The Smiling Princess and the Queen of Thorns

Dragonis Tue Feb 15, 2011 1:43 am

The Queen of Thorns was sitting by the docks of Denerim, staring at the sea. She was still nervous of leaving the only home she had ever known for the last 14 years. And then there was this mysterious Joining ritual she was supposed to undergo to become a Warden. She was apprehensive, she didnt even want to be a Warden but being conscripted had forced her to join them.

"Don't be nervous, Fremelda." A soft whisper, a softer embrace: a comforting ring around the young woman's shoulders that dissolved just as quickly. Sophia smiled from her new seat next to the Queen, eyes shining.

Fremelda scowled at the other woman. "What would you know of it? I cant remember where I came from and this is the home I was raised in." She said as she turned her steely gaze back to the sea. "I didn't want to be a Warden. I was blackmailed."

"You didn't want to be an assassin, either. You didn't want to be raped every night. I don't think you wanted to be filled with nightmares... at least, not at first. Now, you slay with the same artistry as those who came before you. And so, you will be a Grey Warden as well. You might even come to like it."

A shiver ran up the assassin's spine. "How...?" She looked over at the Smiling Princess searchingly, wondering how Sophia knew about the brothel days so vividly.

Sophia simply smiled, settling back to enjoy the view over the water.

"I dont recall you as one of my clients." Fremelda asked warily.

"No. I never hired you..." Sophia's smile twitches sheepishly. "... though I will admit, I am a shameless admirer of your work."

"Shameless admirer of which work? Lying on my back and making all the right noises, or killing someone in such a way they don't make any noise?" Fremelda sounded incredibly bitter today it seemed.

"I admire your courage." Sophia whispered, her smile shrinking. "I admire the way you refused to break, no matter what those barbarians did to you. And I admire the way that you continue to create a story of your own."

She frowned. "Starting to creep me out. Have you been stalking me or something?" She asked, tilting her head at the other woman.

A giggle. "I'm sorry... It's... my job, of sorts. I collect stories, you see. Yours is just one of them. But one which I particularly like."

[color=steelblue]"My story's nothing but blood." She said with a narrow eyed gaze. "The fact that no one knows my true name but myself means I can be anonymous. Anyone could be the Queen of Thorns."

"But only you are Fremelda Dragonis. That's what makes you so special."

Eyebrows went up. "You know my clan name. No one knows my clan name. Who the hell are you?" She asked, a hand going to the hilt of her saber.

A smile, genuine, unphased by the immanent danger of the sabre, or the shock in Fremelda's voice. "My name is Sophia Nider."

Eyebrows narrowed. "Bull. The Nider line died out a thousand years ago."

"Now, that -is- news to me." Sophia rested her chin on the back of her hand, staring at Fremelda with an almost child-like curiosity.

"It's true. I remember the stories as a child. Way back in the days of the Imperium." She sighed. "They died out a thousand years ago when my own clan was started."

"Now... what a coincidence." Sophia blinked.

"You like stories. Surely you know history."

"History? Intimately. But no one historian can know all the details." Sophia shrugged. "All I know is that my name is Nider, and that the name belongs to me."

The assassin looked perplexed. "But..." she didn't have the right words for it. Maybe she recalled wrong? She could have sworn she heard the last of the Nider clan died a millennium ago.

"I exist. As do you. Therefore, there is truth in both versions of the story. The Niders may have died out, leaving a memory behind to carry their name. But your clan also exists." She laughs, turning her gaze back to the ocean. "If you were to think about it long enough, it would fill your mind with nightmares that even the Fade would reject."

Fremelda relented. "Very well... So why so interested in me? I'm just an assassin."

"Think about it." Sophia kept a straight face for all of three seconds before relenting. "... the reason is simple, Fremelda. I like you. You can trust me or not as you wish, but I hope that one day you will."

She sighed and nodded. "Yeah sure, but there's much better story material in the Commander"

"That's might be true... and her story is the one that interests me. However, your story now runs parallel to hers... one cannot exist without the other."

"You're speaking in riddles. I hate riddles." She muttered, rubbing her temples.

"You will be travelling with her." Sophia said patiently. "I will be travelling with her. So your stories, your lives, become one and the same. Simple enough, Miss Dragonis?"

"Yes." She said simply, mentally wincing at the stealthy rebuff.

A sidelong glance. "... you would look amazing with longer hair, you know."

She blinked in surprise. "Well that was out of the blue. You think so, huh?"

"Isn't that what I just said?" The verbal jab patted Fremelda's cheek, softened by the radiant smile.

"I don't know... it gets stubborn when it's long." She sighed, recalling it was also a weakness used against her when she was in that stinking brothel. The grabbing hands, the tearing of chunks of her hair out.

Sophia stands, brushing a hand over Fremelda's shoulder. "Maybe one day, when the memories aren't so strong... maybe I could braid it for you."

She scoffed. "I'd look terrible in braids. They don't suit me." She said, shaking her head. "I remember mother used to braid my hair. Somewhere in the back of my mind."

"How do you know? They might suit you." Ribbon-wrapped hands darted, fingers flicking strands of red hair into the beginnings of an intricate design.

The woman in the frock coat didn't stop the ribbon-laced one, she just sighed. "Because, I don't really need to braid my hair."

"No-one needs to braid their hair."

"Perhaps not but I still say growing my hair out then braiding it doesnt suit me.

"Then I'll stop playing." The fingers halt in their work, teasing out what little had been accomplished.

She offered a small smile of consolation. "You fingers felt nice though... no one's ever been gentle with me."

"No?" Sophia's arms wrapped around Fremelda's shoulders, her head resting on her shoulder. A simple, gentle embrace, devoid of sexuality. Only closeness existed in that hug, an almost familial warmth that whispered with the waves: "I'm here."

The warmth of a gentle embrace was an alien feeling to Fremelda. The last time she felt such an embrace was just before she put a knife through the Revered Mother of Denerim's gut. Before that was when she was a small child, during her mother's tutoring. This was the first time she felt genuine warmth in years. It made her boiling anger calm. Her shoulders relaxed.

Sophia rocked Fremelda gently, humming an old lullaby under her breath... "May my strength flow from Stone to bear my broken heart true, may the Wind guide my steps back home to you. May Fire be my guide through dreams unknown, and Water fill my heart with a truth of our own."

Fremelda closed her eyes, suddenly feeling like she was in her mother's arms again like when she was a little girl. It felt peaceful, safe. Then came the song, which sent a chill down her spine. There was something eerily familiar about it in the back of her mind. "That song... I feel like I've heard it before."

"Have you?"

"Yes... I can't place exactly where I heard it though." She said, a puzzled look on her face as she lay in Sophia's arms.

"You might know it as this..." Sophia lifted her head to whisper in Fremelda's ear. " 'May I become as hard as Stone, my blade as swift as Wind, my soul burn bright as Fire, and my mind run deep as water.' It's an old chant... I think..."

The recognition slammed into her now. Her jaw dropped. "That's...my family's creed. How...how do you know it?"

Sophia's arms fall away. The Smiling Princess strokes Fremelda's cheek, an older sister to a younger. A mother to her daughter. "Maybe I knew the one who wrote it?"

"Impossible. That was so long ago." She said, blinking in disbelief.

"Then I must be teasing you."

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