Chapter 8
(:.:)
The Queen's chambers are indeed full of women, that are chattering endlessly, with the exception of a young boy who is playing in the room with a mabari puppy. The cheerful laughter of the child, along with the gossiping women fills the room completely. When the door opens before Anne, who walks in the room with her everlasting straight back, as her hands are folded before her abdomen. I follow her with a certain distance between us, as the guards who are standing before the door let me pass through. Many whispers were heard when she passes the noble ladies, whose dresses are far more extraordinary than the simple dress Anne is wearing. Nonetheless, they whisper a respectable greeting as she passes them. It is clear that we are in the Queen consort's chambers and what is most certainly clear is that the Queen is absolutely favouring her stepdaughter the most.
Anne walks towards the room behind the chamber and I can see a woman sitting in a royal chair, that is standing on a raised platform. She is busy speaking with someone who sitting next to her, but the woman cuts herself off when Anne shows herself before her.
"Your Majesty." Anne greets as she bows. Ah. The Queen.
Her big blue eyes watch Anne with great interest, as if she is about to make a master move like they do in a game of chest. I believe that the name is Anora, daughter of Loghain the traitor, though I doubt anyone would say that in the present of this woman. The Queen herself has a powerful aura around, which makes it impossible for anyone to doubt who she really is. Her elegant, but strict demeaner attracts my attention, forcing me to acknowledge her as the Queen of this land. I've heard that the Queen of Ferelden is both loved by the people and by the nobility, calling her the rightful ruler of Ferelden. Even after her first husband died, she remained very beloved by her people as she guided them through the dark time of the Fifth Blight, together with the King and the Warden. Now, or so I've heard, Ferelden is in an Golden Age as the King and Queen rule together peacefully.
"Lady Anne." She stands up from her chair and walks towards her in the same way Anne would. She gives a snappy gesture to the person that was sitting next to her, without ever looking at the young woman.
Unlike the low cutline around the chest that most women in court are wearing, the Queen's dress has a high collar. The two necklaces, a silver one tight around the neck and a long silver one that falls down over the gown, are swaying along with every movement she makes.
"You look well, your Grace." Anne says, as she remains in low position.
"Of course I do." The Queen says with a snappy voice, as she gestures the people in the room to get out. A rumble of soft mumbles and footsteps shuffling towards the door is sound loudly. As the rest of the people, servant and nobility alike, flee the room, Anora looks at me with a raised eyebrow as I remain standing. Of course, the little boy, who I now recognize as the young crown prince of Ferelden, remains in the room and flies into his sister's arms. Anne takes up the young boy in her arms, kneeling before him with great affection in her embrace, greeting him as 'Edward'.
"Anne! Did you see my new puppy?" The young boy points at the young puppy, who is now jumping and dancing before my feet. "His name is Alexander The Third!"
An extraordinary name; I at least give him that. The puppy pants and whines for attention that I am not giving him. As soon as Anne releases her young brother, the boy runs towards his mabari, but only notices my presence at the moment that he stops before my legs. For his age, which must be eight years or something, he has an average height. His blond curly hair that jumps out at every direction and his bright blue eyes that are shining curiously, makes him look mischief and to be honest, a hand-full.
"And who may this be?" The Queen says, as she refers to me, approaching behind her son.
Anne stands up, but casts her eyes low. "This is Fenris, your Majesty. My bodyguard, who has been appointed by the King."
As she watches me from head to toe, something that often happens here, she slowly nods in agreement. "Yes… that would be wise after those incidents… I trust that you are reaching out for your father when they make threats again."
She frowns as the Queen makes that remark and I can hear the underlined irritation in her voice. "It's nothing that I can't handle, My Lady. I can assure you that your concern is appreciated, but unnecessary."
"Hmm." She hummes, though it isn't convincing. "Bring my son to bed then. It is time for him to sleep."
I look at her like a statue, not sure if she is referring to me, but when I see the expectations in the Queen's eyes, I look questionably at Anne. Isn't this the work of maid, or at least a governess?
