Chapter 44: Arianna's Morning
And here, another chapter. Sorry it has taken so long. RL caught up. In a way, I realize first now that I could have done this and the last chapter differently, but that's how it goes sometimes, I guess. When I look back at it now, I see that I wasn't really satisfied with it. Please bear over with me. And when it comes to this one, it became a little longer than I had planned, but I guess maybe that's okay once in a while.
Oh, and prepare yourselves for more Varian time! In certain you will love him in this chapter.
It was far from a good morning for the Queen of Corona.
Arianna walked down the staircase with slow, difficult steps, her face exposing how much was troubling her, not only inside her tired mind, but physically as well. Because she still had wobbles on her heels after running in her shoes the other day, Arianna felt like every step was a pain. She wore some light silk slippers instead of her heeled shoes to make it easier, but didn't feel the urge for taking them off like he had done the other day.
"Good gracious... It feels like I'm wearing nothing but socks."
Friedborg walked behind her, and as a contrast, she was looking as calm and steady as a tree trunk during a rainstorm, no worries or concerns at all. After what felt like a millennium, they reached the floor at last. But instead of following Her Majesty towards the garden, Friedborg took another direction in the hallway with slow steps.
"Friedborg, where are you going?" Arianna blinked after her before she suddenly realized it. "Oh, so breakfast is inside today?" She shrugged and started walking after her. "Oh well, might as well be for the better. After yesterday's grand fiasco, I doubt it would have been a good idea."
She got the memories of yesterday's lunch stuck in her mind like one of the horrible dreams that kept her up at night. Varian's sarcastic squeaky voice throwing out one insult after the other as he made a mess of the table before he snapped and threw that turkey slice towards her husband. She tried to shake her head to get it out if her mind, as for some reason, her head wanted the memories to appear allot worse than they were.
She turned her head around to get something else to focus at and found herself looking at her own reflection from one of the well polished empty armors that stood in the corridors. A frown made it's way to her face as she looked at her garments.
She wore a different dress today, and suddenly she wondered if it was a good choice. It had a high neck and a thick ruffled collar, which repeated itself at the end of the long sleeves, which were long and puffed all the way down to the wrist with a smaller puffed shoulder cuff on the shoulders, strapped with silk lines. The bodice was split from the waist and separated up towards the chest and kept together by crossing silk laces, giving the impression of a corset. The fluffy skirt had a double set of petticoats matching the bodice, one puffed up and waving above the other.
"Maybe the high collar wasn't such a good idea after all. I thought this was better than covering myself in powder again, but… " Arianna mumbled to herself before she suddenly called out to her lady-in-waiting. "Friedborg, wait!"
The lady-in-waiting stopped and turned back at her.
"Honestly, does this gown make me look... I don't know... Does it look... alright?"
Arianna did not expect her to reply directly, but instead Friedborg gave a wide, open smile.
Suddenly Arianna was calmer, rolling her eyes as she gave a light scoff. "Oh, you're right. It's not that bad. It may be a little out of fashion, but it's not like I'm going on a parade today. Besides, it got allot more comfortable when we removed the farthingale."* She grabbed a hold on her skirts again. "Sure the skirt may need a lift, but that's a minor issue, right, Friedborg?"
The lady-in-waiting stopped by the dining hall and opened the door for her, but Arianna hadn't even managed to enter when another voice broke one-sided conversation from inside.
"And then I must say... This bread, is it supposed to cut me up from inside?"
Arianna felt her whole body cringle at the sound of Annabelle's sharp, loud, complaining voice. Suddenly she had to draw her breath deeply before she went in to face the scene. As she stepped inside, she saw Annabelle standing by the table, giving Violet a harsh lecture. The poor elder maid looked like she was about to lose her mask anytime, she almost looked sweat. But when she discovered Arianna in the door, she widened her brown eyes, relieved as a child seeing her mother, and she wasn't late to turn her attention towards the more important person in the room and smiled widely of both politeness and relief as she bent down, lifting up her dress while she spoke, almost louder than she needed.
"Good morning, Your Majesty!"
The auburn-haired lady stopped her complaining and turned her around to face her, not seeing the exhausted expression Violet got behind her as she silently let out a breath of relief.
"Why Auntie, there you are at last. Although, you should be glad you missed out breakfast. It really was... But Auntie..." Annabelle gasped as she got closer and widened her eyes and looked all shocked. "What in the world..."
Arianna arched and eyebrow. "I beg your pardon..."
