CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
"Chin up," Madame Espalier called. "There. Kneel. And then he'll talk for a bit, blah blah blah, and put the crown on your head, then you'll rise --- keep your spine straight, there! --- and step up one, very good, now curtsy. Deeper than that, you're making a promise to your people… lovely." I stood. "Now you walk back down the aisle… and we won't go through all that, it should be fairly obvious."
I removed the heavy crown we had been practicing with and set it on the throne. Eran stood at the bottom of the dais I was on and offered a hand as I came down. As soon as his hand touched mine, a storm erupted in my stomach. I sat down on the steps.
"Are you all right?"
I took a deep breath. "I don't know. This is all… big. Really… big."
"You're going to be fine."
I nodded and bit my bottom lip.
Aretta, the lady-in-waiting who had attended me my first few days in Merlana, came into the room, followed by a maid holding a shell to her ear and talking a mile a minute.
"I know," she was saying. "Yes, I… no, she… No, but… Erica! No, stop. Listen, I'll talk to you later, the princess just finished rehearsing. Fine. Bye."
She slipped the shell in her sash and made a face at me. Aretta raised her eyebrows in a sympathetic way.
"I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news," she said, "but I'm to fetch you for a dancing lesson."
Every bone in my body screamed in protest. I ignored them and sighed.
"All right. I'll be there in a minute. The ballroom?"
"Yes."
I sighed; Eran stood and helped me up.
"Oh," Aretta said as I was turning to go. "A word of warning. He's got a big crown. You're meant to learn to be graceful despite the weight."
"Great," I said. "Just… great."
The maid rolled her eyes and shook her head; I couldn't have said it better.
At last, the big day rolled around. Before I opened my eyes that morning, I could feel the responsibility holding me down like lead. Grethel pulled the covers off of me; I curled into a ball at the sudden draft.
"It's like watching a slug," she said.
"What?" I opened my eyes and gazed blearily at her.
"Or an anemone. You touch them and they shrink. You're the same when I take your blankets off."
"Give them back." I pulled a pillow over my head, which she took as well.
"Come on, get up. It's a big day."
Which was exactly the problem. After a bit more cajoling and a few threats, I was up and in my first gown. I would require several, in between all the ceremonies and the ball in the evening. For being my birthday, it was very much not about me. Ah, the life of a princess.
Breakfast was, to say it simply, odd. Only the family was here. Pearl was stressed. Ryne was stressed. Lisette was stressed. They were all trying very, very hard to not act like it. Mabelle, on the other hand, openly panicked.
"You're going to be just fine, dear, just fine," she babbled, putting a bowl of salad directly on my plate and sticking the tongs in the juice pitcher. "Just fine, and you don't need to worry because there's nothing to worry about, of course not."
"Mabelle," Ryne said.
"Don't tell me to stop fussing; I'm not fussing, you're just nervous about today, though there's no reason to be, of course." She snatched a plate of muffins from the hands of a nearby maid and slammed it down, narrowly missing the butter, and then bustled off.
"Oh my," Pearl said. She watched the door Mabelle had just left through for a moment, then blinked, shook her head slightly, and turned to me. "She's right, of course. There's nothing to be nervous about. You'll be fine."
"Of course you will." Lisette squeezed my arm.
The tension in the air was making me sick. I pushed the food around on my plate and finally stood up.
"It's almost eight, I'd better get going."
"Of course. Is Eran here?"
"He said he'd be waiting outside. I'll see you all in a while."
They nodded, murmured various words of reassurance. He was outside the door, humming something and twirling a deep pink primrose.
"Here," he said when he saw me, and handed me the flower. I took it, and, at his nod, listened.
It's a beautiful day, it sang in a woman's voice. This really is all turning out for the best. What a lovely princess.
"It's been repeating that over and over," he said. "Someone must have been talking by it earlier and it liked what she was saying. I thought it might give you encouragement."
"Thank you."
He took my arm and led me from the palace, out the wall through a side door, into the forest, and then down a rambling path. It ended in a small clearing on a shelf that then dropped down to a very secluded beach, overhung with vividly green trees. Everything seemed more alive here: it was the home of the Master Shephard, Orion.
