Mercedes Lackey - One Good Knight

Princess Andromeda stood on the very edge of a ledge three-quarters of the way up the cliff above the Royal Palace of her mother, Queen Cassiopeia of Acadia, holding out her arms to the wind. The same wind flattened her tunic against her body, and sent strands of her hair flying about her face as they escaped from the knot at the back of her neck. She raised her face to the sun, closing her eyes.

I wish I had wingsI used to dream about flying when I was little. It would be so glorious to simply step off this rock and fly, to escape the dreariness of being a Princess, with the din of musts and must-nots, day in and day out, from governesses, tutors, her mothers ladies and, of course, her mother.

Especially the must-nots.

There was an almighty number of must-nts. You mustnt laugh too loudly. You mustnt speak your opinion unless its asked for. You mustnt talk to anyone below the rank of noble, unless its to give an order. You mustnt be seen reading in public. You mustnt frown in public. You mustnt smile at anyone below the rank of a noble, and you mustnt smile at any young men, ever. You mustnt let anyone call you Andie, nor refer to yourself by that name. You mustnt be seen moving at anything other than a graceful walkthe list was endless. It seemed that all she ever heard was what she shouldnt be doing. No one ever told her what she could doaside from look decorative, wearing the serenely stupid gaze of a statue. No one ever came to her and said, Princess, there is a task you and you alone can perform. One must along those lines would have been countered with a hundred distasteful must-notsbut one never came.

Surely that had never been her mothers lot. Cassiopeia had begun her life as Crown Princess and then Queen with responsibilities. In no small part because her husband, at least according to gossip, had been so good at avoiding them. That was why the old King, Andies grandfather, had handpicked her out of the daughters of his nobles. He had wanted a girl with ambition, since his own son clearly had none, and a girl who would see that things got done.

Who ever would be foolish enough to envy the lot of a Princess with all of that hanging over their head? Nothing but restrictions without responsibilities. Im less free than a slave, and not allowed to do anything that has any meaning to it.

She took a deep breath of the sea-scented air, and sighed it out again. At least her mother was not going to be plaguing her with one of her unannounced inspections this afternoon, inspections that inevitably ended in well-mannered murmurings of disappointment and the appointment of a new governess. Queen Cassiopeia was holding a very, very private audience with the Captains of the Acadian Merchant Fleet, followed by another with the foreign merchants who plied Acadian waters, and the meetings were expected to last all day and well into the night. Trade was the lifeblood of Acadia. Without trade, this Kingdom would probably die. Anything that threatened trade and the taxes it brought in, threatened Acadia as surely as an army. Despite her mothers being asked, begged, by her daughter to be allowed to attend, Andie had been told to run along. Under any other circumstances, she would have been happy about the freedom from her governesss supervision and the opportunity to get out in fresh air and to make a raid on the library. But being treated like a child put a bitter taste on the treat.

She pushed at the stiff wires crossing the bridge of her nose, part of a contrivance called oculars, making sure they were firmly on her face, then curled the wires of the side-pieces securely around the backs of her ears. They were a bit of a nuisance, but she loved them, because without them, shed be half blind. The Royal Guards own Magician had made them for her when hed realized, watching her try to hold a book right up against her tiny nose as a child, that she was terribly nearsighted. Hed been pleased enough to do so, though the Queen had been less than happy the first time she saw her daughter scampering about with the wire-and-glass-lenses contraption perched on her face. Its unnatural! she had complained. It looks like a cheap mask! What need has a Princess to see clearly, anyway?

She had finally given in only when it was made demonstrably clear that Andies never-ending series of bruising falls came to an abrupt end once she could see where she was going.

Not that her mother cared if she fell, except that all the bruises were an embarrassment to her. Andie sighed again. I can never please her, no matter what I do, so I wish shed just get used to that and make use of what I actually can do.

Queen Cassiopeia wanted a pink-and-white, sugarplum Princess, a lovely daughter who as a child would have been all frills and giggles, big blue eyes and golden curls, and as an adult (or nearly, anyway) would be the younger image of herself, immaculately groomed, impeccably gowned, graceful, lovelynot to mention quiet, pliant, uncomplaining and unthinking. A marriage pawn, who wouldnt argue about anything, or ask awkward questions, or want to do anything except to look as beautiful as possible. There had been nibbles of marriages over the years, but nothing ever came of them. Cassiopeia had enough ambition for two; she didnt see the need of it in her daughter.

Andie gave herself a mental slap. Maybe not unthinking. Butcertainly more obedient than Andie was. And assuredly much prettier, much neater and much more concerned with her personal appearance than Andie could ever bring herself to be. So far as her mother was concerned, looks were one more weapon in the arsenal of a determined woman.

Cassiopeia never spent less than two hours in the hands of her maidservants before first appearing outside of her rooms. Andie could barely tolerate having the maid comb her hair and put it up, and she insisted on bathing herself, without all the oils and perfumes her mother seemed to think were necessary. Cassiopeia went through as many as six gowns before choosing one for the day, and it was always something so elaborate it took at least two maids to help her into it. Andie threw on whichever of her tunics the maid gave her, and if forced into a gown, made it the simplest draped column of fabric with cords confining it at her waist. Cassiopeia wore enough jewelry to finance an expedition to Qin for the most ordinary of days. Andie never wore any ornaments but a hair-clasp.

Cassiopeia had a lush figure that caused poets and minstrels from Kingdoms hundreds of leagues away to come write songs about her, and a face that had inspired fifty sculptors. Andies figure was straight up and down and no gown could disguise that fact, and as for her facewell, as her mother often sighed, who would look past the lenses that took up half of it?

So how could the Queen ever be anything but disappointed in her daughter?

Andie had long since resigned herself to this, burying the hurt a little deeper each time Cassiopeia made some unconsidered remark. At least there was one area she could achieve success inanything intellectual. And the Queen did seem to take some small pleasure in that, though she might bemoan the fact that Andies nose was almost always in a book. The trouble was, she didnt seem to think that all of this study had any useful applications.

Even though Ive quoted her facts and figures about Acadia until Ive run out of breath. Every time she was going to have an important audience or meeting and I was able to find out about it, I did all the research on the subject anyone could ask for. Today at breakfast, Andie had detailed the revenues on import-taxes, given her historical background on inter-merchant disputesbut she might just as well have been telling her Godmother tales. The Queen just said, How interesting, dear, as if she wasnt even listening.