Post by alynna on Nov 8, 2009 4:39:36 GMT 10
Title: Belling the Girl
Rating (and Warnings): G
Fairytale/Nursery Rhyme adapted: The Mice in Council (Belling the Cat)
Word Count: 556
Summary: There's a new girl training with the pages, and the boys are growing fearful of her. One page proposes a plan.
Notes: I wrote this at the last minute, so it's not very good. I've been so busy this week.
Talk was spreading rapidly through the palace like plague. A girl was coming, to train to be a knight. All the pages were, on the surface, speaking of how ridiculous it was. But each boy secretly hoped she be a pretty girl who would be a wonderful ornament in their otherwise boring days of work.
“I’ve just seen her!” one boy cried as he ran to the others.
“What’s she like?” they all asked eagerly.
The boy shook his head. “Nothing like what I expected. You’ll have to see for yourselves. I’m fair disappointed.”
The boys eagerly ran towards the girl’s room, passing two boys on the way.
One boy wore a smirk and said to his tall Bazhir friend, “serves her right for looking like that. What an embarrassment to females!”
The boys were not deterred by his words—Joren was always cruel—and kept running.
“Halt!” It was Wyldon’s commanding voice.
The boys all stopped, nearly running into one another.
“Where are you boys headed?” asked the training master. “It is nearly time to meet the new pages.”
“Could you call them now?” asked one of the boys. Another boy elbowed him.
“No. I shall call them when the time is right. You may wait here if you wish or you may return to your rooms until you are called.”
“We’ll wait here.”
The boys waited until Wyldon called out in his loud voice for all the pages to assemble.
At last the boys set their eyes upon the girl. Disappointment washed over their faces, and they all stared at her too surprised to look away.
The girl didn’t look much like a girl. Her hair was cropped as short as a boy’s, and she wasn’t pretty in the least. Standing among the boys, the only thing that revealed her as a girl was her dress.
The boys decided from that day on they would try to avoid her. Seeing her fight was enough to make them want to run for their lives. The girl was quite scary.
“This isn’t working out too well,” said one of the pages one day. “She’s everywhere. I try to avoid her, but then she walks in right as I’m thinking I’m lucky.”
The other pages nodded in agreement. “She ran into me once,” one offered. “I was trembling for the rest of the day.”
“And once she made eye contact with me.”
The pages shivered all around.
“We need to think of something that will warn us,” said one of them. “Warn us that she is near. I suggest we get a little bell and give it to her to tie around her neck like a necklace. That way whenever she is near, we will hear her ringing and can hide in time.”
The pages nodded enthusiastically, raising cheers of approval for the idea.
Suddenly the wise elder page—a boy of an astounding fifteen years compared to their ten—spoke up. “That is certainly a good idea; however, I see one major flaw in that plan.” Neal crossed his arms, enjoying the silence that followed. He at last continued in a drawl, “that is, who is to bell the Girl?”
The pages looked at him with blank expressions. They looked at one another in silence, then back at Neal.
“It is easy to propose impossible remedies.”
Rating (and Warnings): G
Fairytale/Nursery Rhyme adapted: The Mice in Council (Belling the Cat)
Word Count: 556
Summary: There's a new girl training with the pages, and the boys are growing fearful of her. One page proposes a plan.
Notes: I wrote this at the last minute, so it's not very good. I've been so busy this week.
Talk was spreading rapidly through the palace like plague. A girl was coming, to train to be a knight. All the pages were, on the surface, speaking of how ridiculous it was. But each boy secretly hoped she be a pretty girl who would be a wonderful ornament in their otherwise boring days of work.
“I’ve just seen her!” one boy cried as he ran to the others.
“What’s she like?” they all asked eagerly.
The boy shook his head. “Nothing like what I expected. You’ll have to see for yourselves. I’m fair disappointed.”
The boys eagerly ran towards the girl’s room, passing two boys on the way.
One boy wore a smirk and said to his tall Bazhir friend, “serves her right for looking like that. What an embarrassment to females!”
The boys were not deterred by his words—Joren was always cruel—and kept running.
“Halt!” It was Wyldon’s commanding voice.
The boys all stopped, nearly running into one another.
“Where are you boys headed?” asked the training master. “It is nearly time to meet the new pages.”
“Could you call them now?” asked one of the boys. Another boy elbowed him.
“No. I shall call them when the time is right. You may wait here if you wish or you may return to your rooms until you are called.”
“We’ll wait here.”
The boys waited until Wyldon called out in his loud voice for all the pages to assemble.
At last the boys set their eyes upon the girl. Disappointment washed over their faces, and they all stared at her too surprised to look away.
The girl didn’t look much like a girl. Her hair was cropped as short as a boy’s, and she wasn’t pretty in the least. Standing among the boys, the only thing that revealed her as a girl was her dress.
The boys decided from that day on they would try to avoid her. Seeing her fight was enough to make them want to run for their lives. The girl was quite scary.
“This isn’t working out too well,” said one of the pages one day. “She’s everywhere. I try to avoid her, but then she walks in right as I’m thinking I’m lucky.”
The other pages nodded in agreement. “She ran into me once,” one offered. “I was trembling for the rest of the day.”
“And once she made eye contact with me.”
The pages shivered all around.
“We need to think of something that will warn us,” said one of them. “Warn us that she is near. I suggest we get a little bell and give it to her to tie around her neck like a necklace. That way whenever she is near, we will hear her ringing and can hide in time.”
The pages nodded enthusiastically, raising cheers of approval for the idea.
Suddenly the wise elder page—a boy of an astounding fifteen years compared to their ten—spoke up. “That is certainly a good idea; however, I see one major flaw in that plan.” Neal crossed his arms, enjoying the silence that followed. He at last continued in a drawl, “that is, who is to bell the Girl?”
The pages looked at him with blank expressions. They looked at one another in silence, then back at Neal.
“It is easy to propose impossible remedies.”