«But be of good cheer», she added, at their glum expressions. «I cannot promise regarding the demands of state, of course, but I count myself fortunate that both their Majesties regard me as a friend as well as a servant of the court».
«The queen looks a kind woman», Marie said hopefully.
«Darlings, she is hardly more than a girl like you, for all that she is already a mother», Jessamy reminded them, laughing gently. «She was not yet fifteen when she married the king, and she conceived almost at once. Come November, she will be but seventeen. But — you've not yet been presented to her, have you? Of course you have not; we've only just arrived».
The two girls shook their heads, eyes wide.
«Then, come, you must make her acquaintance», Jessamy went on, as the three of them got to their feet. «She will be glad of company closer to her own age. Most of us in the royal household served one or both of the queens before her, and are old enough to be her mother — or yours. And the young men at court will adore you».
Smiling encouragement as she moved between them, Jessamy shepherded them back toward where the queen and Prince Brion's nurse had taken over the glad occupation of leading the young prince in a few halting steps, his little hands supported from either side. The king had drawn apart with Earl Keryell and his son for earnest discussion, but kept glancing back at his son.
Brion was a sturdy, handsome child, with clear gray eyes and a shock of straight, silky black hair cut short across the forehead and all around his head in imitation of his father's. On hearing his happy chortle, Donal turned and crouched to hold out both hands, beckoning for Brion to come to him. With an exultant squeal, the boy let go of both supporting hands and toddled confidently into the arms of his sire.
«Jessamy, would you look?» the queen cried, looking up at her and the demoiselles de Corwyn. «My little man is walking! I can't believe how much he's grown while we were away. It has only been a few weeks».
Jessamy smiled. «He has, indeed, grown, Majesty. A proper prince he is».
«I see that your Krispin thrives as well», Richeldis observed, with a glance toward the baby's basket. «He's a fine, fat babe! And who are these pretty maids?» she added, jutting her chin at the girls.
«Majesty, these are Earl Keryell's daughters, Lady Alyce — and Lady Marie». The girls made grave curtsies as their names were spoken. «They tell me that their father wishes to foster them to court».
«So the king has informed me», the queen replied, leaving Brion to his nurse as she came to let the girls kiss her hand. «Ladies, you are most welcome — and you mustn't be afraid of his Majesty», she added, in a conspiratorial whisper. «If he sometimes seems gruff, it is only because he cares so much for all those under his protection. I hope you will be very happy as part of my court».
The girls curtsied again, eyes wide as saucers, and Richeldis gave a gentle laugh.
«You needn't look so serious. I'm sure we shall be good friends. Since you already know Lady Jessamy, I shall place you in her charge — if that is agreeable to you?» she added, with a glance at Jessamy.
«I shall regard them as my own daughters, Majesty», Jessamy replied. «I am certain they will prove a credit to your Majesty's household».
«I am certain they shall», the queen agreed, with a nod of dismissal to the three of them as she returned her regard to her son.
Thus did the demoiselles de Corwyn begin their life at the court of the King and Queen of Gwynedd.
Keryell Earl of Lendour departed for his own lands on the day following the queen's arrival at Carthanelle, taking with him his son and household and leaving his daughters behind.
The king bade him farewell at the great hall steps, his heir in his arms and his queen at his side, and sent him on his way with the Duke of Cassan and his own brother for escort. Alyce and Marie were permitted to accompany them as far as the harbor for a final adieu, riding with their brother and the two squires, but that only made the final parting more difficult, as they kissed father and brother good-bye and watched their galley sail out of Nyford.
They were in tears for most of the ride back to Carthanelle, though both dukes tried to cajole their young charges into better spirits. Alyce had mostly contained her misery by the time they got back, but Marie was less successful. They ate little at supper, and Marie cried herself to sleep that night, seeking comfort in her elder sister's arms, but finding it only in the stuffed dog that one of the children thrust at her after supper, seeing her sadness.
The royal household remained at Carthanelle until mid-October, when the weather finally broke. Meanwhile, the heat kept tempers short and often frayed. Though both demoiselles de Corwyn were dreadfully homesick for the first few days, they tried gamely to take their minds from their misery by pitching in with the care of the children of the household, and gradually succeeded. The little girl who had given Marie the stuffed dog, a daughter of one of the queen's ladies, developed a particular affection for both girls, and often came to climb onto one of their laps and beg for a story, when she was not trying to coax a smile from them with her winsome antics.
The other children soon followed suit, particularly Prince Brion. At least with the children, both Alyce and Marie soon made themselves favorite playmates, for they were hardly more than children themselves.
They were less successful with the children's mothers, though Jessamy and her daughters did their best to make the newcomers feel welcome, as did the queen. But the other women were caught up in their own concerns, and remained mostly aloof. It was a pattern that would repeat itself often, as the two girls gradually moved farther and farther from the life they had known in their father’s house.
The change of weather, when it finally came, was marked by more than a week of solid rain, when very little moved. It heralded a flurry of preparations for the journey back to Rhemuth, made more exasperating by bored children underfoot, cranky at being kept indoors, and by grown men grumbling about the rain, eager to be on their way. The king was as bad as any of them.
But finally came word that the river again was running at near-normal levels, fit for the royal barges to make their way back up the Eirian to Rhemuth. The trip northward was hardly better than being cooped up at Carthanelle, for each day still saw at least one deluge, but at least the scenery was different, and the rain was good for the land. Alyce tried to remember that, on the day they docked at Desse and switched to horses and litters to complete the journey to the capital. Rhemuth Castle proved to be damp and chill after weeks of rain, and it was growing colder as autumn began giving way to winter.