I had never been here before, and had only seen him once while Ryne was holding court. He didn't venture much from his cottage and the surrounding forest, preferring to spend time in meditation, talking with the sea, and instructing the other shephards. I was here to meet with him prior to my coronation and receive his blessing.
Eran squeezed my hand and glanced at the door. Orion, opened it. He was an old man with a long gray beard, every inch the stereotyped old wizard. His face was young, though, despite its lines, and his eyes burned with the same power Marea had. He nodded to us and shut the door behind him.
"Come," he said. "Let us sit under the trees, I think you will be most comfortable there."
We sat on a patch of grass. I could hear the leaves whispering above us. The princess. The princess. Orion smiled, and I felt my shoulders relax.
"How are you doing?" he asked. I took a deep breath. The air here was thinner and had a sort of liquid feel to it, like summer mornings sometimes had had in Maine.
"I'm all right," I said. "Just taking things one step at a time."
"That's a good way," he said.
We sat in silence a few moments. I looked over at Orion. Time seemed to be slipping away into some realm where it didn't matter if I spent all day here or if I made it to the coronation. I shook my head, trying to regain some sense of panic --- it was the only thing to ensure that I would be there, let alone be there on time.
"What am I here for, exactly?"
"I don't know yet," he said.
This was about as cryptic an answer as I had expected from someone so clearly mystical. I couldn't help but smile.
"I'm here to get your blessing," I prodded. This was a fairly vague explanation, and everyone had brushed off my requests for more information.
"Yes, yes, of course," he said, waving a hand. "You have that." He looked into my eyes for a while, and said slowly, "I've got to see what else. What will protect you."
He didn't speak inside my head as I had expected him to do. Instead, I felt a series of memories flip through my head. Not actual images, but instead feelings, remembered emotions. He seemed to be cataloguing my heart. I took deep breaths and waited. At last, he leaned back on his hands, his fingers sinking into the emerald moss.
"I'm going to bind you," he said with a slight nod. He glanced at Eran, and I followed the look. Eran looked mildly surprised, but then nodded.
"Of course," he said.
"What's binding?"
"I'm going to attach you to another soul," he said. "The link will hold as long as you let it, and no one else but the two of you can break it."
I looked at Eran again. He met my eyes and nodded.
"Okay," I said. "To what purpose?"
"It will keep you safe," Orion said. "If you are attached to him, you will have an ally. A guard of sorts. He will know when you are in pain. He will be able to find you no matter where you are. And he will be able to give you some of his energy to hold you to life should you find yourself lingering too close to the line that separates the dead from the living."
"And you will have the same for me," Eran said quickly. "It could be a burden as well as a blessing."
I met his eyes. The sea-green held no judgment or expectation.
You don't have to, came the voice in my head.
You're my friend, I said. Of course I will. If you don't mind.
Not at all.
"It's decided, then," said Orion, once we had turned to him again. "You will be able to break this bond later, if you so choose… but so long as both of you hold on, or desire to hold on, the link will stay. This is powerful magic."
He had us hold hands, placed his own atop ours, and chanted words that made no sense to me but which I could almost understand anyway. It was a spell of connection, friendship, faith, and trust. Over and over I felt he was speaking of trust; over and over I felt more peaceful.
"There," he said, removing his hand. "Let go."
We tried, but our skin seemed stuck together. I was starting to get worried, but Eran looked amused. Eran felt amused; there was a little bubbling in the bottom of my stomach, running under my own emotions. Orion laughed and hit our hands with his fist, none too gently.
"This spell sticks sometimes," he said in explanation. Our hands broke apart. My skin tingled.
Orion stood. Eran followed and offered a hand to help me up, which, given the skirt I was in, was much appreciated.
We walked back to the palace together, silent but aware of all the sounds around us. Animals chattered about goings-on at the palace, trees wished me luck, flowers giggled and their words suggested that every woman on the island was busy doing her hair. Everything I felt had an undercurrent of something else, something I couldn't quite distinguish and could ignore if I chose, much as I could ignore all the voices around me. I didn't, though. I tried to listen, tried to distinguish what I could. After a while I had isolated the emotions, and found that they were mostly just listening. He had apparently been able to unwind his own feelings from mine more quickly.
