675-07-30 - Match Making Confession
Match Making Confession | |||||||
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Summary: Princess Barbeta and Lord Erek have another chance meeting | |||||||
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It is late morning, and Lord Erek Ivounel has just had a rather interesting talk with the King. Exiting from the audience chamber, the pleased smirk can hardly be overlooked on Lord Erek's face, as he rubs his hands against each other and pauses on the hallway, as the door falls shut behind him. Not looking by far the son of a famous Lenouvi bastard, but instead, like a man who has been negotiating a betrothal, and is quite pleased with the outcome. He is attired in his best clothes in green and yellow, the colours of House Lenouvi as well as his own.
It just happens, that across the same hallway the young princess Barbeta Brais is walking. Such a coincidence, that she is wearing one of her best gowns that emphasizes not just her nice young womanly forms, but also gives the young princess so much elegance and proper posh for someone of her stance.
Of course, she notices a man and she can't hold her own smiles. The way she looks over the man could betray, that, somehow, she knows, what just happened. She turns her palm to her two handmaidens, asking to freeze, while the princess approaches the man.
"I see, my lord, that you likely, heard the news?" She grins a bit mischievously and her dark eyes sparkle with amusement. "Good, good..." She whispers and cassually adds in even more quiet voice, "Consider it as my first gift!"
"Princess Barbeta," Lord Erek greets, once he has spotted her and her small retinue of handmaidens. "indeed, and even more than that. I have just visited your father, to discuss a few things regarding the betrothal. It seems we will reach an agreement there. And more swiftly than I had expected." That smile may dim a touch when he hears Barbeta's last remark. "Your first... gift? So you had your hand in this?" His expression somewhere between incredulous and impressed. "If so, I owe you my thanks, your highness." And he offers a bow to her.
"Well... I invited your daughter to become one of my lady-in-waitings... Then I spoke well about your daughter to my uncle. Then I spoke well about my uncle to your daughter and made sure, that they would have enough time to spend together. Then it was easy to convince my kindhearted father, that my uncle is worth to marry for love, not for political reasons. And here we are..." She smiles, watching how the man bows to her, "Ah, it was easy and as I told... My friends won't be disappointed. I thought, that..." Barbie tosses one of her long dark strands from her pale features, before continuing in a whisper, "you will be pleased to hear, that your daughter will be marrying a future Master of Arms or Master of Common Affairs. Quite a valuable member of the King's Council. I just didn't decide, where my uncle would be the best... Maybe... as master of arms." She chuckles and leans her head to the side.
Suddenly her smile disappears and she adds, "I am so sorry to hear about ser Baldwin, though... I already had in mind quite a wonderful wife for him... Sadly, the healer knew her own tricks..."
"Oh, indeed you did," Erek concedes stepping a bit closer now, as the grin in his face is really quite obvious. "So you had intentions for them to come together? How interesting. I had no idea you had talents in the area of match-making..." His eye brows are lifted when the princess speaks about future opportunities, the glance he shoots her is slightly sceptical though. "Master of Arms...? Master of Common Affairs? How do you know, as it won't be you certainly who will decide? As far as I know, important posts are given by the king, not his daughter." The prospect does raise his spirits however.
That smirk fades when Baldwin is mentioned, and Erek will shake his head with a sigh. "Poor fool, I am sorry to lose a son, but in the end... he chose to defy me." He shakes his head. "But I'm curious... who would you have had in mind for him...?"
Barbeta raises her head a bit, that she wouldn't have to tiptoe in order to look straight into Erek's eyes. She does not say anything, just stares into his eyes for awhile. Her own look may suggest some ideas of what the princess is thinking. Some might think, that she is plotting about a new match for someone. Some might think, that she is just trying to remember the name of the woman for Baldwin. Some might think, that she is just studying the man in front of her.
