Chapter 21: Of Barrenness and Roses


Thankyouthankyou! Hahahaha! Four (well, three, technically) reviews in a day! Thank you to you all!

We have 64 reviews....6 until 70, 16 until 80, 26 until 90, and 36 until 100!!!!!!!! I know, I'm pushing it...humor me.

Hey, Catakit, you commented that this is like a soap opera...well, I know, but that's the style I'm writing in at the moment....so....ummmmmmm, how to say this politely is the key.... I shall continue to write that way...sorry if you don't like it. (Sorry, thats about as polite as I get, I know, good luck getting a job, huh?!)

Also, I don't want to write about the Gypsies for now...I think I'll let Hershel and Hinda fall deeply in love for a while....hehehe......the rating issue...please hold:

A-hem: A general announcement for those who may/may not have noticed that my rating has upped due to a accurate questioning of the PG rating...it is now PG-13.

...There, Catakit...better? Sorry, I hadn't exactly thought when I chose a rating...just kinda picked one ...shuttup, I'm thoughtless, I know.

LovingLife...your review came at such (watchout...Jack Sparrow-ism coming at you!) an.... opportune time...I'm overloaded with homework and I'm failing a course, I've been feeling really down lately...thankyou so much for sighing over the perfection...right now, I could kiss you (I won't don't worry). Thanks again.

I wasn't going to even start this chapter until my homework was done, but I gotta write something now...see reviews do help.... .:wink, wink:.

Lindy...yes it was short...sorry, i knew i had to update but i hadn't any time.  SOrry about that, but i'm reviving Mother Iku again, gald you bothered to go back to read of her, though. Keosha....well i dunno, Abby's awake now and Marcus is there, so....:meaningful silence:. Yeah! same dream...romantic, no? Visit her? i dunno...thatsa little risky with Jeanine around, isn't it? Cool beans...interesting choice...but i like it. 

I know school sucks, but I'll continue my attempts at posting if you review, yaya?

Cheeky- your very welcome...i myself was getting bored, so i realised you were too (by you i mean you   Nah, not a duke, a Count, actually. Yesyes, singing woodland creatures...fun, very fun.  Hmmmm, people sin...good hint, i'll keep it in mind as i try to mess up my almost-but-not-quite-mary-sueish-characters.  I know about updating quicker, but this is just about as fast as it gets, sorry! 

Headup- yup, its all good.

Hehehehe...Malistaaaaaaaaaaa...I'm done now...sorta. Yay! Your back! Hey, people...did u hear? I'm BRILLIANT! And...... I ROCK!


Yona's employer walked past the Healing Quarters, nearly colliding with Lord Antony Dewhurst.

" Ah, Antony, lovely to see you again, old chap!"

" Hubert, likewise, I'm sure. Simply splendid...look I've got to run, we'll chat later, alright?" without waiting for a reply, the King's Guard-in-training walked quickly down the corridor and out of sight. Duke Hubert of Lormington watched his fellow knight stride off. 'Yes, yes. You go, I would not want to keep you from your duties....but after staying to long beside a servant, I doubt you've even got duties to attend to.' He shook his head and continued towards the smallish areas of the Green Coterie.

He poked his head inside and the white head of Mother Iku appeared in the opposite doorway.

" So you have finally heard from your informant. How goes the plans?"

" All is well, madam, all the plans are just as you wanted. With the information my spy has gathered and delivered to me, I shall be ready to make my move in a matter of weeks." Hubert made a jaunty attempt at a smile. Mother Iku's old face creased and she walked towards Duke Hubert, a glint in her faded green eyes. She looked down into the young man's eyes and lifted his chin with one sharp fingernail.

" Your plans were to be see in motion before the last full moon. Your incompetence is weighing heavily on me..." She paused before continuing, "Perhaps you are not qualified to do the Green Coterie's illustrious work?" Her tone was mild, but her meaning hit him as strong as if she had shouted at him. His face turned to a mask of pleading, and falling to his knees infront of her, the nobleman begged,

" No, no...I am fully able, the situations and the materials were difficult to find...I've everything in place...the timing, madam, the timing!" She shook her head, but not too unkindly.

