shadowsong26 (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
shadowsong26) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
rainbowfic2013-07-14 12:39 am
shadowsong26) wrote in rainbowfic2013-07-14 12:39 am
Crane White #12, Fire Opal #10, Ember #21
Name: shadowsong26
Story: Castles by the Sea
'Verse: Feredar
Colors: Crane White #12. The rivers roll down to a soundless sea (Keta and the sea.), Fire Opal #10. Fury, Ember #21. South
Supplies and Materials: paint-by-numbers (from Kat), bichromatic, canvas (985 FY), brush (frisson), oils, fabric, charcoal, pastels (my current gen + romance card N3 "FREE SPACE"), yarn
Word Count: 649
Rating: PG-13
Characters: Sorell, Keta
Warnings: Discussion of spousal death, death of a child, and death in childbirth
Notes: Constructive criticism welcome, as always. This was...not at all what I had planned when I got this prompt, but it just sort of...came. Ketarre is the nation that later provides Feredar with most of its naval support, until Taz captures their admiral about a year before the end of the war.
"You wanted to see me, Papa?" Keta asked.
He smiled. "Yes. Please, sit."
She gave a faint smile back and took the chair facing his desk. "I have most of the references you asked me to find," she said, sure that was why he'd called her up here--though usually he waited for her to send her notes by page.
"Thank you," he said, but he set them aside. "I wanted to talk to you about something else, though."
She blinked. "Yes, Papa?"
He actually hesitated for a moment, and Keta's heart sank. Whatever it was, it had to be bad news. "You are...aware, I think, that the situation abroad is...less than comfortable?"
"Yes?" she answered cautiously. She reviewed some diplomatic dispatches, when old treaties and the like needed to be referenced, and she heard more than most were aware, even buried down in the Archives. Why is he asking me? Surely he must mean to be having this conversation with Kellom.
"I find it prudent to shore up the historic friendships we do have."
Oh. She relaxed. "Yes, Papa, of course." Renewing treaties with close nations, in case trouble did come, from Glass or Asendar or any of the other less-than-friendly nations. He would need her help, the resources at her disposal, the information on history and culture and previous agreements. "What can I do to help?"
"I've had some interesting letters from the Prince Sovereign of Ketarre," her father said, after another brief hesitation.
Keta nodded, curious. "We've always been allies with Ketarre, nearly as far back as our records go."
"He was recently widowed," he finally said. "He and his wife finally had a son, but she did not survive it."
Keta bowed her head. "How awful for him."
But then the conversation took a turn for the strange.
"I know you're not as young as might be ideal, but he has five children already and is hardly a young man himself, and you're not entirely too old. He's expressed an interest in an alliance through you."
Keta jerked and stared up at her father for a long moment. He can't possibly mean--no. No, I misheard him. "Surely you mean through Tana. Though I wouldn't advise that, she's hardly suited for that kind of position."
"No, Keta," her father said. "He mentioned you in particular."
"I can't," she said, her heart thrumming in her chest. "I can't. I won't."
"He's a good man, Keta, and it's been two years since--"
"It's been five since Mamma died," she interrupted, more upset than she had intended to let him know. "Perhaps you should ask instead for his maiden sister, or his eldest daughter. She is old enough to marry, as I recall."
Her father's face was white, and she immediately regretted her diatribe. "It's...that's not the same, Keta."
And there was the fury again. "You think I didn't love my husband, Papa? Papa, I still see him when I dream, nearly every night, both of them, crushed beneath the waves, and you want me to marry again, to be mother to someone else's children? To be married and mother to princes with castles on the sea?" She had gotten to her feet at some point, and her voice sounded shrill even to her own ears, and she wasn't quite sure how it had happened. "I can't do it. I won't. You can't make me, and I will not do it."
She couldn't bear to wait for him to respond, not with the hurt and horrified look on his face pouring down on her, so she fled, burning with unshed tears, back to the Archives, where it was safe, where the only things she could drown in were other people's memories.
Story: Castles by the Sea
'Verse: Feredar
Colors: Crane White #12. The rivers roll down to a soundless sea (Keta and the sea.), Fire Opal #10. Fury, Ember #21. South
Supplies and Materials: paint-by-numbers (from Kat), bichromatic, canvas (985 FY), brush (frisson), oils, fabric, charcoal, pastels (my current gen + romance card N3 "FREE SPACE"), yarn
Word Count: 649
Rating: PG-13
Characters: Sorell, Keta
Warnings: Discussion of spousal death, death of a child, and death in childbirth
Notes: Constructive criticism welcome, as always. This was...not at all what I had planned when I got this prompt, but it just sort of...came. Ketarre is the nation that later provides Feredar with most of its naval support, until Taz captures their admiral about a year before the end of the war.
"You wanted to see me, Papa?" Keta asked.
He smiled. "Yes. Please, sit."
She gave a faint smile back and took the chair facing his desk. "I have most of the references you asked me to find," she said, sure that was why he'd called her up here--though usually he waited for her to send her notes by page.
"Thank you," he said, but he set them aside. "I wanted to talk to you about something else, though."
She blinked. "Yes, Papa?"
He actually hesitated for a moment, and Keta's heart sank. Whatever it was, it had to be bad news. "You are...aware, I think, that the situation abroad is...less than comfortable?"
"Yes?" she answered cautiously. She reviewed some diplomatic dispatches, when old treaties and the like needed to be referenced, and she heard more than most were aware, even buried down in the Archives. Why is he asking me? Surely he must mean to be having this conversation with Kellom.
"I find it prudent to shore up the historic friendships we do have."
Oh. She relaxed. "Yes, Papa, of course." Renewing treaties with close nations, in case trouble did come, from Glass or Asendar or any of the other less-than-friendly nations. He would need her help, the resources at her disposal, the information on history and culture and previous agreements. "What can I do to help?"
"I've had some interesting letters from the Prince Sovereign of Ketarre," her father said, after another brief hesitation.
Keta nodded, curious. "We've always been allies with Ketarre, nearly as far back as our records go."
"He was recently widowed," he finally said. "He and his wife finally had a son, but she did not survive it."
Keta bowed her head. "How awful for him."
But then the conversation took a turn for the strange.
"I know you're not as young as might be ideal, but he has five children already and is hardly a young man himself, and you're not entirely too old. He's expressed an interest in an alliance through you."
Keta jerked and stared up at her father for a long moment. He can't possibly mean--no. No, I misheard him. "Surely you mean through Tana. Though I wouldn't advise that, she's hardly suited for that kind of position."
"No, Keta," her father said. "He mentioned you in particular."
"I can't," she said, her heart thrumming in her chest. "I can't. I won't."
"He's a good man, Keta, and it's been two years since--"
"It's been five since Mamma died," she interrupted, more upset than she had intended to let him know. "Perhaps you should ask instead for his maiden sister, or his eldest daughter. She is old enough to marry, as I recall."
Her father's face was white, and she immediately regretted her diatribe. "It's...that's not the same, Keta."
And there was the fury again. "You think I didn't love my husband, Papa? Papa, I still see him when I dream, nearly every night, both of them, crushed beneath the waves, and you want me to marry again, to be mother to someone else's children? To be married and mother to princes with castles on the sea?" She had gotten to her feet at some point, and her voice sounded shrill even to her own ears, and she wasn't quite sure how it had happened. "I can't do it. I won't. You can't make me, and I will not do it."
She couldn't bear to wait for him to respond, not with the hurt and horrified look on his face pouring down on her, so she fled, burning with unshed tears, back to the Archives, where it was safe, where the only things she could drown in were other people's memories.
no subject
no subject
Yeah. :