Pawns and Queens--A 15th Century Gwynedd Story--Chapter Ten

[Demercia]

A wonderful chapter thank you.  Among other things it helped me to be more appreciative of Soraya and Uthyr's perspective in not allowing Nicholas to marry Mesalinde.  It's hard to see how she could have carried out the essential courtly and diplomatic role that we see Catalina excelling in here, even if she had the skills and the training she doesn't have the rank to pull when necessary.  And though she would have it by right of marriage that may not always be enough.  I suspect that once she gets over her annoyance Soraya is likely to be grateful that at last she has a daughter in law who can share some of the burden. And poor Nicholas, not only does he seem set to end up in love with both Mesalinde and  Catalina, they both offer him things he needs but almost impossible to combine in one woman. I also wonder if some of his uneven emotional development comes from growing up as the Spare, and then having not so much to step as leap up as the Heir, with on his other side a younger brother who grows up to be assured as to his own role and calling.

[Demercia]

Not to mention, that, judging by scene in the chapel there are times when Camber  could cheerfully resort to physical violence with Nicholas.  Except that keeping Nicholas alive and healthy is entirely in his, Camber's, own interests. I can imagine that for all his sympathies with Nicholas there are times when Camber can't help remembering how much more difficult Nicholas' troubles could make his own life.

[Evie]

Thank you, every Monday and Thursday I suffer from a kind of jet lag as I sit down to breakfast in anticipation of a new chapter and remember that I have to wait for the USA to catch up with the sun!  Grateful you are not in the West Coast, Evie.

LOL! Well, you might be in luck. My DH needs me to drop him off at the airport tomorrow around 4 o'heck in the morning, so since I've got a spin-off story draft set up and ready to launch sometime tomorrow morning, that one might actually have some hope of reaching you in time for breakfast, at least if by "breakfast" you actually mean "later morning breakfast" or "brunch" rather than "ready and waiting right at sunrise, UK Time."   

[JudithR]

By second breakfast perhaps?  Really enjoying this story and rapidly becoming a Catalina fan.

[Evie]

A wonderful chapter thank you.  Among other things it helped me to be more appreciative of Soraya and Uthyr's perspective in not allowing Nicholas to marry Mesalinde.  It's hard to see how she could have carried out the essential courtly and diplomatic role that we see Catalina excelling in here, even if she had the skills and the training she doesn't have the rank to pull when necessary.  And though she would have it by right of marriage that may not always be enough.  I suspect that once she gets over her annoyance Soraya is likely to be grateful that at last she has a daughter in law who can share some of the burden. And poor Nicholas, not only does he seem set to end up in love with both Mesalinde and  Catalina, they both offer him things he needs but almost impossible to combine in one woman. I also wonder if some of his uneven emotional development comes from growing up as the Spare, and then having not so much to step as leap up as the Heir, with on his other side a younger brother who grows up to be assured as to his own role and calling.

Ideally, being a queen in training would start at a very young age, not in the teen years. Alixa has had a very late start in it, and is just now, after seven years, able to take on some of the responsibilities, but she has also been hampered by having to serve as Cinhil's primary caregiver while also trying to learn what she can from Soraya, who is extremely good at the job but not the best at patient coaching so much as just teaching by example. Now that Catalina is also there, Alixa should make even faster progress (especially, sad to say, once Cinhil is no longer around and she can devote more time and attention on catching up in the areas where she still feels inadequately trained).

Mellie could have been caught up with things at least in terms of being given an adequate enough education, since as a royal ward since late childhood, she would have already had some of the foundation laid by being raised alongside the royal children. But as you point out, she wasn't born a King's daughter, and that also matters. It's one of the few areas where Alixa, as horrible as her childhood was at Renier's court, still has some advantage that Mellie lacks.

Re: Colin's emotional development, I think that is due to being in the center of a perfect storm of conditions. He is the 'spare,' as you point out, but he also has a personality type that almost guarantees he will butt heads with his mother a lot, being much more of a feelings-led romantic idealist than a pragmatist, but having an equal amount of stubbornness and strong will to bring to the table. He has the misfortune to be very similar in that (but only in that) to Soraya's father, which adds to Soraya's fears that Nicholas will be the black sheep of the family and a ne'er-do-well who turns out just like the late King of Fianna, favoring his illegitimate family while his legitimate family ends up unwanted and unloved just like she was as a child. Plus, in an effort to please her father and grow up loved by him (which never happened), Soraya grew up to be a bit of a perfectionist, and quite likely had little patience with a rough-and-tumble little boy who got into mischief and scrapes and then later grew up to be openly defiant, following his heart rather than doing his duty as he was raised to do. Colin, on the other hand, likely figured he was never going to manage to be perfect enough to please Maman, so if he was going to end up with his parents displeased with him anyway, he might as well earn their displeasure "good and proper."

