“Why does this happen, Menders?” Katrin asked, turning her horrified gaze in his direction.
“It’s one of many injustices in Mordania,” he answered quietly. “It’s a terrible shame for this nation.”
“If I were Queen, I wouldn’t allow it!” Katrin cried furiously. Then she added, “Is that something a Queen can change?”
“Yes,” Menders answered soberly.
“That would be a good thing,” Borsen said. “Far too many people struggle in this country, considering all the money spent on having wars.”
Though the topic was serious and in some ways painful, because Menders knew Katrin didn’t want to become Queen and wasn’t particularly happy about how being a Princess limited her opportunities, he had to smile. Borsen had a businesslike, practical bent that would serve him well when he had his own establishment. The boy seethed at wastefulness and injustice.
“Maybe you will be Queen someday and then you can change things,” Borsen said in the silence.
Katrin shuddered involuntarily.
“I hope that never happens, but if I was Queen, I would see to it that soldiers’ widows didn’t live on fish heads,” she finally said. “I’d see that nobody in this country had to live on fish heads. Why, Kaymar said he’d rather die than eat a fish head!”
“Why wouldn’t you want to be Queen?” Borsen asked. “If I were King, I’d have some good times, I can tell you, and make up for years of being poor!”
“I just don’t want to be Queen, that’s all,” Katrin said, her face clouding. Borsen looked over at Menders and Eiren in confusion. Eiren silently put a finger to her lips.
“Well, maybe if Kaymar ever got hungry enough he would eat a fish head,” Borsen said, making such an ungraceful change of topic that Katrin laughed aloud.
“Being Queen isn’t what you think it is,” she said to Borsen, “and the Queen isn’t what you’d ever think a Queen should be. Queens are people, like everyone else. There are good ones and bad ones. My mother is not a good Queen at all.”
“You can get your head lopped off for that, Katrin,” Borsen said, his eyes huge. “And besides, you don’t have to be your mother. You could be yourself.”
“Then we won’t talk about it, so we don’t get our heads lopped.” Katrin turned back to the DeGratz game. Borsen, looking like a man who had narrowly avoided disaster, concentrated on his rapidly diminishing army of red game pieces with all the intensity of a great military commander.
Menders and Eiren managed a quiet and controlled exit of the suite and then staggered around the hallway, laughing silently at Borsen’s warning.
“As if a spy was under the sofa,” Menders gasped, then perfectly imitated Borsen’s shocked tone “You can get your head lopped off for that, Katrin! Poor Little Man! I’ll have to have a word with him about the real situation in the Royal Family, so that he doesn’t torment Katrin about the wonders of becoming Queen.”
“Careful that you don’t say anything that could lead to head lopping. I’m very fond of your head,” Eiren giggled.
***
Katrin went looking for Menders. It was early morning. Eiren was sound asleep but Menders wasn’t in their suite. It was too early for breakfast, so he was prowling. Since he really couldn’t prowl around a hotel, it was likely he was on the beach.
Everyone else seemed to be sleeping in after a party given for a newlywed couple who had included every guest at the hotel. There had been a big cake and dancing, with lots of wine for everyone. She’d tried a glass herself but didn’t think much of it. Hemmett took more than one glass and got very happy indeed, but then he was allowed wine at the Military Academy and was more used to it. Menders had seen the face she made when she tried hers and made a point of whispering her that there was no law that said she had to drink it. So she’d left it, drank water along with Borsen and had a fine time.
Katrin dressed, taking care with her appearance and picking up her new sunshade, which matched her pink outfit. She went on the verandah, looking up and down the beach for Menders.
He was there, some distance from the hotel, standing looking out at the ocean with his hat in hand. He loved the ocean as much as she did and had been so relaxed and happy during this trip that he seemed much younger, as she remembered him from when she was very small – a laughing young man who would toss her in the air and who carried her everywhere on his hip. She knew that he liked walking out alone like this when he woke up very early, but he also never minded her finding him and going along. Katrin made her way down the steps and across the sand until he turned toward her and smiled.
“I’m glad to see you, Little Princess,” he said, putting an arm around her shoulders. “You’re up early this morning.”
“I wanted to talk to you,” Katrin said, falling into step with him as they walked away from the hotel.
“I’m listening,” he said invitingly.
“I was thinking about what Borsen said – that if I ever became Queen, I could change things. Is that true?”
Menders looked at her.
“You know that Mordania is an absolute monarchy, so if you became Queen, you would, in theory, wield absolute power.”
“In theory? I don’t understand.”
“It isn’t a matter of simply saying ‘do my will’, because there is no way one person can run a modern country. There is a Council, as you know, various ministers, the military and other government bodies. But in theory, yes, a Queen could demand that these people do as she says and change things.”
“Do you think there would be enough money to be sure that anyone who served as a soldier, or their widow, would have a pension?”
Menders raised his eyebrows.
“It’s very likely that there is. The country is not run efficiently, Katrin. The Council tends to be corrupt and the Queen doesn’t take an active role in running the country. A great deal of money is needed to wage war and we’ve been at war in one way or another for almost two hundred years. It’s become a sort of national pastime with us. As you’ll remember from your lessons, Mordania had to fight off the oppressive rule of the old Surelian Empire. We had to fight, first for our independence and then to protect our resources and territories. But now it seems we no longer know how to stop fighting. If the wars could be ended, there would be a great deal of excess money. It could then be used to improve things in Mordania.”
