Word Count: 6,009
Summary of Events:
Bethania prepared for her attendance at a royal sendoff on her father's behalf, where she had to endure seeing the suitor who annoyed her the most, much less being addressed by him, as well as a speech penned by her father for his advisor, Reynaldo, to read, and was long-winded, as usual, along with taking a sudden and inflammatory turn, as far as she was concerned . . .
Excerpt of the Day:
""What did you say?" she whispered.
Reynaldo quickly turned back to the page, looking almost as if he were relieved to not have to look her in the eye. "'May the honour of being my son, by the reward of the hand of my daughter–'"
"How dare he!" Bethania exploded.
She seized Reynaldo's lapel, bringing him around to be facing her.
"He offers me as a reward!" she snapped.
"Yes, your majesty," Reynaldo replied quietly.
"Of all the wretched things a man could do to his daughter!" she cried. "Offering her up as a prize! And for what!? A race to the Utter West and back?"
"No, your majesty," Reynaldo replied quietly. "They are out to seek the Fountain of Youth, that its waters may restore your father to good health."
Bethania let her mouth hang open as she stared at Reynaldo, despite the impropriety; she couldn't believe that her father seriously believed those tales he'd fed to her, Maristela, and Rafael, as well as her other siblings before death had taken them.
"He believes such a thing actually exists!?" she exclaimed. "And he's offered me as a prize for whomever should find the bloody thing!? I will not have any of this!"
She snatched the papers from Reynaldo's hand, tearing them in half and stacking the halved pieces together four times before discarding the paper into the water, where they floated as the water saturated them.
"My father has lost his mind!" she cried. "I am being offered up as a prize for the finding of a myth! What is to become of me if there is failure on all fronts!? Or if my father should perish before one of these incompetent fools should return with any sort of purported cure!? All I am to him is a pawn in a game! I mean nothing more to him than I mean to the rest of these idiots!"
Reynaldo startled violently and looked determined to silence her.
"Don't you touch me!" she snapped. "They are idiots! Anyone who would believe such fairytales as there being some sort of a fountain which restores health and youth to men are idiots! Especially if they're going to go halfway around the world and die trying to conjure up something that doesn't exist! My father is delusional enough without anyone's help! This assembly of buffoons does not need to feed his insanity!"
"Your majesty, please, control yourself, you do not speak tactfully," Reynaldo said quietly.
"To the Utter West with tact!" she snapped. "I will not speak tactfully and condone this ridiculousness! I will not stand idly by and watch myself be handed about with as much care as people hand about livestock! I am a human being, and I aim to be respected as one by my father, among others! I am not a game piece! I will not be quiet! And, above all, I will not let myself be handed out as a prize like livestock to the highest bidder!""
Pronunciations:
Maristela: mahreestehlah
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