It seems that Anne herself is not certain either if the Queen means it. When the awkward silence rules the room dominantly, I can hear the sharp coughing sound Anora makes, before glaring daggers at me. I can certainly predict why the Queen wants me out of this room as well; Anne told me enough to know that this visit isn't meant to be a casual meet up.
The boy, a true young prince for his age, more or less commands me to follow him to a closed door that leads the next room. I glance for the last time at Anne, who now gives a nod that I should follow him. The dog runs through my legs as he follows us out.
Maker, from bodyguard, to runaway ex-slave, to slave, to runaway slave again, to end up as a babysitter. I am not sure if I either strayed from the path, or that the Maker himself has a strange sense of humour.
Edward runs through a room, that has a big bed and several toys laying around. I thought that the Prince would have his own lodgings and that he would be staying at his mother's room, but it seems that he and the Queen are sharing the quarters together. Through the boy's bustle, he asks me several questions like, "What is your name?" and "Are you an elf?". I answer them with "Fenris." and "Yes.", though my eyes are focused on the now closed door.
"You're not from around here, are you? You don't look like the other elves."
"You're right."
"Why are you covered with lines?" Edward asks as he jumps on his ridicules big bed. Never snapping my eyes away from the door, I simply answer that I was born with my markings. It's not like a child would understand the true reason anyway. I hear him saying a soft "Oh.", which ends in a silence.
The boy then jumps off his bed in the same free energy he has when he entered this room and runs towards his toys. I follow his movements as I sit down on the bed. He picks up a soldier doll and, what seems to be, a dragon and almost shoves it in my face enthusiastically.
"Look!" He exclaims happily. "I got this from Father when it was my birthday!"
Scowling and not really knowing how to react, I eventually mutter that it looks wonderful, though I can hardly fake my interest. Maker, I have never been got with children, and especially not with brats. Pushing the dolls into my hand, I look at the toys with a raised up eyebrow. I hope that he isn't expecting me to play with those things.
As I follow the boy's movement, he runs over to a bookshelf and grabs a book out of it. With a big smile he runs back towards me and places the book onto my lap. "I got this from my sister! Anne knows that I like the illustrations of fairy tales."
I shake my head and place the dolls and the book on the bed. With a scowl on my face I look at the child. "Listen here, you need to get in bed and sleep now." Little shit, I hear myself mutter underneath my breath.
"Your Highness." The brat finishes it off, as a wiseacre. When I look at him a bit perplexed, I can see the smile full of mischief growing on the boy's face. "You should address me as 'Your Highness'."
This time, I am the one who lets out a snort. "And why should I do that?"
The Prince looks at me with a questionable expression. "Because I am the prince, of course! Don't you know who I am?"
Of course I know who that boy is; a pampered little prince, that is. "Well, then Prince Edward," I emphasize the name. "How about you'll get into bed and take a nap. Then I can return to me duties."
As I see that the boy pouts, he does climb in the bed, though the clothes that he is wearing, who evidently overly dressed for a comfortable nap, are making it harder. With a frustrated howl, or a growl as much as an eight year old can make, he tugs at the straps and knots and eventually pulls the clothes off him. He then lays comfortably down into the big soft pillow and crawl underneath the blankets, that protects him from the cold.
"I want a bedtime story!" The Prince demands like a prince would.
"I don't know any." I answer quickly, as I stand up.
"But that book knows a lot of stories!" The boy protests as he follows my movements, by sitting up straight again. He takes the book and pushes it towards me. "You can use this one!"
"No." I reject flatly and glare at the brat. I am not going through the humiliation of me reading out sentences with a lot of stutters. "You. Go to sleep now."
"I am not going to sleep until I get my bedtime story!" The boys now says in a raised up, angry voice. Damn brat.
With a sigh, I take that damn book and open it. Just as I feared, the moment that I open the book, I can already see the letters dancing before my eyes. I glance at the boy out of the corner of my eyes and see that he looks at me with high expectations. I can't read this to him! Swallowing, I see the illustration of a King and a girl on the left page, which brings me up to an idea. I close the book loudly and place it next to me on the bed.
