The Beautiful Girl and the History Class (CK)

[Izulde]

There are things in life that you always remember---the way your favorite flavor of ice cream tasted on a warm summer day, your mother's chicken soup on a cold winter day, the thrill you felt when the team you loved won, and so on.

What I'll never forget is the way I felt the first time I saw -her-.

It was my senior year of college and like many university students, I'd avoided taking my least favorite general education requirement until one of my last two semesters.

So it came to pass that in September of that year, I found myself walking into History 103: Survey of European History and slouching down in a chair near the back, where the professor wouldn't see me.

I looked around the room, sneering at my fellow students who were already there. Most of them were wide-eyed freshmen who looked either eager or terrified to be there. You could always tell the freshmen, because they were the ones actually fully alert and ready to go at 7:45 am the first day of a semester. Not like the old hands like me who knew better than to take a course that early. Hell, I only got stuck with a class so ungodly early in the morning because it was the only one that met three times a week. 50 minutes three times a week was a lot better than twice a week at an hour and 20 minutes a piece.

Professor Morengay was the instructor, fortysomething with the bushiest beard I'd ever seen on a man. My fraternity brothers who'd had him before said he was a great lecturer, a real storyteller who made History at least a little less boring than it actually was. Since they were usually right about that kind of thing, that gave me another reason to put up with the hassle of having to wake up at 7 am every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

Anyway, there I sat, not really paying attention as Morengay started going through the roll in his deep bullfrog's voice until the door creaked open, drawing everyone's attention.

Heh, typical freshman, running late and lost, I thought.

And then all thought went out of my head.

Standing there, blushing under so many eyes on her, was the most beautiful girl I'd ever seen.

The first thing I noticed was her hair, so light blonde it was almost white. I swear, when she moved, it looked like it cascaded and rippled like sunlight dappling and sparkling the surface of a stream. You know the kind of sunlight I'm talking about. The kind that turns this more than pretty white when it hits the water, no longer yellow.

She was dressed in a plaid grey and white skirt that ended just above the knees, so cute I wanted to rip it off her with my teeth along with the simple white blouse she wore.

Her eyes I couldn't see too well, because I was at the back of the room, but her lips were pink and soft and just the perfect shape for what a girl's lips should be doing to a guy.

After a moment of silence, Morengay gestured with a grin, "Well, come on in. History 103? Is that the class you're looking for? Cuz if you are, this is just the right spot."

She nodded, doelike, and quickly found the nearest seat, busying her hands with her backpack while the professor took our attention from her by resuming the roll.

Once we'd gotten through with that tedium, he handed out the syllabuses and prattled through all the rot I'd heard in so many other classes throughout the four years I'd been there.

"Since it's the first day of college for so many of you, I'll let you go early today", Morengay said, "We start on Wednesday with a look at a time when a real bastard took over England."

The class laughed and the noises of leaving started up.

Me personally, I could've cared less about whatever cheesy jokes the prof was making.

My eyes were on her.

She quickly got her things together and left, no doubt to avoid the embarrassment of coming in late.

Suddenly I found myself looking forward to 7:45 am Wednesday and all the 7:45s thereafter those three days a week.

Author's Note: There will, prior to the CK playing, be lectures. Astute and more knowledgable historians than I will no doubt notice inaccuracies. Simply take these as part of an alternate history and the particular story the professor chooses to tell.

[Izulde]

That first Wednesday morning was the first time in my university career I actually felt a certain sense of excitement about class. I actually looked forward to going, just to see -her- again. I hadn't felt like that since middle school and it was a weird feeling.

I even showed up ten minutes early, another first.

This time I took a seat in the second row. Not because of any love for Morengay's lectures or anything, but because she seemed to be a front room kinda girl.

Sure enough, when she came in five minutes later, golden legs beneath a powder-blue skirt and blouse with a white sweater draped and criss crossed around her shoulders, she took the chair two seats to my right.

I looked over, smiled my Rico Suave smile, and gave her my best ladykiller upnod, "Hey. Sup?"

She started from rummaging for her notebook, looked over at me, blinked, and went right back to her hunt for pen and paper.

As I slumped back from that rejection, I couldn't help but feel thankful none of my brothers were in the class with me. They'd have given me shit about it all week. See, the thing is, I had something of a rep for being a player, especially with the sorority girls. My best time was when I banged the Alpha Chi Sigma president, a prissy and proper little brunette with just one weakness... a weakness that I found and exploited one drunken Friday night. I was the hero of the fraternity for the rest of the semester.

Anyway, Prof Morengay came in while I was mulling over what tack to take next. He didn't believe in taking attendance, as he said people who didn't come to class usually flunked the course, so he wasn't going to waste "valuable time" reading off about 70 names.

He put his notes up on the lectern, cleared his throat, and began in that deep voice I still can remember to this day:

"I'm going to start our survey of European history this first week or so by looking at various regions of the continent and covering the period from approximately prehistory until 1066, when William the Bastard conquered England. Once those lectures are completed, I'll be selecting a specific region to focus on from 1066 on based on the feedback I get concerning each lecture from you guys."

Yeah, like I was going to do that. I didn't care what the hell he said. I glanced over at the girl and smirked to myself when I saw she was staring attentively at the professor and taking notes. Well, what the hell, I thought. I got out my own notebook and pen, flipped open to the first page and prepared to take notes myself. If she was the goody type, then I'd play that role.

"We'll start with England itself" continued Morengay, "Simply because I want to."

The class chuckled appreciatively and I covertly rolled my eyes. I never did get professors who try to be funny. Still, I was there to make myself look good, so I started paying more attention as he began his lecture in earnest.

"The pre-historic era of Britian was a series of cultures interspaced between various ice ages. It wasn't until about 10,000 years ago that the ice ages finally ended and it wasn't until 8,500 years ago that the melting of the glaciers at last and forever created the English Channel separating the island from the continent. Up until the time, there were periods where England and the continent were connected via a land bridge similiar to the one that once joined Alaska with Russia that some of you may be more familiar with.

It was about this time that humankind had spread from the south of Britian, where they'd originated, to extend throughout the island, included the area today known as Scotland. The island's society structure was still one based very much on hunting and gathering for several thousand years . A more permanent society based on farming and settlement first appeared in approximately 4,400 BC, during the Neolithic Period.

The Neolithic Period was also the first time that we see contact between the island and the continent, as anthropologists currently believe that the technology for farming came from intermarriage and other such contacts with Neolithic cultures on mainland Europe. This exchange of knowledge and people only increased from then on and particularly took off sometime around 1,600 BC, during the Bronze Age with the advent of tin mining in the resource-rich southwest of Britain in what is today Cornwall and Devon.

The nature of the island's culture and society changed again in the next age, the Iron Age, with the arrival of metal-working techniques from southern Europe and the Celts, who as we'll see also populated other parts of Europe, including some places that might surprise you. The Celts will play an important role later on, so remember them. Society about this time took on a tribal focus, with the head of a state as a chieftan. And what happens when you get a bunch of tribes together in a territory?"

Prof Morengay paused here and looked at us, no doubt waiting for an answer. I smirked and raised my hand. Freshmen take a while to learn that class participation is a fast-track way to a good grade.

He nodded to me.

"They try to kick each other's asses", I replied, to the mixed laughter and shocked gasps of my newbie classmates who didn't know yet that profanity was common in university settings. As part of my witty answer, I looked over at the girl and winked.

She gave me a stare that came straight out of the Ice Age. Whoops. Strike two.

"That's right! They went to war with each other!" beamed the prof in approval.

"As a result, hill forts came to be built during this time as a means of defense. This tribal state of affairs and warfare continued until around 175 BC when a people called the Belgae from a place called Gaul flooded and settled in the first settlements that can really be called towns in southeast Britian. They were refugees from the biggest, baddest, dudes the world's ever known. They were fleeing from somebody called the Romans and a sprawling landmass named the Roman Empire.

Of course, the Romans being the Romans, they couldn't stand to have any territory not under their control, so in they came during the last century of the BC era. A man you may have heard of called Julius Caesar was the first notable Roman to make contact with the island, landing there as part of a scouting mission in 55 BC. From there a series of invasions ensued, but none of them were successful. Instead, the Romans were forced to settle for establishing diplomatic and trade relations with the various British tribes.

It wasn't until 43 AD in fact, that the Romans were finally able to successfully conquer Britain. In the decades that followed, the Romans did what they do best, which is conquering people. They stretched into Wales and up into Scotland, but were forced as a result of some really fierce fighting and revolts on the part of some nasty and tough warrior tribes called the Picts and the Scots to halt their advance in the first century AD. Realizing they could get no further, the Romans contented themselves with building a wall along the Scottish-RomanoBritish border called Hadrian's Wall after the Roman emperor at the time.

Despite this magnificient feat in conquering most of the island, the Romans didn't exactly have a happy, peaceful time in Britain. Much as is the case with certain American military expeditions today, there were revolts and unrest throughout the conquered territory. By the 4th century, Roman Britain was fighting on three fronts: the Scots and Picts in the north, the Irish in the west, and a Germanic tribe called the Saxons in the east."

The professor stopped the lecture to put up a map on his overhead before continuing.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v324/Izulde/Brittain_410.jpg

"The area you see outlined in yellow here is Roman-controlled Britain. Pretty big territory that should be able to handle a few revolts, right? Well, the problem was compounded by the fact that a lot of troops were needed to garrison and somewhat stabilize the territory to begin with. This gave any governor with greater ambitions the military power to revolt against the Roman Empire and indeed, this frequently happened throughout the Roman occupation period. Things were made worse in the 4th century when a guy named Constantine that we'll talk about later decided to move the capital of the Roman Empire somewhere else and basically split the empire in half.

By the fifth century, it was pretty clear Rome's stay on the island was coming to an end. More revolts cropped up, including a peasant rebellion that the Roman emperor refused to surpress. A different group of Saxons than the ones who'd been harassing the eastern borders took advantage of the chaos to revolt. These Saxons were mercanery troops who'd been brought over the preceding couple of centuries to help the Roman legions stamp out rebellion. Now they were rebels and the Roman administration was powerless to stop by them.

By 600, the Romans were gone and the Saxons were now the rulers of the previously Roman territory. I see we're out of time, so we'll pick up on Friday with the Saxon period."

I had a headache from too much history in one sitting. In fact, it hurt so bad I didn't even look at the girl. I just packed my stuff, threw my backpack over my shoulder, and headed back to the fraternity house where a couple Advil had my name on them.

Why was I doing this again?

[Blade6119]

Izulde and crusader kings...this can only mean great things. Looking forward to another of your great reads buddy!

[Izulde]

Izulde and crusader kings...this can only mean great things. Looking forward to another of your great reads buddy!

Thanks! :) I have to say this is my fave CK dynasty so far.

[Izulde]

I was really glad when Friday came along. I had just History and that was it, even though the class was beginning to lose some of its appeal. I mean, when you've got a girl as gorgeous as that acting like some sort of ice princess and the class being too early as it was, well let's just say my motivation was going downhill fast. Why not just drop it and take a different section in my last semester, I suggested to myself.

That was before she walked in wearing a white sweater that snuggled each and every inch of her body. I mean, it was so close-fitting, it was like the angora was her skin. The denim skirt I only half-noticed from my position in the fourth row. After being shot down Wednesday, I'd needed to back up and reconsider things. She, of course, sat in the second row.

As I tuned out the pre-class chatter around me, I started compiling a list of mental notes. Judging from her clothes the first three classes, she really liked white and blue and her tastes ran more to the preppy side of things, today's denim aside. She also seemed to be a pretty serious student type, from how furiously she'd taken notes and how intensely she'd stared at the hairy goat we had for a professor. Oh and let's not forget the glacial glare from Wednesday either, I reminded myself.

It was a sketch, an outline of just a few faint lines, but it was a beginning.

My thoughts were interrupted by Morengay's tromping up to the lectern and beginning the day's lecture.

"Last time, we looked at the history of Britain from prehistoric times until the end of the Roman occupation that we'll say occurred in the early to mid 400s, as the Roman legions left around 407, but some Roman-British hung around for a while, though by this time a lot of them had fled to other parts of Europe, most notably the region in France today known as Brittany, a name it acquired as a direct result of this Roman-British emigration. I also mentioned last time that by 600 the Saxons were in charge, but that's a bit of an oversimplification."

He paused to put a map on the overhead.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v324/Izulde/513px-Britain_peoples_circa_600.png

"As you can see from this map, there were quite a lot of ethnic groups running around Britain after the Romans left town. That's because whenever you have a situation where the champ hangs it up, the contenders left over are going to be fighting it out for the title. The Saxons, as I said last time, were a Germanic tribe, from present-day northern Germany specifically. The Angles arrived from what is today southern Denmark and the two groups more or less divided the bulk of the old Roman territory between themselves as you'll see from this next map."

The prof changed images and I found myself getting vaguely interested against my own will. Maybe my brothers were right about this guy being a good storyteller.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v324/Izulde/572px-British_isles_802.jpg

"Although this map is about two hundred years after the previous one, it does a good job of illustrating my point that the Angles and the Saxons dominated the former Roman dominion during that period. As a side note, the Britons you saw in the southwest tip are not the old Roman-British, but are in fact the indigenious peoples of the island before the Romans arrived. That's also the place where many people believe a guy you may have heard of named King Arthur was based. I'm not going to be going into Arthur, it's just an aside. If you're interested, you can research the possible historicity of Arthur for your paper later this semester.

Getting back to my original point, because the Angles and the Saxons controlled the bulk of the island and because they were so close to one another, the term Anglo-Saxon has frequently been used to describe the period and the peoples. But it's important to remember that these in fact were two very distinct and separate cultural groups.

Now, as you may have already guessed from the second map, no one kingdom managed to occupy Roman Britain's boundaries. They simply weren't strong enough. Instead, you had at least seven major kingdoms duking it out, all in hopes of uniting Roman Britain. They were Northumbria, which, by the way, was actually a union of two smaller kingdoms called Bernicia and Deira, Mercia, Kent, East Anglia, Essex, Sussex and Wessex."

Prof Morengay pointed out each of the kingdoms in turn in the silent, darkened room with his pen.

"There were more kingdoms than that and of course you have the Picts and the Scots up north, but for our purposes, there were the seven major kingdoms. The Irish we'll get to another time.

Throughout most of the 600s, Northumbria looked like the ones who'd come out on top. In fact, in 655, the Northumbrian king at the time, Oswiu, killed the Mercian king, Penda at the Battle of Winwaed, leading to Oswiu's annexation of Mercia into Northumbria. Quite a lot of territory if you put the two kingdoms together.

Unfortunately for the Northumbrians, they were only able to hold on to Mercia for a few years, as the slain Penda's son became the inspiration for a lot of revenge stories by rising up in rebellion against the hated invaders and driving the Northumbrians out. Things got even worse for Northumbria towards the end of the 600s, when the Picts came along and kicked their butts in a major battle that resulted in the Northumbrian's king getting killed. You basically didn't want to be king during this time period. You had too good a chance of getting killed in battle as these guys illustrate."

The class chuckled and for once I didn't roll my eyes.

"So with Northumbria out of the picture, I'm sure it's no surprise to you to learn that Mercia was the next kingdom to assume a position of influence and power, especially after a guy named Offa became king in the mid 700s. Offa was really smart and quickly set about conquering some of the smaller kingdoms around him. Sussex fell under his control in 771, Kent acknowledged him as its superior in roughly the same time period, though Offa did allow subordinate kings to rule as what we might call governors, and portions of Wessex also came under Offa's influence in the 780s. East Anglia came into Offa's possession towards the end of the eight century as well, following the murder of Aethelbert, the previous king of that territory. There's some speculation that Offa ordered Aethelbert killed so that he could consolidate power over East Anglia, but nothing has been proven conclusively concerning that event.

He also was shrewd in his British diplomatic affairs, marrying his daughters off to the West Saxon and Northumbrian overlords to establish alliances. As another sign of his power, currency minted with his image was used as the monetary standard throughout the territory he controlled and even throughout many of the other kingdoms in the old Roman Britian.

Unfortunately, he was not perfect in his unification efforts. The Scots and the Picts remained unconquered, as did the Welsh in Wales to the west, whom Offa was never able to conclusively defeat. But he did a very wise thing after he realized he wasn't going to be able to finish the Welsh off once and for all. Taking a page from the Roman imperial playbook, he had a wall built on the Mercian-Welsh border called Offa's Dyke, his answer to Hadrian's Wall in the north from the Roman days.

So why wasn't Offa's successor able to build on what he started, eventually unifying all of the former Roman domain, or even the island completely? Three reasons, ladies and gentlemen.

First, his son and chosen successor died five months after taking the throne. Second, the West Saxons, who populated the kingdom of Wessex, started growing in power. Third, and the biggest reason, were a bunch of hairy warrior guys that made the Picts, Scots, and Welsh look like schoolboys in comparison.

These were men's men.

They were... the Vikings.

I'll stop here and we'll pick up on Monday with the Viking era."

Amidst the shuffling and scraping of books, papers, chairs, coats, and shoes that followed, Morengay held his hands up and raised his voice.

"One more thing. Since we're falling behind schedule already, I may simply change things so that we're conclusively ending in the mid 1400s. I would much rather you have a broader understanding of the basis for European history in several geographic regions as opposed to just rushing our way through centuries of history to try and catch up with the present without understanding the basis for and connections to and between various events and people. That's all. Have a great weekend!"

We exploded out into the hall, all of us, excited to finally have the tedium of the school week over with. Even the girl dashed off quickly to wherever it was she was going.

I thought about trying to catch her and make conversation, but changed my mind. There'd be time throughout the semester for that and besides, chatting up a girl is best done during the week or at a party.

And History class was no party.

[Izulde]

The weekend involved the usual beer pong playing, weed smoking, drunken partying, and everything else done to forget all the hassle of the school week. The only change in my routine is I didn't sleep with a random girl like I usually did. I couldn't get that girl from my history class out of my head.

Funny that I spent three days thinking about her and then I was two minutes late Monday morning, my head still throbbing a little from a nasty hangover. I slid into a back-row seat because I wasn't stupid enough to sit in the front where Morengay could see me.

When I looked up at the front of the room, I thought I was still stoned because it looked like there were -two- Prof Morengays. But then I looked a little closer and realized that the second prof was shorter, stockier, and had a red beard.

"Good morning, class" began Morengay brightly, "For the Viking era lecture, I thought I would bring in a guest lecturer so you didn't have to listen to me talk at you all the time. This is Professor Knud Knytling from the University of Copenhagen. He's here this semester as part of a cultural exchange between our two universities and his speciality is medieval history. He's agreed to teach this morning's lecture about Viking-era England."

The burly man nodded and made a short speech thanking Morengay for the opportunity to speak blah blah blah blah. I tuned him out and scanned the room, noting with considerable irritation that the girl wasn't present. As if my morning wasn't bad enough already.

When I finally turned my attention back to our guest, he's already begun his lecture.

"...King Aelle II of Northumbria's murder of Ragnar Lodbrok had severe consequences for his kingdom, for Ragnar's three sons, Ivar the Boneless, Halfdan Ragnarsson, and Ubbe Ragnarsson attacked Northumbria later that year with one of the largest forces of the era, the Great Danish Army, to avenge their father's slaying.

The kingdom of Northumbria fell in a year and by 870, the Vikings had also annexed East Anglia, forever after destroying it as a bastion for the Anglo-Saxons. In 871, another massive army, the Great Summer Army, arrived as reinforcement for the Great Danish area, defeating the Kingdom of Mercia by 874. Halfdan Ragnarsson marched north to conquer the Picts, which he did, eventually becoming King of Northumberland in 875.

In 876, Halfdan joined forces with the leader of the southern Viking armies, Guthrum, to penetrate deeper into Anglo-Saxon territory. Although Halfdan fell in battle in 877, Guthrum pressed on, only to be defeated by Alfred who the English call Great even though he really wasn't in 878. In the ensuing Treaty of Wedmore, Guthrum agreed to convert to Christianity and accept Alfred as his ruler in exchange for being allowed to rule the former territory of East Anglia and some ancillary possessions.

Despite Alfred's success in stopping the Viking expansion, the Danish presence was there to stay. In addition to ruling the southeast and the northeast kingdoms of the former East Anglia and Northumberland, there was also the Kingdom of Jorvik, founded by the incomparable Halfdan around the city the English call York. They also split the old Kingdom of Mercia between the English half in the west and the Danish half in the east.

The Vikings also influenced the English language, contributing many names and words that are still in use in today's modern English.

This concludes my part of today's lecture, because I know your Professor Morengay wants to get you to the Battle of Hastings."

Prof Morengay grinned then as he stepped to the lectern after Knytling and said the strangest thing:

"Knud Knytling, you're a genius!"

I didn't join in the hilarity that followed. It wasn't really that funny.

After the laughter died down, our regularly scheduled lecturer took on his teaching voice.

"While the Vikings did achieve impressive things, their time was not to last. Alfred the Great's defeat of Guthrum signaled that the time of the Danish as a power was coming to an end. In the decades that followed, Alfred and his successors Edward and most importantly Athelstan, built upon that watershed victory, the first truly unified kingdom of England occurring under Athelstan the Glorious.

Athelstan acquired a superb initial powerbase, inheriting the kingdoms of Mercia and Wessex. He strengthened that base by, much like Offa had centuries before, making a shrewd political marriage, in this case wedding his sister to the Viking king Sithric of York.

When Sithric died a year later, Athelstan took advantage, invading the Viking kingdom in the ensuing moment of weakness and annexing it into his domains. This gave him more territory than any previous British king and his sphere of influence grew to encompass the island as a whole when the other kings in Britain, including the king of the Cornish, the king of the Scots, and the king of the Welsh, among others, agreed to recognize him as their superior sometime in the 930s.

Despite the fact that Britain was at long last united under a ruler, the center, to parphrase Yeats, did not hold and Athelstan's successors were forced to deal with a dominion that fractured and re-formed repeatedly over the subesequent years. It was not until Edgar in 973 that the English kingdom was at last secure as a perpetuting, stable territory.

What wasn't secure was the line of succession. Although Edgar's son Ethelred the Unready inherited the throne, he lost control of the kingdom to King Sweyn I of Denmark, who invaded England in retribution for Ethelred's foolhardy decision to slay all the Danes in England, save for those who lived in the area that Guthrum had ruled over, called the Danelaw. Clearly Ethelred did not learn from a certain Northumbrian king's previous mistake.

This resulted in much of the 11th century being a battle for the English throne between the descendants of Ethelred and Sweyn respectively. a situation that reached its boiling point when Edward the Confessor died without heir in a year many of you are no doubt familiar with, 1066.

Harold Godwinson, Edward's deathbed appointed successor, was believed to be have bloodlines tracing back to Athelred on his father's side and much less tenuously connected by marriage to Sweyn I on his mother's side.

William of Normandy, a true bastard and illegimate, on the other hand, was the grandnephew of Queen Emma, who was wife to both King Ethelred and King Canute, son of Sweyn I, who ruled England following his father's death. As his claim was much more readily verified than Harold's, this gave him much more considerable strength in the succession dispute.

There were other claimants, most notably Edgar Atheling, grandson of King Edmund II of England, who succeeded the original unifier Aethelstan. Unfortunately, he was not yet old enough to succeed the throne, and so despite having the strongest claim, and despite being named the heir apparent by Edward the Confessor at one point, he was never able to realize his right to rule.

Instead, it fell to what so often has decided disputes in the history of the world, that of right by might and trial of arms. William, as many of you know, prevailed in this contest, defeating Harold at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. Harold died during that battle and Edgar submitted to William in early December. With all rivals out of the way, William was crowned King of England on Christmas Day 1066 and thus the Norman era began.

But it must be remembered the old Saxon guard was not wholly defeated and the Scots and Welsh remained free of Norman oversight...

This concludes England. Wednesday we'll be taking a look at one of the other major powers in Europe, the Byzantine Empire."

I never cleared out of class so fast. My headache was much worse after all those names and dates.

[Celeval]

Very interested in reading this as it goes. Good story so far.

[Izulde]

Very interested in reading this as it goes. Good story so far.

Thank you! :) I enjoy it myself.

[Izulde]

I hate Wednesdays.

There isn't that afterglow of the weekend still on you and it's still a long ways to the next weekend.

But this Wednesday I didn't mind, because there she was in a white skirt and shirt, appropriately autumnal orange sweater draped over her shoulders. To be honest, it was more of a pale sherbet orange and it got me to thinking about another kind of cream I wanted to eat.

My private and tasty daydreams were interrupted by the arrival of a nondescript, chunky woman with short grey hair, the kind that would've been a libriarian if she hadn't become a secretary. In her hand was a goldenrod sheet and I smiled, because I knew what was coming.

"I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to post this earlier, but Professor Morengay is absent today with the flu, so you will be not having class this morning."

Chatter began amongst the students that knew each other as everyone began packing up their stuff. The girl was swift about it and heading for the door right after the bearded guy who sat in the front row in the middle.

I quickly gathered my backpack in hand and darted after her.

"Hey, wait up!"

She stopped and turned.

I gave her my famous girlslaying smile.

Her face didn't change from its icy demeanor.

"My name's Nick."

"I'm Melody." Still frosty, but with a little more warmth.

I smiled more mutedly then and nodded, "Cool to meet you. Listen, I just wanted to let you know that if you're not doing anything this weekend, I and my fraternity brothers have a party going on at our house. We're the big blue and orange house, third one in Fraternity Row if you're coming at it from campus side."

"...Maybe. I'll think about it." Did nothing melt her? I've known some frigid girls in my lifetime and broken through more than a few, but she was sheer ice.

And it was beautiful. Like she had this whole world inside of her that was better than anything else in real life and you had to prove yourself worthy of being let in. There was a mysteriousness about her that I couldn't solve, a puzzle of who she really was that fascinated me, who could read just any woman after an hour's conversation.

"Okay, cool. See you Friday in any case."

I waved and nonchalantly walked off. When I glanced back, she was already gone, lost in the crowd of students bursting in a stream of people from the doors of our History room.

I'd never had a Friday so charged with anticipation, not even in high school during a certain Homecoming...

But that's a dusty story, belonging to an amateur past.

This was now, all childishness gone.

This was a real dream, the kind that can change your whole life.

[Izulde]

I haven't had a Friday this charged with anticipation since, well I don't remember when. I warned the brothers against acting like complete jackasses at the party that evening and told them they were not to infringe on my claimed rights, to which they quipped, "Dude, Nick, if she's as much an ice princess as you say she is, not even Terry McClintock could get her."

Terry McClintock. Class of 1992. Famous for not only banging and marrying a Miss USA contestant, but divorcing her four years later to go through a string of supermodels. He lives in Anaheim, California now, and is married for the second time, to a model who's the eldest daughter of a fairly well-to-do Swedish banker. His legend is one I've always aspired to live up to, but it's hard. Terry not only got the girls, but he was also president of our chapter, IFC, and Greek Council throughout his undergraduate years and he's the CEO of one of the most rapidly rising talent agencies in Southern California.

But that's all a moot point, I suppose. This is me and my story.

This was Melody looking scrumptious in lavender and white. I noticed even in the short time the class had been going that she had an obsession with pastel and white combinations. To be fair, they looked really, really good on her, but on the other hand, I longed to crack that icy veneer, get her into something bolder, get her to let her hair do, which she had in a sweeping updo that day.

Professor Morengay dispelled the idle clouds of my thoughts as he cleared his throat at the podium.

"I'm sorry I wasn't here Wednesday. A family emergency came up that I needed to attend to and it's one that may require me to cancel class again later this semester. In light of that eventuality, I'm revising the syllabus. We will be focusing in-depth on one particular European dynasty throughout the ages, from William's conquest of England onwards.

For the rest of the area around the world, I will assign readings that I'll put on reserve at the library dealing with royal familes in Southeast Asia and South America during the same time period. We will not be discussing that material in class, but you will be responsible for it on the examinations.

Now, with that said, we are going to hold a secret ballot vote right now, so that I can ascertain which family to discuss for the rest of the semester. You have your choice of Ireland, Spain, and what is today Germany to pick from. So all of you get out a piece of paper and write down the name of the country. When everyone's done, I'll collect the votes and announce the winner next time, since I unfortunately must leave after this."

As we started ripping out papers, I mulled over the choices. To be honest, I really didn't care where we studied. It was all the same to me.

"Wait a minute! Why isn't France an option?"

Heads swiveled and we all stared at Melody, her white cheeks flushed with indignation.

Professor Morengay hmmed and stroked his beard, leaning over the lectern and eyeing her with amusement.

"Why isn't France an option? Oh, very well, why not. Ladies and gentlemen, you can vote for France too, if you like!"

The class chuckled and set to writing down their votes.

So Melody wanted France, eh? Can we say golden opportunity? I quickly scribbled France in and passed my folded piece of paper in. After Morengay dismissed the class, I smoothly eased my way out to catch up with Melody.

"Hey, don't forget. Party tonight at the Theta Sigma Phi house. Stop by around 8."

"If I'm there, I'm there. If not, then not" she answered just as casually as I'd given the reminder, disappearing down the hall without turning around or even slowing.

A tough girl she was, one that definitely seemed to have an iron will.

The kind of girl that was a challenge.

The kind of girl I could fall for if I wasn't careful.

[Izulde]

She didn't show.

I spent all of Friday night waiting and waiting and waiting and she didn't show. I was so annoyed that I couldn't concentrate and was the first man out at the table, which irritated me even more.

On the one hand, I wasn't too surprised. She hadn't seemed very interested. But on the other hand, I was mad. How dare she pull that stunt! Who did she think she was, some beauty queen/cheerleader/sex goddess/heiress all rolled into one?

So as you can imagine, I was pretty grumpy come Monday morning. She was in class too, but I barely looked at her. I know enough about girls to know that persistence is not always the key. Too easy to make yourself look desparate and besides, I had a reputation to protect.

Fortunately Prof Morengay showed up fairly early and launched right into the lecture.

"France was the winner in the poll, but Germany, or better said during this time period, the Holy Roman Empire was a very close second. With that in mind, we will be focusing on the de Semur dynasty, who on the eve of William the Bastard's coronation ruled the border county of Chalons in the Kingdom of France."

He put a map up on his overhead and continued.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v324/Izulde/chalons.jpg

"I've outlined the county of Chalons in white for you all to see. At this time, France was ruled by the regency council of the child-king Phillipe Capet, but that's not important for the purposes of this lecture. What is important is that Chalons was ruled by the de Semur family, a populous but aging aristocratic dynasty that controlled every aspect of the county's life and occupied every position of importance within the court."

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v324/Izulde/HuguesSemur.jpg

"This is Count Hugues de Semur, lord of Chalons on Christmas Day, 1066. He, like many of the de Semur men and women, had no spouse and so the first order of business was to secure the dynasty by arranging multiple marriages. By late January, he had succeeded in arranging matches for almost all of the people in his court, including his own."

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v324/Izulde/Humberge.jpg

"Humberge de Toulouse was the eldest daughter of the Count of Limosin, and although the Count had a son, Hugues hoped that he might produce an heir of his own that would be able to enter in to the county's line of inheritance."

"All of these marriages greatly enhanced Hugues's prestige and he decided to use his influence to expand the family's holdings. The Count of Forez and Lyon directly to the south of Chalons, as you can see on the map, was an independent noble. Since Lyon was both the closest territory to Chalons and the richer of the two provinces, Hugues and his advisors made up some cock and bull story about how Lyon rightfully belonged to the de Semur family, declared war and invaded.

The Count of Chalon's liege, the Duke of Burgundy, and Phillipe's regency council joined in support of their vassal and the ensuing campaign was so successful that the Count of Forez and Lyon recognized Hugues's right to rule Lyon even before both of his territories could be conquered and so it was that in early June of 1067, the de Semur dynasty doubled their land size.

Unfortunately the war also impoverished both Chalons and Lyon and conditions grew so bad in Chalons that thievery became rampant in the de Semur's ancestral province, leading to a considerable drop in monthly income. This problem would plague the de Semurs for some time, but happy news came on the 1st of February 1068 when Louis, a son, was born. In addition to being the heir to the de Semur dynasty, Louis was also third in line for the County of Limosin, accomplishing the hopes that Hugues had for his marriage.

With an eye towards further increasing the family's territory, Hugues made another claim in February 1069 on the anniversary of Louis's birth, this time on Forez. No action was taken at the time on it however, for the Count of Chalons and Lyon refused to risk damaging the family's name and influence by declaring war so soon after the earlier peace.

Instead, he ordered construction of a Court of Justice in Chalons to combat the banditry plaguing the capital province. The final bit of happy news came in early May, when a second son, Phillipe was born. Shortly thereafter, Hugues died unexpectedly, leaving his one year old son Louis to be the new Count of Chalons and Lyon and a long regency period lay ahead.

We'll stop there and pick up next time with Louis's reign."

