A Queen Redestined

The clash of the practice sabres rang out in the courtyard, the sound of metal a daily routine in Castle Vifort. To the side, a servant girl waited with towels and a tray of drinks, ready for when the two eldest daughters of the noble house decided they were done with their morning workout. Her older sister was unusually aggressive this morning, Marie Ekaterina noted, as she parried a blow and lunged in, only to be parried in turn. Stepping back, she just about barely dodged a forthcoming flurry of slashes in her direction. ”Got up on the wrong side of bed this morning?” she called, only for Sofia to scoff and attempt to corner her into a yield. ”No trash talking,” Sofia reprimanded. Marie rolled her eyes- which was a mistake, because Sofia instantly took advantage of her lack of attention, and dealt a slashing blow hard enough to knock her back onto the ground.  Marie let out a low groan.  ”Yield?”  ”Ugh, yes. You’ve been a regular dragon this morning.” She accepted Sofia’s outstretched hand however, and shot her a cheeky grin when she was finally on her feet. ”I wasn’t trash talking though, not really. You looked like you were in a bad mood the moment you came into the courtyard this morning.” Sofia shook her head, accepting the towel and cold spring water that the maid handed her as they began walking back into the main hall of the castle. ”It’s nothing. I heard rumours over the last few days. But rumours are just rumours, one will have to wait and see if there’s any truth to them.” Marie stripped off her practice armour casually, throwing them into the chest just inside of the doors, where servants would take them to clean, and replace with fresh ones for their next practice tomorrow morning. Day in, day out. That was what House Vifort was about. From birth, Marie had been trained to be a soldier in service to her country, same as her sisters and brother, and to that end, every child of House Vifort was expected to keep up a strictly daily regiment of study in politics, history and war.  Marie liked this life. It felt purposeful, and she never had any problem with dealing with all that was expected of her. Nor did her elder sister Sofia, who seemed born with a readiness to take over the reins of House Vifort in some distant future when her parents would abdicate responsibility to their oldest scion. Their younger siblings, one sister and one brother, seemed built for other purposes however, and sometimes Marie wondered if their parents would ever relent on their expectations. If they didn’t, she suspected that her siblings might have a tough go of it in the future. But well, Isabel was only eleven, and Hugo seven, so there was a long way to go. In the meantime, Marie was here to be a good example of an older sister to them. They walked together to the balustrade of the main hall, past the winding corridors and staircases that led to the other wings of the castle, their usual place to catch a break after their morning training. ”So what are the rumours about?” Marie leant against the stone decorations, running her hands over the worn, sun-warmed material, familiar as the back of her own hand to her. Beside her, Sofia seemed to stiffen. ”It’s nothing really. I don’t want to talk about it.” Marie frowned, and was about to badger her sister into telling her anyway, when a movement in the far distance caught her attention. She whipped her head around, puzzled. There were not often visitors to Castle Vifort. Especially not visitors waving the flag of the royal family as they galloped up to the castle. Sofia’s face darkened.  ”Looks like there was something to those rumours after all.” — ”I’m to be what?” It felt like, quite suddenly, the world had turned foggy and dreamlike around her. Marie stared, almost unseeingly, at her parents, who had brought both her and Sofia into their private rooms to announce the news to them. Lady Violetta Vifort glanced between her second daughter and her husband, a worried frown pinching her face.  ”There has been talk for years,” she said quietly, trying to placate Marie with a comforting hand. ”To be honest, we did see this coming... But we always thought it would be a little later, that perhaps the royal family would seek to make an alliance when Isabel was of age, or even Hugo. But it seems that they want the crown prince to be married soon, and so... Well, I don’t know the exact details at court, but you were his pick. Apparently.” ”When was I even a choice?” Nothing felt real at this moment. There was no beginning, no end to this. When had her name even been given to the royal family as a consideration? Marie had not been aware that they were even considering marriage for the crown prince. To her, in Castle Vifort in the Southlands, miles and miles away, Marimiers was just a name. A faraway thing she had only ever visited once when she was a toddler.  ”Your name, and Sofia’s, has always been in consideration. Since you reached marriageable age.” Lord Gabriel finally spoke, his voice as heavy as she felt. ”The royal line has always wanted to cement their relationship with the Southlands to keep this part of the country secure. They didn’t succeed with me, since I married your mother early, nor with my parents, and there was no suitable princess at the time anyway. And now... I suppose they’ve thought the time is ripe. Sofia’s marriage must have frightened them into action.” Dully, Marie looked over at Sofia, who seemed to have tightly locked all her emotions away in favour of a slightly frowning but otherwise stony expression. ”Is there any way I can say no?” At that, Lady Violetta seemed to sigh. She did not meet Marie’s eyes.  ”It is your duty, my daughter. Are you saying now that you will not do your duty to your country?” — That was quite a line to pull on Marie, Sofia thought, face setting in a deep frown. Duty, indeed! As if all the Vifort children hadn’t been raised with that word carved into their minds.  They were to fight, if it was their duty, or die for their country in war, if it came to that. And now it was just asking her to marry the crown prince, be the queen of their country in some distant future, it was hardly an arduous duty, was it? But Sofia knew her sister better than most.  