Pollyana (Jennifer)

[Anactoria IV]

Though the library staff was determined to help her, Princess Anactoria hinted, then insisted, and finally ordered them to stop doing so. She may not have an intimate knowledge of the library like lady Yumi, but she did know her way around, and she would find what she was looking for herslef, thank you very much.

Already the table in the nook below was covered with Atlases and charts, each of which wads focused on the far eastern corner of her empire. The lands of Artol specifically. They were 'below' her as the crown princess was currently standing on ladder that leaned against a bookshelf some ten feet in the air, retrieving still another book. Though she was wearing one of her more fancy dresses today, a vaguely ethereal silver and gold number that seemed to shimmer as she moved and her jeweled tiara, her feet were bare, her shoes discarded near the table below and behind her. On the rare occasion someone had to pass under or near her, they did well to keep the gaze on the floor.

She had just pressed this last book to her chest with one arm and was preparing to clibe down the ladder she heard Dulcia's voice. "Your highness," she called from below, prompting Anactoria to look over and down towards her. "Lady Minakawa is here."

"Ah!" she said exclaimed as her eyes fell on the woman at Dulcia's side. "Just a moment, I shall be down to greet you properly!" she said as she continued her decent.

[jennifer]

No school could make Jennifer this nervous to go to a library. Why was the summons so sudden? Jen had no time to clean up or put on her best clothes. Or maybe her armor would have served better. All she was wearing now was a simple brown tunic dress, hardly enough for a meeting with the crown princess. Of course, it didn't escape her that this may have been exactly what Anactoria intended. At least her lash marks were healing nicely.

Upon being led to the princess, Jen quickly sees that nothing in Artol, or indeed many tens of miles outward would have anything close to the splendor of the princess's garments. Even so, Jen feels upset for being at anything but her best upon her first meeting with this woman. And she concerns herself with greeting Jennifer properly? It could take upwards of a year for Jennifer to learn the ways of speaking to such royalty in a sufficiently polite and dignified way.

While Princess Anactoria descends to meet Jennifer, Jen stays on one knee, her head bowed down. Her mother once scolded her for this habit which she absorbed from her uncle. It's too masculine a manner, her mother said. Closer to a soldier than a lady, and Jennifer had to be a lady. Unfortunately it is yet too far ingrained for Jen to correct herself at such a stressful time. So she stays, uttering not a word yet; speaking thus ere the Princess gave greetings would be impolite and most unwise.

[Anactoria IV]

Having finally reached the the floor, Anactoria padded over to Jennifer on bare feet, the large book still clasped to her chest in one arm. "Well!" she said, clearly impressed. "At long last, a guest with some manners. You would not believe the greetings I've had since the whole thing began. Thrown dirt and knives in the dead of night. You are welcome change, Lady Minakawa." There was the thrill of amusement under her words. One might suspect princess was even... teasing?

Anactoria knelt down herself, her dress billowing around her elgs and feet as though it were a pool of liquid instead of fabric. One dainty hand found Jennifer's. "Now, Lady Minakawa, our discussion will be very difficult if you spend the whole time kneeling. Please rise."

Anactoria straightened her legs, tugging Jen to stand up, so much as she was able. She had to look up slightly to maintain eye contact. "I apologize for not being able to greet you properly upon your arrival, Jennifer. May I call you Jennifer? I trust my cousin showed you the proper hospitality?" she asked.

[jennifer]

It is difficult for Jen to tell just how much Princess Anactoria is joking. Surely the life of royalty is fraught with danger, yet Jen finds it hard to believe that she would encounter such greetings from a suitor! Jennifer holds her tongue. If Jennifer earns Anactoria's trust, she will soon find out how much is truth and how much is jest.

Jennifer had expected the Princess to tell her when to rise, but she did not expect to be offered the Princess's hand. She gratefully accepts it and rises as much with her own power as her posture allows. She feels great warmth from this small hand, and lets go only with great reluctance. What beauty! Jen might feel more comfortable kneeling than standing in front of such radiance.

Fortunately Jen's wits had not so abandoned her that she was without words. And she had need of wits, because the question of the Princess's cousin is dangerous to answer. How could Jennifer tell someone who has just met her that her cousin threatened her guests with death? But then, how could Jennifer lie to the Princess? "Your highness may indeed call me Jennifer. If your majesty has a name that is preferred, thou needs only speak it." Jen thinks quickly during this formality.

