Ambassador to the Freaks

(2) A Prince Visits Joten

Prince Secundus was waiting in the gardens. The sunny skies of summer hanging overhead were a bit too warm for his highness’s comfort, especially with the weight of his crown upon his well-groomed head. He gently dabbed at the beads of sweat with his handkerchief, which was made with real moonlight silk. King Mellius would be upset to know someone had brought fae-silk into his castle, but there was no fabric softer, and if he was going to be traveling in summer, Secundus wanted every available comfort.

The Prince’s personal valet walked the castle corridors with a young lady who claimed to be Princess Elocyne’s handmaiden. This girl was hardly twenty years old and had the bearing of a common scullery maid, but she was allowed to carry a sword inside the castle. The valet would have guessed she was a mercenary rather than a royal servant, though of course he did not say so for fear of offending her.

“Perhaps the prince would prefer to freshen up after the journey?”

“Tradition requires that he meet the princess immediately upon his arrival.”

“It’s a little too hot for traditions today, don’t you think?”

The valet scoffed. “Is that why your princess was not there to meet us?”

“Her highness waited three hours for you. Her dress was matted with sweat. Surely you would not have her meet your prince in such a state.”

Again the valet seemed offended, but only because he had no response. Even kings cannot command the weather, at least not without very strong magics.

The two retainers continued in silence up a staircase toward the princess’s chamber. Every servant and guard they encountered stepped aside to let them pass. Eventually they crossed into a wing of the castle where everyone wore blue and silver livery. This was the princess’s wing; no one was allowed here unless they were assigned to her, except of course for the royal family. The handmaiden also wore blue and silver. With a nod she motioned that the valet should wait. He stopped at the threshold.

The handmaiden crossed the hall to a door that had a guard posted on either side of it. “Is she still here?”

“She’s been quiet since you left, milady.”

“That’s not good.” She knocked on the heavy door. “Highness?” When there was no response, she knocked twice, louder. “Elocyne!” Again, nothing. The handmaiden pushed the door open and went inside.

Moments later she emerged with a sheepish expression. Through the door, a rope could be seen hanging out the window and tethered to the princess’s heavy storage chest.

The weight of Prince Secundus’s handkerchief had nearly doubled from sweat, but he dabbed at his brow again. The castle gardens surrounding him were expansive, with plants from all over the continent growing together in one place, their many varieties of the color green all bleeding together. Water features circulated throughout the gardens. This water came from the river that fed into Joten from the north, supplying the gardens and moat with water and fish. Here the channels of water forked and twisted like veins of blood in an anatomist’s diagram. Perhaps on a cooler day the prince would have appreciated his surroundings. As it was, he was annoyed.

And then he then became even more annoyed when the voices of children cried out from somewhere in the garden. According to tradition, he was supposed to meet the princess alone. Now that was spoiled, and top of everything she had still not arrived.

The two kids emerged from the low-hanging branches of a tree as if from a curtain. First a girl ran out, though she was wearing trousers and had her hair tied in what was more like a knot than a braid. A boy followed her. They were laughing and chasing one another down the stone edge of a water channel. Eventually the boy spotted the prince and skidded to a halt on the dry grass. He pointed and spoke to the girl, who stopped as well. She started moving toward the prince, but then must have realized how disheveled she looked because she stopped to wipe her face and straighten her hair.

Now the prince saw that she wore blue and silver, which he had been told was the princess’s livery. He stood as she approached. “Why have I been kept waiting?”

The girl, obviously one of the princess’s maids, smirked in response to his question. “You sure took your time getting here, Secundus. We expected you…”

Without hesitation the prince slapped her across the face. The shock nearly brought the girl to her knees. The boy was shocked as well, but apparently knew better than to speak so familiarly to a prince. “You will address me properly, and only when I address you. Now, where is the princess?”

She held a hand to her face and looked away as she responded. “I’ll find her for you, Royal Highness.” The girl stumbled to the water and knelt down, probably to cry. The prince didn’t really care; if the rest of the castle couldn’t find the princess, this girl wouldn’t be any more help. Let her cry.

The boy was still there, staring angrily at the prince. Secundus recognized something about him. It was the eyes; this boy had eyes of iron grey. “You. Are you him?”

“Yeah, I’m him. The ambassador to the freaks.”

“Well, that is something.” The prince stiffened his posture and began to recite: “Ob-Enon, I approach as human, child of metal and sky…”

“Your Highness, please! This isn’t the place for that, and I won’t start my journey for years.”

“Very well.” There was a splash from the water near the girl. Could it have been…? “Is that the mermaid?”

“I believe it was.”

The prince was very excited to see her, but only allowed his face to reveal mild curiosity. “Can you convince it to return?”

“She doesn’t much like strangers, Highness. I doubt she’ll reveal herself to you. The king has a statue in a mermaid’s likeness if you’d like to see that.”

