"What do you mean you don't know how to swim?" Telen took it almost to offense when Ylsa wouldn't go down to the pools in the Garden with her and the other servant girls. "You swam with Prince Doran our first day here!"
"I did not!" Ylsa laughed, setting her letter down once more. It had been nearly two full weeks in Dorne already and still, she hadn't been able to compose a full letter to her Father. Every time she tried to finish writing one out, she found herself at a loss of what to say. In truth, as she set the paper and quill aside, she was secretly grateful for the conversation to take her away from this arduous task. "We fell in, we didn't mean to!"
"Oh, a likely story," Telen scoffed, smirking as she sat down on the window bench across from the desk Ylsa was seated at in her quarters. "You wouldn't be able to convince me Doran didn't plan that for one moment!"
"He wouldn't," Ylsa defended him, smiling and shaking her head. "He's apologized profusely to me since."
"Any man will go to any means to see a woman in a wet, clinging dress," the other pointed out, and Ylsa scoffed heavily rolling her eyes and turning to stow her half-finished letter away in the desk drawer for now.
"Doran's not like that," Ylsa insisted.
"Doran is a man, is he not?" Telen shrugged, as if it were a fact, and stood, brushing the stray hairs that hung in her eyes away from her face. "Alright, alright, let's say it wasn't planned, and you really can't swim. You can still come down and play in the water with us!"
"Playing in the water isn't really something you do in the Westerlands, where I'm from. …I wouldn't even know how." Telen pouted, before approaching Ylsa and tugging at her hand, trying to get her to rise to her feet.
"Then come down with me and I'll teach you! It will be fun, I promise!" She gave Ylsa a cloying pout, to try and persuade her, and after a bit more hesitation, Ylsa let out a sigh, shoulder slumping slightly before she let the other pull her to her feet.
"Oh….alright," she conceded, pursing her lips. "What do you even wear to swim? Last time my dress nearly pulled me all the way down to the bottom of the pool, I can't imagine what kind of clothing wouldn't weight you down in the water like that." Telen let out a quick laugh at that, as if she were laughing at a joke, before pausing, and then laughing harder, realizing that Ylsa was serious.
"Do you wear clothes when you bathe?" she asked incredulously, still having a hold on her wrist, and pulling her out of her quarters and down the corridor, to the central staircase to descend into the garden with her. Faraway chatter could be heard faintly through the open hallways. "You swim naked, of course!"
"What!?" Ylsa tried to yank her hand away then, or drag Telen down to a halt, but the other didn't allow either, anticipating some pushback from the austere northerner. "No, I….I can't! Not out in the Gardens, where someone could see me!"
"Oh, don't get your skirts in a knot, My Lady," Telen said, amusement on the edge of her voice. "You think the female form shocks any man in Dorne? Besides, Areo is your personal guard, he'll be keeping watch at the major archways to make sure we have the garden to ourselves this afternoon."
"But the Garden is open-air, you can look down from the upper levels and see down into it, you can see the pools-"
"What, are you afraid Doran may try to peep on you?" Telen glanced back at her, a sly glint in her eye and a snakelike smile on her lips, prompting Ylsa to pout heavily. "I thought Doran 'wasn't like that?'"
"H-he's not!" Ylsa repeated, pointedly looking away, but still going along with Telen as she dragged Ylsa down to the gardens. "But….but I don't know every guard and soldier in this palace, there could be some bad ones…."
"Trust me, even if there were, no one would dare mistreat the Prince's future wife." Telen did have a point there, and that did shut Ylsa up briefly, as they made their way down to the ground floor, and out into the garden. The chatter she'd heard before grew louder now, and Telen led her to a somewhat sequestered fountain pool, shielded on three sides by a hedge and one side by the palace wall. Congregated around and in the pool were a handful of the palace's servant girls and handmaidens, maybe 10 or 12, a few of which Ylsa vaguely recognized. Ylsa felt rather awkward, suddenly, pulled into this group of girls she didn't know, and that feeling only intensified as most of them offered her a rather formal greeting, but offered Telen more friendly, cordial hellos. Ylsa wondered suddenly if she was really welcome here, or if Telen had only meant to make her feel embarrassed?
It must have been obvious she was feeling unsure of herself, because as soon as her handmaiden glanced at her, Telen rolled her eyes again, and grabbed her elbow, yanking her closer to the middle of the group.
"Lady Ylsa's too shy to say it, but I think she's secretly glad I rescued her from her stuffy room to come have fun with us," she said, which caused a few of the others to chuckle, and Ylsa herself smiled nervously. She'd actually never been around so many girls vaguely her own age before. And this wasn't at like hanging around with Myrcella. But as an older girl smiled genuinely at her, she tried to relax her shoulders and smile back.
