Rain and Mud

As the group prepares to leave for the Valley of Helios, Lysa hears from those who don't approve of her serving as Aaron's squire.

3.

Rain and Mud

 

It was raining heavily the following morning, but Lysa had everything ready in the stables before anyone else arrived.   After Allea had cast the Temporal Stasis spell upon Mew, they had placed the Talminor woman to bed.    The spell seemed to have turned the dying woman into a statue.   Her skin was warm, but she did not move or even breathe, and Allea assured Wulf-wuf and the other Talminor that she would be unharmed by the spell.

But of course that had meant that she would not be able to ride a horse, so Lysa had found and rented a covered wagon to carry Mew and the other Talminor as near to Helios’ valley as the mountain road would allow.

 

She was feeding Aaron’s warhorse, her own mount, as well as Allea’s beautiful white mare, when the barn door swung open and the hulking form of her brother, Bruce, the Captain of the Queen’s Honor Guard, came inside, flinging his hood off as he entered.

“It will be terrible weather for travelling, Lysa.”   He told her with a scowl.   It was the same tension between them.

“Please don’t start again, Bruce.   It’s early and I really don’t want to set out on a journey in the rain fighting with my brother.”

“I’ve said all I need to say about this crazy squire role, Lysa; you know I think it is ridiculous for an Orc to serve under a Half-Elf Paladin.   Our place is in the Queen’s Guard.”

“Well, I am helping Duke Aaron, you know.    Who do you think got all of this ready for our ride?   I’ve been up for three hours already.”

“Yes, and I am not begrudging squires, sister.   But you are a Guardsman, like our father and grandfather before us.    You will make people uncomfortable as Duke Aaron’s squire.”

“Oh, who?”  She asked, stung by his words.

“Aaron will lose face in the eyes of his peers, Lysa.   A female squire is scandalous enough, but an Orc woman as well will shock everyone.”

“He requested me, Bruce.    Should I have told him no?”

“He was vulnerable, Lysa; his parents had just been killed.   Now he has Allea for a… companion.   He is just too chivalrous to tell you.    Instead, he will keep his promise.   It would probably greatly relieve him to have you step down as his squire, and it certainly would comfort Lady Allea.    She does not like the situation, Lysa.”

Lysa smiled as she saddled Griz, “Oh, I know that, Bruce!   I would imagine that everyone knows that she hates me.   She used to not have anything against me.   But when I began speaking to Duke Aaron, she quickly began acting cold.    I can’t understand why.”

 

Bruce snorted, “You can’t understand why?  For Heaven’s sake, Lysa, I can even tell you why!   She is a woman in love with Duke Aaron and you are another woman vying for his time and attention.”

“Bruce, he treats me no differently than he would a male squire.   I am absolutely no threat to Lady Allea.”

“That is obvious to us and to Aaron, but Allea is threatened by you, sister.”

“If she would stop and think upon it, she would realize eventually that her worry is mislaid.”

“That may be true, but if she doesn’t stop and ponder it, she will continue to look at you as a rival."

“That’s absurd!”

“Nonetheless, that is what she will think of you.   We have had a good relationship with King Eleazar and Queen Aurei, and Allea is the Queen’s cousin, so consider that.”

“What do you want me to do, Bruce?   It might also be disrespectful to just abruptly quit as his squire.”

The large Orc sighed, then nodded, “Perhaps so, but you could do so after this mission.”

Lysa shrugged, “I will consider it, Bruce, but for now I need to focus on making preparations."

“I’ll leave you to it, then, but just give serious consideration to all that I’ve said.    I’m watching out for you, Lysa, even when you don’t appreciate it."

“I do appreciate it, Bruce, but you need to realize that I am not a silly child.   I can make wise decisions as well.”

“That is what I am counting on, sister.    May Yesh bless those on this mission of mercy.”   Without saying another word, he slipped out of the stable, throwing his hood up over his head.

 

***

An hour later, she took the wagon over to servant’s entrance to the ducal keep and helped Wulf-wuf and the other three Talminor men load up the ‘frozen’ form of Mew into the wagon.    She had them join Mew in the back and gave the reins to Wulf-wuf.

“I’ll be riding my own horse.”  She explained to him, and then raced through the rain and mud back to the stable to fetch it.

As she threw the stable door open and rushed inside to get out of the rain, she found a figure with red glowing eyes waiting for her.   Lysa cried out in surprise, but then realized it was Allea, standing in the dim light of the stable, and she seemed to be waiting for her.

