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 Posted: Tue Nov 05, 2013 7:23 pm
Charlotte hadn't slept much lately. She thought that maybe since investigating the Wardwood and the nightmares stopped she would have got some peace of mind, but... Since the manifestation of her "guardian" Charlotte had been dealing with some minor annoyances. First of all: personal space. Her deer was extremely physically affectionate, always curling around her ankles when she stood still for a moment, rubbing up like a cat. The tiny thing didn't take long to awaken from its totem. She was eager, Charlotte could feel it. Eager to love and be loved and overwhelmingly affectionate. Charlotte was not excited about her parents finding out her warden-status so she spent a lot of time avoiding them or attempting to hide the tiny doe. And, despite the 3 libraries the Rosenthaal Estate had, there wasn't one book on the Old Ways or the spirit wars or anything remotely religious. When she broached the topic with her father, he was cross, "It doesn't matter. It's the past. There is no point learning about it." Great. So here she was, perusing every book store in town. Ever rare book store, that is, the ones off the beaten track. She was looking for On the Spirits of the Wood or anything like it. Even a diary, or a reference, anything. The store was dusty and smelled like old parchment. The man behind the counter was ancient and probably deaf. He gave her a strange look when she came in with a tiny trembling deer but barely paid her any attention as she dug through the piles. Looks like he hadn't done much sorting in years. The tiny doe gnawed mindlessly on the hem of her dress as she flipped through book after book.
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Posted: Wed Nov 06, 2013 10:11 am
The smell of old books, pages yellowed with time, gusted out of the book store when he opened the door, filling him with a giddy sense of anticipation. His father did not pay books their due respect, but Edgar did. A healthy appreciation for literature was the one aspect of his noble upbringing for which Edgar found himself consistently grateful. Books furnished his mind with knowledge of all things, made him understand his world better, helped him accept certain things that his nature demanded he reject.
Today he sought a book detailing the development of an old torture device that he had read about briefly the night before. From the brief mention of it in a book about ancient warfare, Edgar had surmised that the contraption featured harsh-looking straps and a twisting lever. Fascinating, for no other reason than that he had never read about it before.
He ducked into the bookstore, followed closely by Dardanos, who poked his head in through the door to watch as his Chosen perused the shelves. The rest of the deer would have to stay outside to avoid knocking anything over, but he had a good enough vantage point where he was.
"You know hurrying me will do you no good, Don," Edgar said aloud, and the amusement on his face could be heard in every word. "Where else have you got to be anyway? It is not as though we plan to attend the Lady Comfrere's dinner gathering." He looked up from the book he was scanning with a look of mock surprise on his face. "You mean you were?" He joked, and cracked a smile at Dardanos' responding grunt of derision. "Exactly," Edgar said, carefully replacing the book and moving on to another. "Now, you must help me decide: the book about torture, or this one here about healing remedies made from twice-buried knuckle bones."
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Posted: Wed Nov 06, 2013 10:43 pm
As soon as the door of the musty shop opened, Charlotte all but jumped out of her skin. She instinctively hustled around the corner of a bookshelf so that whoever came in wouldn't see her. Of course, Neve didn't realize what was going on in time and yelped, but eventually was right back around her chosen's ankle in the moment. Charlotte peaked around the corner to see who had come in. She recognized him instantly, though she had never met him. Though she abhorred gossip, it helped to be aware of the nobility's circles. And right behind him was a Guardian. Charlotte's jaw hit the floor rather ungracefully. She spun back around with her back against the bookshelf and thought for a moment. She could ask the Ashworth heir. He had a full grown guardian... She looked down at her tiny trembling doe. Neve looked up at her with so much love in her eyes it made Charlotte uncomfortable. She scowled and that only made Neve more desperate to get closer to her chosen. Charlotte turned the corner to where Edgar then stood. "Here's the book you were looking for," she said shortly, awkwardly extending a large text towards him. Her face was taut and her eyes darted over to the guardian quickly. "The one about torture, anyway. At least, one of them. There are a strange number of them in this particular shop." She felt strangely off-kilter-- something about the little deer at her feet was throwing her off of her normal perfectly socialized self. She tried smiling, at least. Sort of.