Katrin thought about that. She knew how a budget worked because she ran the housekeeping at The Shadows. Some sort of balance was necessary for everything to run properly. You couldn’t spend all the money on food or cloth or tools. It had to be spread around. It made sense that spending all of a country’s resources on war would lead to other shortages.
“What is the situation now with the Queen – and Aidelia?” Katrin asked. “I know you keep track of it.”
Menders drew her over to an enormous log that had washed up on the beach and was bleached white by the sun and water. He sat on it and patted the space beside him. She perched there and leaned against him while he put an arm around her waist.
“Your mother still drinks continuously,” he said quietly. “She doesn’t take an interest in national affairs, so the Council does as it pleases. Unfortunately, that means they feather their nests. Most of them are in some way connected to companies that make weapons and other things used by the military during wars.”
“So it’s to their advantage to have war!” Katrin cried.
“Yes. That’s the ugly truth behind much of the war that Mordania engages in. Someone gets rich from it.”
Katrin fumed but said nothing. Menders wouldn’t have told her this if he didn’t feel that she was old enough to understand it. She waited for him to finish answering her question.
“As for Aidelia, she has appeared to be more stable as she’s grown older, though she’s far from normal,” Menders continued. “She’s now eighteen and has a Court following of her own. It’s obvious that she very much wants to become Queen, but she’s no
more fit for the role than the present Queen is.”
“Gods, Menders, what will happen when she does become Queen?”
“Best not to think about it, my dear.” Menders hugged her close. “The women in your family are long lived. Despite your mother’s drinking, she is a healthy woman. She should live a very long time, as her mother did. Even though she is ineffectual, an ineffectual Queen is far better than a mad one. Unless something very unusual occurs, your mother will be Queen for many years.”
Katrin sat there silently, remembering that terrifying vision of her sister Adelia drooling and clawing at her in the dark corridor at the Palace. Even thinking of that creature being Queen and having the power to run the entire country was terrifying.
But if I were Queen, she thought, I would have the power to change things. I could stop the endless wars and improve the way the country runs. I would have to be unselfish and think about the country before myself, but I could do it. If only I wouldn’t have to live in that terrible Palace and wear that horrible dress – and those teeth.
“Why does the Queen wear those false teeth? They are false, aren’t they?” Katrin asked.
“They’re false, yes – it’s a rather ridiculous tradition that goes back to a time when the Queen was the strongest woman in a tribe. To appear fierce, they filed their teeth into points.”
“Gods!”
“Yes, it’s a wretched notion, isn’t it?” Menders said. “The dress has a dual purpose. It shows the wealth of Mordania with all the gems and precious metals used in it, but it functions as armor should the Queen be attacked.”
“It seems stupid to me. Couldn’t someone be Queen without all that nonsense?”
Menders sighed.
“Traditions die hard, Little Princess,” he said. “People cling to them. Mordania has always had a Queen with a fearsome appearance, and the appearance is the same from Queen to Queen. They also all use the same name, Morghenna. The rumor is that the Queen of Mordania is somehow of great age, perhaps even immortal. This was originally intended to frighten other nations so they wouldn’t dare attack. It might be possible to change those traditions, but it would have to be done carefully so that people would accept the change.”
Katrin was very quiet. She’d always understood that should things happen in a certain way, she would become Queen, but she’d never really thought it could happen. The Queen and the Court all seemed so far away.
“Katrin, it would be best if you didn’t spend a great deal of your time worrying about this. I know it’s something that you will need to think about, but as I told you, your mother is likely to live a very long time. There is no point in agonizing over it.”
“If I did become Queen – do I have to do it?” Katrin asked.
“No. A Queen can abdicate and hand the crown on to the next person in line to the Throne,” Menders answered.
Katrin sighed in relief and said, “Good.”
Menders got up and stood before her.
“My Little Princess, if it ever came to it, that is what I would want you to do,” he said, very seriously. “Like any parent, I want you to be happy, to marry for love, to lead a life that you can control and do with what you wish. Since you now know you don’t have to accept being Queen, put the idea away from you and don’t darken your days fretting about what may never be.”
He put out a hand to help her up, and they walked back toward the hotel. Menders made a point of not talking about the Royal Family. Instead, they talked about Madame Firenz and how she and her children were going to be moved to her sister’s home on an estate in Southern Mordania. But in the privacy of Katrin’s mind, a thought kept surfacing – if you were the Queen, you would have the power to change Mordania. You could make it better.
***
Katrin and Kaymar strolled along one of the side streets of Leptham, whiling away a sleepy afternoon. When Katrin had proposed a shopping trip after breakfast, she’d seen Eiren preparing to rise from the chair where she’d been peacefully looking over several books of poetry she and Menders had bought, ever so slightly reluctant.
