I returned home, to be berated sternly by my cousin, Lady Sharell Calourhy, on my mothers behalf. Being the Family Matriarch my mother was too busy to attend to the discipline of one daughter.
"You were supposed to be home at midday for your sewing lesson with Lady Andriall," she informed me.
"I apologise, Lady Calourhy, I was visiting a friend and we lost track of the time," I replied glibly.
"Very well," she replied, "you will have an extra lesson tomorrow to make up for it."
"Yes, Lady Calourhy, my thanks for passing along my Lady Mothers wishes in this matter," I replied formally, she believed me, of course, to tell untruths or even half truths is so against the elven nature that the first times I did it I started to wonder if I were a changeling!
"My honour and duty."
Having survived the lecture - the tedium of ritual and formality can really get to you! - I escaped to the room I shared with my younger cousin, Lady Jhyleris Khannisa Nikaria, the daughter of my mothers sister. She was away, at the time, visiting some of our inummerable relatives.
At this point, I think it would probably be a good idea to explain, in simple terms, the relationships between the various elven noble houses.
(A very good idea as even the Dhija haven't quite worked out the ahem... logic of those relationships yet. - Ani'ca L'Key)
The origins of the Elves, as it is learned by Elven children:
When our people first came to this land, we were led by seven siblings; Sharlarhi, Nikaria, Calourhy, Quarlens, Frielista, Yeluesa, and Andriall.
With them also came priests, builders, growers, and all those people necessary to build a great society such as this. With the siblings, our leaders, came their spouses and the overseers - the lesser nobles.
The oldest brother, Shalarhi, became the High King, with his siblings as the royal council. Each of His direct descendents is Royal, each of his siblings descendents is Noble, the First nobles' descendents are simply noble, and the common folk are called by their trade.
A person of Royal blood may only be wed to a Noble or a Royal who has no common ancestors closer than a great grandmother in common with them, Nobles may wed Nobles from one of the six houses, or nobles of the lesser houses, commoners may not wed into nobility.
And there you have it, an excerpt and simple explanation of the elven system of nobility.
To get to the point, as we have a very long lifespan and an average birthrate of 5 children per female, there are lots of weddings - tedious, lots of relatives - don't get me started, and much planning involved in making sure noone marries their closer cousins.
I spent the better part of the rest of the day in my room, ostensibly studying but in fact I was waiting. I wondered if the son of the King would betray me to the Priests or if he was sincere when he told me he would not, then I wondered if he was wondering the same things.
"Don't be ridiculous, Lheora Yhanni," I said startling myself by speaking out loud. "The son of the King is hardly going to spend his time worrying about the actions of one Daughter of House Nikaria!"
I found my thoughts again returning to the Sharlarhi Lord, this puzzled me as I had never met him before in my life, he was not a candidate for a marriage partner, and even if such things were a concern, he was certainly not the handsomest Lord I had met in my life.
There was something about him though,a kind of magnetism I had seen somewhere before though not as intensely.
A knock on the door interupted my thoughts.
"Lheora Yhanni, may I come in?" asked my cousin.
"Of course, Jhyleris Khannisa, you are most welcome to," I replied, opening the door for her. "My apologies for the state of the room, I was having difficulty with my studies and sought a distraction," I explained, even though I had no memory of spreading books and clothing about the room. "How was your journey?"
"Wonderful!" she replied enthusiastically. "My aunt, Lady Quarlens, has said she will speak with my mother about arranging a marriage with one of her husband's nephews."
"That's wonderful," I replied, effortlessly matching her enthusiasm.
"But you must not tell anyone, until it is finalised."
"wild animals could not drag it from me," I replied blandly, adding in the privacy of my mind 'I just hope I don't forget all the tedious details before she talks to me again. Oh yes I won't because I'm an elf and we have nearly flawless memories.'
I was not exactly cheerful in my youth but then elves aren't supposed to be, I suspect if I were just like everyone else... Well why finish that thought I wasn't and I'm not and that's why we're here.
Present:
The Elven woman stops speaking for a moment.
"I'm sure you don't really need to record my thoughts on how tedious I found my female relatives matchmaking attempts."
"Honestly, no," replied Ani'ca, "it's a matter of record several times over - your people are very thorough in their record keeping."
"Excessively so, and they are no more my people than yours are, in fact you are probably closer to it."
"They were your people though."
"No," she disagrees emphatically, "even before I... left, I didn't fit in, in fact until I met Galeorhin I despaired of ever being understood by a member of my own race."
"But you did meet him again?"
"Oh yes, that very night in fact, though quite by accident..."