Dear Queen Bebo,
You shall never believe
where my travels have taken me to this time. Before I plunge into my tale, I
shall explain myself a bit. This story is for you ears only (and perhaps your
winsome cousin; if she isn’t napping when this arrives). In my eyes this story
is not nearly exciting enough for it to become a song or epic. In fact, it may
be somewhat embarrassing. Which is the reason you are to keep it between us, all
right?
Unless you don’t want to,
of course. I ask no special privileges of my queen.
Anyway, now that I have
that longwinded introductory out of the way, allow me to plunge right into my
story.
I was walking along one of
your Paths, and feeling rather safe because of it. Usually I take whatever Path
I please. Adds to the excitement, I feel. Now, I thought that I was heading
towards the Lord Who Walks Before Night’s demesne (simply because I’d never
been). I’ve heard tell of his demesne, of how hot and dry it is, and naturally
that is what I was expecting. You can imagine my surprise when I found myself
all of a sudden enveloped in very wet, very deep water.
It was all very horrifying,
Your Grace.
As you well know, water is
my least favorite thing. Luckily, (or perhaps, not so luckily –you decide
later) the Mherfolk found me. Now that is where things get interesting.
The two mermaids were quite
beautiful to behold, but as I am not mortal, their charming looks and
enchanting voice had no effect on me. Well, nearly no effect. Oh, who am I
kidding? It’s embarrassing, Your Grace, but as soon as the first one spoke (she
had long, golden hair and the most beautiful eyes I have ever seen –besides
your cousin’s baby blues, of course) I fell head over heels in love with both
of them. But the other was to be my downfall, as you will soon see. (She had
thick, voluminous blue hair and gray eyes and the cutest little nose…)
So the two of them brought
me to their kingdom. The entire thing had a bubble of air around it, because
the Mherfolk need both air and water for survival. The palace was made of
shimmering, pale blue crystals, and all the other buildings were made of some
other, bluish bricks. And while it pales in comparison to our Ruane Hall, it
was quite pretty.
Apparently, the blue-haired
beauty was the young princess of the kingdom (or so I thought at the time) so
she brought me to the castle. It was just as gorgeous on the inside as it was
on the outside. But honestly, I hardly noticed my surroundings, because at
least ten mermaids all of a sudden entered the room. They began to dry me off,
offer me dry clothing, and one (the blue-haired, once again) attempted to take
off my clothes for me. Quite interesting, that one was.
After I was dried as much
as I would allow them to dry me, they all departed, leaving the princess and I
alone. I think this part is best described in a dialogue.
“Are you married?” she
asked.
“N-no, fair maiden.”
“Splendid. Am I pretty?”
“Q-Quite.”
“Thank you. You’re pretty
too.”
“That’s very kind of you,
my lady.”
“I’m going to kiss you.”
“…All right.”
And so she did. And quite
nicely, might I add. For a very long time. Afterwards, she gave me this
stunning smile and held up both of her arms. On each of her thin wrists was a
bracelet made of pearls. They couldn’t hope to rival her beauty, but they were
nice, all the same. She slipped one off and forced it onto my wrist, but as I
was completely stunned by the kiss, I just grinned.
Later, I found out that
those bracelets were given to each mermaid when they reach marrying age. At
their betrothal ceremonies, they were to give one bracelet to their future
groom. I suppose that explains what happens next.
The golden haired one, who
was apparently the blue-haired mermaid’s sister, came back into the room and
saw the bracelet on my wrist. What happens next is a blur, Your Grace, and I
couldn’t have possibly seen it coming!
Three guards entered the
room, shouting at me in a different language and shoving me along rather
rudely. The blue-haired beauty appeared unalarmed as she clung to my arm, her
tantalizing scent clouding my already dazed mind.
The guards lead us to the
throne room, where we were placed in front of the king. Huh, the king was oddly
young, definitely not old enough to be her father, almost young enough to be
her…
Oh. Oh great hopping
dragons. Was the princess married?
From what I could gather,
her betrothal ceremony was that same night, and she had abandoned her lover to
kiss me all night long. The king was very angry indeed, and he threatened to
cut off both of my wrists. I thought that was completely ridiculous and didn’t
hesitate to say so. I mean, the bracelet was only on one of my wrists, not
both! The king threatened to cut out my tongue as well, saying I was being
disrespectful.
He pried his lively young
lover away from my arm, yanked the bracelet off my other arm, and promptly
began to give me a rather intense thrashing. Yes, that’s right, Your Grace
–black eye and everything.
Once I was near
unconsciousness, he drew his sword, ready to swing the finishing blow…when
someone stepped in the way. My vision was going black, but I did catch a few
final words.
“You may not harm him, for
he is one of mine.”
Oddly enough, his voice
sounded very familiar…
Oh well, that’s the end. I
woke up back where I started, in the Wood Between. And while this story is very
interesting, it’s much too embarrassing to be told.
Anyway, if you’ve actually
taken the time to read this far, well, thank you. Tell Gleamdren I said hello.
Yours truly,
Bard Eanrin, soon-to-be
Chief Poet of Rudiobus.
PS: Now that I’ve read over
what I’ve written, I’d be much obliged if you did not read this to your fair cousin.
You know, just in case.
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