Chapter one!!!!! Disclaimer: I definitely do not own The Wheel of Time; that honor goes to Robert Jordan. I do claim Mianu, Relc, and their families as my own, so please do not use them without my permission. Happy Reading!
Mianu Bowen was sitting on her bed, engrossed in a book. Her body shifted from time to time but other than that, it seemed as if she was visiting another world. She had sat there for nearly two hours when sounds of a shuffling walk down the hall distracted the tallish redhead from her book.
"My Lady," a voice called from the hall. "Have you packed all your things?"
"Yes, Treina," returned the girl, hastily shutting the book and scurrying across the spacious room to the wardrobe. She threw it open and began tossing various clothing items onto the adjacent chair. If she hurried, Treina might not suspect that she had spent the last two hours curled up with a book. She glanced behind her when she heard a dissatisfied sniff over her shoulder. There stood Treina, with the most ridiculous scowl on her face. Mianu began giggling and her laughter must have been catching, because Treina cracked a smile.
"And this is all you want to bring with you to Caemlyn?" the servant slyly questioned as she lifted the few things Mianu had managed to lay out. "I think you'll want more than two dresses and a shawl, my Lady. Though of course, your father did say to pack light." She mischievously grinned and Mianu sighed.
"I haven't really been packing, Treina. I got caught up in a book," Mianu confessed.
"Ah," the tall woman replied. "One would think that you don't really want to spend a month or two at the Queen's court." Her eyebrows raised as she studied Mianu's young freckled face.
Mianu's mouth opened wide as she fumbled for the words. "Yes,…I mean…of course, I want to. I meant to pack but I started with the wrong thing," she gestured to the tall oak bookshelf against the wall. It was overflowing with books. "I was picking a few books to bring along and just accidentally started reading one."
"Well, I suppose that I have a few minutes to help you, but only a few. There are other tasks I must attend to." The woman gently pushed Mianu aside from the wardrobe and began searching through dresses, muttering to herself occasionally something about silly bookish girls who would never amount to anything. Mianu contented herself with gathering a few small things she wished to bring with her, just to make Caemlyn seem more like home.
She picked up a green jade bracelet that her mother had given her last year, before the accident. Memories flooded into her head, of her mother's sweet and loving face, of the way her father would look at her mother, and of times the family had spent together. The cozy winter nights when they had shared a hot meal and Mother had read a book aloud before the fire. Sunny summer days spent outside, on picnics in the woods. Soena Bowen had loved to give parties for the whole village. Mianu remembered many happy days at festivals in the village square. The village children were very friendly and Mianu had joined in their play many times when she was younger. Things were different now that she was almost a proper young lady. Just yesterday, when she had visited a shop in the small town, a girl about her age, one called Dedra, had sneered at her coldly. Of course, after the shopkeeper had scolded the girl, Dedra had lowered her head and apologized. But Mianu didn't really understand why the girl had sneered in the first place. Perhaps Father could explain. She sighed and placed the bracelet carefully aside.
Only after nearly every item of clothing Mianu owned had been packed in chests and bundles was Treina satisfied. The servant woman called for men to come upstairs and retrieve the luggage. Mianu sank into a chair after Treina directed the men to take her things to the wagons. Why did one need so many clothes at the Queen's court, she wondered. She must have spoken aloud because Treina excitedly said, "Oh, my Lady, you will have to get even more clothes made once you arrive in Caemlyn. One must keep up with the fashions, after all."
Mianu groaned. Of all things to look forward to, more fittings. She had hated standing still when the village seamstress had draped her with cloth and poked her with pins. But Treina had been her mother's maid for a long time and Mianu knew that if anyone knew anything about how to be a lady, Treina did.
Treina laughed softly and gathered Mianu up into her arms. "Oh, my dear Mianu, whatever will I do while you are gone?"
"I'm sure you'll find someone else to order around," Mianu assured.
"What do you mean, order around? I have never ordered you around, my Lady!" Treina sounded absolutely shocked. But when Mianu turned to look at the woman, she was smiling fondly from ear to ear.
"I'll miss you terribly, Treina," Mianu whispered as tears suddenly came to her eyes. "You've been there for me ever since Mother…" She tried to make the words come, but they slipped out of her grasp, like water running through her fingers. Burying her head in Treina's bosom, she began to softly sob.
Treina guided her over to a chair and picking up an ivory comb, began to run it through her long red hair. The old habit was soothing. Mianu gazed at the mirror in front of her and sniffed. I'm not much of a grown-up lady, am I, she thought to herself. I still bawl like a baby about Mother. With green eyes closed, she hummed a song to herself, The Lady and the Apple Tree, one that her mother had sung to her often as a child.
The lady dances round the tree,
She picks an apple red for me.
Her blue eyes sparkle wild and free
In the glory of the morning.