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Posted: Thu Nov 07, 2013 9:53 am
If he was surprised to be approached so suddenly, the only sign of it was in the brief, intense stare he fixed upon her, as if trying to place where exactly he knew her from. Edgar was not one to waste his time trying to memorize the comings and goings of those in his father's social circle; unfortunately, these were details that stayed with him once he had learned them, much like all the other details he was happier to retain. And she...
"Why thank you, Miss Rosenthaal, it is very gracious of you to offer your help, indeed." The studious look was replaced with a bright, toothy smile, carefully practiced but winning all the same. How many times, as a child, had he flashed that same smile at acquaintances? It wasn't until he had discovered the truth of his parentage (or, perhaps, lack thereof) that he realized it was hardly worth his time to pretend to be pleased with people he cared nothing about. But the damage had been done, and genuine as his smile was now, there remained at times a slight air of practiced falsity. "Now that I have located both, it seems I am obliged to purchase two books instead of one," he added, the smile widening.
He had seen news here and there about the Rosenthaals, launched into high society by the father's inventions. There were some, the old-money families that had been around for centuries, who turned up their noses at that, the phenomenon of upward mobility, but Edgar neither cared nor had the right to judge. Lord Ashworth, after all, had clawed his way into nobility purely through chance.
And then the remarriage two decades prior, which Edgar had heard once of twice from highborn ladies, followed by disapproving sniffs. Oh, there was gossip alright, but where was there not? Edgar himself preferred to make sport of wondering how dull their lives must be, to force them to resort to such desperate measures of entertainment.
"And what brings you here today? Might I presume that you are in search of a similarly elusive book yourself?" He added, catching the quick look she ran over Dardanos. The Rosenthaals had a reputation as logical, pragmatic people; it hardly surprised Edgar that Charlotte would have a reaction to the buck lurking in the doorway. Then his eyes went to the tiny fawn huddled at her feet, and Edgar thought he understood what this was all about. "A book about the Old Ways, perhaps," he ventured.
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Posted: Thu Nov 07, 2013 6:53 pm
Charlotte was incredibly embarrassed, but determined not to shrink. This was the first time in her life she had ever been so uneducated on a subject. She cleared her throat. "Yes. The Old Ways," she sighed, looking down at Neve, whose wide eyes stared back affectionately. "My father can never know about this," she said, "Not that he would believe it if he did come to know it. Either way, that's why I'm here. There isn't a single text in my father's estate that references the Old Ways."She uncomfortably looked at the buck waiting impatiently in the doorway again. "When did you... when did it happen to you?"
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Posted: Thu Nov 07, 2013 9:17 pm
Edgar studied the fawn with interest, taking in the wide-eyed stare she gave her Chosen, brimming so full of adoration that it seemed to radiate from her small body. You were never like this with me, Edgar mused silently to Dardanos. Even before the buck sent back any sort of response, he knew the reason why: That was never what he had needed from Dardanos.
He took his gaze off the fawn, finally, and returned it to Charlotte. "Surely you do not mean to hide her from him forever," he said, half surprised, half fascinated that this was her reaction. If Edgar ever found something that Lord Ashworth would reject as much as Mr. Rosenthaal presumably rejected the spiritual, the very first thing he would do would be to flaunt it as far and wide as he could. Then again, not everyone actively went out of their way to spite their parents.
"No, I suppose there wouldn't be," he said in reference to the dearth of literature on Wardens in her home. It was a shame. Edgar had always known of Guardians and spirits of the woods, though much of his life he had thought them old tales, fantasy. But he had done enough reading to somewhat prepare him for the Choosing. "Read The Warden's Way. It is one of the more comprehensive histories of the Wardens, and a suitable guide in terms of care and raising them."
