Chapter 2 here for you- I'm actually writing these without posting them, so that I can update quicker when you guys need it. Thanks in advance for the reviews I hope to get.
Chapter 2- Machinations and maids
Guests mulled around the banquet hall, sipping glasses of wine and bantering amongst themselves, exchanging pleasantries and gossiping about various city issues. Shizuru peeked out upon them from behind the tapestry of Edgar the Slayer, and groaned at the multitude of well-dressed men who were looking around for her with excited eyes. Her low-cut ballroom gown was doing to nothing to deter them, either.
With the customary three tolls of the bell, trumpeters began playing a regal tune and all attention turned to the raised dais as all chatter subsided. Shizuru gasped and hurried back down the passageway and looped around the hall, coming to a skidding halt just behind the curtain from whence her father and she were to enter. Her father gave her a look that said 'You're seeing me later', took her arm and led her out into the bright light.
A multitude of clapping met Shizuru and her father as they stepped out into the banquet hall, mainly by the many eligible bachelors that were here only to woo the poor girl. However, the monarchy of the kingdom was well loved, as they maintained the light and peace of the place impeccably. Shizuru smiled placidly at the room, not meeting people's eyes, as she always did. Her mask was her fortress; not the stone walls that surrounded her.
"Now announcing: King Magthor the first of Windbloom and his eldest daughter, Princess Shizuru!"
After a grand entrance, the tumult died down slightly and Shizuru's father sat down at the head of the banquet table, anticipating the food to arrive. Whilst mages conjured tables for the guests, chefs and waiters ran around passing out plates at inhuman speed. Shizuru sat down next to her father with a sigh and began to cut her steak in tiny pieces, as was befitting of a royal daughter.
Once the room was tucking into the scrumptious meal, Magthor stood and cleared his throat loudly, and the eyes of everyone in the room trained themselves to him.
"I hope that you all are enjoying this feast which we have prepared for you! Now, before the main event, the All Hallows Eve ball, I have an announcement to make. My daughter's long-time personal maid, Miss Akane Soir, had been accepted our very own chapel of light, and plans to train as a priestess. Sadly, this means she will be leaving us. However, we have a new maid to take care of the Princess, and I shall now introduce her…"
Shizuru paid no attention to the next bit, as she was lost in her thoughts. How was this possible? Akane had been talking to her normally just this morning, and no notion of the aspiration to become a priestess had ever so much as passed her lips. Something had to be going on, for a new maid to be found so quickly after Akane's 'resignation'. Usually the maids had to go through a series of inspections and tests, and needed to have served a noble of high standing before, or had been raised in the castle since childhood…
A whisper in her ear broke Shizuru out of her current reverie, and she turned to see her father beckoning at her, apparently the dancing was starting. She inwardly groaned.
A young man approached her; he couldn't have been more than two tens old, but several war medals already decorated his stately dress. He held his hand out to her and got down one knee, asking her to dance with him. She begrudgedly took his hand, and circuited around the hall once with him. His attention, of course, was nowhere near hr face, but glued to her cleavage, which was conveniently exposed for ogling at. After him, an abundance of other men swarmed her, and what could she do under her father's iron rule but dance with them all? After the city clock tower tolled midnight, people began leaving and Shizuru was about to dash back up to her room when her father's strong hand met her unclothed shoulder, gluing her to the spot. She nervously turned around, and met the piercing gaze of his black eyes, black eyes that she, luckily, had not inherited.
"Shizuru…" he began, getting ready to lecture her on punctuality, though at the last minute, he seemed to change his mind. Magthor removed his hand and smiled, the edges of his eyes wrinkling, "Why don't you go and get to know the new maid? You'll be with her all the time, now, anyway."
