Post by Muse on Jun 1, 2013 22:23:33 GMT 10
Title: Jon’s Ordeal Paradox IV
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 504
Pairing: Alanna/Jonathan
Round/Fight: 3A
Summary: Alanna watches the Prince as she waits for her best friend to leave the Chamber of the Ordeal.
A/N: Part of an as-of-yet-unfinished paradox quartet---#4; "Jon neither does nor does not survive his Ordeal."
It’s a strange thing, but not something unheard of, Alanna supposes. The Prince sits with his parents in the Chapel of the Ordeal, though Alanna can only see the back of his head.
They’ve met, more than once. Gary introduced them years ago, when he was still a page with Alanna—Alan—during one of the infamous Midwinter Feasts. (It was the same night he utterly forgot to report to his station, and the Head of Festivities nearly had a conniption fit upon discovering the wayward page hiding behind a curtain with the Crown Prince, of all people. Alanna had rolled her eyes at the both of them and dutifully passed another tureen of gravy when Gary rejoined her later that evening.)
Thinking of her big friend, Alanna recrosses her fingers and tries harder not to fidget. Waiting for the Chamber of the Ordeal has set the whole room on edge, and on her right, Raoul looks as though he’s about to bolt from nerves; his ordeal is next.
It would have been the year of Prince Jonathan’s Ordeal, if he had decided to try for his knighthood. He hadn’t, though, and King Roald had never pushed him into it. Staring at Prince Jonathan’s black hair, Alanna recalls the conversation they had, briefly, the one time she had dared to bring it up.
”What?” Prince Jonathan had asked, turning from the argument Gary was instigating merrily with Alex, and Alanna gathered up her courage again.
“Why aren’t you a squire too?”
For a moment, Prince Jonathan freezes and Alanna worries that she’s gone too far. After all, she’s only the tag-along page, the small, mouthy friend that Gary drags everywhere.
“You…you don’t have to answer,” she stammers, recoiling slightly from the bitter twist that has appeared on Prince Jonathan’s lips.
Why is she thinking about his lips? Alanna mentally shakes herself, hard.
“It’s not—I mean, it’s fine.” Prince Jonathan toys with the hem of his tunic. “I never saw the need. It wasn’t something I wanted.”
He says the words with an air of finality, and Alanna doesn’t ask anymore.
She wonders now if it is something he wants as the doors swing open and Gary stumbles from the Chamber, tired and haggard but alive. Prince Jonathan hurries to support his cousin, looping Gary’s arm around his shoulder and grinning at something Gary says.
Alanna releases a sigh, feeling tension leak out of her. When the King and Queen pass by, their relief is etched into their faces and Alanna sees how Lianne clings to her husband’s arm
She wonders if it is the rumor about Roger, about how he was rejected by the chamber before he even entered.
She wonders if it is Roald, with tired gladness at the sight of his nephew, and if it is a king’s worry that neither of his heir-potentials would be acceptable to the chamber.
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 504
Pairing: Alanna/Jonathan
Round/Fight: 3A
Summary: Alanna watches the Prince as she waits for her best friend to leave the Chamber of the Ordeal.
A/N: Part of an as-of-yet-unfinished paradox quartet---#4; "Jon neither does nor does not survive his Ordeal."
It’s a strange thing, but not something unheard of, Alanna supposes. The Prince sits with his parents in the Chapel of the Ordeal, though Alanna can only see the back of his head.
They’ve met, more than once. Gary introduced them years ago, when he was still a page with Alanna—Alan—during one of the infamous Midwinter Feasts. (It was the same night he utterly forgot to report to his station, and the Head of Festivities nearly had a conniption fit upon discovering the wayward page hiding behind a curtain with the Crown Prince, of all people. Alanna had rolled her eyes at the both of them and dutifully passed another tureen of gravy when Gary rejoined her later that evening.)
Thinking of her big friend, Alanna recrosses her fingers and tries harder not to fidget. Waiting for the Chamber of the Ordeal has set the whole room on edge, and on her right, Raoul looks as though he’s about to bolt from nerves; his ordeal is next.
It would have been the year of Prince Jonathan’s Ordeal, if he had decided to try for his knighthood. He hadn’t, though, and King Roald had never pushed him into it. Staring at Prince Jonathan’s black hair, Alanna recalls the conversation they had, briefly, the one time she had dared to bring it up.
”What?” Prince Jonathan had asked, turning from the argument Gary was instigating merrily with Alex, and Alanna gathered up her courage again.
“Why aren’t you a squire too?”
For a moment, Prince Jonathan freezes and Alanna worries that she’s gone too far. After all, she’s only the tag-along page, the small, mouthy friend that Gary drags everywhere.
“You…you don’t have to answer,” she stammers, recoiling slightly from the bitter twist that has appeared on Prince Jonathan’s lips.
Why is she thinking about his lips? Alanna mentally shakes herself, hard.
“It’s not—I mean, it’s fine.” Prince Jonathan toys with the hem of his tunic. “I never saw the need. It wasn’t something I wanted.”
He says the words with an air of finality, and Alanna doesn’t ask anymore.
She wonders now if it is something he wants as the doors swing open and Gary stumbles from the Chamber, tired and haggard but alive. Prince Jonathan hurries to support his cousin, looping Gary’s arm around his shoulder and grinning at something Gary says.
Alanna releases a sigh, feeling tension leak out of her. When the King and Queen pass by, their relief is etched into their faces and Alanna sees how Lianne clings to her husband’s arm
She wonders if it is the rumor about Roger, about how he was rejected by the chamber before he even entered.
She wonders if it is Roald, with tired gladness at the sight of his nephew, and if it is a king’s worry that neither of his heir-potentials would be acceptable to the chamber.