Behind him, Dardanos turned to idly itch the back of his neck against the door frame. Having taken his time to examine both Charlotte and her young companion, the buck had deemed them both passable and relaxed from watching them both like a hawk from where he stood. Edgar turned, following Charlotte's gaze. "When did it happen? You make it seem like an awful bout of the plague." He said, and the smile returned to his face. "Three years ago, I suppose. Close to four, at a time when I very much needed him to be there."
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Posted: Thu Nov 07, 2013 10:21 pm
"Isn't it though?" Charlotte snapped, a little more forcefully than she meant to. "I felt sick... when I started to feel the pull. Like I was withdrawing from some terrible drug." She scowled. But looking at Dardanos, and sensing the bond that he and Edgar clearly held, her tense expression finally relaxed. "I apologize, my Lord. That was very rude of me." She bowed her head slightly, remembering her Lady Manners. She started to browse as they spoke, mindlessly looking for the book he mentioned. Neve sniffed the mans boots and made an awfully adorable squeak. Charlotte laughed nervously. "I don't want my father to know because I fear his reaction. If you know anything of him... you know how ardently he is against the Old Ways and its place in society today. I've never seen him angrier than when he heard about the Queen..." Charlotte felt strange sharing so much with someone she hardly knew, but she felt her words spilling over the dam. She immediately mentally kicked herself. "And what, in Queen Anne's name, do you need a torture device for?" she blurted out, trying to get the topic off of herself. She didn't actually know how much Edgar contributed to gossip. She didn't actually know that much about him anyway.
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Posted: Fri Nov 08, 2013 9:01 am
"Because you were resisting it?" He said, and it was only half a question. The were many ways one could react to the pull of the Wardwood, and there seemed no way more difficult than actively fighting the inevitable. Edgar laughed aloud at Neve's tiny squeak, wondering how Charlotte could still feel that way in the presence of such a precious thing. He reached to stroke the velvety fur on the fawn's head, baby soft and smooth.
"There are two ways to consider this, I suppose," he said, straightening up. "She's here; this is reality that you can't change. You can either continue to hide her and fight it, or you can embrace it and make it a part of you, which it already is. She can be a plague or she can be the best thing to ever happen to you, but it's your choice."
For Edgar, Dardanos was certainly the latter. Part of him suspected that without the buck, he might not be here today, talking to Charlotte. At the very least, he would have been an entirely different person, bitter and reclusive and angry at everything and everyone, thinking ill of himself when none of it was his fault. It was the path Edgar had been on before his Choosing, but Dardanos had halted it almost as soon as he had come into the world, taking him down a new and entirely different, more liberating path. In part it had been because Edgar had allowed him to do it. Something in his three-years-younger self had recognized that Dardanos was the help he needed and had followed, despite not fully understanding it.
"She can become your strongest ally if you let her," he added. "The way I understand it, your girl and my Dardanos are made of older, wiser stuff than we are. It may not seem that way now, but she knows more than even she realizes, and she chose you for a reason. You may not understand it and neither may she, but the mere fact that you are together means something. She has faith in you, which means you ought to give her some of yours too, so as not to let her faith be in vain." And in Edgar's mind, if that meant angering her father, it was well worth it. Then again, perhaps there were fathers out there worth treasuring. He was sure of it, but hardly knew what it felt like.
He moved toward Dardanos, who lowered his head into his Chosen's arms for a hug and a scratch with a sigh. "Oh, I..." Her next question caught him so off guard that he had to laugh, suddenly realizing the sort of impression he must leave on strangers when they discovered the sort of books he read. "Well, it isn't that I need one, specifically, I just thought it would be an interesting read." And, potentially, good information to have at the back of his mind in a pinch, but he didn't want to let her think he was crazy.
