Wendy Baronsdotter

Wendy walked through the halls of the Windsor Academy with a smile on her face, she had already learned so much that she was able to read her first book. Books had become the most exciting part of her life now that she could read. In the past, she had always been asking questions of the people she knew about things, with books she was able to find answers written by some of the most amazing minds in the world that could answer questions about the answers to questions she had before she could even think of how to ask those questions.

Things at the academy were not all wonderful, the wealthier sons and daughters of the nobles could be cruel to those like her that were illegitimate children of lesser nobles. The status of a noble was very important in the society of the academy so the children like her that were not much more than commoners were constantly insulted and slighted. The female students ignored her. The male students would flirt with her because of her beauty but never invited her to social functions because of her status.

After a while, Wendy just got in the habit of being a loner that loved to study while politely declining the advances from the men who only wanted sexual relationships. Wendy was in class listening as the old teacher explained how to calculate the area of a triangle using the Brandovian Theorem, "As you can see here if you have a right triangle the value of C squared is A squared plus B squared. So if we know that A is twelve and B is twenty-three, what will the value of C be? Wendy Baronsdotter, what is that answer?"

She stood up and walked to the board. She quickly wrote out the math and said, "twenty five-point nine four."

The teacher nodded with a smile, "Very good."

At that moment an older man dressed in black robes knocked on the door. "I am sorry to bother you, Professor Hand, I need to borrow one of your students. Lady Wendy Baronsdotter?" He looked around the room.

Wendy walked up from the chalkboard and said, "I am Wendy."

He smiled, "Good, good, come with me, please. You have an important visitor." He walked quickly through the halls causing Wendy to nearly jog to keep up. He asked, "Have you learned how to address a Duke of the Empire?"

Wendy spoke out, "Yes sir. I address him as Your Grace or My Duke if he is the lord of my territory."

The man nodded and said, "Good, you will be meeting with Duke Morely, so you'll use Your Grace. I am not sure why he requested the meeting, but he doesn't have direct authority over your territory. Just keep in mind that any of the Duke's have significantly more authority than your father, the Baron."

Wendy stopped when he did at a door. He opened the door and said, "He's in the room at the end of this hall. The door is open, just identify yourself when you enter." Wendy nodded and then followed the hall down to one of the library entrances that lead to one of the conference rooms.

"Hello, I am Wendy Baronsdotter, you wished to see me, Your Grace?" She gave a proper curtsey. Sitting at the table was an extremely handsome man wearing an expensive suit with the crest of House Morely on the left chest. Sitting to his right was an older rough-looking man dressed in a grey suit with the same crest.

The handsome man stood up and walked over to her, "Hello, Lady Baronsdotter, I am Duke Beaux Morely, please, feel free to just call me Beaux." He kneeled down and reached out his right hand.

Wendy was confused as she reached out her own right hand to him. Beaux smiled and lightly kissed her index finger before standing and pulling out a chair at the other end of the table for her to sit. After she sat down he helped her push the chair in before returning to his own seat. "I'm sorry, may I ask why you wished to meet with me?"

Beaux nodded and then said, "The man to my right here is my uncle. He is here in place of my late father." He looked her in the eye and asked, "Lady Baronsdotter, I would like to have your permission to court you."

Wendy's eyes grew larger, "I'm sorry? Did you get me confused for someone else maybe?"

Beaux chuckled and shook his head, "One of my responsibilities as a Duke of the Empire is to find a good woman to marry, have an heir and family. I have not yet done so and my mother is getting nervous. I admit I am a little bit older than you and we have never met prior to this, so you are probably curious why I would choose you."

Wendy nodded and then with a serious face softly spoke out, "Your Grace, I have lived my entire life as a commoner. No, not just a commoner, one of the poorest commoners. So poor that my mother had to bring us out of the Windsor Kingdom to one of the free villages outside of Connaissance, Westville because we didn't even have the means to live in Connaissance. I mean no disrespect, but we come from different worlds. I may be recognized as a noble because of my father who has never even seen fit to come to visit me, but in any other way, I am just a simple commoner. How would we possibly have anything in common? Wouldn't I be an embarrassment to your House?"

The old man started to chuckle, "You're right lad, this girl. She is exactly the girl you should court. Your father would be proud of you. Your brother too. You know he fancied this type of fairytale ending the best."

Beaux nodded and said, "Lady Baronsdotter, may I call you Wendy? And please call me Beaux, I am very serious about this, as I said a little earlier I know I am a little older than you, but I promise I won't even speak of the topic of marriage until we know each other and we have built that kind of relationship. I am just asking for the chance. I would just like your consideration."

Wendy's brow twitched as she thought about it, "You mean, you are only here to ask me out on a date?"