I blinked, having dozed a little bit in the lecture and got up, slinging my backpack over my shoulder. I was still in something of a daze as I ambled out into the hall, so I didn't hear the voice at my ear at first.

"Nick! Hello, Nick! Are you alive?"

I turned my head and got alert in a hurry. Melody was in raspberry and white today and she actually had a smile, however small, on her face.

"Sorry I didn't go to your party Friday night. I decided I wanted to do research for a paper instead. It was rude of me to not let you know I wasn't coming. It's just... I don't trust fraternity guys. But it -was- really impolite of me, so to make it up to you, if you want, you can meet me Friday night for dinner at this great coffee shop on 9th street."

If I wanted? Hell, I was surprised she was even speaking to me, much less actually extending an invitation of her own free will for me to hang out with her.

"Sure, that'd be cool", I answered casually, "Why don't I get your number now while I'm thinking of it, so in case I don't know where exactly it is, I can call you and ask for directions."

Fifteen seconds later, I had the best string of digits I'd ever had on the back of my hand, my skin still warm and tingling with the blue ink from her pen, the memory of her hand brushing against mine as she wrote those precious numbers ringing a sweetly pleasant sensation throughout my entire body.

Maybe I had a chance after all.

[Izulde]

It's Wednesday. Today I'm just going to sit and take notes. You can't appear too eager with a girl after all or she'll realize she has control over you, treat you like a toy, get bored with you after a while, and discard you.

While that's all fine and good for a lot of the flings I've had over the years, Melody stirred something else in me, a sort of breathlessness I hadn't felt since sixth grade at the earliest, maybe even never.

Morengay's talking now. Time to listen.

"The suddeness of Hugues's death meant that it was not until mid-August that the regency council was finally in place and ready to begin ruling. There was much apprehension for the years ahead, as it would be a very long regency period and no one knew for certain just what kind of lord Louis would turn out to be. For the time being, he was being raised in a local monastary, where it was felt he would be safest from any who plotted to move against the de Semurs.

The regency council concentrated its efforts on reducing the crime rate in Chalons and in March of 1070, seven months before the Court of Justice was due to be completed, they managed to eliminate the last remaining gangs in the country. Construction still continued on the Court, however, as the burghers strongly requested it to help mediate business disputes that arose now and again. The decision to place Louis in the monastary proved wise, for his mother Humberge died in childbirth in April along with the child, leaving Louis and his brother Phillipe as the lone continuances of the senior de Semur line.

There was a negative effect to the monastary choice, however. It was considered a cowardly move by other aristocrats, who knew it for the defensive mechanism it was and so they thought Louis and the family as a whole the lesser for it. Their opinion changed drastically in April 1071 when King Sancho of Navarra, needing a new wife and one that would produce sons, and having heard of the de Semur's legendary masculine fecundity, came to Chalons to request the brilliant 19 year old Spymaster Hermengarde de Semur's hand in marriage. The regency council immediately agreed and so Hermengarde became Queen Hermengarde I of Navarra, the first de Semur to acquire a crown. To celebrate the nuptials, the council also ordered construction of a forestry in Chalons.

Later that month, the First Crusade was called to liberate Alexandria, but in Chalons and Lyon, they were too busy with local affairs to even think of entering the religious quest. The council did, however, catch enough of the religious fervour to pay for the appointment of the two counties' first bishop, 35 year old Robert of Chalons.

In August, Queen Hermengarde became queen of not only Navarra, but Aragon as well, for her husband Sancho successfuly conquered the neighboring Iberian Christian kingdom. There was still no heir on the way, however.

The regency council took advantage of the peaceful lull that had settled between the Forez and Lyon border to surprisingly declare war on the former county in December 1071. Artaud de Forez was completely unprepared and was routed by Marshal Geoffrey de Semur's forces. By June of 1072, Forez was made part of the de Semur lands, but the excessiveness of the regency council's demands, which included not only Forez but all of the gold in the treasury, caused some to accuse the family of heavy-handedness, though not too loudly for they were mindful of Queen Hermengarde. The damage to the council's influence was repaired and even improved all the more than it had ever been before when in September, at a double wedding, Marshal Geoffrey, wifeless after his first one passed away in childbirth along with the child, and Robert de Semur, a cousin only recently arrived at court, each married an accomplished woman named Filomenia, one an Occitan courtier from the Duchy of Toulouse, and the other an Italian courtier from the Duchy of Toscana reknowned for her absolute brilliance in all aspects of stewardship. The Italian Filomena's appointment to realm Steward made the de Semur's income even greater than it had ever been before.

A legitimate claim was discovered in February 1073, when close scrutiny of geanological records at the Royal Academy of Ancestry revealed that the de Semurs had the right to inherit the County of Sens to the northwest of Chalons. Although the matter wasn't pressed, it was one more situation for the regency council to keep its eye on. Happily, Queen Hermengarde I was pregnant at this time and all in the de Semurs hoped she might bear a son. Their prayers were answered in August when Crown Prince Garcia was born.

Hermengarde would in fact go on to bear three sons by 1077. During the intervening years, the de Semurs in France concentrated on a program of construction and economic advancement, but by April, the family was hungry for richer territory. Seeing an opportunity in the rebellious Republic of Ferrara, housed in the wealthy province of Bologna, a claim was fabricated and war declared in April. Aided by the powerful Robert Guiscard de Hauteville, the famed Duke of Apuila, the short but costly war was a triumph, Bologna added to the de Semur possessions in September. This brutal and opportunistic maneuver was unpopular throughout Europe, as the nobility angrily decried the regency council as overstepping its boundaries and so the de Semur reputation and influence fell drastically. Completion of the first library in Europe in Chalons mitigated much of the damage, however and the addition of Bologna to the de Semur lands nearly doubled the family income.

Although another legitimate claim was found on the County of Rosello in 1078, the de Semurs had no interest in encroaching on the Kingdom of Navarra's territory. In fact, with Bologna's wealth and the technology in place to build an actual castle, the family's concern became northern Italy as they sought to establish a Dukedom there and move the capital to their prized province.

In February 1080, receiving word that the Holy Roman Emperor Heinrich was excommunicated from the Church and aware that rebellion was rife throughout the Empire, the regency council claimed Ravenna and no one minded, nor were they surprised when war was again called, this time against the infidel Emperor. Peace was secured in November, the treasury only minimally effected as the campaign was brisk and efficient, even raising the influence of the de Semur family at the war's conclusion, for they asked little relative to the might of Marshal Geoffrey's armies and their conquests.

The effect of all these revolts in the Holy Roman Empire was to destroy it, so that by November of 1081, Heinrich willingly surrendered his title of Holy Roman Emperor to Godfried d'Ardennes, a minor count from a powerful German family. Godfried, aware that the Empire was dead, styled himself as the King of Germany, declaring that the Holy Roman Empire would live no more. Immediately two former imperial dukes pledged fealty to him, restoring some order to central Europe. Heinrich, on the other hand, had only two vassals left and now called himself, rather preposterously, the King of Burgundy and Italy.

But one kingdom's star was rising. France, unlike the Holy Roman Empire and unlike England to the north, was a peaceful realm, with loyal vassals and a strong government under the Capets. Since William's conquest, they'd added to their territory through the conquests of the de Semurs and by King Phillipe himself. The French now stretched down to both of the Mallorcan islands and into former imperial territories obtained from Heinrich. They also, thanks to the de Semurs, had a foothold in Italy.

And that foothold was strengthened on February 1, 1084 when, at Louis's 16th birthday celebration, he was coronated the Duke of Ferrarra in the new de Semur capital of Bologna.

The regency council was a smashing success."

Morengay grinned and actually stopped talking for the first time all hour.

"We'll stop there and pick up on Friday with Louis's actual reign."

My head hurt so much from all that talking, all I did was get out of there. Through my pounding haze, though, I noticed Melody staying to talk to the professor.

Probably something about France.

[Izulde]

Friday. An important day.

Melody smiles at me when she comes into class, wearing an uncharacteristic jeans and a hooded sweatshirt, but it's not really so odd, for her jeans are white and her hoodie pretty, pale pink. It's also raining outside, a sudden burst and onslaught of rain that has an oddly pleasant sensation to it. Maybe it's just that I look forward to tonight.

Morengay at the lectern, map and image on the projector:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v324/Izulde/LouisReignStart.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v324/Izulde/Louis.jpg

"At the start of his reign, Duke Louis had some housekeeping matters to take care of. Wanting to enhance his personal prestige to combat his naysayers, he decided to first find some vassals, second, locate spouses for himself and his relations who would becoming of age in the next few years and thirdly, declare himself to also be the Duke of Dauphine.

The most obvious target for vassalage was the County of Forez, uniformly considered the backwater province in the de Semur domain. Less clear was who should be made the new Count of Forez. Some argued that unattached courtiers who had no job would make the best candidates, but Louis wanted to keep it in the de Semur family. The difficulty in this was that should he designate a ruler, the sons and daughters he would come to rely on as his advisors would depart to inherit the moment their father died.

53 year old Robert de Semur, the heirless Spymaster, was a popular choice, but his wife was Stewardess Filomena, who was responsible for keeping the Duchy in such terrific financial condition. In the end, Louis chose to wait and see which of his younger relations looked the least promising before selecting the new Count of Forez.

What he did do very swiftly was to hold another coronation a few days after the one naming Duke of Ferrara, a smaller affair where he was named the Duke of Dauphine. This accumulation of dual ducal titles increased his acclaim significantly throughout Europe and he became much more respected as a result.

But the event that really made his influence soar throughout Europe was his marriage to Princess Toda Jimenez, eldest daughter of King Sancho of Navarra and Aragon from his first marriage. Popular history has it that it was none other than Queen Hermengarde de Semur herself who arranged the wildly successful match."

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v324/Izulde/Toda.jpg

"With all of this sudden wealth of funds and celebrity throughout Europe, the temptation was quite strong for Louis to begin strongarming his way through whatever region he chose, but he prudently chose to stay his hand, concentrating on diplomatic affairs before searching for expansion possiblities.

The June marriage of two extraordinarily talented Hungarian girls from the court of the minor King of Hungary to Geoffrey de Semur the Younger after his first wife died and the recently matured Thibaut de Semur not only boosted Louis's prestige all the more, but gave the Duke the most talented chancellor in all of Europe at that time and a good enough Stewardess that he at last felt comfortable naming Robert de Semur the Count of Forez. Happily, Filomena decided to stay on in her position at the Bologna court rather than go with her husband to Forez, ensuring no decline in the de Semur wealth.

Another talented royal Hungarian courtier girl marriage to a de Semur occurred in March 1085, a month after a son and heir, Thomas, was born to Louis and Toda. This union, combined with the marriage of a de Semur girl to the Count of Weimar, meant that without any expansion of territory, Duke Louis de Semur of Ferrara and Dauphine was, at 16 years old, already one of the most prominent and highly regarded men in all of Europe.

This respect only grew a year later when Phillipe, Louis's younger brother, married Cecile Knytling, a Danish princess well-regarded for her diplomatic skills. As a wedding present, Louis gave Phillipe the County of Lyon to rule.

His familial and imperial affairs largely in order, Louis at last cast his eyes about for expansion and found none other than the one-province King of Italy and Burgundy, the unfortunate and despised Emich von Franken, son of the despised Heinrich von Franken. Declaring that no king, much less a dual king, should have just one province under his power, Louis claimed the crown of Italy for his own and went to war. In a remarkably short campaign, Thibaut de Semur, the 18 year old Marshal, son of Geoffrey the Elder and brother to to Geoffrey the Younger, proved worthy of his lineage, crushing and taking the von Franken province by June. Emich reluctantly agreed to cede the Italian crown to Louis.

In just 20 short years, the de Semurs had risen from Counts to Kings.

Louis immediately announced that no prior Kings of Italy would be recognized, nor any idea of the Kingdom of Italy in the past. Under his proclamation, the Kingdom of Italy began with his rule and he was King Louis I of House de Semur, ruler of the new Italian kingdom.

This did not set well in Europe, particularly with the Duke of Toscana, who admittedly had a much more legitimate right to the throne in terms of might, but there was nothing anyone could do at the moment but revile the once honorable Duke of Ferrara.

To make amends for his claim, the new monarch elevated his brother Phillipe to Duke of Dauphine and made Geoffrey de Semur the Younger Duke of Ferrara, granting him the province of Ravenna to rule. This did much to restore Louis's reputation in Europe and his generosity, despite its nepotic quality, made him once more respected.

This largesse was so well-regarded in fact, that shortly after his acension to the throne, Louis received requests for protection and vassalage from the regency councils in the Republics of Genoa and Pisa. While not fond in the least of the republican model of government and privately vowing to make them feudal Dukedoms as soon as he could manage it, Louis nonetheless happily accepted the offers of vassalage, for they did much to legitimatize his position. The Bishop of Parma and the Count of Ancona soon followed in pledging their fealty to the Italian crown.

But this slew of vassals came at a price, for the Governor of Pisa was at war with the the de Semur rival for Italian dominance, the Duchy of Toscana. Untroubled by this, Louis promptly claimed the right to rule Modena, a territory he'd had his eye on for some time, and declared war on the regents of Toscana in support of his vassal on August 4, 1086.

The war lasted a year and resulted in Toscana's giving King Louis Modena, but the capital city of Bologna was in revolt and historians have said that Louis was lucky that the Duchy suffered extreme war exhaustion of his own, for although Louis's brilliant generalship had won him battle after battle when he was greatly outnumbered and would've lost if not for his exceptional sense of tactics, time was not on his side. His early successes in capturing many of the personal domains of the Duke were critical to his victory. The treasury was also bankrupted from the campaigns.

But a victory it was and one that signaled to Europe that Louis was a monarch to take seriously. The rest of the summer of 1087 was spent finding brides for two of his cousins and a great coup was obtained in mid-August when Charles de Semur wed Princess Arsinde Capet of France. There was no greater possible sign of the de Semur might, that their former liege now married one of his daughters to one of the lesser branches of the family. Even more encouraging, any sons out of the union would have a claim on the throne of France and might well directly inherit, for Arsinde was the eldest daughter and just one of King Phillipe's sons lived.

It was unthinkable that barely two decades after William's conquest, the de Semurs might wear three crowns, for Hermangarde still ruled as Queen of Navarra and Aragon.

But all was not well in that sphere.

We'll stop there and pick up on Monday."

...Damn the prof. He's actually telling an interesting story and I'm finding myself wanting to find out what happens next.

But on to more important things.

I see Melody out in the hall and I catch up to her.

"Hey, we're still on for tonight, right?"

It's always good to make sure plans don't go suddenly awry.

..From the look on her face, they may just have. She's chewing on her lower lip and glancing out the window at the rain.

"...Actually, I was thinking with this weather, the coffee shop's going to be too crowded. I don't like crowds. But I do want to make it up to you... Tell you what, give me your number and I'll call you later today when I figure something out."

I nod and tear off a sheet of paper from my notepad, scribbling my number down and handing to her.

"Don't let it get wet in the storm now," I grin, "Or you might have to come to that horror of horrors, the fraternity house, to get it back."

She arches one eyebrow at me as she folds the paper and slides it into her backpack.

"You'd be the one out of luck, Nick. After all, I don't go to fraternity houses, remember? Better hope my backpack's as waterproof as the manufacturer says it is."

And then she's nonchalantly walking off down the hall, walking off with my number, my Friday night plans, and the last word all to herself.

This isn't supposed to happen. But like the story Prof. Morengay's telling us about that family, I'm drawn in.

The suspense... may well kill me.

[Izulde]

I'm doing some studying when my cell phone rings. I check the number and it's Melody's.

"Hi, Nick."

Her voice sounds lighter, softer on the phone than in person. I like it. It's sweeter, more delicate.

"Hey, what's up?"

"Not much. Listen, I did some thinking and would Armando's be all right with you?"

I nearly drop the phone in my shock. Armando's is the best restaurant in town and with the prices to match. It's the sort of place people go for major celebrations like graduation, weddings, retirements... or a very, very important date.

"Sure, that'd be cool" I answer as steadily as I can.

"Great, I'll see you there at seven, then."

"Sounds good."

We make our goodbyes and I'm left sitting there, still gaping. Armando's?! That was her idea for something to replace the coffee shop? This called for a verification of the thoughts running through my head.

I went up to Drake's room and knocked on the door. Drake was the other suave guy in the house, but unlike me, he was taken and very much so, by one of the Delta Chi Deltas. They're the pretty sorority on campus, in case you wondered.

He opened the door and ushered me in. His room's very neat, very tidy. Not like mine, which tends to get a little messy, to be honest. But then, there's not much to his room, either.

"How can I help you, Nick?" he grins, his bushy goatee shot through with streaks of red in the fading afternoon sunlight.

"There's this girl in one of my classes. She just invited me to dinner at Armando's tonight, so I figured I'd come up and get your oh so expert advice on it." I can't help smirking as I say that. The idea of me of all people needing advice with women was an absurd one if you know my reputation.

His eyes grow large, "Wait, -she- asked -you-?! Hmmm... tell me more about this girl."

"Well, she dresses real stylish, real preppy every day as far as I've seen. Real smart, too. Talks to the professor after class and stuff."

Drake nods sagely, sitting down in the only chair in his room and looking thoughtful as he steeples his fingers together.

"Sounds like you've got a rich girl on your hands, then. Though I have to wonder why she's going here of all places. I mean, shit man, this is a public school. Why isn't she going to Thornton?"

Thornton, -the- most prestigious private college in the state. The kind where you need parents with a high six figure income, a legacy connection, or the kind of perfect application that could get you into a place like Yale or Princeton.

"I don't know", I admit, "But something tells me I should go with the suit here. It runs the risk of being overdressed, but I don't want to go looking like a scrub either, because you -know- she's going to be well put together."

"I agree", Drake confirms, "By the way, how does she feel about fraternities."

I can't help but laugh darkly at that. How does she feel about fraternities indeed.

"She hates them and doesn't trust them."

"Good! Wear your active pin, then. Go without it and you'll look like a pushover."

I doubt the wisdom of that move, but Drake's the one with the woman. I'll be honest, I haven't been in an actual relationship in a long time. It's been too easy, too fun, too comfortable just sticking with the variety and freedom of short flings, one night-stands and that sort of thing. So I just nod.

We talk a little bit more about some other things and then I leave to shower and get dressed.

About an hour and a half later, I'm standing in front of the mirror, dressed in my sharp-cut, $250 three piece black suit with gold tie. Plain colors, sure, but I've always been pretty conservative when it comes to what I wear. Got to stick with what's fashionable, what's safe.

In my fingers is my fraternity pin. Theta Sigma Phi. One of the most prestigous national fraternities and one that's been around for a long time. Our pin is taken largely from our crest and is a gold circle on which is emblazoned a purple dragon, a certain sword in his left claw, a specific book in his right. No, I can't tell the meaning of it all. Fraternity secrets, you know.

I put the pin on my shirt, over my fast-pounding heart and make the last-minute adjustments before grabbing my keys off the shelf and heading out.

Twenty minutes go by and I'm walking inside Armando's, all candlelight, cherry wood, Italian paintings that are probably fakes, and the three waterfalls, one large, two small, that are the most famous part of the restaurant's interior.

A thin, pale maitre'd asks me for my reservation and not knowing what else to say, I give him Melody's name. He eyeballs me suspiciously a moment, as if in spite of the suit, I wasn't the type who should be in his restaurant.

Then he leads me to small, two-person table that has one of the best views in the whole place and there, looking stunning in a pale blue sequinned dress that matches her eyes is Melody.

A sparkling, sapphire bracelet adorns her slender white wrist, matching earrings nestled against the most shapely, exquisite ears I've ever seen or ever will see.

It's all I can do not to stare as the maitre'd ushers me to my seat. I sit down and Melody smiles slightly at me, a smile that's all the prettier for its understatedness.

And then she speaks.

[MrBug708]

Izulde - Have you ever been to a Renassiance Faire? I think you'd like it...

[Izulde]

Izulde - Have you ever been to a Renassiance Faire? I think you'd like it...

Been to two of them :) The one in Bristol, WI sucks hardcore and the one in San Diego was a lot of fun.

My best friend and her husband are both Rennies and have had their own shows with other people, the former being just in Pittsburgh for a few years, the latter a national act that toured the country.

Others of my friends, including the one that worked with my best friend in her show, have also been Rennies.

The whole political and economic landscape of Renaissance Faires behind the scenes is an endlessly fascinating one for a Rennie-friend like me. Although I've joked about becoming a working Rennie myself, I really don't see it happening. The acting talent I had when I was a kid (to where my parents were on the verge of moving us to California so I could pursue a career in it) is long since atrophied and I'm not nearly outgoing enough anymore for that line of work (though again, when I was a kid, I was extremely gregarious and extroverted).

[Izulde]

"Good evening, Nick. It's nice to see you."

"It's nice to see you too. You look beautiful."

She smiles her thanks as I sit down, my heart pounding like it hasn't in years, maybe in forever. To distract myself, I pick up the menu and open it, only to stare in silent horror.

It's all in Italian. I can't read a word.

When I lower the menu, Melody's slight smile is there again.

"Sorry about that. I forget not everyone who comes here knows the menu's in Italian, but let's see if I can guess what you'd like."

As she stares at me thoughtfully, her nose scrunched so cutely in concentration I almost can't stand it, I feel the beginnings of anger bubbling in my stomach. I have a feeling I know what's going on here and I don't like it.

"Ah! I think I have it! Steak, well-done."

...How did she know that? I laugh in spite of my irritation, shaking my head in disbelief.

"I don't know how you did it, but-"

"-You'll have the salad as well", she interjects, "It's healthy for you and quite tasty."

Our waiter comes before I can object and she places the order in Italian so fluid it's like she's fluent or something. And then she adds, "Just put the bill on my account. I'll settle it with Bernie next week."

I'm on my feet the instant the server's away.

"Look, Melody, I know what you're trying to pull here. The powerplay, oh look at me I'm so rich and cool and sophisticated. I'm not an idiot. This.is.bullshit. Enjoy your meal. I'll be damned if I'm going to be your little joke for the evening. Goodbye."

I whirl around, my face angry in its redness. Who the hell does she think she is anyway?

And then she speaks, her voice calm and cool.

"If you want to have a chance at all with me, Nick, you'll come back here, sit down, and calm down."

Is there nothing this girl doesn't know? I want to keep walking, marching right on out that door, but my feet betray me and before I know it, I'm scraping my chair back into the table and sighing.

"That's better", she smiles, "You have to understand something. I eat here twice a week, sometimes three. What's a fast food meal to you is eating here for me. So put your male pride away and relax. It's a beautiful evening and we should be enjoying it."

I have to rally against this somehow. She can't hold all the cards. I'm panicking and I don't know what to do. I'm the one who's supposed to know what's what and leading in this dance.

"Beautiful evening? Oh, I don't know about that one. It's pretty nasty out there with the thunderstorm", I counter easily enough, regaining my composure.

"But we're here, having a delicious meal and hopefully enjoying each other's company. It's a clean, well-lighted place and a cozy restaurant we're in, so let's just have fun, hmm?"

She's right. Well, except for the cozy restaurant part. This place is bigger than some five-star hotel lobbies.

I'm saved from further commentary by the arrival of a wine bottle that's probably an entire semester's tuition. The waiter pours some into each of our glasses and I sip. Thank God, it's red. I don't think I could take white in this instance.

We spend the time before our food arrives chatting about our classes, our professors, safe topics like that. It's evident she's an upperclassman, as we've had a few of the same gen ed profs and besides, we wouldn't be sharing the wine otherwise. That makes her at least 21. Good information to know for later, if indeed there is a later.

Our salads come first and we're both silent as we eat and take occasional sips of wine. I've never had vegetables so crisp and delicious before and whatever they use to flavor the salad with makes it absolutely exquisite. If all vegetables tasted this good, I'd be tempted to become a vegetarian.

That is until the steak arrives.

It's juicy, tender, and cooked through perfectly. Not an ounce of pinkness to it, yet the flavor is still preserved. I think all steaks after this will be ruined for me.

She has some sort of lasagna with all kinds of stuff on it that I have no clue what it is. She seems to be enjoying it, though. We don't talk as we're eating the main course, either. I like that. I hate talking when I'm eating. I just want to savor the food, relax and indulge in the experience of eating. It's something my fraternity brothers sometimes have trouble understanding.

The server clears our plates away when we're finished and we sit for a few moments, quietly luxuriating in the pleasure of a terrific meal. I'm just about to comment on how good everything was when she suddenly leaps up, grabs me by the hand and pulls me towards the door.

"Wait... where are we going?" I protest.

"You're going to buy me dessert."

[Izulde]

We went to a bakery and ice cream shop that stays open late for dessert. She got mint chocolate chip and I chose chocolate chip cookie dough. The fact that we both got some kind of chocolate chips involved led to a discussion about those Nestle chip morsels and we arranged to meet Wednesday afternoon for a morsel tasting session.

I know I'm bringing butterscotch for uniqueness.

But it's not Wednesday yet. It's only Monday and that means Morengay, looking too damn cheerful for a Monday morning class.

"Welcome back! I hope you all enjoyed your weekend! I know I did mine!"

As the class laughed, he put up his latest map on the overhead and settled into lecture mode.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v324/Izulde/Spain.jpg

"When we met last time, I mentioned at the end of the period that the kingdom of Navarre and Aragon was in trouble and indeed it was, for a vassal of the King of the Zirids, a massive Muslim empire, ruled the capital province of Navarra. Making matters even worse, as this map shows, Navarra-Aragon was dwarfed in size and importance by the Kingdom of Leon, the light blue blob occupying most of the middle of Iberia. The reconquest was definitely being run by Leon, with Navarra-Aragon only an afterthought.

Still more troubling, as I may have mentioned last time, was King Sancho's excommunication from the Church, leading to a circling vulture effect."

He paused as he changed maps, then continued.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v324/Izulde/KingdomItaly.jpg

"The Kingdom of Italy, light green and outlined in red here, was also still in a tenuous position. As I've said before, King Louis I was in a tense archrivalry with the Duke of Toscana for control of northern Italy and had just won a major war which netted him Modena.

There was still great cause for concern though, as Italy's French possessions and the vassal Republic of Pisa were both cut off from the main body of the kingdom's territory.

Then on September 6th, 1087, a startling offer came from Duke Friedrich d'Ardennes of Toscana. He suggested that the Duchy of Toscana and the Kingdom of Italy ally, so that between the two of them they would be the unchallenged masters of northern Italy. Louis immediately accepted. Historians have suggested that the reason for the Duke of Toscana's offer was that he feared French and German incursions into Italy and furthermore, he was frightened by the Italian military might as displayed in the previous war.

Bolstered by this news, Louis arranged one of his many double marriages as a celebration. Manasses de Semur and Charles de Semur, recently come of age, both married Jimenez girls from Navarra-Aragon, further increasing the ties between the de Semurs and the Jimenezs. A third de Semur-Jimenez marriage followed some months later, two weeks before completion of a castle in Bologna.

King Louis was ecstatic with this new castle. Although considered a small one, Castle de Semur, as it was eponymously called, was far grander than anything the de Semurs had lived in before and it truly elevated the province of Bologna to a higher plane.

With this elevation came repeated calls from the Papacy for the Kingdom of Italy to take part in the crusade against the Muslims. Although Jeruselam was the intended target, the Holy See felt any dead Muslim and any reconquered territory would suffice and so in June 1088, King Louis answered the holy calling and declared war on the Shiekdom of Agrigento, the smallest of the Muslim shiekdoms on the island of Sicily.

It was a conquest that should've gone off without any problems. Unfortunately, Marshal Thibeaut de Semur was found guilty of witchcraft to ensure their victory on the voyage at sea and the captain on board his ship ordered him hanged posthaste and he was. Thus, it was to be the Republic of Genoa's marshal who took command and conquered Agrigento.

A month and a year later, in July 1089, opportunity again arose in Sicily. The County of Messina and the Shiekdom of Siracusa were at war with one another. Louis declared war on Siracusa and set off for Sicily. Siracusa conquered Messina before the Italian armies got to the island, but Louis, personally leading an army of over 5,500 men from different parts of Italy, swiftly conquered Siracusa and Messina and spent the next two years crushing the remaining Muslim rulers, including the mighty Shiek of Palermo. By March 1091, all of Sicily's main island flew the Italian flag.

Even more important than the new wealth and land Louis gained was the fact that the island's conquest dealt a major blow to the de Hautevilles in Apuila's hopes of becoming Kings of Naples. While it was still possible for southern Italy's most powerful family to themselves be crowned, they could afford no room for error in taking the other domains that made up the kingdom.

Unfortunately, with great conquest came great war debt, so that King Louis was forced to call for all sums of money possible from the Estates General. While significantly impacting his prestige, the loss was made up for both by his incredible victories and the joining of the Count of Urbino and the Bishop of Piombino as Louis's direct vassals.

In any case, there could be no doubting the might of the de Semur family now. With their main rivals as allies and their magnificient campaign of conquest in Sicily, the house that wore Italy's crown was certainly a Mediterranean power to be reckoned with.

But the kingdom was still not wholly united and until that goal was achieved, Italy could not become one of the truly great European giants, a mighty kingdom in the manner of France, Germany, and England.

And it was that quest that the de Semurs took on.

We'll stop here. Have a good day everyone!"

I couldn't help liking the de Semurs. They started off as really nobody, tiny fish in the great big pond of France and in what, 25 years? they became this really awesome dynasty, one that played it smart from the looks of things and didn't get into what they couldn't handle.

Maybe that's the lesson I wasn't following. Maybe Melody was too much for me to handle.

Or maybe, just maybe, as I'm watching the door she just walked out of, maybe I'm like the de Semurs, a tiny fish in the great ocean of Fraternities, ready to break out and win the heart of a Queen.

[Izulde]

Wednesday morning. My mind's on tonight, but I force myself to listen to Morengay's lecture and take notes. Don't want to flub this class in my graduation semester.

"After his smashing Sicilian success, Louis I let things stay peaceful so that the scarred counties and ravaged treasury could heal. His agreement to alliance with Duke Friedrich proved an even wiser move when Friedrich became King Friedrich I of Germany in late August, 1091. Had the two not been allied, it's very likely some of the de Semur possessions would have been lost in a war of conquest, for monarchial Germany proved to be just as strong if not stronger than the old Holy Roman Empire.

What this also meant was that the Italian prospects for expansion in the north were now quite limited. So Louis came up with a cunning plan. Desiring to acquire more territory and recognizing Sicily as an excellent base, he claimed his right to become Duke of Calabria and declared war on the de Hautevilles on New Year's Eve, 1091.

Although the move was greatly disapproved throughout Europe, as was an exorbiant bleeding of the Estates General to pay for the war effort, another brilliant military campaign carried out by Louis's personal Bologna, Modena, Messina, and Siracusa regiments resulting in a resounding victory over the once feared de Hautevilles and Guy de Hauteville was forced to sign a treaty in September 1092 naming Louis Duke of Calabria and surrendering all claims to the County of Messina.

In December, the Archbishop of Toscana, who'd broken away from King Friedrich of Germany over religious differences, asked Louis to accept him as a vassal. The de Semur family, as you can imagine, was only quite happy to oblige and the provinces of Siena and Firenze joined the kingdom. This was crucial for two reasons. First, it put virtually all of northern Italy under the Kingdom of Italy's power and second, it connected two disparate parts of the Italian kingdom and provided the de Semurs a strong core and power base from which to operate. Rudolf von Wettergau, the German Duke of Spoleto, pledged fealty to Louis a months later, giving Italy a province right next door to the de Hautevilles, the strategic importance of which should be quite obvious.

Over the next year, Louis created several Dukedoms out of the kingdom's expanded territory, handing them out to vassals he favoured, only one of whom was a de Semur, Manasses, elevated from Count of Trapani to Duke of Sicily. This lack of nepotism pleased people throughout the Kingdom, although I have to tell you that he made certain not to elevate any Germans into ducal positions, instead giving them to Italian and French counts and bishops whenever he could.

But it was the acceptance of vassalage from the 63 year old Duchess of Lombardia, Giacinta d'Attala in October 1093 that changed everything, for the Duchess was fighting for her freedom from none other than King Friedrich of Germany.

King Louis I of Italy believed in defending his vassals.

It was a war that would shake the continent.

A war... you'll hear about come Friday."

I, along with the rest of the class, surprised myself by groaning in disappointment at his cliffhanger. It was a rotten thing to do, getting us all interested and then teasing us like that.

As if I wasn't already anticipating enough as it was about tonight and those tasty Nestle's morsels and some other certain kinds of morsels.

[Izulde]

"I'm sorry, Nick, but it just wouldn't taste right. You understand, don't you?"

Her voice is raspy, so unlike the sweet, smooth tones I'd grown used to hearing. But there's still that disappointment, that sinking feeling that comes from the bottom of something you've looked forward to a lot dropping out.

