The Royal Thief

Chapter Twenty-six: Clash

Don't worry if not everything said in this chapter makes sense. In all honesty, I've yet to figure out how to write a realistic angry-character scene, and anyway, at least when I'm angry, nothing I say makes much sense. Everything will be explained in a later chapter-- hopefully chapter twenty-eight. (But please, if you have time, leave a comment on what you understand to happen in this scene, that way I'll know if at least some things got across and have a better idea of which things to clear up.)

Lesson in the library today. Be nice to the princess, okay?

I stared down at Caer's note for a few moments, trying to find some other meaning in his neat script besides instructions to meet him in the library for a lesson with the princess. Finally, unable to pretend his painstakingly clear note meant anything other than what it did, I fell back on my bed and stuffed a pillow over my face.

It wasn't like he could make me. I could skip today. I could hide in the storage rooms and lose myself in a book of battle strategies. I could practice creeping through the hidden passages, eavesdropping on people. I could ride down to the docks and spend Cayne's money. 

But how long would Caer spend lecturing me tomorrow? Too long. He'd hold a grudge. We'd never have an interesting lesson again. But if I went-- then he'd see that there was no point in making us talk, and then he'd have to stop whining about it. And I could say I told you so.

Fine then. It was back to the huge room of dank tapestries and dusty books. 

"Good morning, Morane. You're a quarter of an hour late. I suppose I should be happy you showed up at all?"

"Yes." I slumped into a chair angled away from the princess, but I could see her long braid of orange hair out of the corner of my eye. Her fingers tapped anxiously on her knee, draped in pale green silk.

"Well that's okay, we've been waiting for you. I thought we'd take a break from the Dragon Wars to discuss the reign of Queen Juno." He paused a moment, as though expecting some sort of applause or congratulations.

"From the Golden Age?" Magali asked hesitantly.

"Of course."

"But what does she have to do with the Dragon Wars? She didn't ascend the throne until a hundred years later." 

"She's got nothing to do with Dragon Wars. As I said, we're taking a break. I chose Queen Juno because I believe her times has something to teach us about our own. Morane, would you care to share with us why that is?"

"You're the one who thinks it, not me."

He flicked a glare in my direction and continued his lecture while staring somewhere in between us. "Queen Juno's reign was a time of great peace and prosperity, which began in the year of her birth. Her birth was marked by an extraordinary event-- Magali, can you tell us what that was?"

The tapping of her fingers sped up. "There were twelve Guardians."

"And also...?"

"They were all Guardians of Light." Her answers were quick and offered automatically, monotone. 

"By the time she was crowned, her Guardians had already become legends as protectors of the land, and the people thought of her as a goddess. Morane, why would you say that was?"

"Because people were more gullible back then?"

Apparently that was the wrong answer. "No, because people are inclined to venerate anyone who is powerful and uses that power for good. And the reason she was so powerful was because..." He trailed off, waiting for me to fill in the answer.