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Literature Text
Featuring Lordling Orrick and Ladyling Randalín
Fall, 765 NA
Glenmore, Royal Glades
Lady Randalín
Fall had just started, leaves were tumbling to the ground slowly, driven by the wind, but without a perticular direction. Randalín loved to see the leaves glide through the sky as if they were dancing. Sometimes while she was watching them, she whistled or sung for them, imagining they were swaying on the melody. But today no apparent song came to mind, so she just watched them with her big hazel eyes. Even though she loved how prettily the leaves were falling, autumn made her a little bit sad… for all the pretty plants were dying and a year was slowly coming to an end. It officially ended the pretty colors of the summer, and already announced the cold, harsh winter to come. One day, she hoped she would be a good magician, so she could keep the flowers growing even during winter… how beautiful her den would look if she did just so.
Lady Randalín was not a fawn with a lot of friends, she was too shy and too drawn back to make them easily, and her mother did not let her play with commoner fawns or hoofmaidens. And so spent a lot of time just watching the world around her on her own. Her mothers royal friends all thought Randalín to be the perfect daughter, the example of what a young lady ought to be, of only she had been a shade lighter, she would have been a dream come true.
However, for Randalín herself it was often a little lonely, but then again, she loved to make her parents happy, which she did by being a good girl. And so she just watched as more and more leaves went falling to the ground slowly.
Lord Orrick
Lord Orrick glanced back only once as he left his father’s glade, and that glance was to see if his silent guard was, in fact, still accompanying him. There had been a series of upheavals in Orrick’s home lately. Some of his sisters had disappeared, one by one, leaving the adults keenly vigilant over the remaining youths in residence.
And then there was the case of Mother. She had swelled in size over the past year, as Orrick had grown too. She was, as he understood it, to be bringing another sibling into the world to join their family. The new sibling born was a colt just as bright and pale as Mother, and she'd quickly passed him off to other does to raise. Orrick rarely saw his new brother, and couldn't understand why they weren't allowed to play. Mother became particularly sharp when he brought the subject up. Even Orrick could pick up on the thick tension she carried around her like a cloak of fur. But he had no answers. Perhaps, as dark fillies were not looked kindly on, the opposite was true for colts? Orrick felt mild pity for his little brother. But he also felt restless.
His tutors had time and again informed him, as had his Mother, that he must start making the right sort of ‘connections’ if he wanted to be a good Lord once he was an adult. As far as Orrick could understand, when they said ‘connections’, they meant ‘getting to know other fawns of Lords, Ladies and Princesses’. With the tension and unease so redolent in his home, today seemed like a good time to go out and away from the place, supposedly on the task of making ‘connections’.
He set off purposefully down one of the well worn paths through the fine glades of the nobility. He had no idea where he was going, but he wouldn’t let it show. The very first fawn he spotted that seemed like a suitable candidate, he would pretend to have been on his way to all along. And the families of the nobility were so numerous, he doubted it would take long to stumble across another colt or filly. His assumptions were correct!
They had hardly been walking for long when Orrick’s dark eyes spied the form of a fawn, chestnut in body and flaxen of mane, resting a ways off of the path and watching the autumn leaves drift through the sky. She wasn’t quite pale enough to pass unremarked, but her coat was not so dark as to be considered unattractive. Lord Orrick was still trying to get a handle on what was considered attractive or not. Apparently when his first set of antlers came in, it would be easier to understand. Or so one of the glade gardeners had mentioned, jokingly to another gardener, when they thought Orrick wasn’t listening.
Squaring his small frame and attempting to rearrange his face into something other than a look of serious concentration, Lord Orrick approached the filly.
“Good day,” He began steadily, “My name is Lord Orrick. It seems that we are neighbors. What is your name?”
Lady Randalín
Randalín looked around shocked when another started talking to her, apart from her parents and the servants, she had basically spoken to nobody yet, especially not other fawns her age. With her big hazel eyes she looked at him confused, and took a step backwards. Only than she remembered her courtesies, the ones her mother had been hammering on everyday since she could talk. Quickly she lowered her eyes, unsure where to look, but she took the same step forward again, she had a certain grace already, one that would be expected of her in the future. After another silent hesitation she spoke shy ‘My name is Lady Randalín, my lord, It’s an honor to meet you’ keeping her eyes low on the ground, glancing at the leaves on the ground as if they were the most interesting thing she had ever seen.
Her inside was one big ball of energy, another fawn! She had actually met another fawn! Maybe he would like to play with her! And he was a lord too, that would certainly please her mother and father. Though the thought of having to say anything more made her feel a tad scared, she was rather excited. But she was sure not to show it on the outside, both out of timidness and courtesy, only her big doe eyes showed a spark of excitement.