"It's cool. You're right, stuff just doesn't taste good when you've got a cold."

I hear the smile in her voice, altered though it is.

"Exactly! We'll reschedule when I'm feeling better."

We hang up with that promise, but it's one I don't really believe right now. Despite my growing mistrust of the situation, ten minutes later I find myself making a bowl of chicken noodle soup and covering it in a wrap to keep it cool.

Another ten minutes and I'm at the front desk of her dorm, telling the student clerk that it's for Melody, the one with the blonde hair. I feel stupid not having her last name, or her room number, but she only ever gave me the dorm she lives in.

Fortunately the clerk knows who she is and promises to take it to her.

No, I won't go up and see her. The soup's enough.

[Izulde]

We're all in anticipation this Friday morning, waiting to hear how this war turned out.

Prof Morengay's grinning as he puts his map up on the overhead.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v324/Izulde/ItalyGermany.jpg

"What we have here is the continental situation between Italy and Germany during the Lombardia War as it came to be called. Both kingdoms were made up of disconnected power centers, making a swift conclusion quite difficult. You'll notice that Sicily is not on this map.

With claims on Lucca, Ferrara, and Mantua in hand, King Louis I declared war and battle was joined. After a series of initial promising victories, the Italians were dealt a terrible blow in Cremona and Bologna, as the bulk of the continental Italian forces were crushed by the German menace. Left with no choice but to call up the Sicilian reigments, Louis did so with a heavy heart and also requested aid of certain of his vassals, which they readily lent. These vassals were able to secure several important victories in German royal possessions, but the September 1094 Battle of Modena resulted in Louis's Sicilian regiments being crushed by Duke Magnus Billing of Saxony and Brunswick, an annihilation nearly as brutal as the whipping the Duke of Alsace gave Louis in the Battle of Cremona some months before.

Despite the difficulties, Louis managed to scrap together enough troops from his remaining vassals and the reserves from Siracusa to engage in another series of quick conquests of King Friedrich's personal domains. By late May 1095, most of the German king's lands were in Louis's hands and a valiant assault by the remnants of the Palermo regiment along with the Siracusa regiment freed Bologna and Modena. Sensing war weariness on his opponent's part and knowing that he would never be in a better position against the Germans, King Louis sent an envoy to Friedrich in Modena offering peace in exchange for Lucca, Ferrara, and Mantua. Friedrich, wishing to hurry back to his capital province that was under siege and deal with other wars, quickly agreed.

And so in one sense, the Lombardia War was a success. The Kingdom of Italy gained three very valuable new territories in their quest to consolidate their northern Italian core. But the treasure was over 1,600 florins in debt, which at that time was a monstrous sum, in the several hundred millions, possibly even single billions by today's standards. The rest of Europe also looked down on Louis for grabbing those domains when they felt he didn't really deserve them. The war also failed in its original intent, to save the Duchess of Lombardia, who died without heir before the war ended. What will be important to remember later on, however, is that King Friedrich of Germany did not keep the land when it reverted to him. Instead, he named a new Duke of Lombardia and Count of Grisons.

Of course, despite the fact that there was a massive war debt, it must be remembered that the Kingdom of Italy was, in fact, extremely wealthy, so that by early fall 1096, roughly half of the debt was paid and another year or two would be sufficient to bring the kingdom back to solvency, provided no other conflicts broke out. Louis's reputation was also on the mend. While still regarded with some suspicion by his fellow monarchs, their trust was gradually coming back.

Two other important things happened that autumn. First, King Louis, who'd done so much for his family and had made the kingdom of Italy what it was, fell ill. Second, he discovered the territory he wanted to conquer next and resolved that when both he and the treasury recovered, he would go to war to get that piece of land.

But that... will come Monday! Have a good weekend!"

As I walk out of the room, I glance at Melody's empty seat. Guess she was telling the truth about being sick.

[Izulde]

Monday morning. I'm too hung over for this, but I pop a couple Advil and trudge into class. Melody's there, but since I come in through the back door, it's only her back I see as I take my seat. After class. Yeah, I'll talk to her then.

Morengay looks profanely cheerful as he always does at the start of a week and launches right into his lecture without preamble.

"Last time, I told you that King Louis I of Italy had in mind the land he coveted, but before I get into that, I should mention that William the Bastard, the famous conqueror of England, finally died in 1096 and his son Robert came to the throne. Robert, recognizing that he needed a powerful ally to keep his realm in order, sent an envy to Louis, asking for an alliance. King Louis I replied back and I quote, "You are a worthless dog. Though the Church sanctified your birth, you are a sniveling fool, worth less than a single hair on your mighty and worthy father's head. We will never join hands with a pigdog like you."

The class laughs and my head throbs. Just shut up, will you? Fortunately, they soon do, and Morengay continues.

"That was not the only event of fall, for in October, a Muslim revolt broke out in Palermo. Louis ordered his then-Marshal, 64 year old Severo Toccelli, to slay the rebels and convert the rest of the province to Catholicism, by the sword if necessary. Severo readily complied and the citizenry, seeing the writing on the wall, became Catholic everafter. Severo was also appointed Italy's archbishop upon the death of longtime curate Robert of Chalons for his zealotry in carrying out this task.

In November, the whole kingdom breathed a sigh of relief as Louis recovered from his illness. Archbishop Toccelli was quick to proclaim that it was the king's just reward for saving so many souls in Palermo.

The new year in 1097 presented Louis with a golden opportunity. The Duke of Lombardia foolishly broke away from the Kingdom of Germany and the Kingdom of Italy swarmed in, declaring war and Louis's right to the title via that former vassal who was the cause of the Lombardia War I talked about a couple of class periods ago. The conflict proved a leisurely, easy one and by May, Louis was the Duke of Lombardia, with the Bishop of Cremona as his new vassal. The king did not hold the title long, but instead elevated his faithful direct vassal, the Bishop of Piombiono, to the position of Archbishop of Lombardia.

In May of 1098, the debt was finally paid off and the Count of Parvia, the former Duke of Lombardia, become Louis's vassal. The de Semur stranglehold over northern Italy was more or less complete. But the Italian king dreamed of still more wealth and so as a celebration of the new financial stability and vassal, he issued an edict saying that the county of Provence belonged to him and he gave orders for war.

In response, the recently promoted Archbishop of Lombardia, calling Louis, and I quote, "a godless heathen who will be the ruin of us all" declared independence. After Louis successfully annexed Provence in a short war, he turned his fury upon the rebel vassal and in an even shorter conflict, not only took both Piombino and the Duchy of Lombardia back, but forced the upstart to recognize him as the sole person with right to the Italian throne.

This last forced concession angered vassals throughout Europe who harbored throne ambitions of their own and Louis's reputation plummeted, rising only marginally when he restored the title of Duke of Lombardia to the infant Count whose father had originally held it. In truth, on the one hand this was actually quite the dangerous and stupid move on Louis's part, because the child's heir, should he die without issue, was none other than King Friedrich of Germany. But on the other hand, it brought the Count of Grisons into the Italian kingdom's fold, so it was a worthwhile calculated gamble. This gamble became immaterial in August of 1099 when Grisons fell back into German hands.

About this time in 1099, the Pope called for a Holy Crusade to Alexandria. Given Italy's closeness in proximity to Rome and the kingdom's military might, there was a certain expectation that the de Semurs should be active participants in the crusade, but Louis did not immediately answer the call. He was too busy using money gotten from the Estates General to improve his personal domains, including another castle, this time in Modena, as part of a planned series of castles in the core of his Italian possessions. Furthermore, having very recently allied with the King of France, Louis feared that his new royal friend would take advantage of any war against the heatens to gain territory, money, and prestige for his own pockets, particularly as France had already had significant holdings in the Holy Land.

But then 1100 arrived and with the new century, Louis was seized by a newfound conviction that to go to war against the Muslims would be to enhance his suffering standing, and so he marched in January for Alexandria itself.

This Holy Crusade was so enthusiastically supported by the Church that Louis became reknowned as a great crusader and 1800 armed men blazing with religious fervor came to Bologna to pledge their swords, bodies, and souls to the mission.

On December 1, 1100, eleven months to the day after Louis left Bologna, Alexandria was his. A wealthy city with strong defenses, it was on par with Palermo in its economic and military might and in strategic location, equal to Bologna. The Crusade was a success.

But it was not without its drawbacks. An old Muslim man came to the court and since Italy needed a marshal, Louis put him in charge of the military. This led to a Papal fury that was quite costly in the indulgence it demanded and word began to spread that Italy's king was a sceptic. This did not, however, prevent him from being considered universally pious after his conquest in North Africa. His old marshal, Raymond Bourbone, helped to spread word of the king's piety when he conquered Gabiyaha next door to Alexandria and took the province for himself.

This was, it should be noted, also not the end of war with the Egyptian shiekdom, nor in fact did Louis manage to hold on to Alexandria... but that.... shall wait for next time!"

I'm getting used to his cliffhangers now.

I walk as quietly and steadily as I can out the door. Luck's on my side for once because Melody's late getting out.

"Nice to see you back and healthy!" In spite of my pain, I can still grin at her.

"Thanks", she answers noncommitally before tilting her head at me, "Sorry I had to cancel, but to make it up to you, clear your schedule this weekend. Forget your fraternity brothers, forget the lame parties and all that."

"Oh?" I raise my eyebrows. Making it up to me. -Those- were famous last words.

"Yes. You're spending the weekend with me. I'll pick you up at 7."

And before I can answer, she's gone in a whirl of blonde hair and a perfume I can't name.

I'm left standing there wondering what the hell just happened. Must be the same feeling good old King Louis must have had when he lost Alexandria or whatever.

...I need a Bloody Mary.

Back to the house I go.

[Izulde]

Only the lecture today. That' s all I'm going to concern myself with this Wednesday. I'm going to ignore the fact that Melody's wearing a short white skirt and a form-fitting pale orange blouse. Not going to pay attention to that at all. Is that a hint of cleavage I see as she's walking towards her seat from the front door?

The whine of the overhead projector firing up breaks my distraction, as does the inevitable picture that Morengay slides up.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v324/Izulde/croatia.jpg

"This is the situation in Croatia as of May 1103, three and a half years after King Louis took control of Alexandria. Croatia was where the sheik of Egypt fled and was building a new kingdom and where Louis pursued him. By this time, Alexandria had fallen back into Muslim hands and it now belonged to the caliphate of Cyrenaica, which was quickly replacing Egypt as the dominant North African Islamic power.

Louis was aided in his Croatian campaign by the Dukes of Rashka and Karten, but what's interesting to note is that the Italian king had very little interest in the region. He simply wanted to flush the Muslims out from being too close to Italy for his comfort.

Over the next two years, as the war raged on, several of Louis's relatives came to distinguish or shame themselves on the battlefield as the case may be."

Morengay changed the map for a series of portraits, which he explained one by one.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v324/Izulde/thomas.jpg

"This is Thomas de Semur, King Louis's eldest son. He was not in line to inherit the throne because under the de Semur laws of inheritance established shortly after they came into possession of Chalons, only the strongest son could receive the title. This turned out to be a wise move, for Thomas embarassed himself greatly. He lost numerous battles with the Bolognan regiment and also managed to become wounded in one of those poorly mismanaged conflicts. I'm sure it'll come as no surprise to you that Louis considered his eldest a disgrace to the de Semur name."

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v324/Izulde/Nazareno.jpg

"Here's Nazareno de Semur, who I forgot exactly what his relation to King Louis was, but he was part of the bloodline somehow. Appointed to the command of the capital regiment after Thomas's ineptitude, he successfully helped to turn the tide of the war back in favor of the Italians. As a sign of his skill in war, he conquered the county of Zadar and declared himself the ruler there under Louis's banner. Louis, pleased with Nazareno's efforts, let him keep the title with his blessing.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v324/Izulde/Zaccaria.jpg

"Like Nazareno, I don't remember just where he fit in the scheme of the bloodline, but this guy was incredible. The Marshal of the Italian armies, he almost singlehandedly saved Louis's Croatian war from ending in disaster with extremely innovative and ingenious tactics, some of which were still being used centuries later and have been adapted to business form today. He wrote a book titled The Invocation of Victory, in which he outlined his strategems and advice. If any of you happen to run across a copy of it, I urge you to read it. Brilliant writing and some hilarious ancedotes.

He also consulted with what passed for the engineering and architectual communities in Italy at the time and helped them to create the designs for a much larger and more formidable castle in Bologna, one that Louis hoped to have built once he was finished meddling in Croatia.

The whole Kingdom of Italy was sent into mourning in the fall of 1105. King Sancho Jiminez of Navarra and Aragon was killed in battle against Muslims and his sons, too, perished in a campaign as long and drawn out as the de Semur efforts in Croatia. Thus, a de Barcelona now ruled. Not only was the Spanish king dead, but Louis's own beloved second son, Steward Jimeno, who professed such love for the Castillian lifestyle. He, too, fell in war.

A week after Jimeno's death, Thomas died of his own war injuries that had pestered him for so long. It was a sorrowful time all throughout Italy, even in spite of the military successes and the agony was only added to in December when Callisto, the Count's fourth son, died of pneumonia. Now only Louis's chosen heir, Arnaud and Yves, a fifth son lived.

By early 1108, Louis was in control of Croatia and no Muslims remained. Despite this fact, the Caliph of Egypt stubbornly refused to make peace. Nonetheless, Louis disbanded his troops in the field and set about the task of reorganizing his Croatian lands.

In September 1108, what Louis feared would happen with the Duchy of Lombardia did, to a degree. The title was inherited by the Duke of Alsace, the King of Germany having been forced to surrender his title in a earlier civil war. This put a small dent in the Italian coffers, which at the time was getting approximately 54 florins a month in profit. Let's just say that was a lot of money for that time.

One thing that really vexed King Louis wasn't so much losing Lombardia, as it was the fact that just one province stood between him and a second crown and so saying, he went to war with the county of Usora shortly after Lombardia became the Duke of Alsace's.

On May 18, 1109. King Louis of Italy marched into Usora, and there, in the wealthiest province in all of Croatia, with great ceremony and paegantry and all of his dukes in attendance, he was coronated the King of Croatia.

Now two crowns at on one de Semur head.

That's all for today. See you next time."

By my math, which isn't the greatest, that means in just over 50 years, the de Semurs went from counts to kings of two countries. That's pretty damned impressive.

I'm so amazed as I'm thinking about that feat that I don't even notice Melody as I go out the door.

Hah! Take that!

[WVUFAN]

I find myself being more interested in the storyline with Melody than the game. :-) Your style of writing really draws the reader in, and I love the distinct personallities the story has.

Great job!

[Izulde]

I find myself being more interested in the storyline with Melody than the game. :-) Your style of writing really draws the reader in, and I love the distinct personallities the story has.

Great job!

Thanks! :) The Paradox boards feel the same way that you do, though they've developed a real love-hate relationship with Melody.

[TonyR]

Darn! I thought there was a new post here...

[DolphinFan1]

Darn! I thought there was a new post here...

So did I.

[Izulde]

TonyR: Sorry about that. :) This isn't a new post either. :D

DolphinFan1: Ditto. :)

Seriously though, really appreciate the interest, guys. :)

[Izulde]

Very important day, this Friday. But as always, there's the lecture from the perpetually cheerful Morengay, who puts a map up on his overhead.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v324/Izulde/italycroatia.jpg

"Here's the state of Italy-Croatia as it came to be called after the crowns were united under Louis, in May 1109. The different parts of the kingdom are, naturally, outlined in red.

Yet, even those boundaries did not stay long, as the remaining Croatian and Serbian lords pledged their fealty to Louis, which greatly pleased the king as you can imagine.

In September, he summoned his Bolognan regiment and set sail for the Middle East to finally once and for all wipe out the Egyptians, for he had other ambitions he wanted to execute that he couldn't with those pesky Muslims in his way. En route, the people of Hum, which by this time had become Louis's wealthiest territory in Croatia, hearing of their new liege's devotion to the Holy Crusade, abandoned Orthodoxy and converted to Catholicism wholesale in incredible public rituals. As a reward for his new co-religionists, King Louis ordered a library built in Hum.

Louis landed in Jaffa in July 1110 and by early September, the impoverished, backwater desert province was his. He pressed on to Hebron, where his forces valiantly battled army after army of Egypt's desparately fighting Muslim hordes, winning again and again.

Finally, in November, the Egyptian caliph offered to make peace in exchange for surrendering all rights to Zeta. Louis, as you might imagine, accepted, eager to get back to his Italian schemes. He appointed a governor in charge of Jaffa and returned home.

Once back in Bologna, Louis set upon his greatest ambition: to control the Adriatic Sea. As you can see from the map on the overhead, Italy-Croatia already held much of the Adriatic under its sway, but the powerful Duchies of Karten and Apuila stood in the way of absolute rule. Thus, it should come as no surprise to you that Louis claimed the right to Karten and invaded, for Karten was the easiest target, able to be hammered by both Italy and Croatia.

The war was going smoothly until February 14th, 1111. Valentine's Day is normally pretty cool, right? Girls, you get the chocolates and the flowers, guys you hopefully get a little fun if you do it right."

I can't stop from chuckling along with the rest of the class. Too bad it's not spring semester or I could plan something with Melody.

"But this Valentine's Day wasn't so great for King Louis I of Italy and Croatia. Pope Folco, seeing Italy-Croatia's bullying of Karten, ordered an end to the conflict, saying that a crusader of Louis's reputation should be concentrating on the Muslims.

Louis flatly refused and the pope excommunicated him.

Now you might be saying, so what? What's the big deal about some, pardon me if I offend any Catholics in here, some jackass in a funny hat saying you're no longer a member of the Church? Well, in those days, it meant that your soul was eternally damned and you could have no hope of the Kingdom of Heaven. It was the single worst thing that could happen to you.

It was even more of an outrage to Louis because of all he'd done to support Catholicism's name. Time and time again he'd defended the Church and to be cast out like this infuriated him.

As if that weren't bad enough, the Duke of Karten and Verona, for he held both titles, proved a much tougher nut to crack than Louis had anticipated. In fact, if it wasn't for the mighty marshal Zaccaria, who I've told you about before, Louis would've suffered a shameful loss from which he might've never recovered.

Unfortunately, the great and heroic man was also gravely wounded in the fighting. Louis, repenting of starting the war and causing his most capable general to be hurt, made peace in July for the Duke of Karten title and 500 florins. He then named Zaccaria the Duke of Karten and gave him the rich county of Provence to rule over, fulfilling the still young Marshal's long-held dream to become a titled noble.

In Zaccaria's place, Louis appointed another de Semur, Charles. Charles at the time was 21, four years younger than the man he'd replaced. He was renowned as an even mightier individual warrior than Zaccaria, but without the genius-level ability of strategy that his predecessor was so famous for.

Despite this attempt to make amends, Louis discovered that God was not done punishing him for Karten yet, for in September, his beloved wife Toda, who had been with him for as long as he could remember, died. It did not take long for him to find another bride however, as he married Irmeltrud von Rheinfelden, the lovely 16 year old sister of the infant King of Germany. Indeed, it is often said that she was so beautiful she rivaled the loveliest girls in France, then known for its stunning women.

December of 1111 brought a man who would play a very significant role in the future of Italy-Croatia. That man was Pedro Jimenez, a priest who was the brother to three Jimenezs already in court and the cousin to yet other Jimenezs who had been married to de Semurs. Upon his arrival into Bologna, he stormed into the castle, pushed the guards aside, marched into the throne room and said, and I quote "God has taken your love and reduced your favorite marshal to a provincial Duke. You have had no bishop since Robert of Chalons's death. Appoint me the Bishop of Italy-Croatia and great bounty shall enter your kingdom again, where now there is sorrow and sadness at every turn."

King Louis readily accepted and named the fiery Castillian the royal bishop.

We now turn our attention to the Middle East, for in February 1112, Louis realized that in obtaining the title of the Duke of Karten, he also received numerous count vassals. This stoked the flames of desire for conquest and crusading in him, to rid his excommunication. He noticed in particular that the Count of Krain held Cairo, a city that would make for an excellent base of operations. Louis ordered him to surrender the title but the Count refused. In response, the Italian-Croatian king declared war.

Zaccaria, furious at Louis's presumption, countered by declaring his own independence from the King and joining in war against Louis. By July, Cairo was in Louis's hands and Charles was about to make landfall on Provence and swords with the legendary marshal he'd replaced. Unfortunately for Zaccaria, he was still too ill to fight and so the battle was swift and in favor of Charles, who, it must be said, fought most impressively.

At the September peace negotiations, Louis demanded only the title of Duke of Karten, allowing Zaccaria to keep Provence in honor of the services his old marshal had rendered him and in acknowledgement of the Count of Provence's justice in defending his vassal.

The moment King Louis returned home to Bologna, he set sail. Where to... will be revealed... on Monday! Enjoy your weekend!"

I'm beginning to hate his cliffhangers, even though it's rather fitting, because I'm sailing into the unknown myself tonight, hell, this whole weekend.

Melody slips out the door while I'm lost in my thoughts.

Now I sit and wait for evening to come.

[DaddyTorgo]

making me want to buy CK!!!

is there a reason i shouldn't?

[Izulde]

making me want to buy CK!!!

is there a reason i shouldn't?

Not that I can think of, but then I'm biased. ;)

A few small caveats to be aware of, though:

1) Large court management can get extremely tedious. Download the 1.05 patch if it's not already installed as soon as you can. Cuts down a ton on the management, but it still can be a bit of pain.

2) After a while, you'll want to expand beyond the vanilla game (which I haven't done yet, admittedly). In that case, I strongly recommend some event packs, which you can find on the CK mods forum.

3) Although CK is easily the most accessible Paradox game, it's still a Paradox game, so the learning curve, while much gentler than any other offering, will still be a little deeper than most games.

It used to be that some thought the game too easy and you can make that case certainly. The nice thing about 1.05 is that it packs a nice set of large realm disruption events, making world conquest considerably more difficult. :D

[DaddyTorgo]

Not that I can think of, but then I'm biased. ;)

A few small caveats to be aware of, though:

1) Large court management can get extremely tedious. Download the 1.05 patch if it's not already installed as soon as you can. Cuts down a ton on the management, but it still can be a bit of pain.

2) After a while, you'll want to expand beyond the vanilla game (which I haven't done yet, admittedly). In that case, I strongly recommend some event packs, which you can find on the CK mods forum.

3) Although CK is easily the most accessible Paradox game, it's still a Paradox game, so the learning curve, while much gentler than any other offering, will still be a little deeper than most games.

It used to be that some thought the game too easy and you can make that case certainly. The nice thing about 1.05 is that it packs a nice set of large realm disruption events, making world conquest considerably more difficult. :D


must i go to a store to buy or something, or is it DL-able?

[Izulde]

must i go to a store to buy or something, or is it DL-able?

To be honest, I don't really know. I'd recommend looking around online and seeing what you can find.

[Izulde]

I'm standing downstairs on the first floor just shooting the breeze with Joe D and Sammy Mac when she walks in, looking surprisingly casual in blue denim shorts and a simple white tanktop and sandals.

Everyone stops their conversation and looks between her and me, watching with anticipation.

And then the silence breaks.

"...You're beautiful."

That's not from me, but from the top of the stairs where Caveman's bushy bearded white face is making its second or third appearance this semester. Even more amazing than his being there is the fact that he's actually talking.

"Hey Caveman! Great to see you lay off the schlong and join us!" Sammy Mac calls up the stairs, making all of us laugh.

But Caveman doesn't answer. His dark green eyes, normally so unfocused and distant are sharp, intent on Melody.

She smiles that cool smile I've come to know so well and matches his gaze, answering with the same relaxed tone as her clothes, "Thank you."

Now I'm staring too as Caveman walks slowly, like an old man, down the stairs. He's 27, almost 28, older than a lot of our alumni, but he seems even older than that. It's partly the beard, partly because he keeps so much to himself, partly something else I can't explain.

"Do you... would you..." The words are hesitant, the same fearful look he always gets around women coming into his eyes, "Would you like to go out to coffee? There's this shop downtown that's not too bad..."

Her smile grows, but what it blossoms into is a smirk, cold at the edges, an icy forerunner of what comes next.

"With you? No. You're too old and too ugly. Now go back to your room, play with yourself as you think about having me, and then cry over your pitiful existence."

Caveman flinches for just a moment, but it's there. He nods, murmurs a hasty okay, and hurries back up the stairs with a speed I've never seen from him.

We're all frozen in place, rooted by the bitchiness of her move. Any other girl and we'd be yelling at her or throwing her out of the house outright, but this isn't any other girl. This is Melody, who carries herself like a queen even dressed as a normal college girl.

She turns to me, that placid smile back in place.

"Come on, Nick. The weekend isn't going to wait for us, you know."

Is she kidding? She honestly expects me to...

"No. I'm not going. Forget it, Melody."

"What?" Her eyes darken, her lips tightening into a line that'd look shrewish on anybody else, but on her only makes her all the more regal looking.

But I've got my ground now and I'm not going to give in on this one.

"No. I'm not going. That's bullshit, Melody! Caveman's one of the coolest damn guys in this whole fraternity and for you to treat him like that is absolutely uncalled for. You go on your trip by yourself or whatever jagoff doesn't see you for the bitch you are. You can try throwing your money, your hotness, your everything around, but I'm not going to fall for your game. In fact, you know what? You can just get the hell out. I don't even want to talk to you again."

The audience of brothers break out into applause, cheers and whistles and I watch as Melody's face softens slightly.

"Nick, look.. I know he's your brother and everything... but you have to understand... can we just go and talk about this?"

I'm about to give her another cutting no when Drake comes racing down the stairs, laughing maniacally as he dashes down the hall with my overnight bag.

"Hey! That's my bag! Give it back, you bastard!"

I chase after him, the other brothers laughing as they watch.

Drake keeps running on out of the house and I follow, cursing and yelling at him to give me my bag back.

It's not until he drops my bag and keeps on running, waving as he heads off into the night, that I realize where I am and what's there.

I'm in the parking lot outside, standing next to a gleaming, silver Porsche Boxter. The kind that I'd trade my little sister in for.

As I stand there next to the car, gawking, my bag at my feet, Melody comes out and walks to the driver's side, her hand resting on the door just as easy as can be.

She looks across the seats at me, her face still gentle and subdued.

"Nick, come with me. Please?"

I'm so overcome with the prospect of actually being in a Porsche Boxter that before I fully recognize what I'm doing, my bag's in the trunk and I'm buckled in the passenger's side.

Neither one of us says anything until we're out of the city and on to the quiet freeway.

"I'm sorry about before, Nick. It's just that your friend is one of a certain kind of guy and it's unnerving."

Naturally I ask her what kind. She sighs, looking out beyond the window and into the night as the breeze passes through her hair, rustling it in a way thats's almost affectionate.

"The kind that's in love with beauty and puts women on a pedestal if they're pretty enough. And of course, no woman can be who they imagine us to be, so we disappoint them in the end and they end up hating us. You see Nick.. Caveman?... is an artistic spirit in love with love and beauty. Whether he gets the beauty he longs for or is rejected by it, just being in the presence of what he considers beautiful inspires him to create, whether it's art, poetry, stories, whatever."

I sit back and ponder that for a moment. There's probably some truth to that. Caveman -is- always in his locked room, busy writing stories and reading, or so he says. But still, it all sounds pretty silly to me.

"Maybe, but what makes you say that? I mean, you met him for what, five seconds?"

She smiles wryly and half-glances at me.

"Nick, I'm a beautiful, rich girl. Boys and men, too have been falling in love with me for as long as I can remember. After a while, a girl like me gets to know all about men, better than they know themselves even. It's not just being pretty or rich, you understand. It's not even enough to be pretty and well off. You have to be both beautiful and wealthy beyond what the middle class can comprehend."

As I'm thinking over, there's the loud growl of an engine and a smirking teenager comes up alongside in a Hyundai plastered with stickers.

"Hey! You wanna race?"

Melody sneers, a sudden flash coming into her blue eyes that I've never seen before, "Certainly. Nick, hold on. I need to teach this fucking riceboy a lesson."

I'm so shocked at hearing her curse that I don't even notice when I'm thrown against the back of the seat as she changes gears and takes off down the highway.

The Hyundai alongside us keeps up for a while and even pulls ahead for a few seconds, but as the red needle on the Porsche's dashboard pushes further and further to the right, we blow by the furious challenger and leave him sputtering in our dust.

My head's plastered to the seatback and so all I can do is hear Melody's laugh, so fierce and startling from such a delicate face.

"That'll teach him! I hate, hate, -hate- those damned riceboys! They're such pretenders!"

As I see her throw her head back and laugh all the more as we continue zooming down the road, I can only think one thing.

The more I learn about this girl, the less I know who she is.

[DaddyTorgo]

not to interrupt the "dynasty" but I must offer constructive criticism as a fellow writer: what was with Nick's rapid waffling there. I can understand wanting to do that for character development reasons, but to have it happen in the span of like...4 lines with little to no...afterthought or anything...just seems like it was pretty...pointless. And I don't think it added much to her character that we hadn't already gotten through it's evolution.

In short...tbh...to me, it's probably the weakest part of the whole story so far. But it's a very well-written, strong story, so take that for what it's worth.

[Izulde]

not to interrupt the "dynasty" but I must offer constructive criticism as a fellow writer: what was with Nick's rapid waffling there. I can understand wanting to do that for character development reasons, but to have it happen in the span of like...4 lines with little to no...afterthought or anything...just seems like it was pretty...pointless. And I don't think it added much to her character that we hadn't already gotten through it's evolution.

In short...tbh...to me, it's probably the weakest part of the whole story so far. But it's a very well-written, strong story, so take that for what it's worth.

For what it's worth, I agree with you. :)

I knew it was going to be tricky to figure out how to get Nick in the car after he said he wasn't going. Enter Drake, who steals the bag and drops it off by the car and then Nick becomes dazzled by the sight of his dream car, so he ends up going anyway.

...Or at least, that's what he says.

Somebody on the Paradox boards brought up another point with regards to Nick's character that was an equally valid criticism, but the answer to that one is the same to yours, I believe.

Namely, Nick may not be a reliable narrator and may not be completely honest.

Now, I don't know entirely yet if that's true or not, and it might well be that this is simply a weak plot point as you point out, but just suggesting that there could be reasons for it :)

And thanks, both for the compliment and the criticism :)

[DaddyTorgo]

For what it's worth, I agree with you. :)

I knew it was going to be tricky to figure out how to get Nick in the car after he said he wasn't going. Enter Drake, who steals the bag and drops it off by the car and then Nick becomes dazzled by the sight of his dream car, so he ends up going anyway.

...Or at least, that's what he says.

Somebody on the Paradox boards brought up another point with regards to Nick's character that was an equally valid criticism, but the answer to that one is the same to yours, I believe.

Namely, Nick may not be a reliable narrator and may not be completely honest.

Now, I don't know entirely yet if that's true or not, and it might well be that this is simply a weak plot point as you point out, but just suggesting that there could be reasons for it :)

And thanks, both for the compliment and the criticism :)



yw. And you know of course that you can't really properly evaluate it until the whole story has had a chance to play itself out. which is probably the perils of posting it as you're writing it :).

[Izulde]

yw. And you know of course that you can't really properly evaluate it until the whole story has had a chance to play itself out. which is probably the perils of posting it as you're writing it :).

Indeed :)

One thing that this dynasty has taught me though, is that I do in fact have the ability to write a compelling story and characters. I wasn't sure if I did before I started writing this dynasty, but now I have faith that I do.

[Izulde]

We drive in silence on the highway until we find the exit that she's looking for. A little while later, we're pulling into a forest and onto a gravel road that crunches as the tires roll on it.

And there is our destination, a fairly large cabin made of honey-colored logs.

She turns off the engine and without a word, we get our bags and walk up the short flight of stairs inside.

I'm surprised to find that it's smaller on the interior than I expected. A fairly tiny living room feeds into an equally dimunitive dining area with a modest four chair table, which in turn leads to a kitchen space that's more kitchenette than kitchen.

Melody guides me down a staircase that branches off the kitchen, remarking, "My father likes to rough it occasionally and come out here for weekend trips. He says it gets him back in touch with nature and being just an ordinary man."

I'm about to remark that it's awfully hard to be ordinary when a family's as wealthy as hers seems to be when we reach the bottom of the stairs and my breath's taken away.

There, in the basement, is a vast room of rich, colorful couches, thick, soft carpet, numerous rugs and pillows, and hanging, gauzy silks that give the place the appearance of something out of the Arabian Nights. The only thing that disrupts the feeling of Arabia is a wooden bar that lines the north wall, but even that blends in pretty well.

Seeing my open mouth, Melody smiles in her understated way.