"I will tell you a story. One that is told from where I come from." Edward's eyes, who have already been big, grow even bigger by his curiosity and he leans back against his pillow. What I said it not actually a lie. This story has been told in Tevinter, though it hasn't been told to me in such friendly and comfortable circumstances. I have dig deep inside my memory for the story, since it has been awhile.
"This is a tale from long, long ago." I start, quickly thinking what the story line was. Ah, yes. So it started. "There was once a small country. It was a Kingdom that was so small that you had to strain your eyes if you were looking at a map. Then, you'd finally find it."
"Where was it then?" Edward interrupts me, breaking me out of my concentration.
"I don't know. It's a long time ago." I say and quickly continue with telling. The prince eventually listened to me intrigued and looked at me with big eyes. "In the centre of that Kingdom, was a small castle and in that castle lived the realm's young King. Just a few servants and… just a few concubines."
"What are concubines?" Edward asks, looking questionable at me. Shit. How am I going to explain that?
"They are… the wives of the King." I answer carefully. Like Anne's mother, I suppose?
"A King can have more than a one wife?" Edward then asks loudly, as the boy sits up straight from him pillow.
"Not everywhere. In Ferelden you can't have that, but there are countries who have that option, yes." I am not going to explain to him that a men eventually can have as many 'wives', in sense of mistresses and lovers as wants, for as long he able and willing to pay the price. I am not going to explain to him that his father has that kind of arrangement with his wife and lover. "Anyway, they all lived humbly and in peace. One day, the King brought a new concubine into his harem and one night, he summoned her presence into his chamber. The King, kind by heart, wanted to give his new concubine a present; a small reward for coming to him."
I remember that a young servant girl told this story, when it was a dark night in Tevinter. As young as I possibly can remember, I did felt intrigued by this story, though I never shared it with anyone else. I didn't even tell Hawke this one and I was never planning to do so.
"The King asks what she desires, but the girl, who was merely a beautiful peasant from the country-side answers that when the King would say 'anything', nothing would come to the mind. The King, as he himself, who was not in possession of extraordinary riches or treasures, then says that the concubine is allowed to take anything of the things that are standing in his room. Eventually, the concubine finds in a simple bowl filled with white sugar cubes. The King exclaims surprised and a little astonished that the sugar cubs will be gone once she eats them, so they have no true value. However the concubine on her turn exclaims: 'You can eat them? Something this pretty? That is fantastic!'. The King started to love the genuine and sincere side of his concubine when he saw her amazement in something so simple, and the next morning when the concubine returned to the Harem, there was a surprise for her there. It were sugar cubes of various colours; every single one in the whole had been gathered for her."
"How did those sugar cubes look like then?" Edward asks, making me looking up from his sudden question.
"Hmm… who knows. Maybe the King made the sugar cubes with various designs like stars, birds and flowers." I answer, not really able to imagine myself how those things would look like. "I believe now will be a good moment for you to sleep now."
"Wait, wait, wait!" Edward hurriedly exclaims as he waves with his arms. "What happens to the King? And the concubine?"
"Well, the concubine had decided to cherish those sugar cubes of course. To eat them bit by bit. Each time she did that, her love for the King grew stronger and deeper. The concubine did feel happy when she was with her King and the King did love her a lot."
"Yes, but what happens afterwards?" The boy asks impatiently.
I have to dig deep inside of my memory again to remember how the story actually continued. When I little bits of memory manage to gather, only for me to conclude that it will not end well for the concubine and the King, I decide that I will change the story a little bit. Or, at least the ending.
"Well," I hesitantly resume with the story. "- the King, in his great love for his concubine, became greedy and power-hungry. One night, when the King and concubine were together, he confessed that he wanted to show his beloved the things that are even more beautiful, he wants to her wear lovely clothes and even wants her to be in touch with all the extraordinary things in this world. The concubine sussed her love that she was already thoroughly satisfied with the love the King had for her, but in his vanity, her graceful words fell into deaf-men's ears. His gaze was somewhere far off and the loving voice did not reach him."