Lord Orrick
Orrick had not thought that his presence could be frightening, but the filly certainly flinched backwards at the sound of his voice. He watched impassively as she seemed to gather herself. She stepped forward with eyes low and introduced herself. So here was another fawn like himself, someone still learning how the game was played!
“It is a pleasure and an honor to meet you too, Lady Randalín.” He replied gravely, inclining his head and his body as he had been taught. The words were rote, something he'd had to repeat until it was drilled into his head.
“Would you like to take a walk with me around these glades? I would enjoy some company and some exercise. Would you?”
He waited politely for her response and then realized that he had no idea what to say next. Orrick wanted to get to know this Lady, but he had no idea how that was supposed to happen properly. She had glanced up at him with wide hazel eyes, alight with barely restrained curiosity.
It was like all of the lessons he'd been taught vanished, as if they'd been fog burned off by the sun. He stood silent for a moment, struggling to dredge up his memories, and looking at Randalín for her response. How did a lord actually say that all they wanted to do was go play tag?
Lady Randalín
Randalín shifted her weight from one leg to the other as she listened closely to what the young lord had to say. She could hear the same things she had been drilled on for a year now, always being polite, never get out of line and say something improper.
She was excited to do something, even as stupid as walking around the meadow for a bit. She flashed her big hazel eyes up at his for a second, but was too shy to keep looking, and locked her eyes on the big brown leaves on the ground again. Once again she made a little shuffle, before she could think of the right words to answer this young lords question to show how happy she was to go on a walk, and yet stay humble.
‘I would certainly love to go for a walk with a young lord as dark as you’ She answered his question very politely, considering carefully what to say next. She liked going for a little walk, but definitely hoped they could do a little more than that, because talking was not one of her strongest points. As she couldn’t think of anyway to say she would love to play with lord Orrick, she just kept her mouth shut tightly and waited for him to show the right direction. As a humble lady was supposed to do.
Lord Orrick
Orrick breathed a sigh of relief when the lady agreed to go walking. He dipped his head at her politely, still feeling tongue tied, and cast about for a direction to meander. He picked a path that lead away from both of their home glades. Hopefully it would be new scenery for them both?
The two young nobles walked in silence while Orrick frantically tried to remember what to do. Was he supposed to talk about the weather? Or find out who they both might know? The silence stretched awkwardly. He wished she would say something, anything!
But clearly she was better schooled in remembering her manners than he was. This was so silly!
They rounded a bend, exposing a clearing brimming full with fallen leaves. It looked like the perfect place to romp around in. But unless he said something, they'd sail by at their perfectly polite, stately pace. Orrick couldn't stand that thought.
“Lady Randalín,” He said abruptly, all seriousness and gravity, “I should like to invite you to- no, no that's not right-” he broke off, dropping to a mutter.
“Perhaps you would care to-?” Again he broke off. None of the routines he had learned seemed right for the situation.
With a snort of wry amusement, Orrick shook his head. He caught Randalín’s questioning eyes and held them.
“Want to go run in the leaves?” He finally asked, offering her a helpless smile.
Lady Randalín
The young royal led her away from the royal glades, which made Randalín a little nervous because she had never been further away from home without her parents. But it would be impolite to doubt the dark colts directions, so she followed him without a word, staying by his side. She became a insecure about what to do next, should she say something? As a lord it was actually his task to keep her entertained on their first meeting. But the silence between them started to become a bit awkward. She tore away her eyes from the ground and eyed him for a moment, before locking her eyes with the horizon before them. On his face she could see a struggle, he wanted to say something, but his politeness seemed to keep him from doing so.
The weather was perfect, the leaves on the ground where dancing slightly in the wind. They almost seemed to be laughing at them as they swayed from left to right. While she looked calm and humble on the outside, she tried to find away to reach out to Orrick, something she could say to help him out of his difficult position. It was strange wasn’t it? Two fawns, trying to make friends, but kept apart by royal rules, sets of manners and polite gestures.
But than, luckily, he started talking to her ‘Lady Randalín, I should like to invite you…’ but he broke his sentence off and thought. Randalín looked at him with a soft smile on her lips, she almost giggled as he tried again and tripped of his words again ‘Perhaps you would care to-?’ and broke off yet again. But she remembered her courtesies and just looked at him with her big brown eyes, wondering what he was trying to say.
‘Want to go run in the leaves?’ Lord Orrick finished his sentence, with a slight uncomfortable but hopeful smile he looked at Randalín. She looked around for a moment, and saw the big hopes of leaves, they looked like the perfect playground. Randalín knew that if she jumped in there, her coat would be all dirty and her mane would be full of leaves… her mother would have to comb them again, and she would be told that playing in a pile of leaves was not the way a lady should behave… but she actually did want to do so… and wasn’t a lady always supposed to do what a lord asked of her? She weighted her chances, wondering what her parents would find more important, her making a royal friend or her keeping her coat clean. But in the and it was her own loneliness that made her decide.
