|
|
Post by princessselene on May 28, 2007 14:51:39 GMT -5
Sitting outside in the courtyard and admiring the flowers and such, Selene was letting the atmosphere of peace and tranquility of the area calm her rattled nerves. She had a sinking feeling as of lately that her sisters were up to something and she felt once again out of the loop. It was not as if she were not used to this postion of subordance of sorts, she just still detested it.
Her fingers caressed a rose between her hands, shifting the flora from one hand to the other, occationally pulling off a petal, something she really was doing to keep herself and her hands busy. The sunlight played off the glint of gold around her neck, a pregnancy charm that she was not to ever be without and quite frankly she detested the thing. She much preferred white gold.
Her long red tresses were piled up on her head in a neat and braided bun, a few strands hanging down near her ears and curled tightly at that. Her gown was a deep blue and made her hair stand out all the more. It was made of silk and had white flowers adorning the bust area.
After pulling the last petal from the rose, she let the stem drop to the ground and picked another rose from the basket beside her and started the same process over again.
|
|
|
|
Post by Queen Amedessa of Conté on May 29, 2007 20:20:39 GMT -5
"Ah, here you are."
Amedessa's step came briskly around a gnarled trellice of carefully trimmed rosebushes into the small garden where Selene was. The queen looked as if she had just finished with one of her leisure rides––or hunting. As she approached her younger sister, her fingers worked deftly to first free one hand of its leather riding glove, and then the other. Her cheeks were flushed, perhaps given extra colour by the cut of the wind or perhaps burned slightly from the sun. Her auburn hair was wispy and windblown, scraggling out of the bun it had been twisted to beneath the brim of her tricorn. Her boots were thoroughly smattered with mud and dried froth, with a few spatters on her clothing.
The elder sister's appearance gave her an air of breathless urgency when she stood over Selene. As she looked down at her sister and her small cluster of roses, Amedessa tried her best not to seem exasperated or overbearing. She realized that looming over her sister probably did not help, but she needed to speak with her privately.
Twisting her gloves, Amedessa looked sideways over either shoulder, almost warily. "You aren't expecting anyone, are you?" she asked as she did so, sounding shorter in temper than she had intended. She just felt so rushed––it was only by chance that a gardener had informed her that they had seen Selene in the gardens.
Despite having a hard time locating her, the queen knew that it would be one of the few times she could catch Selene alone and not have to be rushed in talking important matters over with her. She had loosely agreed to have tea with Gideon later, but that was no pressing matter as it was nothing settled. Confronting Selene was far more important to her at present than idling the remainder of her afternoon away with her good friend.
|
|
|
|
Post by princessselene on May 29, 2007 21:20:16 GMT -5
Selene looked up as she first heard then seen her elder sister almost looming over her. The Duchess sighed softly and let the now bare second rose stem fall from her fingers. " Yes.. I find it rather peaceful here.." Selene replied softly, her hand pulling another rose from the basket, the petals accumulating in her lap from her little destruction project of sorts.
" Me.. expecting someone.. very funny.. but no, I'm not." She replied almost sullenly, her cheerful mood dampered a bit by her sister's sudden urgancy in her tone, mixed with a bit of breathlessness. Something about Amedessa seeking her out made Selene go slightly on edge, as it was reflected in her slightly stiffer posture. " If you are coming out to lecture me.. I don't want to hear it... I am not in the mood for such.. reprimands."
|
|
|
|
Post by Queen Amedessa of Conté on May 29, 2007 22:18:32 GMT -5
"Fine, no lecture," Amedessa consented quickly, nearing her sister and settling down across from her. At first the queen sat cross-legged, perfectly comfortable, only to have second thoughts and opt for a more ladylike seat. Leaning over, she picked up one of Selene's roses, pausing a to give her sister a stern look as she did so. "But I won't spare you your share of reprimanding."
While she fingered the clipped end of the stem and the broken stubs of the thorns, she seemed to debate where to begin with her sister. Her eyes shifted from her own rose to the dismal heap of petals that lay in Selene's lap, giving her cause to stroke the petals of her own almost protectively. "First, I would like something clarified," Amedessa began, brushing her rose beneath her nostrils and savouring the sweet scent. "The gossips seem quite taken with what's behind your uneasy stomach as of late. It would spare me early grey hairs to know you're, in fact, not pregnant. However, if you are..." Here a grimace tugged at Amedessa's features, as if she wouldn't look forward to cleaning up that sort of 'mess'.
|
|
|
|
Post by princessselene on May 29, 2007 22:26:05 GMT -5
Selene rolled her eyes. " Never a pleasent conversation we have." She retorted dryly then gaze Amedessa a look when she suggested the pregnancy issue. " Well save those grey hairs for another day and another person, oh dear sister, for I am quite well into a nice tormenting monthly at the moment." She replied, her tone a bit defensive.