Shizuru nodded in understanding and restarted the route she had been taking to her room. This was her secret route, which only she and Akane had known. If you pulled the discoloured torch bracket next to the (in Shizuru's opinion) rather ugly statue of Sakomizu the Unimportant, there was a short set of spiraling stairs that led up to the uppermost floor of the bell tower. From here there was a wonderful view of Windbloom, and it was even more spectacular when the sunset cast the canal in a hue of pink, making it seem as though a river of blood flowed through the city. Even though she knew it was wrong to think like that, Shizuru liked the image. Now, in the very dark of night, the crescent moon was visible floating above the Cathedral. The cathedral where Akane already was, where Akane had already gone without even a notion to her loyal friend and master…
Shizuru shrugged off
these thoughts and proceeded to continue the room. When they were
smaller, Shizuru and Akane used to do it as a dare, but now, Shizuru
had mastered it completely, to get down, you had to lower yourself
down two stories using the long rope that made the bell toll without
making it sound. Slipping down silently into her room, Shizuru kicked
her shoes off and fell down onto the four-poster with a sigh. Another
night of suitors… her father just didn't get it, did he?
The
fact was that really, Princess Shizuru wasn't interested in men.
She never had been. However, if her father or anyone ever knew that…
the entire kingdom might break into turmoil. Because, without
princess Shizuru marrying and producing and heir, there would be no
one to succeed her father, and thus nobles might begin fighting for
the throne. Such internal warring would allow the Host tribes, who
already held animosity towards the kingdom after the War of Barren's
Plane (a battle for possession of a large and mainly desolate area)
to gain an upper hand over the strenuous struggle for power.
Shizuru's mind wandered to questions about her new maid. She idly wondered which race it would be: another human, like her or Akane, or perhaps and Elf? She doubted that, as elves dislike sinking into the servitude of humans, preferring to keep themselves to themselves in their precious forests. She also doubted it would be a dwarf, as even dwarf women preferred to stay in their mines. That left a Halfling or even, perhaps, a goblin. Shizuru had never seen a Halfling, and shivered at the thought of a goblin maid. They were known to be… odd.
The thought struck Shizuru then at how much power the humans had over the Allied clans. She frowned, thinking of how few members of the other races there were in control.
--O--
Several hours previous to this, before the sun had begun to set over the city, Kuga the assassin stepped into Sergay's office for what would be the last time in several weeks or more. She looked over her assignment details once more. Everything seemed in order. Her mouth gave a slight grimace as she looked at the uniform she was to wear: Her usual; leather breastplate, black silk shirt, lightweight breeches and boots were to be replaced by a ridiculous dress with a skirt that she considered far too short, with a kind of pinafore over the top, completed by a pair of cloth shoes and knee socks. She looked ridiculous. Where was she supposed to store weaponry?
She also glanced at her right hand. It was scorched where she had attempted to conjure fire to turn the remains of Corporal Takeda to ashes. She cursed silently, as at the time she had forgotten that she was not resilient to the damage of the spell.
"One more thing, Kuga," Sergay stated, standing up and walking over to where she stood, "We think it would be wiser to hide your…" he trailed off, not wanting to offend the girl, who was very sensitive about this subject. She gave him a curt nod, and Sergay handed Kuga the flask.
"I am to take this once a day, I presume?"
"Correct," he informed her, " By the way, have you chosen a first name yet? Kuga isn't appropriate for a young girl."
"I have decided upon 'Natsuki'," she answered.
Sergay's eyes widened as she spoke these three syllables. "Are you sure that's wise? Seeing as how that name had such a great taboo…"
"And one which so ironically suits my situation. I shall be going now."
Sergay didn't even have time to let out an exasperated sigh before the girl had vanished into the breeze. Kuga has about the same amount of social capability as the stuffed Tiger's head that hung on the wall above his desk.
Grunting at the confiscation of her riding tiger, Kuga, newly dubbed 'Natsuki', let out a string of curses that roughly contained the words 'riding tiger' 'not appropriate' and 'maid's status'. She was walking all the way to the keep, and Windbloom was by no means a country hamlet. Lugging her duffel bag of clothing and personal possessions, dressed in a traveling cloak with that horrible maid's uniform underneath, with the hood up. As the lights of the Keep appeared once she rounded the corner, Natsuki slipped into an alley and slipped the flask that Sergay had given her out of the bag. She looked at the label on it, frowning at the crude illustration that Grithook had drawn on it. She made a mental note to get back at him for that someday. After going through all the necessary checks to make sure it wasn't poison (because giving her poison was something Grithook would find hilarious) she uncorked it and took a swig. It tasted vile, but then again, a potion this potent was not likely going to taste like elderflower wine. She shuddered as the stuff coursed down the throat and began to work on her body. Her senses dulled, and then the icy sensation stopped. Natsuki orientated herself a bit and made sure everything was okay, and then resumed her walk to the keep.