‘If it pleases you my Lord, it would much please me to go run into the leaves’ she answered Orrick, and with a shy yet playful smile she gave herself a head start, trotting towards the leaves, waving her tail with excitement. She probably was supposed to wait until young lord Orrick started running, but she just didn’t care for a second, she just wanted to play!
Lord Orrick
Orrick let out an amused chortle as Lady Randalín managed to frame a polite reply - and leave him in the dust as she practically floated towards the leaves. He skipped after her, unbothered by following a filly into the leaf piles.
“You are too kind!” He called out happily, and dove in himself.
The sound of them was… entrancing! Every movement sent bits of warm colored leaves skittering, rustling and crunching. Orrick used his long legs to kick some of the leaves up into the air, only to watch the wind pick them up and send them fluttering around. He was glad that there had been dry weather the past days, so the leaves were not slimy or damp.
Randalín seemed to be enjoying herself too. Orrick didn't miss the smile slipping across her muzzle as they frolicked. He was glad. And then his eyes took in the disheveled mane and bits of leaf stuck to her coat, and knew his own was a mirror.
“Oh no,” he said, startled into stillness, “How thoughtless of me! Now both of us look like… like proper messes!”
On the edge of the clearing, Orrick heard his guard snort with what was clearly clamped down upon amusement. When the dark colt swung his head to look at the stag, the guard's eyes were twinkling with suppressed laughter.
“You are both easily cleaned,” he rumbled in a low voice. “I may not be a hoofmaid, but I can help get rid of the worst of it.”
Orrick turned to Randalín, dark eyes sparkling mischievously. “I say, my Lady, it did become quite windy during our walk, wouldn't you agree?”
He used his tail to kick up another batch of leaves into the air, and watched them gently scoot away from them both on the air.
“Oh my! Look, another gust! Surely no one can blame us for being about when the weather took… such a turn!” He winked at Randalín, inviting her to share in his joke.
Lady Randalín
Randalín heard the young lord bolt in after her, her trot sped up to a canter, her canter want into a racing gallop and than she reached the high pile of leaves. They flew from under her little body, rattling all around her, she smiled, and even had a little mischievous look in her eyes. She spun fastly and made the bright colored leaves fly all around her once again. A very soft giggle even escaped her mouth as Orrick kicked up leaves so high in the air it looked like a stormcloud of leaves passing by.
The leaves weren’t wet and dirty as she had expected them to be, the were dry and crumbly, perfect to play with. She hadn’t enjoyed herself like this in ages… her parents had always been there to remind her how a royal lady should behave. And now, just a split second, she seemed to forget, as the red, orange, brown and yellow leaves were twirling around her like a whirlwind.
But the she heard young lord Orrick say something. She stopped and turned to see to whom he was talking, and instantly froze in fear. On first sight she didn’t see anyone in particular, but then a dark guardsmen came closer. And no matter how friendly he told them he would help them clean the mess out of their coats, Randalín was harshly reminded she was a lady and she wasn’t supposed to act like this. She lowered her head in disgrace and tried to hide herself a bit behind Lordling Orrick.
Luckily Orrick seemed to handle the situation a lot better than Randalín did. He turned towards her, with a cheeky look in his eyes ‘ I say, my Lady, it did become quite windy during our walk, wouldn't you agree?’ insecurely she looked at him, what was he trying to do? Than he swished his tail and a few more leaves came blowing her way ‘Oh my! Look, another gust! Surely no one can blame us for being about when the weather took… such a turn!’ he said innocently, and Randalín could hardly suppress a giggle, a small smile growing on her lips.
Too shy to say something cheeky about ‘the wind’, but she made her way through the leaves towards the dark colt. She looked graceful for her age. She stood still next to Orrick and plucked a yellow leave out of his mane. ‘I had a wonderful time, my lord’ she said, eyeing the guard with a shy smile ‘But I am afraid I’ll have to go home, the sun is starting to set’, and she pulled another leave out of his mane.
Lord Orrick
Randalín’s giggle was music to Orrick’s ears. She picked her way over to him and began plucking leaves off his disheveled coat. Orrick kept still as she worked, feeling like he had caused enough trouble already today. His dark, silent guard suppressed a smile and stepped away to let the fawns talk amongst themselves.
“Thank you for accompanying me, my lady.” Orrick replied to the filly with genuine warmth, “This day would have been far less enjoyable without your kind presence.”
That sounded like an appropriate thing to say, right? If one thing had been made clear to Orrick, it was that he needed to focus harder on his lessons in courtly interactions. As much fun as today had been, he had not been as a true lord should have. Lady Randalín had been gracious enough to play along, but Orrick had no doubts that there were other ladies who would have been appalled at his behavior. He would do better next time, he thought.