" You are trying mine and my colleague's patience. By the rising of the next full moon, there will be three, possibly four less nobles to oppose my plans....the less advocates the Two have, the more control I shall have." No longer was the Mother speaking to Hubert of Lormington, she was looking past him, talking to herself. "I shall wield enough power to challenge even the Green Coterie of Manisanri! Enough to crush that pitiful 'Mother Ren.' Ren, a water lily....but even water lilies can drown," She paused and seemed to realize Duke Hubert's presence.

" You are dismissed, Hubert of Lormington. Go, and when you return, you had better have made significant progress." The nobleman stood and left, shaking slightly. The knowledge that the Mother of the Palace's Green Coterie had been more lenient that expected did nothing to soothe him, after all it only meant that she would have less grace to give if he were to disappoint again.

Mother Iku ignored the Duke of Lormington's exit, he would succeed or die. His death would not bother her, but his failure would certainly be unwelcome. She walked through the doorway and into a small room, filled with the sound of running water.

She stared down into the golden basin on the stone table. Her warm breath misted the surface as she breathed upon it. The mist settled on the water, then cleared, leaving an ever-shifting image in it's place.

Keosha and Abigial talked in the Healing Quarters...

Lord Antony and his sister sat in Lady Jeanine's sitting room and drank tea...

Count John and his son walked about the merchant's stall in Lennick's Marketplace...

The Earl of Mattensworth sat about a table with several influential nobles...swishing his wine in it's glass...

Then the waters swirled and left in it's place a scene of her Majesty, Queen Moriane of Arulanthu, and her serving woman, Natalia...

The Queen shoved something small into the other's hands. Natalia looked up in what seemed to be incredulousness at her Queen and said something...it wasn't important... Mother Iku had bewitched the basin and it's waters to show all of interest to her....

The vision continued and Mother Iku's basin showed her a close view of the bundle which Natalia held. Small, and wrapped in midnight blue velvet, it was secured by a mage-stamp. But which mage's stamp it was, the Mother could not catch as the basin suddenly showed the Queen's face, her mouth moving. Her voice suddenly trickled out of the basin, and Mother Iku leaned towards it to hear,

" You will take this to the meeting point, and exchange it, do you hear? When you uncovered this, this situation, you promised, on pain of death to follow and obey me in this matter...will you go against your word?"

" Mo'iane, you know me bette' than that...I was simply questioning the, the, oh I don't know, the p'udence, the wisdom....take you' pick of why you doing this now...what if someone less loyal to you unveils this plot? You, the King, you' employees, you would be shunned....I cannot do this without knowing that you know what your' doing...you do know, don't you?" The Queen nodded, her eyes as solemn as the serving woman's.

" Nat, I cannot do this without your support and unquestioning obedience...'tis difficult enough without any second guessing on your part."

" But you know what you' doing, yes?" The Queen paused and blinked slowly.

" I involved myself in this, it was a mistake...and now I cannot wrench myself away." She glanced up at her friend's

sympathetic face, "I dragged you into it, but there isn't anything I can possibly do to prevent such events as these

for continuing. I'm so sorry." Mother Iku watched as Natalia hugged her friend and monarch close. She led the Queen over to a set of chairs and set Moraine down in one as she sat in the other.

" Now, pe'haps you'd bette' tell me how this began."

Suddenly the image in the basin swirled and faded, leaving the waters completely still. Mother Iku stared down at the golden basin in disbelief.

Surely the Queen had been about to explain, surely the basin had not cut her off from what she needed to know. The Mother of the Court's Green Coterie narrowed her eyes. Her usually calm face clench in anger and she dashed her hand down on the basin, knocking it off the stone table.

She breathed deeply before retrieving the dripping basin, ashamed at her action of anger. She filled the basin again, chanted the awakening spell and the mists swirled and cleared, picturing the Queen again, her mouth moving.

Mother Iku listened hard and slowly the Queen's voice began filtering into her waiting ear. Just as the voice became distinct and the words distinguishable, the basin abruptly cleared again, the voice stopped and the room filled with silence.