"My father's favorite short story is Rabindranath Tagore's "Hungry Stones". He says he loves the idea of a classic Persian setting, so he made up this as a place to relax in and entertain guests every now and then."

"It's beautiful", I confess.

"There's some wine behind the bar I thought we could have for supper, but I'll get that later. Let me show you the rest of the place."

We go back upstairs and I discover the main floor's bigger than I thought. The living room area has a door on the left hand side that opens up into a vast bedroom dominated by a king bed and the decorations are much more of the kind of bedroom you'd expect from a rich family, with lots of what look like European artificats to my mind.

"My mother's doing, really. She hates the idea of roughing it and insisted that the bedroom be as close to home as possible", Melody explains with an ironic smile, "Though it's still much smaller than the ones at our house, she says it's tolerable."

Tolerable. A bedroom that's even bigger than the President's room at the chapter house is tolerable. It's all I can do to keep from shaking my head as I'm led out the sliding glass door that's connected to the dining area, where a pleasant porch that runs the length of the cabin awaits, along with, of all things, a hot tub.

As I'm blinking at the idea of a hot tub outside a cabin that's supposed to be roughing it, Melody's continuing her oddly chatty streak.

"It's a great place to relax in, especially in the summertime. You look about my brother's size, so I figured you could borrow his spare swimming trunks that he keeps here and we could relax in it after supper."

"What are we having for supper?" I finally ask, absorbing all this atmosphere in.

She smiles, a spark in her eyes.

"I thought since you're a fraternity man and all that you could cook us hamburgers on the grill just to the right before those maple trees over there."

She points it out and I laughingly agree to the plan. The truth is, I'm a pretty good griller if I do say so myself.

We pass the next half hour with preparing supper, I flipping hamburgers on the grill, she with fixing up a salad in the kitchenette. Then we eat at the table, making idle conversation about Professor Morengay, the class, and mutual professors we've had. The hamburgers turned out great, as did the salad she made, though I privately wished we had some dressing, rather than just vinegar, but she said vinegar tasted better and was healthier besides.

Once we're done with supper, we share the washing and drying duties of the dishes and silverware. I go to the bathroom that's attached to the bedroom and change into the borrowed trunks before going out to the hot tub, which Melody's turned on while I was changing.

I sink into the hot, swirling, steaming, bubbling waters and sigh happily. The heat's blissful on my bare skin, especially with the chill of the early autumn evening outside. In fact, with the quiet of the outdoors, the warmth of the tub and the fullness of my belly, it feels like a little taste of heaven.

Then heaven itself comes out in a one-piece, snug, shimmering silver swimsuit, a smile on her lips as she carries two glasses of red wine in hand. I accept the glass with a smile and a thanks, pleased to have sweet red, as I'm not fond of bitter white.

"It's gorgeous out here. I can see why your dad likes it", I offer as I sip my wine.

She slides in opposite me with a soft chuckle and a small sigh of her own pleasure at the water.

"I do too. My mother can't see the appeal though. More's the pity for her, I say."

"I used to go camping myself as a kid. Every summer, my dad would take a week off of work and all of us would go camping. We'd fish every day at this lake by our campsite... used to catch crappies, blue gill, the occasional bass or walleye. We'd come back and filet them and Dad would fry them up. Best fish I've ever had."

She smiles, looking thoughtful after taking a swallow of her own wine.

"I've never gone fishing, though my father likes to go pheasant hunting when the season rolls around. He does an excellent job of cooking it, too... it's so tender and so tasty when it's done right."

We pass from that discussion into a conversation about the places we've been on vacations. She's obviously been a lot more than I have and it's two wine glasses later that she's told me all about some of the cities and countries she's been in Europe.

She's in the middle of a story about a gondola ride in Venice when, feeling drowsy from the heat, the food, and the wine, I unexpectedly fall asleep.

When I wake up later, it's pitch black.

She's gone.

But then I see flickering light out of the corner of my eye and I turn my head to its source.

There's two rows of tall holders lining the path back into the house, candles glowing beautifully at their tops, the flames bouncing and waving with the slight breeze that threatens to put them out, but never does.

In the middle of the rows is a heap of silver.

Melody's swimsuit.

Intrigued, I climb out of the tub and follow the path set by the candles. I go inside and the guiding lights continue, albeit on shorter sticks than outside. They turn, directing me into the bedroom.

And there, lying on the bed, smiling radiantly and looking like the most divine of angels in all her bare pink and white glory, is Melody.

She crooks a finger, summoning me to her.

Entranced, I answer the call.

What follows is the most amazing, most incredible night of my life.

[Izulde]

This cold/flu/whatever it is has been kicking my butt all week so no update, but I figured you guys would be interested in knowing that this dynasty was named the Weekly Showcase AAR on the Paradox boards :)

I'll get another update in late this week, Thursday or Friday night. :)

[TonyR]

Darn you Izulde with your teasing posting non updates.

Great dynasty by the way.

[Izulde]

Darn you Izulde with your teasing posting non updates.

Great dynasty by the way.

And here's another non-updating tease post! :D

Thank you very much for the compliment :)

[Izulde]

I wake up the next morning to the sun beaming in on my face and the birds chirping outside the window.

I rub at my face and start to sit up when I hear Melody's voice talking. Unfortunately, it's indistinct and I can't make out what she's saying, so I roll out of bed and search for my clothes when I remember they're in my bag out in the living room area.

Just as I'm about to leave the room, Melody appears in impossibly cute, turquoise panties that looks like they're from Victoria's Secret and a bright pink T-shirt that says Team Pink in rainbow colors. I think it's simply scrumptious and so does the rest of me that's waking up as well.

She raises a brow at my obvious thoughts and shakes her head with a faint smile, "Not now. Get dressed. We're eating breakfast and then you're taking me fishing."

"What?" I blink.

"Fishing. With a pole? Bait? You do know what that is, right?"

I laugh at her mock sneer and nod on my way out of the room to get dressed.

Breakfast turns out to be some healthy cereal I can barely get down, a perfectly ripened banana and yogurt that's not too bad.

As we're washing up the dishes, I remember hearing her when I woke up.

"So, who were talking to this morning? Some secret other lover you've got stashed on the side?" I quip as I dry a bowl.

She rolls her eyes as only she can do.

"No. My father. He says he likes to start his weekend off right by finding out how I'm doing so he calls me every Saturday morning. Oh, by the way, sorry about drugging your wine last night. It was the only way I could think of short of hitting you with a mallet to knock you out for a few hours so I could get everything set up."

"Oh, that's cool that you talk to your da--wait, you drugged me?"

I stare at her while she nods nonchalantly as she puts away the dried silverware. I'm trying to figure out whether that's freaky or really damn cool when she takes me by the hand, pulling me away from the sink.

"Come on. Let's go fishing."

And we do, after a trip to a store in the small town that abuts the park we're staying in. Here, I got to show off my fishing knowledge by picking out a couple of poles and bait for a variety of weather conditions. She paid for it all of course, with an American Express Platinum Card.

We spend all day out on the lake. She catches on surprisingly fast and hauls in a big, beautiful rainbow trout just as the sun's starting to set. I wish I had a camera to catch that moment--the orange of the declining sun, the spray of the water as the fish jumps out, fighting to get away, the incredible smile on Melody's face as she laughs and moves with her efforts to land it... If there really is such a thing as poetry in motion, it's moments like that, that are it.

I catch a few blue gill to go with her trout and we make a dinner out of them, I with the manly filleting and frying, she with the feminine table setting and candelighting. This time she doesn't drug my wine and as a result, the lovemaking is even more exciting and mindblowing than the night before.

Sunday morning we pack up and we're starting the drive home when she puts in a mix CD of oldies, '50s and '60s music.

"I never figured you for an oldies girl", I joke, "Shouldn't you be listening to classical and opera?"

I know her well enough by now to anticipate the eyeroll that comes, "No. That's my mother. I like oldies. They're simple and sweet, a lot more pleasant than today's music. In fact, those days were a lot simpler and more fun than the world we live in now."

"I don't know about that..." And I don't. Things don't seem quite so pat to me and I think about it some more before answering, "I mean, look at Iraq. It's like Vietnam all over again. Kids our age and younger believed in world peace then and I bet they hope for it now, too, even if they don't say it as much."

She grips the steering wheel, emphatically shaking her head.

"No, Nick. It isn't the same. The youth of the middle and working classes act like they're sophisticated, so worldly, like they know everything. They don't. They're just as stupid and unaware as ever and the fact that they act like damned know-it-alls is irritating, as irritating as their sense of self-entitlement."

I'm tempted to remark on the entitlement bit, but I wisely let it go by.

"Hey, I never claimed to be sophisticated!" I grin.

Her hold on the wheel loosens, the tense lines in her face easing out.

"I know. That's what I like about you, Nick. You're honest and true to who you are and unlike other honest, true guys like that Caveman friend of yours, you're not clingy or pushy. You know when to stand your ground and when to just go with the flow."

I have to look out the window or else I'll burst out laughing right there. I'm beginning to think that maybe she doesn't know me as well as she thinks she does. Or maybe she does and she's seeing something in me that I can't see.

It's a disturbing thought, that someone would know you better than you know yourself. Time to change the subject.

"What is it with you and class, anyway?" I say, turning back to her, "I mean, look at Paris Hilton. She's filthy rich and she doesn't seem any brighter than anyone else. In fact, I think she's dumber than everyone else."

The answering sneer that slides over Melody's face is genuine this time.

"Paris Hilton is not of my class. She's part of the newly rich, heiress though she is. My class is one of generations upon generations of wealth, the kind of accumulated, careful wealth, power, and most of all, respectability that only time can instill in a family."

I'm about to retort when sirens flash behind us. Melody mutters something undignified under her breath and tells me to get her a white envelope out of the glove compartment.

It's in her hands just as the cop, who doesn't look any older than either of us, comes up to her window.

"Good day ma'am. License and registration, please?"

"Oh, officer! Was I speeding? I'm -soooo- sorry. It's just that, I like, have this really big party to get to tonight and like, my friend here has this like really superhot date he's been wanting to go out with for like ages! So we had to like, really hurry!"

My fist presses against my mouth to keep myself from laughing in disbelief at Melody's sudden change in voice and mannerisms. Her eyes wide, she begins rummaging through her bag.

"Oh, shoot! Where is it? Oh, there it is!"

The cop's smiling as she hands him the materials, remarking, "You know who you remind me of?"

"Paris Hilton?" she asks, all hair flipping and innocent eyes.

He laughs, "No, no, nobody sleazy like that. More like um... Alicia Silverstone! Yeah, that's it.. Alicia Silverstone in Clueless!"

"Omigawd, that's -such- a good movie!" Melody breathlessly replies, "Oh, oh! I almost forgot! I wanted to show you this really cool card! Please, please look at it!"

The cop blinks bewilderedly as he takes the envelope, "Huh? Why?"

"Pleeeeeeeasssssee?! Do it for your Alicia?" She bats her eyes, her voice imploring and begging so theatrically I have to bite my knuckles to hold my hilarity in.

Our young officer can't resist against this onslaught of girlish charm and so he opens the envelope, reading the card inside.

He goes pale, looking from card to driver's license and back again before hastily putting the card in the envelope and handing everything back to her, his voice quite professional and clipped now, if slightly wavery.

"I'm quite sorry about the misunderstanding, Miss Suchet. Continue on your way, but please, slow down, okay?"

"I will! Thanks!" She rewards him with a beaming smile that makes even me weak in the knees.

It's not until we're back on the highway and he's safely out of view that I allow myself to finally break out into hilarious, loud, long laughter.

"How the hell did you get out of that? What was in that card?"

"Oh, the state police commissoner sends my family a Christmas card every year and puts all our names on it", Melody answers breezily as she slows down to just above the speed limit.

That doesn't surprise or awe me. I'm slowly getting used to it. Wiping the tears of mirth from my eyes, I sit up more normally.

"That was some acting performance you put on back there."

She smiles wryly, "That's how women of my class make it in this world, Nick. We learn how to be whatever kind of woman the men we meet want us to be."

I can't keep my brow from creasing in irritation.

"There you go again with class! Seriously, will you get off that crap already?"

"Look, Nick. You don't know what it's like to be in that type of society. Few people do and even those who encounter it once or twice can only barely scratch the surface of what it's like."

She sighs before lapsing into a thoughtful look.

"Tell you what. My father is holding his annual holiday party the week after finals in December. It's a few months away obviously and I'll send you the formal invitation when it gets closer to the date, but... will you come? I don't expect you to learn and understand everything in one night, obviously, but you can get a taste of what I'm talking about."

I'd like to get another taste of her. A lot more tastes of her, if you want to know the truth. And the chance to meet her family, see her house, mingle with truly high society... Could there be any other answer than the one I gave?

"Yes. Of course I'll come."

[Wolfpack]

I think I see a potential twist looming on the horizon, but I hesitate to say much more for fear of a) being wrong and b) if I'm right, I don't wish to give anything away.

[Izulde]

I think I see a potential twist looming on the horizon, but I hesitate to say much more for fear of a) being wrong and b) if I'm right, I don't wish to give anything away.

Fair enough :) I'm fine with it either way, as the thread on the Paradox boards has been filled with speculation and guesses, including one who correctly surmised that Melody drugged Nick's wine. :D

And in other news, this dynasty won Favorite Narrative AAR in the Crusader Kings category of the 2007 1st Quarter AARland Choice Awards on the Paradox forums with 8 votes. It beat one of the behemoths of the CK forum to pick up the victory :)

[Izulde]

I passed the rest of Sunday as if in a dream. Everything tingled with the memory of Melody and that incredible weekend. Now Monday's here and so are Melody and I in Prof. Morengay's class. She's in pale yellow and white today. Normally I don't like yellow, but she makes it look good. I don't offer her anything more than a casual upnod of acknowledgement on my way to my seat. She downnods back. It's more than we would've exchanged in public before at any rate.

The prof ambles in, beaming as ever on Monday. I don't mind it this Monday. After all, I just bedded the most amazing girl on campus and got invited to a jetset party besides.

"Good morning class and welcome back!

When we met last Friday, I told you, among other things, about how King Louis I came to be Duke of Karten and receive several vassal counts in the Middle East. I told you about how he conquered Cairo and set sail again shortly after his return to Bologna, but didn't tell you where.

Where he sailed was right back to Cairo.

Unfortunately, in early November of 1112, the Duke of Ancona and his vassal, the Count of Ancona, rebelled against the de Semurs. Some thought was given to pulling the Bologna regiment from its Middle East journey to deal with the revolters, but in the end, Marshal Charles de Semur was sent with the Ferrara regiment to put down the insurrection.

Two weeks after Marshal Charles marched with his army, on November 23rd, 1112, the great King Louis I de Semur of Italy and Croatia died in his sleep while his fleet was still in the Adriatic Sea.

The entire dual kingdom mourned for days. Arnaud de Semur, Louis's chosen heir, was particularly distraught. Already in a great depression, he renounced his right to rule the two kingdoms and so the crown passed to his younger brother, Yves, who was the kingdom's steward."

Prof. Morengay stops to put up a couple portraits on the overhead.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v324/Izulde/KingYves.jpg

"This is King Yves I of Italy-Croatia."

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v324/Izulde/QueenMelisenda.jpg

"And here's the Queen, his not-so-pretty wife.

As if the problems weren't bad enough for the de Semurs at this time, Pope Folco, who'd called for peace before, demanded again that the de Semurs make peace with their Catholic enemies, in this case the Duke of Ancona. Yves, fiercely determined not to lose any of his father's Italian possessions, refused and ordered Charles to continue his lightning campaign.

This Charles did and in March 1113, the Duchy of Ancona and County of Urbino were back in de Semur hands, this time with Arnaud de Semur, who felt quite comfortable ruling as a duke over a poor Italian county.

To combat the ill will generated by crushing the insurrection, Yves elevated a couple other of his counts to Duke status and this generosity did much to improve the rest of Europe's opinion of the new king, because everyone likes a guy who gives out presents. That's why Santa Claus is so popular."

We all chuckle appreciatively at the quip and listen as Morengay continues.

"Shortly thereafter, a pair of Yves's vassals declared war on the shiekdom next to Cairo. The king, still eager to prove his reputation and restore the tarnish on his spirituality from refusing to make peace with Ancona, joined the battle and sent Marshal Charles from Cairo to handle the matter.

Unfortunately, this all proved for naught, as the Steward of the County of Provence, which was still ruled by Zaccaria de Semur, conquered both of the shiekdom's territories with Charles's assistance and claimed them in his own name and under the flag of Zaccaria, who was only too happy to be the only count in all of Europe to have his own vassal.

The marshal's bad fortunes continued at a massive tournament held by King Yves I in late January, 1114. Not only did Charles suffer an embarassing loss in the final, but he was gravely wounded in the process.

What was clear in the first six months of Yves's reign was that he was in no way even close to matching Louis the Great as his predecessor came to be called, and Italy-Croatia seemed to be in a stalemate.

Only time would tell if the de Semurs would be able to break out of the rut.

That's all. See you Wednesday."

We're all somewhat flat as we leave. I enjoyed hearing about Louis, but so far this Yves guy seems real boring.

Oh well, maybe he'll improve. After all, if I scored with Melody, anything's possible.

[Izulde]

Lecture time. I'm planning to ask Melody something after class, but first things first.

Morengay's looking a little tired. Wonder what he was up too late doing.

"Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. When we left last time, I told you that Italy-Croatia had come into a stalemate since King Yves I's coronation and were even beset by some misfortunes.

Yves knew, however, that his subjects scorned him, who'd hoped for Arnaud to take the throne and that furthermore, he didn't have the impressive aura and reputation that his father did. Thus, his original focus was to make sure that he simply didn't lose anything. To that end, Yves concentrated on strengthening what later historians called the de Semur Six--that is, the four connected Italian core provinces of Mantua, Bologna, Ferrara, and Modena that were the continous centre of the de Semur power and the Croatian provinces of Hum and Usora, the richest territories in the eastern half of the kingdom.

In September 1114, two things happened. One, the meddling Pope Folco, who'd been such a thorn in the de Semur side, died. Two, the day after Folco's death, which Yves privately celebrated in the de Semur castle in Bologna, an epidemic of typhoid fever struck the capital city. You can draw your own conclusions as to where -that- plague came from.

Despite the plague, the city remained orderly and was even a site of celebration when the expansion project on Bologna Castle begun under Louis's reign was at last completed in February 1115. It was renamed Louis Castle in honor of that great monarch and it was the first castle in Europe that later historians would come to call a medium-sized castle. Don't ask me how they came up with those classifications, but that's what they said. In even better news, the typhoid epidemic ended two months later.

Things were awfully quiet the next few years, with the only notable events happening in 1117, when in February when a small republic pledged fealty to Yves and in November when the Duchy of Lombardia declared its independence.

Not wanting to upset the delicate balance of his realm, King Yves I retained his claim on the Duchy, but chose not to press it, for he was unpopular with the clergy and to press a claim would've been to risk him getting in big trouble with the Papacy like Louis did. The lose your soul kind of trouble.

Luckily for the rather boring king, the Caliph of Hammadid, one of the lone remaining North African Muslim empires, decided to conquer some territory extremely close to the de Semur heartland in November 1118. Yves was only too happy to declare war, for he'd heard the tales growing up of how the Middle East enabled his father to restore his reputation.

He raised the royal Bologna regiment and was able to conquer the province of Lombardia, but could not move swiftly enough to capture the other two Muslim provinces, which were reconquered by the German kingdom. Unfortunately, despite Yves' best hopes, the reconquest of Lombardia did nothing to elevate his standing in the clergy, for word had gotten out of his celebration of Folco's death and he was never forgiven for it.

Worse yet, his wife Melisanda died in labor in January 1119 along with the child. This circumstance was particularly distressing because Yves still had no son to carry on his line of the de Semur tree.

The king was determined that he would marry no one less than a princess, which was something of a problem given that at that time, most of the European monarchies were either without marriageable daughters or said daughters were too old.

But luck smiled on King Yves I in the end, for he married a much more attractive woman than his first wife. He married the pretty 17 year old Princess Gunhild Knytling of Norway and yes, she is an ancestor of Professor Knud Knytling who came to guest lecture for us early in the semester."

Morengay stopped to put a picture up on the overhead.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v324/Izulde/Gunhild.jpg

"That would be Queen Gunhild I of Italy-Croatia."

She certainly is prettier than the other hag Yves married. Still not as pretty as Melody, though.

Morengay resumes.

"It was one of the most lavish and celebrated weddings of the early 12th century and it also made the de Semurs even richer, for Gunhild's dowry was 436 florins. To put that in perspective, that was almost enough money to build an actual castle.

With this newfound wealth, Yves decided to finance an expedition to North Africa to take out the remainder of the Hammadid caliphate. While the Bologna regiment proved very successful, the Palermo troops, under the auspices of the royal steward, Xabier Jimenez, suffered an embarassing loss in August 1119 despite having a 1750-450 advantage.

This led Yves to relieve Marshal Charles de Semur, who never did recover from his wounds, of his position and appoint a new marshal, one of the many Premyslids in the royal court. The Premyslids, incidentally, were the Kings of Bohemia and their presence was beginning to rival that of the still-strong Jimenez influence. The two families hated one another and vyed for favour constantly. There's a very good book about their clashes and if anyone's interested in it, see me after class. And just as a side note: At the time of the Hammadid campaign, the Jimenez controlled three major court positions: Steward, Diocese Bishop as Pedro was still alive and happy about the holy war, and Chancellor. The Premyslids controlled only the position of Marshal, but they quite naturally hoped for a reversal of fortunes.

Speaking of rivals, the kingdom of Italy-Croatia grew concerned when it received word that its archrival Germany was rapidly eating up territory in the Hammadid caliphate. To make things worse, King Yves I suffered a rout during the seige of the Hammadid capital when the Caliph appeared with a stronger army to drive off the de Semur forces.

But a glimmer of hope appeared on May 28, 1120, for at long last, a son was born to Yves.

He named him Louis, in honor of his illustrious father in hopes that even if he himself could not win in Africa, that his son, with this august name, would have a chance at greatness.

We'll pick up Friday with the continuation of Hammadid adventures."

I walk out the door as fast as I can, to catch Melody.

She turns around when I tap her on the shoulder, her face as inscrutable as ever.

"Hey, I was thinking I didn't feel like partying this weekend and the house is going to be noisy, so I was wondering if I could crash at your place."

That small smile I've gotten to know so well appears, though it doesn't reach her eyes. Not that I'm surprised, of course. Even the dimmest fool would know by now that it's rare for her to show an extreme in emotion.

"You can stay over Friday night. Saturday night I have to be out of town and I don't let anyone in my room when I'm not there."

I agree and she gives me the address. I recognize it as being in one of the blocks of houses that surround the campus and are usually rented out for student housing. I'm surprised that she would actually live in rented housing like normal people, but who am I to judge?

In any case, it's a victory. A half-victory because it's only for Friday night, but a win all the same.

It's going to be interesting seeing what her personal pad looks like.

[Izulde]

Big night tonight. But as always, lecture first. It's strange, I thought I'd hate this class when I signed up, but it's becoming my favorite class this semester.

"When we stopped last time, things were going pretty badly for King Yves I in his campaign against the Hammadid empire. He'd suffered some embarassing defeats and Germany, Italy-Croatia's biggest rivals dating back to the end of their alliance, was smashing through North Africa and gobbling up everything in sight.

Despite these setbacks, another opportunity arose in September 1120. Provence, which had become an independent county under the legendary Zaccaria de Semur, was overrun by North African Muslims. It's said that the former Marshal, even though he was still gravely wounded, fought from his bed and killed no less than thirty-five enemy soldiers before they finally overwhelmed him and cut him down.

Ironically enough, it was not any great burning desire for revenge that spurred Yves on to Provence, but rather, it was King Errad Capet of France who drew his ally into the war with the conquering emirate. Nonetheless, the de Semur monarch took advantage and merrily marched on his way to Provence.

Unfortunately for Yves, Provence fell into French hands before he could arrive there and worse yet, the Emirate of Al-Maris, who were the enemy that slew Zaccaria, were seiging Cairo, which did not have near the people or the troops then that it does today.

But along came the French, who not only routed the Al-Marians, but who conquered the Emirate's territories along the Red Sea, giving France control of the entire western half, the eastern half in command of the emirate of Medina.

All was not lost for hopes of Italian-Croatian gains however, for the Governor of Pisa conquered the province of Sudan in late November 1121. Sadly, this did nothing to improve Yves's sullied reputation with the Church and as if things weren't bad enough, in January 1122 a French duke won the day just as the royal marshal was about to conquer a province belonging to the emirate of Cyrencia, whom the de Semur king had gone to war with to try and mount at least one successful crusade.

The cumulative effect of all these frustrating campaigns was to send King Yves I into a very deep depression, so deep that he called off any further crusades and resolved to sit despondently in Louis Castle and ignore Bishop Pedro Jimenez's insistence that he go to Iberia, where the Cyrencia emir had relocated. From there, argued the bishop, Yves could go on to reconquer all of the peninsula and cover his name in glory greater than Louis's.

But Yves would have none of it.

This in turn led to Pedro's own depression and two suicides in the royal court a week apart in March 1122 created a very dark and haunting atmosphere in Bologna. This melancholy spread out into the city itself, where citizens, despondent at King Yves I's poor rule, rioted and destroyed the courthouse, which the monarch made no effort to rebuild.

Factional fighting increased as a result, for a della Torre, an Italian nobleman whose family was of no great consequence, challenged the Premsylid marshal to one on one combat, claiming that he should be the new head of the armies. Yves, not wanting to see any more bloodshed and unimpressed with Jesek's uninspired campaigns in North Africa, agreed to the switch without further comment.

This move not only enraged the Premyslids, but it caused Jesek to plunge into despair equal to that of his liege's and the bishop's. Those were very gloomy times in Bologna and if you take a look at the writings from that period, you'll see it was prevalent throughout the city.

In fact, it got so bad that continous riots broke out in January of 1123 and would continue on for a very long time. As a sign of the chaos of the times, the Jimenez steward died in June and he was replaced by none other than a Premyslid, which meant the balance now stood at two Jimenez to one Premyslid. This meant of course that there were two alleged neutrals in the court's highest positions, but I have to tell you that the della Torre marshal was as anti-Premyslid as you could get without being a Jimenez, so he considered himself a part of the Jimenez faction.

Now you think things would've gone downhill enough that this would be the end of it and things would start improving, right? Nope! One of the Premyslids went insane and killed the court's head of spies, decrying her as a Jimenez sympathizer, which she wasn't incidentally. That left the best person for the job none other than a 38 year old Berber Muslim by the name of Immerghar Isa. From the evidence we have, it appears that by this point, Yves had given up on ever appeasing the clergy and thus was determined to antagonize them at every opportunity he got.

The riots in Bologna spread to Modena in January 1124, but fortunately they lasted just two weeks before petering out. Still, the situation in the capital province was getting so deplorable that the de Semurs quietly began to discuss the possibility of moving out of their beloved Bologna.

These plans were scratched when riots broke out in Palermo in May, as the de Semurs realized that no matter where they went in Italy-Croatia, there would be problems, for Yves was simply that hated a monarch. The local priests in the rioting counties were in particular the ringleaders of these demonstrations of anti-Yves sentiment, but the king knew better than to risk delivering capital punishment to them, for to do that would've been to risk the absolute dissolution of any stability in the dual kingdom.

A week of riots was all that was needed to stir things up to an open rebellion. The Arabs of Palermo, though Catholicized by the sword under Louis the Great's reign, never forgot their Muslim roots and resented the de Semurs as occupiers. Although the revolt was swiftly put down, it was a sign that Italy-Croatia was continuing to crack at the edges.

That's all for now. Try to enjoy your weekend!"

A pretty depressing lecture, all in all. I hope it doesn't foreshadow bad things for tonight.

[Izulde]

It's dusk now and I'm walking down the sidewalk towards Melody's place. The sky's this really pretty pale purple and as I walk, I look around me at the houses, which are really unique in their different designs and architectual styles. Not that I know much about them of course. I'm not much into that kind of thing.

One of my fraternity brothers is, though. He's a dual Architecture and Business major who works for his father's architecture firm in the summers and wants to be an architect himself someday. He told me the story of how this section of houses came to be.

Apparently back in the 1920s, Franz Kronstadt, who started Kronstadt's Brewery here in town, decided he wanted to host a house design contest, so he bought up all the homes here in these three blocks, had them torn down, and announced a competition for the most beautiful and creative home, with a grand prize of $100,000.

Architects came from all across the world and each competitor was given an empty lot to build their entry on. When the contest was over, Kronstadt was so pleased with the results that he let the houses stand as they were and it's become something of a tourist attraction for the town, though most of the houses are rented out to students now, like I said earlier.

Melody's house turns out to be a large, stone building with a turret on either side. Looks almost like a castle, actually, which is fitting in a way, since she seems to come from an old money family, based on what she's told me before.

I walk up the steps, a gradual incline of cobblestone. The scent of the flowers sprawling out across the lawn is pleasant and it adds to the strangely mystical quality that the hour and the atmosphere have already induced in me.

That sense of magic grows all the more when the tall, arching door is opened and Melody steps out, a vision in a shimmering, bare-shouldered white dress.

She smiles in that small way of hers, with a warmth that I haven't seen since that night in the cabin. My hopes for some real fun ramp up considerably.

"Good evening, Nick. Welcome to my home."

Her home? That doesn't surprise me as much as it should, but it's still a little jarring.

"You don't have roommates?"

She shakes her head as she takes my hand and leads me into a massive living room decorated with pale blue carpet, a few leather couches that I'm scared to know the price of and an elaborate fireplace that makes the one we have in the fraternity house look puny in comparison.

"No. I paid the man who owns the place 15 years' worth of rent provided that he not allow anyone else to rent the house until I graduate and provided that I be permitted to remodel it however I like."

I merely nod in answer. Is there anything she can't buy with money? To be honest, it's getting a little sickening, being surrounded by all that wealth and here I am barely scraping by to pay for school.

She takes me through a quick tour of the ground floor, but I don't pay much attention to what she's saying. Her perfume smells even sweeter than the flowers outside and she looks dazzling enough that my irritation at her wealth fades after a while and I just listen to the sound of her voice as it rises and falls.

It's not until there's a long pause and she's looking quietly at me that I come back out of the sensory clouds I'm in.

"...Sorry. What were you saying again?"

Her smile's a little wry and a little sad, too.

"You haven't been listening... for that I'm tempted not to show you my favorite room in the entire house... and it's one I don't let people in.. ever."

Shit. I shake my head to clear out the cobwebs, smiling sheepishly with genuine apology.

"I'm sorry... It's just that you have so many great places that it gets a bit overwhelming after a while... You're pretty overwhelming yourself sometimes too, you know."

It's her turn now to nod silently as she wordlessly leads me up the winding staircase in one of the turrets. It isn't until we're at the top of the stairs and in front of the lone door that she speaks again and this time, her voice is the softest I've ever heard it.

"It's okay.. just pay attention in this room.. please? It's important to me.. this is my sanctuary and it means a lot that I'm sharing it with you."

"All right, I will." My curiosity's through the roof. What could make her act like this? I get the feeling that this is going to be one monumental discovery.

As I'm trying to figure out what could possibly be inside, she opens the door and guides me across the threshold.

It's dark. So dark that I can't see anything, but I hear Melody flicking some switches and gradually little dots of light flare up at about waist-level across the room.

After my eyes adjust, I see that the perimeter of the room is lined with glass display cases and, from the nearest case, it appears that the lights are shining beneath jewels.

"Gemstones", she clarifies to my questioning gaze, "but not just any gemstones."

I wait while she walks over to the nearest one, where a sparkling array of different shades of green gemstones twinkle up at me.

She rests a single, white hand on the glass, staring dreamily at the stones, her voice quieter still, so that I have to lean in, both to look at the display case's contents and hear her words.

"They're gemstones that I've mined with my own hands. This entire room is filled with them. My father has his outdoor hobbies and his cabin, I have my mining trips and my gemstones."

She begins pointing out the green gems and reciting, "Emerald, the first one I ever mined, when I was 10, in Zambia. Nephrite, which is a form of jade. Russia, when I was 14. Jadeite, the rarer and more beautiful form of jade, the same trip."

I'm stunned to hear that Melody has a mining obsession. She doesn't seem the type to be interested in getting her hands dirty, but here she is, going through all the different stones she's gotten in a rapturous voice, her eyes distant with memory and her lips in a gentle, fond smile like I never thought she would have.

The showcase continues and I don't speak, not wanting to break the spell as she moves from case to case, apparently organized by color, as she tells me their names, when and where she found them, and the occasional fact about them.

"Spinel, a type of ruby, Tanzania, not long after I got the emerald in Zambia... Amethyst, Uruguay, two years ago. Incidentally, I've had to work very hard to keep its color, as amethysts are quite prone to fading."