"Just….just Ylsa is fine," she said quietly, which caused the girls immediately around her to break out into amused friendly chatter, and she was immediately enveloped in perhaps 20 different lines of questioning.
"I hear you come from so far North it snows all year round?" one asked, to which Ylsa shook her head.
"O-oh, no! Certainly not! We only get snow a few months of the year-"
"Were there as many handsome men in the North as there are here in Dorne?" another asked, and before Ylsa could answer, another chimed in.
"How do you like the Prince? He's a bit old but he's still good looking, isn't he?" That girl was slapped jovially on the shoulder for this by someone else, who let out a loud laugh.
"Oh stop it, everyone knows you have the biggest crush on the Prince, you tell everyone you want to be his 'sugarbaby'!"
"Can you blame me?" This was met by laughter from most of those assembled, even Ylsa chuckled awkwardly along, before Telen scooched in on her side, elbowing her ribs gently to catch her attention.
"Pay no mind to these idiots," Telen said, grinning at her friends. "They have nothing better to do all day than sit around and gossip." Ylsa glanced sideways at her handmaiden then, smile stretching a bit.
"But that's what you do all day too, though," she pointed out, and Telen just looked shocked at this barb for a moment, while her friends all erupted in raucous laughter, surprised the future Princess had a few jabs up her sleeve.
"If she's able to get jabs in at Telen, she's alright in my book," an older girl said, clapping her hand on Ylsa's shoulder. "C'mon, come swim with us!" Ylsa glanced back at her as she spoke, but quickly turned back around, realizing this girl wasn't wearing anything.
"O-okay," she said, almost numbly, feeling too embarrassed to say anything else, but stood stock still for the longest moment, feeling too bashful to undress.
"We've all seen everything on a woman's body before, My Lady," Telen said, pulling her overdress up over her head, catching her braid in one of the clasps and swearing as it pulled her hair. "We all have the same things, after all. You've bathed in front of me and your Northern handmaiden before, for the sake of the seven!"
"I know….it's just….I would have never done something like this back home before…"
"Well, you aren't in the North anymore," she pointed out, finally discarding her dress on the ground, kicking off her shoes. "You're in Dorne, so live a little! Have fun! Get naked!"
"That's exactly the kind of advice my mother warned me against when I was little," Ylsa pouted, but she had to admit, Telen was right, and she reluctantly slid the gauzy dress she wore up over her head, unravelling the twist in her hair in the process. Stepping out of her slippers and carefully removing her earrings, setting them in the grass, she sheepishly walked to the edge of the pool, sitting down to let her feet dangle in the water first, keeping her arms crossed in front of herself. This would not do, though, Telen thought, as she quickly came up behind Ylsa. By the time she had her foot planted directly in the middle of Ylsa's back, the poor girl had no time to realize what was happening, before she was shoved right into the water.
Unweighted this time by any clothing, Ylsa's head quickly bobbed back up to the surface after unceremoniously flopping in, and she just had time to slick her hair back out of her eyes before Telen took a running jump right over Ylsa's head, splashing down into the water behind her. When the other girl surfaced as well, Ylsa had have a mind to try and drown her!
"What was that for!" Ylsa asked, splashing water at Telen, who merely laughed and splashed her back, sending her sputtering towards the pool wall. "I could have drowned!
"But you didn't!" Telen grinned, getting splashed by both Ylsa and several other girls, and while at first Ylsa was a bit cross as being pushed in before she was ready, it was hard to stay mad when the mood was so good all around you. Besides, Telen was dunked by one of the older, stronger girls, so Ylsa felt that justice had been served.
"Let's joust!" One of the servant girls called from somewhere on the other end of the pool, and after a few enthusiastic 'yes!'s were thrown out, Ylsa hung back on the wall as all the girls, including the ones that had not yet jumped into the water, started to congregate towards the middle of the pool. Ylsa was a bit confused by what they meant by jousting, but more than anything else, she was a little reluctant to push off into the water away from the wall, not knowing if she'd be able to keep herself afloat. Thankfully, Telen kept a watchful eye on her, and offered Ylsa a spot leaning on her shoulder for support, to watch the group of girls in the direct middle of the pool get ready to 'joust.'
"What's jousting?" she asked her handmaiden, knowing they obviously didn't mean a proper knighted joust. Women weren't allowed to properly joust anyway! Telen clucked her tongue, but instead of answering, just motioned to watch the others girls. Ylsa squeaked in surprise as one girl suddenly rose up out of the water, and it took her a good second to realize she was sitting on the shoulders of another girl. A second girl rose up as well, her sitting on a partner's shoulders too, and as they all got their balance, another called out to get ready.
