Of Love and Valor

9: Misery

"What a day," Thariyae groans as she closes the front door of our housing unit. Krethzirae and I are in the kitchen working on supper.

"You're home late," I reply. "What happened?"

"Where do I even begin?" Thariyae slumps onto the low bench against the kitchen wall, looking utterly drained.

"You might start with that fancy dinner," Krethzirae suggests. "Some of us are very curious about that."

"I hate that woman. I wish she would die and put the rest of us out of the misery of dealing with her."

"But she's your mother!" Krethzirae is very close with her parents and this sentiment must be completely unthinkable to her.

"She hasn't much acted like it. You saw her today. No regard for anyone but herself and advancing her own prospects. My aunt Vemzina did more raising of me than my so-called mother."

"She was the one who came along today, on the ill-advised training grounds visit?" I ask to clarify.

"Yes. She couldn't be around much, though, when I was young. She has her own husband and children to take care of. But it was mostly her and the servants trying to raise me and keep me in line. I was too wild for my parents, by which they meant that I preferred being out of doors and martial arts to floral arrangement and fashion, and I hated being told what to do. Eventually my parents decided that boarding school would solve all their problems. Someone else would teach me the decorum I was lacking, I would have an acceptable outlet to pursue my interests, I would meet young men from other elite families and perhaps arrange my own marriage." Thariyae laughs darkly. "I have still managed to fail all their expectations for me."

"But the dinner. The food?" Krethzirae prompts. She's looking for a vicarious experience, I think, but I doubt Thariyae will give it to her.

"Santhrobar shared tidbits of his meal with me. The Kazmiohn didn't offer to pay for mine and neither did my mother. Aunt Vemzina started to but Mother cut her off. It was beyond my means to pay."

"How did your family handle his presence?" I ask.

"After the initial greetings and the explanation for his presence, they mostly ignored him. You know, once we established that he is not courting me and wouldn't be a suitable match anyway. That's all she really wanted to talk about. Apparently she's been seeking potential husbands for me since she and Father got word of my graduation, and has several prospects she'd like me to meet. Unfortunately for her, my work schedule isn't exactly compatible with state dinners and the like, and I'm not interested in marriage. At least, not to anyone she'd accept." Her bitterness is overwhelming, and I cannot blame her a bit.

"Did you...happen to mention that there is someone—"

"Yes. I had to, after...everything. I dared to hope that maybe I had jumped to conclusions too quickly, that maybe she has a heart and a soul and not just a lust for power and wealth." She takes a deep breath, and I realize she's holding back tears. "I was wrong. She asked if I'd met anyone who struck my fancy in the Academy, and I said 'what if I have?' and she asked if he was the son of a Salor or a Kazmiohn, or if his family had great wealth, and I had to say no, and she said that I had best put him out of my mind, because she thinks with my looks and my family's money it's not out of reach to hope for a betrothal to the Yrivvilon, and that I ought to be focused on personal advancement, not anything so silly as feelings." The Yrivvilon? The son of the Yrivvior? I had no idea Thariyae's family was quite so highly ranked, although it's possible that her mother has some delusions regarding Thariyae's matchmaking prospects.