Prompt: Girls Just Want to Have Fun, for dao_challenge
Originally Written: 9/18/10
Notes: The original note pretty much stands:
Screw it, I've been wanting to write this for a while. Also, slightly more than fifteen minutes, oops. Also, not really finished. Also-oh, here, just read it.
Elissa Cousland hadn't quite known what to expect from her first Landsmeet. Her brother had told her all sorts of fun stories about practice yards and wrestling matches, but her mother had removed every practical article of clothing from her chest and replaced them with formal dresses. She suspected a great deal of tedium was in store, though she hoped she would at least be allowed to sit with her mother as she gossiped with her old shieldmaiden friends.
Instead she often found herself sitting in a chamber by herself with nothing but copies of the Chant from various historical periods lining the shelves while her father gossiped and her mother politicked and Fergus abandoned her for his friends. She had been strictly forbidden from exploring, and the one time she had tried she had been so hopelessly lost that she decided to wait for an opportunity to bribe a guard to show her around. She was fifteen, she was alone, she was miserable, and she was mad. Her fingers itched for her blade, and the fabric of her dress itched; she wished her mother had at least allowed her silk, but she knew that would have been impractical in the deep of winter. She wanted her cloak, a crackling fire, and Nan telling her stories as she fell asleep; what she got, instead, was Anora Mac Tir.
She was sitting with her chin propped on her hand, staring out the tiny window of the chamber and wondering when someone would remember to fetch her, when Anora entered, her blonde hair immaculately braided, her deep eyes concentrated on the bookshelves and not on the quiet girl with too-broad shoulders in the corner. This was fine by Elissa; it gave her ample opportunity to admire the woman's clothes, poise, and pretty face. She knew who Anora was, of course; the whole court knew it was only Maric's presence that kept Cailan from giving his future wife premature run of the palace, and even then the entire staff was already under her thumb. Anora was smart, Anora was pretty, and Anora was staring at her with a frown.
"You're the Teyrn of Cousland's daughter, aren't you?" she said.
Elissa straightened, her cheeks already maddeningly red. "Yes."
Anora waited, but Elissa couldn't think of anything to say that would be of any interest to the future queen. She arched an eyebrow and said, "What are you doing in the Chant archive showcase room?"
"Not getting lost," she replied, wincing, knowing the future queen probably knew the palace as well as she knew the complete history of the Orlesian occupation.
Anora's face-changed, and Elissa felt a fluttering of hope. "This is your first Landsmeet, isn't it," she said, tilting her head as she seemed to catalogue Elissa's childish appearance. Elissa blushed again. "You must be dreadfully bored."
Elissa nodded.
"Come with me," Anora said, reaching out an unexpected hand, "and I'll show you my favorite wine cellar."