My Envied Lady: Chapter 7

Chapter 7
That was how the Maenad became Princess Sabina's tutor. The princess learned quickly under her guidance, and slowly the court began to warm up to her, and she began to settle back into the role of a noblewoman. One of Maenad's first requests as royal tutor was to have a new gown. One of the court ladies gave her one of hers, and with Sabina's help she tailored it to fit her small figure. It was dark blue, and belted with a red girdle to match her slippers and the hated binding charm's ribbon, which might as well be woven of iron as far as getting it off was concerned. She had also oiled her hair and woven red ribbons into her braids. With her graceful, swaying gait she soon caught the attention of some of the castle's squires, at least the ones who were unaware that she was no youthful maiden. Eventually, the king let her have a bit of unguarded freedom in the castle and grounds, but she was still forbidden from leaving the castle walls unescorted.

The Spring Joust was fast approaching, and the castle and town were both hives of activity. The Maenad watched it all with keen interest. Johan's arm healed well, and he was beginning to slip into his old routines to get the strength back in it. He did not want to miss any competitions, though the injury would still hold him back. He resented the Maenad for that. It seemed petty, considering she was not exactly a willing participant in the robberies, but his injury along with Maenad's arrogance did not make him one of her admirers. Peewit had found another lute and was practicing his ballad, deciding that it would make an even bigger impression if he debuted it during the celebrations.

The boys were in the practice yard, Johan practicing jousting with a wooden quintain, Peewit alternating between eating and singing. Bayard was as patient and well trained as ever, until about the fifth pass when he caught a whiff of something and tried to turn for his stable.

"Whoah boy, Steady! What's wrong?" Johan said as Bayard laid his ears back and began to snort. Then he saw two ladies coming down the hill. Sabina and Maenad. Horses, cattle, goats, and sheep all acted the same whenever Maenad was near. They could smell the wolf in her, even though she had specifically told Biquette she wouldn't eat her to calm Peewit. They were conversing in at least two languages, obviously having a lesson.

Finally looking like a proper lady, Maenad was rather pretty, Johan had to admit. He also had to admit it was good fortune that Maenad had taken over Sabina's Latin, because Maenad had no problem with moving lessons outside and letting Sabina have breaks to practice with him.

"Johan!" Sabina cried, and ran across the field holding her skirts so she did not trip over them. Maenad picked up the pace behind her, but did not run.

"You're looking much better, do you mind if I join you?"

"I don't know…" said Johan. The truth was that jousting was a painful sport even if you didn't get unhorsed. One needed to build up a pain threshold for constantly being hit very hard, something a squire had time to do out of necessity to prepare for life as a warrior. It wasn't so easy for a princess sneaking away from a history lesson when she could.

"How about we practice fencing? I have a spare practice sword around somewhere." Maenad watched them silently.

"Maenad, would you like to join us?"

"Why would I want to?"

"Well…you seem to be an accomplished fighter; I thought you might like to try it in a friendlier environment."

"Yeah Maenad, let's see what you can do!" said Peewit.

Johan went to get the practice swords. Sabina assumed a fencing pose immediately like she had been shown. Maenad picked one up and followed her lead, but it wasn't long before it became apparent to both Johan and Sabina that Maenad was a terrible fencer. They tried archery. She didn't even know how to string a bow, though she claimed indignantly she had forgotten. She also refused to mount a horse, but that at least was completely understandable.

"How could you have been a mercenary if you can't fight?" Johan asked her after a frustrating afternoon.

"I can fight just fine, as you found out. It's just that if I want to hunt, hunt as a wolf. If I need to fight, I fight as a wolf. When I was human, it wasn't my place to do such things. I had servants and more important responsibilities."

"Oh, wonderful. Here's a Lady who would rather be learning how to fight, and a mercenary who would rather re-learn how to be a Lady. You two should switch places!"

Both girls glared at him.

"Maenad, you aren't going to be turning into a wolf as long as you stay here, the King forbids it. You should let Johan teach you some skills so you can defend yourself. You said you have no family, and you also say I'm doing phenomenally well with my Latin. We could spend half of our time with you teaching me, and the other half learning to defend ourselves." Sabina winked at Johan as she offered the suggestion.

Johan agreed it was a good idea, not because he wanted to teach Maenad particularly (she  did  just say that whatever she did centuries ago was "more important" than what he had trained his whole life for,) but because it allowed him more time with Sabina before she was betrothed. Maenad reluctantly agreed.

As they returned to the castle, Peewit walked alongside Maenad.

"You'd better not be trying to force one of your songs on me again. I'll scare your goat out from under you like last time." Johan and the King both had a good laugh over that. Even Dame Barbara thought it was hilarious.

"No, I had a question. Something you said at the banquet when Sabina asked you to come to her lessons. You asked if Johan was a prince or her husband."

"And?"

"Why did you think that?"

"Hmm. It's hard to explain to a human. Let's say that when you spend enough time with creatures who cannot speak, you notice things about the way they interact that words don't tell. Your friends are very fond of each other."

"Really…" Peewit had always suspected as much. Between this confirmation and the fact that she annoyed Dame Barbara by being just as much of an arrogant know-it-all as she was, he was starting to like Maenad more each day.