06-09-2015, 10:44 PM
Plan? I don't need a plan!
Not nearly enough, he says, and she wants to snort or argue but decides against it. She knew the answer before he'd even spoken, and she won't accept anything else. He is her father, he is the bomb, and that's all there is to it. Her sister speaks then, and Val catches her look. She returns it in kind by sticking her tongue out at her sister. Val is not the subtle one of the pair. But she can't deny that she's glad her sister had asked – not because she's about to think she's all that just because her father was a king, but because she wants to know everything about him. She's lucky to have that drive: she could just as easily have been born more independent, not wanting her father or mother's company. It's sheer luck, really, that she's going to know him rather well before he passes.
She listens, rapt, as he describes what was. She doesn't know the details, but what he gives is color enough for her imagination to run wild. She pictures him as the strong conquering hero, like the kind of thing that shows up in the tales that are told to children. She doesn't bother trying to reconcile the idea of him as hero with the idea of him taking over another kingdom and making it a subkingdom. Somehow, these two things exist independently, both accepted, and none of it seems to contradict. So young, and she has a beautiful way of twisting the facts to suit her whims.
"Mom was a queen too." she says, wondering if Thorny knew or not. "A queen and a general. She even fought in one of the big Alliance battles." she said, hoping that her sister didn't know all those details. Librette herself hadn't actually been the one to tell Val at least a good chunk of it. The chestnut yearling is terribly talkative, and when you're talkative, you end up hearing things.
And then, something clicks in her mind. She realizes just how old he must be, to have ruled somewhere for twenty years, and then ruled somewhere else much later. She doesn't realize it in the context of "he is probably going to die soon" but rather in the context of "he's lived a terribly long time." And it makes her curious.
"How'd you meet mom?"
VALKERINE!
tomboy daughter of librette & covet
Creative liberties 100% encouraged with this story especially causeeee I think I only remember the basic-basics anyway!