"This is bizarre," I said. He nodded.
"I think we'll get used to it."
"Yeah."
We had arrived at the gate and our last moment of solitude. I took a deep breath.
"You'll be fine," he said. I offered a smile, which he obviously saw --- or felt --- right through. He pulled me into a hug and I closed my eyes and buried my head in his shoulder. He was so calm, all the way through, and some of it filtered through into me.
"Thank you," I said. He nodded and took my hands. The tingling came back, and with it, a comforting warmth.
"I'll see you later," he said. "Lots of deep breaths. Quiet your mind; I know you know how."
All was chaos when I returned. I had three ladies-in-waiting to help me prepare for the coronation. Grethel was one of them; I clung to her. Two of the girls flitted around, chattering in cultured voices, lacing up my elaborate blue-green gown, which was covered in ribbons that had to be cinched and tied and skirts that had to be looped just so. Grethel meanwhile worked around them, doing my hair. It was put in a complex mass of curls and ribbons that tumbled down my back and weirdly evoked the sea. It was too formal, much like the dress. But it would only stay this way for the coronation. There were other costumes for later.
"Almost time," a lady said, putting her head into the room.
"Almost done." Grethel gave my hair a final twist and then put her hands on my shoulders. She leaned down and whispered a few words of reassurance. I got the gist of them, but couldn't actually tell what she said in between the sounds of perfume being sprayed, more talking, the clatter of the hairbrush being knocked off the vanity by one of the girls, and my own rising sense of panic.
Quiet your mind, Eran had said. I didn't even bother to try.
Pearl and Lisette were waiting in the small area off the throne room where I was to wait before my entrance. Pearl flew at me and hugged me; Lisette waited until I had shot her a look that was probably as desperate and terrified as myself.
"We've got a few minutes," she said. "Have a seat. Try and relax. This isn't a big deal."
I raised an eyebrow and she made amends.
"It is a big deal," she said, "but not that big a deal."
I nodded and squeezed my eyes shut. Eran's calmness was still in the pit of my stomach. I brought it up and tried to let it fill me. It sort of worked.
Someone came to the door and spoke quietly with Pearl for a moment. She nodded.
"It's almost time. I have to go take my place." She kissed me on the cheek and left. Lisette had me stand and started smoothing my skirt, and then we went to stand outside the doors of the throne room. The entrance hall was empty by now, save for a few servants and guards. Erica had apparently snuck up from the kitchens and had been talking to one of the guards; she offered a smile.
There was music from inside the throne room, then some talking, and then a fanfare. I held my head high as the doors were swung open. A spectacle of dazzling colors greeted my eyes, clothes and drapes, banners hanging from the ceiling, and before me, a long red carpet. Stately music started playing. Lisette touched my arm, and I stepped forward.
A/N: Sorry about the long delay! I did successfully complete NaNoWriMo 2007 and have given birth to a new novel. It's rather ugly and messy, like most newborns, but I'm proud of it anyway. I also forgot to factor in Post-Novel Letdown, which has been what kept this particular story from being updated. However, the muse has returned. Huzzah!
Okay, question for everyone: do you want to see the coronation ceremony, or do you want me to skip to the action? Your choice. Oh, and happy 2008!
teenchic2004: Glad you like Marina. I do too. Most days, anyway. :p
InChrist-Billios: I know... doesn't Pearl ROCK? And kidnapping? Y'know, it wasn't in the plans, but... hm...
Gnomie022: Lol, sorry... I'm working on the updating-within-a-reasonable-space-of-time thing... Also the chapters-of-a-reasonable-length thing... hopefully both will improve soon. Just keep prodding me. ;)
Bingo7: Yeah, Eran's going to... well, without saying too much, Eran's going to get really interesting really fast. Within the next... oh, two chapters, I'd say.
Backroads: You're going to want to do some throttling pretty soon here, lol... Thanks for reviewing!
jinxywinxy: Wow, thank you:D
pinkychanmanchiu: Never fear --- I haven't stopped writing yet!