She was hardly wanting to listen to her sister drone on at her about proper behavior when she was the one shoving off marriage and it was her place to continue the family line. Selene tore several petals off the rose she now held as she finished speaking, and she was hardly in the mood for idle banter, especially with Amedessa. " So how about the real reason you came out here.. I hardly doubt it was to tell me how much you enjoy me as a sister."
|
|
|
|
Post by Queen Amedessa of Conté on May 29, 2007 22:40:26 GMT -5
"Thank the gods," Amedessa breathed, giving her rose an emphatic press to her bosom. In the next moment, she was waving and shaking it subconsciously to emphasize her next statement, "One of these days I'm just going to snap and I'll put the most outspoken ones on the noose for sedition." Then, with a short laugh, she shook her head and smiled, murmuring, "Of course I wouldn't, how stupid, Corus would first have nothing to talk about, and second would have my head!"
She continued to sit with her sister, clearly having more to discuss with her, but was taken aback by her younger sibling's venom. "Don't make me out to be so awful," she chided, sounding slightly stung by Selene's jab––perhaps it did not hurt her so much as she perceived it hurt Selene herself. "I just happen, rather, tend to combine my hopes for your happiness with my good intentions and your being settled. Now I know this is not best coming from me, but I want you to seriously consider me when I tell you that it is best you marry."
|
|
|
|
Post by princessselene on May 29, 2007 22:49:17 GMT -5
Selene actually laughed when Amedessa mentioned marriage. " Oh sister dear.. you are so funny... why so focused on marrying me off.. am I that much a thorne in your queenly tush?" She retorted, then coughed hard, the pollen from the flowers causing her to have a slight allergic reaction. After regaining her composure, she bit her lower lip. "Why in the Goddess' name do I feel bad for snapping at her..." She thought to herself and heaved a sigh.
" You'll have to excuse my venom.. this week is not being kind.. if you know what I mean." She replied, and it was the closest thing she was getting to an apology at the moment. " Why so suddenly and good luck with the marriage thing by the way. I am not exactly the beauty you and Sara are." She added, biting her lower lip.
It was rather amusing she said this, as she had lost the vanity pounds off her body recently by staying away from sweets and spending her comfort eating on healthy things. "It would be easy for you Amedessa.. you aren't fat and ugly."
|
|
|
|
Post by Queen Amedessa of Conté on May 29, 2007 23:07:16 GMT -5
"Selene! Don't be ridiculous. Look at me, I'm sunburned and I've got callouses on my palms––you and Sara always have been the pretty ones," Amedessa protested, her sister's self-degrading comments causing her to become slightly frustrated with her. In a tone that probably seemed more cross than disappointed, she added, "Besides, not all marriages are built on pretty faces and good bed partners. Is there no man amongst your beaus that treats you with respect and affection? Surely there must be. And don't cower in your own self-pity or try to humble yourself. If I have had my share of admirers, you must have your own. You're gentler and easier to approach, I'm ornery and getting old."
Her last comment was an attempt to lighten the mood that had suddenly grown tense between them.
|
|
|
|
Post by princessselene on May 29, 2007 23:15:08 GMT -5
" Can't say I recall any.. its really just a bedding and run sort of relationship I have with them... the thing about it is that I really get nothing out of doing it... I just... comply. Its hard to explain it. " She replied with a sigh. It was not easy to try to explain herself to anyone, being at times she did not even know sometimes who the real Selenity was, under all the false smiles and pretty gestures.
" Old you say.. hardly. Furthermore, if you are ornery.. at least its in a charming way and people don't feel like they are walking on eggshells around you, waiting for the next mood swing to set in." She added, gazing over at Amedessa. " If you tire of so many suitors pawing at you like drooling dogs, try sending them my way.. I could do with some entertainment and maybe leash them for you."
|
|
|
|
Post by Queen Amedessa of Conté on May 29, 2007 23:28:17 GMT -5
"I have been hoping you would do that for some time now," Amedessa remarked with a smile, leaning back and resting her weight on one palm in the grass. Her other hand lay loosely in the lap, still grasping the rose.