As she approached the gate, the guards in their white crest-emblazoned plate armor, looking very important and strong, stopped the conversation they were having about which priestess was hottest and became alert to Natsuki's presence.
"Hey, you! What business have you here at this hour?" the taller one shouted. She walked up to them and brought her hood down, to show her face and the (rather skillfully and completely illegally grafted on) Allied Clans allegiance symbol. They relaxed slightly, knowing that their enemy was no more than a girl of ten and seven winters.
"My Name is Natsuki Kruger; I am the Princess's new maid." She replied, curtseying. The action was slightly awkward, as she had never needed to use such a feminine gesture before. Bowing was far as she unusually went. However the guards, who had much more brawn than brain, didn't see the awkwardness and invited her through after checking her papers.
"Go straight on until you reach the centre chamber and then take the first set of double doors on the left. From there the way to the ballroom should be pretty obvious," One of the guards said kindly. However, Natsuki already knew the way around the keep like the back of her hand. The blueprints were committed to her brain, every passageway, cellar, cupboard and secret tunnel were imprinted upon her mind.
She began to walk up the slanting entrance corridor in a fashion completely contrary to everything she had been taught; her whole foot hit the floor at once and created significant noise, and her body weight was not distributed evenly. However, this was how normal girls walked; and Natsuki was now, for the most, a normal girl.
She entered the ballroom behind the curtain just in time to see the curtain opening and two figures stepping out. She assumed that these were the king and princess, as the fanfare was playing for them. One of the king's attendant's saw her and beckoned her as she waited her turn to be called up.
"…I shall now introduce her…" Natsuki heard and took it as her cue to enter into the room. Throwing her cloak off onto the floor behind her, she walked demurely to the king's side and was introduced. She saw the attention of many of the young men in the room shift to her as many 'ooh's echoed around the chamber. Natsuki's attention, however, was focused on the princess, who's attention was clearly nowhere in the castle. She had a frown on her face, and Natsuki couldn't help but imagine her thoughts at the moment. You see, Sergay and the rest of them had managed to get the old maid to resign suddenly by offering her an internship at the cathedral. They knew that she didn't particularly want to become a priestess, but the carrot on a stick here was that a friend of her's, a young Paladin named Kazuya, was also studying there. From what record they could procure, those two were romantically involved with each other, and Aoi had left without a consideration. Apparently, Akane had been very close to the princess, and so she was probably quite upset. Not that it mattered to Natsuki, however; her objective was not the princess's happiness, but the king's life.
After being introduced, the king talked with her for a few minutes and sent her off to the head maid to receive her instructions. Miss Maria, the woman in command, looked at her disapprovingly (though this was not an uncommon look to see on her wrinkled face) and set her to work with a few menial tasks immediately.
And so, a new chapter of Natsuki's life had opened up. Natsuki jogged down to the laundry room, where she was expected to do Shizuru's daily washing. This, however, wasn't much, as the girl had only worn plain clothes in the morning and her ball dress tonight.
But Miss Maria, the devil, had forgotten to tell Natsuki that she was going to be washing more than just clothes. A light blush alighted Natsuki's usually emotionless face as she laid her eyes upon the basket labeled Underclothes.
--o--
Boy, that was a monster of a chapter. 500 words more that I usually do. I wasn't going to stop it here, but I really needed to go and pee and that sentence seemed an appropriate cliffhanger. The stage is set!
You know, I wanted to write something it bit different from the usually ShizNat AU story. So trust me, this will be a lot more detailed and involve kingdoms and wars and other crap. And wait 'til you meet the host tribes… under the lead of Tomoe…
(Please Review! I live on reviews! They taste better than even Coke!)
(Squiggly thing) Emiri