Post by devilinthedetails on Jan 7, 2023 8:53:07 GMT 10
Title: Parental Permission
Summary: Dom requests the permission of Baron Piers and Lady Ilane of Mindelan in an important matter pertaining to their youngest daughter. A post Lady Knight fic.
Rating: PG-13.
Author's Note: I love the idea of asexual Kel (especially because I am asexual myself and Kel is the Tamora Pierce protagonist I relate to the most) but I also have a big soft spot for the Kel/Dom pairing, and through fanfic, I can have both. So this fic isn't intended as any sort of rejection of an asexual Kel. It is just me scratching a Kel/Dom itch!
Parental Permission
Dom took advantage of his leave (the situation along the Scanran border having progressed sufficiently that leave was possible for sergeants such as himself to take at least when winter snow and ice didn’t make mountain roads impassable) to pay a visit to Baron Piers of Mindelan and his wife, Ilane.
His horse was stabled by a groom, and he was shown to the solar where he was greeted by Baron Piers and Lady Ilane. Cool wine that tasted of Tyran vineyards was served in silver goblets along with slices of fresh fruit and creamy cheese.
Since this was his first time meeting Kel’s parents, Dom made sure to launch a full charm offensive. Offering all the polite pleasantries and the smile he knew lit up his eyes. Nibbling at the fruit and praising its succulence. Sipping at the wine in what he hoped was a dignified manner. Drawing liquid courage from the alcohol as it entered his veins. Flowed into his bloodstream.
Before the alcohol could make him cotton-headed as a summer cloud, Dom forced himself to speak the words that had brought him to Mindelan. Bowing formally from the waist. “I would humbly request your permission to propose to your daughter. Keladry. Kel.”
He was floundering and fumbling for words already. Lapsing into incoherence. Perhaps the alcohol had turned his brains to cotton more swiftly than he had anticipated. Or maybe he was just clod-tongued. After all, he didn’t need to clumsily specify that he was referring to Kel. It would’ve been obvious from context that he was speaking of her. Given that she was the only daughter the couple had who as yet remained unwed.
“The Mindelan family would be honored by a marriage with the Masbolle line.” If Baron Piers was astonished by Dom’s request, he was too seasoned and smooth a diplomat to register any such emotion on his face. Dom’s family was from the Book of Gold–even if he was a third son, not a first–and Mindelan was a recently ennobled line. Still, Baron Piers’s tone remained merely courteous. Promising nothing. His hazel eyes–disconcertingly like Kel’s–were level. Unwavering. “However, it will be Kel’s choice whether and whom she marries. You are welcome to propose to her, but we make no guarantees that she will accept. Nor will we pressure her to do so.”
“Of course, sir,” Dom replied hastily. Wondering if it had been a mistake to seek permission from Kel’s parents before proposing to her. If it made him seem as stuffy a conservative as Turomot of Willam who creaked every time he walked. It was just that his own parents had impressed on him that this was how noble marriages were arranged. With formal permissions and proposals. That anything otherwise was dishonorable. An affront to society. “I respect Kel too much to attempt to force her into anything.”
He could imagine her coming after him with her glaive if he ventured any such folly. She was not the sort of person who could be bullied into anything. Had made it a lifelong crusade to confront bullies when they tormented others, in fact.
“Even if she does agree to marry you.” Lady Ilane placed a weighty emphasis on the “if.” She was forthright. Blunt. Unconcerned at the prospect of ruffling feathers if that meant advocating for her most unconventional of daughters. “She may wish to continue her life as a warrior. A knight on active duty in the realm. She may not be interested in bearing children of her own as I did. Are you prepared for both those prospects?”
A test from the woman who might one day (if the gods favored him beyond his deserving) be his mother-in-law. One he was ready to answer with steadiness. “I intend to resign my commission as a sergeant in the King’s Own should Kel accept my proposal.”
He had never intended to be a soldier all his life. A reason he had enlisted in the Own rather than trained as a knight. A difference between him and Kel, perhaps. One that might have made them well-matched.
“As for children,” he went on. Simply. Straightforwardly. “I am a third son. It is not required that I produce heirs for the survival of my house.”
“Well, then, if that is understood–” Lady Ilane lifted her silver goblet in a toast– “I wish you every happiness with my daughter should she accept your proposal.”
