Disclaimer: Not mine. But you could have guessed that already.
Pairings: L/J, duh.
Might contain spoilers through Sister of the South, or it might just be mere coincedence. Do not flame me for what I do not know, for they will merely be forwarded to the kitchen to make chicken fajitas.
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Hero's Daughter
a short story
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When Anna of the forge was five, this was what she knew:
She was named after the grandmother that had once given up her life for those that she loved.
Her parents had their own language that was spoken by touching fingers and joining hands.
She was going to be a big sister soon, and this caused such an excited stir.
Other people always came first.
Deltora could not be more beautiful, not even in her child's imagination.
When Anna of Del was fifteen, this was what she saw:
Her grandmother was more a hero than anyone gave her credit for.
When her father said, "Jasmine is my wife," it was neither more nor less than saying, "I am alive."
Her brothers, Jarred and Endon, were the favorites of their grandfather Doom, and were not made for the settled life of a courtier as she was.
She would become queen for the sake of her people.
For Deltora had not reached its true potential as a nation.
When Anna the smith's daughter was on her deathbed, this was what she understood:
She had reigned for fifty years as Deltora's revolutionary queen, and would forever be referred to in the streets as the Black Sugar Queen, because of her obsidian-dark skin and sweet generous nature.
She would never have the strange, idealistic, competitive love that made Lief and Jasmine so meteoric.
The daughter of the librarian Lady's son Josef might be her only heir, for she had never shared power by marrying and all thought her brothers to be dead in Deltoran wilderness.
Deltora was hurtling into a future she had prepared them for.
The Enemy, though defeated, was not destroyed, and to its anger and envy a thousand years was like the blink of an eye.
They could wait. The people of Deltora had more power than even Anna, daughter of King Lief and Jasmine-the-Wild-One, ever came to realize.
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"It is a fool's secret that wisdom is lucky."
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((A/N: I couldn't find a way to worm Barda into it, and now I feel guilty. The dude is so unloved.))