"Thy royal cousin hast shown most generous courtesy. I received but two lashes from her, which shall not hinder my quest." Not a lie, certainly. Nor a bare-faced accusation. Jen phrases it thus in hope that the Princess will take it in jest. And if it is not taken as such...Jennifer has the proofs on her back.

[Anactoria IV]

Anactoria tilted her head slightly to one side as Jennifer spoke. She heard the words, but the meaning was slow in catching. She blinked once afterwords, then smiled. It seemed Lady Minakawa could return a jest as easily as she could take one. That was good. It would make their ensuing conversation much easier.

Yet the best jests, like her own, had hard a kernel of reality at their core. What was the kernel to Jenn’s words? She made a mental note to ask Freja about it later.

“My cousin can be a bit overprotective of me at times,” Anactoria confessed, “and tongue can lash as surely as a whip But what she occasional lacks in tact, she more than makes up for in zeal. Still, I will speak with her later.”

Considering that matter closed, Anactoria gestured toward the table covered with books with one arm. She started toward it as she spoke. “You have a most charming accent, Jennifer. I look forward to listening to it, as we have much to discuss. I apologize for the sudden summons, but I found myself with a stretch of day that had not been pre-scheduled, and I have been meaning to speak with you since I learned of you impending arrival."

They had reached the table by now. There were two chair set next to each other. Anactoria stood beside one but did not yet sit. “You are from Artol, one of the… smaller duchies correct? The empire has many such duchies, and we have not done all we can to ensure their prosperity. That is something that will be changing once I am Empress. But before I can help, I must learn about these lands.”

She waved her hands over the table, which had an atlas or three, and only five small tomes. “This is all the information I have on Artol. Most of it is out of date and woefully incomplete. The details it does contain are so impersonal as to be worthless.”

Finally Anactoria took a seat, selected and unrolled one of the maps of Artol. “I want to hear about this land and its people directly from you, Jennifer.” She patted the chair next to her. “Tell me about your home.”

[jennifer]

Oops. Jen had hoped that Anactoria would dismiss the matter altogether, and she fears retribution. Yet she could not protest without drawing even more suspicion, so she holds silent on the matter.

What follows is a matter of great interest to Jen, for she had little need to tell outsiders of her birthplace before. The tomes especially capture her attention, as she might learn much of Artol's history. But the question is one of delight to Jennifer, as she did not believe Artol to be a place of interest to people of the Princess's stature.

"I will tell of my home with a good will, your highness. My dear, loving parents Earnest and Lilia rule over it, and my mother's brother serves with honor. I owe him my sword arm. They all have my heart's love, and loyalty unto death." Jen realizes that the question was of Artol, not of Jennifer's family...yet Jen could not separate the two easily.

"The people therein are of farmer stock, great in knowledge of their craft, and of cooking. Were my mother here she could teach bread-making unrivaled in the surrounding lands, and she is considered moderate in skill. Plain wheat is artless there, hardly a loaf is baked without raisins, dried fruit, nuts or many such things at once. Most people live in the northern lands here, the trees bear fruits and shade for the summer months. Southern lands grow ash and oak and good yew, harvested in measure for homes and plowshares and bows for game." Jen points out the places for homesteads and trees on the most current atlas. Now she feels like her description is rather dry, but she can think of no better way.

"What lacks is in metal. Iron is a thing only to be had by trade, even copper and tin are scarce enough. Most tools are of wood. My mother and father need do little for the people to prosper, their toil lies in speech. My regret is that I have not gone often amongst the people as was my duty, else I could better tell you of our customs and temper." Jennifer would like to say that it was not entirely her fault, as much of her time in the last few months were spent preparing for the journey and trials in this very castle. But Jen is sure that she could have found the time, if she but asked her parents about it.

"Our neighbors have long looked at Artol as frivolous, a needless border between their wealth and ours. The rulers of Rumia to the east especially seek to make our land theirs. Were we all not pieces of the same kingdom Artol would have long ago been lost to force of arms, but there are other ways. Trade must go over unfriendly land, and my mother and father have been hard put to their skills to keep Artol as its own land within the kingdom."

