Hopeful Meetings

 

Taenya cringed. She collected herself, then took a deep breath and stared at the young girl next to her. Are all nine-year-olds like this? Are you courting death? What even is that? Taenya sincerely hoped that wasn’t a common phrase from Gwyn’s world. It was embarrassingly bad. She’d have to have a discussion with the girl later about proper ways to speak in public. Definitely, something for her tutor to help with.

She turned and watched as the Fenrens all circled their youngest and were quietly whispering threats at the boy. Looking at the princess, she noticed a slight smirk adorning her face. 

With a shake of her head, Taenya leaned toward Gwyn and addressed her, “Gwyn… You and I both know that was a poor choice of words.”

“He was quite rude!” She asserted. Gwyn started to say something else but then she stopped and seemed to consider. “But, maybe… you are right. Ugh. Alright.”

Gwyn and Taenya looked over at the family that was still in a heated conversation. Taenya watched as the princess walked up to them and spoke, “Mr. Onas? If Kalen doesn’t want to be here, it’s okay. I just wanted to meet your family. I was just kidding. He didn’t actually upset me.”

Taenya glanced at Keston and gestured with her head. “Come on, let’s go join in.”

Onas’s wife, Talani, smiled at the human girl. “Thank you for your understanding, Your Highness, and we apologize for any offense given.”

Keston laughed. “Ms. Fenren, I think I can speak for the princess when I say we’re all friends here. No need for excessive formalities.”

Gwyn quickly nodded. “Yeah! Mr. Onas, you said you’d have some food when I came over. Let’s grab some food and you guys can tell me all about what you do here. I can tell you about how great your dad has been.”

Taenya smiled. Kerala, Onas’ daughter and the oldest of his children, laughed. “Our father? He really was great? Now you must tell us all about it.”

“What? I am great.” Onas complained.

Talani patted her husband’s shoulder. “It’s okay, my love. You’re great to me.”

“Gross, mother,” the middle child, Relas, interjected with a cringe.

Taenya glanced at Gwyn and noticed she had a huge smile on her face. That was good. The girl needed positive moments in her life. Things would only get more and more difficult the longer it took to find the girl’s mother. 

Taenya looked at Onas and caught his eye. He tilted his head slightly and gave a slight nod, before speaking up, “Alright, why don’t we go and have our lunch? Afterward, we can discuss future plans. Such as the princess being enrolled in the Royal Academy!”

Gwyn’s face scrunched up, and they all started walking. “The Royal Academy? Like school? What about mom?”

“You’ll need to attend the Academy to assist with maintaining your House and to create connections. It will also protect you from anyone wishing to do you harm.” Onas explained.

“It’s really great to be able to attend the Academy, though, Your Highness. I only attend the Strathmore Ladies Academy. It’s much smaller.” Kerala added.

“But, what about mom?” Gwyn asked, different emotions playing on her face.

Taenya put her hand on the girl’s shoulder. “Onas and Siveril will be working together to search on your behalf. Your job will be to focus on being strong and making the House strong. Can you do that?”

Kerala stepped forward. “We will help you, Princess.”

Gwyn scrunched her face up. “Gwyn.”

Relas chuckled. “Yeah, we’ll help you… Gwyn.”

“Thanks, everyone,” Gwyn said, still seemingly sad.

The group walked into the room set aside for the staff to eat. They set an assortment of food options up on plates and trays on one of the tables, with some of the company staff ready to serve it. Kelan rushed over and grabbed a plate, then stood at the beginning of the line to get his fill. Taenya followed the princess as they both looked at all the options, and the knight couldn’t help but chuckle as she heard Gwyn whisper to herself about which items did not look appetizing. 

Talani clapped once, grabbing everyone’s attention. “Now, for now, let’s focus on what we can. Let’s eat!”

 

* * *

 

Siveril Norric stood next to Gwyn while they waited on the nobles and their daughters to arrive. It was the same ones that had been sitting and talking with the elf majordomo in the dining hall when she had arrived for breakfast. 

The old elf looked down at her and gave her a smile when he saw her fidgeting. “They should be here shortly, Your Highness.” 

Gwyn winced. She didn’t mean to fidget. It’s just so boring! If she knew how tough being a princess would be, she would have never joked about it. Now she had to meet three people who were going to follow her around and help her do everything. They apparently weren’t much older than her, so the jobs people who filled this role would be given to them as they grew up. Gwyn wasn’t entirely sure how she felt about that. The girls would be living in the house and would be for a very long time unless they did something that got them sent back to their families. 

Siveril had explained it all to her, and it was a ton of information. For example, the House had to allow at least one of them to visit their families on every holiday. I don’t even know the holidays here yet! 

She had already sat with Quinn again yesterday after getting home from Onas’ and it seemed to be focused more on her telling him what she knew and did for school. That turned into a conversation about the calendar. Everything is so different! 

One of the first things Mr. Branigan taught her was about the calendar. It was really strange. They didn’t really have months like back home. They simply split everything up by seasons. In the end, they simply had four big months; each represented by one of the four main gods–another weird thing that would take getting used to. They organized everything by weeks and there were nine week-long holidays spaced out within the months based on the minor gods. It was so confusing and Gwyn was sure she would need him to explain and show it to her some more before she finally understood it. 