Orrick stood up straighter when Randalín indicated that she needed to return home.
“Of course,” he nodded, “I will be honored to escort you home. If there is any need for explanations of our current state, it is only proper that I be the one to take any blame.” Orrick murmured seriously. He wasn't terribly worried about being chastised, but he didn't want to get his new friend in trouble.
Spotting a few brilliantly red leaves in Randalín’s mane, Orrick mimicked the filly’s gesture. After they were both mostly restored in appearance, the two fawns made their way back into the path. The return journey seemed to pass much faster than their original outset, and Orrick was almost disappointed to see the familiar paths of their home glens appearing.
“I am one of Lord Knox’s sons,” Orrick said conversationally as they approached their destinations, “and if you ever find yourself near to his glades, feel free to seek me out.”
After a pause, a little shyly he added, “If you should like, of course. I would enjoy seeing you again.” Orrick offered her a bow, as he had been taught.
By this point, they had reached the area where they had first met earlier in the day. Orrick slowed to a halt, glancing to see if there were any adults to formally apologize to or pass Lady Randalín into the care of.
Lady Randalín
The lordling plucked a few leaves out of her blond manes, which made Randalín blush a little, she hadn’t really been touched by others except for her mom or her hoofmaidens before. But it was clear they both tried their best to look at least a little bit representable again. After that Orrick politely brought her back to the royal glades. She could feel the young lord was not very excited about going home, but neither was she. This day had been so much more fun than the boring long days by herself or with her mother. When he told her he was Lord Knox’s son, Randalín knew for sure her mother would be proud of her, in one of her lessons about Glenmore Royalty her mother had taught her about Lord Knox, he was a dark, traditional and well known stag. But to Randalín it would have mattered even if he had been a peasant's son. ‘It was nice to meet you, Lord Orrick, Knox’s son’ she said politely. ‘My father is Lord Ivar and my mother is Lady Rinda, it would be an honor to go for a walk with you again’ she added a shy smile to that, as they both knew they had not behaved as they should have today.
In short distance, she saw her liver colored mother walking closer. Immediately she lowered her eyes from Orrick’s, to show her mother she had learned her lessons well. ‘My lady mother, this is young Lord Orrick, he is Lord Knoxs son. He has been so kind to accompany me on a walk in the glenmore glades today’ she introduced him stiffly to her mother.
Lord Orrick
Orrick tucked away his pleased smile at Randalin’s reply. Motion ahead caught his eye as an elegant doe approached the small group. He reminded himself to look and act properly, inclining his head in greeting. Ranadalin addressed the adult as her mother, making her Lady Rinda. The lady was a dark chestnut with a light mane. Lady Randalin seemed a paler version of the older doe.
“Greeting, Lady Rinda,” Orrick said gravely, offering the appropriate bow, “A pleasure to make your acquaintance. Your Lady Randalin has been keeping me in excellent company today. She is a credit to you and your Lord Ivar.”
He straightened and offered Lady Rinda a polite, apologetic smile.
“We most unexpectedly ran afoul of leaf bearing winds on our return here this afternoon. Please accept my deepest apologies for the tousled state of your daughter.”
Glancing briefly at his companion, Orrick thought privately that Randalin looked the better for their afternoon romp, even if it had been improper. She seemed somewhat more cheerful than when they had met earlier in the day. He was glad for the experience.
“If you will excuse me, my Ladies, I must be returning home. My mother, Princess Brighid, feels strongly about punctuality. Disappointing her is something that I do my best to avoid! I am so very glad to have met you both this day, and I hope we shall see each other again before too long. Farewell!”
Orrick bowed to both Ladies once more before turning his feet towards home. His guard followed, a silent shadow on the quiet paths. Safely out of earshot from Randalin and her mother, Orrick allowed himself to smile and sigh contentedly. Today’s experiment had been a success. He felt lighter for having met someone new and explored a little more of the world. Perhaps his home would be a less tense as well, place upon his return. Clearly though, Orrick had learned that he still had much to learn about being a proper Lord. A task for tomorrow.
Suggested Collections
Featuring Lordling Orrick and Ladyling Randalín
Fall, 765 NA
Glenmore, Royal Glades
Look at these two adorable noble babs! A fun, long in the making RP with nerwen-wilwarin! Thank you for your patience!
Orrick WC: 2057
Randalin WC: 1984
Look at these two adorable noble babs! A fun, long in the making RP with nerwen-wilwarin! Thank you for your patience!
Orrick WC: 2057
Randalin WC: 1984
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Comments5
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I wasn't the quickest either XD Thanks for your patience too, I really enjoyed this RP!