Princess Aravo Part 1

16

"Hey! Hey! Hey!" the fool suddenly interfered. "Please without excess expressions! It is very unhealthy and for you, Dolly, especially! Don't you see that she speaks the mere truth? All women in Westonia know what a fruitcake you are and tremble and quale and shake in your presence or try to run away if it is possible. Here is quite another case. She is not afraid of you, says everything she thinks and dares even raise her voice. She does not know all troubles of civilization. The fact that she agreed to participate and passed through the entire Sirvantame and nothing affected her itself tells a lot."

"Perhaps you are right, Tobro, but we are in Tinalden and everything should be managed by its laws. I don't know by what magical way you got here but to go out of this city you should have documents and my personal exit permit. The documents will be agreed to be given to you only if you are naturalized here."

"I agree..." the girl said after a sigh.

"But it is not all. You are a very suspicious person. First your reliability should be checked."

"How can it be done?"

"The only method here is the test of time. I give you half a year. Remember that this term will be prolonged if there be something suspicious about your behaviour. So I recommend you not to get into stories."

Having heard such sentence, Irbis sighed again and silently nodded.

"You'd better found some work. You said that your father taught you everything he knew. Let's see. So languages, music and a bit of painting and drawing?"

The girl nodded to the prince's question.

"How many languages do you know?"

"12, Your Highness."

The prince was silent and only Tobro was heard saying: "Wow..."

"12 languages?" the prince asked to repeat.

"Yes, Sire."

"In such way you can chat without stopping," Tobro jested.

"Which ones?" the prince asked.

"Five main languages of Westonia, their ancient analogues and two of the classic civilizations."

The prince asked her in one of the modern languages:

"What is the main difference between ethanol and methanol?"

"They have different formulas. In ethanol the ethyl group is connected with the hydroxyl one. And in methanol the methyl group is connected with hydroxyl. If you drink ethanol, you become drunk. If you drink methanol, you become dead," the girl answered in the same language fluently.

"Miss! Miss!" Tobro called to her.

"What?"

He started talking in another foreign language:

"My bro-..." he suddenly stopped "good acquaintance cannot stop thinking of you. What should he do and what should I do to help him?"

"Tobro!" the prince exploded furiously.

"Why? We need to test her," he said in his mother tongue and again addressed Irbis in the foreign language. "So what should we do?"

"I think you'd better asked someone else," the girl replied him also fluently.

"Have you heard? Now be silent and don't dare to interfere with silly questions when I have my word. Now only I am speaking," the prince ordered the fool.

"Ah! Poor, poor dear..." said Tobro and laughed in a strange way.

The prince waited till he stopped and continued that inquiry. He asked the girl other such questions in all languages he knew. Then his interpreter was sent for. Irbis passed her exam brilliantly.

"And you say that you are not a spy," Tobro chuckled.

"You know, Miss Irbiss," said the prince, "you are either really so naïve or a great actress. Nevertheless... I want to hear your music."

"As you please, Your Highness."

"Can you play the lumra?"

The girl nodded and the prince ordered Tobro to give her his.

"Oh, I am afraid that whet it be hugged by such arms it will be so shocked that no sound will be uttered by it."

"Tobro, stop this monkey business."

"Eh, Dolly... You cannot speak with women at all."

Tobro handed to her a musical instrument of irregular shape that was something between a mandolin and bandura. The girl hit the strings. No, the lumra wasn't silent as Tobro was afraid of. It played sweetly pouring its music into the listeners' ears. The girl sang... Her song was full of sentiment and Irbis sang it with all her grief. It seemed that she wasn't actually there at that moment; that she was in the song's world. She gave itself entirely to it; she put her soul in it. By the end two crystal tears appeared in her eyes. The song was over...

"Devinely..." said Tobro with all his seriousness and without any sign of mocking.

The prince sat serious and silent. Then he ordered to give Irbis a piece of paper and a pencil and told her to draw something. The girl answered that her coloured pictures were better. He ordered to bring her coloured pencils. She decided to draw Tobro's portrait. He was flattered. He smoothed his hair with his hand and sat in such chair to be lit up well. But before it he had meanly remarked to the prince: "You see, Dolly? Not you!" and chuckled.

The prince went somewhere. Tobro started talking to the girl.

"Oh, Miss Irbis... As soon as I saw you first I knew that you will turn this city upside down."

"Please, Sir Tobro, don't move your face now. I am imaging the form."

He waited for some time and continued.

"For you I am just Tobro. You know... If I didn't earn my bread with my head and there wasn't one man..."

"Your good acquaintance?"

"Aha... If there wasn't all of this, I think I would lose my head for your sake."

"Forgive me, Tobro, but now I care about such things the least."

"It should have been expected."

"By the way who is that man?"

"Have you got interested?"

"No. I just need to know who I should avoid."

He was silent for some time.

"The only thing I can say that if he wants you in his circle, you won't be able to avoid him."

"Tell me, Tobro, what should I now await in my life?"

"Everything in the world."

"I see..."

Soon the prince came back and looked at the picture.

"It is not the great art but still it is very nice," he said with strict commanding voice.

"I am here so good-looking..." Tobro said looking at the picture with a smile.

"I should tell you, Tobro, that the image is idealised.

"Ah, Dolly! You like acting thus if only to spoil the mood of everyone around you..."

"I actually didn't have much time or then I would have drawn it..." the girl started enthusiastically.

"Enough," the prince interrupted her. "I have a position for you."