Athynae Sarethi: The Making of a Princess, Entries from Athynae's childhood journals Options

[Athynae]

Hey guys, well seeing as Athynae and sometimes Athlain's antics as children have been referenced in Blood on the Moon and each time I have found myself writing the "memory", mostly in an effort to better understand her, I thought I would share some of those blasts from the past with you. The entries will not necessarily be in order, just snapshots from here and there at different ages and occasionally some entries from the PoV of other friends and family just to add some spice. The first entry will be the story of Athynae getting her first journal and why.




I hope you enjoy Athynae's childhood antics, I have sure had fun writing the handful that I have so far. Even better are some of the "memories" from others who know her. Just be cautious while reading with any beverages close as she has a tendency to speak her mind (like you didn't know that) and we all know what that can mean when a child is involved.




"Mama are housecats baby Khajiitt??" While standing next to a family of Khajiit in market square kind of thing.




*Note: It has been pointed out that Athynae seems a bit mature for her age in some of the entries and if I were gauging her by my two eldest children that would be true(quite normal but no less wonderful), however two ideas mingled together in regard to her intelligence and maturity; One- She is her own person and there is no comparing her to anyone on that level; Two- I sort of combined my two youngest children, my daughter who is and always has been an adult (just ask her) and my son who, at the age of two, slipped out the sliding glass door, off of the deck that was 5 feet off the ground (we have no idea how he did it), climbed the fence and went to the neighbor's to help him work on a car, oh, and he only had on a pull-up, my motorcycle goggles and his sister's paten leather dress shoes.




Please do what you do, comment, correct, suggest but most of all I hope you enjoy.





Athynae Serethi- The Making of a Princess…





I dedicate this endeavor to the three people who are responsible for Athynae's existence:




minque for creating her and graciously sharing her with treydog




treydog for making her a part of Athlain's world and subsequently introducing me to her through his story then allowing me to become her writer




and of course




Black Hand who has allowed me to make Seth such an important person in Athynae's life.

THANK YOU SO MUCH

This post has been edited by Athynae: Feb 3 2012, 03:09 AM

[Athynae]

Thyna at around the age of 7...enjoy

"And why is Her Highness sitting in her room in the middle of the day? Hhmm? She must not be feeling well. I guess I'll just have to leave her to rest. I'll see her in a few weeks when the council reconvenes." The familiar voice carried to the top of the stairs.

"No! Uncle Seth, wait! I'm not sick; I got in trouble. Please don't leave." I hated being restricted to my room. Of course, I usually asked for it, though I would never admit that to anyone, not even my Uncle Seth, and I told him almost everything.

Seth's frame darkened the doorway dressed in his official council robes. Guess they needed his vote or something. That thought was followed by the happiness that he was here; reasons didn't matter.

"What could you have possibly done this time little one? Surely you are close to running out of things that get you in trouble." He looked at me with the expression, a combination of censure and understanding that I had become far too familiar with. "From what your Mother shared am I to understand you REFUSED to do some arithmetic for the tutor?" His voice did not carry the same censure that his expression did and so I felt at ease enough to try to explain without being guilty before the trial.

"Well, yes, sort of, I mean, yes Uncle Seth, I did." I stammered.

"And why pray tell would you do such a thing?" He raised an eyebrow and cocked his head sideways, the look that said 'You didn't quite think that one through, did you?' Seth leaned against the mantel and crossed his arms waiting for my explanation.

I slouched and dropped my head, "Because it is stupid." I pouted. "I already know how to add numbers."

"Ah, well that lets me off the hook then." And he straightened and brushed his hands together as if he had finished a task. "And here I thought I was going to have to keep teaching you about weapons and fighting forever. But since you already know how to use a blade and shoot a bow I don't need to teach you anything else because it is stupid. That's one burden I need not be concerned about any…"

"No! You can keep learning new stuff about swords and bows and fighting. That's not stupid." I had drawn myself up and was once again taking a stand for my position that repeating simple mathematical calculations was stupid. Learning about weapons and fighting was NEVER stupid. "I know all about adding numbers, why do I need to practice?"

"So, you know all there is to know about numbers then?" He feigned a look of awe.

"No, I did not say that. I said I know all about adding numbers. I have more to learn about numbers, just not about adding them."

"So, if I asked you to show me, would that be stupid?"

"No, because you always make me prove to you that I know what I say I know," I said with a shrug; it was just the way it had always been. He said it kept me from telling anyone I knew how to do something I didn't know how to do. The frustration was that he should KNOW by now that I would not do that because if it got to Uncle Seth I would have to PROVE it, never a good thing if I didn't know. I learned that early on.

"Yes I do because it isn't enough to say you know something, you have to be able to show that you know." How many times had I heard him say that? He is not so old that he forgets telling me that over and over and over.

"What do you want me to show you Uncle Seth?" I knew what the answer was going to be but I figured it was worth a try just in case he wanted to see me do the new hand flip I had learned with my dagger.

"I would like to see those arithmetic problems you did not want to do." Yep, that's it; I knew it.

"Why? Are you going to do them for me?" I asked, acting a bit too excited; he knew I was teasing.

"I can't do math." His voice held no emotion and he looked so serious I almost believed him until I saw the telltale twinkle that said 'gotcha'. And he laughed. "I would like to see what you have."

"All of them?" Now that was just a bit much just to prove I knew how to add two numbers together. I could do them all in my head.

