Chapter 7 Marrianne
"Is that a royal coach?" Leoria asks, her face puzzling. She twines her fingers with the stringy bits of her shawl. Marrianne looks to where she's looking, and sure enough, there's a blue and gold car with a hurt horse standing there.
"Oh my, Duchess, what a thing you've found."
"Do you think anyone could be in it? Lady Cronies."
Marrianne nods and gestures for her brothers and Leoria to go and see what has happened. She hears yelling coming from the inside of the car as she heads closer.
"Do you think we should knock on the door?" Leoria asks, her eyebrows are almost in "v" shapes in concern. Marrianne nods, standing in front of the buggy for a few moments before gingerly knocking it. She hears the door begin to open and steps backwards.
"Why on earth are you knocking so loudly?!" a man yells from the carriage. Once he realizes it's no one robbing him, he straightens his suit and almost smiles. "I..do apologize, we are in a place of anxieties at the moment, I'm the Duke of Rankor Hart, and you are?"
Leoria smiles nervously and backs up a little bit farther, gesturing for Marrianne to do the same. Marrianne doesn't though, because she recognizes someone. She stares for a moment but's disturb by a waving of the Duke's hand in her face, which she bats away.
"Lady Marrianne Cronies, and the young Lords James and Ickabod Cronies, and I'm sure you know Duchess Leoria of Rose," her words slur into one another as she speaks, and she feels a little light headed.
"Marrianne Cronies, oh but his majesty, my friend here would love to see an old acquaintance, wouldn't you Ellor?" the Duke asks, almost tauntingly. Marrianne bites the inside of her cheek, it is indeed, the King. Red eyes and tanned skin, Ellor turns around from speaking with the coachman, and smiles awkwardly.
"Your majesty," everyone but the Duke and the King say simultaneously. Leoria even curtsies, but Marrianne and her brothers just stand with their hands at their sides, staring daggers at his majesty.
"We are having a marvelous dinner at the palace today, if the Cronies and the Rose Dukes and Duchesses would like to come." Alvin says confidently, before handing his majesty a taunting stare.
"Oh, but we are tired," Marrianne feigns a yawn. "We should really be getting a rest from train rides and such." Leoria responds with a pouting face, along with Marrianne's brothers begging her to allow them to go.
"We would be delighted to, as long as majesty permits it," she concedes, looking toward Ellor. Leoria stares from behind Marrianne at Ellor, her eyes like a doe's. Ellor doesn't look back, and holds Marrianne's face with his eyes for a moment, before looking away.
"Would you like to get another carriage for us at the palace?" Alvin asks, but it sounds more like a command than a request.
"We will!" Leoria cheers, grabbing Marrianne's wrist. Marrianne doesn't want to leave though, her heart is once again pleading and pounding for them to stay, but she must not listen to her heart. Her heart isn't strong enough to contain itself, let alone contain itself around a king. Marrianne flies through the windswept golden hills, dry but still full of life. She hears the soft but still incredibly powerful wind, which could hurl her and everyone in Anima across the Atlantic, but opts not too. And as she admires the landscapes, she realizes just how much she's missed the soft, spring breezes which Anima boasts. The Sun reigns high above the land, a King of the earth just as Ellor is of Anima. The Sun's crown is encircling its golden curls, just like Ellors golden, crowned head.
"Do you miss Anima? Lady Cronies." Leoria interrupts Marrianne's whirling thoughts. Marrianne shakes her head and turns towards her, quickening her pace.
"I miss the place, yes, but in Luxembourg, I am spared from the chess game which is always being played here," Marrianne replies, pressing her lips into a thin line of a smile.
"Oh, I would love to be shielded from the game, too, Lady Cronies, but my mother says that I would be an ostrich. Of coarse, I do not think you are an ostrich, I think that if it weren't for my mother I would be sailing off to an European college as soon as you can say 'bob's your uncle'," Leoria pauses to take a deep breath of the soon-to-be summer air. "Am I bothersome? Lady Cronies, I would despise bothering you, I am so desperate to learn of Europe from you, unless you don't want to be a teacher," she stares at the ground, pulling her shawl close to her.