Wild, untamed, free-spirited. All words that described Marie Ekaterina very well. And from what she knew of the court at the palace of Marimiers, the shining jewelled city of their great country Gadilida... It sounded more like they were sending her to a gilded prison for the rest of her life, to put it simply. Duty. Sofia scoffed at the word. She herself had had to marry someone for duty, a political alliance between Vifort and one of the major clans of the Southlands, but at least her family had had the power to negotiate for her husband to marry into Castle Vifort, and she got to stay as the next head of House Vifort. There was no higher power than the royal family to negotiate with. Climbing the tower stairs, Sofia emerged along the top of the wall dividing the main wing and the secondary wing where many of their family’s closest retainers lived.  Marie, predictably, was training with some of the men-at-arms in the training yard of the secondary wing, taking out her anger and frustration in the aggressive clashing of their sabres. She was always like this when she was upset, and the household knew it too. Already Sofia could see the crowd around her, murmuring, wondering what was the matter with their second lady.  ”Do you know what has Lady Marie all in a tizzy?”  Sofia glanced over to her side, where their head housekeeper Milla had emerged, a basket of laundry in her old, wrinkled hands. She must be on her way between the wings.  ”She’s to be married off to the capital,” Sofia said softly, almost as if she wished the wind would take away her words. It was safe to trust Milla at least, she was one of the oldest inhabitants of the castle, and had practically helped raise all the Vifort children ever since she had started working there. ”My parents will announce it at dinner tonight.” Milla’s startled, pained gasp was soothing- at least someone else cared. Lord and Lady Vifort seemed to view it as an inevitability with no inclination to fight for Marie to stay with House Vifort.  ”What? Lady Marie?” The old woman set her laundry basket down heavily. ”Beg your pardon, milady, but Lady Marie is the least suited out of all of you to go gadding about in the capital. She’s a soldier through and through, she is. Not an ounce of politicking in her.” ”Yes. I thought so too. But my lord father and lady mother seem to think otherwise.” There was a long moment of silence between the two of them. ”How long do we have Lady Marie for?” Milla finally broke the silence. Sofia shook her head. ”A few months, I think. But that’s all.” — Marie limped back to her rooms, where she had requested for a hot bath to be drawn, sore and utterly grimy from all the times she had gotten knocked down into the mud today.  Strange that her body barely wanted to move anymore, but her mind was still racing along, the troubled thoughts of her ensuing betrothal ringing like a dull, clanging tower bell in her head. It rarely was like that. Whenever she had a problem, she vented it in training and that was that. It always solved the problem somehow. Either she forgot about it or she thought of a solution in the fighting. Why was this so different? The retainers noticed something was wrong too, she knew. She had fought ten of them over the course of the afternoon, never flagging, never ceasing. It was obvious that her manic energy came with a side of desperation and upset. Well, her parents had already called for a dinner that night, requesting the presence of all within the castle walls. They would all know soon enough. She waved away the servant who had come to help scrub her down, wanting to be alone.  Slowly, wincing, she began tugging on the strings of her padded armour, letting them crash to the ground without a care. The outer clothing followed. Dully, she noticed that there was a bloody gash in her leg- that must have been from falling against the rock when she’d sparred against Dane.  Her body was a mess of yellows and purples when she divested herself of her inner clothing. Good thing she’d sent away the maid, or she would have tattled on Marie to her parents, she was certain. Of course, bruises and scrapes were a usual thing when it came to the Viforts, but this was her pushing herself far beyond her limit, and would definitely have warranted a scolding. She sank into the bathtub gingerly, letting the heat of the water soothe her aches and bruises. If only it could soothe her heart right now too.  — The dining hall was done up when Marie entered it. Nothing too fancy, but she supposed they had to beat some cheer into the announcement that House Vifort was going to be united to the royal house of Gadilida, otherwise there might be murmurs of dissent and treason.  Politics. Marie wanted to roll her eyes at it. She took her place at the long tables. Sofia was already there, and she raised an eyebrow at the bruising she could see peeking from the neckline of Marie’s grey-blue dress, although she said nothing. In due time, Lord and Lady Vifort came into the hall, and the hall rose to greet them. They went through their usual ritual of gesturing for the retainers to sit, of wishing them good health and good days ahead. Marie found herself staring at them, hoping beyond hope that perhaps they would announce something different, that maybe something had changed since their talk with her that morning. But she knew it was a faint, dim hope to begin with. ”We have received news from Marimiers,” Lady Violetta began. A faint surprised buzz started up in the hall, but quieted down as she raised a hand to continue speaking. ”For years, the crown has sought to make an alliance with House Vifort, as I’m sure many of you are aware. As the crown prince has reached an age to marry, they have decided to propose a union once again. In three months, Marie Ekaterina of House Vifort will journey to Marimiers and receive the title of princess consort.” Marie had expected a buzz of noise in the wake of the announcement. Instead, the hall was silent as a graveyard, as all eyes turned to her.