“No, don’t get up,” Katrin had said immediately, leaning over to put her hands playfully on Eiren’s shoulders. “I don’t have to go right now.” She could see that Eiren was relieved, but sighed inwardly herself. She really wanted to go out and she couldn’t go alone. Hemmett was off duty and had gone off with Borsen somewhere. Menders had fallen asleep and she couldn’t bear to wake him. It wasn’t often that he would rest during the day.
Kaymar looked up from the sofa where he’d been buried in a book for the last hour.
“I’m restless myself, Cuz,” he said. “Why not let me take you out? Since the Irrepressibles won’t be along, we can take a look at the perfume shop that Hemmett keeps refusing to go into.”
Katrin smiled and looked over at Eiren, who nodded permission. Second to Menders, Kaymar was the most secure bodyguard she could have. When they went out together, they usually posed as brother and sister because of their similar coloring. Katrin was aware that that many people found Kaymar’s mien sinister and frightening. She didn’t mind, because it kept men at a distance. She’d become very aware that men looked at her during this holiday.
She went to her bedroom to freshen up, putting on her new hat. Kaymar liked her to look her best when she was out with him and she certainly appreciated the chance to step out in her finery.
When she returned to the lounge, Kaymar was already there, having changed into a white suit and straw hat.
“We’ll probably stop for some lunch as well, so don’t worry if it gets into the afternoon,” he was saying to Eiren.
They had a wonderfully fragrant hour at the perfume shop he’d mentioned. The lady who owned it was most interested when Katrin told her that she made soap and scented oils at home and waxed verbose about different combinations of scents. She mixed up a fragrance just for Katrin that smelled like new mown hay and summer flowers, then concocted a wildly exotic scent for Kaymar, using Samorsan spices and wood fragrances.
“Now, my stomach is pounding out hunger signals like Menders’ does, so shall we find somewhere to belly up to the trough?” Kaymar asked, pocketing their wrapped purchases as they left the shop.
“What an elegant invitation!” Katrin laughed, taking his arm.
He squired her to a Samorsan restaurant, where an exotic dark man bowed and showed them to a table. He said something to Kaymar in an undertone that made him laugh as he removed his hat and handed it over to be put away.
“What did he say?” Katrin asked.
“He just complimented me on my lovely bride,” Kaymar grinned wickedly, winking as he picked up a menu. Katrin laughed into her gloved hand.
After some discussion and Kaymar warning her about the more incendiary dishes, they ordered.
They chatted idly for a while, watching the street scene outside through the window. Their food arrived and Katrin found that Kaymar hadn’t been exaggerating. Some of the dishes were explosively hot, but it faded quickly.
“I’ve been considering asking Menders if there is any way that I could go somewhere by myself,” Katrin said. “Just to a shop or on the beach.”
Kaymar looked at her for a moment and then reached out for her hand.
“As Menders’ friend, I’m going to ask that you don’t do that,” he said frankly. “You don’t realize it but that would hurt him a great deal, because he simply will not be able to make it possible for you.”
He saw the disappointment in her face.
“Katrin,” he continued, “I’m Menders’ second in command. That means I’m privy to everything Menders thinks or plans. He has tried desperately to find a way that you could do something on your own and it simply cannot be done where your safety would be always assured. He wants you to have as normal a life as possible and a fifteen year old girl should be able to do things on her own, but…”
“I know, I know. I’m the Princess,” Katrin interrupted wearily.
&nb
sp; “I’m sorry. This is one reason why, when you were little, I didn’t play with you much so that you could have the feeling that you were doing things on your own and not constantly being shadowed. Haakel used to play with you a great deal. It helped him cope with losing his wife and children, but I never wanted to intrude on you.”
“You… you can’t imagine what it’s like not to be able to say, ‘I’m going to walk down half a block to the bookseller’ and not have people forced to interrupt what they’re doing to go along with you, even if they don’t want to. Like Eiren today,” Katrin sighed. “I knew she didn’t want to go out, but she was going to anyway. I hate the idea that people are always pressured into servitude because of what I am.”
“Although I’ve been with you many years now, I truly cannot imagine what it feels like,” Kaymar replied. “And I saw how you reacted when you saw that Eiren didn’t feel up to going out and I was proud of that. I know that you got the short end of the stick being the Princess. But remember, those closest to you are most interested in your safety out of love, not just a sense of duty.”
“I know that and didn’t mean to sound ungrateful, but… I’d give a lot not to be the Princess, even for just a little while,” Katrin sighed, taking comfort in a dish concocted from chicken and onions that was dizzying to the taste buds.
“I’d give a lot to be six feet tall,” Kaymar answered.
“Really?” Katrin was surprised.
“Of course. It’s simply inconvenient being a small man. All your clothes have to be custom made, shoes too. Things are too high for you to reach.” He shrugged. “I think everyone has something they would like to change about themselves. In your case, it’s your station. I’d like to be taller. I’m sure Menders would give a lot to have normal eyes. Borsen would like to have a chance to grow more than five feet tall. But life goes on and is quite pleasant indeed.”
He looked wicked, eating a dish that was so hot that Katrin had tasted it once and set it aside after a coughing fit brought tears to her eyes and made the waiter come running with a glass of water.
Weaving Man: Book One of The Prophecy Series Page 60