"I want a good clean joust!" she announced, holding her hand out inbetween the two 'teams'. "No dirty fighting, no hair pulling, no tit punching!"
"Punch her tits!" a girl called out jokingly from the crowd, and was met with laughter and shushes.
"On my mark," the first girl announced, "Go!" Drawing her hand back, both girls supporting their partners on their shoulders moved forward (albeit slowly in the water) and the two girls on their shoulders began slapping and shoving at each other; Ylsa realized with a laugh that this did resemble jousting a bit, with both 'knights' riding a 'steed' and trying to knock the other off! Soon she was cheering along with the others, shrieking in laughter each time a new challenger was tossed into the water, shielding her face from the splash. One girl even pulled a flower off of the hanging vines overhead as she was lifted up, and tossed her 'token' into the crowd around the 'arena'.
"What do you think?" Telen asked, as another girl fell into the water.
"It's better than real jousting," Ylsa replied, having always thought the real sport was rather boring. This seemed so much more lively! But just as she turned to smile at Telen, she realized she wasn't right beside her. Instead, in the next instant, she gasped as she was suddenly lifted up from under the water, nearly pitching forward as Telen emerged, supporting her on her shoulders.
"We have a new challenger!" her handmaiden called out, moving forward through the crowd, with Ylsa balanced precariously on her shoulders, and those around them cheered as Ylsa tried her hardest not to fall over on her own. "Who thinks they can take this titan of the North down?"
Ylsa couldn't help but grin as they faced off against their opponents; two girls who had gone five rounds unbeaten, and who were both probably twice Telen and Ylsa's sizes. But still, as they readied for the start of the joust, she didn't feel awkward or unsure of herself anymore, and to her great surprise, once the battle began, Telen did a good job of keeping Ylsa out of the other 'knight's reach.
"Hit her!" Telen goded from below her, and Ylsa really couldn't bring herself to truly hit someone else, but the two girls atop their partner's shoulders did grapple, and Ylsa was able to get a few good shoves in between nearly falling over. "Go for the neck!"
"I'm not gonna hit her in the neck!" Ylsa laughed, ducking away from a shove that would have sent them into the water for sure. Turning her head to avoid getting water in her eyes as her and Telen were splashed, though, she did notice that, while all the girls were in the water around them, there were a few pairs of eyes watching who were still on land, hardly concealed behind the hedge. And when Ylsa realized, from the boots showing below the edge, that the pair of spectators were soldiers, a startled gasp left her throat, and her arms immediately went from shoving at her opponent to crossing in front of her chest. As such, she and Telen were quickly tossed back into the water, and declared losers in their round.
"Aw, we were doing so well," Telen lamented as soon as they both resurfaced, but even before Ylsa could pull her drenched hair out of her face, her finger stabbed out of the water, towards where the two soldiers were barely hidden. She was further put off as she could hear snickering coming from their direction.
"You were magnificent, My Lady," one of the soldiers, hardly older than boys really, said jokingly, stepping out from behind the edge with a grin on his face. A few of the girls in the pool made noises of shock or disgust at being watched, but for the most part, Ylsa was pretty much the only one severely put off by having an audience. A few of the girls even smirked. The other soldier shoved at his companion jokingly, looking at least a little sheepish at being caught.
"C'mon, don't tease her," the second soldier said, the one with the curlier, darker hair, shooting Ylsa a sort of apologetic glance. Even so, Ylsa still felt like calling out for Areo to come and expel these miscreants, but she realized with a start that she felt more indignant at being spied on than embarrassed. This sort of thing would have set her face on fire before coming here to Dorne, she would have wanted to die from embarrassment, but now she realized rather than die, she would rather call for these soldier's heads instead. Her face set in a deep scowl at this.
"Areo will flay you like a Bolton when he catches you here," Telen cooed cynically, swimming up to the edge of the pool and pushing herself up onto the ledge unabashedly.
"Who says he'll catch us?" the first soldier asked, glancing around to the largely unaffected faces of the girls here; all of them were Dornish, Ylsa wondered if this was merely a playful encounter to them. "Besides, we just came to swim! It gets hot in these uniforms!"
"Oh I bet!" one girl called out, eliciting a few laughs, and the second soldier, looking vaguely uncomfortable all of a sudden, grabbed his friend's arm.
"Maybe we shouldn't," he murmured, glancing once again at Ylsa, who, now that she'd pushed her hair out of her face, was glaring full force at them from the edge of the water. "I had a bad feeling when we had to sneak in here, I didn't know the Prince's fiancé was here-"
"So?" The first boy shrugged his shoulders, starting to pull his coat and armor off, as a few of the girls sarcastically whooped.
