A/N: Completely my own invention; there's no textual support for it. And yes, I am still working on "Mel Sees the Light"—I have another update nearly ready to go—and I have another chapter of this almost done, from Court Duel, from the point of view of a major character. But… this happened.
Illyk the stableboy peered over the shrubbery. "That's the Countess of Tlanth?"
The girl next to him, Mora, tugged on her dark braid. "Don't stare, Illyk. It's not polite." She looked quickly over the bush she was sitting against, then back down. "Yes, that's her."
"She looks so… so… ordinary."
Mora looked up at him. "Well, how did you expect her to look? She's a lady, Illyk. That's what ladies look like."
"She didn't look like that when she came to Court last year."
"She was a prisoner. And a soldier."
Illyk scowled. "Still. She's famous. You'd think she'd look it."
"Well, I think she's pretty," Mora informed him. "And Alicia says her Aunt Mora says she's nice. And she ought to know, being her maid and all."
"Who's the other woman?" Illyk said, looking back over the shrubs.
"Lady Nimiar Argaliar," Mora informed him. "She's engaged to the Countess's brother." She sighed. "They're in love. It's so sweet."
Illyk wrinkled his nose. "Love is for girls." Mora threw a dirt clod at him; he brushed it off. "Oh, look now!"
Mora knelt beside him, animosity and admonitions forgotten as she peered over the bushes with him, watching the Countess and Lady Nimiar approach a group of two men and a woman.
"Now, Lady Tamara is what I would call pretty," Illyk said with satisfaction.
Mora scowled. "She's mean."
Illyk looked over at her. "How would you know?"
Mora turned up her nose. "I just do, that's all."
"You're just upset 'cuz she dropped the Duke of Savona," Illyk said, tugging on her hair. "The way you carry on about him, you'd think you'd be ecstatic."
Mora flushed. "I am not. And I do not. My cousin knows Kerael, her maid. That's how."
Illyk shrugged. "She's still beautiful. Her eyes? And her eyelashes? They write sonnets about them." He sighed.
Mora laughed. "Now who's in love?"
Illyk scowled. "Am not."
"Are, too," she teased. Illyk elbowed her. They watched in silence as the Countess and Lady Nimiar made their farewells and walked on. Lady Tamara and her flirts turned back to their game, but not before the unseen observers caught a sharp look passing between her and the duke of Savona.
"They say she's chasing the Marquis of Shevraeth now," said Illyk. "Lady Tamara, I mean. Not the Countess."
"Really?" said Mora. "I like him, too. He's nice."
Illyk snorted. "He's a gambler and a fop."
"That was an act, silly," Mora said. "To protect him from the king."
"He sure did a good job," Illyk said doubtfully.
"He had to," said Mora. "You know what Galdran was like."
They were quiet for a minute. Then Illyk said, "Remember the time he sent his dinner back because it had too much salt?"
"And then threw half the kitchen staff in prison for trying to poison him?" Mora shivered. "The Marquis will make a much better king."
"How do you know? You've never met him."
"Have, too," she informed him. "Mother sent me to the library one day with tea, 'cause someone had called for it and they were shorthanded. And it turned out to be the Marquis, and he smiled and thanked me just like I was a regular servant. And then he asked me about the book."
"What book?" said Illyk. "You didn't mention a book."
"I'm getting to that!" she said. "I had a book with me, 'cause I'd been reading it and I thought it was just a scribe or such wanted tea. And he asked me about it, and I said it was about Theraez, the Marloven queen. And he asked me if I liked it, and I said I did. And he said reading was the best way to improve yourself, no matter if you were a noble or a servant or what." Mora stopped for breath.
"And then?"
"Well, and then I had to go back," said Mora. "Mother was furious when she found out I'd served tea to the Marquis—with a book!" She sighed. "He's handsome, too. But not as handsome as the Duke," she added loyally.
Illyk grinned. "See? I told you."
