Chapter XI - Stablehands and Pages
The Legend of Leanna Page: Vol. I
You’re reading The Legend of Leanna Page, the page-turning mythopoetic queer literary fantasy. *Click here for the Table of Contents and start of Volume I*
Previously: Leanna became the servant and unofficial advisor to the king of Masor, Kennedy continued her quest to change the culture of Alquoria, Madrick has begun falling in love with the stablehand, Lief, and he has also just declared he wants to take on more responsibility as king. Will Isolda take issue with his plans? Will Madrick and Lief admit their feelings for each other? Will Leanna’s connection to the fairies be found out? Read on!
“I received thy poem,” Leanna said with a coy grin as Kennedy entered their dreamscape the night after the meadow.
“I knew thou wouldst.” Kennedy’s confidence in the wind had blossomed considerably since the first time it stole her poem, and she was now taken to letting leaves fly away whenever she wanted them delivered to her dear friend.
Leanna chuckled. “It certainly added the final touch of wondrousness to the day.”
“Dost thou dare imply there was any wondrousness in the day prior to it?”
“I must confess there was.”
Kennedy smiled, forgetting her feigned offense. “I wish to hear of everything.”
Leanna rejoiced in detailing the day for her faraway friend. When all had been outlined, she commented further, “I never imagined I would hold sway over a king, but in truth, I believe he hath come to respect me, at least so much as to take my advice. Leif hath of course always been an aid in that regard as well. Kennedy, I shall say to thee alone, I have begun to feel that Madrick and Leif are as much a pillar of my life as my own parents. It feels as though they two are no less my family than my mother and father, or thine own of the same, or even thee. I love you all so dearly, and I think Madrick and Leif feel the same way for me! I must assume this is why King Madrick considers the advice of a child.” She laughed slight at the thought of it. “It is a great pleasant thing, Kennedy, having such extensions of family. I only wish we were all nearer one another.”
“I wish so too. Oh, Leanna, thou dost know how I wish it. I am dreadfully jealous of this king and stablehand who are permitted to spend these days with thee, but, more, I wish to meet them, for thou dost care for them so.”
“I am determined that one day such a meeting shall occur. It must. You are all too wonderful, and all too dear to me, to never know one another.”
“One day, Leanna, thou must the same meet my Queen Okalani. We cannot spend such time together as thou dost with thy king, but her highness has ordered that whenever an instructor becomes cross with me, they are to march me directly to her throne, forbidding any other punitive measures.” She smiled. “I regret to say these occurrences are only becoming more frequent.” Leanna laughed. “Okalani doth make pretense at bitterness, but once the instructor is gone she turns to joviality and even expresses pride in my success at rebellion. More and more I see the spark of a warrior’s spirit taking shape in her eye, and with it feel a certain familial connection grow, same as thou didst speak of. The inclusion of Okalani in my life even now does some to ease the pain of crossing my parents in the castle and being not able to share a loving word. Moreover, she would adore thee, I am certain of it.”
“It is decided then,” Leanna said. “As soon as we are certain it shall not lead to death and gloom, we shall have a large feast at the edge of the Wood and unite our complete family at last.”
Kennedy’s smile glowed and a spark flew from her wings. “Indeed, it is decided.”
“Perhaps by that time, Madrick and Leif will have admitted they love one another,” Leanna said with impatient disbelief.
“Still they pretend?” Kennedy was aghast. She had heard from Leanna many a story that made it plain how the king and stablehand cared for one another, and she had become rather invested in the outcome of their supposed non-courtship.
Leanna nodded and told her how they brushed against each other’s fingers in the meadow and yet refused to embrace when they parted that eve. Kennedy fell to the dream floor in exaggerated anguish and Leanna met her there in jest until they were on their knees before one another, grasping hands. When laughter began to fade, they made every attempt to extend it until there was no more jest left within them and both of their gazes fell to their hands whose colors now mingled together in a careful web.
Kennedy took a breath.
“It is a terrible thing they are doing,” she said, “putting off their happiness when it is so nearby.”
“It is,” Leanna agreed.
Each held tight to the other’s hand, but, in the dream, they could not feel the full texture and warmth they remembered from reality. The dreamers separated and went on with an altered subject of discourse.
As Leanna emerged from the well of the cave the next morning, she caught an ivy leaf that had fluttered down around her.
LINES OF IVY No.3
If one doth require a shove In something thou hast knowledge of, Keep it not concealed. Perhaps they’ll be healed If thou dost advise them to love.
Leanna carefully folded Kennedy’s limerick and stored it away in her pocket.
