Boys and Girls, Elaine

[Rune Winterborn]

Rune sighed and stepped into the room, accompanied by her handmaidens. She disliked the lot of them - chattery, but so boring.

Everything was boring.

She wished she could go out riding, but with this whole "people disappearing" thing, she wasn't allowed out of the city. She spent time with Kari, but not as much as she'd liked. Svafa was getting restless. Rune released her every day in the garden, but it wasn't the same thing.

Many things bothered her. Servants talked a lot about her father and the queen. Rune couldn't bring herself to ignore the idea of her father having conjugal relations with that woman - or any woman, really. Knowing it was wrong to think so didn't help her struggle. It just made her feel worse. Above all, she felt lonely - more lonely than ever.

So she summoned the one friend she'd managed to make at the castle - Elaine.

When the princess' eyes fell upon her friend, she smiled a tired but eager smile.

"Elaine!" she said, happily, then hurried to hug the girl. Was it princess-like to embrace your friends? Did it matter? No.

"You can go now!" Rune instructed the ladies around her.

[Elaine Chevalier]

Elaine was happy to embrace her friend. She was, after all, a very affectionate and friendly sort of person. Her face was alight with a beaming smile once she stepped back to see Rune and laugh a light, "Hello!"

She spared a brief, bright-eyed glance at the retreating handmaidens, but then she was looking to Rune again, asking, "How are you?" It was almost sickening, the way she always sounded to genuine when making that inquiry. It was a favored question in idle chit-chat, but Elaine had a habit of honestly asking about peoples' well-being.

She certainly cared about Rune, knowing the girl's situation was rather challenging and having seen that sort of tired expression the princess had been wearing. In truth, when she found herself feeling discouraged by her own situation, she had developed a habit of thinking about Rune. Being a princess had to be a million times more complicated, especially under these specific circumstances. . .

Plus, things were looking up. Elaine had plans now, a new focus and direction.

[Rune Winterborn]

"Alright," Rune replied vaguely. "And you?"

[Elaine Chevalier]

"I'm well," Elaine said simply, offering a small smile despite her thought that Rune seemed less than alright. Shrugging, she added, "I've . . . convinced my father to allow me to join the priesthood."

It wasn't an option on her mind she had bothered to hide from her friends, but the decision had only been made recently. It was good news, she thought. It was the reason for her current feelings of wellness. After all, it did eliminate some of the greatest burdens that had been placed on her since the death of the man who was supposed to be her husband.

Now she didn't need a husband. There was no need for a replacement. There would be no pressure upon the dead man's brother to marry her out of pity and supposed obligation by association.

"I will study here at The Great Temple until I can be initiated as a proper priestess, so you must visit me. You must," she said, touching a hand to her friend's shoulder and looking to her with round eyes.

Elaine wasn't one to make demands, especially not from a princess, but this was terribly important to her.

[Rune Winterborn]

Rune's expression dropped degrees in warmth. Only surprise and shock was left on her face. Slowly, as Elaine spoke, she regained some of her composure.

"Why?" she just asked, trying her best not to look horror-struck.

[Elaine Chevalier]

Elaine's brows rose at that. The question was unexpected, despite how many times it had been asked by her family before. The roundness of her eyes took on a more curious, somewhat uncomfortable quality.

"I want to be a priestess," she said, thinking that was obvious and the only important reason that needed consideration. "I . . . like to study Pryism and to teach others. I like to help. It would please me to serve in a temple."

Was it really so unexpected? She loved to visit the temple as it was. She could spend hours there, listening to the river and admiring the beautiful sculptures.

Honestly, she had half expected Rune to be one of the people who responded first with "Oh . . ." and a look of pity.

[Rune Winterborn]

Rune's expression grew into something shrewder. "But you can do all that without being a priestess."

[Elaine Chevalier]

"Not in the same way," Elaine argued lightly, not actually intending to argue so much as explain. "Perhaps one day I might even teach initiates and children at a monastery or manage one myself," she added.

It could be important work, serious work-- the sort of work most women were not allowed to do.

Furrowing her brow lightly, she asked, "Do you think it is bad for me to want to be a priestess?"

[Rune Winterborn]

Rune walked to one of the long couches in the room and plopped herself - unladylike - into it. "No." Her fingers traced the outline of the fabric which covered the sofa. "I'm... going to miss you terribly, that's all."

[Elaine Chevalier]

Oh.

Elaine had feared that this might turn into a conversation about how she shouldn't suddenly decide to become a priestess just because her husband-to-be had been killed-- something about how she was too pretty and marriageable for that life.

"Well I won't be so far away," she mentioned, approaching the long couch upon which Rune had chosen to seat herself. "No farther than I am when I stay at my family's estate in Hightown," she added, trying to sound comforting.

With grace characteristic of her, she lowered herself to sit beside the other girl. "You can visit me at the temple, and you're a princess . . . you could send for me to meet you here whenever you would like. It is better than it would be if I was to study at one of the monasteries or go to serve at some temple across the island."

It would be good.

It would be for the best.

[Rune Winterborn]

"Being a princess is not nearly that powerful," Rune whispered, sitting up properly.

Elaine was leaving her, too. Wonderful.

[Elaine Chevalier]

Alright, so maybe that was true, but--

"I will not be far away. You will visit, and we will be as friendly as ever," Elaine tried to argue some more, not wanting Rune to think this was so terrible. "It would be far worse if I was to be married to someone living on a different island or even outside Maristheum. This will be best."

It would.

It had to be.

"If I choose not to join the priesthood, I'll have to be married eventually, and that would surely take me much farther away. This way I can stay close to you and my family and my other friends. . ."