Beaux nodded and said, "Please, if you wouldn't mind? I would just like to get to know you, maybe enjoy some meals together, possibly attend some social functions together?"

Wendy thought for a moment, "And you won't try to pressure me or my family into anything more?"

Beaux shook his head, "If you say yes, I will meet with your mother and stepfather first to get their blessing. I know that you have no relation to the Baron, so I won't even speak with him. Please?"

Wendy nodded her head and then said softly, "The academy is having a dance next Friday, I don't yet have a date."

Beaux smiled and nodded, "Then this Duke shall be your escort." he smiled, "I'll have my tailor come visit you on Wednesday afternoon, will that be alright with your schedule?"

Wendy smiled and gave a slight nod, "Yes, thank you."

*****

Emily glared at Teslaimia for a full five minutes before Teslaimia rolled her eyes and sighed, "Just tell me what's wrong, stop trying to force me to admit whatever mistake you think I made."

"What did you do to Roger?"

Teslaimia giggled, "Oh? What's wrong with Roger?"

"He showed up late for duty and his eyes had black rings around them like he didn't sleep and he has been grinning like he spent the night in an opium den." Emily growled out, "And don't think I didn't notice that pin on his lapel."

Teslaimia giggled, "It wasn't me that did anything, he went on a date with Grace of his own free will."

"Grace? The manager of your shop? Why would she have any interest in Roger? You didn't have her date him as some kind of revenge plan I hope?" She sighed, "Don't mess around with Roger, he is very important to the safety of the Empire."

Teslaimia smirked, "Grace wanted to date a knight, and I suggested Roger and she was overjoyed. Aren't your girls Gertrude and Jamie dating your knights as well? Just because she works for me doesn't mean she has any less of a desire for a hero than they do."

Emily gave Teslaimia another half glare, "Then they went on a real date, you didn't force her into it?"

Teslaimia smiled and nodded, "Roger asked me to introduce him to a girl because he was curious about the club and was too shy to go alone. Plus he needed a member to bring him in, as you know. I honestly didn't expect the two of them to hit it off. Roger is a believer in the Church, so I thought he was a prude, honestly. Grace never really talks about herself outside of work, I have always had the feeling she really was a little lonely."

Emily went back to her reading, every so often she would send a glare at Teslaimia who would sigh dramatically.

*****

Andrew and Danny both sat at the table with fierce expressions on their faces. Danny asked, "Oi, why is it that the two of them are grinning at each other like that Drew?"

Jon took a drink from his glass and nodded his head while smiling at Roger who nodded back with a smile of his own.

Andrew frowned and said, "It's not right. They are clearly in on something they aren't telling us about."

Roger looked at Andrew and said poetically, "I have just never noticed the beauty of the forest and the signing of the birds."

Danny rolled his eyes, "He dipped his wick. Looks like Roger lost his cherry."

Jon laughed and shook his head, "Indeed, the forest and the birds are amazing when you first see them, when you come through regularly you'll still find that there is something you never saw before."

Andrew shook his head and said to Danny, "No, these two know something that we don't It's got to be those pins on their lapels. They probably joined a grey club. I remember seeing pins like that amongst some of the foreign nobility. King William wouldn't allow the grey clubs in his territories for some reason, but my niece wears a pin like that herself."

Jon's smile disappeared as he spewed out a spit-take of the drink he had just started to drink from, "What did you just say?"

Roger wiped his face with his cloth, "Lord Reno, Jon. Really?"

Andrew nodded, "I think I really won't approve of what my niece has been doing."

Danny looked like he has just seen a ghost, "Sweet little Emmy was at a club that made Jon just spit his drink on the General's face? What the hell kind of place is this?"

Jon stared at Roger, "Her Majesty, Teslaimia too?"

Roger thought for a moment, "Well yes, that's how I learned about the club actually."

Jon suddenly drank the entire glass of ale in a long gulp and then called out to the bartender, "I need the green fairy. A double!"

Roger raised an eyebrow, "You ok, Jon?"

"My girlfriend knew! She knew the entire time and that's why she was... " He blushed hard. The Barmaid winked at Jon as she set the drinks down and then went back to serving other people.

Roger shook his head, "You never know what people are like behind bedroom doors." He chuckled.

Andrew glared at the two of them while Danny seemed to be confused, "I don't like the way Jon is talking about sweet little Emmy. If I had another leg, I'd kick his ass right now."

Roger coughed awkwardly, "Soooo, how long do you guys think we'll have before the Kreussians come sniffing around again?"

Andrew and Danny looked at each other and frowned. Andrew spoke out, "Ok, one of you two better start talking, that's my niece you know."

Danny nodded and said, "Sweet little Emmy was like a kid sister to me too."

Roger thought for a moment and then began, "You see Danny when a man loves a woman very much..."