Madame Golivanth arranged her notebook carefully and checked her pen for the third time. It wouldn't do to keep such an important person waiting. Not after all the trouble she had gone to, just to get a short allotment of time to speak with him.
Footsteps in the hall outside the small sitting room made her look up. The carved oak door opened, and a woman stepped into the room.
Mme. Golivanth blinked. "Ah, Princess Talia, how nice to see you," she said, politely. This was not who she'd asked to see...
Princess Talia, resplendent in a dark burgundy gown with silver trim, walked forward as Mme. Golivanth rose. She waved away the automatic curtsey, and instead took the elven journalist's hands. "Madame, I'm very glad to meet you. I've had the pleasure of reading some of your work."
"Ah - thank you, your Highness," Mme. Golivanth stammered slightly. Talia smiled and gestured gracefully to the chairs, seating herself and thus permitting Golivanth to also sit down. The elf woman realized, faintly, that she needed it. Talia's force of personality was not overwhelming, but the surprise of seeing her instead of Prince Aric, whom she had come to interview, was very unsettling. All her carefully assembled questions went flying right out of her mind. What did I do wrong? she wondered, almost frantically. Did I somehow offend him? Is he snubbing me out of spite?
"I'm terribly sorry about this," Princess Talia said, before Golivanth could speculate further in her mind. "My husband the Prince has been called away on sudden and very urgent business. He is rarely home at all, and I can't imagine why his seneschal would have so raised your hopes as to actually schedule a meeting." The Princess looked genuinely saddened, and Golivanth could only look at her in shocked surprise for a minute.
"Your Highness, you don't have to apologize," she began, finally, but Talia raised her hand to silence her.
"Yes, I do," the princess said quietly. "I feel that an apology is owed you, because I have looked at the correspondence and seen how much trouble you've gone to, trying to obtain audiences - or shall I call them interviews? - with my husband and all of his companions. I've checked into your task and I quite approve of what you're doing." She smiled, as Golivanth did her best not to gape in surprise. "I have found it quite helpful to simply take the action that seems best, in these situations. It seems to me that if you can't get my husband to hold still for an interview, perhaps I will suffice for now? I would hate to waste your afternoon."
Golivanth opened her mouth, then shut it and considered this unusual offer. "Well," she began, "I would certainly not object to having your interview available alongside your husband's..."
Talia laughed, a hearty, unselfconscious laugh that made her dark brown curls bounce a little. "Very cleverly stated, my lady!" she said. "Shall we make an agreement that I will do my best to arrange a real meeting between my husband and yourself, then? And you'll interview me, and when these are all published, my husband and I will be presented as a matched pair, so to speak."
Madame Golivanth nodded once. "That would be most desirable, Your Highness," she said, giving in with good grace. She hadn't at all planned to interview the Princess, but clearly the Princess didn't intend to be overlooked in the history books.
"Let us begin, then..." Golivanth spoke the command word for her pen, and started her questions. "Where were you born?"
"I was born at my father's castle, in the southern part of Sangani," Princess Talia replied. "That was about twenty-seven years ago, now. My father was quite wealthy and influential, and I enjoyed many benefits of that wealth as I grew up." Her eyes darkened a little. "I also suffered under all the restrictions of Sanganese society for a woman of my status. Women there are not as free as they are here." She cleared her throat and continued, "At the age of sixteen I was presented at the King's Court in Sangani and placed on the marriage market. However, after two years, I had no suitors, and my father deemed it best that I attempt to attract a husband here in Mancera instead. My younger brothers were being sent here as well to foster with some relations, and my mother and I were sent along. My brothers took up their fosterage with Lady DeKathrin, and my mother and I were given the hospitality of the Palace."
Golivanth nodded. "Everyone knows the tale of how you met Prince Aric, of course - how he saved you from a fate worse than death, and then rescued you from your parents as well."
Talia gave a delicate snort. "Yes. The bards had a good time with that story. Fortunately they didn't get many of the details wrong, and I am content to leave well enough alone there."
Hesitantly, Golivanth asked, "Do you ever...well, adventure?"
Talia nodded. "As a matter of fact, I have done some traveling and even adventuring. Most of it was before I was married, of course."
"Some might view that...as flagrantly reckless," Golivanth ventured.
"Some people want me to be no more than an empty headed Sanganese wife," replied Talia, with a hint of an edge in her tone. "Many, many of the nobles have been taken aback by my views. They have grown accustomed to quiet, pliant women; to women who are content to be nothing more than ornamental. For myself, I've studied the Queens of the past. Mancera was founded by women who were strong willed, strong minded, and entirely capable of holding their own, on the battlefield and off of it. I have vowed to bring that sort of strength back to the Royal bloodline. If things get as bad as the seers and oracles have seen...we're going to need all the strength we can muster."
Golivanth was silent for a moment, absorbing this remarkable, and forceful, speech.
Finally she resumed her questioning. "Do you find it difficult to deal with the Prince's friends? Have you ever adventured with them?"
"Not directly, no," Talia answered. "I did take on a mission with Lady Silverleaf - I learned a lot from her, and she was an extremely good mentor and partner for that mission. Cervil and I don't speak very much - I suspect because he has had so many other things on his mind. I have spoken more with his lady wife than with him, I'm afraid. And Pale...well, he is a very competent and compassionate man, but a very private one. As I'm sure you already know. No matter what face he shows the world, though, I trust him with my life."
She sighed. "The hardest part of being my husband's wife is the fact that he is a protector, a savior; that's just what he does. He has never really given up the perception that he must personally rescue as many citizens as he can...and that means he isn't here very much. Sometimes that's very difficult; there are times that I feel very lonely. But I can't help but also feel extremely proud of him. He gives so much of himself, and laments that he has no more to give. He has nearly died in service to Mancera, more than once, and every time he is in a sickbed being tended for his wounds, all he can talk about is how he should have done more." Her expression was pensive. "He's the only man I'll ever love, and that selflessness is one of the reasons why."
Golivanth nodded, and asked her final question. "What if you were approached by a young person and asked about adventuring? Would you recommend it to the younger set?"
"I would probably caution them about it first," said Talia. "It's very uncomfortable, it can be terrifying at times, and when it isn't terrifying it's incredibly boring. You can't adventure on the side; you have to be willing to commit to it. That's why I don't really adventure now. I have learned what I can from it, and I am not willing to give up my children and my duties and privileges as Princess in exchange for physical discomfort and life-threatening danger. I am glad that I accomplished something during my adventuring days. But I would say to the younger folks that they have a lot of choices - adventuring is by far the least wise choice among those. And yet, without adventurers, where would we all be? We need heroes."
The door opened and a servant peeked in. "Milady Talia?"
The Princess smiled. "I have to go now," she told Golivanth, "but I thank you for being patient with my husband. I will summon you as soon as I am able to pin Aric down."
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