“Good morning, Lady Allea.    You surprised me.”  She greeted her, sensing the Half-Drow’s dark mood at once.

“Lysa, I wanted to speak to you, privately, before anyone else arrived.”    Allea flatly said to her without a hint of any emotion.

“The Talminor are already in the wagon and are waiting outside of the ducal keep, Lady Allea.”

“This won’t take long, Lysa.”

“Oh… alright, go ahead then.”

 

Allea swallowed as if very nervous, took a deep breath and then just flatly said, “I don’t think you should be Aaron’s squire.”

“That makes two of us.”   She responded, and Allea was completely taken off guard by her response.

“What?”  She said.

“I don’t think I should be Duke Aaron’s squire either.   In fact, my brother just left here a short time ago and he also doesn’t think I should be his squire, so that makes three, I guess.”

Allea was quickly reforming the ‘speech’ that she had prepared and paused for a moment to rethink her words.   Lysa decided to make it easy for her.

“Lady Allea, I plan on speaking to Duke Aaron about stepping down as his squire - after we get Mew and the Talminor to that pool, of course.”

Relief was evident on the Half-Drow’s face, but there was also a hint of guilt, so she tried to improve the situation, “I think that is most wise of you, Lysa.    It’s nothing personal, you realize, but it is rather scandalous for a woman to serve as a man’s squire.   I was just talking to my father about it this morning and he agrees.”

 

Lysa doubted that Baron Alvis would say that, but Lysa certainly did not want friction with relatives of the royal family.    She had felt very unworthy anyway, so perhaps Bruce was right.

“I will wait until after this trip.”   She repeated, and Allea nodded, wanting to seem more compassionate now that Lysa had done what she wanted.

“Absolutely!    I think the Talminor find your presence comforting.    I’m sure my father could find a solution for your situation when we get back.”

“A solution for what?”   Aaron’s voice came from the door to the stable, causing both women to jump in surprise.

Lysa tried to think of a lie, but before she could say anything, Aaron spoke.

“I see that you found a wagon for the Talminor.    Good job, Lysa.”

“Thank you, my Lord.”

“You know, I was just talking about you to King Eleazar and Baron Alvis a few minutes ago.”   Aaron said to her.

“You were, sir?”

Aaron smiled, shot a quick glance at Allea and then looked back at the Orc lady, “Yes, indeed.   They both are extremely pleased with how fine of a squire you are.     Alvis told me that he thinks I am extremely blessed to have you serve me.    He said that you are a perfect match.   ‘You make a great team’, he said, and the King echoed his sentiment.   Obviously this is Yesh’s will.   Don’t you agree, Allea?”

He turned to the Half-Drow with a steely gaze.   Allea had her jaw set, but nodded, rather hesitantly.   

Lysa felt sick at her stomach.   She wasn’t going to come between them.   It wasn’t worth it.

“Um… My Lord?   I wanted to talk to you about that.    I’ve been thinking about it and-“

Aaron’s gaze now fell upon her, “Lysa, I certainly hope you are not about to make a suggestion that is clearly not Yesh’s will.    I want to make something perfectly clear to you and to Lady Allea.”   

“Regardless of what some rather uninformed people may or may not think, I am quite comfortable with an Orc lady as my squire.   I don’t make decisions without consulting Yesh and he confirmed my decision.  It is God’s will that you serve as my squire, Lysa.   After you have completed your training, his will is for you is to serve as a fully trained Paladin.”

“Now, I recall Reverend Mother Zeatt once saying that it is the most grave of follies to try to thwart the will of Yesh.   So if you have any doubts, Lysa, or if someone were to try to tell you that you have no business serving as my squire, remind them that you are doing the will of God.     That should end the debate for all sensible people.”

 

Aaron glanced at both of the women.    Lysa stood meekly, feeling extremely awkward and sensing Allea’s bruised ego from her boyfriend’s passive rebuke.  

“I’ll go check on the Talminor.”   Lysa softly said and she nearly ran out of the stable, to give the couple time to speak to each other.

Reviews

[Elina]

"...to as near to Helios’ valley as the mountain road would allow." It sounds a little odd with the double use of "to." Perhaps a bit of rewording?
" 'I’ll be riding my own horse.' She explained to him, and then raced through the rain and mud back to the stable to get her own horse." You may want to reword this, as it's sounds a bit redundant with using "own horse" twice.