"Duchess Leoria, you are lucky this is me, for many would find you bothersome, but many do not know much. I do not find you bothersome and would love to share with you tales from Europe." Marrianne replies, swaying her arms at her sides.
"Oh, thank you!" Leoria exclaims. She then points at something, "Oh look, it's the palace, let's go ask for a carriage!" She gallops towards the door, but Marrianne catches up with her and stops her.
"We mustn't disturb Lord Elken, brothers, Duchess, we must enter through the servants door." Marrianne commands, gesturing for all to follow.
They enter the garden entryway, hearing the clucking of chickens and dripping of the wells which attach to the gardens. Marrianne picks up a flower from one of the pools, she remembers so many hours spent staring at the fountains, wandering the gardens of the palace. Reading with her governess by the windowsill, and watching for Ellor to finish his lessons so that they may play. So many memories are connected to the palace, so many of which she has tried so hard to forget. But with one fuschia flower with white specks where it's pollen is, all of those memories return to Marrianne.
"Maria?" a servant's voice asks from the door when Leoria knocks on the door. It's Ms. Eishelle, a maid which Marrianne was very close with in her time in Anima. Ms. Eishelle would always bring her treats at times of day which her parents wouldn't like. She was also the one who would accompany Marrianne and Ms. Luiff to the seamstress to get fitted for gowns and day-dresses.
"Ms. Eishelle, it is marvelous to see you!" Marrianne exclaims, pulling the maid into a hug.
"Oh, but deary I'm Mrs. Mayville now, and three children too, oh but what's this!?" Mrs.Mayville smiles and holds the ring on Marrianne's ring finger to her face.
"You leave and come back a married woman, milady?"she asks.
"Not yet, Mrs. Mayville, but oh, it's very soon." Marrianne replies, smiling. Leoria tells her that she'll go ask for the carriage, and that Marrianne should be out soon. Marrianne nods and shoos her away.
"Who's the lucky young man? I'm assuming he's decently young, right?" Mrs. Mayville smiles in between every one of her words. Marrianne laughs and explains to her of the marvelous adventures she's had while she's been gone, and of Lord Wolf.
"And he's a handsome fella, too? There's no reason for you to marry an ugly man, Maria." Mrs. Mayville smiles and hugs Marrianne again, waving goodbye.
Marrianne smiles to herself as she walks through the hall with the Duchess, her brothers trailing behind just close enough to see them, but out of earshot regardless.
"Who was the servant, Lady Marrianne?" the Duchess asks, fussing with her, needless to say, interesting gown.
"Oh, just someone I knew whenever in the summers I would stay here," Marrianne responds, blinking her eyes to adjust them to the dark servant's hallway.
"Ellor never said anything about the Cronies staying here," the Duchess exclaims, extending her arms outwards. "Oh, excuse myself, his majesty never mentioned that." The duchess stares at the ground.
"Papa did work as a tutor to his majesty for a time." Marrianne responds, making a turn into the first living room. She spots a hallboy immediately, and pleads for him to send for another carriage, scarcely avoiding having to speak with the Duchess for longer.
"Milady, I'm afraid I cannot without his majesty's permission," the hallboy responds.
"But, good sir, please hear all of my words here, he sent for me and the Duchess to help him and his friend."
"Duchess?" the hallboy asks, his eyes widening. He turns immediately away from Marrianne when Duchess Leoria walks into the room, and runs towards what Marrianne thinks is the library. A few minutes later, an older, but still much familiar figure creeps out of the library.
"Yes, yes, I know, just send the carriage, I'll speak with them if I must," Lord Elken rasps, his cold disposition freezing the air of the room when he continues to speak. "I can barely recognize you, dear, time has been much unkind to you, Lady Cronies."
"How kind, Lord Elken, your manners have not altered one bit in fourteen years," Marrianne responds, her words confident, but her body still shuddering from his deep red eyes, and tall, lurching figure.
"Lord Elken, it's wonderful to see you, this is Lady Cronies, though I'm sure you've known her presence already," the Duchess greets Lord Elken, her face all smiles, with no fear at all. Marrianne almost gasps at how genuinely happy Leoria seems to be in the presence of Lord Elken. Whatever disposition Lord Elken has been presenting since she's been away in Luxembourg, it certainly hasn't been the Lord Elken she once knew.