Famous (28. We are not just art for Michelangelo)

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Story: Tabula Rasa

Summary: Faye just wants to eat in peace.

Colors: Famous (28. We are not just art for Michelangelo)

Supplies and Styles: none

Word Count: 461

Rating: PG

Warnings: none

The galley was quiet in a way that made it hard for Faye to get comfortable. She was alone with her food, for the first time since she'd landed at Port Athena over six months ago. She sat at a table, set aside from where she used to eat with her division every day. The only other people present were the galley staff, a few instructors who no longer paid her any mind, and a recruit cleaning the royal portraits near the door.

Faye couldn’t help but study them, recalling the Navy’s history lessons. The top of the pyramid was the long past Queen Diana Vaughn, severe and unsmiling. In many ways the cause of the current state of affairs, she'd ruled the system with an iron fist.

Below her, also draped with black sashes, hung portraits of Queen Diana's son, King Ean, and his wife, Queen Iliana. Despite having overturned many of his mother's policies, he couldn't quell the growing rebellion. They both died by assassination not even five years past. His brother had been ruling as Prince Regent since. Prince Ansel's portrait hung in a temporary spot to the side, at just the right angle for his mother to look down on him with disdain.

The bottom three frames were the most interesting, for being mostly empty. Instead of portraits, they showed only the Vaughn family crest, embossed in gold.

HRH Adrian Holland Vaughn. HRH Wesley Jay Vaughn. HRH Sawyer Blake Vaughn.

With the exception of their names and their birthdays, nobody at Port Athena knew anything about the princes they had pledged to protect when they swore in. To protect them from rebellion plots, the princes had kept so far out of the public eye that even some Royalists were starting to wonder if they were still alive. Faye supposed they would find out soon enough. Adrian would come of age to rule in less than two years.

A flurry of boots pulled Faye's attention away from the gallery. A division marched in, all male. Judging by their uniforms, they were newer, maybe a month or two into their training. Long enough to know better than to get caught looking at a female instead of  their food. Judging by their increasingly obvious inattention to their meals, not yet long enough to care.

The instructors were perking up at their table. Faye decided she was done with her lunch. She may have graduated, but the instructors had made it very clear that while still on Port Athena, hold students could still be disciplined like a recruit if they felt it necessary. Faye didn't feel like being cause and casualty of a division beating. Surrendering her tray at the dishwashers' window, she strode past the gleaming portraits and out the door without looking back.

 

Comments

[thisbluespirit]

Oh, I like this! You've set up quite a bit in here, and it's all very intruiguing. Where next, I wonder?

[graygradient]

good question! i'm still figuring out a few place names, and then we'll both know! XD

[bookblather]

That line about the prince's mother looking down on him with disdain made me laugh. This is also really intriguing, though! I can't wait to see what else happens.

[graygradient]

hi! sorry, didn't mean to leave you hanging, i just finished moving.

thank you! i hope it lives up to expectations XD