OOC: OK, changed my mind… Not doing the whole chapter one continued thing.
Chapter 2: Gossip
Mean while, Merian and Saru were sitting in The Pavilion of Delightful Pleasures, with the rest of Saru's court. They were seated on benches well out of earshot of their attendants and elders. Saru sat at the head of the table the benches surrounded, which gave her a look of importance. Her long silk black hair was pinned up, while some of the other girl's hair was out, like Merian's. Merian sat there quietly, listening to the slight talk that went between the younger girls.
"But do you think that Lady Lompon will change her mind?" a silly blonde girl asked. Her name was Jala, and she was the youngest daughter of an old laurin noble family.
"Of course I do, Jala. Her son is too important to her," the princess replied, in her sharp voice. They were in fact discussing the relationships of the older girls. Merian choose to ignore the fact that most of the girls they chatted about were her age, and it did not seem to mind the others at all that she were not included in their conversation.
One of the other girls that sat with them, a short red-head with a squeaky voice named Berry, coughed loudly. All the girls, including Merian, turn to look at her.
"Why don't we ask Merian?" she asked, her squeaky voice going unusually high. The other girls turned to Merian, to hear her reply. She thought quickly, before answering.
"Well, if you really want my opinion, Lady Lompon would not let Daga marry Sincei. Especially since Lady Lompon knows that Sincei has been running around with Kaodo." That set the other girls off. Ignoring Merian once again, the girls now started to talk about whether or not Daga would find out about Sincei and Kaodo. It wasn't until Saru started to say that she needed to get some rest did the talking stop. Saru got up, and it wasn't until she left that the others started to talk again. Merian got up, not caring anymore, since the princess wasn't there to offend her, she walked out of the pavilion, and over to her quarters.
Merian was just about to read one of her books when there was a knock on her door. She opened the door, and there stood one of Saru's message boys.
"Her Highness wishes to see you," he said, and Merian nodded to him, and he walked out. Merian walked out of her room, and out of her quarters, and made her way over to the royal quarters.
When she arrived, Saru was sitting at her desk. She nodded to Merian to come in, and Merian shut the door behind her. Saru quickly wrote something down, before standing up and Smiling at Merian.
"Merian. I do apologize for the other's behavior, back in the pavilion. They completely left you out of the conversation. I will inform them that you shall be included next time," she said very formally, as she sat down, and motioned for Merian to sit next to her. Someone had left tea and biscuits on her table. Saru offered them to Merian, and she accepted.
"Your highness, I do wish you would not fuss over me so. I was quite content just listening to your conversation. If it's not to bold of me to say, it was immature for my taste," she said, and Saru bit her lower lip. Merian was the only person in the entire kingdom that Saru would allow that kind of speech from. She would especially not allow it from her sister.
"Of course. You are used to older conversations. You know, it is odd. When Mother was my age, she would talk to people that were decades older then her. But I am not like my mother it seems," she said, taking a sip of tea. There was a laugh outside the door, and the presence of Saru's maid, Guani, and Merian's maid, Silci, was known to the girls. Merian shook her head.
"Even you, Saru, like to talk about older things than those girls that accompanied us today. I mean, to talk about Kaodo and Sincei as if they were characters in a play, performed by players," she said. Saru nodded, and finished off her tea. She called to Guani, who came in, Silci following.
"I am ready to change for supper. Merian," she said, turning back to Merian as she slowly stood up. "I assume you'll be having supper with your mother. I hear your father is gone out again." Merian looked at her, her eyes glazed with a look of confusion.
"When did you hear of that?" she asked.
"On my way up here from the Pavilion of Delightful Pleasures. I hear Gossip, Merian. I live for gossip. You know that," she said, and Merian curtsied to her queen, and left the room.