She refocused on what was happening in front of her when the door opened and one of the guards walked in. The telv opened the doors wide and then stepped to the side. In walked the only female noble of the group that Gwyn remembered. She was an older elf, but looked younger than Siveril. With her was a girl who looked a bit older than Gwyn. She was only slightly taller than her, but her ears were long and sharply pointed. The girl’s light brown hair was long and braided in a very intricate weave that started on the top of her head. I would hate to sit through doing that. The Loreni girl had a soft face, and she looked very kind. I hope she’s nice.

The two walked up and performed a curtsy, to which Gwyn gave a slow nod of acknowledgment with her head. Siveril had reminded her what each noble’s names were and had whispered it into her ear as they walked in. Gwyn looked at the two as they stayed within the previous pose and greeted them as practiced, “Welcome to House Reinhart, Lady Olacyne. It is a pleasure to have you return.”

The older elf rose and addressed her and Siveril. “Thank you for having us again, Your Highness. Allow me to introduce my daughter, Lady Aleanora Olacyne.”

The elf girl raised her head and gave a slight smile. “It is my pleasure to meet you, Your Highness. Thank you for the honor of inviting me to your House.”

The older noble instantly gained a scowl on her face, and when Gwyn looked up at Siveril, she noticed that he too had a slight frown. Gwyn decided to be the nice one. She could understand not saying the correct things when everything had to be so formal. She smiled and greeted the girl as well. “Thank you for coming, Lady Aleanora. I look forward to talking with you! We will see if you can stay or not.” There! Nice and hopeful. Gwyn didn’t want to put Siveril into a situation where he had to say yes when he made the final decision. 

However, when she looked at the face of the girl, she didn’t see what she expected. The girl looked slightly scared, and Lady Olacyne’s eyes seemed to dart to Siveril as if she wanted to ask a question. Did I say something wrong? Gwyn looked up at the elf that helped manage the House and saw a smirk on his face. If he’s in a good mood, why are they looking scared?

Siveril lightly cleared his throat. “Lady Olacyne, please follow our staff to the hall. We will convene there and discuss, then the ladies and Her Highness can speak more.”

The lady in question nodded her head and whispered to Aleanora, causing the girl to stand up straighter before they followed the telv maid that was there to guide them. 

“Well said, Your Highness,” Siveril said quietly.

Gwyn leaned a little closer and replied, “I was just trying to be nice. I didn’t want to upset anything for you.”

Siveril paused and turned fully toward her and bent slightly to speak. “Your Highness, why would you think that anything you did would upset me?”

“Because you have to choose whether or not they join our House. Right?” Gwyn asked with a tilt of her head.

“Princess, the decision is yours. I am just here to assist and guide you.” 

“Oh. So, when I said that, she thought that I may not want her here?” Gwyn asked.

“I would not presume to know exactly what she thought, but to me, it seemed as if you were lightly rebuking her presumptions of joining the house. I commend you for how you handled it.”

Gwyn frowned. That hadn’t been what she wanted to do at all. She just nodded and turned back to the door as the next two entered. Gwyn and Siveril welcomed the two barons and their daughters, Ilyana Trenlore and Lorrena Urileth. After they were guided to the hall, Gwyn followed Siveril to meet them. Her mind was going over what he had said. He’s just here to help me? I really need to learn more about this princess thing.

As they walked into the hall, Gwyn saw the three adult nobles all gathered together and speaking. Taeyna was standing with them and speaking, and Sabina was over with the three girls talking. When they fully entered, everyone turned and waited for her. Gwyn groaned in her head, it was starting to be too much. Everything was so stuffy. If Siveril was being honest about helping me, then I also need to set some ground rules around this House. 

Siveral paused and Gwyn stopped next to him, which gave him the cue to address everyone present, “My Lady and Lords, allow me to welcome you again to House Reinhart. We are here to forge a connection between our Houses. I look forward to a long mutually beneficial relationship regardless of what occurs here today, though I have faith all parties will have a positive outcome. Now, without further ado, Her Highness, Princess Gwyneth Reinhart.”

Gwyn walked forward, and with a smile, gave a nod. “Like Ser Siveril said, welcome to House Reinhart! I look forward to getting to know all of you. Now, would you please join me for tea?”

There was a circular table set up to the side with four chairs and places set up for tea and some small cakes and bite-sized pastries. Gwyn was especially excited about those, however, she was not looking forward to how little she got to eat. Sabina promised she would sneak her some after, since the whole thing was just for show. It wasn’t time to fill herself up. 

The girls all walked to the table and shifted around to the chairs at the places designated by little cards that had their names written beautifully in Common on them. Still so weird. Gwyn went to her place and sat down. Once she did, the others sat down. 