Mora elbowed him. A faint voice was heard, calling her name, and her eyes widened. "I've got to go. If Mother finds me here she'll be furious. She doesn't like it when I spy on the nobles!" She scrambled to her feet, quickly dusted off her dark-blue dress, and ran down the pathway.
Mora sat in the dark, her back to a tree trunk, and scowled down at her braid. In the six months since the Countess of Tlanth had arrived at Court, she'd tried to grow her hair out like every other woman, noble or not. But no matter how much she tugged on it, it wouldn't grow.
She leaned her head back and sighed, wishing she was just like Lady Meliara. She was so brave! She'd defeated Galdran, and then that awful Flauvic-man… and the Duke had flirted with her… and she had such hair…
"Mora!" a voice hissed from above, and she jumped. "Mora, up here."
She looked up and saw Illyk's pale face peering down at her from between two of the boughs. "You frightened me!"
He put a finger to his lips. "Shh. Come up here."
Looking dubiously at her dress, she scrambled up the branches until she was sitting next to him. "What?"
He pointed, and she followed his line of sight towards a pair of figures seated on a bench in the garden below. Mora frowned, trying to see who it was. Then she saw the familiar red hair. "Oh!" she said. "It's the Countess!"
"And the Marquis," Illyk added. "I guess they slipped out here to get away from the party."
Mora fingered her hair. "It must be rough. People talking about them everywhere they go."
"Well, it was a surprise, you know," said Illyk. "The nobles all thought she hated him."
Mora giggled. "But we knew better."
"After she started sending him letters," Illyk agreed.
They watched quietly as the Countess leaned her head against her betrothed's chest and smiled up at him. Then the Marquis bent down and stole a kiss.
Mora pressed her hand to her mouth. "It's so sweet!"
"Girl stuff," Illyk grumbled, but he, too, was smiling.
The quiet reverberation of voices from the other direction caught Mora's ear, and she turned around, touched Illyk's shoulder, and pointed. "Illyk, look."
They both shifted on the branch to look down at the other couple. With a pang, Mora recognized the powerful build and dark hair of the Duke of Savona, and the fair skin and long hair of Lady Tamara. They were seated on a bench together, but not relaxing like the Countess and her Marquis. Lady Tamara was scowling down at the ground; she twisted away from the Duke.
"They're arguing," Illyk whispered in her ear, and she nodded.
"Can you blame them?" she whispered back. "They flirted with other people for nearly a whole year!"
"I wish we could hear them."
Suddenly Lady Tamara rose to her feet, her chin tilted up and her eyes flashing. She made to storm away, but the Duke touched the back of her wrist lightly, and she paused. Then he said something, something short, but apparently it had meaning to her: she stopped dead, opened her mouth to say something, then closed it again.
The Duke stood up and offered her his hands, palms up; after a moment she hesitantly took them, looking up at him through those famous eyelashes. They stood like that until he put his arms around her and kissed her.
Mora giggled. "I don't think we really need to," she said, watching as the seconds passed and neither of the nobles moved. Then a tardy sense of decorum kicked in, and she primly turned away just as Lady Tamara pulled away and gently brushed a lock of hair out of the Duke's face.
Illyk was watching her. "What?" she said.
He nodded down to the newly-reconciled pair. "I thought you'd be more upset."
She shrugged. "You're right. I don't know him." Then Mora smiled. "Besides, they look so happy together!"
"Good," whispered Illyk, and as he leaned closer to her, Mora realized he was going to kiss her.
It was her first kiss, for she technically wasn't old enough for such things. It lasted just a minute, then Illyk pulled away; Mora had been too startled to do anything but sit there. She put her fingers to her mouth, then blushed and grinned shyly up at him. A part of her reflected on how nice it was, and a part of her shivered at what her mother would say if she found her in a tree, kissing the stableboy! But most of her mind thought that, while it might be nice to be Lady Meliara or Lady Tamara, it was much nicer to be Mora.
