Chapter 8
For the next couple of hours Laura, after she had taken a bath and changed into one of her new brown cotton pants and yellow shirt, spent time in the conservatory on the third floor. Normally attached to the side of a house, this conservatory took up most of the third floor and was breathtaking. While the third floor of the library took up one side of the third story, the rest of it was encased in glass which kept the interior warm, even in winter. She had wandered up here shortly after returning from the marketplace and after she had tried to find out whether or not the wizard had found out anything yet. However, the doors to the library had been locked and one of the servants had informed her that the master didn’t wish to be disturbed.
So she had come up to the conservatory, walked along a marbled pathway with cherry blossom trees grown in a way so that they arched over the path. There was a gazebo in the middle of the garden which boasted a variety of flowers though, she noted, there were no forget-me-nots. The gazebo was painted white and was raised so that those who sat there could have a better view of the sunroom. There were also a number of smaller gazebos in the corners which would give people a view of the city as well. Off to the side of the central gazebo was a small waterfall that fed into a tiny pond filled with carp. It was a very peaceful and Laura spent a couple of hours up there reading the book that the wizard had given to her.
However, restless with not knowing what kind of progress the wizard was making, she decided to go downstairs and see if she could help her hosts. While not wanting to see the prince, she had wanted to help and even offered to assist in the kitchens. But Kathleen shooed her away while thanking her for the offer but insisted that, as their guest, Laura should take it easy and enjoy herself. It was hard for her to enjoy herself knowing that her father was losing his memories. How she longed to fund Vasquez! If he was there in front of her, powerless, she would have done everything she could to force him to cure her father. Or at least tell her how to do it.
But before she could go downstairs to see if there was anyway she could help again, the sound of small footsteps reached her ears. The door to the conservatory burst open and through it came Diego and Jose who ran towards her when they spotted her still at the gazebo.
“Hey Lieutenant,” Diego said, reaching her first. “Guess what?”
“What is it?”
“The prince is here,” Jose said, preventing his older brother from delivering the news.
“I was going to tell her!”
Is that why the two of you are not in the smithy?”
“Uh huh,” Diego said, shaking his head up and down and speaking quickly. “Dad told us to wash up and get ready for dinner. The prince wasn’t planning to stay until Jose asked if he could find you and tell you to get ready for dinner. Hearing that there was a lieutenant here interested the prince and so my father had to tell him that you were here.”
Laura’s heart felt like it had sunk to the pit of her stomach at what Diego had just said. “Does that mean the prince will be staying for dinner?”
“Yep,” Diego said. “So we came to tell you that dinner will be served in thirty minutes. Right now, father is showing the prince his new weapon and then he will escort his highness over to the studio to try it out.”
“Thank you both for telling me,” Laura said. “I’ll go get dressed for dinner and will see you later.”
“You’re welcome,” the boys said in unison before taking off.
Laura made her way back to her room. She was not looking forward to meeting with the prince since he was staying only to see her. It could only mean trouble. The hatred and humiliation in his face was still seared into her memories when the king had commanded her to fight the sons of his nobles and his own son. She had been so determined to prove herself and win every fight that she didn’t think of the political ramifications should she win and how she won. For the prince, it was humiliating for him doubly so, because she had defeated him the quickest out of all the other boys. It was bad enough that she had defeated him. But how quickly the fight had ended added only more salt to the wound.
Almost. The temptation to go down to the studio and stand there watching him test his sword out was almost strong enough to make her do it.
Entering her room, she saw that the tailor had sent over her new jacket. Quickly she changed into her new outfit which consisted of black woolen pants, black riding boots, the white shirt with pearl buttons, and the burgundy jacket. The jacket fit her perfectly and, since the waist had been taken in, showed off her slight, hourglass figure. The tailor, being true to his craft and demonstrating his mastery of it, had also taken in the shoulders so the jacket would rest perfectly on her own rather than make her appear more broader than she really was. There would be no mistaking her for a man, even at a distance.
She made her way down to the reception and dining room, stopping along the way to check and see if the library doors were still locked. They were. The fire was roaring in the open fireplace and the aroma of food and spices reminded her that she had not eaten anything since breakfast. Kimiko was sitting in a chair, her black hair pulled back and up in the front, tied with a ribbon, while the rest of her long hair fell down her back and was tied with another ribbon.
“Good evening Lieutenant,” Kimiko said with a warm smile and looking resplendent in a red and gold Kimono. “You look very handsome in your new clothes! Though I still find it strange to see a woman in men’s clothing.”
