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]

I didn't really intend for this to happen this way but it seems the Princess of Trouble is insisting that I follow up on the previous story with the next few entries.

Recap: Athynae competed in a guar race, a big yearly competition supposedly for the 'best of the best' kind of thing. Mae and Cai decided to dose her guar with a 'fortify speed' potion before the race but then turns out that a nemesis that is racing has also dosed his guar. She concedes the race out of fairness but also accuses Berwain "Bug Stain" Arenim of cheating.

Now, let's see what she has in mind for PAYBACK.

Father was at the stables with Rah; Uncle Trey and Uncle Seth walked with Mother and I to join them; Aunt Baria was forcing Athlain to sit still for a few moments while she did a basic sketch that she would later turn into a wonderful painting. Mae and Cai had not been seen since the banner dropped to start the race. Athlain would take the win and he deserved it, but this would not be one that he teased me with. I really wished it were. Cheating just made no sense to me; what joy was there in a win that one had to cheat to have? That was just stupid.

Father hugged me. "We men are going to go do men things." Which meant brandy and hackle-lo pipes at the club. "I am thankful you are safe. I am proud of you." And he kissed me on the forehead before he shook Rah's hand, something Rah had just recently started insisting on rather than physical affection from Father. I thought it was stupid personally, but it wasn't me. "I'll be home later my love." And he hugged Mother and kissed her soundly. I had seen other kids' parents that barely spoke to one another and never touched, much less kissed. If I couldn't find someone that treated me the way Father treated Mother, I'd just grow old without. I didn't like boys anyway so it couldn't be any great sacrifice. Well, I kinda liked Athlain, as a friend. We knew each other better than any two people I knew, so good we could finish each other's sentences. I think maybe that's why our arguments went so far so fast- as soon as one of us said something, we already knew what the other was going to say. So, we'd probably be better off just going straight to infuriated "I hate yous" and "I never want to talk to you again." But it never stuck; usually before the day was over so was the mad.

"Your Highness." Uncle Seth whispered right into my ear and scared the scrib jelly out of me. I turned toward him and smacked his chest.

"Don't do that! Stop sneaking up on me!"

"Someday I hope you pay attention well enough that no matter what you are doing nothing can sneak up on you. Keep practicing."

"I was thinking. I have lots to think about you know. I am not the idle kid that everyone seems to think I am." I had my hands on my hips and was wearing my mad look.

He giggled. "Yes I know, idle and Princess of Trouble are quite opposite, yes. What were you thinking so hard about?" Raised eyebrow meant he had some ideas, fiddlesticks!

"Nothing. Well, nothing important anyway." I dropped my hands and shrugged my shoulders and tried to look the other direction so he wouldn't do that bore a hole through my head thing he seemed to be able to do.

"Right, nothing. Well I am going to say one thing that may or may not have anything to do with what you were thinking at that moment, but I have no doubt that you either have already thought about it or will be shortly. Take care with whatever you are scheming, do you hear me? The punishment needs to match the crime, and no one was injured AT ALL, right?" He was whispering so no one else would hear.

"I know Uncle Seth but how did you know what happened? You weren't even there."

"You should not make assumptions based on what you 'see;' that's something else you need to learn."

And he touched his forefinger to my forehead. It was the same thing as kissing me there or at least it always felt that way, a combination of endearment and a reminder- "use your greatest weapon."

"They could have hurt Lumhara; they could have been responsible for one of the other racers or their mounts being injured; or she could have charged into the crowd."

"Or you?" and he slowly shook his head at me with a 'tsk 'tsk look.

"Yeah, whatever. I can't just let that go now can I? I was the one riding; if someone had been injured it would have ultimately been my responsibility for losing control."

"Athynae, no one else would have thought that." He said it but I think he knew better.

"Right. One: who would believe I didn't dose her? And two: I would have felt that way." To me that was the most important because it was true.

"You are the only one that believes everyone thinks the worst of you; you know that, right?" I wanted to ask him who he was trying to convince, him or me, but that would not have ended well for me. We had had that argument before.

"I know you say it, but you don't see the looks I get. Thing is, I don't care what anyone thinks except Mother, Father, Aunt Baria and Uncle Trey, and you. But even what all of you think is not as important as what I know. I am honest, I try my best to be fair, I do not ever cheat at anything and I try to be good to both of the brats. I just don't change her nappies. My adventures are not an attempt to hurt anyone, unless of course they ask for it." And I gave a quick nod with a "hmph" for emphasis.

