Queensbride

Chapter Twenty Two - "In Which there is an Intermission."

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Okay, so this next chapter is short and a little tricky. I hope it works. I might attach it to the next one.

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Chapter Twenty Two - "In Which there is an Intermission."

The Queen found the girl’s embrace to be a balm on Her weary soul and Her court soon noticed the change in Her mood as the days progressed, but when they asked Her about it She merely cited the coming of spring.

It was taking its dear time returning to the wastes and Phi was constant in her search for a patch of green.

“Do You think it’s melted any further?”

The Queen sighed and tapped the chessboard between them.

“You were just at the window two hours ago. The next time you ask I’m going to take one of your pieces away. Most likely your knight.  It's pestering Me at the moment."

Phi tried to hide a smile of smug satisfaction but the Queen still saw it.

‘Cheeky. I should smack you for that,’ She thought, secretly pleased.

Phi’s game had improved so much that the Queen now set her against the nobles, as much for Her own amusement as it was for the girl’s sense of pride. While She had no personal quarrel with much of Her court, She found them altogether arrogant and couldn’t resist poking holes in their inflated egos. Educating Her street-born servant so she could publicly best them was now Her favourite method.

At first the Queen's efforts were hindered by Phi’s resistance to knowledge her subconscious didn't deem necessary, but the She soon found the girl would fidget and pick at things if not otherwise occupied, and so every day the Queen gave Phi a new book to look at during the morning session.

Phi found Her choice of subjects to be quite odd, as they were generally ones reserved for men, such as hunting, money, and weapons.

"Sidja, why did You give me a hunting manual? This is rather gruesome."

"Perhaps if you had known how to hunt, you wouldn't be so short. I'm sure a lack of protein is somewhat to blame."

"I... suppose... though I don't think I could actually kill something..."

"I thought you told Me once that you ate insects. I would say that counts." The Queen said, then immediately regretted it as a shade of grey crept across the girl's face. "The point is it would have served you well. There is no reason why you shouldn't learn such basic things."

Phi closed the book and looked through the rest of the pile the Queen had placed on the floor for her. "But this is all men's sorts of things. There's nothing here for ladies."

"Of course not." The Queen said coldly. "You already have a servant's education. I don't see a need to repeat it."

Once the Queen's father had surrendered to the fact that he would be born a son by his ailing wife, he decided to raise his only other child as one instead. It wasn’t until the Queen was older that She learned of the typical female education.

It sickened Her to think what could have been.

That one half of Her empire was kept intentionally ignorant seemed foolhardy at best, and once the Queen ascended the throne She called upon Her people’s warrior lineage to proclaim both genders of superior stock and therefore equally fit for positions within Her grand military. Her forces grew stronger with the addition of the eager female populace and its reputation attracted smaller countries willing to trade goods for its protection. Education by book and by sword was the law of Her land.

When the snow finally began to fade away the Queen took the girl outside for her sword fighting lessons, if only to keep her from constantly checking on the current state of winter’s demise.

“Tom once said that if you spell your name with an ‘X’, then you might as well not sign anything at all,” Phi said as she wrote various words in the melting snow with the tip of her sword. “Not that he could spell anything else but his name, but I thought it was rather important."

She carefully drew a ‘Φ’, another land’s equivalent to her written name that she had found in one of the Queen's many books.

The Queen looked impressed. “Clever girl. No one seems able to pronounce My name correctly, but it isn’t something often heard aloud. In fact, I’ve yet to hear you say it. I must not be trying hard enough. Maybe I need to use more candles..."

Phi looked up and saw the now familiar, happily distant look the Queen got when She was contemplating Her next plan of attack. The girl shivered, but from what she wasn't sure. After all these nights she still wasn't sure. The Queen had proven Herself a woman of frightening imagination and She had no reservations on testing Her many theories upon her. Sometimes they worked, sometimes they didn’t, and sometimes the Queen decided they worked even if Phi wasn’t in agreement. Yet whatever the outcome, Phi always received her healing embrace as promised, and as Spring finally took hold across the land, the Queen prepared to fulfill the girl's second wish.

 

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Remember, I still am answering reviews!

But you have to copy and paste this link to see them:

http://www2.adult-fanfiction.org/forum/index.php/topic/25243-queensbride-review-responses-and-other-such-things/

Post your reviews here, get your answers there! <3 I promise!