Dom drank deeply to that. Draining his goblet. Tasting bliss in the fermented grapes.
Summary: Dom requests the permission of Baron Piers and Lady Ilane of Mindelan in an important matter pertaining to their youngest daughter. A post Lady Knight fic.
Rating: PG-13.
Author's Note: I love the idea of asexual Kel (especially because I am asexual myself and Kel is the Tamora Pierce protagonist I relate to the most) but I also have a big soft spot for the Kel/Dom pairing, and through fanfic, I can have both. So this fic isn't intended as any sort of rejection of an asexual Kel. It is just me scratching a Kel/Dom itch!
Parental Permission
Dom took advantage of his leave (the situation along the Scanran border having progressed sufficiently that leave was possible for sergeants such as himself to take at least when winter snow and ice didn’t make mountain roads impassable) to pay a visit to Baron Piers of Mindelan and his wife, Ilane.
His horse was stabled by a groom, and he was shown to the solar where he was greeted by Baron Piers and Lady Ilane. Cool wine that tasted of Tyran vineyards was served in silver goblets along with slices of fresh fruit and creamy cheese.
Since this was his first time meeting Kel’s parents, Dom made sure to launch a full charm offensive. Offering all the polite pleasantries and the smile he knew lit up his eyes. Nibbling at the fruit and praising its succulence. Sipping at the wine in what he hoped was a dignified manner. Drawing liquid courage from the alcohol as it entered his veins. Flowed into his bloodstream.
Before the alcohol could make him cotton-headed as a summer cloud, Dom forced himself to speak the words that had brought him to Mindelan. Bowing formally from the waist. “I would humbly request your permission to propose to your daughter. Keladry. Kel.”
He was floundering and fumbling for words already. Lapsing into incoherence. Perhaps the alcohol had turned his brains to cotton more swiftly than he had anticipated. Or maybe he was just clod-tongued. After all, he didn’t need to clumsily specify that he was referring to Kel. It would’ve been obvious from context that he was speaking of her. Given that she was the only daughter the couple had who as yet remained unwed.
“The Mindelan family would be honored by a marriage with the Masbolle line.” If Baron Piers was astonished by Dom’s request, he was too seasoned and smooth a diplomat to register any such emotion on his face. Dom’s family was from the Book of Gold–even if he was a third son, not a first–and Mindelan was a recently ennobled line. Still, Baron Piers’s tone remained merely courteous. Promising nothing. His hazel eyes–disconcertingly like Kel’s–were level. Unwavering. “However, it will be Kel’s choice whether and whom she marries. You are welcome to propose to her, but we make no guarantees that she will accept. Nor will we pressure her to do so.”
“Of course, sir,” Dom replied hastily. Wondering if it had been a mistake to seek permission from Kel’s parents before proposing to her. If it made him seem as stuffy a conservative as Turomot of Willam who creaked every time he walked. It was just that his own parents had impressed on him that this was how noble marriages were arranged. With formal permissions and proposals. That anything otherwise was dishonorable. An affront to society. “I respect Kel too much to attempt to force her into anything.”
He could imagine her coming after him with her glaive if he ventured any such folly. She was not the sort of person who could be bullied into anything. Had made it a lifelong crusade to confront bullies when they tormented others, in fact.
“Even if she does agree to marry you.” Lady Ilane placed a weighty emphasis on the “if.” She was forthright. Blunt. Unconcerned at the prospect of ruffling feathers if that meant advocating for her most unconventional of daughters. “She may wish to continue her life as a warrior. A knight on active duty in the realm. She may not be interested in bearing children of her own as I did. Are you prepared for both those prospects?”
A test from the woman who might one day (if the gods favored him beyond his deserving) be his mother-in-law. One he was ready to answer with steadiness. “I intend to resign my commission as a sergeant in the King’s Own should Kel accept my proposal.”
He had never intended to be a soldier all his life. A reason he had enlisted in the Own rather than trained as a knight. A difference between him and Kel, perhaps. One that might have made them well-matched.
“As for children,” he went on. Simply. Straightforwardly. “I am a third son. It is not required that I produce heirs for the survival of my house.”
“Well, then, if that is understood–” Lady Ilane lifted her silver goblet in a toast– “I wish you every happiness with my daughter should she accept your proposal.”
Dom drank deeply to that. Draining his goblet. Tasting bliss in the fermented grapes.