CHAPTER 2:MARIEL
As it turned out, my little intrigue with Karrass cost me dearly. To recap, I was late to greet my father. My father's ship, the StarSword, had already docked and disgorged its passengers. The welcoming announcement had already been made. A welcoming announcement lists the battles that the ship engaged in, the margin of victory (never mentioning the defeats), and a short mourning for those that had met the stars. The names of the lost were always released privately to the families. Basically, I had missed the entire social portion of the homecoming. I was in time, however, to receive a scorching reprimand from my mother. To save face, because I think that I deserve some kind of break, I will not go into detail.
My father witnessed none of this, seeing as how I was there to see him disembark. I must admit that he did look rather dashing. He waded through the press of bodies past other families welcoming their fathers, sons, and brothers home. He approached us with a smile. I had not seen him in almost a year and I must admit that I was glad to see him home safely. He gave all of us the appropriately lukewarm greeting, with an extra squeeze of the hand for me. It was the stereotypical family image. It was what everyone expected of a war- prince.
After much sophisticated mingling and showing what a perfect family we were (minus the fact that my parents had three children) and small talk with my father's closest associates, we headed home together. I had received yet another lecture for sounding condescending during conversation with the wives and daughters of my father's friends. I tried to explain that conversation with such dull people was a chore and that they wouldn't notice my tone anyway. My father smirked, much to my mother's chagrin, and my sister announced that she would be a much better woman than I was. My brother remarked that all girls were good for nothing, quickly amending that mothers were not real girls. It was cute and trite, but that was the way we were.
The grass was crisp with that added flavor that only fresh rain can bring out. We (meaning the kids) ran ahead of our parents then ran back to them several times. We ended up making the walk twice as long for us as it was for them. They didn't care though. The time for appearances was over and we were able to move freely. The usual place for children is behind and to the left of the father. The wife's place is to the right of her husband, not quite abreast with him. Because of my age, I looked insolent and undisciplined in contrast to my siblings who appeared simply happy and carefree.
My parents seemed engaged in some collusive conversation. I was alarmed by the fact that they seemed to stop when I circled back to them. I couldn't really tell if they were talking, but a gambit of facial expressions definitely crossed my mother's face for no apparent reason. They acted with a furtive air and my father looked flustered. My alarm turned to suspicion. Something wasn't quite right here. My unease closed like a vice over the previous moments joy of simply being part of the family, all cares to the wind. If I had only know then what I know now, I would have taken off at that precise moment instead of waiting for it all to come down on me.