"It would be different if I could imagine any of them as king, which I can't," she admitted sullenly. "And which makes things difficult for me. I know I should marry, but it's not as if I can marry just anyone... neither am I fond of the idea of sharing my reign with my consort." Amedessa's eyes lowered to her rose, a long glance that was accompanied by a wistful sigh and a wrinkled brow. Glancing up again and giving her sister a crooked smile, she then tossed her rose back onto Selene's pile.
"Perhaps that is your trouble––bedding, that is," she said after a while, her voice level and meditative. "We're lucky our ancestors have a reputation for dalliance, elsewise I would be much harder on you for giving yourself away to easily. It certainly never sits well with any noble family to have a daughter or sister so free with her favours. But for the sake of your feelings, I will ask you to turn instead to suitors who will court you respectfully, with every intention of treating, loving, wedding and, I suppose, bedding you well. You'll be on your own 'til after Trickster's; if you don't find a good man for yourself, I swear to you I will find one for you."
|
|
|
|
Post by princessselene on May 29, 2007 23:34:42 GMT -5
" Its all lovely to say that, sister, but does such a man really exsist?" Selene replied then rolled her eyes and tossed a handful of the shed petals at her sister. " You should keep a riding crop nearby and when a man gets too close.. just crack that whip against the ground and I bet they will something else to occupy their time." She offered, a touch of rare humor coming from her.
She turned a musing glance to Amedessa, wondering why the sudden interest in her feelings and relationship affairs. " Bt in all honesty, why the sudden interest in my affairs, when before it seemed to me that you and Sara liked to avoid me."
|
|
|
|
Post by Queen Amedessa of Conté on Jun 8, 2007 0:32:59 GMT -5
"I don't think that's the right way of looking at it," Amedessa responded with a frown and a meaningful look at Selene. "We don't like to avoid you; we are just busy with our own lives. Sara has her husband, I have my kingdom. Sometimes we are disappointed with the decisions you make and try to avoid confronting you about them because we fear we will say the wrong thing, make the wrong judgements, hurt your feelings."
Placing her hands on her knees, she leaned forward and offered her sister a small smile. "The reason we have a 'sudden interest' in you, is because we truly want you to be happy and we realized that we are not there often enough for you when you need us," Amedessa told her, the quiet of her voice honest and sincere.
|
|
|
|
Post by princessselene on Jun 8, 2007 4:10:45 GMT -5
Selene sighed softly. " Perhaps I am the one that has been too judgemental and cold.. I'll try to work on that." She replied, tugging on a curl of her hair. " To be truely honest... I'd like nothing more than to be happily married.. and have children.. but sometimes I fear that I am not stable enough for such responsiblities.. and its not something even I fully understand. I guess I turned out more like mother than I ever really realized." She mused aloud, gazing over at her sister gently.
This was probably the calmest Selene had been in months, having been on a self destructive manic depressive phase. " To tell the truth.. sometimes I am afraid of myself.. as in what I might say or do when my moods shift and whom I might hurt... I only wish I were as strong as you or as passionate as Sara.."
|
|
|
|
Post by Queen Amedessa of Conté on Jun 9, 2007 23:45:57 GMT -5
"You cannot wish to be like someone else, you can only be yourself," Amedessa encouraged, tempering Selene's disappointed tone. Sitting in silence, she simply looked across at her sister, her expression both desparing, affectionate and perplexed. Her sister's mood swings were beyond her understanding––just as their mother's had been. It was difficult for her to find common ground with Selene as far as their personalities went, leaving her with only the option of encouraging only what was within her understanding.
"Now promise me you'll find yourself a handsome, good-hearted fellow?" she pressed, moving to rise from her place kneeling in the grass. "You don't want to end up a royal spinster like me. And just think how lovely the wedding would be, the procession parading out of the Temple of the Goddess with all of Corus throwing petals and trinkets into the lane? You always liked dreaming up pretty things like that... and I always made fun of you. Rotten child that I was! Forgive me?"
|
|
|
|
Post by princessselene on Jun 14, 2007 7:57:21 GMT -5
" All of us are rotten to each other at one point or another.. its how most normal siblings behave. I believe the only reason Sara and I were ever close was because twins are closer than normal siblings.. " Selene started, fingering a curl thoughtfully.
" I don't know Ame... I mean.. I don't need the pain of heartbreak right now... and I am a bit apprehensive at putting my heart on the line.." She replied in regard to her sister's question about finding a good man. " Weddings are lovely.. but I don't think I've a right to wear a white dress.. because I am sure no virgin..."
|
|
