Rossini Family/Madelena
Some excepts from Madelena's life
As Madelena sat in her carriage, under piles of blankets, desperate to keep out the chilly winter air, she read the correspondence that had been going back and forth between the Lady Redemption and Sir Jenred. Despite the fact that harsh words had passed between them, and fines had been issued all over the place, Madelena couldn't help but find humor in the proceedings. She opened her diary and began to write...
"Dear Diary,
I am finally on my way from Orbeh to Nocaneb for a huge party which my Duchess and new friend Edara is hosting. I hope I shall be well enough for it for I look forward to it enormously. There have been such silly exchanges going on in this realm about proper titles and what defines the true actions of a noble that I almost feel as if I am back at the Duke of Neil's court. But no, this place is so much lighter, freer so to speak. I am so thankful I am here. There is a line that I once heard which comes to mind with all of this... “A rose by any other name is still a rose”... I think that was it. Oh well, off to sleep if I can. Maybe we shall reach the gates of the city by dawn."
Madelena awoke with a start to the sound of her carriage man knocking on the door.
"Madam, Madam, it is Sir Jenred! He has brought a healer with him!"
Madelena feebly instructed Sarah to open the door and Sarah stepped outside. There she was, the woman turned traitor, who had been strong enough to bring a whole region into a new realm with hardly any major incident, shivering under furs and blankets with nothing but the top of her raven hair and her piercingly blue eyes to be seen.
"I am sorry Sir that you find me in such a state. Why the devil would you come all this way? Surely out meeting can wait for my arrival in Nocaneb?" Her voice trailed off as she spoke. Despite her best efforts Madelena was failing miserably at convincing Sir Jenred of the lack of severity of her illness.
Madelena drank down the mixture the healer gave her and collapsed back on the pillows which had been supporting her in her carriage. Her head was spinning and she could barely hear the sound of voices outside the carriage. After some time the carriage jolted into motion once again and Madelena drifted in and out of a fitful consciousness.
During her sleep she kept dreaming of Sir Tenal, the times they had met, his face, his eyes, and his arm around her, and as she did so she murmured his name out loud. Sarah looked at her with enormous concern on her face. She was so afraid that her mistress would not make it. If the fever did not break soon she was sure that Madelena would die.
Eventually there could be heard the sound of hooves on stone as the carriage reached the city. It came to a stop outside the castle and Madelena was carried inside to a make shift healer's room where she was laid on one of the beds. She was barely conscious.
Sarah was starting to grow concerned. Madelena had been sleeping for quite some time now and had not stirred. She simply lay there motionless on the bed looking more and more pale.
Sarah went and fetched some water and tried to wake her lady to give her something to drink.
"M'Lady you must try and drink," she said earnestly, shaking her by the shoulder. Madelena did not stir. "M'Lady?" Sarah shook harder and Madelena still did not move. Sarah immediately felt for a pulse, and eventually, with an enormous sigh of relief found a faint pulse coming from her mistress' wrist. Sarah then left the room looking for the healer. Madelena was unconscious and this could not be good.
Sarah did as Idelle told her, although she was worried that this would make her mistress worse. They had funny habits in this new country. She held her lady's head in her arms and scooped the cold water over her head. She did this was almost half an hour.
At the end of this time Madelena slowly opened her eyes and looked at Sarah.
"M'Lady! Can you hear me?" cried Sarah with much concern.
"Yes" mumbled Madelena feebly. "But I am cold. What am I doing in this bath?"
Sarah got some of the women of the castle to help Madelena out of the bath and into a freshly made up bed. Madelena was exhausted by the move, but she felt like a huge cloud had lifted from her.
"Sarah" she spoke to her maid. "I think the fever has broken. I feel heavy, but I feel different."
"Praise be to Sartan!" Exclaimed Sarah, before she realized how loudly she had spoken and softened her voice to a whisper. "Shall I get Idelle for you again?"
"Who is Idelle?"
"That is her Grace's healer," replied Sarah.
Madelena was honored that the Duchess' own healer was waiting on her but she was also concerned. It meant that more than just Sir Jenred knew of her sickness. She hoped that Edara would not think badly off her for being so weak.
"You get some rest M'Lady" said Sarah softly. "I thinks you be through the worst of it by nows." she said with a smile.
Madelena smiled feebly back and drifted off to the most restful sleep she had had in a long time.
Madelena drank a small amount of broth on the first day after her fever broke and spent the rest of the time resting. It was amazing how much she was able to sleep.
Madelena awoke with a start. She had been dreaming about her childhood days in Orbeh, running amongst the corn fields with her sisters and brother. They were such happy memories when times were less complicated and the sun always seemed to shine. She would pick out the poppies from the fields for her mama and take them back and put them in a terracotta vase on the kitchen table.
But it was not the corn fields she missed the most about home when she was away, but rather the forest. The sounds of the woodpeckers drilling for bugs with their beaks, the crunch of dead twigs underfoot, and the swish and swoosh of the great oaks as they swayed to and fro in the breeze of a bright spring day were what she longed to see again.
"Sarah, are you there?"
No response.
"Sarah?" She called again, only this time a little louder. The face of a servant popped around the door.
"She is in the laundry room at present miss. Shall I fetch her for you?"
"Yes please."
The servant went on her errand and before long Sarah was at Madelena's bedside.
"Sarah we need to go home."
"Pardon me saying miss, but we have only just got here and in your state we won't be traveling no wheres for quite some time."
"But we must Sarah. I miss home, I feel miserable and sick and yucky. I miss my papa, my brother, and the woods. I need to do some work there. There is much to be done. I cannot stay here in bed all day."