"So, Telen is right, Areo will kill us for intruding on Lady Payne…"
"What? Look at her, she's not upset? Are you, Lady Payne?" The now shirtless boy grinned at Ylsa, who sunk lower in the water then to hide her heavy scowl.
"You're such an idiot-" the second soldier said, though he didn't join in. But almost as soon as he shook his head in annoyance, a heavy hand fell on both of their shoulders, sending a shockwave of panic up each of their spines. They didn't even have to turn around to realize who it was, and watching the panic develop on their faces made Ylsa smile while half of her face was still under water.
"Took the words right out of my mouth," Areo said calmly, though it was that calm that gave the boys reason to fear him; Area hardly ever showed outward anger, and it was when he was calmest that you really had to watch out. "Now, which one of you is going to be the one that tells the Prince exactly what you were doing here in the Gardens when you knew Lady Payne was present?"
"I didn't know!" the second soldier said, looking like a stricken little boy who had been caught stealing sweets.
"I doubt that." Taking hold of their shoulders with greater force, the older man yanked them back and away. "Lady Telen, I think it's time we return Lady Payne to her chambers," he said over his shoulder, as he dragged his underlings away like children, to their chagrin. Telen just sighed, crossing her arms.
"Oh, alright," she lamented, unhappy to have her time with her friends cut short. But Ylsa quickly shook her head, holding out her hand for Telen to help her up out of the pool.
"No, no, it's alright!" she said, ringing her hair out over the edge of the pool, before reaching for her dress; if there was one good thing about these dornish style dresses, it was that they were so easy to put on; her old dresses were so intricate, had so many layers, the fancier ones she needed help to wear. But these were a breeze. Slipping the thin fabric up over her head and flattening the skirts out, she didn't bother with her shoes once again; she didn't want to damage the silk and she didn't have time to properly dry off so as not to get the silk slippers wet. "You stay, I want to catch up to Areo."
"Are you sure?" Telen asked, though she was obviously delighted to get to remain behind. Ylsa nodded, and Telen almost immediately slipped back into the water.
Hurrying after the Captain of the guard and his captives, she felt a fire start to smolder in her belly; how dare those soldiers have the….the audacity to peep on her! Whether or not they knew she would specifically be there was beside the point, and the pure gall of that first boy! She was pouting pretty hard, working herself up as she tried to catch up with the trio, feeling angry and out to give those soldiers an earful of her mind before Areo could properly punish them, whatever it was he would do to them!
"Areo!" she called out, as she finally caught up, almost up to a jog at this point. The large man turned then, still gripping the two younger men like they were unruly sons, the first looking pissed at being caught, the second looking genuinely upset at what they'd done. Ylsa had on the angriest face she could muster as she stomped up, but, almost as soon as she'd received the attention of all three of them, she felt herself deflating.
What was she doing, she thought. Was she going to cuss them out? Certainly not! But…she was angry. Except now, she was just unsure of herself as well. She swallowed hard. It was then, though, that something Doran had said to her a week ago rang through her head again. 'They shouldn't have touched you, because you did not want it.' The same principal applied here, she thought, and she regained a bit of her confidence.
"I….I would like an apology," she said, after a moments hesitation. "I don't ask much, but…..I would like a bit of courtesy. I'm not yours to look at. In fact, I'm…not anyone's." She crossed her arms then, looking indignant, before glancing away quickly. The first soldier's face went from pissed to almost amused, but the second, the curly haired boy, his expression didn't change. "If we were in my homelands, you'd be punished severely for looking at a noblewoman like that!"
"But we're in Dorne," the first soldier smirked, which was met by a quick slap to the back of his head from Areo.
"I'm sorry, My Lady," the second soldier said quietly, looking honestly embarrassed, for both him and his companion. "I…we really didn't know you'd be there, we always tease those girls, we hadn't assumed you'd be there-"
"Well…I was. And, I don't like that." Ylsa felt somewhat….well, bratty saying something like that. Back home she never would have dared say anything in such a tone, and even if she hadn't liked something back home, she wouldn't have had the freedom to say so. But Doran kept telling her, if she didn't like something, if something made her unhappy, to say so. So…here she was.
"I'm truly sorry," he repeated, elbowing his friend in the ribs when he rolled his eyes. Ylsa just huffed, before turning slightly, her cheeks flaring red.
"Well….that's all I wanted to say." She glanced at Areo, who just smiled kindly at her, pleased that their guest was starting to grow a voice and use it. Yanking the soldiers along with him, he dipped his head slightly to her, and disappeared into the palace. Ylsa was left standing there, feeling slightly better about the situation. She briefly contemplated going back to the pool, but decided against it, feeling a bit tired after everything that had happened. Finding her way back to her chambers, she collapsed on her bed, hair still wet, and fell into a well deserved nap.