*****
After the conversation in the meadow, King Madrick was suddenly full of excitement and energy, planning an increasing number of events and tactics to aid his less fortunate subjects. The people were eager to accept his support. Several months passed by in a frenzy with hardly a moment of rest. The exertion of the king and his staff – consisting truly of only Leanna and Leif – did not go unappreciated, for soon all the common folk in the kingdom knew him as King Madrick, Crown for the Commoner.
In all the activity, Leanna did not think to push the issue of a love between Madrick and Leif. She continued to notice each time they smiled to one another, but she said nothing of it. One day, however, after some months had passed and a new routine had been comfortably established for them all, Leanna stumbled upon Kennedy’s limerick that she long ago had tucked away. For several days, she could think of nothing else. After nearly four full years, the king and stablehand had refused to so much as state their feelings for the other, despite how evident they had become, even to those other than Leanna. At last, she could no longer suffer it.
It was no extraordinary day. A slight chill; a few lonely clouds. Madrick sat at his desk, writing letters and conferring with records in preparation for his afternoon meetings, the sequel to those with villagers who had approached the crown the week prior and whose needs took slightly longer to address. Leanna sat in a corner cleaning dirt off the king’s boots.
“Tell me, sire,” she said. “You and Leif. Thoughts?”
He set down his papers. “Whatever art thou speaking of, Leanna?”
“You know very well. Must I spell it plain?”
“I’m afraid I must deny this immense comprehension thou dost attribute to me.”
“You are obviously in love with them, and they with you. When will you acknowledge it?”
Of course she had seen it; still, before now Madrick had convinced himself it might have passed her notice. He sighed. “It cannot be,” he said.
“But wherefore, sire?”
“They are a servant. I am a king. People would take too great an issue with it.”
“How can you be certain?”
“It has never been done!”
“Has it then been done that a fourteen-year-old page could be the closest advisor of the king?”
“Thou art nothing so official as that, I think.”
“Your highness, please. You are the king. Who is there to limit the possibilities of your life but yourself?”
“What if Leif does not want me the way I want them?”
“Have you asked them?”
“No.”
“It seems the answer to such a simple question would quite resolve the issue.”
Madrick paused and looked to her. “I do sometimes despise the simplicity of thy well-reasoned logic, Leanna.”
“So you’ll think on it?”
“Of course, I will.”
Indeed, within the week, the ideas Leanna planted in the king had compounded into beliefs. At the end of a tiring day, when the duties of both king and stablehand had been sufficiently rendered, Madrick and Leif leaned back against the wall of the tall bastion to view the stars. The two stood close, warming each other against the night’s easy breeze. Without looking away from the majesty of the Sky, Leif brought their hand to Madrick’s arm and gently brought him closer. The king’s heart sighed as he brought his own hand to cover that of the stablehand. At last, both looked at the other, foreheads leaning inwards, eyes glancing at the other’s lips though not daring to linger there, eyes at last meeting and not daring to look away. Speech was soft.
“I have been thinking of language today,” Madrick whispered against the new heavy pounding of his heart.
“Do tell,” Leif implored.
“How we refer to one another; people in general, I mean.”
“I understand.”
“Why is it we refer to some with the formal ‘you’ and others the informal ‘thee’?”
“Status,” Leif reminded him.
“Yes, but other times…”
“To show respect; or, in the other way, lack of; or familiarity.”
“Or love?”
“Yes. Love.”
“Might I use ‘thee’ with you, Leif?”
“Such was always your right, your highness.”
“I do not wish this for the first reason, but the last.” Leif smiled as Madrick spoke. “I also would that you used ‘thee’ with myself, if you feel as I do, that is.”
“I do love thee, Madrick, if that is the question.”
Smiles, unhindered by fear, flew to both pairs of lips, and the same were soon locked in a kiss fueled with such care that neither had yet had the privilege to feel for anyone. All sense of the outdoor chill disappeared as the sensation of the other filled each of their chests with the warmth of passion. Even as they thought themselves invincible to cold, a chilled wind nudged Madrick in the back and caused the kiss to stumble into laughter and charm. Hand in hand, the couple returned indoors and found their way under the warm comforter of the king’s royal bedchamber.
When Leanna found no one to greet her the next morning in the stables, she went to find Madrick and ensure all was well. Upon hearing the two hushed voices behind his chamber door, she stifled a gasp and dashed away giggling to perform every chore happily on her own.