One reprieve they were granted: that their convent education should not commence until after the festivities of Christmas and Twelfth Night court, which were fast approaching. This was a mixed blessing, for the foothold they had gained while resident at Carthanelle was soon swallowed up in the expanded court that dwelt year-round in Rhemuth.
Marie coped by casting her lot with the other children, all younger than herself, letting herself be swept up in their festal preparations. Alyce, a year older, found herself caught in a curious limbo, no longer a child but not yet a woman, unable to fully embrace either state — and owing to the transitory nature of her residence at court, few made much effort to get acquainted or to help her through it. The queen herself was probably closest to Alyce in age, but her young son and her own duties occupied most of her available time and energy.
As autumn gave way to winter, the weeks of Advent seemed to stretch forever, as cheerless as the shortening winter days. But for Alyce, this time of preparation for the birth of the Christmas King also marked the necessary shift in her frame of mind. The solemnities of Christmas brought a kind of respite, as she dutifully turned her thoughts to the wondrous birth in Bethlehem, and she found herself becoming caught up in some of the excitement as Twelfth Night approached, the most important court in the cycle of the year.
It would be her first at the Haldane court, made all the more special because it would mark the knighting of two of her father's squires, sent from Lendour to receive the accolade from the king's own hand. The two honorees were friends of her childhood: Sé Trelawney and Jovett Chandos, the squires who had had been with her father's party at Carthanelle. Since the conferral of this honor had been set long before Keryell Earl of Lendour decided to take a new wife at Twelfth Night, he had delegated his elder daughter to stand witness in his stead, with her hand on the sword with that of the king, and had directed that she and her sister should perform the office of investing the two young men with the white belts of their knighthood.
«Ahern said to tell you that he would far rather have been here with us», the newly dubbed Sir Sé Trelawney told her that evening, seated beside her at the feast following the court. Marie had started out sitting on his other side, but had moved to sit with Jesiana.
Alyce rolled her eyes and gave him a sidelong glance as he passed her a platter of fine manchet bread, saying nothing as she took a thick slice and started tearing out the soft center. Both Se and Jovett were Deryni, though not known to be so, and Se was well aware of her feelings about the wedding festivities no doubt in progress back at Castle Cynfyn — and Ahern's feelings as well.
«She will probably be wearing our mother's jewels!» she muttered so that only Se could hear her.
«She will be sleeping in your mother's bed», he returned, in the same low tone. «But there's nothing you or I or anyone can do about that. It's what your father wants».
«I suppose». Alyce had been squeezing the wad of doughy bread into a ball, and she pressed it between her palms to form a flattened patty before tearing it into quarters. Across from Se, the other new-made knight, Sir Jovett, was watching her curiously, and she caught his eye as she reached across Se to hand each of them one of the pieces.
«Friends forever!» she whispered, very deliberately putting the third piece in her mouth and chewing.
«Friends forever!» they answered, doing as she had done.
«And take this last piece to my brother», she added, placing the remaining quarter in Se's hand. «Make him the same pledge».
«I will», Se promised, and slipped it into a pouch at his belt.
Alyce glanced toward the center dais, where the king and queen sat flanked by several of their great lords and their wives, and sighed.
«I wish Ahern could have come», she said in a low voice. «He would have liked this much more. Se, you and Jovett will write to me, won't you? I've missed both of you so much already!»
«Of course we'll write», Se assured her. «And better than that, I think your father intends to send someone at intervals to continue your training — probably Father Paschal. If we can, we'll try to persuade him that Jovett and I should be his escorts. Not that we'll get to see much of you, with you in the convent. But at least we can bring you letters in person».
Alyce smiled shyly, lowering her blue gaze. «Thank you — both of you. At least I'll have something to look forward to».
But the brief respite of the presence of friends from home was not to last. The orders of Keryell Earl of Lendour required the two young knights to depart the following morning, with but scant time to bid his daughters a proper farewell.
«Ahern wants us back as well», Se told Alyce, as he and Jovett waited for the grooms to finish saddling their horses. «It won't be easy for him either, you know».
«You'll make sure he's careful, won't you?» she said to both of them, not voicing the concerns they had shared with her about the new lady of Cynfyn.
«You needn't worry, little one», Jovett said fondly. «We'll look after him».
The drab, dreary days of winter seemed even more oppressive, once the two left. Alyce pined for several days, knowing that it was only a matter of time before she and Marie were sent away. Jessamy did her best to see that her young charges were included in appropriate activities, along with her own children, but Alyce found that the turning of the new year only marked the uncertainty of what lay ahead.
It was mid-January when the dreaded summons came from the queen. The two sisters had found an abiding affinity with young Prince Brion, and he with them, so they were inclined to spend many of their waking hours playing with him and minding Krispin, who was a mellow, contented baby. On that fateful morning, Jessamy came to fetch them from the solar, where the two of them were sprawled before the fireplace with Jesiana, Krispin in his basket between them, watching Brion tussle with a chubby hound puppy. Krispin was chewing on the ear of a stuffed toy that might once have been a cat or rabbit.
«Alyce, Marie, the queen wishes to see you», Jessamy said, as all three girls scrambled dutifully to their feet and Jesiana came to give her a hug. «Go now, please. She's in her bedchamber. I'll stay with the boys».