"Yes, why not?" He was acting like it was no big deal but it was, I was making a stand on this because it was stupid.

"I have to do the whole thing just to prove to you that I know what I say I know?" I didn't like that idea at all; it was the point. I had to show him I was determined like I had shown Mother; she just didn't appreciate it like Uncle Seth did. I knew I would still end up doing the work, well, that was a given from the start. But I would fight my battle nonetheless, otherwise they would think something was wrong with me.

"Do you recall over the summer when Baria asked Athlain to clear the scathcraw patch- so she could expand her garden? Remember how long it took him? He started at the ends of the branches so he would not get skewered by the thorns. Do you remember what you told me?"

"Uh huh, he was being silly. He wasn't thinking good. He could have done it different and it wouldn't have taken him so long. If he wore leather armor he could just go cut them at the roots. Or he could have used a flare spell and burned them up; it would have taken a few castings but he woulda been done in a day. Or- or- he could have let the guar loose and they woulda eat it up and stomped the rest of it down."

"So, by doing it the way he did he avoided a lot of pain, he didn't have to learn a new spell that takes lots of practice to get right or the time it would have taken the guar to finish the work. What he also did was complete the job in that time. If he had used the flare spell he would have still had to clean up the debris and if he had used the guar he would still have needed to get rid of the larger branches AND watched where he stepped in the process."

I really hated it when he did that, made my really good ideas into not so good ideas. "But it took him three days!" It was the best I could come up with.

"Ok, it took him three days, and how long have you been arguing with Serene about your numbers? And what have you gotten for your efforts?" Now he was getting to his point; I could tell by his eyes and the way the ends of his mouth turned up just a tiny bit.

"Two days. I got sent to my room until I do them." I stuck out my bottom lip; it just wasn't right. "But Uncle Seth, it's STUPID!" and that came out as a whine. "I know there are far more important things I need to learn!" I threw that in just to distract him, but it didn't work.

Now his eyes were smiling; here it comes. "So is doing more work than you have to- when it would be SMARTER to do what seems 'stupid'." He waited while his words wafted in the empty space between us. "There are times when you must fight and times when you must NOT, and little one you have to know the difference."

"But if I say something, don't I have to stick to it?" This was something Father and Mother had always told me.

"Well yes, but you should think before you speak because in this case you chose words that backed you into a corner. Refusing to do the work was a mistake because it was a fight you could not win, even if you never did your numbers."

"I don't want to lose; I want to win." And I did know that sometimes you needed to retreat and reassess before the next attack.

"So you win this war by maneuver. Do you always attack with a blade?" Now came the good stuff; he was talking about weapons now.

Smiling I said, "No, sometimes you block with it." I was good at this too, almost as good as I was with numbers.

"And how do you avoid being hit?" His expression was more serious now, there was more to this lesson…

I hesitated a moment "Sometimes I block with my katana, sometimes I pull my dagger and use it and sometimes…"

"SOMETIMES, Your Highness, you back up. This is one of those times." And there it was, using my favorite subject to make his point. There should be a rule against that; he did it all the time.

"BUT UNCLE SETH" I stomped my foot on the floor.

"Look, I am not going to take sides in this between you and Serene; your being right or wrong is not the most important lesson here. You have to think things through before you start a battle. Serene is your mother therefore she holds the 'Staff of Correctness,' which means she wins. One touch with the staff and poof- the Princess is in her room until she concedes or …."

"That is NOT fair." I did not like these lessons. It was even worse when he was right and I was the one that did something stupid. Which, unfortunately seemed to happen more often than not.

"I don't believe anyone has ever told you life was fair, little one. Now, I will ask a price from you for the teaching." He looked at me with his head bent like he was waiting for me to accept his price.

"My allowance is in my desk." I furrowed my brow and started toward my desk.

"No, Princess, not money, a bargain."

Uh oh, this can't be good. "A bargain? Like I give you something I have for what you taught me?"

"Sort of. I want you to do something for me. I want you to go an entire week without using the word 'stupid'."

"And why would I want to do that, Uncle Seth? How am I supposed to tell someone something is stupid if I can't say 'stupid'? That's just mean. You are being mean."

"And so are you." His mouth made a hard line.

"What am I supposed to say if something IS stupid?" I put my hands on my hips and leaned toward him. I really wanted to know. This was an important word; did he not understand that?

"Do you think the lesson I taught you was valuable? And will it save you time and trouble in the future?" He looked like the dealers in the market when they were trying to get more money for a bauble than it was worth.

"Yes, sera." It was the right answer but I did not like it.

"So we have a deal then?" He put his hand out for me to shake on it. I just stood there and looked at him, gritting my teeth trying to think of a way out of this. "Athynae? I do not teach you anything without exacting payment, whether it is the promise of practice time or making sure you do your chores, or teaching you why it is not a good idea to try to match stubborn with your mother."

"Fine!" and I shook his hand. "I may not talk at all." And I made my best angry face.

"As you wish." And he shrugged his shoulders.

"Sometimes Uncle Seth, you are so mean." I was definitely pouting but I still held one more card.

"Did I hear someone say something?" And he looked around acting like he didn't know it was me.

I stepped to my desk and picked up the parchment. "Here." And I passed it to him. He looked down at the completed pages of equations. He looked at me, shook his head and smiled, then crouched down and hugged me.

"You are and shall ever be Her Highness Princess of Trouble." And he laughed while I was trying to figure out how I was going to survive a week without saying "stupid". I was definitely going to need to avoid some people.