Also, Colin would have grown up never really expecting to inherit the throne. Cinhil was healthy in his childhood and early teen years. So Colin would only have started to realize there was a high possibility he would be King someday after he had already fallen for Melisande, possibly not even until after he already fathered Balian. His dream of eventually being left alone to have a happy life with his little family would have died a very painful death then, but he's tried to deal with that pain by being in denial about it as long as he could, because as painful as it is to be the Heir, training all one's life to eventually be King but knowing that won't happen until your father dies, Colin has had the shock of realizing from his late teens that he will likely be King someday, but he'll have to lose his father AND his brother in the process, and when it happens he knows deep down he's likely to also lose the happiness he's found with Melisande. For a while, he would have had the hope that at least Cinhil might have a son, which would mean he'd only need to be Regent, but with each passing year, that hope dwindled as well. (Come to think, that might have also played a small part in Uthyr not simply ordering Colin to end his relationship as well. As King, he would know how heavy the burden of kingship is and that if Cinhil was still alive to bear it after him, that wouldn't be for very long, so once he realized Colin truly loved Mellie, he quite likely reasoned "Let him enjoy his happiness with her while he can, since he's eventually going to have to give her up no matter what, but the boy might as well have a few happy years before he has to take up his duties.")

Soraya might be frustrated at times by her daughter-in-law's refusal to just fall into line with her wishes, but make no mistake, she also has a healthy respect for her abilities and even the fact that Catalina is willing and able to stand up to her. It might be highly annoying at the moment, but that quality also means that Catalina won't be a pushover, and if she will stand up to Soraya when she feels that's needed, she will also stand up to Nicholas and make sure that alternate points of view are heard when that's required. Soraya just doesn't like being the person Catalina is pushing back against, but really, what sane person actually wants that? LOL!

Not to mention, that, judging by scene in the chapel there are times when Camber  could cheerfully resort to physical violence with Nicholas.  Except that keeping Nicholas alive and healthy is entirely in his, Camber's, own interests. I can imagine that for all his sympathies with Nicholas there are times when Camber can't help remembering how much more difficult Nicholas' troubles could make his own life.

They're brothers. They grew up very close to one another, but like siblings, they can also go for each other's throats on occasion, and again, there are sometimes frictions due to differences in personality. Camber is both a middle child (so therefore tended to get more overlooked that his older and younger siblings) but also a youngest son, having more freedom in his life choices than either of his older brothers and probably quite cheerfully taking advantage of that.

Unlike Father Duncan or the first Cinhil Haldane, he didn't become a priest because he has a deep yearning or burning call upon his life that wouldn't permit him to do otherwise. In his case, it was more a practical choice based on where his natural talents and aptitudes lie, plus him being the third son and needing some sort of logical career option for a royal prince who wasn't likely to ever inherit the throne. Don't get me wrong, he has a natural curiosity and love for learning that made him enjoy the academic life, and he has a genuine love for people and desire to help that lends itself well to providing pastoral care. It's just not the sort of vocation for him that he would find himself absolutely miserable if it was ever denied to him.

However, what would have made him miserable would have been being forced by royal duty into taking on duties that he doesn't enjoy, or marrying someone he didn't particularly know or like just to provide more heirs. He is profoundly grateful to be the third son because he's not likely to experience either of those fates. He's never likely to be King, nor is the fate of the Haldane dynasty likely to hinge on his ability to provide sons. I think he gladly let himself be steered into the priesthood once he got into his early teen years because he saw a lot of benefits to a vocation that would allow him to be genuinely useful while doing things he enjoys, and would allow him the freedom to decide for himself if he wants to marry or not, and to whom. Sure, it meant he would need to straighten up and fly right (Camber was a little girl-crazy in his early teen years), but by that time Colin was providing him with a front-row view of what can happen if you get too much in over your head with a girl, so he didn't require too much convincing to give curling up with good books rather than pretty girls a try.

Camber knows that Colin has spent the past few years trying to run away from his fate, but he also knows his brother well enough to know that Colin will step up and do the right thing when it is truly necessary. But he also knows how painful that is going to be for Colin, so I think he feels more sorry for him than truly angry.

By second breakfast perhaps?  Really enjoying this story and rapidly becoming a Catalina fan.

LOL! Maybe by second breakfast. Depending on how much of a rush DH is in to get to the airport, I don't know if I'll drop the link before leaving the house or after I've gotten back home and before I hop back into bed. But it will happen sometime on Saturday, and likely earlier than it would ever otherwise happen on a weekend morning when I'd much rather get a chance to sleep in! I'm glad you are enjoying Catalina. I started off this story thinking Colin was my protagonist, but I suspect Catalina just waltzed right in and stole the role from him. 

[DerynifanK]

I was thinking that Colin has been with Mellie 10 years and he is 27 so he would have been 16 or 17 when he felt he needed to rescue her when she was to be married to someone she didn't know and was terrified. The action of romantic and caring boy. No one could know the future then. I can see how Uthyr would have thought he would outgrow it.

[Evie]

I was thinking that Colin has been with Mellie 10 years and he is 27 so he would have been 16 or 17 when he felt he needed to rescue her when she was to be married to someone she didn't know and was terrified. The action of romantic and caring boy. No one could know the future then. I can see how Uthyr would have thought he would outgrow it.

IIRC, he's 26, but yes, he's been with her since he was 16 (and longer if you count several years of friendship first), and at the beginning of the story he is thinking they've been together almost ten years (their anniversary of consummating their relationship is later that year since the scene was in January). He was still only 17 when Balian was born. Mellie is younger than he is (somewhere between a few months to a year), so they were both at ages when a lot of young people fall in and out of infatuations frequently, though in their case it ended up being genuine love