Chapter Two

It was already a routine for Aravis's governess to walk into her bedchamber every morning to draw the curtains back, and to prepare her dress while her ladies-in-waiting would prepare her bath. Aravis's sleep wouldn't be affected at all, for all of the curtains of her canopy four-poster bed would not be drawn back until half an hour after eight o'clock in the morning.

But that morning was different as the curtains were drawn back half an hour earlier … Aravis had forgotten that it was the very first day where a series of important lessons was going to take place. Feeling more morose than yesterday evening, she climbed out of her bed and staggered drowsily to the bathroom.

It took Aravis about half an hour to shake off her drowsiness. She got into a little heated conversation with her governess about 'the earliest bird gets the best worms' proverb … in which Aravis irritably told Wilhelmina that she was not a bird, nor had she any interest in worms, good or otherwise. It took another hour to get dressed up (Wilhelmina insisted that she should wear her hair down, but Aravis protested so in the end, her hair was partially tied) and another half an hour was spent for breakfast.

During breakfast, she was too sleepy and miserable to get onto Cor's nerves, and Cor was quite happy with this. King Lune tried to pull them into a conversation about the anticipated tournaments but none of them were enthusiastic about it now … because the tournaments had brought so called woes to each one of them.

Aravis was not happy with how her life was going to turn out, as she was going to be flocked by her "waiting suitors" five days from now, the earliest. She ate half-heartedly through breakfast, and would only smile rather morosely whenever the King talked to her. If yesterday she had been shocked and could only think of her annoyance for her governess, today she was miserable.

Didn't she leave Calormen to get away from such things? She ran away from that unwanted and rather stupid betrothal, away from her father and his wicked wife. Now it was happening again. Not that King Lune was anything like her father, but it seemed like no matter where she went, she was expected to marry.

But still, selfish brat she might be, she just couldn't want to give up seeing the King from a brighter side. She felt it was wise of her to just go on with the plan, taking the King's promise deep in her heart that she would never be forced into marriage ever again.

After a midnight musing, which resulted in her drowsy state, she could tell now that the King was just trying to introduce her to the society … or rather, to introduce the real society to her. And in order to do just that, he had given his consent for her to be courted by a bunch of … suitors.

It was too early to call those suitors "idiots" anyway.

She wondered what their treatment towards her would be like.

Clearly, it wouldn't be as platonic as the treatment shown by Cor and Corin.

But still, there had got to be another way to introduce her to society other than as a woman to be courted.

After breakfast, the first class began. If this class should be named, it would be probably called, 'The courtship courtesy'.

Aravis didn't have much difficulty in this particular class, for she was already taught the very basics of noble courtesy. Both types of courtesy are very much the same, she thought … but the first session hadn't even last for two minutes when she started to feel annoyed. Courtship courtesy was even worse than the noble one.

The first session was a bit like "introduction to men, in theory". What Aravis needed to work on the most was her sharp tongue, and when her governess mentioned this one flaw to her … she was very unhappy about it. Of course, try point out some flaws in someone who is as proud as Aravis, and that is hardly surprising.

"Gentlemen do not like sharp-tongue ladies, particularly one who is very critical and blunt … as well as sharp-witted. Alas, my dear, you have these qualities that none of your suitors would probably enjoy. Men prefer the humble, reticent type of ladies."

Aravis was proud to be called "sharp-witted" but Wilhelmina went on describing the kind of ladies most great lords wanted … acting unintelligent was included. That spoiled Aravis' mood at once.

"But governess … that is not fair! Just because they are men, doesn't make them smarter," was Aravis's blunt reply, and she had to endure the radiating sharp stare from her governess for the next few minutes.

In the next session, she was taught how to address a man properly. Once again Aravis didn't find this difficult, and Wilhelmina commented that for such blunt lady, she did know how to greet and curtsey gracefully.

But once again, her governess told her that she needed to work on something.

"When you curtsey, make sure you keep your eye contact soft and bat your lashes. But do not look at a man straight in the eye, my lady, it is very vulgar. Instead, look at him between your lashes and do NOT incline your chin up."

"Bat my lashes? Is that supposed to be a joke?" Aravis asked indignantly, "and how am I supposed to keep my eye contact if I'm not allowed to look at him straight in the eye?"

Wilhelmina looked quite expressionless despite the tone Aravis was using.

"You're not going to be in the company of elderly men, my lady; you're going to be in the company of your suitors. Show that you're interested, and at the same time, do not be too formal and stony. This is the basic art of flirting."

Wilhelmina made her practice on batting her lashes for the next fifteen minutes, without much success. Aravis certainly didn't nail this one. And her governess's patience was wearing thin too.