"My lord," finally she speaks, "The future King will be my husband. When the time will come, people will chose me as their Queen. I won't disappoint my people. I will choose my future husband very carefully and my marriage will have a lot of different kind of treaties. I won't be just a pretty Queen beside my husband. I will be his right hand without whom he would be nothing..."
Her voice is a bit low, not childish one. The whisper gives some mystery to ehr sentences and general atmospher. Barbie's eyes are burning with fire. She looks so serious and so sure, that each of her words will be fullfilled. Then she tiptoes and leans a bit closer, "Would you like to hear a secret of my success?" She leans even more closer, titoeing higher.
Now the man, if allowed, should be able to feel her breath on his cheekbone. Barbie whispers into his ear, "I always get, what I want..."
Then she stands up firmly on the ground and casually waves her hand, "Ah, it had to be one of a very beautiful ladies..." She answers about Baldwin.
Erek waits patiently until the princess will grace him with a reply, enduring her gaze, while he arches a brow. This brow will be lowered when he listens to her explanation about choosing a husband, a slightly sceptical flicker entering his gaze, although he cannot help to be a little intrigued by the ambitious speech. He will even bend a little foward, allowing her words to reach his ear more easily.
"Is that so?", the Ivounel lord inquires as he straightens, his grey-blue eyes studying Barbeta attentively but with an almost unreadable expression. Then her wave of the hand comes, along with a rather unspecific remark about Baldwin, and the magic moment is over.
"One of the beautiful ladies... Alas, who would have been available for him, I wonder?" he inquires with a low snort of contempt. "These opportunities are gone, however. I hear he's married this healer wench in secret, in those Woods of Woriscant." A light shrug is given. "I couldn't care less, really. But..." and here his mien lightens up again, "the more happy I am and grateful for the assistance you have offered in bringing this match between my daughter and your uncle about."
Barbie laughs, "Ahh... I see... You are a very curious man. Would it make you even more disappointed in Baldwin's decision if I would tell, that I considered myself, for example?" Her eyebrow jumps up, but it is hard to say if she is lying or telling the truth. After all, she already mentioned, that she would consider Erek himself. So, maybe his son would have been a good option, when Erek is taken?
"Though, as you told. This ship already sailed away..." The princess adds and her mien brightens even more, "By the way... I will make an announcement soon. The Feast of Charity will happen on 9th of August... I hope to see you around... It is very important to be loved by our people."
"You must be jesting," Erek replies with a mirthless chuckle, clearly not believing her words there. "To consider the man that once was my son... What reason would you have given your father, to justify the match? You are a royal princess after all, and Baldwin... is a fool." His grey-blue eyes linger on Barbeta for another moment, before he inclines his head with a polite smile. "A feast of charity... not bad indeed, your highness. I will be there. It will take place in Beresgoind, I trust?"
Barbeta sighs, "Yes.... Baldwin is a fool, what can't be said about his father, indeed!" The girl grows quiet again, studying the man in front of her. For a moment she might look like a girl in love, but that quickly fades and Barbie becomes herself once again.
"Yes, yes. More details you will be able to see on the announcement. Letting people know, that you will always support them is a first step to a higher position. These people are the true power..." She nods slowly and thoughtfully.
Maybe Erek has caught that glance of admiration, his lips will curl into a faint smile as he meets her gaze. "Indeed, I'm no fool," he will affirm with a soft chuckle. "Instead I am quite capable in seizing opportunities when they are offered..." Leaving it at that for now, he will comment on Barbeta's last remark next. "And of course... you have my support, your highness." Inclining his head in her direction.
"Very well..." She offers a tiny curtsy for the man, waving for her handmaidens to approach. Each of them offers a deep curtsy for the lord. "It was a pleasure to run into you, my lord, again. Now, I should take care of my business. My tutor is waiting for me." She gives the last glance for the man, before moving away.
A deep bow will be offered in turn to the curtsey. "Have a pleasant day, your highness," Erek will say, and straightening. he will follow the princess with his grey-blue eyes as she moves of, the expression within his gaze - thoughtful and intrigued.