"What is it that you're wearing? That is hardly the latest?" The girl was actually rude enough to point a finger at her dress as she made a face.
"Oh..." Arianna felt a slight blush appear on her cheeks as she realized that she was talking about her. "Oh, this? I..." she cleared her throat. "I felt for something different today. Don't you… like it?"
"Goodness, I don't know what to say. Those collars have been out of fashion for years. You look like you're getting chocked." Annabelle shook her head, and then turned her gaze towards Friedborg. "Oh, hello Friedborg. Bright as always?"
Even though the comment was sarcastic, Freidborg replied with one of her wide smiles, which only made Annabelle arch an eyebrow in return.
Arianna felt like she was about to lose all possible option of good mood and drew her breath again before she walked up to her seat, on the left side of where the King had been sitting earlier. ", "Now, I know I may be late this morning, but do you happen to know where everybody is?"
"Hmph, I have no idea." Annabelle replied dryly. "They all just scattered when I came. But Jonas and I have an appointment, and he better appear soon. Whatever errand he has with Daniel can't be that important. And you...!" She turned towards Violet, who froze at sudden again. "You better remember what I told you. I do not tolerate mistakes in the future."
Arianna forgot about her own problems as she saw the way her niece was treating Violet. The elder maid was normally known for being calm, quick and steady, but now she looked like she wanted to sink down the floor. She faced downwards but tried to move her eyes to face Arianna in a slight plea for help.
Arianna took the hint and was not late to rise from her seat in a Queen's manner, giving the young lady a stern look as she spoke.
"Young lady, that is quite enough! I know things hasn't gone all as expected for you since you arrived, but what right do you think you have to yell at my staff like that?"
Annabelle didn't take the lecture the way she should have; on the contrary, she liked almost insulted that she got a lecture in the first place, and her answer was as sharp as a knife. "You mean you allow them to get away being lazy?"
"Lazy?" Arianna felt she grew angry and raised her voice. "Now I can assure you that the Castle staff is the most hardworking, dedicated staff you will ever run into, and I will not have you treating them this way ever again. Have I made myself clear?"
Annabelle's brown eyes looked like they wanted to shoot daggers, although at the same time she realized very well who she was dealing with, and just shrugged, not lowering her head as she spoke. "Fine with me." She gave a short glare at Violet before she looked back Arianna. "I hope I may be excused. I don't want to be late for my appointment."
Realizing that she would get no further with her, Arianna exhaled slowly before replying. "Wery well, Annabelle. You may go. But in the future, young lady, you and I are going to have a long conversation about proper behavior. This is not the manners of a Lady of your state. Especially if you are going to get married."
"If you say so, your Majesty." Annabelle nodded and gave a slight kneel before she turned her heal for the door, but stopped and turned halfway back to her. "Oh, I should warn you; I would check my napkin."
Arianna looked questioning at her. "What for?"
"Because there might be a chance my cousin has left you a little present in it like he did with me." she said and opened the door. "Then you might understand who really needs a lecture in manners."
Arianna wanted to answer her, but the girl disappeared out the door, closing it behind her, leaving Violet in the room with them, a little disturbed and disoriented. Arianna noticed and turned to her. "Violet, what did she mean with that?"
The elder maid woke up from her thoughts and walked over towards her. "The young Prince had obviously hidden something in hers, and… Let me, Your Majesty!" she said and carefully lifter the napkin off the Queen's plate, and carefully opened it, and exposed a two-inch-long wooden stick.
Arianna arched an eyebrow as she faced the maid with questioning eyes.
"Seems Your Majesty got lucky." Violet smiled. "Cause apparently, she wasn't!"
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Nigel really had to push himself when he walked towards the medic's quarters. It was like he was about to walk into the Lion's den, and his heart was beating so hard he felt like drums were banging inside his ears. But he kept on walking, drawing his breath deeply.
The two guards outside the reception room were pretty busy watching the doors. Nigel was only ten feet away when suddenly the doors opened and Nigel and both the guards jumped aside to avoid being hit, getting into defend mode within a blink. Nigel got himself a struck, before he spotted Jonas, with Daniel on his back, come out. The young boy was laughing loudly as Jonas made horse noises and galloped away past him.
"Oh! Hello, Nigel!" Jonas managed to utter before he was gone, neighing while the young Prince on his back were cheering of joy.
Nigel stood and watched as they rode off, blinking in disbelief. "Good gratious..." Then he took a breath to gather himself, cleared his throat and turned towards the guards as they closed the doors, both letting out heavy sighs.