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Posted: Wed Nov 13, 2013 8:03 pm
Charlotte sighed deeply, holding her face in her hands, considering the advice he had given her. Crossing her arms, she looked at Neve with a sad smile, who was thoroughly enjoying Edgar's attention.
"Truth, I was resisting it... it frightened me. And it's still strange. That something so fantastical can be going on, immeasurably, and no one knows why. If there are indeed more Choosings occurring..." She trailed off as a book title caught her eye. She pulled it off the shelf-- it was The Warden's Way.
"Well, will you look at that," she hummed. "Thanks for the suggestion. Looks like I'll have to keep looking for that other one though."
Charlotte walked towards the front counter and Neve scuttled after her, squeaking slightly as she did. Looking down at her fawn, she felt ashamed that in the pit of her stomach she felt unease at her presence. The tiny thing looked up at her with such awe, such love, it was unbearable and unnerving that something could love her that much.
Charlotte ignored Edgar's denial, and prodded facetiously, "no, really, tell me what it's for!" She purchased the book and held it tightly, her hands sweating slightly still from the personal nature of her earlier confessions. She wanted him to forget as quickly as possible that she had been so vulnerable. "Are you creating it for the Queen? Will it defend us from the wolves?" She moved towards the door, motioning for him to walk with her.
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Posted: Thu Nov 14, 2013 2:19 pm
Edgar nodded, and Dardanos lifted his head out of his Chosen's arms to watch the little fawn scuttling across the bookstore after Charlotte. She was so small, and yet had so much love to give that Edgar could feel it channeling through to him from Dardanos, who regarded the little deer with a kind eye and pricked ears.
"Ah, but therein lies the beauty of it," Edgar said as Charlotte handed over payment for the book. "It is not necessary to know why, just that it exists. There is an old sort of magic at work here and none of us could possibly unravel. But if you are interested in studying anything at all, don't study why these bonds occur, but how deeply they root themselves, how much can be accomplished with them. There, I think, is where you will make the most stunning discoveries."
With a gentle gesture, he shooed Dardanos out of the doorway to make room for Charlotte and Neve, and followed them through, chuckling at her insistence. "It is for no other reason than that I have yet to learn about it, I promise," he said, shaking his head in amusement. "It is so antiquated a contraption that I doubt it would defend us from anything. As for whether or not I would ever create such a thing - indeed, anything - for the Queen..." Dardanos nudged his muzzle into Edgar's back in warning, and he bit back a derisive grunt, knowing that such talk could lead to trouble if the wrong set of ears caught wind of it. What the pair of them was involved in, with the Warden splinter cell, was risk enough without flaunting his sentiments against the Queen everywhere he went. It was nigh on treason, and there were many ways to frame it as such if anyone so wanted. "Let us simply say that I do not find myself in the Queen's employ and neither do I harbor any aspirations for it."
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Posted: Mon Nov 25, 2013 3:02 pm
"I'm a little ashamed of how my father reacted when he found out about the Queen being Chosen," Charlotte mumbled. "It was not the most gentle I have seen him. I doubt he will have much to say on the matter now. Before long he will be inventing special battle saddles specifically for deer." She spoke with a drop of facetiousness, and for a moment she found levity in her father's disgust; how appalled would he be to find that his great brain was only secondary to the Old Ways in the Queen's mind. Charlotte's smile vanished for a moment as she hurried to get the last bit of her sentence out: "But he loves his country, and he loves his Queen, and I know he will do whatever is necessary for her Highness."
Charlotte smirked at Neve, whose little face was arched completely upward at hovering Dardanos. Her little lavender-slate eyes were twice their size, mouth agape. She smelled him, she studied his hooves-- giant compared to hers. Charlotte felt a spark of affection for her, but was also very relieved that Neve found some amazement for another being than herself. The fawn's love was overbearing and frightening.
"I believe this is the first Guardian she has met. You could learn from his calming nature, Neve! I bet Lord Ashworth's deer doesn't try to groom his hair or crawl in his bed!" Neve made a most unladylike grunt.