LINES OF IVY No.4
We know with every little spark That we must only question more What love will find us in the dark. On our adventures, we embark And think of what may lie in store: ‘We know with every little spark.’ Yet something saddens our inner lark, And brings us crying to the floor: ‘What love will find us in the dark?’ We aim to make a separate mark. We feign to question what we most adore. We know with every little spark. Still, we do not dare remark That we know how we hope for What love will find us in the dark. We wait alone for time to arc Toward what within us doth roar. We know with every little spark What love will find us in the dark.
As months went by, Madrick and Leif became increasingly open about their affections. Soon, the only person in the castle to have failed to take notice of the nature of their relationship was Isolda, so little did she concern herself with her brother’s unimportant peasant projects.
One day, Vice-Crown Isolda stood in her regal costume in front of the throne room’s mystical mirror. As she always did at the end of a conference with the first lagifs, she waited stoically until each of their visages had faded from their space in the depth of the glass and the frame’s vibrancy had deadened before stepping back and relaxing into her solitude. It was swiftly interrupted.
“Have they all gone?” Madrick peeked from behind the small door behind the throne, hoping to entirely avoid interaction with the lagifs.
“Yes, Madrick. They’ve gone.”
“Splendid!” He said, and he burst forth fully into the room, papers sprouting from the pile in his arms. “Forgive my barging in early, Isolda, but I must take extra time to prepare the space today. I’m expecting a great many visitors, and I wish to be sure I can aid them all.”
Isolda shook her head carelessly. “It hardly bothers me, Brother, I was leaving.”
He smiled at her briefly and set to work, but something about him today made Isolda pause. He was happy. She didn’t want to leave him just yet.
“You know, it would do you well to join the next conference of the lagifs,” she said.
He did not turn away from his work. Absently, he replied, “Would it?”
She stepped closer. “If you offered them even the slightest hint of effort, the whole gentry may in time grow to respect you.”
“I don’t honestly care what the gentry thinks of me, Isolda.”
“You must know that is foolish.”
Now he looked to her. “More foolish than you, spending your every royal thought on a handful of people.”
“That ‘handful’ and I maintain the order of our kingdom.”
“And I maintain the happiness of its individuals, which matters more?”
“One cannot exist without the other.”
“I agree, but which comes first?”
Isolda scowled. “You are mad, you know. You cannot rule a kingdom with peasants.”
“Oh, I disagree. If it were entirely up to me, I would that stablehands and pages ruled the kingdom.”
There was a pause.
“Stablehands?” Isolda repeated.
“Just an example, Sister. Would you leave me to my work?”
“Of course. Well wishes, Madrick.”
“And to you.”
As she left the room, Isolda could not stop pondering his phrase. Her countenance contorted as she paced down the many halls until, in all her confusion, she realized there must be something she did not know. Her wanderings brought her to the armory whence she found a young knight polishing a shield.
“Knight.” The vice-crown barked, and she was instantly given attention.
“Yes, your highness?” She sat up straight and wide-eyed. Isolda remained expressionless.
“What is your name?”
“Degora,” was the quick reply.
“Kn. Degora, what do you know about the goings on of the castle?”
She shrugged apologetically. “As much as anyone, I’d suppose.”
“Leif, the stablehand. What do you know of them?”
Degora smiled. “Only that they and King Madrick are very happy.”
Isolda allowed the slightest expression to emerge on her countenance, just enough for Degora to realize: “You didn’t know.”
“Don’t be absurd.” Isolda returned to her stoicism. “And the page…”
“Leanna? A sweet child; good servant. Some say she’s brilliant even, and advises the king in everything. They say the page is so much like a daughter to him that he has lost any interest in conceiving an heir.”
Then Isolda understood. It had been no mere turn of phrase when her brother wished for pages to rule. He had every intention of giving away her crown to a commoner.
“Your loyalties are to Masor alone, is that correct?” The princess demanded of the knight.
Kn. Degora stood in swift concurrence. “Of course, your highness.”
Isolda nodded. “I have come into some intelligence about the king’s intentions that has the power to destroy the future of Masor if gone unchecked. I require your assistance.”
“Anything, your majesty.”
“Discover everything there is to know about this page, Leanna, and report every finding instantly, and only, to me. Is that understood?”
Degora was not the type to question royalty. She nodded, “For Masor,” and Isolda turned, exiting in a wind.
A wind from the other direction brought the sound of footsteps running down the hall. When they halted very suddenly, Degora began to listen, and she nearly stopped her own breath in order to hear as the sound of a young girl’s whispers floated towards her ear.
“Kennedy?” It said, barely louder than an exhale. “I can only just hear thee.… I don’t understand either.… We are certainly not dreaming.… Oh, it was just that important?... Well, go on, tell me…. Ha! Thou art a fool, hush up.”