"Geez, I'm not sure I can take this anymore."
"Me neither. I'm sure I'll get a heart attack soon."
Nigel cleared his throat and caught the two guards' attention.
"Gentlemen? Has His Majesty been here?"
"His Majesty is in there right now. And Prince Lars is still in there as well."
"Oh goodness..." the advisor had to draw his breath again before he spoke the question he had on his mind. "I don't mean to be nosy, but is it too much to ask for to know... how it went tonight?"
"Ehm..." the guards looked at eachother, exchanging nervous looks, before one of them turned to him. "Well, it wasn't us who were here tonight, but..."
Nigel gave them small eyes. "Perhaps not, but you must have been given some sort of report?"
"Oh eh, sure. And... from what we got to hear..." the first guards looked at the other, who looked from his companion to Nigel before he spoke.
"Nothing specific to report. It was all... quiet."
"Yeah really, it was all quiet." The first one replied.
"Really?" Nigel said, arching a skeptic eyebrow at them. "Nothing at all?"
"Nope. At least..." the guard pulled the collar of his uniform. "...the Physician hasn't said otherwise. We don't know what Master Phineas said to the Captain though, but we have no..."
Nigel's eyes widened. "Has the Captain been in there as well?"
"Well... yes, he went in to see for himself if the prisoner was really there. And then I think they had a talk or something."
"The Captain spoke with the prisoner?" Nigel's eyes widened.
"No, he spoke with the Physician. They had a rather long chat actually."
"And what did he say?" Nigel went on, tightening his fists.
"We... we don't know." the other guards replied. " All I can say is that when he came out, the Captain looked pretty... uhm..." the Guard looked at his colleague to find the right word. "How would you describe it? I've never seen him like that before."
"Hm..." the other guards scratched his mustache. "I think the best way to describe it is... meek."
"Meek?" Nigel's eyebrows went to the roof.
"Yup!" the guard replied. "Honestly, if I hadn't known better, it looked for a moment like he wanted to hide in a hole. He looked like Pete and Stan yesterday."
"Ah..." Nigel said, not really managing to make sense in any of it. "And then?"
"Like I said, I don't know what happened in there." the guard shook his head.
"Except that, eh..." the other guards hesitated to finish the sentence, but the look Nigel gave him made him continue. "From now on... there won't be more than two of us outside the windows. And only at night. Phineas said they made too much noise."
"WHAT?" Nigel squeaked, forgetting to put a hold on his normal regal accent a moment and sounded like a rooster who had been startled up from behind. His eyes looked like they were about to pop out of his head and his mouth fell wide open. When he finally managed to speak, his voice were all panicked.
"He-he-he...he can't do that! Is-is-is he out of his mind? Who does he think he..."
He wasn't able to continue as the door suddenly opened and a figure stepped out. "Oh? Hi, Nigel."
"Prince Lars?" Nigel stumbled. "EH... all in one piece?"
"Of course. Why shouldn't I be?" the red-haired Prince chuckled and closed the door behind him.
"Eh..." Nigel cleared his throat and swallowed. "His Majesty. Is… is still in there?"
"Mhm!" Lars said. "Is Her Majesty ready yet?"
"But you just said His Maj... oh oh, Her Majesty, the Queen. I... I have yet to see... Her Majesty. But I suppose she must be ready by now."
"Good. Did you see my brother and my son by any chance?"
"Eh... Your… " Still a little stumbled, Nigel found himself barely remembering seeing the mentioned couple. But one of the guards coughed to get the Prince' attention.
"They both... galloped in that direction, Your Grace." He pointed to his left and nodded politely.
Lars chuckled by the description. "Thank you, my good man. I'll go and find them then. Good day, gentlemen." the red haired Prince replied smiling and left Nigel standing there all numb.
"Can I help you, Nigel?"
The advicor gave a loud yelp and almost jumped when he heard Phineas' sudden voice behind him. He took a moment to gather himself, intending to bring up the matter he had just learned of, but felt at sudden he needed to let it sink for a while and instead asked for what he had come for.
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"And I thought I was sooo clever hiding him, but..." Varian's chocked chuckle ended as a snort behind his hand. "Don't you think the lowest cabinet, where I had hidden Ruddiger, was the absolute first place my dad had to look for a sheet?" Varian chuckled and gasped for air before he was able to continue. "Poor Ruddiger got so scared… that he jumped right into Dad's face, and..." He covered his mouth to stiffle his laugh, in vain. "He almost took a flip backwards." Now he had serious trouble not to laugh, and he almost screamed.
