Two Kingdoms 52 : An Education

[DoctorM]

TWO KINGDOMS 52: AN EDUCATION

This is the fifty-second part of an AU construction about a Gwynedd where the duel at Kelson Haldane's coronation went very differently indeed. We are now three years into the Gwynedd Wars-- Charissa's new kingdom at Valoret against the Haldanes in the south and the kingdom of Torenth in the east. This episode is set at about the same time as "Dragons". As always, comments and suggestions are very much appreciated.

*****

It's a cool, clear morning under northern skies, and right now it's beginning to occur to the Shadow Queen's Inquisitor of State that his own suite of skills may not quite reach to today's scenario.

His visitor is half swallowed up in the great chair across from Marc-Friedrich Aurelian's desk. The boy's face is tear-streaked, and he looks miserable and dejected. Aurelian has been Inquisitor of State for almost four years now, but right now he wishes Christian or the Queen could be here. He has a quick suspicion that his staff are amused by this and wondering if the Grey Death can deal with an unhappy child.

Aurelian arranges his face and tries to smile. "Young Coris," he says, "you've been crying. We're friends, you and I. You can tell me what's happened. Is it that bad?"

Brendan Coris shakes his head. "I'm not supposed to cry," he says. He waves a hand at the Marley arms worked into his jerkin. "That's what my father says. I'm a Coris. We're not supposed to cry."

"Everybody cries," Aurelian says. "Everybody needs to, sometimes. Even the Queen, I think."

The boy blinks. "Even the Queen?"

Aurelian puts a finger to his lips. "Yes. But don't tell anyone. That's a secret." He smiles again. "Now tell me what brings you here. And how did you get away from your tutor?"

Brendan looks half-ashamed. "I ran away. I climbed out the window and went down the roof into the courtyard." Half-ashamed, but half-proud, too.

Aurelian's heart plummets. He points one finger straight at Brendan. "Young Coris, that's...no. Don't ever do that again. If you'd slipped off and broken your leg— or your neck —the Queen and I would have to tell your parents, and I don't need that." He remembers to grin. "But...I'm thinking that Christian would tell you it was a silly thing to do...and then he'd whisper that it's impressive, you climbing around the palace rooftops. The Queen would, too. You'd make a good spy— I'd hire you for the Slayers anytime. Just bear in mind, though, what your parents would feel if you broke your neck. Now...why so sad, Brendan? What's happened?"

Brendan's face lightens a bit— the Inquisitor saying he'd be a good spy is no small praise —but then he shrugs and shakes his head again. "It's my mother. She's...angry and she's crying and I can't do anything. I hate that. I hate it when she's so sad."

"Why's she sad, Brendan?"

The boy is twisting his hands together. "There was a letter," he says. "My father writes her sometimes. He tells her when he takes forts or wins fights. She's proud of him, sometimes. This was from someone else, though. I don't know from who. It was about Father, and it made her cry. She threw things and she cried. Her ladies all came in and my mother read the letter to them and they were angry at my father, too. They were all talking in Bremagni, and I don't know enough Bremagni. They didn't want me to know, and I ran away."

Aurelian sits back. A letter to Richenda about Bran Coris, and the Duchess of Marley-and-Eastmarch in tears. This won't be hard to guess at, but it's going to be very hard to explain. "Do you remember anything from the letter?"

Brendan looks sad and helpless. "I don't know enough. I hate that. I knew some words. I heard nouvelle and I know that means new. My mother kept saying another word, but I don't know what it is. What's putain? I don't know that it is. All her ladies knew, but I don't, and I hate that."

Aurelian grimaces. "No," he says, "you wouldn't. It's not a word for you right now. A few years and you'll know. Just not right now. Trust me on that, Brendan."

So here we are, Aurelian thinks. It must be an old story for Marley's duchess, Bran Coris is out west on campaign, fighting the dukes of Claibourne and Cassan, and now he's found a new leman. Knowing Bran Coris, it might well be a pair of them. And someone helpful, someone who's a friend, has told the duchess all about it. There's a question here, of course. Is this nothing but domestic cruelty— maybe last month's discarded and angry bedmate? Is it something more subtle— maybe something done to keep Marley busy dealing with a wronged wife and her  angry family? He needs to consider that. The target here could be the Rheljan clan...who were now allies of the Shadow Queen, after all.

"I hate it when everyone's angry," Brendan says. "I hate it when my parents fight. My father and my mother yell at each other and I hate that. The Queen and my lord Kheldour don't fight like that, do they?"

"No," Aurelian says. He shakes his head. This is slightly safer ground, now. "No, they don't. Christian and the Queen never fight. They argue sometimes, but that's just about the best way to get something done." He smiles. "The Queen and I argue, too, sometimes. But it's just about how to get something done. We agree, Christian and Charissa and I, on what needs to be done. So we don't fight."

Brendan draws his knees up in the chair and rests his chin on them. "I want them to still love each other, my mother and my father."

