griffinmarsh

[marrinikari]

Princess Emmalina of Griffinmarsh is her parents' pride and joy.

She's as beautiful as anyone could wish, even if her hair color isn't quite the fashionable shade of blonde. It's long and flowing and perfectly tended and really, no one will mind if it's just a tad too dark. And her eyes are so unique, aren't they- and hazel is coming into style now, isn't it, so it won't matter a whit that cornflower blue is still the current trend.

Her multitude of tutors did their work well. She's not flawlessly graceful, of course, but she dances quite nicely nonetheless. She's as courteous and gracious as they could hope, even if she's sometimes a tad snide for polite company. And her watercolors are more than adequate, particularly that one of the river from the east tower (though wasn't the view from the west tower better? Well, the room's been empty for years, this was more practical, isn't she thoughtful.)

And she's certainly never any trouble. All those stories you hear- of course Cimorene's rather a dramatic case, but didn't that girl two kingdoms over recently run away from home to marry her girlfriend? Can you even imagine? Her parents must be so mortified. Thank goodness Emmalina's such a good child; she might talk back too much, but she's never done anything like that.

Really, her parents couldn't ask for a better daughter.

If only she would get married.

---

Emmalina doesn't think it's her fault, exactly. Griffinmarsh is very... average. Average size, average population, average wealth. Average princess, if she's being honest. And they hadn't had any of those recurring griffin problems in years, no matter the gossip. But for a kingdom, it's still rather... left out, if such a thing is possible. Not to mention that the marshes are rather hazardous to the unprepared; they don't get a lot of visitors. How Emmalina is supposed to marry someone when she never meets anyone has never been explained to her.

Her mother's latest plan is promising, she thinks, but it still seems to be missing a few pieces.

"Tourneys are downright thrilling," the queen assures her. "I met your father at one, back in the day! And this is one of the largest tournaments in years. They've had to split the bakeoff into two, can you imagine? Surely someone will find you to their liking."

"But we have to get there," Emmalina reminds her. "We can't exactly take the carriage through the marshes."

"The merchants have found a new route," her father tells her smugly. "Very promising. I'll send you and your mother through in a carriage with an escort, you'll be there in a week, no problems at all."

In Emmalina's experience, saying 'no problems' was just asking for them to appear. She's almost surprised an evil fairy doesn't materialize on the spot.

"You can't spare a full escort for a month," she points out.

"Well," her father says uncomfortably, "we'll only send half an escort. But you know as well as I do the griffins haven't appeared in years."

"To hear Princess Iradwel tell it, we've been attacked yearly for centuries," Emmalina says sourly.

"Emmalina," her mother says sternly. "Just because our neighbors indulge in rumor mongering does not make it appropriate for you to belittle them."

"Sorry, Mother," she sighs.

"It's all right, dear," the queen says. "Just do try to be careful at the tournament, won't you? Gossiping is unseemly in a princess."

"No, Mother."

"Very well, then. You'll be attending the grand tournament two months hence. I'll make the travel arrangements." The king beams at her. "And then we can put all this nonsense about you being unmarried behind us."

"Yes, Father."

---

Emmalina and her mother depart for the tournament exactly on time. The carriage was ready for them, as her father had promised, with the half complement of guards he could spare. (Emmalina's maid had confided that there had been more than a few fights over the honor of escorting them; the promise of watching the tourney was, apparently, more than enough incentive to brave the marshes.) They're packed, loaded and out the gate before Emmalina is even fully awake.

Her mother chatters as they drive about all the eligible young men who have registered for the tournament. Prince So-and-So is nice, but a little too old- princes marry later, of course, but hasn't it been a little long even for a prince? And Sir This-and-That is ever so handsome, but obviously an actual prince is much to be preferred. Emmalina tunes her out. She's sure she'll hear it at least twice more before the end of the trip.

She's far more concerned by the marshes.

They're huge, and treacherous, and most of the reliable paths eventually submerge. The griffins are mostly gone, but one can never really be sure, and everyone says that the presence of armed men will set them off and-

Emmalina worries.

She worries the whole time through the marshes. It takes them three days to get all the way through, and she barely sleeps. When they make it through with no more casualties than a single bag that got thrown too far over a horse, she breathes a sigh of relief and goes for her first good night's sleep in a while. They've made it out of the marsh, and out of the griffins, and now getting to the tournament will be straightforward.

Or it would have been, anyway. No one could have predicted the dragon.

Waking up was very unpleasant.