Frederic too had trouble keeping his own laughter at leach and leaned across the end of the bed for support, his own laugh even louder. "And Qui-hihihi-ho hoo... And Quirin who always... looks so serious and stern."
"I know..." the boy gasped and screamed of laughed over eachother, holding his belly. "I can assure you-hohoho… He went right back to being strict after that!"
If Frederic hadn't already been already laughing out loud, he definitely was now. For quite a while, the King and the boy laughed wholeheartedly till they both had tears streaming down their eyes. Ruddiger sort of realized the conversation was about him, but he thought this laughing crescendo was too much for him and hid under Varian's bed. Neither the boy or the King seemed to notice his absent.
"And poor Ruddiger…" Frederic gasped. "He must have been terrified. But..." He paused to take a deep breath and wipe his face. "He… he can't have denied you to keep him."
"He sort of..." Varian sniffed and rubbed his eyes. "He sort of just… accepted he was there…. As he kept coming back." Another couch, a chuckle and then another couch escaped his lips. "It kind of helped… after I got him housebroken. It took a while, but he made it."
"Of course…" Frederick felt that he didn't have breath to laugh anymore, and did his best to gather himself and turned the conversation to a completely different theme, as he felt his own belly ache of this. Hoping to calm himself down, he asked a completely different question. "Now, ehem... Have you eaten, lad?"
"What?" the boy replied, using the sleeve of his shirt to wipe his nose. "Oh, sure sure!" he cleared his throat. "Karen brought me some breakfast."
Frederic lost his need to laugh as sudden as it had started. "Uh… Karen was here? When?"
"Early in the morning. She had made these awesome pancakes. I can't believe she got time for that, I mean, she who has so much to do in the morning, and that was so nice of her."
"Eh... She did? Well... I say, that... that was nice of her, indeed." Frederic stumbled.
"Yeah, it was..." Then Varian lost his smile and lowered his head between his shoulders. "And then I... managed to insult her drastically."
"Oh, how?" Frederic asked.
"Nah, it's just that I... I don't know how I managed to do that, but I... eh... I called her Cassandra." he gave another nervous laugh and looked away. "Stupid, huh?"
Frederic froze at this, and he had to discretely draw his breath before he replied. "Oh? How... I mean, why did you do that?"
"Geez, I don't really know..." as he kept speaking, Varian started to gesticulate wildly with his hands and turned his eyes in all directions. "I guess it was because we were talking about her yesterday... This Cassandra, I mean. She claimed, I mean Karen claimed that she..."
"Now lad, calm down and take a breath." Frederic said, making him look at him. "Take it slowly now. Tell me again, what did Karen say?"
"Uuuh..." Varian sat still a moment, puzzled over this sudden eagerness about these details, but he asked no questions and instead he drew his breath deeply and spoke again, gesticulating with his hands a bit more controlled this time.
"Okay, here's the thing; Karen claimed to have seen me with this Cassandra here at the Castle at some earlier point." He pointed a finger on the floor. "She said I had been helping her with her duties-this Cassandra that is. Only I don't recall that. You know what I mean?" He shrugged as he faced His Majesty again, giving an excusing smile.
As he faced him, Frederic tried to remain calm and not show any worry. "So... When was this then? That you had been... helping her? Here… I mean, Cassandra?"
"Uh, apparently, it was during the science expo, which must have been about half a year ago… which I also don't remember..." Frustrated, the boy first covered his face with both hands, before letting them run through his loose bangs and let out a heavy sigh. "Oh, I wish I knew if I was attending the expo and what I was presenting... I would have loved to introduce the idea of the water tanks..." He let out a little moan. "I feel a bit dumb though, I mean, here she has made me breakfast, and I managed to... Arrrgh! She got so angry at me!" He tied his fists and hid his face behind them in frustration.
Frederic had to turn away to gather himself a moment. That Varian somehow recalled Cassandra could be a sign that his memory was slowly returning. But then again, it could be just like he said. Frederic found himself feeling a bit panicked. But then he turned back and looked at him, seeing how upset he got over the mistake he had made with Karen. He looked like he had been scowled at, almost like that time he had gotten lectured about little Nougat a long time ago. He felt a sting in his heart at the sight of him so miserable, and he suddenly felt very sorry for him. So he stepped over and placed a hand on his lanky shoulder as he forced out a smile.
"Now now, lad. I'm sure she won't stay mad at you. She will probably forget about it soon. I mean, it's no point to hold a grudge forever, right?"