Well, maybe it's not really safer ground. Aurelian is choosing his words very carefully for the boy. "Brendan, I think they do love each other. But when your parents were married, I think they each expected something very different. And now it's hard for them. But...they both love you. They both want you to grow up and be a duke."

The boy wraps his arms around his knees. "My mother says I'm not supposed to come see you. She says you're a monster and that you do terrible things to people. But you and my lord Kheldour...I can talk to you."

Aurelian nods. "Brendan, she's right about something. I'm the Queen's Inquisitor of State. I do do terrible things to people sometimes. The Queen is at war, and my job is to help keep her on the throne. Sometimes I have to find things out for the Queen, and I have to do terrible things. Your father is a general and he's supposed to be the best swordsman in all Gwynedd. He fights for the Queen with a longsword and a lance. I fight for the Queen with the things I learn and the things I know. One day you'll be a soldier and a general and you'll fight for the Queen, too. Then you'll know more about the things you have to do." He catches Brendan's eye. "You and I play chess and we talk. Do you think I'm a monster?"

Brendan shakes his head. "No... You're always nice to me.  But my mother says that you and my lord Kheldour and the  Queen are monsters and that you'll make me one, too."

Well, we're not on safe ground at all. Christian could do this. So could Charissa. Rizak or even Bishop Brechlin could probably do it. Aurelian opens his hands on the desktop. He takes a breath. "Brendan... Listen to me, now. I know how to talk a Haldane lord into coming over to the Queen's side. I know how to talk an enemy spy into telling me everything he knows. But talking to someone your age...that's not something I know much about how to do. Do you want me to talk to you like I'd talk to Christian or the Queen?"

The boy nods and sits up straight. "You won't lie to me? My mother says that you and the Queen and my lord Kheldour don't really like me, that you just want to make me a monster."

"No, I won't lie to you. You have my word on that— my word as an Aurelian of my city. Young Coris, your father is the Queen's captain-general and the greatest nobleman in the new kingdom. He has his own army and he's winning victories for the Queen. One day you'll be a duke and a great magnate. Of course we want you to like us, the Queen and Kheldour and I. We want that a lot. But Brendan...if you were just some arrogant brat, you'd never be here in this office. We'd send you a gift at your birthday and for Christmas or New Year's, but you'd never be here to talk to me. Not ever. You'd never go riding with Christian or get to spend time with the Queen. But you're going to be a fine duke— you're smart and you're brave and you want to learn all about the world. If the Queen has a daughter, you could marry her. One day I might be Inquisitor working for you. So we want you to know us and we want you to be the best lord in the kingdom. We want House Coris with us, yes, but we all like you a lot."

Brendan Coris is looking down at the floor. "My grandfather says the Queen is scary, but he says she's brave and she's willing to fight King Wencit. He says she's not a monster."

"Oh, she's scary sometimes. She's good at that. But, Brendan...do you know the Queen's little dogs?"

Brendan breaks into a smile. "The beagle puppies! Yes! They're wonderful."

Aurelian smiles back. "When I was your age, people told me that animals know a lot more about people than we think. Dogs and cats and even ponies— they know all about people. If the Queen really was a monster, her little beagles would know. Ask your grandfather about that."

Brendan nods and looks solemn. "I don't want you to be monsters, you and the Queen and my lord Kheldour. I like being here. You tell me things and no one is crying or yelling."

"Wait 'til you start beating Christian at backgammon."

"My lord? May I ask you something important?"

"Always."

"Am I really Deryni?"

Aurelian nods. "You are. Your family will teach you about that soon enough."

"I asked my mother. She says I have to wait. My father hasn't said anything, but everyone tells me he's not Deryni. My grandfather says I need to start learning."

Aurelian turns a hand over palm up. There's a pale green glow forming in his cupped hand. He watches Brendan's eyes grow big. "In my home city," Aurelian says, "I was maybe a year or so older than you when I started  my lessons."

"My lord...if I'm Deryni, can I still be a brave knight?"

"Your father's a brave knight, Brendan. You can be like him, Deryni or not."

"Can I be like you and my lord Kheldour?"

Aurelian sighs. "I'm not a knight, Brendan. In my home city, we don't have knights. I'm an Aurelian, and we're a very, very old family in my city. We've been city nobility for maybe seven hundred years. There's never been a city noble at home who ever felt that he was less than a knight or a terrafirma lord, not even a little bit. I'm a younger son, and I never have. The Bremagni made me a lord for my lifetime, and they haven't taken that from me yet. The Queen made me a duke, too. But I'm not a knight."

Brendan is blinking. "Is my lord Kheldour a knight?"

Aurelian grins and shakes his head. "Christian's family are eastern. Knights aren't all that common out in the East. The Falkenbergs keep up eastern ways. So Christian became a lord when his father died, but he's not a knight. He's a prince now, because of the Queen, but I don't think he's ever cared about being a knight."

