The Rugged Edge

Chapter 26: What Made Us Laugh in Vilia

There's nothing here to laugh for.
We know it good and well.
But someone young and curious
can ring a laughter bell.
However can she do it?
Who will ever tell?
She adds a sense of joy to
grey land in which we dwell.

. . . . .

It took a couple of days of arrangements for us to go to Vilia. Nevaeh said it was alright, as long as Collum agreed. Collum, after lengthy consideration, did agree. But he seemed pessimistic about the ordeal.

"I'm am sure that the threat has followed us here," he said.

"Yes, Your Majesty, and I do not wish to endanger myself," I said. "But I wish to choose the flowers and cannot possibly allow anyone to choose them for me, as I am convinced that they will choose wrongly."

So I was allowed to go. However, I was to take another two guards with me in addition to Geraint.

"We'll need someone trustworthy," Geraint said. "In case we get a chance to talk to someone. We don't want them reporting anything at all to Collum."

It took him a full evening to decide who to take along. On the morning of the third day spent at Vereniva, he told me who he had chosen.

"Overton's a good friend, and he never talks to anyone, he's so shy," he said. "And Dorian despises Collum. He only works for him to feed his family. He'd never tattle."

"Alright," I said. "Are we ready, then?"

"Yes," said Geraint.

But we weren't.

Arlie had to provide us with horses, and Corinne had to pack us snacks to make sure we didn't go hungry.

"We can buy something there," I said.

She pursed her lips. "Yes, you can. But Collum instructed us to send you something. He doesn't want to give anyone a chance to poison you." Her disapproval of this instruction showed clearly in her face.

Overkill, I thought, on Collum's part.

Then we thought we were ready, but as soon as Nevaeh heard about our trip, she came up to me and curtsied.

"Your Highness," she said. "I think it would be wise for you to take Mauve along with you. She knows Vilia very well, and that way you won't get lost."

"Very well," I said. I really just wanted to go. Even though I knew Vereniva was a much more pleasant place, I was giddy to think of doing something while we were here. If we didn't ever get something done, how would we fix anything in Rokenmeine?

But Mauve proved to be a wonderful addition to our little outing. Even before we had the last minute preparations done and were ready to go, she chattered away while she tried to help. She was a wonderful companion for me while I waited. She talked about the flowers, and the summer home, and what she spent the day on. She didn't care that I was a princess. She just talked, ready to share anything with me. She was so companionable and sweet, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

"You know," she said while Arlie finished saddling the horses. "I wish I could play a fiddle. My sister told me that before I was born, everyone played fiddles, and they played them everywhere, even in the streets! It would be so loud. But I guess that would be a good thing! Vilia's really quiet."

While we were mounting our horses, Mauve tried her best.

"I've never ridden a horse before," she said. "They're really pretty, aren't they? But they're tall, too."

She fell off of the tamest horse Arlie could find, and got straight up again. "This is hard," she said, but she was smiling. "When I was little, I was scared of horses. But I'm not little anymore. Now they're just pretty. And tall." And she fell off again. And got back up.

Finally, Arlie hurried over, laughing hysterically. He lifted her onto her horse.

While we rode the half mile to the village, she didn't stop. Everyone was smiling at her chatter, and at her unawareness of it.

"Listen!" she said when we heard a dog's lonely-sounding bark only a little way off. "I used to have a puppy. It was really cute. But it chewed up all of my knitting, which I couldn't manage anyway. So I gave up on knitting." She giggled. "Mama said I'd never learn anything if I gave up so quick. But I guess I learned other things. I like to look at the dusty old books in the library sometimes, and try to read them. I suppose I never really learnt it, but I didn't give up, did I?"

Suddenly, the dog's bark didn't seem so lonely anymore.

Vilia was lonely, and quiet. It was empty and grey. But Mauve didn't let it touch her.

"See? It's grey and quiet here," she said, and though she didn't say it loudly, it seemed to echo through the buildings. "Because there's no flowers. You said at Rokenfort it was grey and quiet, Miss. Are you going to plant your flowers there so that it's not?"

"Yes, I am," I said, smiling.

"And I can see how fiddles would make it less quiet," Mauve continued. "Do you have a fiddle? Because if you played it, Rokenfort wouldn't seem so quiet."

"I don't have a fiddle," I said sadly. "At least not that I know of."

"Well, if you could find one," said the nine-year-old. "It would help."

I laughed. It seemed so beautiful in the silent village. But it also seemed melancholy simply because no one joined me.

As we rode to the town center, where Mauve said the market was, villager after villager looked up as we passed. Some looked as if they wanted to smile, too, or maybe even laugh, but couldn't quite manage it. Others looked annoyed with how loud we seemed to be. Didn't we know that there was nothing to laugh for? But most of the villagers just looked confused. How could we laugh?

There were little wooden booths set up in the village square, but they looked muffled. Grey and quiet, like Mauve had said. None of them had any flavor; they were drab and quieted.

"This is the flower stand," said Mauve when she clumsily stopped her horse at a table covered in little jars of seeds. "Rosalie brought me here when she needed another kind of flower to fill a plot that wasn't doing well in the climate."

"Mauve," said Geraint. "Do you know which flower is the very brightest one?"

"Um... not really," said Mauve. "But we can ask the woman who sells. What do you want the flowers for? Are you going to brighten up wherever you live, too?"

Geraint laughed. "No, I live in the same place as the princess does. Although the barracks could use with being brightened up. No, I wanted to give my sister some flowers to grow."

"You have a sister!" Mauve asked excitedly. "I do, too!"

Everyone in our party laughed this time. We knew it good and well.