Part 1
Ymiden 65, Arc 716
The sound of a drum echoed through the House of Roses, giving the curvy, raven haired beauty on the stage next to the bar a beat to dance to. A couple of men and women were gathered around her and watching her fascinatedly. She knew exactly how to move in order to draw their attention to her, make their jaws drop and give her as much money as possible. More people sat at the bar and the tables that were scattered throughout the large room on the ground floor, often in the company of a scantily clad prostitute or two. The air was filled with the smell of alcohol that flowed freely in this place, of perfume and something more, hidden promises and desires that would be fulfilled in the course of the night.
Tristan Venora, noble lord, playwright and artist was sitting at his usual table in the center of the room. He wasn’t paying attention to the dancer, although she was very attractive, but scribbling furiously in the notebook that was lying in front of him. "So what is that king of yours currently doing?" the redheaded prostitute that sat opposite of him – Lucille – asked, took a sip from the glass of wine that was in her hand, adjusted her neckline of dress so that much more of her cleavage was visible and smiled at him.
"Hating his wife", Tristan replied as he looked up, raising an eyebrow at the sight in front of him as he did so. "She’s thirty, he’s eighteen, and they are very unhappy. I really need to rewrite this part because it doesn’t sound very believable." "Oh", Lucille made. "Why are they unhappy? Is she ugly? Or is he?" "No, they are not ugly", Tristan replied. "But their marriage was arranged. Leia was forced to marry Alexander when he was a baby and remain chaste throughout her teens and twenties while she waited for him to grow up."
"No, she wasn’t", Lucille disagreed. "Chaste. Not for all those years. She probably had a couple of lovers on the side, and that is part of the reason why their marriage isn’t working very well. Do you know how many of the people that come here are married?" she asked and gestured towards the other tables that were quite full that evening. Tristan turned around and took a good look before he returned to writing in his notebook:
King Alexander and Queen Leia have marriage problems. They were betrothed to each other when the king was just a baby. Leia hated being married to somebody that was pretty much useless for the first fifteen or sixteen years of their marriage (although she liked being queen very much because of the power that came with the position). Since she was not a nun and not a particularly good person, she didn’t wait for her husband to grow up but took a number of lovers. The king never actually caught her, but he strongly suspects that she hasn’t been faithful to him, and he even has a suspicion as to who her lovers are or were. It’s probably a good thing that Leia never got pregnant. That would really have caused problems!
Ymiden 65, Arc 716
The sound of a drum echoed through the House of Roses, giving the curvy, raven haired beauty on the stage next to the bar a beat to dance to. A couple of men and women were gathered around her and watching her fascinatedly. She knew exactly how to move in order to draw their attention to her, make their jaws drop and give her as much money as possible. More people sat at the bar and the tables that were scattered throughout the large room on the ground floor, often in the company of a scantily clad prostitute or two. The air was filled with the smell of alcohol that flowed freely in this place, of perfume and something more, hidden promises and desires that would be fulfilled in the course of the night.
Tristan Venora, noble lord, playwright and artist was sitting at his usual table in the center of the room. He wasn’t paying attention to the dancer, although she was very attractive, but scribbling furiously in the notebook that was lying in front of him. "So what is that king of yours currently doing?" the redheaded prostitute that sat opposite of him – Lucille – asked, took a sip from the glass of wine that was in her hand, adjusted her neckline of dress so that much more of her cleavage was visible and smiled at him.
"Hating his wife", Tristan replied as he looked up, raising an eyebrow at the sight in front of him as he did so. "She’s thirty, he’s eighteen, and they are very unhappy. I really need to rewrite this part because it doesn’t sound very believable." "Oh", Lucille made. "Why are they unhappy? Is she ugly? Or is he?" "No, they are not ugly", Tristan replied. "But their marriage was arranged. Leia was forced to marry Alexander when he was a baby and remain chaste throughout her teens and twenties while she waited for him to grow up."
"No, she wasn’t", Lucille disagreed. "Chaste. Not for all those years. She probably had a couple of lovers on the side, and that is part of the reason why their marriage isn’t working very well. Do you know how many of the people that come here are married?" she asked and gestured towards the other tables that were quite full that evening. Tristan turned around and took a good look before he returned to writing in his notebook:
King Alexander and Queen Leia have marriage problems. They were betrothed to each other when the king was just a baby. Leia hated being married to somebody that was pretty much useless for the first fifteen or sixteen years of their marriage (although she liked being queen very much because of the power that came with the position). Since she was not a nun and not a particularly good person, she didn’t wait for her husband to grow up but took a number of lovers. The king never actually caught her, but he strongly suspects that she hasn’t been faithful to him, and he even has a suspicion as to who her lovers are or were. It’s probably a good thing that Leia never got pregnant. That would really have caused problems!