"I know not how the land would differ under other rulership, but I do know that my family has little save our title. Our land has little coin, and we do not burden the people with much tax. Were the land to be subsumed by a neighbor my parents would have only a home and a meager parcel of land for food. My father is lame in his right leg and mother is a skilled cook but not a farmer, so we would be in dire stress." Here Jen goes again about her family. She could not take her mind off them, even so far away. This time Jen take this topic and runs with it.

"Such is the reason you find me here, your majesty. I fear my mother and father grow weary from their struggles, and my experience is not yet great enough to defend Artol in their place. I would give them a better life, were it in my power. They have shown me much kindness and I have little with which to repay them." This time Jennifer catches herself properly. She can only imagine what the Princess thinks of her, diverging so often to her own life which would little concern the books of history.

"I beg forgiveness, majesty," Jen says, having trouble meeting the princess's eyes. "I fear I hath prattled on about myself when I should be answering you. Have you more questions about my birthplace? My meager knowledge needs only your request."

[Anactoria IV]

Anactoria listed attentively, but some of the light in her eyes did dim as Jennifer went on. Her smiled remained, of course, but it no longer seemed to touch her eyes.

Another one, she thought bitterly behind that smile.

"No need to apologize, Jennifer," Anactoria replied. "I asked for personal details and that it was you have shared. Facts and figures, crop yield and resource availability I could get from anywhere. I could dispatch a royal assessor if that's all I wanted to learn. Or have lady Yumi provide me with her own research. She had a real nose for those kinds of details."

Anactoria regarded the map. "All of those things care important, to be sure. But the most important part of any land is its people." There was a pause. "Artol is struggling, and are other parts of the empire, and I aim to help them once I am in a position to have a say in such matters. If, then," she went on carefully, "the only reason you came here was in hopes of securing a better future for your home and its people through a marriage to me, I fear you have wasted a trip."

"You mentioned that most tools are made of wood. Is there a particular kind of wood working utilized by your people? I happened to know of a somewhat reclusive sect of wood elves that might be interested in such things..."

[jennifer]

Jen knew what Anactoria implied before she even said it. She knew that look from her mother when father said something foolish, and it never ended well. She rankled at this dismissal of the people central to Jennifer's life, as well as the offer to help someday, maybe...when the currently very healthy and lively emperor retires or passes on.

"Wood working. Yes. Such is our need for trade. The smaller work is done chiefly with sharp curved knives that cannot be had locally. We have little of interest to the wood elves, I should think." Jen still stews, trying to control her temper. Even the smallest child could see the thundercloud brewing about her. What use is courtesy now, if she must politely fail and gracefully sentence her mother and father to death from stress?

"Your royal highness," Jennifer says, mightily trying to restrain herself but mostly failing. "I cannot profess to make this journey from divine love, if the sun has not even moved in the sky since our meeting. An thou seeks a bride with nothing to gain from thy marriage, renounce name and title first. Were my bride mine to choose, I would stay in Artol and find love there rather than face fierce foes, torture and death for one who I had not even met, and is as like to dismiss me as not." Now Jennifer forgets herself completely, and the careful jest she had said not a moment ago. But what use is it to hold her tongue now?

"If I could not do these things for love of family, how then could I claim honest love for a wife? I can offer loyalty. I fear not pain nor toil nor shame. But I cannot offer the proofs over one morning." Having vented, Jen starts to cool down. She's quite certain that her chances are completely dashed and that she will soon find herself on her way back to Artol...though perhaps not without another lashing first.

[Anactoria IV]

"I am not naive as you seem to think I am, Lady Minakawa," came Anactoria sharp reply. Gone from her was any trace of a smile, in her eyes, her face, or her voice. "This castle is full of women whom seek to better their own station, their own lands, or their own purse by marriage to me. What they, my father, and you do not seem to appreciate is that I fully expected that. The onus, therefore is on me to select who among these suitors is more interested in me than the crown I can place on their heads. I can only do so by getting to know them. It will be a long process but no one can keep up airs forever. The genuine will remain. The opportunists will be ejected. So no, I will not be renouncing anything any time soon."

Anactoria stood, stepping lightly on her still bare feet away from the table to give herself a moment or two to regain her composure before turning to look back at Jenn. "All I meant by my words is this: Artol has not been forgotten, at least not by me. I do want to help the land and its people, and I shall. If that's all you came for, then mission accomplished. Feel free to return home victorious at anytime, and find that love of yours. However, if you are at all curious about Aanctoria the woman as opposed to Anactoria the Princess, then stay and learn more about her. There are worse way to spend ones' time, exaggerations of torture and death aside."

