The Rest of the Second Week of Training.
The next step, whooshing past the training in class, is that Ewen will ask to accompany Paris to the upcoming festival, and she'll have to decide what to do there.
Paris will accept Ewen's invitation unless input from Lorraine or Lady duGryphon between now and then indicates otherwise. Then she will have to debate the situation with herself.
Actually, Lorraine will try to arrange a group excursion (3 couples) as being a little more acceptable to Mom. If she goes with a group, Mom won't tag along. What I had wanted to know was whether Paris was going to go with Palace folk or Jouet folk.
Until Ewen asks, it wouldn't have occurred to Paris to wonder who she would go with. And, of course, it would never occur to the Jouet folks to invite Paris -- or even to assume she should be invited. So it poses a bit of a problem. Given that Paris now has a reasonable grounding in good manners, she would know that you are suppose to accept the first invitation or not go. So -- she will accept Ewen's invitation, expecting to see her Jouet friends there and have a chance to introduce him to them as well.
And, of course, Lorraine's idea is the proper way to do it. Paris will recognize that as soon as it comes up. She breathes deeply and straightens unconsciously, recognizing that it will probably provide a chance for seeing if Jules has returned to despising her, or will merely snub her, or -- accepted Lady duGryphon's 'lesson'.
That's her puzzle too. I know it will be at least Ewen, Rodric, and Cordelia along with Paris. Rodric was too shy to ask anyone, and sis isn't currently favoring anyone, so brother and sister are venturing out with Ewen, Rodric's best friend, and Paris, who "isn't really a girl...I mean..." :) . Lorraine wants to go with that group but Jules ... Jules can be a problem...
Lorraine, of course, doesn't invite someone, she just carefully arranges to be too busy to be asked until the right boy approaches. She will be very good at court politics when they let her out of here.
Well... hm. If she doesn't get Jules to invite her, I guess that would say something about how Jules feels about the current company Lorraine is keeping. *sigh* Or rather, it would say something about how Lorraine thinks Jules feels about the current company. *sigh*
Be interesting to see whether Anton decides to try to accompany Paris, or whether Claire gets Pierre to go to the festival. If Anton learns Paris will be accompanying Lorraine, will Anton try to accompany Paris? :) I already know Calais won't. Now, if Calais tries to steal Paris' new dress and go as Paris...
SevenDay
S: It occurs to me that we did not decide whether Ewen came to church on SevenDay. Paris wants to introduce him and Calais and that would seem appropriate to her. I think, though, that she must check with Lorraine as to propriety.....
GM: This is something I skipped over last week, in part because we couldn't play it out without knowing how Anton's week went, based on the e-mail he sent me on Thursday. Grumph. Anyway, neither Ewen nor Lorraine came to church with you...
The High Priest agreed to conduct the ceremony in the Palace on SevenDay, so attendance by those in the Palace proper was... well, not mandatory, but expected. You'd know this a couple of days in advance, so it isn't a surprise for anyone. (The week before, he conducted the service at the large church, which was outside the Palace. His party left to return East on the day of the festival, which put him a few days ahead of you.)
Lady Chivar and others still make attending SevenDay in the palace difficult. So you miss the Archpriest's sermon--he actually is pretty good at them, by the by. What you get for having a really high presence.
FirstDay: Summer Harvest Festival
The day of the festival, Paris joined Lorraine and Cordelia up in the duGryphon family rooms. What was once a separate building was now, of course, part of the central palace complex. All of the girls who did not have family in the palace stayed with the duGryphons. (Made it easier for the staff to watch over them.) A servant came into the room with the three girls to tell them that the three boys had showed up. Paris moved to greet them, not wanting to keep them waiting, when Lorraine stopped her. She had two small necklaces of silver chain, and she kept the two of them there while she tried to decide which to wear. "I'll go greet them while you decide," Paris finally offered.
Lorraine put her hand on Paris' arm. "Not yet," she smiled. "Timing is important in these things." She put one of the chains around her neck, and looked at Paris, holding the other out. "You sure?"
Paris smiled. "No, but thank you for your offer. You've already given me more than I can repay." She looked at Lorraine quizzically. "What is it we're waiting for?"
Lorraine brushed one hair back from her head and checked herself in the mirror, making minor adjustments. Behind her, Cordelia was sitting by the window patiently, looking wistfully out at the small courtyard below. "We're waiting to make an entrance." She nodded to the mirror. "Now. Smile and look directly at him."
It wasn't hard to look at him dressed in his fine clothes. His eyes grew wide when he saw her, and he leaned slightly over to Rodric. She was not a lip reader, but his soft "wow" was clear. He had a big, warm grin as she approached. "My Lady," he said as he bowed. "You are...you look..." He was lost for a moment, then, softly, "like a summer vineyard in the full moon light."
Paris felt the flutter such pretty words caused and her eyes looking into his became quizzical -- and a little sad. "I think Lorraine was kidding. You have the tongue of a poet, my Lord," she murmured. "It is quite a compliment, I think, to Lorraine's taste in 'getting me up'." She paused, feeling suddenly shy. "You look very fine yourself today. The colours of the end of summer suit you."