---

Half an escort might have been enough to handle bandits or even an unlikely griffin, but they were definitely unprepared for a dragon. Emmalina wakes up carefully bundled in the dragon's arms, still wrapped in her blanket, and promptly screams.

"Hey!" The dragon says indignantly. "Why all the yelling? I was very nice about this, you know."

Emmalina doesn't respond. She's busy screaming.

"I even brought your blanket," the dragon says, sounding aggrieved. "I didn't have time to file my nails, and I wouldn't want to damage you after I went to all the trouble of fetching you in the first place."

Emmalina pauses her screaming to catch her breath, then starts again. "Don't eat me! Please!"

"Eat you?" the dragon asks, confused. "Why would I eat you? I just said I'd gone to all this trouble! No, no, my last princess finally got rescued last month, and it's rather annoying having her gone. Helpful creatures, princesses. So I've been looking for a new one. I must say, I didn't think I'd have to go all this way, but here you are, so it all worked out, didn't it?"

"Not for me!" Emmalina wails. "I'm supposed to be at a tournament with my mother! I'm supposed to meet princes and knights and fall in love and live ha- happily ever a- afterrrr."

"Tournament?" the dragon says. "No, no, there's no tournament near here. No self respecting dragon would fly past that many knights! Don't be silly."

This shocks Emmalina almost into silence. "But- but I was going-"

"You were right where your father said you would be," the dragon says happily. "And you'll meet all sorts of knights and princes when they come to rescue you, and until then I'll have a princess to help with the cooking and tidying. Won't it be nice?"

"Of course," Emmalina mutters, because that's polite, she's always polite, she's a good daughter-

She cries the rest of the way to the Mountains of Morning.

---

The dragon, who introduces himself as Morath, helps Emmalina settle in. Once she accepts that Morath truly has no interest in eating her, it becomes easier. Her fury with her parents is surprisingly motivating; she sets herself to learning how to be a dragon's princess, and who cares if her parents would approve, because at least Morath is honest about it all. She learns the basics of cooking, and Morath has an enchanted broom and mop that help her through most of the cleaning. There's only two other princesses in the caves near Morath's, and Emmalina is polite to them whenever they appear to socialize, but they seem to find her parents' plan helpful and romantic, so Emmalina silently resolves to never be their friend.

Days turn to weeks. Emmalina adjusts to life with Morath well enough to have some free time outside cooking and cleaning; she reads, or organizes Morath's treasure. He doesn't have a lot of treasure- he's not particularly rich as dragons go- but he's good enough about keeping magical items separate that she can play dress up with the safer pieces, which she finds quite entertaining. Some of the older pieces are just stunning. Leave rings here, shields there, weapons in the back corner... She can do this. It's easier than keeping track of the relative ranks of dukes, counts and barons, if she's honest about it.

Weeks turn to months. Emmalina's far from home, and word only spreads through the knightly grapevine so quickly; she's had just a handful of would-be rescuers. Morath is very nice about it. He defeats them neatly, never damaging them too badly, but sends them back looking just injured enough to tell tales and garner sympathy. Emmalina hasn't decided how she feels about it all. It might be nice to be rescued. Certainly if she met a rescuer she liked enough, which she hasn't yet. She would be more than happy to never pull out the enchanted mop ever again. But on the other hand... then her parents would get what they wanted.

And they don't deserve it.

Comments

[first_and_final]

A few minutes later, the cat returns and meows at the door again, this time from somewhat higher up.

[follow_the_leader]

Emmalina is not paying attention to the height of the meow, and is delighted by the idea of cat snuggles as an alternative to- whatever it was she was doing. Nothing, really. She opens the door, blinks once in surprise at the definitely-not-a-cat man that accompanied the cat, and curtsies politely.

[first_and_final]

The human nods politely in return, perhaps declining to bow lest it dislodge the cat on his shoulder. He's not dressed especially ostentatiously, but does seem clearly noble.

"Hello," he says. "I'm Milo; this is Cath. She said you seemed in need of company."

[follow_the_leader]

Emmalina stares at Cath, surprised and a bit embarrassed. She thought that was a myth. People joked about cats being smart, of course, but it wasn't like she'd ever met a witch to ask. Griffinmarsh widely considered the thought to be something of an urban legend. Well. She's seen stranger things, recently. If dragons can be easy going and not-princess-eating, cats can talk. (Didn't the stories say only to witches? Well, clearly the stories were lacking anyway.)

"Nice to meet you, Milo, Cath," she responds, with a smaller curtsy for Cath (who is a person!). "I'm Princess Emmalina of Griffinmarsh." She considers him and his offer. "I would love some company. If it isn't an interruption?" She smiles slightly. "I understand there's something of a reunion in progress." And a pretty girl in a garden- her smile slips a bit, but she shoves the thought down.