Sarah eyed her before speaking.
"Why don't we try getting you up and in a chair for the morning and see how you do before we decide?"
Madelena agreed and she was, before long, ensconced in a comfortable chair with a book to read. However Madelena soon put the book down. It hurt her eyes to read too much and her glands were still swollen terribly. Before she knew it she was asleep again and there was no way she would be returning to Orbeh, at least not on that day.
Madelena had been riding in her carriage in a kind of a daze. She had needed to travel back to Nocaneb for the day to cash bonds and despite the protestations of her maid, Sarah, who felt she was still too weak to travel, she and her men had set out early in the morning.
She had slept for the most part, her carriage rocking gently on the soft earth of the road. However, she was awoken by her captain around noon.
"M'Lady there seems to be a problem."
"What kind of problem?" she replied.
"Well madam, we seem to be in Niel."
"What! Madelena, despite her weakness after weeks of suffering with the lump fever, leaped out of the carriage and stood on the road. Looking up and down she saw the streets of the city she knew all too well and shivered.
"How in the blazes did we get here?" she cried out but was stopped in mid-sentence as her gaze fell upon someone who she never thought she would see again - Sir Tenal - the man she loved. Next to him was Sir Tomaso and shortly after Sir Roberd charged up on a horse and challenged her to a dual.
Madelena knew she couldn't fight, but she also knew she wasn't going quietly. It was bad enough that she had to see Sir Tenal and know that he had betrayed her, without having the added humiliation of her being a guest in his prison and possibly exiled or executed by his hand.
She spoke briefly to Sir Roberd and then without a word, and as swiftly as the wind, mounted her captains horse and kicked it into a gallop out of the city. Her men followed, with only her captain, and her carriage remaining behind.
Madelena slumped into her favorite chair by the fireside and took off her boots. Her feet were sore from being on them all day. First there had been the monsters in the woods to pick off one by one, and then she and her men had gone through the town and helped with various and sundry work. One old and frail lady had been particularly impressed when her own Countess' guards had offered to help re-roof her cottage. She had promised to tell everyone in the village what a gem the Countess was. Madelena hoped she would. She was still nervous at the sideways glances some people gave her as she rode around.
Her feet were throbbing as she removed the boots so she rang the bell for Sarah. Sarah came immediately.
"Sarah I would like a foot bath."
"A what madam?" replied Sarah.
"You know, like a bowl of warm water and smelling salts for my feet to soak in."
"Ah, yes madam" was Sarah's reply as she left the room to fulfill the errand.
Madelena stood up and hobbled over to the table which held her decanted wine. Once the foot bath arrived she would order dinner to be prepared. She decided on roast chicken with potatoes and a delicious white wine gravy which her cook made, and fresh vegetables. Then she would sit down to a good book and not worry about anything until the morrow.
Madelena was an incorrigible snob. When she read the reports of this nouveau nobleman that had supposedly risen within the ranks of Arcaea it was all she could do to resist putting pen to paper and writing to her friend Edara and the Queen expressing her objections. Instead she went outside and proceeded to angrily fire arrows at a large target set up on her back patio while her Irish wolfhound, Fangs, watched on.
All the servants knew to avoid Madelena when she was in one of her moods. Even Sarah went to help with the linens.
Madelena stayed out all morning until the tips of her fingers were sore. She then took off her archery gloves and stomped back inside, acting anything but like a lady, and went in search of lunch.
Madelena slowly became conscious of her surroundings. She realized that she was lying on her bed in her night dress and that Sir Aerwyn was asleep in a chair beside her. She was relatively calm, but slowly but surely a throbbing started over her right eye. She lifted her fingers up to it and could feel that it was swollen.
She slowly sat up and at first felt a little dizzy. Eventually however she regained her equilibrium and silently swung her legs over the edge of the bed and stood up. It was then that she remembered the contents of the letter from the Queen. The initial shock being now over she was able to reflect upon it more steadily.
"Why would Tenal up and leave the continent? Surely he promised me that if he ever left Sartania he would come to me here." A tear started to roll down Madelena's face which she brushed away quickly. She knew that whatever had been between Madelena and Tenal was over. Today was the first day of the rest of her life. She needed to stop moping around and get on with it.
She walked over to the chair where the maids had flung her clothes, picked them up and went behind the screen to dress. As she did so, she could hear the sound of Sir Aerwyn stirring in his chair...
Madelena jumped with a start to hear Sir Aerwyn's voice.
"I'm fine thank you" she said, stifling the indignity she felt being caught mid change. She just hoped that the screen was thick enough for him not to see through it.
"I can't imagine what came over me. I expect my eyes looks like I have been kicked by a bull!" She tried to laugh but it caught somewhat in her throat. It was definitely going to take time before this new cheerfulness felt genuine. She rushed to put on the remainder of her clothes and then gestured to Sir Aerwyn that perhaps it would be better to return down to the parlor.
"Or perhaps you would like to be shown to your room? You do look somewhat tired..."
Aerwyn gasped when he saw her eye but tried not to make too much of a fuss. However he declined his bed claiming his was not yet tired so the two of them made their way down to the parlor again. Sarah, Madelena's maid, met them in the hall and she immediatley insisted that a steak be fetched for the mistresses eye which was now turning black.
"I hope you don't mind Aerwyn while I quickly read through the remainder of the corredpondence?" He nodded to go ahead as he sat down by the fire once again. Madelena read reports for the region, noticing that things were still improving slowly and then read another piece of news which made her gasp.
"Lady Harmony has been kidnapped by that monster Siegfried! We are called to Saex in search of her!"