There was a pause as Ewen looked at her, smiling and wide eyed all at once. Rodric cleared his throat, and Ewen came back to earth. "Well, if it's end of summer, we ought to go to a harvest festival," he said with his trademark grin. He extended his arm. "If ever a poet was this tongue tied, he'd starve to death," he whispered to her as they left.
"Guess I don't know much about poets," Paris apologized. "For a moment you made me wonder if Paris had disappeared and there was a changeling in her place. But it is a lovely dress," Paris confided and took a couple dance steps that swirled the skirt -- just for the pleasure of watching it swirl. [Real Girl just can't resist. The dress actually _fits_ and is beautiful.]
Ewen smiled as he provided balance for her spin. "It's not the dress that's lovely, I assure you. And no changeling could move with your grace." [Oooh, ladling it on thick that boy is. :) ] He broke into his grin again. "Say, maybe we should get some practice swords. I might be able to beat a changeling."
Paris laughed lightly. "You would not truly ask that..? It would be such a shame to risk spoiling such a pretty dress just to try to prove that the loveliness is all in the dress and that is but a disguise for the real Paris." Her teasing tone dropped just a notch. "And I truly think that Lady duGryphon would not approve of me using this dress so. You will have to always spar with ordinary plain Paris in armor if we are to please Her, I think."
Ewen laughed. "Then perhaps She would approve of using that dress for dancing. I'm sure Lady duGryphon would be pleased to know that I have recently changed my mind about my dislike of that kind of sparring." He reached over with his right hand to cover hers on his arm. "And I don't know any 'ordinary plain Paris.' I only know you."
Paris blushed, like dawn rising out of the midnight of her bodice. 'He is too fond if he thinks that,' whispered something in the back of her mind. 'Take care. Do not lead him on.' "I did not know you disliked dancing, Ewen. I thought that you did not care for it -- in the same way that I feared it -- because you had not much practiced. I like dancing and I am very happy that you now like it too. Is -- is it a form of sparring? I had not known that."
Jules was the third man in the group. He was the first to ask Lorraine, and thus travels along with this group. He would be neither friendly nor particularly unfriendly to Paris or to Ewen. I'm sure there will be some silly contest of skill--toss the coin in the bottle--where they quite clearly are competing with one another. Thus Paris would see that Jules and Ewen are, in a sense, rivals. And with good reason. And not so out-of-character for males of their age. (Hm. If she had to pick, she would rather that Lorraine fancied Ewen rather than Jules. But -- ah, well.)
Paris will treat Jules in a friendly yet dignified manner. She does not know him well enough to tease him, but she certainly will neither ignore nor cold-shoulder him. Partly how much effort she spends on him depends on how much of her attention Ewen wants -- and how the entire group behaves. She will take her cues on 'noble behaviour' from Lorraine and Cordelia... as well as whatever the conversation with Lady duGryphon revealed.
She listened to her companions at the Faire rather differently than she might have before the Prince's command: trying to figure out how they think differently than she does.
There was a possibility that Paris' Palace Party and the Party of Comrades from Jouet could have met at the festival. The Jouet group did not find any reason for going to the palace end, and the palace folk didn't go any further than halfway to the other end either, so it was only near the adventurers area that they might have overlapped. Being a simple matter of timing in a rather large crowd, it was not surprising that they did not meet although Paris did occasionally look for her brother in likely places. She had hoped to introduce Calais and Ewen.
Paris thinks that Cordelia was looking around, also. But perhaps that's to be expected, she's being escorted by her brother, after all. She seems to like musicians; there might be one or two places your group stops to join in a dance, or at least listen to a troubadour. This is also probably more time than you have spent with her before; you know her brother fairly well. She is quick witted; nearly as pretty as Lorraine with the same long dark hair, and, as you assessed before, a nice person. She seems to care for her brother; she's younger by almost a year, but still treats him like a younger brother. :) Poor Rod.
It is surprisingly difficult to arrange to meet Calais; the two are on opposite sides of the palace, both geographically and politically.
ThreeDay: Good-byes Again
It sounds like Paris and Ewen are going to have had a very good week together now that they've sorted through the various misunderstandings. Which probably leaves Paris wondering if she should be talking herself into falling in love with him. Not to mention whatever Ewen is feeling.
:) Unfortunately for you, this time you don't get to see what he's thinking. :) Yes, I think they had a good week. Unless Paris was hoping Ewen would try to kiss her again; he's not doing that. :) Do they have a good-bye scene? If so, he tells her that he wants her to bring back something magic for him...her.
Ewen's request frightened Paris a little: one, she doesn't deliberately go out hunting magic and, two, the implication that she would return to give herself to him is one she is still not ready for. But she quickly realized that he would not want her to take his words that way. Paris raised her hand in a cautioning gesture towards her lips [if this were a more playful society, she probably would have laid a finger to his lips :-)] and replied quietly. "I am not magical, Ewen." Then a small smile appeared. "If my quest is unsuccessful, I am under orders to return by Fall Festival. I want to see you made a knight."
[Ah--probably would have come out better if I'd taken the time to write it. He was referring to her coming back, not giving herself to him, and trying to bring in what he'd said at the dance ThreeDay. He was just trying to say "come back alive" without being quite so blunt about it.]
"Harvest Festival" copyright 1999 P.Shea & S.Knowles. The contents of this site are copyright 2004 Sheryl A. Knowles unless otherwise specified. All rights reserved.