“Perhaps I shall. Tell me, Ob-Enon…”

“Please, I won’t be the ambassador until my time comes. Just call me Lewin.”

Secundus did not know how to address this boy, which was an unusual and quite uncomfortable situation for him. This was the Ambassador, the Ob-Enon. Should he be treated as nobility? He had the bearing of a commoner. Still, the prince did not want to make a bad impression on the Ambassador. “Well, Master Lewin, when your time comes, I wish you good fortune. It is good to see you coming into your role. You at least have better manners than this girl.”

Lewin smiled for the first time. “I think I can agree with you on that, Highness.”

The girl harrumphed loudly.

There was another splash; the prince caught a glimpse of a caudal fin disappearing into the water, flashing with summer sunlight. Apparently the mermaid had given the girl something. She stood, spun on her heel, and began walking toward the prince with impeccable posture. “I would have some words with you, Secundus.”

Before the prince could conjure up an appropriate response, his eyes fell on what the mermaid had retrieved. The girl pulled back her yellow hair and donned her golden crown, which still dripped with water. Her face was several shades of red, and not all of that was from him slapping her. His own face went white.

Lewin saw the princess’s handmaiden dashing toward them from the castle, but knew she wouldn’t be able to make it in time. He took a few steps back, and Princess Elocyne started using one of her louder voices.

“How dare you strike me!?”

“You were masquerading as a servant!”

“So you masqueraded as a feckless brute!?”

“I traveled for weeks…”

“To gaze upon my beauty? Is it customary in your kingdom to strike beautiful women?”

“I will not be spoken to this way!”

“I will speak to you however I choose!”

And it just got worse from there.

Prince Secundus and his retinue returned to their kingdom that afternoon. Princess Elocyne was not in the mood to speak to anyone, but when it came to her father she didn’t really have a choice. Still dressed in the outfit she had borrowed from one of her servants, and with her face so red it nearly glowed like a torch, she stood at the foot of the dais of her father’s throne. King Mellius sat upon that throne, his stomach larger and his hair whiter than when his daughter had been born. His face was also red; she had inherited that physical quirk from him.

Lewin stood at the edge of the throne room, doing his best to blend in with the colorful plaster adorning the stones. The many soldiers bearing the King’s Emblem who stood guard seemed pretty uncomfortable as well, and they all stared anywhere except at the king and his daughter.

King Mellius stood. “Explain yourself.”

Elocyne took a deep breath to calm down, but it did no good. She tried a second breath, then a third, but finally realized that no amount of breathing would accomplish anything. “He disrespected me, father.”

The king stared back, silent. The princess could hear the words he wasn’t saying.

“I waited for hours, father. What, he traveled nearly a hundred miles to get here, just so he could strike me across the face? And he would have no right to strike my attendants. Do you want a prince who lashes in anger like an animal? Like a cyclops?”

“Do you think I wanted a daughter who would scare away the suitors I pick for her?”

The room went quiet. Lewin tried so hard to back away that he probably left an indentation in the wall.

Elocyne stared intently at the floor for what might have been fifteen seconds. “Father, I would never marry that man. I will marry a prince someday; that’s my duty and I know that. But any kingdom or principality run by that man would be filled with burning rubble and slapped servants. He’s a pitiful prince and he’ll make a worse king!”

“You need to reign in your temper, Elocyne, and you need to do it now.”

“I am in control of my temper!” While the echo of her shout died, the princess took a moment to adjust her hair and crown, which had become disheveled during the discussion. “Will that be all, Father?”

“If your mother were still alive, she’d be ashamed of you.”

Lewin recoiled, as if the wind had been knocked out of him.

Princess Elocyne did not appear to respond at all. Then slowly she turned and walked out of her father’s presence, each step measured and even, her face only beginning to glisten. Once out of the throne room she began to move more quickly. Shapes and colors jumped out of her way as she navigated by memory through the halls, up the stairs, and toward the door of her room. The sound of Lewin shouting her name was faintly audible behind her, but she had always been the faster runner.

Lewin arrived at the princess’s wing of the castle just in time to see her door slam shut. Her handmaiden stepped in front of the portal and shook her head at him. “Leave her.”

“But…”

“Not now, Lewin.”

Traffic at the West Caravan Gate was being held up by the horses and wagons of Prince Secundus, who had entered the valley by this very gate earlier that morning. Travelers stopped to gaze at him while pretending not to be gazing at him. Something had made the young prince singularly unhappy, so much so that he seemed to be followed by a hot cloud. The inspectors were more polite to him than they had ever been in their lives as they quickly performed their duties and allowed him to pass.

One traveler stared at the prince, apparently unafraid of his wrath. She wore a mercenary’s badge and a performer’s smile. In her hand was a thick silver coin with the king’s image on one side and the queen’s on the other. Once the last of Secundus’s train had passed through, she led her horse to the gate and addressed the still-frightened inspector. “Auren, of the Chaser Company. I have business with the king.”