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“Lon, listen! The trumpets – someone’s coming!” Castor leaped from his chair and ran to the window. Alonzo, knowing that nothing could be seen from there, spoke to their tutor, “This will be the envoy from Melland. May we go stand in the courtyard and see them come in? I want to know who they are before we have to meet them.” Gaining permission, the boys raced off to the corner of the courtyard where they had long since found that they could see without being noticed.
“That in the front will be Count Friedrich,” Alonzo commented to Castor, “with his new wife and father-in-law. And three litters; the count must have brought her whole family!”
“Yes.” Castor answered. “And see how they are carried; Father was talking about their new way of doing it. Come on, I want to get a closer look.”
“Later, Cas. Listen, they are being announced.” Alonzo listened carefully as the names were shouted by the seneschal. Castor stared at the litters hung between pairs of sturdy oxen. As he started to move closer, Alonzo grabbed the back of his tunic. “Father will expect us in the hall, Cas, and you know you’ll get dirty if you go any closer to the animals. Let’s go in now.”
Theirs was a kingdom steeped in Tradition and ritual. There were laws and rituals for nearly every aspect of royal life, and many for everyday life as well. From the first the boys were different as they could be. Alonzo was a leader, strong and proud, hard-working, organized and neat, logical and precise. By the time the boys were eight, Alonzo knew every one of the laws and rituals, and performed his part in them flawlessly.
Castor was a dreamer and a doer, interested in all the workings of the castle, liable to be found anywhere but where he was supposed to be (if he could be found at all), and usually with his assigned tasks half done. Castor’s knowledge of the laws was adequate and his performance of the rituals was usually satisfactory but lackluster. But as different as they and there interests were, the boys were inseparable.
Indigo_Bunting · Mon Dec 10, 2007 @ 06:52pm · 0 Comments |
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