarled, "I asked you something. Answer me!" Eos mumbled, "Memories I had repressed through magic broke through. I remember now....I was betrothed to you. Joy to the world." Then she fell back unconscious smiling at Tristan's shocked expression.
Author's notes: This is an extremely odd chapter, Eos gets alot of revelations here.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter 5:
Eos sat with her companions again, by a water fountain in one of the four huge gardens Ozorne had recently created for his guests. Lady Semally suddenly said, "I've seen you talking to Tristan Staghorn...what do you think of him?" Eos sighed inwardly, but easily gave out Tristan's "personality": "He's wonderful! He's a good dancer, can speak well about virtually any topic...he's charming and-". Tristan suddenly spell-whispered in her ear. "Eos, I never knew you liked me so much!" Eos blushed, but still leaned forward and said, "It is said that his imperial majesty, Emperor Ozorne, has promised extra land and wealth for Tristan Staghorn and his chosen wife." Lady Faza, the least verbose of the group save Eos, commented at this point, "But the question is, will he be able to keep those lands through imperial favor?" All nodded in agreement. Eos parried, "But he has been in the Emperor's favor since meeting him; why should he lose the emperor's favor and friendship so suddenly?" Inwardly Eos marveled at their composure so soon after the "assassination attempt".
Another lady suddenly floated over to their fountain. A notorious gossip, she loudly giggled, "Lord Tristan is originally from Scancra! To imagine such an accepted member of our court is from that barbarian country..." She delicately shuddered. Lady Semally's gaze sharpened on the gossip. "Do you mean to say that he could be of an impure bloodline?" This question raised gasps from all but Eos, who had turned white at Lady Alicia's revelation. *No wonder he found me so easily! I can't believe that that...monster is from my homeland!* Lady Alicia hesitated, loath to incur Tristan's wrath, then said, "Of course not! He is of one of the highest noble fmailies there; I think it's pronounced Sin-na-clar-i." At this, Eos dropped, trapped in a waking nightmare of swirling memories.
"Eos, dearest..." Mother began to rock 9-year old Eos back and forth. "Daddy's finally made peace with the other clan. Isn't that wonderful?" Eos hesitantly smiled through a tangle of wild red hair at her mother. "But Eos, love, Daddy and I...Daddy has to marry you to a son of that clan." At his point, Mother's eyes filled with tears. "And-and you'll have to live with his family in their castle. His name is Tristan. Tristan Staghorn Sinnaclari..." Eos ran away. "No!" she shrieked. Eos scrambled down the path with her baby brother and sister. Little Tylan began shivering. "Eoie, where are you taking us?" Eos distractedly replied, "Tylan, Mommy and Daddy want to shut me away. So we have to go..." Suddenly an army of men boiled out of the castle and caught her. A huge fist hit her. "Eos, where were you going?" roared Maggur Rathhausack. Eos tried to run away....
Eos woke to the putrid smell of crushed wakeflower. Tristan slapped her, and he demanded, "What, in the name of the Gods, happened? One moment Lady Alicia is telling you I'm from Scancra, then you suddenly black out on me!" Eos lifted her eyelids slowly. Tristan snarled, "I asked you something. Answer me!" Eos mumbled, "Memories I had repressed through magic broke through. I remember now....I was betrothed to you. Joy to the world." Then she fell back unconscious smiling at Tristan's shocked expression.