The girls spent an hour trying to get me to dance. I'm not graceful and I'm pretty sure that Calista loved every minute of my fumbling and bumbling. Alina, Cali and I finally, aimlessly, found our way out to the terrace that led into the royal gardens. It felt like home to be hanging out with these two.
"Jack, you are beyond help." Cali punched my arm as we descended down into the gardens
"I will be surprised if that one fall didn't end up in a bruise" Alina admitted.
"If the fall did not leave a mark, Cali's fist might." I jokingly rubbed my arm and was met with generous laughter.
"I cannot wait till the party tonight!" Alina's excited glow could not be extinguished, even by my fumble footed attempt at movement.
" Hoping to dance with someone besides Jack?" Cali pointedly laughed. We all joined in.
" Actually, yes. I am looking forward to dancing." Alina avoided Cali's gaze leaving me to do Cali's dirty work.
" You know Cali will not leave you alone with that answer." I warned.
"You bet I won't! Who, pray tell, are you looking forward to dancing with, Your Highness?" Cali teased and flourished her question with a curtsy.
Alina hesitated. Something was difficult to express. "Well my parents danced on my Mom's eighteenth birthday. Maybe I could keep the tradition going?"
Cali was not as quixotic. Yet she seemed to appreciate Alina's romantic tendencies. "That would be a lovely tradition."
"Glad we got you out of class so that you could practice with me before you meet your future husband tonight." I joked.
"I cannot believe my parents hired that professor." Alina confessed in a slightly agitated tone. "Do you remember the poem from the Battle of the Forging of the Four Swords? The one that set Ensis free?"
" Every primary school child knows that poem." Calista uninterestedly retorted.
"I swear he makes me recite it every day!" Alina complained.
Dramatically I wanted to entertain. "You mean this poem?" I cleared my throat and pretended to throw a cape over my shoulder, stopping the girls in the middle of the rose garden "The eighteenth year had been marked, a new dawning of the same. Betrayal and doubt then sparked, her country no longer tame..."
"Oh good! Jacobson is finally graduating from the primary levels of education! Only took him till, what? 16?" I was rudely interrupted by Sir Carrion, Lady Calista's twin brother. Although they both celebrated their 18th birthday earlier this year in the spring, he seemed older. Donned in black breeches and doublet, he seemed decidedly poised to take on anything.
"Carrion always knows how to keep me humble! Glad I could graduate out of primary, just before he could matriculate. I unashamedly needed someone to show me the way." I smiled and took the jest in good spirits. If the future held what our fathers wanted it to, at some point we would be brothers-in-arms.
Alina and Cali both chuckled loudly at the sparing. This was the best way I knew how to spar. No fists. No swords. Nothing but words. Clauses. Phrases. I could hold my own here, except maybe with Cali.
"Fair enough." Carrion did not enjoy the banter as much as I did. "Cali, Father sent me for you. He wants you home before the princess's birthday. I think he has something for you."
Cali accusingly shot a knowing glance toward Alina. "Does Father have something for me, or does he have something from you?"
Alina feigned innocence. "Whatever could you possibly mean?"
"If I get home and there is some monstrosity of a frock, I might not come back to this palace tonight." Cali hurriedly walked past her brother. I assume she thought that speed meant that fond farewells were optional. Carrion turned on his heel to follow her.
"You will love it!" Alina shouted apologetically after Cali. "You will see. She will. I better go get ready too. I will save that special dance for you Jack!" Alina's voice was trimmed with excitement. This was going to be the ball of the century.
I went home to wash up and found my uncle still training under my father's careful watch. The sword Capreolinae would most likely become my Uncle's duty next. Every clan had their own rules for how the sword was to be passed to the next clan leader. Capreolinae was passed to the next kinsmen that wielded the sword in battle or ceremony. Since my uncle and father were rarely apart, it was assumed by most of my clan that John was the next successor.
Luckily, I did not wait long before my father saw me watching.
"Jack! Back so soon?" As if cued, the town's chimes rang out quarter to 6. My father blanched. "I guess time got away from me." That was the only quality I seemed to inherit from my father. Whenever either of us is passionate about something, time seems to disappear on us.
As the rest of my family rushed to get ready, I walked the halls of our city home. I focused on the painting hanging crookedly in the front hall. I straightened the image. We had a manor outside the city walls that I rarely got to see anymore. This painting was from before I was born. My mother loved that land, however to me it seemed a hazy memory. She always looked at this piece longingly. I could hardly remember the last time I was there for any significant amount of time. Training always seemed to be at the top of my daily agenda.
As if my mother knew I was staring, she found me in the hall. I did not get to spend as much time with her as I used to. My two younger siblings took most of her attention. With age gaps of 10 and 12 years from me, they still needed most of my mother's focus. Her eyes drank in the painting for a moment before she quickly dispatched me to the waiting carriage. It was not in my family's nature to sit and dwell on things they wish could be. Well most of my family. As always, I seem to be the exception