Here Melody stops and smiles with curious mischief at me.

"It's said to protect whoever wears it against seduction."

...Ouch. But there's an opening here and I take advantage of it.

"So why don't you wear it, then? In fact, why don't you have some of these put in rings or necklaces or something? They're too pretty to just have locked up here where nobody can see them."

She shakes her head emphatically, her lips in a thin line.

"No. Not unless I learn goldsmithing or silversmithing or something like that and make the jewelry pieces myself. You see, this is all about something I've done with my own hands. To associate it with someone else's work would be to ruin it."

I see her point and tell her so.

The tour continues on then, but I can't help but notice she skips over a small, light blue gem. I say nothing, but am rewarded when she returns to it after going through all the others.

"This one's my favorite, because it's the rarest."

I look at the tiny, brilliantly blue, shining stone, but I don't see anything special about it or why it should be so rare. All of them look pretty to me.

"It's a Paraiba tourmaline", she explains, "Found only in the Paraiba region of Brazil. There's ones that are very similiar to it that were found in Nigeria very recently, but they're not the same. The gemstone itself was found only in the 1980s and it's got an incredible story."

Melody gazes into the stone and I do, too, listening intently to every word her dreamy, eloquent voice speaks.

"A man named Heitor Dimas Barbosa believed there was a gemstone of unspeakable quality that no one had ever seen in the unassuming hills of Paraiba. He spent years digging and searching, driven on by his quest for this new, perfect stone. Finally, in 1989, after nearly a decade of hunting, he found it... the Paraiba tourmaline.

But he never got to behold his discovery. He was sick the day it was found and the assistant who found it, seized by greed, sold off the crystals as quickly as possible and for a sum that even my mother would find staggering.

The hills were torn apart over the next few years until they were spent and it was believed that there were no more of the beautiful, exciting tourmaline to be found.

But one summer, I begged my father to take me there as a Sweet 16 gift and kept pestering him until he gave in. I was enchanted with the story of a man who had such a powerful dream, only to have his joy snatched away from him at the moment he was to achieve it.

We went and I didn't have any luck the first couple days.

Then, on the morning of my 16th birthday, 10:27 am.. I remember the time because I looked at my watch the very second I got in my hand, I found it... I found this stone.

I screamed, Nick. I screamed when I saw it... I couldn't believe I'd actually found it. It was the best birthday I've ever had. From that moment on, it became the most prized possession of my collection. I've had people offer me far more money than you can imagine for it, but I refuse to part with it... It'll stay with me forever."

Her face is flushed and her hands are gripped tight into fists as she tells me this story and all I can do is stare in wonder at her passion, her intensity.

After a few minutes, she takes a deep breath, exhales and lets her body fall slack.

"Thank you for showing me this room and telling me that story, Melody. I'm honored that you've let me see and hear it", I murmur, more sincere in this moment than I've ever been with a girl.

She nods her quiet thanks and exits the room with equally solemn dignity.

I follow her down the staircase back to the living room.

She stops and turns to me, her face composed to its usual coolness.

"Your turn to pick where we eat."

[Izulde]

She did this to me before, only it was dessert. Now I'm responsible for an entire meal.

It's an easy choice, though. Mario's, this really great, cheap Italian eatery downtown where the smoke of cigarettes is almost as thick as their pizzas, unless you're ordering the thin crust like I usually do.

We're silent as we walk from Melody's house to downtown. Other men, less secure men, like Caveman, would be out of their minds with paranoia and worry that they're doing something wrong, but not me. Not ever me. Paranoia and worry is how you lose the very women you want. Confidence is what wins them more often than not, and besides... the few women I haven't had that I've wanted over the years? The very few? I've always said to myself, fuck 'em.

But it's different with Melody than it is with the other girls. It's more than her wealth, it's more than her obsessions with class and it's more than her otherworldly beauty. It's the sort of cool confidence and sophistication blended together that no other girl I've ever met has.

...I think I'm falling in love with her. Falling in love with Melody Suchet.

It's strange. I don't think I've ever fallen in love before.

Not really, anyway. Sure I've told girls I love them and I've even genuinely felt affection for some of them, but love? Love to me has always been something girls believe in or guys like Caveman, who waste their whole lives pining away for what they won't have.

Did I just think that about Caveman? ...Shit. Melody must be influencing me more than I think.

Stay cool, Nick. You haven't been a jelly sap to this point; you're not about to start now.

By the time I finish running through this whole thought train, we're in front of Mario's, a seedy looking corner restaurant with a faded black sign, the eatery's name lettered in equally pale gold.

Melody, to her credit, doesn't even raise an eyebrow as I lead her in and walk us to the first available booth, the red vinyl cracked big enough in more than a few places to show stuffing.

The waitress, one of those chubby women in their late 40s with lines embedded in their face from too many cigarettes that you always find in places like this, takes our drink order. Coffee, black, for Melody, Cherry Pepsi for me.

Melody studies the cheap, pressed wood walls and dingy paintings on them while I collect my thoughts, still somewhat dazed by my revelation on our walk here.

Love and Melody just don't seem to together and yet they're here, bubbling and frothing inside of me. It's a dangerous brew with a girl like her. Any other girl and it'd be a simple matter of an earnest look and a few words and bada bing bada bang, a serious relationship starts, leading to marriage, kids, 9 to 5 job, the whole works.

I can't do something like that with Melody... and for the first time in my life, I'm scared to say something to a girl. Scared to say those three words that can change two lifetimes forever after, scared that she'll just look at me with one of her trademark cool looks and cut me down in elegant, crisp words, that voice I can't describe utterly lacking in passion or even caring.

So we drink our drinks in silence, exchange our views on pizza and agree on pepperoni thin crust and eat our pizzas with no more conversation than the small talk enthusiasm for a good meal that comes from two people being utterly preoccupied with something other than the moment they're in.

But why does Melody have that distracted look? Why hasn't she held forth on anything; the decor, the people, our waitress? She's mechanical in the way she's munching and I want to ask... I want to ask, but all at once, with realizing everything, I'm afraid.

I'm afraid damn it, and that just makes it all the worse, because I'm Nick. I'm never afraid, especially not of a girl.

And so we eat and so I pay, refusing Melody's polite offer to cover the bill. Her protest is rote and without the fire she normally displays in financial matters.

Things stay that way until we're back into the house and she leads me into a bedroom whose only details I notice are the white and pink colors.

And there we make muted love that's so tender and so sweet, at least on my end, that I almost want to cry.

But I'm Nick.

I'm a man and I don't cry.

[DaddyTorgo]

uh oh...what's wrong with Melody?

[DaddyTorgo]

dola

and you've named the restraunt both magoo's and mario's izulde

[Izulde]

Thanks for the catch :) I'd had a bit much when I wrote that post.

As for what's wrong.... only time will tell :D

[Izulde]

When I wake up the next morning, there's a large, empty space beside me.

Melody's absence doesn't surprise me, but what does is the small, square piece of white paper setting on the nightstand.

A note. For me. In a handwriting so ornate and so beautiful, it's positively calligraphic.

"Nick,

I had to leave earlier than expected. Please let yourself out.

Melody."

I'm a little put off by the curtness, but nonetheless I quickly dress, sliding the note in my pocket.

I go to the door and turn the knob to let myself out.

Locked.

I try again.

Still locked.

....Why would she lock the door? It doesn't make any sense. I press my ear against the wood. Nothing that I can hear, nor do I see anything when I kneel to peer through the keyhole. The hallway outside is as barren and orderly as it was last night when we got back.

Sighing, I look around the room, with all its pink and white girly girl decor. The only other exit I can see is the window.

It slides open easily.

I peer outside and discover that the backyard has only its sycamore tree and fencing lilac bushes. Apparently this is the way I'm supposed to go out.

As I climb out the window and drop on to the grass, I'm reminded of afterwards last night, when we were lying in bed and she was telling me a story I found a little peculiar.

Apparently, some several hundred years ago, one of Melody's ancestors was sleeping in bed when a servant rushed in and woke him up. An angry mob was approaching to lynch him over what Melody lightly referred to as, "some silly matter about taxes... You know how common people are, always obsessing over every last cent of what little money they have."

This ancestor snuck out the window of his first floor bedroom in much the same manner that I'm doing now and ran off into the forest. Scarcely five minutes later, the mob appeared and burned his chateau down.

He escaped with his life and attributed it to the fact that he'd chosen the downstairs bedroom to sleep in, rather than the third floor as he usually did, for if he'd slept there, he never would have gotten out in time.

"Ever since then", my darling rich girl concluded, "the Suchets have always had their bedrooms on the ground floor, in memory of our ancestor."

Sounds bizzare doesn't it? And yet, it's coming to the point where there's not much that can truly shock me about Melody. Gemstone hunter, beauty, rich girl with a family and history that sounds more interesting as I learn more and more...

She's still a mystery to me, though. It's why I don't tell her what I'm beginning to realize about the way I feel. I can't do that.. I can't put myself out there into uncertainty, risking everything that I have now.

Because if she should say no, if she should treat me with the same... well.. the way that I've treated a lot of girls in the past, if I have to be completely honest with myself, I wouldn't be able to take it.

She has already ruined all other girls for me.

She can't ruin love for me, too.

A half-minute later, I'm on the sidewalk, glancing at the blank spot where her Boxter was yesterday.

May she never leave my heart as empty and dark as the asphalt road is now.

[Izulde]

It's strange. I'm starting to get tired of the parties--the same old frat hags, the same boring conversations and old jokes again and again. We do get a lot of people at our Saturday night events, but this campus still isn't big enough to have much variety after a while in the people that come.

I find myself wanting to just hang out with Melody, to be in the presence of something better than fart jokes, weed jokes, gay jokes, snobby sorority girls who are in every way inferior to...

...I'm even starting to -sound- like Melody now. What's wrong with me?

It's something I continue to puzzle as I sit here, 15 minutes before class and actually going through my notes. They're all blurred as I can't focus. Why would she lock the door on me? What does she -really- think of me? Is this what being in love is like? Being uncertain and constantly thinking about someone else?

If it is, no wonder a good third of the girls I dated were a little on the crazy side and no wonder almost all of them were crushed when I dumped them.

For once, Morengay on Monday is a breath of fresh air and I concentrate solely on him from the moment he enters, even though the hairs on the back of my neck tingle when I realize Melody's in the room. I don't even need to see her. It's just an automatic knowing, a knowing that runs through me that I can't explain.

Caveman told me once, in one of his rare talking moods, that when someone feels exceptionally close to someone else, a kind of bond is forged between them where the first person is instantly able to sense the other's nearness or when something monumental's happening to them. He said he's experienced with it a few of his online girlfriends, that he'd be working on something when all of a sudden, he'd get the feeling that whoever he was seeing at the time was online. He'd go to the computer and there they were.

It sounded really out there and I had to struggle to keep from laughing at him, but now I'm starting to wonder...

Oh good, Morengay's clearing his throat. Now I can stop thinking and start taking notes.

"Good morning class! Hope you all enjoyed your weekend!

When we left last time, things were looking pretty hairy in Italy-Croatia. King Yves I was hated and there were revolts and rebellions throughout the dual kingdom, suicides and depressions in the royal court at Bologna, plague in Ferrara and a whole host of other nastiness.

The stress of overseeing such a vast domain as the two kingdoms, particularly given his unpopularity and, to be totally frank, absolute lack of qualification to govern such a large territory, grew with each passing year, so that by 1125, courtiers were beginning to write in their diaries about how the king was prone to occasional outbursts of rage against anyone who dared mention his father's greatness within earshot.

He also ordered that his father Louis's and his brother Arnaud's bodies be removed from the royal maloseum in Bologna and put on board a ship, where they were to be thrown into the Adriatic Sea near the spot where it was discovered that Louis I had passed in sleep.

Yves I said on this occassion, and I quote from Queen Gunhild I's own diary here, "If the people love Arnaud as they loved my father and wished that he would have been King instead of me, then let both their loved bodies be eaten by the serpents of the deep, so that the people will know if they dare to rebel openly against me or to speak of anyone other than me as King, then they shall meet the same fate!"

The orders were carried out, but the mood of the dual kingdom darkened all the more and even the Jimenez and the Premyslids, the two bitterly feuding houses, began to quietly be united on the idea that it would be best for Italy-Croatia if Yves were to meet his end sooner rather than later.

As the months went by, Yves became more and more obsessed with the idea of proving that he was a better king than Louis I had been and by July 1125, he had hit upon a plan.

He would invade the Duchy of Apuila to the south and set about uniting all of Italy under his banner.

War was joined, the royal regiments at Messina, Mantua, and Modena summoned to fight. The people of Mantua did not take well at all to the conscripting of the troops and joined their neighbors in Bologna and the Arabs in Palermo in rioting and revolting against Yves. The king, focused solely on gaining Apuila, paid no attention, instead monitoring the war from what he newly named de Semur Castle, but what everyone else still called Louis Castle.

Intelligence quickly reached the Italian-Croatian king that Apuila's armies were in fact larger than anticipated and so Yves demanded that the regiments from Lombardia and his Croatian counties of Usora, Hum, and Zeta enter the war as well, despite the considerable strain this placed on the treasury.

Dissenters from Mantua appeared in Lombardia shortly after the regiment left and incited the Lombardians to destroy the courthouse, shouting to the mob that assembled: "Louis was a great and just king! Yves is a bastard son, for no rightful noble of de Semur blood would defile his family's remains or press his people into unwanted wars!"

This belated claim of illegitimacy gained widespread support and wholesale belief among the peasantry and the burghers throughout Italy and Croatia. The clergy and nobility were tellingly silent on the matter, for though they knew Yves to be legitimate, they wished him gone and so let the lower orders, as the rank and file were called in those days, ramble on.

Yves himself ignored these rumours, for as I said, southern Italy was all he wanted.

Things appeared headed to a perilous conclusion for the de Semurs when all of a sudden, help came from a completely unexpected quarter in December 1125. Pope Spinetto I, an Italian from Reggio who had long hated the Norman presence, declared war on Apuila as well, calling for the destruction of the de Hautevilles and the unification of the peninsula under the de Semur banner, who through their various construction projects even under Yves, were said to be a family that cared for the people, current monarch notwithstanding, and even a Southern French overlord of Italy was better than a Northern French ruler.

I should also add that by this time, the de Semurs had become considered even by the Italians to be the rightful ruling house of the kingdom, dissent with Yves aside.

Returning to the campaing, Chancellor Ramiro Jimenez spearheaded the campaign in Apuila province and he executed the war so skillfully that Apuila proper fell on New Year's Day, 1126, leading to popular acclaim of the Jimenez across the two kingdoms.

Emboldened by this success, Ramiro marched on towards Salerno, crushing the 65 year old Count of Bari, Roger Borsa de Hauteville, in what was then considered a decisive battle in the campaign.

Unfortunately, the military successes were not matched by happy affairs back in Bologna. Modena joined the ranks of rebellious counties and by April, King Yves I was making public announcements that Ramiro Jimenez's victories in the Norman lands and the Pope's endorsement of the war meant that he, Yves, was the Messiah, the second coming of Jesus who was going to cleanse Italy of Norman influences and unite it under God's Holy Will.

This sudden surge of religion, albeit egocentric, took everyone by surprise and boded ill for the de Semur hopes, for the clergy, longtime haters of Yves, seized upon these proclamations to paint the monarch as a heretic.

Napoli fell in May, but Apuila was reconquered by the de Hautevilles two days before that. This news upset Yves so much that he ordered the Duke of Toscana to mobilize his 4,100 strong army in Firenze. Although the vassal complied, he became one of the first dukes to openly start doubting Yves's fitness for the throne.

This calamity was further aggravated by the development of a large-scale gang, a Mafia really, in the province of Messina. The people appealed to Yves for help, but the king turned a deaf ear, for he deemed the matter of southern Italy to be of holier import than a few Italian citizens.

In fact, by this time, Yves himself was marching on campaign in the de Hauteville domain with the Bologna regiment. This proved a disaster, for he was routed by the Count of Consenza in an embarassing late August defeat that spelled trouble for Italy-Croatia's aims in the war.

By the start of September, Ramiro Jimenez had once again won back Apuila, but Napoli had fallen back into de Hauteville hands and furthermore, Pope Spinetto's superior forces were crushed in Roma, a major victory for the Norman side.

A revolt in Ferrara and the Messina mafia's spread to Modena were the least of Yves's domestic worries, for an armed rebellion once again raged in Palermo.

At the rate things were going, it would take a miracle to avoid a devastating and humiliating defeat for the de Semurs.

A miracle that the self-proclaimed Second Coming seemed incapable of providing.

Time's up. See you Wednesday."

After a lecture like that and with how weird I've been feeling lately, I don't even think about approaching Melody.

Luckily, she doesn't come to me, either.

Time for me to clear my head.

Time for me to go to the archery range.

[Izulde]

There's nothing more relaxing than fitting an arrow to a bow, taking aim, and shooting at a target some yards away. The red recurve I spend all afternoon shooting with is one I got for a high school graduation present and it's among my most cherished possessions.

I love to fish and I love to shoot target archery, but hunting's never appealed to me, either bow or gun. There's just something about seeing a dead deer, pheasant, bear, moose, whatever that's sad in a way that a dead fish isn't.

I'm once again calm and my anxieties over Melody diminish by four, after taking a break at noon for lunch at this terrific hamburger joint not far from the sports club where I shoot.

By Wednesday, I smile faintly and give Melody an upnod as I walk into class three minutes before Morengay starts his lecture. She cooly nods back, which is more recognition than she gives anyone else but Morengay. I've heard some of the other students make snide remarks about her being a suckup, but it just goes to show ignorant they are.

Which only makes sense. I mean hell, half of them are freshmen and the rest of them are still in that stage where they're figuring out life and themselves. It's not like high school, where your world, even if it sucks, is neatly defined, with expectations and boundaries that you recognize and oddly enjoy, even as you protest them.

College, and life's unlimited freedoms and accompanying responsibilities upend everything, especially if you've been given everything and had everything done for you. I'm not putting Melody in that category, by the way. She strikes me as pretty damn independent. It's the dependent ones that really have the bottom drop out on them.

Morengay clears his throat and I drift out of my quiet, curious philosophical thinking to listen.

"Wholesale revolts, a really bad campaign, and a King who thought himself the next Jesus is where we left off of last time.

In spite of the revolts and the rebellion in Palermo, the Kingdom of Italy-Croatia was not the only one suffering from realm-wide war weariness. Apuila, too, tired of fighting to the point that in mid-September, Duke Henry de Hauteville offered to give up his claim on Messina and pay King Yves I 2,845 florins in order to end the war.

The Bolognan court, recovering from the end of the city revolt a week before, strongly urged Yves to accept the deal, which was not only extraordinarily fair, but would've allowed the mad monarch to save face before Europe.

But Yves refused, countering with a demand for the ducal title of Apuila.

And so the war continued.

In November, Boruhav Premyslid, the Steward, who had taken command of the main Italian-Croatian army, won a resounding victory over a massed Apuilian army that gave hope for the war's eventual end on Yves's terms, for the king had repeatedly refused that earlier peace offer which the Duke of Apuila made again and again, hoping to make the de Semur lord see reason.

Countering this good news was an army of 900 peasants who rose up under the banner of a country priest to storm Louis Castle, which really was its rightful name, and begin open and armed rebellion. With the royal regiment in the field and the vassal armies of Firenze and the Duke of Calabria already abroad as well, Yves could not risk angering his vassals any more than they already were by ordering a regiment to Bologna.

November 19th, two weeks after the Premyslid-led victory, the main armies were crushed by Duke Henry, but on the bright side, the Apuilian forces were greatly fatigued, their morale hit hard by this seeming never-ending war that prolonged itself only because of Yves's fanaticism.

As if this wasn't bad enough, a little over a month later, the Duke of Karten, enraged at his liege's bullheadedness in the Apuila campaign, declared indepedence against King Yves I and went to arms to both defend his right to the Duchy and to win some territory that he had legal claim to."

Morengay paused to put a picture up on his overhead.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v324/Izulde/Almerich.jpg

"Duke Almerich von Zahringen intended on annexing Messina, Palermo, Modena and Chalons. If he succeeded in his aims, he would own not only all the de Semur royal possessions on Sicily, the rest in Italy-Croatia vassal hands, but he would have both the ancestral de Semur home and one of the de Semur Four.

Messina would not have been too terrible a loss, but Palermo was the capital of the dual kingdom's south region, Chalons, though poor, was of symbolic importance, and I don't need to tell you how bad it'd be to have an enemy right next to your rebelling capital.

Despite these calamities, the tide was turning by March 1127. Another important victory by the Premyslid steward that imperiled Apuila's chances of ever raising enough troops to win the war, combined with Yves I's most loyal vassal, the Governor of Genoa, pledging 3,300 republican troops to fight the Duke of Karten in the northern theatre, meant that total victory looked within reach after all.

At the happy Genoan intelligence, not even the most anti-Yves citizen could be too discouraged with news of rebellion in Messina, especially not since the Bolognan insurrection was put down by an elite squad of just 180 soldiers from Lombardia.

And indeed, the war did turn in Yves's favor, so much so that by August of 1127, Duke Henry de Hauteville's territory was entirely under Italian-Croatian hands and with many a tears, the Norman who loved south Italy more than anything in the world, surrendered his title of Duke of Apuila to a triumphant King Yves I. Henry then with heavy heart moved his capital from Apuila to Salerno, which according to feudal law at the time was where he had to live as he was still Duke of Salerno, even though he still owned his beloved Apuila county.

This victory not only signified a remarkable turnaround for the embattled king, but it raised the stature of both the Jimenez and Premyslid houses, thus ensuring that neither faction would be yet the winner in their feud, even though as I said, they were beginning to unite on the idea of Yves's ouster.

After this stunning military success, Yves returned to Bologna to celebrate and proclaim his victories to the masses from the parapets of Louis Castle, for by this time, the clergy was so active against him, he dared not set foot in a church.

The remaining regiments were given no rest, bur ordered north to deal with the rebellious Duke of Karten.

Tragically, just two days after the peace treaty with Apuila, Diocese Bishop Pedro Jimenez, who saw the de Semurs take part of the Middle East and who witnessed the near unification of Italy, died without ever having returned to his beloved Iberia, which was now overrun by the Emirate of Sevilla.

His last words were, "Though I never saw again my beautiful Navarra, I die knowing I go to God and that while I was in this world, I helped direct the minds of kings to fighting for Christian freedom in the holy land."

The greatly beloved bishop was replaced by Yves I's nephew, 23 year old Fadrique de Semur, a young and impassioned cleric who revered his old mentor and counted himself among the Jimenez faction in terms of the main court intrigues.

To balance the anger from the Premyslid faction, Yves married Elionare de Semur, who had just turned 16, to an extremely talented young Premyslid who had also just reached the age of majority. Even though he was insane and a terribly inept military commander and administrator, King Yves I knew how to keep the factionalism in his court from overwhelming his rule.

The Karten problem was not the only war that Yves was dealing with towards the end of 1127. Messina again rebelled and the Duke of Jaffa-Ascalon in the Middle East was attacked by the Kingdom of Egypt, leading Yves to declare war once more on that diminished, but still dangerous foe.

The dual kingdoms, having gotten through one crisis, were now in the throes of another, for Egypt was strong enough to give Italy-Croatia difficulty, to the degree that the de Semur presence in the region was threatened.

This would've made Pedro Jimenez roll in his grave.

We'll stop there and pick up next time with these two set of wars."

I can't help but admire Yves. Everybody hates him and he's a lunatic, but he's evidently fox-crazy because he keeps right on winning and right on beating out everyone who wants to get rid of him.

But how long can his luck hold up? Oh, sure I know it's history and everything, but to me it's like a story I'm hearing a chapter at a time.

Melody walks over to me on her way out and slips a note in my hand, saying, "I've an appointment to keep, so I can't talk. Read this when you get a chance."

Before I can answer, she's briskly turned around and swiftly heading off the other way.

I won't open it just yet. I skipped breakfast this morning because I slept a little late.

I'll read it on a full stomach.

[Izulde]

I pick up pancakes, drowned in syrup and butter, along with three sausage links and a tall glass of orange juice at the student union cafeteria.

It isn't after until I eat and feel my brain start to wake up from the joyous reception of food that I finally unfold the squared note and begin reading that gorgeous calligraphy from the other morning.

"Nick,

I love you.

But I can't. I can't love you.

I can't become pretty Mrs. Duncan on Sycamore Street with the two kids and the dog, living a common life. I'm too used to -my- life, my world, to ever be happy in yours.

You're a small town kind of boy, Nick. Your life is one of ordinary things, ordinary people. Diner breakfasts, Friday night fish frys, the big yearly vacation to Vegas, summer and winter fishing, slo-pitch softball on Saturday night with your friends from your favorite bar.

Football Sundays, Super Bowl parties of nachos and beers, spring and summer baseball games, finding out how Sally's doing at school, worrying about the next mortgage payment, helping Sam to realize it's okay to be just another guy.

And that's right and good for -you-, Nick, but not for me.

Not when my life is one of big cities, majestic mountains, frequent flying, benefit balls, show openings, film festivals, horse races, ballets, operas, orchestras and the now and then rock concert.

Vegas, with its gauche middle-class sleaziness and the noveau riche, its used and tired strippers, loud noises and profane bigness and flashy lights has nothing on the quiet elegance of Monte Carlo, where the clientele is truly respectable and noble, not like Joe Bob in the ugly Hawaiian shirt and his paunchy wife playing at the low-limit blackjack tables.

Our suppers are prepared by the best in the world of cuisine, our palates so refined that we can barely stomach the food that you and yours like. We do not tell our children that it is okay to be ordinary, but bring them up as what they are, the newest generation in a long line of leadership, wealth, civility and the highest standards in noblesse oblige.

And even if I could handle it, even if I could stand the lower existence out of love for you, I would not be able to stand you only being alive for a third of your life.

That is the saddest thing about a common life, Nick. Men and women are dead for eight hours a day, slaving away at some job that means nothing in the larger scheme of things and give them little, if any pleasure. Then for another eight hours, they sleep, leaving just a third of the day that is theirs. A third of the day to be truly alive and yourself.

Do you think I could just sit by and watch while the man I love is dead to me for two-thirds of his entire life, to be only alive for that small slice of time? I couldn't and I won't.

I know you are too proud to accept my family's money, so that you could become one of us and by that I mean one of the leisure class, who have all but the sleeping hours as our own, to do with it as we please. And I do not blame you for this, for I understand it.

It is a pity that you were not born in a higher station, my love, for sometimes I see in you flashes of the kind of traits that mark a great man.

But things are the way they are, so let us now part ways, while the memories are still happy. Let it be as a sweet dream, sweeter for its shortness, and always remember one another fondly.

Forever yours in a dream,
Melody Anne Suchet

P.S.-It would be rude of me to rescind the invitation to my father's holiday party, so if you still wish to come in December, please do so. You will receive the invitation in November."

My heart rises with the most dizzying kind of glee when I read those first three words, but it falls, tumbles to the bottom of my stomach as I read on.

By the end, I see a ring of Melodys around my heart, laughing cooly as they swing their flaming swords one by one, slashing and burning my newly tender, newly loving organ.

My body flushes hot with the sensation of fire in my stomach, then cold from the stark horror of what's happening.

I start shaking.

This can't be real. Oh God, this can't be real. Why? Why, why, why , why?

I don't even know I'm crying until a group of my brothers come by and ask me what's wrong.

"Just get me back to the house", I whisper, "And for God's sake, don't let anybody see me. I have... my reputation..."

Drake's one of them. He nods and quickly orders a four person phalanx around me, my own version of the de Semur Four.

I don't see anything that's around me, though I do feel a hat being placed on my hat, no doubt to shield me from being spotted.

The whole world's a blur as I sob and shiver under my guard, but somehow I make it to the house without falling, even though I feel faint right about now.

Drake and the other three stay with me, helping me up the stairs to the second floor, where I can hear some country song playing from Paul's room at the end of the hall.

You can run you can hide never let it inside
Keep living your life in the dark
But sooner or later that gentle persuader
Is gonna catch up with your heart
Make you a dreamer, believer
Believer in love

It's the ultimate irony and the final breaking straw. I send the others away, telling them I'll be all right. Drake looks like he wants to argue, but changes his mind and herds everyone off.

I lock the door and don't come out for the rest of the day.

[Izulde]

I make it to classes on Tuesday, but everything's in a haze. I keep seeing her face floating in front of me and I can't concentrate on anything.

Tuesday night, I lock myself in my room again and get lost in the memories of our times together.. the conversations, the bedroom passions, the places we've been and eaten... a montage of sounds and images that stream as they will, with no effort on my part to control them.

Then something snags and sticks. Her father's favorite short story. What was it? Hungry Scones? No... Stones.

Studying's useless and I can't stop thinking about her anyway, so I might as well find that story.

A visit to Caveman's room later and I'm reading the story in a Norton's Anthology that I don't pay attention to the title of.

The Hungry Stones by Rabindranath Tagore

MY kinsman and myself were returning to Calcutta from our Puja trip when we met the man in a train. From his dress and bearing we took him at first for an up-country Mahomedan, but we were puzzled as we heard him talk. He discoursed upon all subjects so confidently that you might think the Disposer of All Things consulted him at all times in all that He did. Hitherto we had been perfectly happy, as we did not know that secret and unheard-of forces were at work, that the Russians had advanced close to us, that the English had deep and secret policies, that confusion among the native chiefs had come to a head. But our newly-acquired friend said with a sly smile: "There happen more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are reported in your newspapers." As we had never stirred out of our homes before, the demeanour of the man struck us dumb with wonder. Be the topic ever so trivial, he would quote science, or comment on the Vedas, or repeat quatrains from some Persian poet; and as we had no pretence to a knowledge of science or the Vedas or Persian, our admiration for him went on increasing, and my kinsman, a theosophist, was firmly convinced that our fellow-passenger must have been supernaturally inspired by some strange "magnetism" or "occult power," by an "astral body" or something of that kind. He listened to the tritest saying that fell from the lips of our extraordinary companion with devotional rapture, and secretly took down notes of his conversation. I fancy that the extraordinary man saw this, and was a little pleased with it.

When the train reached the junction, we assembled in the waiting-room for the connection. It was then 10 P. M., and as the train, we heard, was likely to be very late, owing to something wrong in the lines, I spread my bed on the table and was about to lie down for a comfortable doze, when the extraordinary person deliberately set about spinning the following yarn. Of course, I could get no sleep that night.


When, owing to a disagreement about some questions of administrative policy, I threw up my post at Junagarh, and entered the service of the Nizam of Hyderabad, they appointed me at once, as a strong young man, collector of cotton duties at Barich.

Barich is a lovely place. The Susta "chatters over stony ways and babbles on the pebbles," tripping, like a skilful dancing girl, in through the woods below the lonely hills. A flight of 150 steps rises from the river, and above that flight, on the river's brim and at the foot of the hills, there stands a solitary marble palace. Around it there is no habitation of man--the village and the cotton mart of Barich being far off.

About 250 years ago the Emperor Mahmud Shah II. had built this lonely palace for his pleasure and luxury. In his days jets of rose-water spurted from its fountains, and on the cold marble floors of its spray-cooled rooms young Persian damsels would sit, their hair dishevelled before bathing, and, splashing their soft naked feet in the clear water of the reservoirs, would sing, to the tune of the guitar, the ghazals of their vineyards.

The fountains play no longer; the songs have ceased; no longer do snow-white feet step gracefully on the snowy marble. It is but the vast and solitary quarters of cess-collectors like us, men oppressed with solitude and deprived of the society of women. Now, Karim Khan, the old clerk of my office, warned me repeatedly not to take up my abode there. "Pass the day there, if you like," said he, "but never stay the night." I passed it off with a light laugh. The servants said that they would work till dark, and go away at night. I gave my ready assent. The house had such a bad name that even thieves would not venture near it after dark.

At first the solitude of the deserted palace weighed upon me like a nightmare. I would stay out, and work hard as long as possible, then return home at night jaded and tired, go to bed and fall asleep.

Before a week had passed, the place began to exert a weird fascination upon me. It is difficult to describe or to induce people to believe; but I felt as if the whole house was like a living organism slowly and imperceptibly digesting me by the action of some stupefying gastric juice.

Perhaps the process had begun as soon as I set my foot in the house, but I distinctly remember the day on which I first was conscious of it.

It was the beginning of summer, and the market being dull I had no work to do. A little before sunset I was sitting in an arm-chair near the water's edge below the steps. The Susta had shrunk and sunk low; a broad patch of sand on the other side glowed with the hues of evening; on this side the pebbles at the bottom of the clear shallow waters were glistening. There was not a breath of wind anywhere, and the still air was laden with an oppressive scent from the spicy shrubs growing on the hills close by.