“Good evening,” Laura said, returning the smile with her own while sitting in an armchair next to Alejandro’s wife. “You look radiant in that beautiful kimono. But I’ve been meaning to ask, but how did you and your husband meet?”
“He had come to Kyushu, an island southwest of Japan and one of the remaining islands after The Calamity. He was looking to establish a deal that would supply their blacksmithing business with gold that was being mined in the Hishikari Hills. I was the daughter of a miner in Kagoshima where the owners of the mine lived. Alejandro spotted me as I was walking across the street after purchasing some food to prepare dinner for my father. It was the first time I had seen a foreigner and here he was walking straight towards me! Bold as brass is what he likes to say. Yet there he was.”
Kimiko laughed softly at the memory, hiding the bottom half of her face behind a sleeved arm. “I couldn’t believe that he had approached me and just started asking for my name and if I would go out with him for dinner that very night.”
A nostalgic look came over the woman’s face as she continued, “My father was outraged when he had heard that a man had approached me. Until that point in time, none of the local boys had even dared to approach me because they were scared of my father. But Alejandro was not someone to be cowed. Especially not by someone who was shorter than him. Since you have met his brother, you can understand why. And we were married a week later and I came here to live with his family.”
Laura laughed at the idea of anyone trying to intimidate Alejandro. While he was not as broad as his brother, he was just as tall. Looking over at the woman, she noticed a slightly puzzled expression on her face. “Something wrong?”
“Not exactly,” Kimiko said. “When I first came to Burgos to live with my husband, we didn’t live here. Ignazio and his family, with the two of us, lived in a small house closer towards the poorer part of town. The Muldoons were not very friendly with us and preferred to live in this big house by themselves. They were very distant and only paid my husband and his brother as if they were journeymen rather than masters of the forge.”
“I would never have guessed,” Laura said. “It seems as if the entire family has always lived together under the same roof.”
“I think that is because of Mel. Ever since the Muldoons adopted him, they started to change. It certainly took us all by surprise when they brought him home with them. But the change became very noticeable, especially over the last couple of years before they passed away. They were very different people when we knew them. Before Mel came into their lives.”
“He is a good man?”
Kimiko nodded. “He is always happy to help when he can, though he tends to isolate himself a lot. But once you can find him, he will help without hesitation. Right now, for example, he hasn’t slept at all since he arrived back home. I don’t know what he is doing, but he is determined to find something.”
“I wish I could tell you,” Laura said while Kathleen and her two sons joined them around the fireplace. Kathleen was wearing an emerald green dress with pearl buttons while her two sons wore matching outfits of dark green pants and white shirts.
“Tell you what,” Jose said, giving Laura a questioning look.
“Nothing you need to know about,” Laura said.
“Awwww!”
“We were talking about how the Muldoons were very different before they adopted the wizard,” Laura said, talking to Kathleen.
“Why do you keep calling cousin Mel, wizard,” Diego asked. “Don’t you like him?”
“What is it with you two and that question,” Laura said, throwing a hand up into the air in exasperation. “I only met him for the first time a couple days ago. So I barely even know him!”
“But he keeps staring at you,” Diego said.
“Yeah,” his brother added.
“He does,” Laura said, an eyebrow arched. She had not noticed the wizard observing her in any untoward manner or lengthy amount of time other then when they first met. She found him attractive in a bookish sense, but she had never really giving the idea of a relationship any real though, not even with the wizard.
“Uh huh,” Jose said, his head bobbing up and down. “He was staring at you quite a bit at dinner last night.”
“He never even looks at that Asta for very long,” Diego added before his face became flushed. “That’s probably because you are amazing and she isn’t.”
“That is very kind of you to say so Diego,” Laura said, ignoring the wide, toothy grin on Jose’s face. “But I am sure that Asta has some good qualities too.”
“Yeah,” Jose said, as he moved his hands through the air outlining a figure. “She can fill out a dress…”
“Jose,” Kathleen said, the sharp tone in her voice instantly silencing her younger son. “That reminds me, Asta came over to visit earlier while we were out. She tried to see Mel who wasn’t allowing anyone in, so Ignazio invited her to dinner as a way to make up for his nephew’s bad manners.”
Hearing this, both boys groaned and Diego started to bat his eyelids in an exaggerated fashion at his younger brother and said in a high falsetto tone, “Oh Mel, will you come have dinner at my place?”
Meanwhile, Jose was mimicking his cousin by pretending to read a book and ignoring his older brother.
Before they could start laughing at their silliness, their mother gave them the look and they instantly stopped. They were now sitting straight up in their chairs, though their eyes sparkled with laughter.