When the footsteps began again, Degora stepped out into the hall, curious to find it empty, save for Leanna. You see, dear Reader, Leanna had just discovered it was possible for her to communicate with the far away Kennedy while awake as well! To others, it merely appeared as though she were talking to herself. The page offered a bashful smile to Kn. Degora and went on her way, giggling to herself. The knight watched the page from behind until she turned a corner and went out of sight.
*****
One night, as they dreamt, Leanna and Kennedy lay beside one another in the cerulean emptiness and stared up, drawing clouds in the sky with dream-powered gestures. They both inched closer to each other with every drawing as they playfully competed to make their own additions to the others’ designs. At last, they prevented each other from continuing on by holding tight to each other’s hands until, with laughter, they relaxed into a partial embrace, staring again at the mess of clouds they had crafted together.
“Taking it all as one,” Kennedy remarked of their creation, “the shape now reminds me of the Pancomis Blossom. Hast thou heard of it?”
Meeting Kennedy’s gaze, Leanna shook her head slight and offered an interested eye.
“It is the most beautiful flower I have ever known. It only grows in the Infinite Wood,” she went on. “It grows in pairs which tend to each other, each blossom offering nutrients to its other when it has excess, or stretching itself to provide shade when the other is at risk of being too dried by the sun. Both blossoms grow ever closer to one another so that their seeds pass between them with every wind.”
Leanna smiled. “That sounds like a lovely way to live a life.”
“I think about it every day,” Kennedy agreed, and she blushed, looking down at their entwined hands and tracing the lines of Leanna’s fingers with the tips of her own. She swallowed. “Dost thou have anything like that in Masor?”
Leanna shifted her palm so that the dream-sanded, petal-soft fingers of her dear friend crosshatched into a purple-brown weave in her tender grasp.
“No, Kennedy. Not in Masor,” she said.
*****
Months passed, and Leanna’s days continued as normal. An early morning meal with her mother and father, stable work with the sunrise, castle chores before noon, notetaking for the king when he held court, discussions with the king as to the best courses of following action, deciphering letters for the king written in a poor worker’s hand, organizing the king’s records, adding details where they were missed, avoiding Isolda whose scowl grew darker every time she passed her in the halls, meeting her mother in town from whence they would return to the cave, supper with the little family, then a nighttime-long dream full of friendship and laughter with Kennedy. Overall, it suited her nicely.
Then came the announcement. There would be no balls or banquets, although they would proclaim it to the kingdom in due time, but they wanted Leanna to be the first to know: Leif and Madrick were to be love-promised. It was not quite marriage, with all the legally and royally binding responsibilities that Leif had no interest in, but in all the ways that mattered to the heart, the two were engaged to be wed. Leanna screamed with glee and pulled them both into a grand embrace. Then, suddenly thinking of the perfect engagement favor, she declared, “I will return before nightfall,” and dashed out of the room, leaving Leif and Madrick alone in the chambers that now belonged to them both combined.
She thought of the flower which Kennedy had described and knew it grew not too far from the Masorian castle, just inside the Wood. Once Leanna had determined to retrieve it, no thought of danger could stop her. Besides, she knew best of all that the Woods were in fact peaceful so long as the visitor arrived with kindly intentions. She tossed on her cape, and ran out the servants’ entrance, through the gardens until she was beyond the bounds of the castle. She looked up to figure in which direction the Sky was hidden by infinite foliage and, in that way discovering South, began again to run.
She had no need to slow until she was some considerable distance into the Wood and needed again to discover her appropriate path. At that time, by chance alone, she had already lost Kn. Degora who failed to follow any further than twenty paces through the forbidden Trees. Leanna continued on her search, blissfully unaware, while the knight skulked breathlessly back to Masor Castle, wondering at the child’s incredible speed and stamina, and at her inexplicable comfort in the Infinite Wood. Leanna thought of nothing but her quest for the blossom.
LINES OF IVY No.5
To know of hearts is knowing true the sun, The way that it can blaze, and burn, and glow, But knowing hearts in truth tells naught of one, If she is whom thou wishest true to know. To touch of hands is touching stuff of life; The flesh that hides the quivering of bone; But touching hands does naught to end the strife Of one who still will wake that morn alone. The feel of love is feeling in the air, As ivy soars through cold and windy Sky, But when a love’s not free to give its share The same doth stretch the length ‘tween thee and I. To be with love is warm and close and real. To know, for truth, thy touch; what love I’d feel.
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