As the sun sank behind the hill-tops a long dark curtain fell upon the stage of day, and the intervening hills cut short the time in which light and shade mingle at sunset. I thought of going out for a ride, and was about to get up when I heard a foot-fall on the steps behind. I looked back, but there was no one.

As I sat down again, thinking it to be an illusion, I heard many footfalls, as if a large number of persons were rushing down the steps. A strange thrill of delight, slightly tinged with fear, passed through my frame, and though there was not a figure before my eyes, methought I saw a bevy of joyous maidens coming down the steps to bathe in the Susta in that summer evening. Not a sound was in the valley, in the river, or in the palace, to break the silence, but I distinctly heard the maidens' gay and mirthful laugh, like the gurgle of a spring gushing forth in a hundred cascades, as they ran past me, in quick playful pursuit of each other, towards the river, without noticing me at all. As they were invisible to me, so I was, as it were, invisible to them. The river was perfectly calm, but I felt that its still, shallow, and clear waters were stirred suddenly by the splash of many an arm jingling with bracelets, that the girls laughed and dashed and spattered water at one another, that the feet of the fair swimmers tossed the tiny waves up in showers of pearl.

I felt a thrill at my heart--I cannot say whether the excitement was due to fear or delight or curiosity. I had a strong desire to see them more clearly, but naught was visible before me; I thought I could catch all that they said if I only strained my ears; but however hard I strained them, I heard nothing but the chirping of the cicadas in the woods. It seemed as if a dark curtain of 250 years was hanging before me, and I would fain lift a corner of it tremblingly and peer through, though the assembly on the other side was completely enveloped in darkness.

The oppressive closeness of the evening was broken by a sudden gust of wind, and the still surface of the Susta rippled and curled like the hair of a nymph, and from the woods wrapt in the evening gloom there came forth a simultaneous murmur, as though they were awakening from a black dream. Call it reality or dream, the momentary glimpse of that invisible mirage reflected from a far-off world, 250 years old, vanished in a flash. The mystic forms that brushed past me with their quick unbodied steps, and loud, voiceless laughter, and threw themselves into the river, did not go back wringing their dripping robes as they went. Like fragrance wafted away by the wind they were dispersed by a single breath of the spring.

Then I was filled with a lively fear that it was the Muse that had taken advantage of my solitude and possessed me--the witch had evidently come to ruin a poor devil like myself making a living by collecting cotton duties. I decided to have a good dinner--it is the empty stomach that all sorts of incurable diseases find an easy prey. I sent for my cook and gave orders for a rich, sumptuous dinner, redolent of spices and ghi.

Next morning the whole affair appeared a queer fantasy. With a light heart I put on a sola hat like the sahebs, and drove out to my work. I was to have written my quarterly report that day, and expected to return late; but before it was dark I was strangely drawn to my house--by what I could not say--I felt they were all waiting, and that I should delay no longer. Leaving my report unfinished I rose, put on my sola hat, and startling the dark, shady, desolate path with the rattle of my carriage, I reached the vast silent palace standing on the gloomy skirts of the hills.

On the first floor the stairs led to a very spacious hall, its roof stretching wide over ornamental arches resting on three rows of massive pillars, and groaning day and night under the weight of its own intense solitude. The day had just closed, and the lamps had not yet been lighted. As I pushed the door open a great bustle seemed to follow within, as if a throng of people had broken up in confusion, and rushed out through the doors and windows and corridors and verandas and rooms, to make its hurried escape.

As I saw no one I stood bewildered, my hair on end in a kind of ecstatic delight, and a faint scent of attar and unguents almost effaced by age lingered in my nostrils. Standing in the darkness of that vast desolate hall between the rows of those ancient pillars, I could hear the gurgle of fountains plashing on the marble floor, a strange tune on the guitar, the jingle of ornaments and the tinkle of anklets, the clang of bells tolling the hours, the distant note of nahabat, the din of the crystal pendants of chandeliers shaken by the breeze, the song of bulbuls from the cages in the corridors, the cackle of storks in the gardens, all creating round me a strange unearthly music.

Then I came under such a spell that this intangible, inaccessible, unearthly vision appeared to be the only reality in the world--and all else a mere dream. That I, that is to say, Srijut So-and-so, the eldest son of So-and-so of blessed memory, should be drawing a monthly salary of Rs. 450 by the discharge of my duties as collector of cotton duties, and driving in my dog-cart to my office every day in a short coat and sola hat, appeared to me to be such an astonishingly ludicrous illusion that I burst into a horse-laugh, as I stood in the gloom of that vast silent hall.

At that moment my servant entered with a lighted kerosene lamp in his hand. I do not know whether he thought me mad, but it came back to me at once that I was in very deed Srijut So-and-so, son of So-and-so of blessed memory, and that, while our poets, great and small, alone could say whether inside or outside the earth there was a region where unseen fountains perpetually played and fairy guitars, struck by invisible fingers, sent forth an eternal harmony, this at any rate was certain, that I collected duties at the cotton market at Barich, and earned thereby Rs. 450 per mensem as my salary. I laughed in great glee at my curious illusion, as I sat over the newspaper at my camp-table, lighted by the kerosene lamp.

After I had finished my paper and eaten my moghlai dinner, I put out the lamp, and lay down on my bed in a small side-room. Through the open window a radiant star, high above the Avalli hills skirted by the darkness of their woods, was gazing intently from millions and millions of miles away in the sky at Mr. Collector lying on a humble camp-bedstead. I wondered and felt amused at the idea, and do not know when I fell asleep or how long I slept; but I suddenly awoke with a start, though I heard no sound and saw no intruder--only the steady bright star on the hilltop had set, and the dim light of the new moon was stealthily entering the room through the open window, as if ashamed of its lntrusion.

I saw nobody, but felt as if some one was gently pushing me. As I awoke she said not a word, but beckoned me with her five fingers bedecked with rings to follow her cautiously. I got up noiselessly, and, though not a soul save myself was there in the countless apartments of that deserted palace with its slumbering sounds and waking echoes, I feared at every step lest any one should wake up. Most of the rooms of the palace were always kept closed, and I had never entered them.

I followed breathless and with silent steps my invisible guide--I cannot now say where. What endless dark and narrow passages, what long corridors, what silent and solemn audience-chambers and close secret cells I crossed!

Though I could not see my fair guide, her form was not invisible to my mind's eye,--an Arab girl, her arms, hard and smooth as marble, visible through her loose sleeves, a thin veil falling on her face from the fringe of her cap, and a curved dagger at her waist! Methought that one of the thousand and one Arabian Nights had been wafted to me from the world of romance, and that at the dead of night I was wending my way through the dark narrow alleys of slumbering Bagdad to a trysting-place fraught with peril.

At last my fair guide stopped abruptly before a deep blue screen, and seemed to point to something below. There was nothing there, but a sudden dread froze the blood in my heart--methought I saw there on the floor at the foot of the screen a terrible negro eunuch dressed in rich brocade, sitting and dozing with outstretched legs, with a naked sword on his lap. My fair guide lightly tripped over his legs and held up a fringe of the screen. I could catch a glimpse of a part of the room spread with a Persian carpet--some one was sitting inside on a bed--I could not see her, but only caught a glimpse of two exquisite feet in gold-embroidered slippers, hanging out from loose saffron-coloured paijamas and placed idly on the orange-coloured velvet carpet. On one side there was a bluish crystal tray on which a few apples, pears, oranges, and bunches of grapes in plenty, two small cups and a gold-tinted decanter were evidently awaiting the guest. A fragrant intoxicating vapour, issuing from a strange sort of incense that burned within, almost overpowered my senses.

As with trembling heart I made an attempt to step across the outstretched legs of the eunuch, he woke up suddenly with a start, and the sword fell from his lap with a sharp clang on the marble floor.

A terrific scream made me jump, and I saw I was sitting on that camp-bedstead of mine sweating heavily; and the crescent moon looked pale in the morning light like a weary sleepless patient at dawn; and our crazy Meher Ali was crying out, as is his daily custom, "Stand back! Stand back!!" while he went along the lonely road.

Such was the abrupt close of one of my Arabian Nights; but there were yet a thousand nights left.

Then followed a great discord between my days and nights. During the day I would go to my work worn and tired, cursing the bewitching night and her empty dreams, but as night came my daily life with its bonds and shackles of work would appear a petty, false, ludicrous vanity.

After nightfall I was caught and overwhelmed in the snare of a strange intoxication. I would then be transformed into some unknown personage of a bygone age, playing my part in unwritten history; and my short English coat and tight breeches did not suit me in the least. With a red velvet cap on my head, loose paijamas, an embroidered vest, a long flowing silk gown, and coloured handkerchiefs scented with attar, I would complete my elaborate toilet, sit on a high-cushioned chair, and replace my cigarette with a many-coiled narghileh filled with rose-water, as if in eager expectation of a strange meeting with the beloved one.

I have no power to describe the marvellous incidents that unfolded themselves, as the gloom of the night deepened. I felt as if in the curious apartments of that vast edifice the fragments of a beautiful story, which I could follow for some distance, but of which I could never see the end, flew about in a sudden gust of the vernal breeze. And all the same I would wander from room to room in pursuit of them the whole night long.

Amid the eddy of these dream-fragments, amid the smell of henna and the twanging of the guitar, amid the waves of air charged with fragrant spray, I would catch like a flash of lightning the momentary glimpse of a fair damsel. She it was who had saffron-coloured paijamas, white ruddy soft feet in gold-embroidered slippers with curved toes, a close-fitting bodice wrought with gold, a red cap, from which a golden frill fell on her snowy brow and cheeks.

She had maddened me. In pursuit of her I wandered from room to room, from path to path among the bewildering maze of alleys in the enchanted dreamland of the nether world of sleep.

Sometimes in the evening, while arraying myself carefully as a prince of the blood-royal before a large mirror, with a candle burning on either side, I would see a sudden reflection of the Persian beauty by the side of my own. A swift turn of her neck, a quick eager glance of intense passion and pain glowing in her large dark eyes, just a suspicion of speech on her dainty red lips, her figure, fair and slim, crowned with youth like a blossoming creeper, quickly uplifted in her graceful tilting gait, a dazzling flash of pain and craving and esctasy, a smile and a glance and a blaze of jewels and silk, and she melted away. A wild gust of wind, laden with all the fragrance of hills and woods, would put out my light, and I would fling aside my dress and lie down on my bed, my eyes closed and my body thrilling with delight, and there around me in the breeze, amid all the perfume of the woods and hills, floated through the silent gloom many a caress and many a kiss and many a tender touch of hands, and gentle murmurs in my ears, and fragrant breaths on my brow; or a sweetly-perfumed kerchief was wafted again and again on my cheeks. Then slowly a mysterious serpent would twist her stupefying coils about me; and heaving a heavy sigh, I would lapse into insensibility, and then into a profound slumber.

One evening I decided to go out on my horse--I do not know who implored me to stay--but I would listen to no entreaties that day. My English hat and coat were resting on a rack, and I was about to take them down when a sudden whirlwind, crested with the sands of the Susta and the dead leaves of the Avalli hills, caught them up, and whirled them round and round, while a loud peal of merry laughter rose higher and higher, striking all the chords of mirth till it died away in the land of sunset.

I could not go out for my ride, and the next day I gave up my queer English coat and hat for good.

That day again at dead of night I heard the stifled heart-breaking sobs of some one--as if below the bed, below the floor, below the stony foundation of that gigantic palace, from the depths of a dark damp grave, a voice piteously cried and implored me: "Oh, rescue me! Break through these doors of hard illusion, deathlike slumber and fruitless dreams, place me by your side on the saddle, press me to your heart, and, riding through hills and woods and across the river, take me to the warm radiance of your sunny rooms above!"

Who am I? Oh, how can I rescue thee? What drowning beauty, what incarnate passion shall I drag to the shore from this wild eddy of dreams? O lovely ethereal apparition! Where didst thou flourish and when? By what cool spring, under the shade of what date-groves, wast thou born--in the lap of what homeless wanderer in the desert? What Bedouin snatched thee from thy mother's arms, an opening bud plucked from a wild creeper, placed thee on a horse swift as lightning, crossed the burning sands, and took thee to the slave-market of what royal city? And there, what officer of the Badshah, seeing the glory of thy bashful blossoming youth, paid for thee in gold, placed thee in a golden palanquin, and offered thee as a present for the seraglio of his master? And O, the history of that place! The music of the sareng, [ A sort of violin.] the jingle of anklets, the occasional flash of daggers and the glowing wine of Shiraz poison, and the piercing flashing glance! What infinite grandeur, what endless servitude! The slave-girls to thy right and left waved the chamar, [chamar: chowrie, yak-tail.] as diamonds flashed from their bracelets; the Badshah, the king of kings, fell on his knees at thy snowy feet in bejewelled shoes, and outside the terrible Abyssinian eunuch, looking like a messenger of death, but clothed like an angel, stood with a naked sword in his hand! Then, O, thou flower of the desert, swept away by the blood-stained dazzling ocean of grandeur, with its foam of jealousy, its rocks and shoals of intrigue, on what shore of cruel death wast thou cast, or in what other land more splendid and more cruel?

Suddenly at this moment that crazy Meher Ali screamed out: "Stand back! Stand back!! All is false! All is false!!" I opened my eyes and saw that it was already light. My chaprasi came and handed me my letters, and the cook waited with a salam for my orders.

I said: "No, I can stay here no longer." That very day I packed up, and moved to my office. Old Karim Khan smiled a little as he saw me. I felt nettled, but said nothing, and fell to my work.

As evening approached I grew absent-minded; I felt as if I had an appointment to keep; and the work of examining the cotton accounts seemed wholly useless; even the Nizamat [Royalty] of the Nizam did not appear to be of much worth. Whatever belonged to the present, whatever was moving and acting and working for bread seemed trivial, meaningless, and contemptible.

I threw my pen down, closed my ledgers, got into my dog-cart, and drove away. I noticed that it stopped of itself at the gate of the marble palace just at the hour of twilight. With quick steps I climbed the stairs, and entered the room.

A heavy silence was reigning within. The dark rooms were looking sullen as if they had taken offence. My heart was full of contrition, but there was no one to whom I could lay it bare, or of whom I could ask forgiveness. I wandered about the dark rooms with a vacant mind. I wished I had a guitar to which I could sing to the unknown: "O fire, the poor moth that made a vain effort to fly away has come back to thee! Forgive it but this once, burn its wings and consume it in thy flame!"

Suddenly two tear-drops fell from overhead on my brow. Dark masses of clouds overcast the top of the Avalli hills that day.

The gloomy the sooty waters of the Susta were waiting in terrible suspense and in an ominous calm. Suddenly land, water, and sky shivered, and a wild tempest-blast rushed howling through the distant pathless woods, showing its lightning-teeth like a raving maniac who had broken his chains. The desolate halls of the palace banged their doors, and moaned in the bitterness of anguish.

The servants were all in the office, and there was no one to light the lamps. The night was cloudy and moonless. In the dense gloom within I could distinctly feel that a woman was lying on her face on the carpet below the bed--clasping and tearing her long dishevelled hair with desperate fingers. Blood was trickling down her fair brow, and she was now laughing a hard, harsh, mirthless laugh, now bursting into violent wringing sobs, now rending her bodice and striking at her bare bosom, as the wind roared in through the open window, and the rain poured in torrents and soaked her through and through.

All night there was no cessation of the storm or of the passionate cry. I wandered from room to room in the dark, with unavailing sorrow. Whom could I console when no one was by? Whose was this intense agony of sorrow? Whence arose this inconsolable grief?

And the mad man cried out: "Stand back! Stand back!! All is false! All is false!"

I saw that the day had dawned, and Meher Ali was going round and round the palace with his usual cry in that dreadful weather. Suddenly it came to me that perhaps he also had once lived in that house, and that, though he had gone mad, he came there every day, and went round and round, fascinated by the weird spell cast by the marble demon.

Despite the storm and rain I ran to him and asked: "Ho, Meher Ali, what is false?"

The man answered nothing, but pushing me aside went round and round with his frantic cry, like a bird flying fascinated about the jaws of a snake, and made a desperate effort to warn himself by repeating: "Stand back! Stand back!! All is false! All is false!!"

I ran like a mad man through the pelting rain to my office, and asked Karim Khan: "Tell me the meaning of all this!"

What I gathered from that old man was this: That at one time countless unrequited passions and unsatisfied longings and lurid flames of wild blazing pleasure raged within that palace, and that the curse of all the heart-aches and blasted hopes had made its every stone thirsty and hungry, eager to swallow up like a famished ogress any living man who might chance to approach. Not one of those who lived there for three consecutive nights could escape these cruel jaws, save Meher Ali, who had escaped at the cost of his reason.

I asked: "Is there no means whatever of my release?" The old man said: "There is only one means, and that is very difficult. I will tell you what it is, but first you must hear the history of a young Persian girl who once lived in that pleasure-dome. A stranger or a more bitterly heart-rending tragedy was never enacted on this earth."


Just at this moment the coolies announced that the train was coming. So soon? We hurriedly packed up our luggage, as the train steamed in. An English gentleman, apparently just aroused from slumber, was looking out of a first-class carriage endeavouring to read the name of the station. As soon as he caught sight of our fellow-passenger, he cried, "Hallo," and took him into his own compartment. As we got into a second-class carriage, we had no chance of finding out who the man was nor what was the end of his story.

I said: "The man evidently took us for fools and imposed upon us out of fun. The story is pure fabrication from start to finish." The discussion that followed ended in a lifelong rupture between my theosophist kinsman and myself.

***

I stare at the page for some minutes after finishing. Am I like the narrator of the story about the palace, on the verge of going crazy and is Melody a long-lost, elusive exotic beauty who wants to be freed from a prison?

Is there a Meher Ali who would warn me against her?

All I know is that before Monday, she was real and full and alive in her voice, in her body, and most of all in my arms.

Now she's nothing more than a whisper, a two-dimensional memory in my aching head, only able to say and do the things she's said and done.

She's gone from the here to the then and I don't know how to handle it.

I'm not one to chase and I'm not one to cry, as I've said.

Then why these tears and why this urge to go running, running to that enchanted house, with all its flowers and its gems and its beautiful, blonde Melody?

Why the longing to race up the stairs and throw myself in her arms and babble incoherently, say whatever I need to say to have her be mine?

I'm going mad...

I need to stop.

I flip through the pages, scanning without really looking, until a set of lines catches my eye.

"Your arms full, and your hair wet, I could not
Speak, and my eyes failed, I was neither
Living nor dead, and I knew nothing,
Looking into the heart of light, the silence."

Silence is all that I have now, at least from her.

I surpress the impulse to read the letter again and take some NyQuil. Fifteen minutes later, I fall into the deep, dreamless sleep that I so desperately need.

[DaddyTorgo]

damm. Crazy twist there. Interested to see how it plays out!

[Izulde]

damm. Crazy twist there. Interested to see how it plays out!

Thanks. :) I'm still figuring that out myself, though I have some ideas.

[Izulde]

It was late when I fell asleep last night, so the NyQuil is still casting a fog about me this morning as I walk into class and take a seat more towards the back. Melody's sitting up near the front, but it's something I only half register.

My dull eyes will only look at Morengay and whatever notes I scribble down this lecture, even though they'll probably be incoherent.

Our professor puts up a map on his overhead and begins his speech.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v324/Izulde/euroitaly.jpg

"This is the state of Italy-Croatia's European possessions after the war with Apuila. My apologies for the uneven outlining, but my red marker was running dry, so I had to hurry to mark the boundaries for you.

As you can see, almost the entire Italian peninsula was now under the control of Mad King Yves I.

This did not mean, however, that the possessions were guaranteed to hold. As I told you last time, Italy-Croatia, having just ended the fight with Apuila, was now in conflict with Karten and the Kingdom of Egypt.

The battle against Karten was going extremely well as the winter months and spring of 1128 arrived, with Krain falling to Yves' forces and the Duchy looking to be on the point of surrender quite soon.

Egypt, however, was proving another matter entirely.

The Caliphate of Egypt, as I said last time, though weakened, was still a prominent force and they were sweeping through the Italian-Croatian Middle Eastern territories with the greatest of ease. In fact, the dual kingdom's soldiers, comprimised largely of the indigenous Arabs of the reason, voluntarily joined Calpih Najmaddin in his crusade, compounding the problem of too few troops in the area for Italy-Croatia.

Even more troubling, the Countess of Taranto and the Bishop of Reggio were the latest to join the anti-Yves cabal, calling for a change in the succession laws to better benefit them. The king quite naturally refused the demand, but it was another sign of tension in the Italian peninsula.

Yet, this was not the worst of it, for rebels in Messina, that troublesome county in Sicily, had actually succeeded in repulsing royal troops sent to put down the insurrection. This emboldened the hearts of those furious with the de Semurs and Yves was forced to summon fresh regiments to squash the rebellion before it could spread further.

Enraged at King Yves's refusal to give in to the demand for succession laws to be changed, Countess Judith de Hautville of Taranto declared war against her liege, swearing that she would rather die than be forced to serve her family's mortal enemy.

By April 1128, Karten was almost defeated and the Caliphate of Egypt had re-taken Jaffa, Ascalon and Beersheeb, putting themselves in a much stronger position to again be a Middle Eastern power and they continued to march down towards Cairo, the de Semur crown province in the region.

Unfortunately, Taranto was still at war against the de Semurs and towards the end of the month, the Archbishop of Toscana, originally one of King Yves I's greatest supporters and strongest vassals militarily speaking, joined the Countess of Taranto in open rebellion.

May brought open revolution from the Archbishop of Modena and the Duke of Lombardia. Control over the peninsula was running extremely low and Yves didn't have anywhere near the number of soldiers to deal with a kingdom that was quickly collapsing all around him. In addition the province of Zeta was in revolt.

The hot days of summer brought no respite for the de Semurs on any front, for the Duchy of Karten held out longer than expected and the Republic of Genoa joined those vassals who sought to crush Yves. In desparation, the monarch appointed the Hauteville Count of Consaza the new Duke of Apuila, but the gesture did little to quell the inferno that was raging across Italy.

Alas, the final death knell seemed to be rung late in July when Ludwig de Semur, the Duke of Calabria and Count of Siracusa, declared for civil war as well. Now his own family was turning on the beleagured king who still believed in his own divinity and he was powerless to stop it.

Modena fell to the Archbishop of Toscana in August and the troops sent to Zeta to put down the rebellion were ordered sent home by the Pope in Rome, who had long since ceased to regard King Yves I as an acceptable ally.

A small silver lining appeared in November, when the Caliphate of Egypt, beset by succession difficulties, offered a white peace. King Yves immediately accepted, but by this time, Cairo and Gizeh had come under Egyptian control and the capital province of Bologna itself was beseiged by the Archbishop of Toscana.

Bologna fell just before Christmas 1128 and it was a gloomy holiday season for Yves and what few of his loyal followers remained. Forced out of the capital, what was left of the court retreated to Croatia and hid there while awaiting the outcome of the war, an outcome that looked increasingly worse and worse for the de Semurs still allied with the monarch.

Ferrara and Mantua fell to the Archbishops of Toscana and Modena respectively before January was done and the court decided to begin making offers of peace behind Yves's back.

But what those were and their outcomes... will wait until Friday!"

I'm utterly depressed as I leave the room. First Melody, now Yves.

Does anyone ever achieve victory when its most important, or is the best that we can hope for to have joy for a little while and then lose it?

My head's starting to hurt. I think it's been 6 hours.

More NyQuil, then.

[Izulde]

I pass in and out of a fog over the next couple days, using my clear moments to get my schoolwork done, the hazy hours to lie on my bed and stare blankly at the ceiling. I'm getting as bad as Caveman, but then again, I've never allowed myself to wallow in sorrow, not even when my grandmother died.

It only seems right to do that now.

Wednesday morning finds me alert after going to bed at 7 the night before. I'm glad for it, because the last thing I want is for Melody to see me acting out of it.

Morengay begins and my wandering thoughts end.

"When we left off last time, I mentioned that the council determined to make peace offers without Yves being informed of the matter. More specifically, parley requests were sent to the Duke of Karten and the Archbishops of Toscana and Modena.

The Archbishop of Toscana accepted peace, agreeing to preserve the status quo. In attention, the Archbishop of his own iniative agreed to pay the Kingdom of Italy-Croatia 729 florins to pay for war damages as a gesture of piety and goodwill. This noblesse oblige did much to raise the people's opinion of Ramiero Montefeltro, who was the Archbishop. Remember kids, to win friends and silence your enemies, flash the cash!"

The professor continues after the appreciative chuckle that passes through the class.

"Of course, I should add that the raising of the Duke of Spoleto and Roger Borsa de Hauteville's armies in favor of Yves did much to make the Archbishop eager to end the war. Those forces marched under loyal banners were the ultimate irony of the civil war: A German Duke and a Norman Count were supporting a French king who ruled Italians and Croatians.

Less accomodating were the Archbishop of Modena and the Duke of Karten, who refused the peace offers outright, leading to a continuation of the conflict.

In March, the Bishop of Reggio declared war on Yves as well, but the embattled king resolved to fight on. Privately, the court requested aid from the Dukes of Slavonia and Rashka in the Croatian lands and they readily agreed to support their liege, marching their troops towards Karten.

This happy news was counterbalanced by the Diocese Bishop, Fadrique de Semur, denouncing King Yves I as a crazed heretic, a lunatic who would burn in hell before a throng of religious faithful in Bologna. He left the capital that very day and found asylum with the Bishop of Orbetello, preferring to be in the Pope's lands than serve one who believed himself to be the Messiah.

It was the second major family defection, but this did not trouble the king, for he simply dismissed Fadrique as a traitor to the House of de Semur and he himself as the head of it. 17 year old Guillaume Babone, already considered a genius in ecclesiatical circles even at a young age, who would go on to have a brilliant career, was appointed the new Bishop of Italy-Croatia.

In April, the combined armies of the Duke of Spoleto and Roger Borsa de Hauteville recaptured Taranto and Yves regained the county in the peace negotiations that followed. The two men then marched on to Reggio, hoping to suppress the rebellions in the south entirely.

Peace offers came from the Archbishop of Modena in that same month, but they were little more than extortion demands that ordered the de Semurs to pay the entireity of the treasury in order to end hostilities. Not even the decidedly doveish court would go along with this and so the offers were rejected out of hand.

Also, Palermo fell to the 8,200 strong army of the Republic of Genoa in April and the Duke of Karten proposed to yield the claims he had on Yves's land and in addition to pay reparations. This time, the court sided with the angry monarch, as eagerness to punish Karten for its earlier refusal consumed Louis Castle.

May brought the fall of Messina to Genoa and an emissary from the Pope who demanded that Yves repent of his heresy and renounce himself as the Second Coming. Although initially inclined to "hang the traitorous dog from the false Pope, when I -am- the true Christ, Vicar and all!", the more reasonable members of the court convinced the furious king to put in an appearance at the most prestigious church in Bologna, for they feared what excommunication would mean to Italy-Croatia's already precarious situation.

Apparently this answer did not please God, for the day after the messenger was sent away, May 30th, 1129, King Yves I was found dead in his bed.

A regency council was now formed around the 9 year old Louis de Semur, who would not be allowed to take the throne for another 7 years, because just like getting your driver's license, you couldn't be king until you were 16."

Another laugh ripples through the class and for the first time in days, I join in. It's not really all that funny, but we need to laugh, because this is one depressing story.

"King Charles of France sent an alliance offer to the regents and they immediately accepted, wanting the protection of a powerful friend in case things got worse, which they looked ready to given the civil wars already raging.

Two days after Yves I's death, the Duke of Karten sent another offer of peace, including the County of Istria in the settlement. While the council would have preferred Veglia, which directly bordered the Croatian half of the kingdom, the regents recognized that they needed to reduce their enemies as much as possible and so they accepted the deal.

Two weeks later, Marshal Louis Grimbraldi scored an unexpected victory, routing the Archbishop of Modena's troops in their capital province of Parma despite being outnumbered 400 to approximately 1,000. News of this triumph spread quickly throughout the two kingdoms and the people began to believe that with the death of Yves, peace and glory were at last on the horizon for Italy-Croatia again.

The joy was short-lived, however, for shortly thereafter, the Duke of Spoleto and Roger Borsa suffered an embarrassing defeat against the Bishop of Reggio, which led the Bishop to ask for a white peace. The regency council reluctantly agreed, still aware of the 8,000 Genoan troops running around.

By October 1129, the Archbishop of Modena was defeated and stripped of all titles and funds in the most punative peace settlement yet.

But there were still more rebels to deal with, in particular the mighty Republic of Genoa.

Fortunately, the Kingdom of France had declared war on Genoa in support of Italy-Croatia and were making major headway in Genoan territory, so the troops freshly victorious in Parma marched on Genoa proper, intent on ridding the kingdoms of the republic Louis I had hated so much.

In December, the turning point of the civil war was reached when a combined French and Italian-Croatian soldiers, numbering over 15,000 troops altogether, captured Genoa proper. The Republic was now in deep danger.

At long last, on May 30th, 1129, Genoa was defeated, wholly and completely. The Governor of Genoa surrendered all of his provinces to the regency council, who in a surprising bit of generosity, allowed him to still style himself the Governor of Genoa in recognition of the heroic campaign he'd fought before being caught between France and Italy-Croatia.

There was still the Duchy of Calabria to contend with, but that was only a minor difficulty.

A far greater task lay ahead for the dual kingdoms and the de Semurs: To re-organize the feudal heirarchy and restore the boy Louis's reputation before he assumed the throne.

And that comes..."

"Next time!" chants the class.

"Right! See you Friday!" Morengay beams.

Wow. What an incredible ending. The de Semurs pulled it out, even though it seemed to take Yves dying to do it.

Maybe there's hope for me after all.

Deciding to be a little more like my old self, I nod to Melody on the way out.

She turns away.

A pang shoots through my heart.

Not today.

Will there ever be a day?

I don't know. I hope so.

[Izulde]

I received an email from Prof Morengay today with our midterm exam question.

"Hello students!

In the interest of saving as much time for lecture as possible, I'm distributing your midterm exam question via email. It will be a take-home exam and answers will be due next Friday at the start of class.

Your exam question is:

What individual or event do you feel most contributed to the meteoric rise of the de Semurs from minor Counts of Chalon to an Adriatic powerhouse as the Kings of Italy-Croatia?

Write a five-page paper in which you defend your choice. Cite two sources, one of which may be either lecture notes or your textbook, but not both. Note: Wikipedia is not allowed! The best papers will also acknowledge other possiblities and explain why those events or persons should not be regarded as the best and your choice should.

Good luck!

Prof. Morengay"

That's a tough question. It's one I'll have to think about... At least it'll take my mind off of Melody for a bit, especially since I have a couple other midterms coming in this next week too.

OOC Note: You, the readers, can feel free to tackle this question too, since you're technically Nick's classmates! ;)

[Izulde]

With Caveman's help, I was able to get the paper done by today, Monday, and so I'll be able to turn it early, leaving me free for the rest of the week.

I'm feeling smug about it as I look at the freshmen, still bleary-eyed from the weekend, frantically discussing the paper and wondering how they're going to get the midterm done and omigawd it's soooo unfair that Morengay put this on us when every other professor is demanding work too.

They'll learn. They'll learn how to operate the system after a semester or two. Either that or they'll flunk out, transfer somewhere else, whatever. I don't care, as I'm not going to see any of them after this semester anyway.

Now one of my fellow upperclassmen on the other hand....

My neck tingles with a knowing that she's in the room. It's an instinct that I've acquired over these past several weeks, but I don't look in her direction. Good thing too, because I don't feel Melody's eyes on me. To look would be to lose.

Fortunately, Morengay ambles in as he always does, looking his usual sunny Monday self. I swear, he must get laid on Sunday or something, to be so cheerful this early in the week.

“Good morning, class! When we left off last time, Yves I had died a short time ago and a regency council was once more in charge of Italy-Croatia while the two kingdoms waited for Louis II to come of age.

As I may have mentioned last time, the first order of business was for the regency council to re-organize Italy-Croatia to try and restore the de Semur reputation following Yves's disasterous rule. Not only that, but to bring order and put down the rebellious Duke of Calabria, Ludwig de Semur, who betrayed his family not only by revolting, but by declaring himself for the hated German way of life.

Although it was widely expected that titles would be handed out en masse`, only a few unimportant counties were given to courtiers and the lone Ducal elevation was that of Hugues de Hauteville, who revered the French de Semur culture and who was steadfastly loyal as the Count of Benveneto. He was raised to Duke of Modena, albeit without vassals of his own.

These minimal concessions led to great indignation on the part of the courtiers in Bologna and the vassal nobles, such that the ruling family's reputation improved little, indeed if even at all.

The council shrugged off the fury and the revolts and rebellions that plagued Italy-Croatia throughout the summer and fall, instead concentrating on liberating those provinces taken by Calabria and the Republic of Genoa, those former vassals now allied to one another.