Uncle Seth just listened to my speech, not reacting. He simply stated at the end "Yes, I know."

Rah came out of the stable and headed toward me as Uncle Seth added, "I know better than to advise you to tell Baria or Trey, but I trust you to choose something equal.
Rahvin, do you think you can keep an eye on your sister for me?"

"If I say 'yes,' Uncle Seth it would be a lie. She disappears faster than a shalk beetle into the dirt." Rah rolled his eyes toward me and I tried not to smile.

"Right. You two just keep your noses clean." And Uncle Seth touched his forefinger to Rah's forehead just as he had mine.

"I always use my brain Uncle Seth," it was just a matter of fact "One of us has to." I punched his arm. "OW! What'd ya do that for? I was just speaking the truth, dear sister."

"I'm the one with the brain remember? I even have yours, Rahbrat. I used your alembic to suck it out through your nose." And I looked at him like I would be more than happy to do it again.

Uncle Seth was walking away but his shoulders were shaking slightly, obviously trying to keep us from knowing he was amused by our back and forth.

"Mother is checking Lumhara but she'll be here shortly so we don't have much time."

Rah was not as adventurous as I but he was a great conspirator. I just wasn't sure I wanted him to be a part of this yet if at all.

"Time for what?" acting like I was clueless.

"Don't even start that with me; it isn't fair. I know you're gonna do something and you are not gonna shut me out. I'll tell Mama if you try."

"Uh huh, you go ahead and tell brat. See what Mama finds out about her little angel…" I pulled the both eyebrows raised look and added a slight smile.

"Dang it Naynay, I want to help. They tried to hurt you." He was a good whiner, I give him that, and he could pull that 'pretty please' look even better than I did.

"First of all Rah, I do not for one second think they were trying to hurt me so let that one go, ok?" I made sure he nodded before I continued, "I don't think they were trying to hurt anyone; they just didn't want to lose that silly bet with Bug Stain's little sister, and they didn't see what they did as cheating because I was the one riding and I didn't do the dosing. They are not like that; they just don't like to lose and they see things in their own special way."

"Are you two ready to go home?" Mother exited the stables and joined us.

"Mama, can I please stay until Athlain brings Cos Mear in? I just want to talk to him for a few minutes. I'll come straight home after."

"Sure, I understand. And before you ask, young man, the answer is no, you cannot stay with her. This is something she needs to talk to him about without an audience." Rahvin bowed up and started to argue, but he looked at me and I tried to express with my eyes that was what I wanted and he got it, so he just sighed and crossed his arms.
They started toward Under-Skar and Rah said something to Mother and she stopped while he ran back to me. "Naynay, please come and talk to me when you get home. Please?" UGH! That look again.

"OK, but Rah I honestly haven't even thought about what happened to any great extent. I just want to make sure Athlain knows what happened. And congratulate him for the win."

"Right, you think about everything all at once; I know that." And he turned and raced back to Mother and they were on their way.

I climbed up on the paddock fence and waited and thought. I heard a sound from the back of the stables and Mae and Cai came around the corner of the building. I wasn't angry really so I didn't pretend I was.

They both started talking at once and it was a jumbled up mess of 'we're sorry didn't mean for that to happen' before Mae took over the apology. "Athynae we really didn't mean anything bad to happen but when we came to the stable to find you before the race Berwain was talking to his sister and we overheard him say he was going to win if he had to give his guar a 'fortify speed' potion. We couldn't let him cheat and beat you so we evened the chances."

That was a possibility I hadn't considered. So it wasn't just because they wanted to win the bet, well, not really, and it wasn't just coincidence that Berwain had dosed his guar. He had started this. It was all his fault.

"I don't think I will thank you; I hope you understand. Why didn't you tell someone what you heard?"

Yes, I get it, everyone thinks I don't tell anything but that isn't true, if it's more than I can deal with I do tell, REALLY, I do.

Mae and Cai looked at each other like they had missed something and Cai was on deck, "Really? Tell someone? Would you have told anyone?"

Suddenly I felt like my mother and I wanted to say, "Don't do what I do, do what I say." Instead I replied, "I do tell sometimes, if I…wait, it doesn't matter what I would have done. You two did this, not me. You both know I would NEVER cheat in a competition but you did it anyway. And you could have hurt my guar or one of the other riders or their mounts OR somebody in the crowd." Yep, I sounded just like my mother.

"We knew you would make sure that didn't happen. You're a good rider." She was trying to use compliments to butter me up. Obviously Mae had forgotten about my dislike for butter.