[jennifer]

This princess must be doing this on purpose. At least it seems there would be no other way. Jen feels her lash wounds start to burn again, as though they respond to this injustice. Jen is inclined, for a moment, to bring the Princess to Freja's chambers and return the treatment she has been given. Jen quickly dismisses these thoughts as madness.

"Anactoria the woman hath dismissed me already for my low station," Jen says flatly. "She mistakes love of family for love of money and power. It would be difficult for me to offer even fealty to such a person, much less love. Am I to be set aside as one who would marry out of greed, to wait until thou bestows the decision thou hast already made? If not, I seek covenant with Your Majesty, lowly though I may be."

"For my part I will seek to prove my honesty in all things. I shall master any trial thou sees fit to provide. If my right arm should be forfeit, I will remove it myself. For your majesty's part, do not ask for love or loyalty unearned. Already thou hast belittled me, my family, and by extension the people we govern. I fear not my own shame, but for that of my mother and father I would fight to the death!"

Too late Jen realizes that the heat of her temper has mastered her once again. She breathes deeply and tries to regain control. "Ah, I beg your majesty's forgiveness for speaking out of place, but my offer remains. If thou wouldst refuse it, I shall indeed return to Artol and trouble you no more."

[Anactoria IV]

Anactoria eyes narrowed, and her mouth opened to do just that - command Jennifer back to her homeland with all haste, but her mind caught up with her mouth before she could say something she would regret.

"Anactoria the woman hath dismissed me already for my low station. She mistakes love of family for love of money and power."

The tension on her face relaxed, and was replaced with a hesitant look. Was Jenn right? Has her hyper-villeinage, her desire not to be taken advantage of led to her see opportunists where none existed? Had not Azhani broken into her room and plead a similar case of desperation? What made her more believable than the woman before her now?

The answer came to her at once, and she did not like it one bit. It was a shallow, base answer, and not befitting of a woman of her station in the situation she was now in -- a situation entirely of her own making. It did not help that it was also the truth.

When Anactoria spoke again, her voice was calmer, and vaguely remorseful.

"I can count the number of people who would speak to me as you have today on one hand, and all of them are family," she said softly. "Yet sometimes truth has to be shouted to be heard. You have given me much to think on, Lady Minakawa. An important distinction that I fear I may have overlooked."

In that moment of consideration and indecision, the imperial princess, already a few inches shorter than Jennifer, suddenly looked a lot younger than her years.

[jennifer]

Jennifer felt certain that she would soon find herself riding home with naught but a sorrowful tale for all her effort. But something seems to have brought a change to the princess. At once Jennifer feels remorse for her harsh words, even though they seemed her only recourse. Not to mention that Jen could very easily have been thrown from the palace at the first sign of a raised voice to the crown princess! Such a close shave indeed.

but then, maybe it isn't all bad that Anactoria likens Jen to her close family. And for the first time, Jen sees a glimpse of the weight of the crown on this woman. She would like to put her hand on the princess's shoulder if it were at all permissible. Jen's own face relaxes and her eyes meet Anactoria's as she speaks.

"If there is fault, it would lie with me. Wrath is a poor herald for truth, if truth indeed was in my words. It would be a great honor to learn more of Anactoria the woman, if she would teach me. Your majesty's plan has the sound of wisdom in it. One cannot learn the heart of a person in one day except, perhaps, by some great crisis. So I will wait, and pray that your highness keeps patience with me." Even though her audience was not necessarily over, Jen feels as though she has passed through a trial, though if so it would likely be the first of a great many.

[Anactoria IV]

"The saying is accurate," Anactoria said as she straightened . "The truth does set you free. But only because it burns away at what binds you."

It took a moment of effort, but the imperial princess soon regained her regal air, shoulders back, posture perfect, face a patient mask. "Lady Minakawa -- Jennifer -- I appreciate your honesty, even if its delivery rankled at first. So long as you remain so honest with me, I promise to maintain patience with you." The smile she offered with her words was smaller than the one she had flashed when Jen had first arrived, but no less heartfelt.

Anactoria retruned to the table, finally slipping her shoes back on. "I am afraid I must cut this meeting short, however. There are... considerations I need to reexamine. Paths I have taken that need to be questioned. I look forward to speaking with you again, but I am afraid you must excuse me for the time being."