A shrewd plan was adopted, whereby a small force was sent to attack Siracusa, the Duke of Calabria's home. This diversionary tactic succeeded masterfully, for Ludwig, upon hearing of report of the invasion, hastily rushed to Syracuse to repel the invaders.

Meanwhile, two larger Croatian armies swooped down upon Taranto. By the time Duke Ludwig realized what had happened, Taranto was once again in Italian-Croatian hands and the combined Croatian forces were on the march to Siracusa.

As you might expect, the larger Italy-Croatia army crushed the smaller Calabrian force in the open field, but the siege is where it gets interesting.

According to legend, the ghost of King Louis I the Great appeared before Ludwig de Semur and declared the following:

“You have fouled your noble blood and tainted yourself with Teutonic love. No traitor, no blasphemer to our House, our name and our kingdoms shall be allowed to prosper. This day you lose your title, your lands, and your very life and you shall be dragged screaming to the darkest regions of Hell, where you will pay homage to your new master, he who has committed the gravest of offenses and the worst of all treacheries, that against God himself.”

It's said that at that precise moment, lightning struck the Duke of Calabria and when the brightness cleared, there was only a scorch mark.

The body was never found.

The very next day, March 8th, 1031, Syracuse surrendered all of Ludwig's former titles to the boy king and his regents.

When word got out of this legend, the kingdoms of Europe, Christian and Muslim alike, feared and respected the dual Kingdom like never since the time of Louis I himself. It was whispered everywhere that the great monarch would return in the body of his grandson, Louis II and that when the boy came of age, Italy-Croatia would grow even larger, to become the single greatest power in all the known world.

Now whether or not you believe the legend, and indeed, it seems silly to us today to believe, in the Middle Ages, people were much more superstitious and willing to believe stories of that nature and believe this legend they did.

But along with this fear and respect was still scorn for the regency council itself, whom all considered to be weak and mere figureheads that would be swept away as soon as Louis came of age.

Quick to react to this criticism, the council sought once again to restore its reputation through the gifting of titles. Unfortunately, this ruse was very easily seen through and so the results were once again much to the council's discouragement.

Another piece of bad news for the regents happened a week before Ludwig de Semur's demise and Syracuse's surrender.

Pope Alaracio I successfully warred against the Archbishop of Toscana, using the causus belli of Toscana's rebellion against the de Semurs to make good his claim on the county of Siena. This not only grew the direct Papal domains, but interfered with the council's plans to eventually reunite the Italian peninsula under the de Semur banner.

But the pontiff and the de Semurs were not the only one who had designs on Siena. The de Hauteville Duke of Salerno also thirsted for the county and declared war on the aggressive pope in hopes of obtaining it for himself.

The regency council chose to stay out of the squabble, preferring to leave any eventual decisions concerning Siena to Louis II when he came of age. Instead, they ordered comission of a monastary in Bologna to give thanks for the victory over the blood-traitor Ludwig de Semur, as well as commenced other building projects around the two kingdoms.

But peace was not to last. An old enemy had re-emerged in Croatia and was threatening the eastern kingdom.

Who that was and what they were doing will be answered... next time!”

We all groan at the cliffhanger, but nonetheless make our gradual exits.

Gradual, that is, except for Melody.

She darts out the door in a blur of pale blue, white, and the glimpsed yellow of her hair.

Hair I used to kiss. Hair I used to touch. Hair that in the short time we'd slept together, I'd gotten to know as well as my own.

Will I ever know it again?

[Izulde]

“Do you remember Rachel?”

I check Caveman's face as he passes me the hookah pipe and the question. It's calm, slightly distant and philosophical like it usually is when he smokes, so I nod as I take the pipe.

“Sure. What about her?”

“Those were some great times I had with her, no?”

Caveman's face sags with the weight of memories as he turns his head, gazing out the window at our neighbor's large, precisely cut backyard.

“Definitely. I mean, I know a lot of the guys wonder why you don't try and hook up with anyone else, but I can understand it.”

And I could.

Caveman started dating Rachel a month after he transferred here. She was a Dutch girl, slender, with the most fantastically spiraling blonde curls you ever saw and dark blue eyes that seemed to understand everything they looked at. They would spend hours sitting on one of the couches in the common room or in the basement, talking about literature, philosophy, history, stuff like that.

We were all happy for him, especially since it was during his pledging semester, which is simultaneously the most fun and the most stressful time you'll ever have in a fraternity. Rachel grounded him, made Caveman the closest thing to a normal human being he would ever be.

But then....

“I never was one to talk much. You know that. But around Rachel, it was different. It was like all my thoughts, my theories, my dreams finally had an outlet and I could pour everything into her that I'd been holding in for so long. I felt complete for the first time in my life, like this giant void inside of me was filled and I could at last, finally, be completely happy.”

Caveman takes a hit on the hookah after this tirade, having retrieved the pipe back during my spaceout. We've been smoking for a good hour now and things are definitely looking a little off-kilter.

I force myself to pay attention and respond.

“Well, yeah, and I get that, but at the same time, I can also see where the other guys are coming from. I mean shit, dude, you're not a bad-looking guy. You're smart, you're freaking hilarious when you let yourself go enough to crack a joke, and you're fun to be around. You just need to open yourself up more.”

He glares at me through the smoke of his next exhale as he slides me the pipe.

“Don't fucking patronize me with that crap, Nick. You know I hate that shit. The fuck you think you are, some kind of therapist?”

Oops. Time to backtrack.


“Sorry, man. Look, all I'm saying is, just think about it. I know Becky from the Mu Delts thinks you're worth checking out, but no sorority chick is going to put herself out for a guy, especially not a fellow Greek unless he's like Terry.”

I waggle my eyebrows as I suck on the pipe, my grin Groucho Marx in style as I exhale it, “Hell, even -I- don't get the kind of play Terry did.”

Caveman laughs and shakes his head.

“Too true. Anyway, regarding Becky, she's well... she's not like that girl you're seeing... what's her name?”

Ugh. He didn't just go there.

“Melody”, I mutter, watching as he coils the pipe up and puts the hookah back in his closet, “And we're not seeing each other anymore.”

His shocked eyes dart to me, his jaw hung open.

“What? What the fuck? Why not?!”

So I tell him. I tell him about everything, the dates, the sex, the letter. Everything except the jewelry room. That I can't betray her by telling anyone, not even Caveman, who's as silent as well, a cave, about that sort of thing.

When I finish, he nods, looking thoughtful.

“It's pretty obvious what you have to do you know.”

“What?”

“You only asked her to do something at the very beginning, before you guys started going out. Everything since then has been all her to you. Take the initative and ask her to do something. Hell, I could even help you with a few ideas.”

“Um... thanks, but no thanks on the ideas.” Caveman's love-related schemes are legendary on campus, both for their epic scope and, in most cases, their epic failure. “In fact, I don't even know for sure about this whole taking initative thing. I mean, hell, -she- broke up with -me-. It's not like I'm the one who broke up with her and has to prove he's still interested.”

“Oh but you do!” cries Caveman, leaping up and grabbing a pillow from his bed, “You do! This proud girl, this ice princess, this rich beyond all compare young woman, has confessed to you, -in writing-, that she loves you. Have -you- told her that you love her? Have you shown anything at all beyond the oh, hey thanks for showing me all this stuff Melody and I'll have a cup of sex on the side please, thanks?

She's been showing you herself, baring her body, her soul, her very Melodyness and you're just sitting on your ass and cheerfully taking it all in!”

I sigh. Great, he's got that gleam in his eye, the one where he'll keep prattling on and won't shut up until I just agree with whatever he says.

“All right, man. I'll start showing her more of myself.”

Seeing his eyes brighten, I hastily add, “No, I won't need any help. I've already got some ideas in mind. I'll let you know how it goes after I try them out.”

I speed out of the room before he can bombard me with more questions or wise advice.

...I have to admit, he's helped me see something I hadn't before. I -have- been selfish... so caught up in reacting to Melody's class status and snobby ideas that I've never taken the opportunity to show her me as she's shown me her.

In a way, I've been just as narrow-minded as I've accused her of being, though it does make me wonder two things:

Why was she interested in me in the first place?

And how do I show her myself when I've never thought about myself enough to get an idea of who I really am?

And that's when it hits me.

I forgot to turn in the midterm Monday after class.

...I'll do it Wednesday.

[Izulde]

I put the thoughts of myself out of my head for now. I mean, you don't go 22 years of your life without thinking about who you are and then all of a sudden discover yourself in a day. That just isn't how it works, I don't think.

Besides, I've got enough to think about already with the midterm crunch, the last one I'll ever have, as I don't see graduate school in my future.

At least I have Morengay's done.

He's setting up shop at his lectern now, humming something that sounds like the Jeopardy theme. A few minutes later,

"Friday! Two more days until the midterm's due! Some of you have handed them in to me early, which was nice, but you won't get a better grade just because you turned in ahead of time."

The by now standard chuckle comes from the class as he grins and shuffles his notes.

"But in any case, when we ended class last time, I told you that a familiar enemy had arisen again and was threatening the eastern, or Croatian, half of Italy-Croatia.

That opponent was none other than the newly resurgent caliphate of Egypt. After having been trampled on by Louis the Great, the caliphs had gone into hiding and quietly restored their power base.

Now they were fully reborn and were, at this time in 1131, attacking the Duchy of Zara, one of de Semur vassals. The regency council, aghast at the idea that Egypt might undo everything that the mighty monarch had done, declared war posthaste and set about freeing Croatia from the revived menace.

Unfortunately, the province of Split fell before the Usora regiment could get there, but this was to be the least of the Dual Kingdom's worries, for a far more deadly poison injected itself into Italy-Croatia.

Regicide, or the killing of kings.

Yep, that's right, folks. The still minor Louis was assassinated by none other than his own relative, Spymistress Eleonore de Semur, who, being married to a Premyslid, sought to gain greater power for the Premyslid faction and to encourage her own husband to be promoted as Marshal by getting rid of the young boy, who showed a strong penchant for following in his grandfather's footsteps.

What Eleonore hadn't counted on was the new king, King Robert I, youngest son of Louis the Great, brother to the ill-fated Yves I.

Robert immediately ordered Eleonore's execution for the discovered murder of Louis, decreed that in the naming of Italian-Croatian kings ever after, the next Louis would begin with III, even though the child monarch had not yet reached maturity and his title, and finally, stripped all the Premyslids of their court positions.

He further stated, and I quote: "The bad blood of the Premyslids shall no more be permitted to occupy a high rank at court. Those that remain will be allowed to live out their lives here as courtiers, but no more effort shall be made to perpetuate them. They and their race shall eventually cease to be in the sacred halls of the de Semur dynasty."

Thus, it was a de Semur that brought about the ruin of the Premyslids and won the Jimenez family final victory in their long-running feud."

Morengay stops to drink some water and put a picture up on the overhead.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v324/Izulde/kingroberti.jpg

"Robert unfortunately suffered from very premature balding, as you can see here from his coronation portrait, when he was 19.

Hairless though he may have been, the young king's ruthlessness in dealing with the Spymistress Eleonore and the attached Premyslid dynasty showed that he had iron in his veins. He also displayed considerable awareness of the faction fighting that went on in previous reigns by dictating that no one royal family would occupy more than one position in court.

Having dealt with internal troubles, Robert now turned his attention to the Egyptians, summoning the Bologna regiment and marching to Croatia himself.

By February 1132, Split was back in de Semur hands. More importantly, Robert, recognizing that, much like Yves, he did not have the administrative talents to rule such a vast personal domain, began distributing titles to the men in court, save for, of course, the Premyslids.

Although the new king kept most of the territory still in his personal hands, he gifted enough counties so that some measure of order could be maintained within the two kingdoms.

Finally, in August, Robert had all of Croatia back in de Semur hands. Although there were still some Egyptian regiments in the country, they were demoralized, having been beaten back repeatedly by the good king, who showed considerable skill and valor in leading armies, much like Louis the Great did.

Leaving one regiment behind to patrol Croatia, Robert I took the Bologna army and the Usora troops with him to North Africa, vowing to once and for all eradicate the Egyptians and avenge the memories of his father and his nephew.

It was this heroic and pious effort that made many of the revolts that were so troublesome in Yves I's time finally cease, for they saw in Robert a strong leader and indeed, he captured Gizeh quite easily in the spring of 1133.

Having established his reputation and further cementing it by declaring that the rebellious Duke of Spoleto would be brought back into the kingdom at the point of a sword, Robert sent couriers to search for a bride, even as he marched on Cairo, that one-time jewel of Italian-Croatian North Africa.

He found one in the summer, Princess Krystyna Piast, youngest daughter of the King of Poland at 16 years old, which was legal age now and then in Europe, in case any of you guys feel like exploring the younger side of life."

As the class chuckles, the prof changes pictures.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v324/Izulde/Krystyna.jpg

"Not exactly the prettiest Queen in the history of the world, but the marriage further helped solidify young Robert's place in the world and, more importantly, she brought in over 300 florins for a dowry, money desperately needed in a treasury that was running startlingly low because of these military excursions.

And successful those expeditions were fast becoming. Cairo fell to Robert in December and it would be a hotly contested city for the following year and then some while the holy war waged on. In January 1135, the Council of Ten at Venice and the Duke of Karten, impressed by Robert I's piety and the tales arriving from the Middle East of this new king's military prowess, formally applied to become Robert's vassals.

Robert, as you can imagine, proudly accepted. Not only was Karten finally restored to the Italian-Croatian banner, but there were few provinces richer than Venice, which also had a proud tradition of republicanism and independence. For the Venetians to place themselves under King Robert's aegis meant that the de Semurs were once more established as -the- South European power.

Despite these early triumphs and despite the late summer return to the Archbishophoric of Toscana to the Dual Kingdoms, the advance was halted when Nassaridin, the King of Egypt, hired mercaneries from all across the kingdom to throw back the Christian assault. Thus, Robert was temporarily thrown back from El-Arish and for a moment, Cairo looked like it would fall back into Egyptian hands.

But then a single arrow, from a young man history calls Paris of Cairo, landed in the heel of the Muslim commander. That notable then tripped and fell, where he was trampled by an onrushing horde of Italian-Croatian defenders. Thus, were the Egyptians scattered and thus was Cairo saved... for the time being!

Returning to Bologna to replenish the royal regiment, Robert ordered the regiments that he sent to Cairo to stand there in defense of the city until such time as he could return to Africa.

Alas for our heroes, Chancellor Ramiro Jimenez, eager to gain even more glory for his family name, rushed forward without waiting for his king. As a result of his rashness, a 3,500-strong Italian-Croatian army was crushed. Buoyed by this victory, the Egyptians pressed on, now swelled to 5,300 themselves.

They were soon set to overrun Cairo and this time, May 1136, there would be no Paris of Cairo.

Indeed, though Robert I made repeated offers of peace to the now regent council of the Egyptian child-caliph, the previous ruler having died gloriously in battle, that council turned deaf ears to the messengers.

Cairo was once again doomed to be in Egyptian hands.

Would Robert take this lying down? And would he summon forth as many of the massive resources of the dual kingdoms as he could muster to take that city, that city which became so sacrosanct in his eyes, back?

And if he did, what price would he pay in the other areas of his lands?

The answers to all these questions and more..... on.... Friday!"

This time I remember to turn in my paper.

This time, Melody's normal going out the door, but I won't chase her. All things on Friday sound good to me.

[Izulde]

There's a crisp bite to the air this morning, the kind of cool breeze that only comes on certain autumn days.

I love the fall. The changing leaves, football, Halloween, apple cider... Wait a minute, that's something about me that I know is me!

I've got a starting point, at least and from there, everything else will come. After all, I'm Nick, not Caveman.

So I'll catch Melody after class.

Fortunately, she's there today, dressed in a white blouse and skirt that's pleasantly short, a red sweater tossed over her shoulders with the kind of perfection that only the most preppy girls can pull off.

As I'm taking my seat, occasionally glancing at her out of the corner of my eye, Morengay lumbers in and takes the lectern.

"Weekend's almost here! I know you're all looking forward to whatever it is you do when you're free from class, but first, we've got go to with King Robert I of Italy-Croatia while he figures out what to do about the Egyptians.

As I said last time, there was a choice for Robert to make: Throw everything at Cairo in an attempt to liberate it again or fight a defensive war until attrition forced the Egyptian regents or the caliph, when he came of age, to ask for a peace.

Robert, being a de Semur and the son of Louis the Great, made the decision you might expect him to.

He summoned virtually all of the regiments in his personal domains and, at great expense to the treasury, marched on Cairo. The city was once more in de Semur hands by mid-March 1137.

With his Grand Armee` largely intact, King Robert I took the point position and continued further on into Egyptian territory, consumed with the desire to become the greatest de Semur king in history, a distinction he believed would be his if he could at last 'vanquish the Muslim thorn', as one poet later put it.

8,500 strong Italian-Croatian troops made up this massive army and with those numbers, they quickly overwhelmed the Egyptian resistance, taking Ascalon and Beersheeb by June in a lightning campaign reminiscent of Louis the Great's Egyptian military expedition.

A critical victory occured in September, when Robert's army captured Hebron, an extremely well-fortified county that was a vital part of the Egyptian caliphate.

The opportunity for even greater glory happened the day after Robert occupied Hebron. The Knights of Solomon, a French order of holy knights, came to the Italian-Croatian king, requesting that they be allowed rule of Hebron to serve as a bastion for Christendom in the Muslim lands.

King Robert immediately accepted and he was praised throughout Europe for his piety and his belief in the holy mission. Although I have to say, between you and me, I don't think religion was so much a concern of Robert's. I think it was more that he recognized that by giving the Knights of Solomon Hebron, he was depriving the Egyptians of one of their most important territories, making the war that much easier.

Of course, the Egyptians could have warred against these new rulers in Hebron, but that would've meant a two-front war, and as those of you who might be students of military history in this class know, a two-front war is not successful too often."

Morengay sips his water while the class laughs a bit.

"In late October, the Egyptian capital province of Tiberias fell to Robert and it seemed there would be no more hope for the mortal enemy of Italy-Croatia to survive. Indeed, Robert, now in his mid-20s and already a legendary figure in Europe, pressed on, vowing to wipe out every last soldier in the caliphate.

Two more territories, including Tripoli, became Italian-Croatian lands by January 1138.

But the Egyptians were not resting on their laurels. Hearing of Robert's grand army, they stole away to Croatia and began occupying lands in the eastern half of the dual kingdoms while Robert was away in North Africa.

When the king heard of this, he was outraged, but as he had superior numbers and many of his Croatian counties had extremely strong defenses, he elected to concentrate on finishing off the Egyptian homelands before returning to Europe.

And finish them off he did, as the last native Egyptian province surrendered on June 18, 1138, in the city of Eliat.

With this matter well in hand, Robert commanded his regiments to sail posthaste to Croatia, using whatever means necessary to secure ships. There were some pretty sketchy methods used to these ends, including bribery, murder, blackmail, and other such fun things. If you'd like to read about it, I can recommend Constantine Riggio's book, Holy Ships, Unholy Men, which is rather critical of Robert's Great Crusade, as it would later be called.

Riggio, although a modern-day historian, is not the only one who found issue with Robert's Crusade. Phillipe de Semur, grandson of Louis the Great by way of Arnaud and King Robert's nephew, declared his independance shortly after Eliat fell. He was angry with the fiscal irresponisiblity of his uncle's campaign and swore that when he was king, things would be different.

For Phillipe was also next in line for the throne, as Queen Krystyana had given Robert three daughters, but no sons. Not a good situation in a land that was strictly patriarchal in terms of who the absolute ruler was! In other words, no penis, no play."

The shocked gasps from the girls is balanced by the hilarious laughter from us guys. Every time I think I'm about to fall asleep during Morengay's lectures as he talks about military campaigns, he comes back with a joke to keep me awake.

"At long last, on June 15th, 1139, the Egyptians were once and for all defeated, the last Croatian holding, that of Hum, joyfully returning to the de Semur personal lands.

The streets of the city were awash in celebration, as the people cried, "Long live King Robert. Long Live the Holy Warrior!" The banners of Italy-Croatia flew from every building and drinking and feasting lasted long into the night, not unlike what you guys will be doing this weekend.

It was following this liberation that Robert acquired the nickname history would ever after know him as.

First, there was Louis the Great, then Yves the Mad, and now they had Robert the Holy Warrior. Though again, the nickname they gave Robert is, to me, slightly hypocritical.

We'll stop early today so you can all turn in your mid-terms."

In the shuffle of people and papers after Morengay's announcement, I see Melody slipping for the door.

I dash over and tap her on the shoulder.

She turns, looking at me expressionlessly.

"Hey! Listen, you want to go for a walk?"

"...All right."

Her voice is wary, as are her eyes. This might not be the best time, but Caveman's convinced me that I need to do it.

We go in silence out of the building and I lead her down a side road, away from the congestion of the main path of campus. On this trail, the trees are at their most brilliant, red and orange, gold and gleaming from the morning dew.

"I love fall", I begin, "You've got the changing colors of the leaves, football--"

"Stop it, Nick!"

I blink and stare at her. Her lips are in a thin, tight line, like her teeth are clenched.

"Just stop it! Don't do this... Don't just all of a sudden start talking to me about yourself and what you like! Stop it!"

"...I don't get it. Why? I mean, you love me..."

Tears glisten in her eyes as the anger goes out of her face, replaced by a sorrow so sweet, it makes me want to cry too.

"Please, Nick. Don't do this..." She's whispering now, her voice soft and fragile in a way that's not like her.

I touch her cheek. She doesn't pull away as I reply in a low voice of my own, "Why not? I love you too... and I mean it."

It's then she pulls away, her tears turning into choked sobs. I continue staring in confusion.

She raises her hand and all the freshness, all the beauty goes out of the morning, the autumn, the everything.

There's only the cold wind, her loud, unnaturally echoing sobs, and the urge to scream, to rip out my heart and throw it in the sky, to some place where there's no pain, no awful reality that kills you to look it in the face.

Hard truth glitters, an icy truth that freezes me and I hear her, not next to me, but from far away.

"I'm engaged...."

[Cap Ologist]

damn you and your slow pace of updating.

[Izulde]

damn you and your slow pace of updating.

Sorry :D But better slow than not at all! :)

[Cap Ologist]

that was code for I'm enjoying it, please update more frequently. ;)

[Izulde]

that was code for I'm enjoying it, please update more frequently. ;)

Haha okay, thanks. :)

Unfortunately, I can't promise a faster update pace. I've got some stuff I wanted to do this weekend and then my mom's coming to visit next week, so it may be another week, week and a half before I get to updating.

[MrBug708]

Hiya Jester!

[Izulde]

Hiya Jester!

:D Jestor was actually my original FOFC name too (I think...), but then I lost the password or something.

[TonyR]

The updates are far and few between, but a great read nonetheless.
Keep it up.

[Izulde]

The updates are far and few between, but a great read nonetheless.
Keep it up.

Thanks. :) I definitely will.

[Izulde]

"....You're what?"

"I'm engaged."

She repeats it with a small spark of her familiar fire and deficiance. Some men might back down and just accept it for what it is, but I'm angry too. Angry, shocked, and something else that I can't quite describe.

"Was this before or after you fucked me?"

Her face turns haughty, the fury in her eyes matching my own.

"After. It was last week, if you must know."

...What? What the fuck is this girl on?

"Last week?! What the hell, Melody? You write to me that you love me and you're breaking up with me... and then like two weeks later, you get engaged to some jackass?! You don't know a damn thing about love."

"And you don't understand anything about my life!" she snaps, light blue eyes turning stormy dark, "I said, you can't provide for me in the way that I'm used to and so I needed someone who can.... And he's not a jackass, not really, anyway."

I throw my arms up, feeling irritation rising up with that anger. When the hell is she going to get off the class bit?

"And what, your family's money isn't enough? Sure, you said you have a brother, but it's not like he's going to hog it all."

"But he is! He's going to inherit all of my mother's money and half of my father's. I'll be poor, don't you see?"

The terror in her eyes at the idea of being poor sobers me. We all have our phobias and maybe poverty is hers.

I take a breath, exhaling slowly. Time to bring this back down to a more rational level, a level that's more like us.

"Who is he, anyway?"

"His name's Chet. He goes to Yale."

Heh, Yale. Why am I not surprised? And Chet... sounds like a limp-wristed guy's name, if you know what I mean. But still....

"Why aren't you at Yale or Harvard or Princeton or one of those places anyway? I mean, you're smart, you've obviously got connections... Why this shitty D-3 public school in the middle of nowhere?"

I'm rewarded with a small sliver of a smile, one that would pass for a grin or a smirk on anyone else.

"Because when you belong to the class that I do, you get tired of the seeing the same people all the time. There's no freshness, no novelty. I was stifled and I needed someplace to breathe, so I thought, what better than a public school far away from all that?

I spent the summer my junior year looking at state schools all across the country, concentrating on the ones with the best literature programs, because I wanted to be challenged while I enjoyed myself. Cost wasn't a concern as you know and neither was applying, so getting accepted was easy. This school has the top public school international literature program in the country."

I can't help but laugh at the absurdity of it. It sounds so much like the stereotypical poor little rich girl going off to the slums and that's so not like the Melody I've come to know, with her pride in her family's status, in her own status.

"It was different for me. My family's not exactly rolling in money, so I had to stay here in my home state and this was the school I liked best out of all of them."

She nods, going quiet for a few moments. In that window, I see an opportunity to ask a question that's been bothering me for a while now.

"Why me, anyway?"

Her smile blossoms, but there's a sweet sadness in there as well.

"Oh, Nick... who can answer that? Love is a thing completely illogical. It's another reason I didn't want to give into my love to you. Marrying for love gets you a sixty percent divorce rate. Marrying for logic ensures stability."

I can't supress a burn of annoyance.

"Yeah, sixty percent divorce rate, but most of it's over money, which would only be an issue with you. You're right in that I don't need a ton of money to be happy, but damn it, what I do need is you! Do you realize in that all the women I've been with, you're the first and only one I've fallen in love with?!"

That sorrow grows, simultaneously dimming and making somehow more lovely her normally luminious and expressionless face.

"And you're the first and only one I've fallen in love with too, Nick."

Ugh! Why can't she see the truth that's in front of her?!

"We're more alike than you know, Melody. Can't you-"

"Melody!"

We turn our heads, both of us with startled looks being interrupted.

Racing down the walk is breathless and bouncy Becky, that exceptionally pretty Korean and fellow Greek who's in love with Caveman, only he's too moronic to do anything about it.

She reaches us and grasps Melody by the arm.

"Oh my god, I'm -so- glad I found you! Listen, Post-Colonial Brit Lit is -killing- me! I don't get this Tagore guy at all. Can you help me with him? You're really good at explanations and everything."

My blonde love looks between us before nodding, "Yes. All right. Nick, do come in December. I will be very disappointed if you don't."

As the two girls walk off, I see Becky looking at me in a way that tells me Caveman won't be the first of our house she looks for next time she's over.

...I think today's a good day to cut the rest of my classes. I'll go do some shots.

[Izulde]

I spend the weekend successfully dodging everyone by hanging out for extended hours in different coffee shops around town. The only one in the fraternity who's really big on them is Caveman, and he's in one of his holing up moods.

I can see why he likes them. They're more relaxed than libraries and the right ones are just quiet enough to get a lot of studying done. This has been the most productive non-finals weekend I've had in that regard since my first semester of college. Fitting in a way that it bookends with this, my last semester.

It's Monday now and though I'm not looking forward to class, I drag myself to it anyway. After all, I can't turn into Caveman, always avoiding everything when things get bad. I just needed a little alone time this weekend, that's all.

She's fortunately not there when I arrive and so I'm able to busy myself with actually doing some reading for another class until Morengay enters and begins his lecture.

"Good morning! Hope you all had a fantastic weekend!

I've started grading your exams and I should have them back to you by Friday. Thus far, they're looking pretty good, so there's no need to panic about them. I think the class will turn out to have done well overall.

Now then, when we ended class last time, King Robert I de Semur of Italy and Croatia had just received the nickname of the Holy Warrior for finally and forever conquering the Egyptians, that Muslim caliphate who had plagued the de Semur family since the days of Louis the Great.

This magnificient victory did much to restore Robert's reputation and raise his acclaim throughout Europe, even when many of the counts he'd elevated to power in the former Egyptian territories broke away and declared themselves independent.

Their re-absorption into the de Semur sphere held little attraction for Robert, however, who was much more concerned with a goal that had eluded Louis the Great and Yves the Mad both, namely the unification of the Italian peninsula.

To that end, he declared war on Henry de Hauteville, Duke of Campania and last remaining bastion of the formerly mighty Norman de Hauteville presence. The war was a short one, and by February 1140, Henry surrendered the Duchy of Campania and all its vassals to the ambitious King Robert.

On April 1st, 1140, in an elaborate ceremony that's been written about extensively in both histories and in fiction and has appeared in a few films about the de Semurs, King Robert I, the Holy Warrior, was crowned King of Naples in Salerno, the province of final unification. Now the Dual Kingdoms were the Tri Kingdoms and all of Italy save the Papal lands and the county of Spoleto were under the aegis of the de Semur dynasty.

Even the Duchy of Marche, currently independent from Italy and with a vassal, was ruled by none other than Phillipe de Semur, the heir to the Three Kingdoms.

Here's a map of the European parts of the Three Kingdoms after that famous event."

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v324/Izulde/Italy3Kingdoms.jpg

"As a sign of Robert's growing power, a week after his coronation as King of Naples, the Republic of Genoa, now relocated to the island of Sicily, pledged its loyalty to him, thus once again making all of the island under the de Semurs. Over the next year, two bishophorics added to the vastly growing Three Kingdoms by also pledging fealty, as Robert pursued a path of peace and construction in his personal lands and forsook war, as his ally, the King of France, was so eagerly engaged in against the fearsome Emir of Sevilla.

This peace ended in the summer of 1143, when the Bishop of Alquielia, one of Robert's newest vassals, was attacked by the Duke of Verona, who resided in Germany. Furious at the insult to the Three Kingdoms, Robert proclaimed the Duke unfit to rule and invaded, successfully taking the title of Duke of Verona in September, the same month that the Archbishop of Toscana, Nolfo Campofregoso, one of Robert's vassals, was elected Pope and the king himself fell ill.

That illness did not come from Nolfo's election to the Holy See directly, but rather from the new Pope's selection of a lowly Duke as the Defender of the Faith instead of the Holy Warrior King Robert, as so many had anticipated.

Today must be Picture Day, because I've got a portrait of that dastardly, ungrateful Pope for you all to view."

The class laughs while Morengay pulls the map off the projector to put up the picture.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v324/Izulde/PopeNolfo.jpg

"There was also the small matter of Robert and Queen Krystyna still bereft of sons. Since the time of Robert's coronation in Naples, they'd only had one more child, a fifth daughter, and the window of time for a son to arrive was quickly closing.

One benefit out of the Verona war, however, was that for the first time in Italy-Croatia history, all of the provinces of those two kingdoms were a unified, unbroken chain of territory, yet another impressive feat accomplished by Robert I, who many historians consider to be on level with Louis the Great as a result of his accomplishments.

1144 brought three important events: Robert's restoration to full health, the Chronicles of the de Semur Dynasts written by Anselm d'Este, one of the most famous authors of day and from whom we have the most complete information about the de Semur dynasty from the earliest de Semur noble we have record of all the way through that period of the Holy Warrior's reign.

And finally, we have the last significant event of 1144.

Another child was born to King Robert I and Queen Krystyna.

A sixth daughter.

Yep, that's right, little woman number 6! The royal couple were now in their 30s and the spectre of Phillipe de Semur, who remained independent and who was universally hated throughout Europe, becoming the next king, loomed large on the horizon.

It was then that other possibilities began to enter Robert's mind. But what those were... Wednesday!"

I feel sorry for Robert. All those things he did and it sounds like this Phillipe guy could ruin it all, if he gets the crown. I know this is all history and has already been decided, but I'm avoiding reading about it outside of class.

That way it seems like a story to me, kind of like a really good TV show that I can't wait to hear more about.

I'm so lost in my thoughts about Robert that Melody's long out of the room before I recognize she's gone. Probably better that way. After the shock she gave me Friday, I'm not ready to deal with her yet.

[Izulde]

Wednesday. Another class day.

Another lecture by Morengay.

"Gooood morning, class! It's time to continue the adventures of King Robert I de Semur of Italy, Croatia, and Naples!

We ended last time with my informing you that after six daughters, the time had come for Robert to consider other measures. But these tactics he was considering, first conceived in the winter of 1144, were of such a nature that he spent close to a full year weighing them.