[first_and_final]

"No trouble at all," he says. "Jann's parents are off catching up. I'm not in the middle of anything. So I hear you were recently rescued from a dragon in the Mountains of Mourning. If you don't mind my asking, did you hear anything about Roxim while you were there? He answers letters very spottily when he's between princesses, so I haven't heard from him in a while."

[follow_the_leader]

"I'm sorry, I didn't get to meet him," Emma apologizes. "Morath is quite a bit younger, I think. But when people mentioned him they sounded fond of him? He seems to be everyone's favorite cranky grandfather figure."

[first_and_final]

"Sounds about right. Well, thank you anyway. I haven't heard much about Morath; was he all right, as dragons go?"

[follow_the_leader]

She smiles fondly. "He was always nice to me. Honest, maybe too much sometimes, but nice. And to the knights, too. He seemed to think it was all a big game; he never hurt them, not truly." Then her brain catches up with her. "But how do you know R- oh! Milo! You're Jann's cousin?"

[first_and_final]

"Yes. Did he mention my dragon-related misadventures to you, by any chance?"

[follow_the_leader]

"There was some story telling," Emmalina agrees with a laugh. "Jann's a good storyteller, it made the ride easier." The ache is back in her chest. Stupid chest. "He's especially fond of the one with the rabbit."

[first_and_final]

"Yes," says Milo. "I know. Rarely does Jann pass up an opportunity to remind me about that time I accidentally got him turned into a rabbit. Jann makes an adorable rabbit, by the way, I'm sure he neglected to mention that part."

[follow_the_leader]

"He did! I'm sure he was very adorable." Jann's pretty adorable as a human, so this is not a stretch. "Your fluffiness was mentioned, though. I'm told it was quite impressive."

[first_and_final]

"My fluff was magnificent. Pales in comparison to Glynn's, though - when Glynn decided to try the rabbit carpet on a whim, he turned into a little blond fluff orb."

[follow_the_leader]

"That sounds frighteningly cute." She agrees, then looks around. They're still standing in the doorway, Cath contentedly curled on Prince Milo's shoulder. The guest bedroom doesn't seem to be hiding a socialization corner, and even if it did, inviting him in seems. Easy to misinterpret. "I'm sorry, did you want to... go somewhere and sit?"

[first_and_final]

"Yes, let's," he says. "Have you been shown around the castle yet? My favourite place to sit and chat is the library, but perhaps you have a different opinion."

[follow_the_leader]

"I've explored the gardens some, that's all. The library sounds lovely," she says immediately. The gardens were nice and all, but she has some (one) decidedly unfond memories of them at the moment.

[first_and_final]

"Well, then, let's go sit in the library."

There is a library! It has cozy chairs and shelves and shelves of books.

[follow_the_leader]

It's not polite to stare, Emmalina had that memorized even before etiquette lessons started, but she glances around quite a bit. It's really a very nice library. And no one here will care what books she reads! She knows her parents wanted her to focus on Improving Books, but they were never very interesting. Morath's library was an education, even if it was small; if they let her read before they- ship her home? Find her somewhere to go? Whatever they do, she's going to make a point to explore this room before they do it.

She curls herself up in one of the armchairs, silently thanking her old tutors for their skirt arrangement lessons. "So, how did you two meet?" she asks Milo.

[first_and_final]

"I was visiting an acquaintance and a tiny grey kitten climbed onto my foot. Not being a witch, I had some trouble communicating with her, but we managed to establish that she wanted to come home with me, so she did. We've improved our understanding since then. Invented a sort of language of meows."

[follow_the_leader]

So the witch part of the stories was right, Emmalina muses. This has all been quite a learning experience. "Awww, that sounds cute. It was nice of you to bring her home. So, Cath, you like it here?" It's odd addressing a question to a cat, but really, it's impolite to exclude her from the conversation, surely?

[first_and_final]

Meow.

"That's a yes," says Milo.

Further meowing.

"And some praise for my family's hospitality. I can't say I disagree."

[follow_the_leader]

"As someone on the receiving end, I agree with Cath," Emmalina says, more seriously than she meant to. "Everyone's been very kind to me."

[first_and_final]

"That's good to hear."

[follow_the_leader]

She squirms slightly, but decides that she helped to get the water, she can at least ask. "Did. Did everything go well this morning?"

[first_and_final]

"Seems to have. The reunion was a little awkward, but Jann's parents seem very happy, and I'm sure we'll all get used to the change."