Kathleen rolled her eyes and said, “Those boys will be the death of me. Laura, I do apologize for…”
Before she could finish her apology, the front door had been opened and a group of people started to walk in, talking and laughing. Sebastian the manservant walked into the reception room and said, “His Royal Highness Prince Ferdinand and guests!”
Everyone in the room instantly stood up; the women curtsying and the boys bowing at the waist. Laura, as a soldier, came to attention, snapping her heels together and standing up straight, her shoulders up and slight back. As the prince walked into the room, her right fist thumped against the middle of her chest as she saluted, leaving her fist there and staring straight ahead, not looking at anyone but staring off into space. Her heart was pounding rapidly and the adrenaline was pumping as if she was getting ready for a physical confrontation.
Shortly after the manservant had announced them, Prince Ferdinand walked into the room. He was five feet, ten inches tall with shoulder length, jet black hair that was curly, dark eyes, and a slim figure. He was handsome and was sought after by every eligible woman in the kingdom but, as of yet, had not married and had no heirs of his own. It was well known that the king has been pressuring his son to marry and produce some heirs, but to no avail. The prince was stubborn, arrogant, and spoiled. Rumor was that the prince was avoiding marriage just to spite the king. While the king had a younger brother who had children, he was only a half-brother and should succession fall upon him, if the prince were killed and the king could produce no further heirs, such a shift would cause civil war. Many of the nobles would not wish to serve an illegitimate son of the previous king.
The prince was wearing a rich black, red, and gold ensemble. Black pants with a red stripe running down each lege with gold stitching bordering the lines, a red shirt with gold stitching and sable lining the collar and sleeves, a black fur cape with red lining on the inside, and his new sword hanging from his belt. He removed his cape and detached his sword, handing them over to Sebastian who bowed.
“Madames,” the prince said, his voice oozing with charm as he performed a slight bow towards Kathleen and Kimiko as Ignazio and Alejandro walked over to their wives. His walk, mannerism, and speech all attested to a life spent being trained as the son of royalty. “Thank you for inviting me into your home. I am honored to be a guest under your roof.”
“Lieutenant Forsythe,” he said. There was a hint of disdain as he addressed her by rank as he gave a curt nod of acknowledgement in her direction. “I see you are still pretending to be a man.”
The offhand remark ended in a slight sneer as Laura said without hesitation, “Not at all your highness. Though I see his highness is unable to differentiate between the two.”
It had been a foolish thing to say and she knew it. She went from standing at attention to standing at ease while a collective gasp of shock emanated around the room with Kathleen shooting a look at her sons to not do or say anything.
The gasps had been more pronounced from the small group of people who had entered with the king. Two men and two women all in their mid twenties.
“The insolence,” said a blonde-haired man who was a couple of inches taller than the prince.
“Don’t worry yourself Sergio,” the prince said to his blonde-haired companion before addressing everyone. “Allow me to introduce Sergio and Jacobo, my companions and the sons of the DUke of the Yellow Sea Region and their wives.”
The Ducal family controlled the entire coast along the Yellow Sea which included the town of Barbate and the Inn of the Rising Sun. Sergio was the oldest while his younger brother, Jacobo had brown hair and eyes and was the same height as the prince. The brothers wore matching outfits of dark blue velvet pants and jackets. Their wives were also color coordinated in their clothing. An oriental woman, who was introduced as Sergio’s wife named Hui, wore a dark blue hanfu with yellow trimming while the Murcian woman, named Valentina, wore a dress that bared her shoulders.
As Hui was introduced, she bowed to Kimiko who returned the gesture. Like many of the countries on the continent of Fistfall, the Asian countries had merged to form the kingdom of Panasia after the Great Calamity had occurred.
“I must say Forsythe,” the prince said. “I’m surprised to see you here. Why is that? And why are you not in your uniform? Last time we met, you were determined to be a part of the military, yet here you are not even wearing the uniform.”
“I am on leave your highness.”
“Then what are you doing here,” he said.
As she was about to try and evade answering, the sound of the library door closing was heard and Mel walked towards the group. He had a smile on his face as he glanced over in Laura’s direction. His hair was disheveled, and there were bags under his eyes from a lack of sleep as he said, “I have got it! I have got it! I…yie yie yie….”
The sentence died away as he noticed the prince standing there, a questioning look upon his countenance while Mel’s face had gone white. The wizard quickly performed a bow towards the prince and said, “My apologies your highness. I was not aware that you were here. Mel Muldoon at your service. Welcome to my home.”
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