Brave: A Les Mis AU

Chapter 4

A few weeks later, the royalty and stand-in royalty awaited the arrival of the three clans. At last the three ships rode into sight. First came a fine little schooner, on which a young bald man, Bossuet, was frantically waving a little flag and shouting manically, "Jebem!" He was being held onto by Joly, who was terrified that they were going to fall off.

"I'm not sure that's how you pronounce three consanants in a row, but alright," said a brown-haired man in a green vest, Grantaire, who was leaning over the side, looking in the water.

"At least our boat has a name," the young woman, Musichetta, said loudly, pointing at another boat that was coming up behind them. The two men in front looked at each other, then the curly black-haired one, Bahorel, took out an oil crayon and scrawled something on the side of the wet boat and shouted, "Feuillahorel!"

The third and final boat was quite large, named "Gillenormand." At the bow of the boat stood a cranky-looking old man. He kept eyeing the back of the boat, as if he feared something would rise up from the back. The other ships wanted to stay as far away as they possibly could from him, in case he had something dangerous.

Cosette, meanwhile, was helping Eponine into her dress.

"This is too tight," Eponine complained, trying to avoid thinking about how Cosette was directly behind her, so close she could smell the perfume she was wearing. It always smelled pretty.

"That's how it's supposed to fit, Eponine," Cosette replied with pins in her mouth, trying to pin the back of the dress shut. "Almost done, don't worry." When she stepped back to admire her handiwork, Eponine looked extremely uncomfortable. "You look beautiful."

"I can't breathe." Eponine's voice was strained. "I can't move either." Cosette thought she was pretty, but she was so uncomfortable, she couldn't even enjoy it. That made it worse.

The two girls went down to the throne room, where the suitors and their guardians were waiting. Valjean was trying to start talking, but was falling flat.

"So, here we are! The four clans! Gathering... for..."

"The presentation of the suitors!" Cosette continued, and her father nodded.

"Will the first clan please come forward?" Valjean asked, trying to regain authority. The first group stood up and came to the front of the room.

"We of the Jebem clan--" Bossuet started.

"Oh, just call it the J-B-M," Musichetta interrupted him.

"--Present our pride and joy, Grantaire," Joly finished, gesturing to the young man behind them. The young man had nothing to be proud of, quite frankly an ugly boy, and gave the impression of being highly intoxicated. Not a good start.

"He was able to..." Musichetta was trying to come up with something impressive about their representative, but the young man was distracting everyone by downing an entire jug of wine. "He defended his land from invading Northerners, and with his own sword vanquished many more, and he wasn't even sober then!"

The young man winked at a girl in the crowd, who looked horrified, then sat down. Eponine rolled her eyes. There was no way that was happening.

Cosette took the paper from her father that had the names of the clans written on it. "Now, for the clan of... is that pronounced Fooey-air-hole?"

Feuilly looked at Bahorel, and they both sighed. "We came up with it on the spot, okay? Anyway, we present to you our main man, Courfeyrac. He scuttled Viking ships with his bare hands, and killed two thousands more." Bahorel looked threateningly at the other clan as their man came forward. Courfeyrac didn't look particularly threatening, a bright smile on his face and waving at everybody.

"Now for--a clan I can pronounce--Gillenormand!" Valjean shouted, and the room cheered. Monsieur Gillenormand stepped forward, a dark expression on his face, he himself had seen many a battle, and was not known for leaving survivors.

"I present my only grandson--trust me, if I had another one, I would've brought him to you instead." The man went on to explain the history of his own military knowledge, but no one was listening. They were all staring at the man's grandson. How this extremely handsome young man and Gillenormand were related was unfathomable. The old man had peppery brown hair and nearly white-blue eyes, while his grandson had blond curly hair with bright blue eyes.

Grantaire leaned over to Musichetta. "I think I'm in love."

Suddenly the young man looked up from the table, and looked very confused at why everyone was staring at him as if an angel had fallen through the ceiling. Even Eponine's eyes widened. "Why are you all looking at me? I'm not competing. I don't even believe in monarchies." He turned around to look at the young man standing behind him, his nose deep in a book that was evidently not the manliest read. He looked like he was on the brink of crying.

"This is Marius," Gillenormand said, as if this were a burden, and grabbed the reader's arm, pulling him up.

Marius looked around, then gave a cute little wave. "Hey guys, I am... really sad," he admitted, eyes tearing up again, and Eponine wanted to give him a hug.

"I bring him to you to get him out of my house. Marius, tell the nice lady the few decent qualities of yourself."

The young man was attractive, though wasn't quite as radiant as the other, so much of the room's attention was lost. He looked lost, as if he didn't know where he was. "Um... I read."

"What do you read, Marius?" Cosette asked, evidently interested. Her eyes went bright looking at him, and Eponine's heart fell. They both liked this sweet, goofy man.

Marius looked at the book he was reading, then tugged another book from under his arm. "Well, I have La Femme Aux Camedilas here, which is really famous for its musical adaption, and I'm reading Romeo and Juliet right now. I like reading love stories."

"Romeo and Juliet is not a love story, you foolish boy," Gillenormand snapped, and Marius shrank back a little.

"Yes, it is," he argued softly, "A love story has people who love each other very much and they have to overcome obstacles. Benvolio and Mercutio care a lot for each other, but they can't be together much because they always have to look after Romeo. See? It is a love story."

Gillenormand turned to face his grandson, and got very close to his face. "Love comes between one man and one woman. They are not in love. They are simply good friends who are confused. I want to hear no more on the subject while we are here, understood?"

Eponine felt her stomach flip over. She didn't like the sound of that.

"Hey, back off of him! He's got a point!" Courfeyrac shouted across the room at the old man.

"Yeah, I like women, I like men," Grantaire chimed in, and Courfeyrac said, "Same with me! Only it doesn't actually matter to me. If you're nice, that's cool."

"Anyway," Cosette announced, seeing that her father was about to get going and she wanted to stop him before he broke Gillenormand's nose--he had nearly done that to the cook, Javert, a few weeks ago, and that couldn't happen again. "In accordance with our laws, and by the rights of our heritage, to win the hand of the fair maiden, they must prove their worth by feats of strength or arms in the games. It is customary for the maiden to chose them herself."

Eponine had been quietly thinking for a while, and now suddenly jumped up. "Archery!" Cosette turned around in surprise, and Eponine said more calmly, "I choose archery as the sport."

"Alright, then," Cosette said, nodding to her friend, and Eponine panicked for a moment, realizing in that moment that she liked both Marius and Cosette. That was not helpful, knowing that, even if she wasn't ready at the moment to be married off, she liked both of them. "Let the games begin!"