Short Stories From The World Of ARTK

The Reign Of Osenne Ashhand, Part Six

It is Derun of the year 3242 A.G. Jandis Ashhand is forty three years old, his parents sixty five and sixty seven.

"Are you sure?" She said quietly. "He's finally done it?"

"The girl claims so." Mabel repeated. "Said he were kind to her, but did not seem so interested and....that it took a really long time for him to....."

Her voice trailed off, and she pressed her lips together. No lady wished to hear that about their only heir.

Yet it were the truth.

For twenty years she'd asked and pushed Jandis to marry, and for twenty years it'd been much of the same: The girl she'd picked for him were a cunt, he said. He hadn't been wrong about the first one; the Prarisian commanding lord's second daughter thought herself too good for someone who wasn't already a commanding lord. She could not be reassured, did not care that he would be one after Osenne died.

After a while, they'd all grown sick of her and kissed the new trade agreement goodbye. After that she'd presented match after match, nobility, common women( though they were always the daughters of wealthy merchants that would be good to keep close), even bastard-born( only of a lord's seed)- but he only tolerated them for a few weeks each.

At most.

For a very long time, he'd been pushing the bar on what made a disappointment. Osenne knew she'd grown cranky in her old age, but were that not a right? Were she not allowed to be angry that the only heir to a great house was so stubborn?

  But this news, if true- would change everything.

  Osenne sat back, looking in the mirror as Mabel brushed her hair. Somehow, her loyal servant had escaped the pains that came with aging.

"Better it take him a really long time than not happen at all." Osenne sighed. "What else do you know of her?"

Mabel paused her brushing for a moment as she tried to recall what she'd overheard. "Her name is Anber, a bastard of some Liberan lord- though her mother never had an idea which. Anber looks exactly like her mother and..... From my understanding she was.... passed around at a meeting of lords in Cralon...not of her own free will. This was about nineteen years ago, my lady."

Osenne spent a long time in silence, thinking of each and every way this could go.

"Is there a way to figure out exactly which lord....." Osenne's voice trailed off. It weren't right to use what'd happened to the girl's mother as a way to form new alliances, but it were simply how the world worked.

A whore was raped, reminded she were a whore and ignored when she said something- gave birth to a bastard of one of those lords, and were told that child would never be anything. Eighteen or so years later, she would meet her 'father' by pure accident, the girl would be married off (if she were a girl)- and it would lead to trade agreements.

An alliance would be more complicated with one who didn't look like her 'father', but it were still doable.

Osenne wanted to throw up just thinking of it. Oh, how the years had changed her.

"My lady, a word of advice from another commoner?" Mabel raised an eyebrow. "Do not attempt to find her father. Damn him, and damn any alliance that could come of it. Your son has found a person he can laugh with, perhaps make more than one child with. They may never share the love that you and Jandis do, but so what? Why would an alliance matter when we have so many already? Let it be the girl's choice, but talk to her. Make her understand what a privilege it is to marry into nobility, and how incredible it feels to watch your children grow up never having to worry about where their next meal will come from, if they'll be able to afford to repair a rip in their clothes, or if they'll have to sell themselves far too young to have a roof over their heads."

"Very well...." Osenne swallowed. "Would you get them? All of them?"

————

Anber were the last to arrive at the lady's chambers, sweating and smelly from her work. Tibost sat beside his wife, their son in front of them wondering what he'd been called about- and his face fell when she walked in. Then, before Osenne or her husband had the chance to say anything- both burst into laughter.

"I take it you've heard the rumors, my lady?" Anber said, fixing her skirt as she sat.

"Are they?" She raised an eyebrow. "Rumors?"

Anber were silent then.

"Good." She sat back, taking a long gulp from her wine glass. "Did he rape you?"

"No." Both firmly answered in unison, though it were her son who spoke next. "We....she.....must we speak of this mother?"

"When my forty three year old son hasn't been married yet, yes we must." Osenne replied. "So tell me, do you love this girl?"

"Mother I....we....." Jandis stumbled over his words. "She..... we are not....."

"We were both very drunk, me just slightly less than him." Anber interrupted. "He did spill seed inside of me, but neither of us were particularly....satisfied. I prefer women. Your son prefers men."

Osenne and Tibost's heads snapped towards him so quickly pain started in their necks. So that were why..... it made sense now. He hardly glanced at the female servants, but the males........

Meanwhile, Jandis only stared at Anber with wide eyes. He'd told her that in confidence, believing she wouldn't run her mouth to anyone.

"Then this could work out for the both of you." Osenne said. "To keep your...dignity. You could be a lady, Anber."

"I only wish to have a normal life-"

"If you become a lady, you may choose how you spend your days. You will never have to scrub a wall or empty a chamber pot again." Osenne shrugged. "And if you are already with child.... A wedding should happen sooner than later. The things people say about unmarried mothers are just horrible."