A Whisper to the North

Chapter XXXIV ✠ Second Thoughts

Una was sitting at the edge of her bed, embroidering over a tear in Wilona's underdress. She had torn it when it got caught on a briar in a forest thicket earlier this day. Una still wonders why Wilona was following her. Una was only walking through the forest to get some fresh air and alone time.

Una caught Wilona following her when Wilona's dress got snagged, and she was struggling to duck away. When confronting her, Wilona said she was merely making sure that she would not get lost in the forest. It was dark, even in the daytime. Una found this suspicious, but instead of cornering the queen, Una pointed out the tear in her dress. Wilona admitted that she did not have a new handmaid. She was soon to get one. That was when Una offered to help her. In exchange, Wilona promised that she would not tell that Una was wandering off when people were looking for her. That was when Wilona introduced her second excuse, that her husband Gareth was beseeching her.

"Ouch!" Una winced as she pricked the tip of her pinky.

"Are you alright, Una?" Ingrid said, jumping up.

She was organizing the colored threads on the floor for Una.

"Yes, I'm fine. It's getting dark, and It's been a while since I've done this." Una said as she quickly sucked the wound.

"It looks like you do this for a living!" Ingrid declared.

Una was trying to match the pattern on the dress's hem, but it proved more difficult than Una imagined. It was tedious work, and trying to match the threads to the dress was even more troublesome.

"How are you so good at everything?" Ingrid said with a pout as she walked back over to the floor.

Una put down the dress and looked down at Ingrid rolling her eyes.

"There are so many things that I can't do, Ingrid. A slave or servant possesses more skill than I. Besides, I cannot say that I get very many compliments, so I have always been inclined to think my work was subpar compared to others. I've had to work towards my own gratification." Una laughed.

"Your standards of gratification must be really high! You're much too modest, I think, to the point where you can't realize your talent."

"Nay, Ingrid, I know there are many embroiders who do finer work than I. It is not talent. It is patience. People feel like they can't do something, not because they lack talent, but because they lack the patience to realize that they possess aptitude." Una laughed again.

Ingrid smiled and looked back down at her threads.

"You're saying that I can be the best archer in the land if I just shoot a few arrows to see if I'm any good or not? That is how you became good?" Ingrid jested.

"Yes, and many of the talents you possess won't be things you like, so you are inclined not even to know because you never tried." Una smiled and returned to her work.

"What do you hate most?" Ingrid said, looking up crossing her arms.

Una put down her embroidery and looked off to the side.

"That's a tough question to answer," Una admitted.

"No, really, what do you detest the most?" Ingrid pressed.

Una sat and thought for a moment.

"Honestly..." Una began.

"I hate being a queen." Una finished.

Ingrid looked up again, startled by what Una had said.

"What do you mean, you hate being a queen?" Ingrid said with a frown.