"What did the King do then?"
"He started a war, that kind-hearted King." I continue, my own imagination figuring a young, handsome King going to battle as strides down with his horse. Sounds of screams and howls from the battlefield, some memories of real battle I myself fought, makes the picture complete. "Through trade and spoils of war, the King made money and in the blink of an eye, the once small kingdom grew enormously, almost covering the entire continent. The castle grew lager; there were rare treasures from other countries; numerous servants and in the end, a sizeable Harem as well. A lot of new and far more beautiful concubines filled the Harem of the King, which buried the King's most beloved concubine almost completely. She became small, still and obscured."
The young Prince looked at me with his blue eyes, though I can see that the story is starting to make him more relaxed and sleepy. Nonetheless, the stubborn look on his face, as he did not wanted to be defeated by sleep, makes him look more focused than tired. With his knees against his chest and his back against the board of the bed, he has wrapped his arms around himself, as he continued with listening.
"As the concubine continued to treasure her sugar cubes, one night, she was summoned after a long time into the bedchamber of the King. Happily and overjoyed that her love thought of her still, she went quickly to the King, but once she entered the now marvellous room, she found out a horrified truth: through his chase for her, the King had completely forgotten her."
"That's horrible!" Edward exclaims with big eyes. "Why would the King do that?"
I could tell the boy that it is human nature to forget why we originally pursuit things like riches and power, but I keep my answer more simple. "Because the King is a fool. Just like the first time, the King offered her a reward for coming to his bedchamber, but in a hopeless attempt to make him remember who she was, the concubine asked for sugar cubes. However, surrounded in his wealth and riches, the King merely laughed at her requests and asked if she was trying to make fun of him. A big Kingdom that only grew more, with lots of money, jewels that were piled up like a mountain, rare treasures, numerous servants and many concubines; surrounded by those dazzling things, the King became giddy. He had forgotten his great love forever it seems, because afterwards as the King once in a while would summon the concubine into his chamber, he would always ask who she was and if this was her first time there, always crushing the concubines hope."
Normally the story would end here and I keep quiet for a moment, as the young boy looks at me expectantly. Just as I expected, he will not be satisfied with this. "Well? What happens afterwards?"
Because of the origin of the story, I continue telling it how it will end. Though, the ending I will tell is something I made up just now. I am not sure why I want to do that. Maybe it's because that I don't want this young boy feel the same strong disappointment I had when I found out what this story really was about.
"Well…" I start slowly. "The King eventually lost the war and the disaster happened quickly over the course of one full day. He lost everything; money, jewels, treasures, all of the servants and all of the concubines in his Harem. At the end of that day, the once big realm had returned to his originally shape, leaving him all alone."
"So everyone left him, even when he all did that for them?" Edward asks with a slightly shocked voice. The child's expression, that is still clean and untainted by the true horror's this world has to offer, reminds me slightly of a blank book whose pages still needs to be written down. "What about his concubine?"
"She went to him, as the only person left in the castle. Even if the King did no longer recognize her, she remained loyal to him, though she had little more to offer. The King, still a kind-hearted man, offered her to take whatever she wants to take and then sets her free from him, never looking up at her face."
Edward now crawls closer to me and looks at me with impatience that he can hardly supress now. I wonder if that boy would tear the story out of my body, if I had that ability.
"The concubine refuses his offer, which makes the King mournfully say: 'Dear concubine, I don't have anything left to offer you. I can't give you money, treasures or anything, because it is all lost now.' The concubine, seeing how empty and tired the King seems, merely answers that she never desired anything else than just the mere presence of her love. When the King asks her why, she then returns back what was once given to her: the two last sugar cubs, that she has cherished from the very beginning. As the sweetness reaches his tongue, he remembers who had once loved so greatly and spilled tears of regret and sorrow. With voice, filled with grief, the King looks up at his love and says: 'My dear, this is sweet and very good… How was I able to forget? I loved you and that is why I swore to enlarge my Kingdom!'"
