Sept 29, 2015. 2:30 AM
This all came to me in a dream this morning. It was really this vivid and brutal. It wasn’t Eljena (my world’s first female member of the Wizards of the Grand Order, which is referenced in Symbol (Re)Interpretation) while I was dreaming, but it was her viewpoint, and I was able to wake myself up at the moment that, in this story, her magic manifests itself. I lay there for only a few minutes, and it immediately became clear to me who this woman was and what happened just after I woke up. Everything else is pretty much as it happened in my dream. This is virtually unedited and finished about 3:45 AM. Due to its length, I will post in three parts. The setting is she is speaking to Bautista, another member of the Grand Order, and his wife Alasaia.
This scene does not appear in my book. It is simply a writing and character development exercise.
“My tongue is rather acerbic, you know, or if you don’t, you’ll soon learn. My husband was the only man I’d met who could put up with it, and he’d laugh as often as not, seeing my comments as funny rather than hurtful. Even my father yelled at me more than once about it, particularly after I’d complained about some unjust noblewoman and the way she’d treated a servant.
“We hadn’t been married but three months when we were invited to a party that was rather above our station, but it was necessary for my husband to attend. He had a political career, and it was Javern after all, and you know how consumed all the houses are about politics there. All nice and polite to your face, and, I imagine, just as nice and polite to your back but with blades drawn.
“I didn’t know the woman I insulted that night. She wasn’t the hostess—I was careless but not stupid—but she clearly outranked me. My age or a little older, she’d been married maybe a year or two. She was terrible to not just the servants, but anyone she saw as lower class. Obviously, from the events that transpired, neither of us had learned how to properly play Javern political games.
“After a glass of wine and watching her openly berate servant after servant, I stated publicly and scornfully how awful she was in a voice quite loud enough for everyone in attendance to hear. I still think my comment was rather funny, and I smiled the entire time while delivering it (which I did know enough of Javern society to do while delivering such a barb), but calling her out so boldly and making her look so foolish while ranking so far below her was a mistake that was soon almost fatal.
“She left the party in a storm and my husband made me apologize almost on my knees to the hostess. For the next couple of weeks, our relationship was quite cool, and I would not forgive him. That is my greatest regret in all this, and it will haunt me to my grave. But I digress.
“You must understand that, until the dreadful day, I had never exhibited more than a hint or two about my magical abilities. I knew I had some, but I was properly quiet about them. Not even my sister-in-law knew, and she and I were closer than most sisters.
“The princess of Javern had just turned 16 and, like all other young women of my land, was paraded about in a grand celebration so that all the young men can see the newly eligible woman. My tongue was so acid-filled that I was actually a week shy of 18 when I married. That would have been quite the scandal if my husband hadn’t come along!
Continued here
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