"But I can be a knight?"

"Yes. Of course. When the time comes, Christian and I will be there to watch you knighted. I promise you that."

"And I can be Deryni, too?"

Aurelian nods. "Knight, Deryni, duke. You'll be all of it." He holds out his hand. "This is something the Queen would do, and it's very much something Christian would do. Put your hand out."

Brendan extends his arm and holds it over the desktop. Aurelian is holding the boy's gaze. There's green light in his palm, and the light slowly flows out across the space and becomes a ball in Brendan's palm. The glow from the ball of light surrounds Brendan's hand. Aurelian can hear Brendan trying not to gasp.

Aurelian closes his own hand and withdraws it. The light stays around Brendan's hand and pulses and then fades away. Aurelian holds up a finger. "Shhh. You can tell the Queen or Chrissy.  But don't tell your mother— or your father. You're Deryni, young Coris, and one day you'll be very good at it— like the Queen."

The Grey Death looks at his hands. "Brendan, remember this. You're not a monster, and no one else can make you one. All the things Christian and the Queen and I want to teach you— nothing is about making you a monster. You can always come here to me, and I know Christian and the Queen feel the same way. We'll answer your questions and we'll teach you things. We'll never ask you to do anything against your honour. We'll never ask you to betray family secrets. Never. We'll never try to turn you against anyone who isn't trying to hurt you— or trying to hurt the Queen. You have a whole lifetime in front of you, and we want you to be a fine duke. Your family wants that, too. Remember this, too— the Queen and Christian and I all think your mother is wrong in what she thinks about the Queen and the new kingdom, but we'll never do anything to her. She's wrong about things, but she's not our enemy and we're not hers. Just remember that."

Brendan sits back in the huge chair. He looks around the Inquisitor's office.  "My lord...I know I have to go home, but can I stay for just a little while longer? I feel safe here."

Aurelian  nods. He reaches for one of the drawers in his desk. "I have a chess set here, young Brendan Coris. I bought it in Finisterre in Bremagne. That's where my lordship is. It's black and red, this set, not black and white. I have time for a game or two...and you need to learn a lot more about what to do with your rooks." He brings the box up onto the desktop. "But if we're going to work on that, we're going to do it in Bremagni. Let's work on your languages."

[Jerusha]

Ah, Aurelian, Queen's Inquisitor, trying to cope with a very bright child. I think he did well, though I think Christian will have a good laugh at Aurelian's expense when he hears about it.

So very well done, and thanks the nice Aurelian treat!

[DoctorM]

Ah, Aurelian, Queen's Inquisitor, trying to cope with a very bright child. I think he did well, though I think Christian will have a good laugh at Aurelian's expense when he hears about it....

So very well done, and thanks the nice Aurelian treat!

I think he did very well, and I think Christian and the Queen will have a lot to say about it...and will have a few tongue-in-cheek moments.

[DerynifanK]

Thanks for this. I enjoyed the interaction between Brendan and Aurelian and I can appreciate his concern about trying to deal with a very bright and unhappy child. I think he did well but I still feel bad for Richenda. She must feel like she's trapped in a nightmare that keeps getting worse and that she has no support or help, not her family, certainly not her husband (who I always thought was a rat), no one. So sad.I can understand why she thinks Charissa and the others are trying alienate Brendan from her.

[DoctorM]

Thanks for this. I enjoyed the interaction between Brendan and Aurelian and I can appreciate his concern about trying to deal with a very bright and unhappy child. I think he did well but I still feel bad for Richenda. She must feel like she's trapped in a nightmare that keeps getting worse and that she has no support or help, not her family, certainly not her husband (who I always thought was a rat), no one. So sad.I can understand why she thinks Charissa and the others are trying alienate Brendan from her.

Brendan is in an awkward position, and will probably grow up conflicted about his parents and about what's expected of him, even though he has the intelligence and determination to be a good duke.

Richenda's position is worse, especially now that her father has made a political choice she hates. I do think the Queen and her inner circle may try to offer some sort of olive branch, if only for Brendan's sake.

[DerynifanK]

Somehow Chrissie as a name for Christian doesn't feel right. Sounds too much like a girl's name. Even just Chris would sound better I think but that's just me.

[DoctorM]

Somehow Chrissie as a name for Christian doesn't feel right. Sounds too much like a girl's name. Even just Chris would sound better I think but that's just me.

Christian succeeded his father as Lord Falkenberg when he was barely fourteen, and he took his people out by himself as mercenary light-horse the first time when he was just turning eighteen. He acquired his nickname by being very young-- Chrissy is something older and more cynical troopers probably started using behind his back. (Of course his Gordon cousins use it, too) He probably didn't (and doesn't) like it much, but he's used to it, and it's been picked up by a lot of people around him. And of course Charissa uses it for him, too.If she likes it, well...he's okay with the name. (She's Cara or Rissa to him)