I then grab Edward and place him back into his bed, as his head sputters in sleep. Putting him under the covers, as he looks up at me with tired eyes and through a yawn he asks: "What happens with the Harem?"
"Forever closed. And the King, he would never make such a grave mistake ever again. That Kingdom became beautiful and very gently. However, this time, the King always had his one true love besides him forever and ever."
Turning to his side, I can hear the young boy muttering that he really liked that story, as he slowly falls into sleep. I carefully stand up and walk towards the door. One quick glance, I can see that Edward really is sleeping now and I open the door.
As I walk inside, I can see that Anne and the Queen are done talking as they stand up. The Queen unexpectedly thanks me for bringing her son to bed and after Anne says her goodbyes to her, we leave the room. My mind remains at the story I just told Edward. I really did make up the ending, which surprisingly ended up good.
That story wasn't just a fairy tale. No. The true ending is far more horrified, with the King ending up in madness and killing the one he had wanted to protect, the concubine. The King actually kills his love to save his kingdom from foreign intruders, by using bloodmagic. This story is a meaningful fabrication from slave to slave, of how Tevinter come about. The meaning behind this story is that riches and power even corrupts the purest soul.
(:.:)
Anne, who has seemingly become more withdrawn as we came closer to the palace, simply throws the cape on the ground and disappears into an another room; the parlour. The room, whose door is hidden in her own bedchamber, is meant as a private place where she can retreat herself from everybody's attention.
I've never been to the room myself, but Anne would tell me that she would be there and did wished not to be disturbed. This time, she doesn't say anything as goes, without closing the bedroom door. With hesitant steps do I go into her bedroom, still remembering the time that I barged inside it only to see her naked (which has never been spoken thereafter) and I go to the door across the room. The wooden door, with woodcarvings of mabaris, is slightly standing open.
Carefully do I open the door more open and I can see that Anne is sitting cross-legged on the window bench in a room that is particularly empty, with the exception of a small table nearby. She looks out of the window over the city, though her face is hidden away by her long hair.
I am not sure if she noticed my presence, until she speak up. "I am… no good." She suddenly says.
Without any, till none experience on how to comfort someone, I can't think to anything else. "What are you talking about?"
"She was right, you know? My mother, that is." Anne speaks without ever looking up. "I am… prideful."
"Maybe a little, I suppose?" I say as I walk into the room. The floor cracks as I walk towards her and she looks up at me. "But on the other hand, you have done many things to be proud of. Building up a society that has always been penniless through the whole world is quite an achievement."
"Yet… it still isn't what it should be." Anne mumbles. "My Mother… When she was my age she was a Grey Warden, a Warden-Commander and a legend. My Father was a Templar, a Grey Warden and eventually a King. In fact, when they were my age, they were already parents and bore a great responsibility as individuals, but also constitutional. And I… am nothing compared to that."
I sit next to her with a straight back. I look at her as I can see the sad face through her long strands of hair. "To be honest, I can't speak with you about that. I don't remember anything about my parents and I doubt that they ever did any sort of greatness."
I can tell by my own words and at her reaction that this is hardly giving any kind of comfort. I clear my throat slightly awkward as I try to find the right words to express what I am meaning to stay. "W-what I am trying to say that you're doing alright."
"Right." She says a bit dryly and I can hear the dissatisfaction in her voice. However, I shrug at that.
"I don't know. Isn't it something that people say?" This time, she laughs and gives me a bright smile. With a half smirk on my face, I try to humour her. "If it is any consolation, the alienage here is far more better than that of Kirkwall's."
"Is that where you have been, after you've escaped Danarius?"
I realise immediately that I ran my mouth off and break my eye contact with Anne immediately. Telling her about my life in Kirkwall and eventually about Hawke's betrayal is still too much for me to bear. Instead of hearing her anything from her, I suddenly feel a light pressure on my shoulder. With a quick look I can see Anne is leaning against me, while her is resting on my shoulder. She has her face turned towards the window, but her eyes are closed tiredly. I allow her to rest like this, for only this time, because the time that we have left together is short and somehow very precious.