"Eh... I guess so." Varian had gotten quite startled by his sudden movement, but he didn't say anything or move away, like he was wondering if this was really happening. But then he looked up and gave a weak smile back, making him look so poorly. "I… I just feel so dumb! It's just hat, men and… me and eh… girls that is…" his cheeks got bright red in seconds. "I don't have that much… eh, I mean…"
As their eyes met, Frederic couldn't help but once again forget who he was really talking to, and realized how easy it was to like him. He felt a great desire rise inside him to make the poorly looking boy feel better. So he leaned down and whispered near him.
"You know, between us… Women are some peculiar creatures at times. But don't you dare tell them!"
The unexpected turn of conversations caused the embarrassed young boy to burst into a bubbly giggle. Ruddiger had peeked up at them when he heard the change in tune, but now he rolled his eyes as while wondering if they were ever going to stop laughing.
"Excuse me, Your Majesty?"
Both of them looked up and saw the Physician peeking thought the door.
"Hm? Yes, Phineas?" Frederic replied.
"I hate to interrupt, but I believe it's about for my patient to get a rest. And your advisor is waiting outside, claiming that certain things cannot wait any longer."
"Oh..." Frederic gave a heavy sigh as his smile turned to a deep frown, feeling how his mood fell to the floor. "Very well. I'll be right there." Frederic turned back to Varian. "You see, son; the downside of my job is; it's never done!"
"Hehe, I see." Varian said, feeling at sudden a bit disappointed that their amusing conversation were over. "Uhm... Good luck, then."
"Oh, eh... Thank you, lad. And... you just take care. And..." he turned towards Phineas, who held the door open for him. "You take good care of him."
"I will, Sire!" the Physician bowed deeply as Frederic left the room, before he rose up again and walked over to the boy. "And you, my young friend, should get some sleep now."
"What, now? In the middle of the day?" Varian puzzled.
"You have a concussion, and that means you need rest your head."
"Uh… but I feel fine." Varian said.
"That's good, lad. But I actually wonder if you have been overexposed already. I suggest you take a nap right now and I will wake you up by lunchtime, alright?"
As he spoke, he slowly and steady pushed the boy backwards back on the pillows and
the moment Varian leaned back down, he suddenly felt how tired he was. The conversation with Daniel and his family had been fun, but it had drained him for more strength than he was aware of, and even though the conversation and laugh with the King had been fun, that too had worn him out. Now suddenly laying down, he begun to feel it, and a yawn escaped his lips as Phineas spoke.
"N'kay..." he mumbled, disappearing into slumber.
Ruddiger, noticing his master sleepy voice, crooned softly as he jumped up and made his way underneath the blanket, for then to turn around and appear on his side. "Hey, Ruddiger…" the boy mumbled as the raccoon snuggled tight into his master, with intention to sleep.
Phineas watched as the boy drifted away, a light smile on his lips.
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Nigel walked back and forth in front of the doors to the medic while he waited for His Majesty to finish his errand. The two guards followed him in unison with their heads as he walked this endless round, and once looked at eachother to figure out if it was worth disturbing him or not. But it seemed worthless as they suddenly heard the doorknob turn and the two guards straightened up by a second as the King himself came through.
Nigel wasn't as much startled this time, but he did a little jump and hurried take a bow. "Oh, Your Majesty. I… Forgive me, but I didn't feel I could wait anymore."
"No need to worry, Nigel." The King was quick to mark as he held up his hand and made a sign for him to follow. "But there is a tiny little detail I need you to make a note of. It may be important."
"Oh why, for course. Just let me know what it is!" Nigel replied as he followed His Majesty, as steady by his side as a retriever to his master.
"Do you know where young Karen may be at this moment?"
"Uhm..." The question wasn't exactly the kind Nigel had imagined, but he didn't take notice of it and begun thinking. "Let's see. It's Wednesday. The maids are doing dusting today. She's most likely along with them by now."
"Within the day, we must have a word with Karen."
"Oh?" Nigel arched an eyebrow, his curiosity lit. "Why is that, Sire?"
The King looked upwards "She may have vital information about Varian that could help us forward!"
*A little historical notice; a fartingale is a structure that women of the court used underneath their skirts to give them a wanted shape. I actually miss that they had more focus on these kind of clothing details in the series, it could have been a major detail of discomfort for Rapunzel during her adapting period in the Castle.
I'm posting a picture of Arianna's dress on my thumblr account soon as well so you can see.