Mother Iku straightened. Her green eyes glinted in fury. 'Someone is disrupting my magic...someone is blocking me. They will pay.' She turned towards the wall and uttered a sharp command. The hidden door separated from the rest of the wall and the old woman walked through to the other side.

She looked down at her collection of imprecate objects. The ingredients for revenge.


The Queen closed her eyes and began,

" It was over ten years ago; James and I, it was our second babe's death..." The King and Queen of Arulanthu had suffered through four miscarriages and were still without an heir to take the throne.

Her Majesty continued to explain how a sweet young serving maid had told her of a friend whose whom was barren. This woman asked the Goddess to bless her, to no avail. She searched high and low for a cure, she sent her people to the farthest reaches of the world... far beyond the Known Lands.

The serving maid told her Queen how the woman, the wife of a prosperous merchant, searched for over ten years until she found it. The answer to her barren state was a small flower which grew on the mountains of Zelvemnar, the country of the elves. The state of barrenness was originally thought to be a curse, so the elves guarded the cure carefully, testing each candidate harshly for virtues mandatory in a mother.

But eventually the elves died out, and the secret cure of the flowers grew to simply a ledged...then a tale....then a myth, told rarely and mockingly.

The flower itself was called the Tuliane flower, Mynsultine, in elvish. The elves had pressed the flowers' distilled juices into a vial made of crystal, then added their secret ingredient.

The serving woman's friend found an old gypsy whose skill with herbs far surpasses any healer of her time. She was little known because of the potion the gave to each of those she healed...the Draught of Amnesia. Each person forgot how to reach the woman's caravan, but not wheat happened, such a specific potion is hard for a skilled healer, let alone an untrained (officially, at least) gypsy, who had never attended any Healer's School of any sort.

The woman trekked over the Known Lands, and after years of searching, finally found her. But the healer would not treat her, she would not give her a vial of the Tuliane Flower Cordial for the gold the woman offered. Thrice the woman left the gypsy, each time bringing with her a higher amount of gold. The third time, the gypsy finally told her the price to dispel her barren state.

" Diamonds." The gypsy had whispered to the woman.

" Diamonds." The woman had whispered bitterly to the serving girl.

"Diamonds." The serving girl had whispered to her Queen...

Diamonds, diamonds would give her the vial, would give her the babe she craved. The woman begged the gypsy, offered her the whole of her fortune...but the gypsy refused. The woman left, bitter and angry. She told her husband, the wealthy merchant, how the gypsy had refused. In his longing, he sold all of his profits and bought the diamonds required. Finally the gypsy handed the woman a vial of Tuliane Flower Cordial, the forth of the five she had been left by her mother, an elven healer.

The merchant and his wife returned home and soon she gave birth to a set of twins, a boy and a girl. So ends this woman's story.

The Queen finished the serving girl's tale and said,

"My contacts finally found the gypsy healer, this half elf over three years ago.  And so I have been exchanging gold for diamonds, each a perfect specimen of purity." Natalia nodded and said with understanding,

"Aye, but the law fo'bids any magical dealing with the gypsy-folk...'tis illegal. You know this." The Queen smiled a tiny bitter smile.

"Yes, but without a child, my country which I so love would be thrown into utter chaos...without an heir. I besides, I so love children. Imagine," Moraine said softly, "a little daughter or son, to present to my husband." Her eyes softened and she looked up at her friend and servant, "Poor James loves children, really he's simply a child himself, once you know him." Natalia nodded, though she secretly could not imagine the dignified King being childish in the slightest.

"But there is more, Nat. The gypsy woman has found out her secret seeker. She has realised that it is I that am searching for that precious vial. She has raised the cost twice now... and I am beginning to loose hope. Already the King's cousin, Duke of Drisral has openly begun discussing the succession of the crown in public gatherings. His bid on the crown is stronger than others, but so many oppose him. And, I must confess that I do not like the way he uses the serving maids...he is lecherous in manner." Natalia patted the Queen's arm in comfort,

"I unde'stand how despe'ate you must be, but shouldn't you tell James? Won't he unde'stand too?" Moraine stood abruptly and shook her head,

"No! He wouldn't...he is too law abiding for his own good...he wouldn't ignore the laws....even for the sake of his own line...for the sake of his country." She shook her head again, slower this time, less frenzied and said softly, "I'm getting on in my years...my child-baring years a fast dwindling. I cannot seem to get the diamonds she wants fast enough..." She broke off in dry sobs and Natalia stood and went to her, rubbing her back and making motherly crooning noises.

