The Song Of The Lioness Quartet - In The Hand Of The Goddess Part 15

"h.e.l.lo," Alanna said shyly, letting the hood fall back from her face so George's mother could see who her late-night visitor was. "Can we talk?" Mistress Cooper smiled, motioning Alanna inside. "It's been a long time, little one," she commented as she bolted the door. "Come into the kitchen and I'll make us some tea." She led the way, her majestic form casting a long shadow in the hallway. "I trust you're recovered from your wounds? How is your arm?"

Alanna took off her cloak and draped it in front of the kitchen fire before rotating her left arm obediently. "It's a little stiff sometimes, but it's all right now. I wasn't as badly hurt as people think."

Mistress Cooper put on the teakettle. "My son doesn't feel as you do. But perhaps he has his reasons for worrying?"

The girl blushed. "George worries about me too much. I hope he gets over it before I go away."

"So you still plan to leave us once you have your s.h.i.+eld?" The woman moved around the room on silent feet, getting cups and a plate full of cakes. Alanna bit into one of the cakes eagerly; she had only picked at her dinner.

"Of course," she said, her mouth full. She swallowed quickly. "I have a feeling that when I tell them I'm a girl, they won't want me around."

"Could be you're not doing them justice," Mistress Cooper suggested, pouring out the tea. "George tells me you're liked and trusted."

Alanna frowned. "Not by all." Shoving Duke Roger to the back of her mind, she cradled the cup of tea in her hands.

"How is His Highness?" the woman asked, sitting down.

Stirring the tea with the tip of her finger, Alanna replied softly, "I'm not sure. He's been-very odd, lately. Ever since we returned from the Drell Valley."

"How so?"

"He... he blows hot, then cold. Sometimes I'm his best friend in the world. And sometimes he acts as if I'm poison. It doesn't make sense. He-" Alanna blushed. "He kissed me, this summer. I think he wants to do it again, except he doesn't. Sometimes he talks as if he doesn't like George, except I know that isn't true, because he comes into the city to see George when I'm occupied. He expects a lot from a person!" Alanna burst out, getting up to pace. "If I go to social events with him-and he makes me go-I have to have every hair in place. I have to have better manners than everyone else. I have to dance with all the ladies, as he does, even though no one else has to. I tell him I feel like a fool, and he tells me it's better to be a fool who's considerate than a fool who isn't. But if I really talk to a lady-or even to Gary or Raoul-for a bit, he gets angry! He says I mustn't lead the ladies on, and he accuses me of flirting with Gary and Raoul in the same breath!" Alanna sat down and gulped her tea, surprised at how the words had tumbled out of her.

"You seem rather angered with Prince Jonathan," Mistress Cooper observed.

Alanna turned deep red. "I don't know how I feel," she muttered. "I just can't figure out why he's treating me this way. But that isn't what I came about." She drew a deep breath. "Would you teach me how to dress like a girl?"

Mistress Cooper raised her eyebrows. "Now, this is odd," she said calmly. "Why such a request?"

Alanna made a face. "I don't know. I just-I see all the Queen's ladies wearing pretty things, and I've been thinking lately I like pretty things. I'm going to have to be a girl someday. Why shouldn't I start practicing now?"

If Mistress Cooper thought Alanna's sudden wish to look pretty had anything to do with Jonathan, or with George, she knew better than to say so. Instead she agreed to help Alanna with her new project, beginning that very night by taking the girl's measurements.

SEVERAL days later, Alanna came to Mistress Cooper's for fittings. As the older woman adjusted a hem, Alanna twisted, trying to see her back in the long mirror. "Hold still," Mistress Cooper ordered, her mouth full of pins. "You're worse than a city lad getting fitted with his first pair of long breeches."

"It doesn't look right," Alanna objected, trying to hold her body rigid while she turned her head. "It looks like Squire Alan in a girl's dress."

"That's because we've done nothing with Squire Alan's hair. Hold still!"

The dress properly fitted, Mistress Cooper fussed with the girl's flaming locks and put some cosmetics on her flinching face. "I think you're wise to start accustoming yourself to woman's gear," she commented as she brushed dark color over Alanna's eyelids. "Although you've a lot to learn."

"If I'd known it was going to be this much fuss, I never would've asked," Alanna muttered. Her friend laughed. "It's just... I needed an adventure. I've been pretty restless lately."

"Life in the palace is too tame for you?" Mistress Cooper asked sympathetically.

"Not too tame, precisely," Alanna objected. "I just need to go somewhere. I need to get away from-certain people." She didn't want to say that Jonathan had kissed her again only the night before. She didn't even want to remember it, because when she did she also remembered the strange and frightening excitement she had felt when he held her. Now she sighed, confused.

"I need time to think about things."

"I see," Mistress Cooper replied. "Well, stand up, child. Let me look at you."

Alanna stood, patting her pinned-up hair and tugging her skirt. Mistress Cooper had a very odd look on her face.

"Is something wrong?" Alanna asked nervously.

The older woman made her face the mirror. Alanna swallowed. She was looking at a lady.

"I'm beautiful," she whispered in awe.

Mistress Cooper laughed at this. "You'll pa.s.s," she said, pus.h.i.+ng Alanna into the kitchen. "You're not as beautiful as Lady Delia, say, or the new lady at Court, Cythera of Elden."

Alanna sighed. "n.o.body's as beautiful as the Lady Cythera," she said drily. She moved to sit down.

"Not that way!" Mistress Cooper cried in alarm. "You'll rumple your skirts! Sweep them out-like this-and sit with them spread around you. And keep your feet together."

Alanna tried this. It took several attempts before she got it right. "It's going to be as hard to learn to be a girl as it was to learn to be a boy."

"Harder," the woman said, putting the tea on. "Most girls don't have to unlearn being a boy. And now you have two sets of Court manners to master."

"But I already know Court manners," Alanna protested, getting the cups down.

"Do you know the different kinds of curtsy?" Alanna shook her head. "How to write invitations?" Alanna shook her head. "How do you accept an offering of flowers from a young knight, or a married man?"

"As if I'd be getting flowers from anybody!" Alanna snorted. She rummaged in the cupboards. "Any cakes left?"

"I baked some fresh-"

"Great Merciful Mother!" Alanna gasped. She could hear horses in the courtyard: visitors! Her hand flew to the ember-stone and her pregnancy charm, both now revealed by the low neckline of her dress. Turning, she ran for the door leading to the rest of the house.

Mistress Cooper caught her. "What has gotten into you?"

The kitchen door opened. "Mother, see who I finally brought to meet you!" George called. He turned to someone still outside. "Come on in, then-she's here."

"Stand straight," Mistress Cooper told Alanna. "Face him. You'll have to do it sometime."

Alanna drew a breath and turned around. George was still looking outside. "The man will take care of your horse; that's what he's there for," he told his companion. He looked back at his mother. "I'm sorry. I didn't know you had-"

The King of Thieves stopped talking abruptly. His eyes widened. Carefully he looked Alanna over, inch by inch, while the girl turned a deep red. "It's not polite to stare," she said tartly.

"George, you're blocking the way." Someone behind the thief laughed. Alanna turned pale. She knew that voice. "Have you changed your mind? You don't want me to meet your mother after all?" Prince Jonathan, dressed in the plain s.h.i.+rt and breeches he always wore into the city, edged into the kitchen behind the thief.

Mistress Cooper moved forward, smiling. "And so you're Prince Jonathan, or is it Johnny today?"

"I'm always Johnny in the city," Jonathan admitted.

Alanna put her hands on her hips, scowling. "And do you mention the fact in front of every strange young lady you meet?" she demanded.