Gwyn looked between the three girls. All three were high elves and Gwyn remembered that Mr. Branigan had explained that they were by far the most common amongst nobility in Avira. Many of the staff for the House were telv, and a few were even sun elves, but all the main people Gwyn interacted with were High Elves, except Taenya and Mr. Branigan, of course. Mr. Branigan had told her that the Kingdom of Meris and the Republic of Lymtoria were mainly filled with telv. Taenya even mentioned that her family was actually originally from Meris. Mr. Branigan was from the Kingdom of Rosale, where most of the sun elves were from. There was also an island kingdom southwest of them that had lots of sun elves.

Oops, got distracted again.

She focused back on the table. There was Aleanora Olacyne, the girl with the light brown hair she had met first. From what Siveril had told her, she would be the most likely person to be in charge of the other two. Yet, he did say it was her choice in the end. Aleanora was thirteen, and the middle-aged of the three. 

She glanced at the next girl, Ilyana Trenlore. At fifteen, she was the oldest member of the group. She was only about a head taller than Gwyn and had pretty blonde hair that was done up in a bun. Ilyana had really pretty eyes that were grey with a tinge of lavender in them, and her ears were a bit shorter than Aleanora’s. She also wore the prettiest dress in the group. It looked like a long white and lavender-colored spring dress that had lots of fancy patterns sewn into it. The girl seemed happy, but Gwyn had noticed her glance at Aleanora a few times with a look that was anything but. I know I would be upset if I was the oldest and had to listen to someone younger than me. 

The last girl was Lorrena Urileth, who was the youngest and seemed to be the happiest to be there. I’m going to have to give them nicknames. Their names are far too long. Lorrena had dirty blonde hair and hazel eyes, which Gwyn thought was fascinating just because she was the first elf Gwyn had seen with them. Being ten already, she was a little bit older than Gwyn. I should be turning ten soon! I need to talk to the others about that. Maybe they can help me figure it out. 

The girls looked a little hesitant to speak, so Gwyn decided to start. “It’s so nice to meet all of you! I’m Gwyn Reinhart,” she stated and brushed her hair behind her ear. “As you can see, I am what many have called terran… although, we also call ourselves human–which I am partial to. I’m not really sure how I ended up here, but I hope to make the most of it! Ser Siveril said that all of your families were trustworthy and that I could rely on you to help me navigate everything in Avira.”

She smiled and nodded toward Aleanora. “Could you start for us, Lady Aleanora? Maybe just talk a little about yourself and your interests? Then Lady Ilyana, and finally Lady Lorrena. Meanwhile, we can also start with some tea.”

The staff–Gwyn still wasn’t comfortable calling them servants–stepped forward and started pouring tea for each of them. After they served them all tea as they liked it, Aleanora introduced herself. “Thank you, Your Highness. I am Lady Aleanora, the third child of House Olacyne.” She shifted her gaze back and forth between the other two girls and continued, “I am sure you two have heard of it. I had been attending the Strathmore Ladies Academy, however, my family deemed this more important. I look forward to continuing my studies with your House tutors.” Aleanora finished and looked at Ilyana next to her. She lifted her cup of tea and took a small sip, letting it hover near her mouth as she waited for the next girl to start.

Ilyana dipped her head toward Gwyn and said, “I am honored to be here, Your Highness. As you know, I am Lady Ilyana of House Trenlore. I am the sixth child—”

“Hmph, sixth… House Trenlore sends someone so low?” Aleanora mumbled under her breath. 

Ilyana scowled at the elf next to her, but didn’t respond to the interruption and continued, “I am the third daughter of my family. However, the oldest is married and, while we have not made it public, the second daughter, Laura, just got engaged to be married.”

Gwyn smiled. “Oh! Congratulations to her! That’s lovely. Well, I am happy you’re here, Ilyana–excuse me, Lady Ilyana.”

“Oh, Ilyana is fine, Your Highness.” The elf quickly added.

“Wonderful! What are some of your interests?” Gwyn asked.

“Well, I enjoy dancing and painting mostly, Your Highness,” Ilyana replied. 

Gwyn thought she sounded a bit nervous, so she tried to encourage her, “I love to paint and draw. I can’t wait to see how good you are.”

Ilyana perked up and sat a bit straighter in her chair. “Thank you, Your Highness. I look forward to it.”

Gwyn looked between the other two and noticed Aleanora had a scowl on her face, and she wasn’t sure why. With a glance at the youngest girl, Lorrena, immediately sat straighter and smiled, assuming it was her turn.

“Hello, Your Highness! I am Lorrena… it’s completely fine if you call me that, Princess. I love going out on the lake and animals, and painting by the shore.” She looked at Ilyana and added, “Oh, and I love to dance as well! I also play the viol, and would love to play it for you sometime, Your Highness.” She spoke really fast and was partially out of breath by the time she finished. 

“Thank you! I would love to hear that. I look forward to getting to know all three of you!” Gwyn told them with a smile. She needed people to help her, and her House did as well. Having the three elves join her would make their families work with Siveril and Taenya. Gwyn would do her part. Siveril had said that she would be meeting the Duke soon. It would be beneficial to have the three of them and their families, and if she gained a friend or two? 

Gwyn picked up her tea and sighed a little. 

I could really use a friend right now.