They stood together for a while, both thinking, both crying silently, one for the inevitable chaos that would over take the country upon the King and Queen's death, the other for the little babe she would never hold.


Sir Count Marcus DeBracy nodded as he sipped his spiced cider with his father. The Count's door lay open, a clear view into his office and greeting area. Father and son sat on couches of a mean material, built for endurance, not comfort. Still, they chatted as if in the most comfortable of places.

"So she has been unconscious for four days, you say?" The Count studied his fidgeting son,

"Yes, four days...the Healers are predicting her death at any moment. But her handmaiden is ever constant, ever optimistic that she will wake. Another but, Marcus," He paused to drink from his cup, "how do you know this Lady Abigail, son? As I understood, she left her home before you were near that area of the country, is that not so?"

Marcus placed the cider upon the oaken table and cleared his throat. ' How do I say this so that you will not have a heart attack, Father...I abandoned any morals you and Mother taught me and I kissed a maid I do not know?' Marcus mentally shook his head, his Father deserved to know, but not that way...

"I traveled earlier then my agenda dictated to the Mattensworth estate area. Mine and the Countess's encounter was by chance..." He paused and looked into the fire, unsure of how to precede. 'Such a beautiful girl, woman...will she never survive?' Instead of explaining further, he asked the only thing that came to mind,

"Have you made inquiries into her wounds?" Count John's gaze did not falter at the sudden change of subject, rather it intensified,

"Yes, I myself found a three pronged rod. It seems that the Old King did not clean out the castle as well as claimed, there are still remnants of the Goblin King's diablerie in nooks and crannies of this old place." Marcus frowned,

"It has been extracted of course." His father nodded and made to refill his son's cup. Marcus passed his hand over his cup, blocking his Father's unspoken offer.

"Nay, I shall visit the countess, the Earl's daughter. I'll return tomorrow eve, unless there is an ill-scheduled gathering for us 'young folk'. Truly, you 'old folk' really ought to stop this, 'tis only you who enjoy them." His father smiled and said wistfully,

"I suppose we all recall the days when we had such gatherings...we had such fun, wonderful times, my lad. We just all wish you had the same fun we did."

They bid each other good night and Marcus headed towards the Healing Quarters, thinking.

The women in his dream...obviously Jeanine and Abigail. The easily accessible blonde, the brunette worth fighting for...one with a calming presence, the other with healing powers for his wounds. Marcus shook his head, unable to make sense of it all.

He wondered why his feet were taking him towards the woman he hardly knew...away from his fiancĂ©. But his heart motivated his feet and he found himself infront of the Healing Quarters. He thought again of Lady Jeanine in her bedding plant garden, surrounded by only hedges. But sweet thoughts of the Lady Abigail, dark and mysterious.... her eyes alluring and the roses that filled the air...


Lady Jeanine sat heavily on her bed. She looked at her handmaiden,

"Are you sure? You have not misunderstood this at all?" There was a bite in her voice dispite the tragic look on her face.

"Oh yes, milady, I'm sure..."

"Repeat exactly what he said. And tell me again where he was."

"He stood at the Healing Quarter, infront of them like, and he muttered to himself, 'I shall see her, my beautiful dream...the rose behind the thorns.' and then he knocked and that old Healer opened up, but he saw me so I scampered, milady."

"You did well, Farley. Leave me now." The maid backed out and left the noblewoman alone in her room. She stood and searched a small box on her bureau. She withdrew a small dried leaf, an oak leaf of a sweet golden yellow. She caressed it and tears welled up in her eyes.

' He loves me...he told me when he visited.' she replayed the visit in her mind, from her moment she saw him to when the door closed behind him. The word 'love' never passed his lips. 'But he loves me...he loves me.' But the seed of doubt had been laid.


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