"I am a good rider, but I wasn't ready for the way Lumhara acted; I almost fell off!" I stopped talking when the Treyson Terrors started laughing. I wanted to choke them both or clobber them. I cocked my head to one side and held back, letting my expression show my anger, posing a question without actually speaking.

Their muted giggles became full blown guffaws and Cai gained enough air to say, "You should have seen it Thyna," and she was reduced again as Mae took short bursts of air to gain enough oxygen to speak.

"You went around and we thought you were gonna take off the wrong way, then she jumped straight up and turned around again" hahahahaha "And …"hahahahaha

I was just standing there staring at them, barely holding on to my composure, "Then Lumhara started hopping up and down like she was in a sack race. Thyna it was hilarious."

"So glad we could entertain you." Breathe, count, breathe, count, do not look mad. "I can imagine what it looked like. I sure wish I could show you from my view point when I thought I had lost my seat." They missed the intensity of my meaning.

"We didn't mean to scare you, Thyna. And no one got hurt. And Berwain didn't win. So, it all turned out just right." The two of them traded off, trying to explain what they thought was important- both missing the real point.

"Right, yes, it all turned out all right. Berwain didn't win even though he cheated. I had to drop out of the race so the judges would believe me when I said I DID NOT dose my guar so not only did Berwain lose, I had to concede the race, a race I haven't lost since I started riding." There was no angry edge to my voice, but I don't know how.

"Thyna!" Athlain's voice carried to me and I turned and waved.

"I would suggest you two make yourselves invisible for a while. Your brother won't be quite as, what's the word?" I looked up at the sky and tapped my chin. By the time I looked down again they were nowhere in sight.

"What happened? I mean I know you told the judges your guar and Berwain's were dosed but how? Who? Why?"

I leapt down from the paddock fence where I had remained perched through the encounter with the red rogues. "It's a long story. Come on and I'll tell ya while we get Cos Mear taken care of."

While we cleaned Cos Mear up and got him in his stall I gave Athlain the um, abbreviated version of the story, putting as much of the blame on Berwain the Stain as I could without it being obvious that's what I was doing. I was going to let Athlain in on whatever I decided to do to the little Hlaalu blot, but the lesson for his sisters, well, that was going to be all mine for two reasons: one, I didn't want him to get in trouble for picking on his little sisters and two, I wanted them to know they couldn't pull pranks on me without retribution from ME, only me. It wasn't a revenge thing; I thought of it more as a lesson, kind of like if you mess with the racer you get stabbed by the tail.

"So, what's the plan then, oh wise one?" Athlain could be such a smarty pants sometimes; he had been around me far too long.

"I don't know yet. This one is kind of tricky cuz he's Hlaalu and if I screw it up it could be bad not just for me but it could cause problems between the Houses. It's times like these that it stinks that Mother is the Arch Mistress." I had that disgusted look- you know where you kind of shake your head and roll your eyes.

"Why don't you talk to your mother?" I wasn't sure why he always said that but it was almost carved into the stone wall to be read every time something happened.

"Right, 'hey Mama I wanna kick Berwain's cheating butt to Sadrith Mora, can I'?" I was talking like I was five.

"I hate you."

"Yeah I know. It's ok cuz I hate you too. We hate each other so good that we spend all of our time showing everyone how great it is to hate your best friend." I was walking away from him so he had to run a couple steps to catch up. I glanced toward Under Skar and just inside the gate I saw Berwain talking to the council representative for House Hlaalu, Sera Ules. Wonder what that's all about, hhmm.

"Sometimes you make me so mad; you treat me like I'm stupid."

"No I don't. If I were treating you like you were stupid I wouldn't talk to you, I would draw pictures." I really didn't treat him like he was stupid, because he wasn't. I called him stupid sometimes but that was just when he made me mad.

"Well, I gotta go home. Thyna, I'm sorry Berwain cheated; you should have won just like you do every year."

"You are my best competition, and you could have won this year. You won the last training race, so it's only a matter of time before you leave me in the dust." Thing was, if he would just believe me for a second he would beat me but I didn't see it happening. And meanwhile, I wasn't going to let up; he had to meet me up here, because I wasn't going to push him up the hill. I would just keep pulling till he got it.

"Yea, whatever. Just keep me posted on the Berwain front. I'm all in but you knew that already."

"See ya. I've got alchemy lessons with Mother tomorrow morning; wanna spar tomorrow afternoon?"

"Bring potions."

"Always."