"For the love of Aslan, my lady, flutter your lashes, not blink your eyes! You look as though you are in a dust storm with those faces you are making!"

Aravis felt so ridiculous by the end of the session.

Next was on reactions.

"Laugh."

Her eyes widened.

"I beg your pardon?"

"Try laughing, I want to hear it."

"But why?"

"I can't tolerate questions in this session, my lady, just do what I've told you."

Sighing deeply, Aravis forced herself to laugh, but it sounded so dull that her governess had to hold up her hand to cease her, cringing.

"That is not natural," commented Wilhelmina, and Aravis scowled.

"Of course it's not, you forced me into it!"

"Do not scowl," Wilhelmina said sternly, before added, "Lady Aravis, you must learn how to laugh properly. And not just laughing, giggling. Men like it when ladies laugh at their jokes, and you must bear in your mind that no matter how unoriginal the joke is, you must giggle to show your appreciation."

"By the mane of Aslan, why must I show my appreciation by giggling?" Aravis moaned. "Can't I just ask him to a mock sword-duel instead? Or perhaps talk about weaponry? Don't all men just love—"

"Do not mention the fact that you can shoot and duel well, my lady! Men do not like equality and they are not what they are seem to be!" warned Wilhelmina, and Aravis swore that her governess's eyes were bulging.

"Neither are women," replied Aravis sinisterly, narrowing her eyes. "And speaking of equality, governess, are those suitors of mine worthy men?"

Wilhelmina pursed her lips together until they were nothing but a thin line. To Aravis, that only meant one thing.

"If you think the King is going to let the pauper on the street to court you then you thought wrong!" was her grim reply.

Aravis truly felt that she would rather have thousands of history lessons than to have one more lesson on this.

She was finally dismissed from the first lesson for lunchtime, but not before she was given a direct order.

"You shall meet me again in the Great Hall for the second lesson of the day an hour after teatime, my lady."

Aravis might have made many mistakes and decisions in her life without regretting them, but this time she could feel that she was about to regret this decision she had made to go along with these courtship lessons. She had another six chaotic days to endure … this day was just the beginning.

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"That is good enough for one day, my princes. We'll start training again tomorrow," said the old centaur, and Cor collapsed on the ground, leaning his back languidly against a tree.

"This has got to be the worst yet …" he moaned, squeezing his eyes shut. They had been practising while the sun was still high, and he was sweating all over. Stress was overcoming him slowly, for knowing that the first tournament was nearing. If he was not the Prince Cor, he had no doubt that his stress wouldn't be as great as this.

"That was just the practice, wait until the real tournament," said Corin, sitting right next to him. They bade casual farewells to their trainer, who was undoubtedly heading back to the castle to have an audience with their father about their progress, about Cor's progress especially.

"How many matches will you have?" asked Cor casually.

"All boxing matches," answered Corin, and Cor couldn't help realising there was smugness in his twin's voice. "Don't know how many, but I'll knock them all out, that's for sure."

Cor could only smile faintly in return, half-admiring the confidence and spirit in his brother.

He knew that he was the opposite of Corin. Corin had always been known as the imperturbable one, and possessed more ounces of confidence than was good for him. Sometimes Cor felt so ashamed of himself for he thought that he had no good royal qualities in him, and he felt that it was no wonder that Aravis always favoured Corin than him.

He snorted softly to himself. Thinking of Aravis had only worsened his mood.

This morning was a great improvement, as she was rather quiet during breakfast. For once, she was not saying anything. Instead, she just smiled sleepily at him from across the table. Cor swore that her drowsiness must have made her mistake him for Corin, but Cor didn't dare to mention this to her.

Soon he was thinking of the numerous young great lords he had to endure that coming week, more than half of them were about his age. And he was about to compete with probably half of them. Each of them must have possessed a much broader skill in jousting and sword-duelling, and they were royalty since birth.

He, on the other hand, didn't know that he was a royalty until he was twelve or so. The first year was utter chaos, as he had to learn how to read and write and other basic diplomacy lessons at the same time … not to mention the royal courtesy lessons.

This was the year when Aravis began to realise how inferior he was compared to her. Before, she had been adjusting to a new home as much as he, and they would spend more time together just to see a familiar face. They would still fight, but would spend just as much time as friends, if only because there was no one else. But, when King Lune had asked Aravis to teach Cor manners and courtesy, she started looking down on him again. Little things that she didn't even need to think about came only with hard practise and concentration to Cor. She had always been confident in her place in the world as a Lady, but trying to teach Cor had showed her how much of a Lady she was in comparison to Cor's ability to be a gentleman.

"Come on, let's head back inside," said Corin, jumping onto his feet, "I'm feeling rather hungry."

