by Jessica Day George
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So I sat down this weekend with Princess Petunia in a room at the Old Fortress, high in the Westfalian Mountains. The room is furnished in older style, with much heavy, dark wood, and stiff embroidery, but it’s very clean and the spring sunlight is pouring through the windows.
The princess was wearing a charming gown of blue muslin which goes well with her blue eyes, and had a thick white shawl over her shoulders, a necessary precaution in the ancient, drafty fortress. Folded over a chair nearby is a red velvet cloak with silver bullion embroidery around the edges of the hood. It caught my attention because the hem of the cloak looked rather singed, and there was a black-edged hole about the size of a walnut in the middle of it.
Tearing my eyes off the cloak, I begin.
JDG: “So tell me, your Highness, what brings you this far from Bruch?”
P: “Oh, some of my sisters and I needed a bit of a rest, so we came here to get away from it all for a while. Jonquil hasn’t been well, and Pansy, Lilac, and Orchid definitely needed . . . some quiet.”
JDG: “May I ask what that is you’re knitting?”
P: “It’s a scarf for a friend of mine.” She holds up the long, green strip of wool.
JDG: “A gentleman friend?”
P: smiles demurely, but does not answer.
JDG: “I was wondering if you would care to elaborate on rumors that—Good heavens, what is that?”
P: “What?”
JDG: “Over there, on the table.”
P: “Oh, it’s a wolf mask made of leather.” She shrugs and returns to her knitting.
JDG: “Where did it come from? Why do you have such at thing?”
P: “It’s just a little something I picked up on my recent journey through the Westfalian Forest.”
JDG: “Speaking of which, are the rumors about the Grand Duchess Volenskaya true?”
P: “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She gives me a cold look.
JDG: (distracted once again by the red cloak) “That is a lovely cloak, but is that a bullet hole in it?”
P: “Yes, I’ve been meaning to patch it. My sister Lily shot it.”
JDG: “She shot your cloak?”
P: “Yes, but don’t worry. I wasn’t the one wearing it at the time.”
JDG: “I have more questions, but will you answer them?”
P: with a faint smile. “Probably not.”
~end
Guest post created by Jessica Day George, author of Princess of the Silver Woods
© 2012. All rights reserved.
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by Jessica Day George
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