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Posted: Tue Nov 26, 2013 8:17 pm
"I am certain he does, as many people love our country and our Queen," Edgar replied, working hard to keep the edge of bitterness from his voice. It wasn't that he had any poor opinion of the Queen as a person, but the idea of her had never sat well with him. What gave her the right, after all, to dictate the lives of the masses when her position was the result of nothing but good fortune? What had that to do with her ability to rule? How had she ever proven that she deserved her people's blind trust and respect? Edgar didn't buy it, and it left a sour taste in his mouth.
"And no doubt, any invention your father could create would be useful to our cause." He watched as the little fawn gazed up at Dardanos in admiration. Unlike Charlotte, the buck seemed perfectly content to bask in the overwhelming affection that came from the fawn, soaking in the attention she seemed so desperate to give. He bent his neck to snuffle at the top of her head. Where Neve radiated affection, Dardanos emanated warmth, welcoming the little Guardian. She seemed to need it, a willing receptor to her love.
The buck channeled Neve's emotions to Edgar, and the sudden, incredible feeling of a love meant for something three times her size enveloped him, making him laugh aloud in spite of himself. "She certainly has more emotion than her size suggests," he said, half amazed that Dardanos was taking this all in without become a little giddy himself. Then again, giddy was perhaps not what Neve needed, and Dardanos had always been what others needed him to be.
"Ah, but only because I never asked it of him," Edgar said, knowing that the buck would have poured equal amounts of affection into him if that had been what he had needed all those years ago. "And please, it will be a while yet before I am Lord Ashworth. Call me Edgar, or Mr. Ashworth if you must, but I hardly deserve to be called a lord yet." Part of him wondered if he would ever want the title of Lord Ashworth. He associated the name with enough unpleasant things that the very thought almost made him grimace. But some things, he supposed, were inevitable.
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Posted: Fri Dec 20, 2013 6:39 pm
Charlotte snickered quietly at Edgar's laughter, realizing he got a hint of the feeling Neve was vibrating with. Seeing others responding positively to the little doe made it easier to see-- yes, this is how real people respond to love and kindness.
"I suppose I needed it. I've never experienced this before," Charlotte said, in a darker tone than she intended, and she realized that her brow furrowed as she studied Neve's overflowing excitement at the warmness Dardanos extended to her. She shook her head. "But you don't want to hear about that," she put on her best noble smile.
She shivered as a snowflake landed on her nose. "Well, Edgar. Thanks for opening my mind. And for your book suggestion. I was thinking of traveling to Oldcastle... to figure some things out for myself," she thought that maybe he could understand the need to get away around the holidays, so she added: "And avoid some of the 'mandatory' festivities. If you see my mother at any of them, do me a favor and don't tell her," she laughed, earnestly this time, almost too excited to not have to dance with prospectives that her mother deemed respectable, or handsome, or wealthy enough, at every single gathering her family was expected to attend.
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Posted: Mon Dec 30, 2013 8:07 am
"Perhaps not, but if it is at all helpful, I believe I know how you feel," he said, giving the little fawn a light scratch on the back. She was doing for Charlotte what Dardanos had done for him, but in her own way. "In time, I think, you may be able to teach her to restrain her affection to a more manageable level but I suppose you will first have to accept what she offers now." He suspected that perhaps feeling like her efforts were rebuffed made the fawn want to love more strongly.
"Both worthy reasons for leaving Palisade for a while," he added, smiling. There were many festivities he preferred to miss and he avoided as many as he could, but some were more difficult to escape. "If I do have the pleasure of meeting your mother, your secret is safe with Dardanos and me." No doubt Mister and Missus Rosenthal would soon find out the reason for their daughter's disappearance, but that was a matter for their family to resolve. Still, he smiled, glad to have made the acquaintance of someone who seemed in many ways to be like-minded with him. "But never fear, if you do find yourself at these festivities, you will at least have someone you know to dance with."
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