Red Mist

9. The First Day

Early on, Freya decided that if she didn't like the first day she would not show up for a second and she told herself that by the end of the day she would know. The situation as presented to her thus far made her more curious, so she was content to continue down the path.

"It is a matter of course," said Lady Raina, hefting her walking stick like a sword, "That you must prepare for war the way that you prepare for love. You must in the former, know your enemy in the latter; your intended."

The three girls looked at each other mouth agape. They had come prepared to dance not to fight. Surely it would not come to a fight? The walking stick looked beat up as if it had seen some action. Freya noticed a worn sign of the coalition near the top.

"Am I to understand you correctly Lady Raina that we will be learning how to duel with swords now?" said one giggling Miss Abigail Smith, "Because I would have brought some of the practice swords we've made from the smithy."

"Perhaps I spoke too hastily," the older rabbit said, "What I mean to say is that you should think about your plan of attack and think about what your enemy will do and regard your romantic partners as potential rivals or enemies."

This garnered another round of looks before the three. The not-yet conspirators sat in the sitting room at Lady Raina's humble estate. Freya, the mouse, stood about the same size as her friend Abigail the fox. Both of their heads came up to the same height as Holly, but Holly's ears dwarfed the two. Holly used to joke that it was the best shade she could get, but now they were all fully developed and the ears appeared to Freya's eyes to be just the right shape and size.

Abigail Smith, the latest daughter from a long line of warrior foxes, sat there resplendent in her best dress and bow. Freya thought that a ceremonial sword would not have been out of place. Indeed, she knew that Abigail possessed such a sword as she had seen it on more than one occasion. It wasn't sharp, but it was pretty if such a word could be assigned to a weapon.

Tea had been served and left by Lady Raina's only staff, Tulip, a mouse a little older than Freya. Without an ounce of fat on her body it wasn't that Tulip was skinny; moreover, she was a coiled whip ready at any time to strike. Lady Raina never specified the relationship, only to note the Tulip worked for her. Freya resolved that Tulip could possibly be some sort of spy for Lady Raina if the rumors were true. If so she probably was an unsavory character.

Tulip had disappeared after taking orders for sweets and returned to sit on the side of the lessons. She listened in, keenly aware of the regard of roving eyes.

"It is like in martial arts, for the first thing you must learn is to fall," Lady Raina continued, "in this, the first thing you must learn is who and why. I have taken the liberty of providing each of you with a sheet listing all of the eligible bachelors with a fox, mouse, or rabbit that you can cross paths with as potential suitors as well as all of the noble birds and moles that will be attending for at least the first ball. After that first event we will take Tea should you wish and I will update you with what I've learned and I hope that you will update me with what you've heard."

"This sounds an awful lot like spying," Freya whispered to Holly.

"It does have its similarities," Lady Raina said as Tulip rolled her eyes, "Now let's get down to business. My Tulip, if you would..."

At this Tulip pulled out a violin from somewhere and began to play a dancing melody.

For about two hours Lady Raina led them through the four basic dances that were commonly heard during festival season. All three were reasonably familiar with them. They were told that it would be in their best interest to master each dance. Furthermore, Freya found out that they would be spending the first two hours of each day this week practicing dancing with Tulip as accompaniment. Freya had to grudgingly admit to herself that Tulip had some talent. If Tulip was a spy, Freya reasoned, then at least she was probably on our side.

After the dancing was done all four sat down to go over the political situation, Tulip listening in closely after returning with refreshments.

Freya was surprised to learn that both of her friends had a better grasp on the coalition and all of the players in Yellowrock than she did. Only once did she know a lord that neither was familiar with and it was because he was a preferred vendor of Grandpaws.

Freya knew the leader of the coalition as well as the queen but beyond that, she drew a blank. The queen had visited her civics class once to give a speech, as well as the minister of the exterior, showed up on career day, but that was about it. Beyond that, she was having trouble recalling anything from the class that she snoozed through.

They made a game out of all the different lords and ladies with playing cards for each of them. Somehow, Lady Raina had commissioned art for each card in a reasonable facsimile of the person in question. Taking turns, they would play the cards against each other in simple battles to see who knew the most obscure facts about each bachelor

It helped that Freya was winning half of the games they played, with the rest evenly split between Holly and Abigail.

Nearing the end of the day Lady Raina brought out some things she called scenarios. Each scenario was a five-minute or less improvisational scene. They would take turns playing out scenes with Tulip playing as the suitor and the three of them playing as themselves. Lady Raina had the two not playing watch as the actors played through a scene, improvising their lines until Lady Raina said to stop.

After about three rounds of understanding the objective, the three of them became suitors as well. So the three swapped between being a suitor and being the object of that suitor's affection.

During a pause in the scenarios, Abigail spoke up to Lady Raina.

"Lady Raina, why is it that females are always the objects of affection? I feel like we have no agency in this matter," she said.

Lady Raina sighed deeply.

"It is true my dear Abigail that in general, the male chooses a female, but it is her prerogative to accept or reject the male so you must learn which proposal you will accept and which one you will reject. Therefore it will be useful for you to know what the other person is thinking, or at the very least play out a scenario to that effect." Lady Raina stood there balancing on her ornate walking stick. The three ponder this for a moment, chewing it over. Their minds drift between the late afternoon snacks and being the object of someone's affection.

Freya did not mind being the object of someone's affection but she wanted to be the one that chose.

"Lady Raina," Freya said, "What if no suitor comes calling that I like? What do I do then?"

Lady Raina pondered her next words carefully if her face was to be believed.

"Well my dear Freya," Lady Raina said, "if you absolutely cannot find someone then there's always next season... or the foreign service."

Tulip smirked. Freya got a distinct impression that she was missing something

By the end of the first day, she was having so much fun dancing and learning about all the different members of the court that she decided to do a second day. Finding out what was behind Tulip's smirk would only be the icing on the cake.