Cor followed his brother wordlessly, desiring to have a long, hot bath instead.

It was about an hour or so after tea time that Cor found himself straying onto the grand landing on the first floor. Here he saw a faun rapping the double oaken door, leading into the Great Hall. He found this act was very intriguing, as the faun was carrying a flute. Then the door swung open to admit him and Cor was confused, for he knew that the Great Hall would only be used during special occasions.

Cor glanced around to look behind him, and saw Corin was trailing not far behind. He inclined his head slightly in the direction of the Great Hall, motioning his twin to follow his lead.

When he finally reached the double doors, he leant forward to press his ear against the door, listening hard. Here he heard muffled voices.

"What are you doing?" asked Corin with a frown.

"Listening," he replied.

"Good heavens, Cor, you're even worse than I thought," said Corin, shaking his head, "You are the lord of this castle, act like it."

Great. Now it was Corin's turn to criticise him.

Before he could think of a smart reply (which actually could take a lot of time), his twin quirked one brow at him and pushed the door open. Cor stared at him.

"You didn't—"

"I think I just did," replied Corin indifferently, and he stepped inside … uninvited, unannounced.

The nerve of him! he thought at once, annoyed. He was getting sick of all this superiority matter. Despite his annoyance, he followed his twin's lead all the same.

Once inside, Cor heard someone gasped and exclaimed, "Ah, Prince Corin!"

It was Aravis's governess.

"I hope we're not interrupting, Lady Wilhelmina," Cor heard Corin say without an ounce of guilt in his voice. He had always wondered how his twin could act so imperturbable.

"No, no … I'm glad that you're here, Your Highness. In fact, you're just the person I'm looking for," the elderly governess replied. Here her eyes caught sight of Cor and curtseyed at once. "Prince Cor …"

Cor bowed his head slightly in return. He noticed that Corin sometimes tended to ignore this courtesy. He started to look around the hall in curiosity. The Great Hall was still looking as dull as ever. There was no apparent difference that indicated it was ready to receive its guests by the end of this week. The curtains were still the same golden ones, and the gold carpet that led from the entrance to the grand dais on the other end of the hall was not there. But, the marble floor was polished, and the curtains were all drawn back.

This was when his gaze fell on Aravis, who was standing at the nearest window. She was looking in their direction with a very unfathomable expression. Cor was surprised to see the colour of her dress; it was pastel pink.

She usually wore pastels only during special occasions.

"May I be so bold to ask what you are doing here?" Corin asked next. Cor frowned at him, remembering how bold he was to barge into the hall without knocking or anything. Now he was excusing himself for being so bold to ask a mere question? Cor felt that he would never understand the delicate balance of superiority and gentility that seemed to be required of Archenlandish princes.

Expressionlessly, Wilhelmina replied, "Dance lesson."

"Dance lesson?" Cor couldn't help asking bluntly next, surprised.

Matter-of-factly, the governess replied again, "For Lady Aravis."

By this time, Aravis had joined their little circle, looking confused herself.

"The dance lesson shall start in a few moments," Wilhelmina told Aravis. Then, turning to the brothers, she added, "It will be a great honour, Your Highnesses, if one of you is willing to assist Lady Aravis."

"Assist me in what?" asked Aravis at once, looking slightly apprehensive. Wilhelmina looked at her with one of her no nonsense expression.

"I beg your pardon, Lady Aravis, do not say what," – here Cor saw Aravis turn slightly pink, and he tried hard not to smile. But the smile didn't appear anyway, for the next thing he knew, Corin said (in a loud voice), "My good lady, shall we?" and bowed deeply.

Corin was actually asking Aravis to dance.

The apprehension faded from Aravis' visage at once as she curtseyed and accepted Corin's hand with the most genuine happy smile Cor had ever seen. Annoyance started to bind him as the intense atmosphere he had just entered was changing rapidly. Now Aravis was asking her governess what the first dance would be.

He wondered for one moment what her reactions would be if he had asked her instead of Corin.

Cor fell back, watching his twin and Aravis' antics.

They looked happy, and his annoyance grew rapidly than before. He was not enjoying this for an unknown reason and he didn't know why.

Could it be because he was jealous of Corin's ease in understanding what was expected of him? Jealousy was quite unlike him, but what else could it be?

He honestly didn't know.

He quietly slipped out of the Great Hall. He could spend his time better by finding a desecrate dance teacher himself than lingering around watching Aravis looking so happy in his brother's arms. After all, three is a crowd.

Author's note: Not as good as the previous two chapters, I know. But then again, you do the judgement. Thank you so much to the reviewers, you guys are so nice! Thanks to acacia59601, my beta.