As Anselm d'Este, the great chronicler, wrote in his personal diary, and I quote:

"The King has been much quiet these last few months and appears occupied with some weighty matter of state. As God is my witness, he frightened me last week when he inquired about certain discrete individuals who could eliminate a problem that has been vexing him. This seems quite out of keeping with the Holy Warrior's normal character and I worry that he will begin to walk a path that will stain his soul more surely than Louis the Great's excommunication."

By November 1145, the inkling darkness that Anselm suspected in Robert was proven true, when an assassin was discovered in the middle of the night stabbing Queen Krystyna in the heart. Although the murderer killed himself so as not to reveal who hired him, the chronicler was only all too quick to denounce the king in front of the court.

According to the records, when King Robert heard this proclamation, he bowed his balding head and said quite solemnly, "Yes. Her blood reddens my hands, but her death was necessary for the survival of the Three Kingdoms."

All of Europe was outraged at this regicide and the Holy Warrior's good reputation was forever after ruined, to the point where almost no one called him the Holy Warrior any longer, but simply, King Robert.

As if to prove all the classes correct in dropping his sobriquet, Robert promptly married 19 year-old Princess Pulcheria Akropolites, youngest daughter of none other than Emperor Alexandros Akropolites himself, the ruler of the Byzantine Empire, a land famous even today for being no stranger to the advantageous killing or two.

This marriage caused a double scandal, for Pulcheria believed in the Orthodox faith, which ran contrary to all of the Three Kingdoms, save for a handful of the provinces in Naples, including, interestingly enough, Siracusa, the royal capital of the southern Kingdom. By the way, the royal capitals in each of the three kingdoms during Robert's time were Bologna in Italy, obviously, Siracusa in Naples and Hum in Croatia.

Call it fate, divine justice, or a simple case of what modern genetics calls the father determines the sex, but a year later, in November 1146, King Robert and Queen Pulcheria had their first child... Robert's *seventh* daughter!

The monarch was quite beside himself according to Anselm d'Este's account, but as Pulcheria was first of all young, secondly one of the most beautiful women in all of Europe at that time, she was forgiven for this fault and the royal couple promptly set to trying again.

And their attempts were successful, for Queen Pulcheria became pregnant again by September 1147, three days after Phillipe de Semur, that rogue Duke of Marche and heir to the Three Crowns, declared war on, of all places, the Papacy, which was still headed up by the old Archbishop of Toscana.

Robert watched this war very closely, as you might imagine, and secretly hoped that Phillipe would manage to die during the fighting. In fact, he so much hoped for it that he declared war on the Duke of Marche and sent 5,000 troops to aid the Pope in his war against Phillipe.

I'm sure it won't shock you to learn that the war lasted only a month and at the end of it, King Robert I was once again the winner, holding in his hands the titles of Duke of Marche and Count of Urbino, which he promptly distributed to more worthy candidates.

It was immediately after this Machiavellian coup that Robert became much more secretive and mistrusting of others, believing only in Anselm d'Este and even then only half the time. He refused to personally ride at the head of any more troops, for he did not want to die and give Phillipe the crowns. Ironically enough, this had the effect of making Robert a much more effective and talented administrator than he'd been at any other point in his years as king.

But in spite of these successes, another tragedy befell the king in June of 1148. Daughter number 8, to match the year! And this time, it looked like there would be no more children, for Robert was becoming steadily more paranoid and on several nights refused to see his own wife, for suspicion that she was in league with Phillipe to be rid of him.

All of this hiding away and the rumours that circulated around them led to increased unrest among the vassals, culminating in the late fall open war of the Republic of Langedouc against Robert. Enraged and cursing epithets against all forms of democractic government, the king ordered the Royal Marshal and the Firenze regiment to subdue the rebels.

In January 1149, as the capital province of the republic was about to fall, another fall was occurring.

Phillipe de Semur, in alliance with Anselm d'Este and other members of the court who'd come to oppose Robert's growing paranoia, marched with the king's own Bologna regiment into Louis Castle, seized the furious monarch and declared him unfit to rule, committing him to one of the dungeons for the rest of his days.

The very act that Robert feared had come to pass.

Phillipe was now King.

That's a good stopping point. See you Friday!"

Poor Robert. What a raw deal.

Maybe it's a sign that I should forget Melody. I don't know. But then, there's a lot I don't know these days, and some things I do know that I wish I didn't.

[Izulde]

Friday. Midterm Grade day. The freshmen all look nervous, but I'm calm. I've been through too many midterm paper handbacks to get flustered anymore. Am I curious to see what I got? Sure, anyone would be. But curiosity's about the extent of it.

Morengay tromps in and slaps a large stack of papers on the front desk that he never uses.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I have your midterm papers! You'll get them back at the end of class."

Grinning at the groans that follow, he holds up his hand.

"Now, now I know you want them back sooner, but then you wouldn't pay attention to the lecture. Just some general comments about the papers. Most of them were pretty decent and most of you went with Louis the Great, which is the majority opinion on this question, actually. A few of you went other routes, such as Queen Hermengarde of Navarra and Aragon, which I thought was fascinating, or Hugues or Louis the Great's regency council, etc, etc.

If there's a major flaw that I have to point out, it's that some of you didn't acknowledge other possibilities for the biggest individual or group responsible for the rise of the de Semurs. Not only did you not acknowledge them, but in failing to do so, you also failed to make rebuttal against those other possibilities, which prevented you from getting the grade you might have desired.

Oh yes, and the two of you who used a wiki different from Wikipedia, see me after class. Those of you who tried to use Wikipedia will note that I took the liberty of deleting the relevant articles. I'll put them back up later today though."

We laugh at his shrewdness in getting rid of the articles, even as I'm shaking my head over the dumbasses who tried to sneak another wiki in. Do they really think they're that smart that they can pull a fast one? Heh. Freshmen.

Morengay's ready now and he has two pictures up on the overhead, a map and a portrait.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v324/Izulde/3KingdomsStart.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v324/Izulde/KingPhilippe.jpg

"What you have here are the European territory of the Three Kingdoms after Philippe's coronation and Phillipe himself. As you can tell, he lived rather well.

What most people often forget, probably because we have no images of her, is that Philippe was already married to a woman who now became Queen Muriella. Very little records exist of her, most likely because King Philippe I was a very domineering, controlling man who wanted all the spotlight to himself, his wife be damned.

One of the reasons for this was due to the fact that Philippe was already 40 when he was crowned, positively elderly by medieval standards and the latest that a de Semur king had ever come to power. Hence, he felt his time was short and determined to make an impact in what years he had remaining.

To that end, he took advantage of the long-standing de Semur claims on the last remaining independent Italian duchies and declared simultaneous war on the Duchies of Milano and Spoleto two days after his coronation.

What this meant was a 3-front war, for the Republic of Languedoc was still at war with the Three Kingdoms, you remember from last time. In addition, while these conflicts were going on, the Count of El-Arish in the Middle East and the Duke of Gailee, in Croatia, both declared their independence, and announced they were going to fight Philippe and overthrow him, claiming Robert I's imprisonment to be unjust. They intended to restore Robert to what was in their eyes his rightful place on the throne and have him freed from his place in the dungeon.

But all of these fights were nothing but small gnats on the giant that the Three Kingdoms had become. The Duke of Milano surrendered in July, the Duke of Spoleto in August, the Governor of Languedoc in September, the Duke of Gailee in November and the Count of El-Arish in February 1150.

In every instance, the rebel was stripped of all titles and forced to surrender any claims he had on de Semur titles, including the kingship of Italy. It was this last point that particularly infuriated public opinion against Philippe across Europe, leading directly to the January 1150 rebellions of the Dukes of Dauphine and Toscana, the latter now based in Nice.

Despite his heavy-handedness in dealing with the rebels, however, King Philippe I was remarkably fair in distributing titles. Only in a very few instances did he keep any land for himself. In fact, some historians point to his appointment of a Muslim sheik in Italy and the former Queen Pulcheria as Princess of Languedoc as a sign of his tolerance and generosity when it was expedient for him to be so. Although I have to tell you, Pulcheria was sentenced to the African Siberia, in other words, the Sudan, to rule as a princess, so it wasn't that great a thing.

In fact, many people reacted to Pulcheria's "promotion" as the punishment and exile it was, so that a peasant's revolt started in Firenze in protest. The Duke of Bosnia, the Council of Ten in Venice and Padua, the Count of Piombino, and the Bishop of Palermo all joined in the outcry, warring on Philippe, all in the name of returning Robert the Holy Warrior to the throne.

And yes, they started calling him that again after Philippe's dealings, Robert's little sin of wifely murder now whitewashed as a necessity for the good of the Three Kingdoms. This bit of propaganda was, I have to say, largely perpertuated overtly by the popular Pulcheria and covertly by her father, the Byzantine Emperor.

Oh yes, here's her picture."

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v324/Izulde/PrincessPulcheria.jpg

Now that's a pretty girl. No wonder she was so popular. Which reminds me... I haven't seen Melody hanging out with anyone but herself, now that I stop and think about it.

I wonder why. It seems to go against her wanting to get away from the same people. Then again, I only ever saw her when it was just the two of us.. so who knows?

Ah, Morengay's talking again. Time to listen.

"Just about the time Philippe forced the Duke of Bosnia to heel, the Dukes of Calabria, Salisbury, not the English Salisbury by the way, and Croatia all joined the widespread campaign to ouster the iron-fisted king.

More Dukes declared against Philippe throughout 1150 and the first half of 1151, including Campania, Karten, Zara, Sicily, Salvonia, and the Arcbishop of Verona. Karten and Zara combined with the mighty Venetian forces to rampage the Italian and Croatian halves of the kingdom, while the Archbishop of Verona sailed for Cairo. These four, the Archbishop of Verona, the Dukes of Karten and Zara, and the Council of Ten in Venice, became known as the Robert Quartet, for their wish to restore the Holy Warrior.

It was a masterful plan, particularly since King Phillipe I's court was in tatters, with only children and a few women remaining after the repeated handing out of titles. Men were the only ones allowed to lead armies in this era, guys, so a manless court meant a lack of talented and capable leaders to head up the de Semur forces.

June 8th, 1151 was the most ignoble day of a de Semur monarch, for it was on that day that Bologna fell. With the capital province in control of Venice, there was nothing left for Philippe to do but to... keep fighting!

That's right, he cited, of all things, the spirit of Yves I, who refused to give up as a reason for his continued battle. When you're having to reach for a guy who was a known crackpot and believed himself the Messiah as justification for your actions, you know you're in trouble!

By August of 1151, even some of the very new people King Phillipe had elevated to their positions were revolting against him, seeing the carnage and the blood in the water.

January 1152 was the turning point of the Three Kingdoms Civil War, for it was there that a force of 11,000 Venetian troops under the Doge himself, Giacomo de Morra, defeated King Phillipe I and 8,000 loyal Genoan soldiers, destroying every single last loyalist save for Phillipe, who managed to escape. Meanwhile, just 3,000 Venetians were killed.

In August 1152 is when things -really- got ugly. The Kingdoms of France, Germany and Poland, along with the Duchys of Provence and Bordeaux, announced a Robert League and declared war on what was left of Phillipe's domain. By this time, out of what were originally 31 vassals, only 5 remained loyal to him and even they looked ready to join the impossibly sized cabal at any time soon.

It was all over by March 1154. Philippe had no more troops left, no more land, and no more money. He was broken, beaten, and at the mercy of everyone. The King of Poland assumed leadership of the Robert League and demanded all the money in the Three Kingdoms treasury, a full 863 florins. He received it.

By this time, Robert I had died as a result of illness in the dungeons, so there was nothing left for the Robert League to do but make demands of the ruined de Semur monarch.

Unfortunately for the common people of the Three Kingdoms, as successive peace treaties were made, now and again some of Philippe's now vast personal domains, taken one by one when he ran out of people to send to rule the lands, would be returned to him and he waged war, however futile, from those territories.

But gradually, as more and more peace treaties were signed, Phillipe began to fight back, so that by January 1157, all of Sicily was once more in his hands, which was a curious thing about the Three Kingdoms Civil War: It was the people of the Naples Kingdom who were most ardent in their support of King Phillipe I. To this day, it's still not entirely certain just why southern Italy was so much in favor of Philippe. It remains a subject of great speculation amongst historians.

In the same month, the Duke of Zara, by now war-weary, offered a white peace. Not only did this eliminate one of the Robert Quartet from the war, but that particular Duke owned a claim on the crown of Italy. Had Philippe not managed to regain Sicily as a base of operations to fight from, he might've lost the very first crown that the de Semurs ever got, the one Louis the Great himself obtained.

But of course, the Civil War was nowhere near over. Although Phillipe had a white peace with the Duke of Zara and he'd made peace in exchange for giving up claims and surrendering one of his counties to the Archbishop of Verona, the two greatest tigers of the Robert Quartet remained: the Republic of Venice and the always troublesome, no matter who had it, Archbishop of Toscana.

Although King Phillipe I had already lost much of what his predecessors had built up, there was still hope to salvage something out of it.

I'll show you the carnage next time, after I finish the talk on the Three Kingdoms Civil War. For now, the moment you've all been waiting for.... your midterm papers!"

Morengay calls people up in alphabetical order. Naturally, I'm before Melody, so I just flip to the back page, see my A, and walk out.

Screw her and screw the bastards who ruined everything for the de Semurs. Just when they were riding on the top of the world, every damn thing comes crashing down.

Feels like my love life, or what used to be my love life.

Oh well, maybe Philippe can pull something out of the fire anyway. At any rate, I need to go report my grade to Caveman. He always likes it when brothers tell him what they got on papers with his help.

[Izulde]

"When did you get engaged? Bobby's pissed that you robbed him of a chance to set up a lavaliering, you know."

Becky's not only fast, but she's quick, too. She's got me literally cornered into the wall, far away from the drinking crowd in the rest of the basement.

"I'm not engaged. And for your and Caveman's information, a lavaliering can only take place before an engagement, not after the fact."

Her face turns puzzled.

"What? Bobby told me you were seeing Melody and when we saw her with the ring on her finger, we thought sure she was engaged to you. I even congratulated her on it, though I kinda wondered why she seemed so depressed, considering she was newly engaged and everything."

I repress a groan, both from her insistence on calling Caveman by his proper name, which nobody except her does and from her persistence in pursuing the subject of Melody's engagement. It isn't something I want to think or talk much about.

"Yeah well, it's because she's engaged to some Yale asshat who's probably a real dick, all right? Now, do you mind if we change the subject?"

"How do you meet her anyway? And like, what happened between the two of you?"

My impatient stare does nothing to deter Becky's determined, inquisitive look. So, with a great sigh, I tell her everything, from the moment I first saw Melody up until the time she ran into us on the trail.

"Hmm, that's too bad. So I guess that means you won't be asking her to you guyses Formal next week, huh?"

"No. I wasn't going to anyway. Melody wouldn't mix too well with a bunch of Greeks, you know. By the way, did Caveman ask you to Formal yet?"

Becky pouts cutely, tossing her hair as she shakes her head, "No. The jerk just won't give me a chance. I don't know why. It's not like I'm ugly or stupid or anything. If I was Japanese, he'd probably be all over me. Stupid boys and their stupid Japanese girl obsessions."

I laugh at her hilarious sulkiness, winking, "Well, in that case, why don't I take you to Formal? I mean, you're an awesome chick and maybe Caveman will see what he's missing out on when he sees you all dressed to the nines."

"Oh, you have absolutely -no- idea how I can look when I want to", she counters with a smirk that's half-flirtatious, half-dark.

"So I'm going to be the luckiest guy at Formal?"

She takes some time thinking about it, dramatically tapping her index finger on her lips and glancing to the side.

"Hmm, well.... I -suppose- I can go with you. I mean, it beats sitting in the sorority house eating cookie dough ice cream and watching Dr. Zhivago again."

"Man, Caveman really is an idiot."

"Yeah. Yeah, he is. But at least this fraternity has one smart guy. Let me know when I should come to the house and stuff."

"Next Saturday at 5."

She smiles, a soft and brilliant smile that's sweeter, more real than Melody's.

"Good! I'm gonna go now. I'll see you next Saturday at 5, then."

Huh? Is this girl as crazy as Melody?

"Um... why not till then?"

It isn't until she's halfway up the stairs that her answer floats back to me.

"Because then you'll look all the more forward to it, and anticipation's half the fun"

.....

I'm discovering a new evilness to women or maybe it's that all my life, I've hooked up with ordinary girls and I'm just now encountering the really smart, really unique ones.

All I know is, I feel a lot better about Melody now. Going to Formal stag or with one of my retreads would've been an embarassing blow to my rep.

[Izulde]

"Gooood morning, everyone! It's time for me to conclude my bright and cheery lecture on the Three Kingdoms Civil War, so expertly mismanaged by everyone's favorite bad king, Phillipe I."

I'm starting to think Morengay does uppers on the weekend to be so cheerful on Mondays.

"When I left you on Friday, Phillipe had succeeded in losing much of the de Semur territory, but had established a base on Sicily from which he could fight against his remaining enemies, most notable of which were the Republic of Venice and the Archbishop of Toscana.

Unfortunately, what the embattled king hadn't counted on was 15,000 angry Venetian republicans who formed a massive army at the head of the Doge of Venice, nor another 4,000 troops led personally by the Archbishop of Toscana and another 2,500 troops under the aegis of the Bishop of Reggio. Over 20,000 troops allied against the de Semurs could be handled in the Three Kingdoms' high period, but things were fast falling apart and so they were helpless in the face of this mighty power.

Furthermore, Phillipe himself received a serious wound while fighting in Apuila and could no longer lead the troops himself. Still, despite these terribly stacked circumstances, thanks in large part to Orson de Semur, King Phillipe I's only son, the de Semurs were able to prolong the resistance for several years, so that it was not until March 1160 that the Archbishop of Toscana made peace, with the Bishop of Reggio and the Republic of Venice in play.

It was also in March 1160 that King Phillipe I died, broken-hearted in his bed in Bologna, held under house arrest by the Venetians. Legend has it that through help from his childhood nanny, Orson was able to flee to Nice to be crowned King Orson I of Italy, Croatia and Naples. It was with the territory freed as a result of the Toscana treaty that Orson continued in his father's footsteps, attempting to fight against the behemoths that assailed him.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v324/Izulde/Orson.jpg

That's Orson's coronation picture.

Rather than concentrate on Apuila, as Phillipe I had poured all his resources into, the new king, who was 27 by the way, sought to find those territories which were closest at hand and, more importantly, had the weakest defense systems, so that loyalists could be freed to join the cause.

More specifically, this plan involved using the Sicilian regiments that were available to free Taranto and then link the Sicilian regiments, the Taranto troops and the freed soldiers of Nice and Firenze to conquer the Bishophoric of Reggio and force him to terms. The plan worked flawlessly and in April 1161, the Bishop of Reggio surrendered to King Orson I, liberating not only the Napoli royal provinces, but handing over Reggio and 2,300 fresh troops. With this sudden tripling of his army, Orson was able to liberate Apuila and cause Doge Giacomo to win a phyrric victory in re-taking Apuila in the spring of 1162.

This, despite the problem that arose when the Duke of Campania, the Republic of Venice's ally, went to war with the Three Kingdoms to assert his claims, bringing 10,000 troops. Although he was given his wishes and the Duke's involvement in the war was short, it still presented a diversion that caused considerable headaches for Orson.

And yet, in spite of all this, it might have been possible to regain control of things had not 4,500 fresh troops arrived from Padua and had not the new Bishop of Reggio, who, recognizing Orson's weak military position, declared independence, taking with him most of the king's small army, along with all of Orson I's hopes for gradually re-building and re-establishing the kingdom of his ancestors.

And then, in August 1163, a funny thing happened.

One by one, the Archbishop of Verona and Salisbury, the Duke of Zara, the Duke of Croatia, and the Count of Foggia sent ambassadors to King Orson I, asking one thing.

To be welcomed back under the de Semur banner.

Orson readily accepted and gradually, a very tiny hope began to again dawn that this long nightmare, this never-ending civil war might finally end, for the good guys.

But of course, whether or not he won... will have to wait until... Wednesday!"

I really, really hate Morengay's cliffhangers and to be honest, it doesn't sound to me like Orson has much of a chance. I've got to like his balls, though.

[Izulde]

"Some of you asked me, after the last class, just why vassals would pledge themselves to King Orson I when he was so weak. That's a very good question and the best way I can think of to answer that is to say that by declaring that the rebel Count of Reggio could go in peace and that the de Semurs would not seek the land back, the nobles of Europe, and more importantly, the former vassals of King Phillipe I, saw that his son would be a very different overlord.

Unfortunately, Orson had no recourse but to immediately summon the armies of these new vassals to embark on his most daring plan yet.

To attempt to do to the Republic of Venice what he did to the Count of Reggio.

The first half of this plan succeeded perfectly, with 4,500 troops, all from the Croatian kingdom, capturing the capital city of Venice in March 1164. The Doge, Giancomo, attempted to rush back to defend his territory, but he was bogged down by having too many troops in Messina and a stubborn refusal on the part of Messinan ship captains and builders alike to aid the Venetian leader in procuring passage for his troops. Nor could he advance onward to conquer the rest of Sicily, because entire towns, even more loyal to Orson than they had been to Phillipe, swore to take up arms if the Doge marched on the rest of the island.

Bogged down by this state of affairs, the Doge could only sit in Messina and listen helplessly while the report came in on June 29, 1164, that Padua, his last territory, had fallen to Orson's army. Forced to terms, Giacomo was permitted to retain his claims on the de Semur titles, but was required to surrender Padua and Venice to King Orson I, who was much more vengeful than many thought warranted in this negotiation.

The Three Kingdoms Civil War was now, for all intents and purposes over, for though the Duke of Genoa, who was based in Cairo, was still in rebellion, all of the kingdoms were now free and Orson was at liberty to distribute territory in order to create a more stable, centralized realm.

He did this with such skill, fairness, and efficiency, that his reputation was wholly and completely restored in the eyes of the rest of Europe and the royal de Semur demense had never been so well-ruled since the time of Louis the Great.

As part of his re-organization, Orson established a new de Semur Four based in Italy, which included Bologna, Ferrara, and the recently taken counties of Padua and Venezia. This was the richest and strongest union of four territories ever in the history of House de Semur and King Orson I's brilliance in composing it has been hailed throughout the ages. In fact, it was after this improbable victory, won thanks to the people of Sicily and Orson's own military genius, that King Orson I received the nickname of Orson the Restorer, for the order and peace he brought back to the Three Kingdoms.

Of course, it must be pointed out that despite Orson's fantastic repair job, the Three Kingdoms were still a shell of their former glory. Here's a comparison."

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v324/Izulde/3KingdomsStart.jpg

"The Three Kingdoms after Philllipe's coronation."

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v324/Izulde/3KingdomsPostWar.jpg

"The Three Kingdoms after the end of the Civil War, outlined in red."

We're all silent, just staring in shock at the shrunken borders. It's incredible to me that Phillipe could've done such a bad job and I imagine it must have only looked worse before Orson came in and saved the day.

Heh. Kind of fits the whole thing with Melody, come to think of it. I noticed she's taken to sitting in the back of the room these last few classes, probably to avoid the chance of my looking at her or something.

Morengay's talking again.

"Of course, this map was before the Dukes of Krain, Romanga, Belgrade, and Gailee and the Count of Salerno all pledged their loyalty to King Orson I the Restorer later that summer, so the Three Kingdoms was quickly coming back together, far faster than anyone could've expected before Orson took the throne and proved himself worthy of the Three Crowns.

But the Three Kingdoms was something of a joke name by this time, because they'd been superseded, both in power and in land by two other kingdoms."

"This is the Kingdom of France, the big blue monster outlined in white. I'd like to point out to you that this only includes France's European possessions. Not included on this map are the French North African or Middle Eastern territories. I think it's safe to say the Capets were the greatest dynasty ever to happen to the Franks."

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v324/Izulde/bigfrance.jpg

The class chuckles and I'm just staring in disbelief. No wonder Melody has a superiority complex about the French.

Morengay changes maps.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v324/Izulde/BigPurple.jpg

"And this is the other major power of the time, the big purple monster known as the Byzantine Empire, which looked in danger of collapsing during the Dukas dynasty, but then the Akropolite family came to power, seized complete dynastic control, and reversed the fortunes of the Empire to such an extent that Emperor Alexandros Akropolite, father of Princess Pulcheria, Robert the Holy Warrior's beloved wife, was not only the Emperor of Byzantium, but of Bulgaria and Arabia as well. In fact, in many ways, the Akropolite success story is as impressive as that of the de Semurs.

The Capets, while stunning in their accomplishments of the Reconquest in Spain, had the advantage, like Alexander the Great, of already being in quite the advantageous position at the start.

Still, Orson continued to receive the renewed fealty of old de Semur vassals throughout the summer, such as the Dukes of Bosnia, Marches and Slavonia and the Count of Lecce.

Then, in mid-August, the Duke of Marches declared war on the Papal States, now governed by a pontiff not in any way related to the de Semurs. It was in defense of the Marches' vassal, the Count of Urbino. King Orson I, though reluctant to go back to war when the Three Kingdoms were in the process of healing and dealing with the Genoa/Cairo problem, nonetheless agreed to join the effort.

While the war was still ongoing in early 1165, the Pope died and none other than the Archbishop of Verona and Salisbury was elected the new pontiff. But just as before, the Three Kingdoms Pope refused to name his former liege Defender of the Faith and in fact, the new pope vowed to continue the war against King Orson I, saying that no true holy king would fight against the Holy See.

Finally, in January 1166, Pope Octavian I, as he took for his papal name, offered King Orson I Orvieto and Spoleto in exchange for peace. Orson, weary of war, gladly accepted, and the peninsula of Italy took another couple steps towards almost totall re-unification. This little conflict, incidentally, is often cited by historians as the ones that crushed all hope of the Papal States ever being unifiers of Italy. Although they still had two Swiss provinces and Orbetello in the personal domain of the Pope, a One Italy, One God, One Leader, was no longer possible.

It was also this impressive victory that was the second sign of Orson I's greatness. The first was his restoration of the Three Kingdoms almost in full.

The third came in June 1166 when none other than the reknowned and feared 67 year old Emperor of Byzantium, Arabia and Bulgaria, Alexandros Akripolites himself, sent a diplomat with a message.

Alliance of two of the known world's great powers.

King Orson I the Restorer accepted immediately.

Here's Alexandros's picture for the fun of it."

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v324/Izulde/Emperor.jpg

"And one last picture, the Three Kingdoms at the time of the alliance. It's all in the light green."

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v324/Izulde/restored3kingdoms.jpg

"Pretty good rebuilding job, wouldn't you say? Of course, there was still a very significant problem facing the Three Kingdoms, but that comes..."

"FRIDAY!" choruses the class with a laugh.

It's an amazing job. Morengay said he was 27 when he took the throne and if I have my math right, Orson was 33 at the time one of the two most powerful leaders in the world allied with him. That means in just 6 short years, he took the Three Kingdoms from a position where they looked like they were going to get hammered, all the way to building it back up to almost as good as it used to be.

That's just incredible to me. I mean hell, I've been going to school 5 years and what will I have to show for it at the end? Some great memories, sure, but just a paper, a paper like everyone else's, leading to some job like everyone else's.

Not like Orson the Restorer.

I'm starting to see, a little bit, what Melody talked about when she used to complain so much about the common classes. I'm not saying she's right, of course, but I'm beginning to see where she was coming from.

Restoring a relationship with Melody, a real one, without all the arguing and the bullshit engagement to Chet, who I can say I hate without having met him... that'd be a repair job worthy of Orson himself.

[Izulde]

"When we left off last time, I told you that though King Orson I the Restorer had done a magnificient job in putting the Three Kingdoms back together, there was still a significant problem within the empire, but that's not entirely correct. The actual situation was that there were a bunch of smaller problems.

These included a lack of land connection between the Italian and Croatian parts of the Three Kingdoms, as well as any land bridge to any part of the Three Kingdoms from Nice, Genoa having been annexed by the Kingdom of Frace. There was also the problem of a significant debt incurred during the Civil War, one that would take up to two or three years to fully pay off, and finally, many in Europe took a very dim view of Orson's acquistion of Papal lands, however rightly they may have belonged to the de Semurs.

However, most of these were trifling issues, so that by August 1167, the debt was finally paid off, the faster rate helped largely by the February 1167 return of the Duke of Toscana and his vassals to the fold. The Count of Trapani also inherited Reggio, thus restoring another piece of Italy to the de Semurs.

Unfortunately, the treasury immediately went into massive debt again after King Orson I paid a guy history calls Charles the Rich a year's income to teach his daughter, Princess Alix, the art of merchant craft. Although the tutelage was a successful one, some questioned Orson's wisdom in this largesse.

However, this hiring proved to be one of great foresight, for numerous complaints began arriving at the Bolognan court about Ermengarde de Semur's corruption as Royal Steward, so that by March 1168, after a full investigation, Orson removed Ermengarde from her position and placed Charles the Rich in charge of the royal treasury.

All remained quiet until January 1169 when the Dukes of Bourgogne and Dauphine rebelled against the Capetian kings of France. Seeing an opportunity to gain some of his family's oldest territory and titles back, for remember, Hugues de Semur, the one who started it all, had Dauphine as his original ducal title, King Orson declared war, citing his long-established ancestral claim, and marched.

The war was comparatively short, so that by June, Orson was named the Duke of Dauphine in the peace treaty. In keeping with his traditional policy, he did not demand that Enrique Jimenez give up the claim he'd acquired on the Italian crown, but what is curious is that he did not require the count of Lyon as part of the settlement. Later historians have suggested that Orson was too keenly aware of his father Phillipe's missteps and they furthermore argue that the king's only interest in this war was to get his family's oldest Ducal title back.

In fact, immediately after the treaty was signed, King Orson issued a decree saying that the Duke of Dauphine would remain part of the Three Kingdoms patrimony and that no one other than a de Semur king of Italy would be allowed to hold it.

Orson's generosity in the Dauphine peace treaty proved to have another benefit. The powerful Duke of Milano, he of numerous Italian and Croatian territories, came in person to Bologna a month later to request that Orson be his liege.

With the Restorer's acceptance came the re-establishment of land connections between Nice and the rest of the kingdoms and, more importantly, between Italy and Croatia. The Three Kingdoms was now almost completely restored and indeed, with the additions of Spoleto and Orvieto, came closer to unifying Italy that it had been even before Phillipe I ruined everything, as you can see from this map."

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v324/Izulde/3kingdomsrestored.jpg

"In September 1169, the great Emperor Alexandros Akropolites passed away at the age of 71, still hard at work conquering Muslim territory in the Middle East. His son and successor, Alexios Akropolites, already 45 when he was coronated, vowed to continue his father's mission and asked King Orson I to renew the alliance. The Restorer gladly accepted.

This alliance, however, had the side effect of drawing the Three Kingdoms into a war with the Emirate of Edessa, and when Alexios made peace in January 1170 for a substantial sum of gold to pursue other Muslim conquests, Orson summoned the Bologna regiment and set sail for the Middle East, just as his worthy predecessors Louis the Great and Robert the Holy Warrior had.

Of course, the Three Kingdoms still had a presence in the Middle East in the counties of Pelusia and Ayut, but before 1171 dawned, Pelusia fell to the Emir of Edessa and Ayut didn't look to be very far behind, but then, upon receiving word that Orson was on the march to the Edessan capital, the Emir turned around and raced for home.

He was too late, as the county of Edessa surrendered in March 1171 and Orson followed up that coup with an impressive, critical victory in May 1171 in the province of Eira that not only routed the Edessan Emir's troops, but greatly stunted whatever chances the Emir had at seizing something from the Restorer.

While this war was going on, back in Bologna, the Arcbhishop of the Three Kingdoms, 55 year old Richard Kaleel, brought charges of heresy against Princess Alix, arguing that he'd found her with forbidden books. As his daughter was a favorite of his, Orson emphatically denied to pass sentence and the Archbishop was later embarassed when Charles the Rich pointed out that although the texts in question were in Arabic, they were in fact treatsies on the art of accounting.

Shortly thereafter, Alix completed her education in the Three Kingdoms' most prestigous nunnery and was found to have been so accomplished a student that she actually surpassed Charles the Rich in her financial acumen. It was at that time that Charles the Rich sent a letter to King Orson I in the field, saying that he had been in love with the princess ever since he first educated her and begged for her hand in marriage.

Although far more prestigous and indeed, even richer suitors were available for the oldest daughter one of Europe's most revered kings, Orson was moved by the letter and granted his steward's request. Princess Alix was said to have been beside herself with joy when she heard the news, for, as she would later write in her diary, and I quote:

"There is no wiser, kinder, more just man I have ever known than my beloved Charles. When Muriella gave me the news this morning, I wept for joy, for he has had my heart ever since I was a young girl and I have prayed often to God that He might find a way for us to be together. May God grant us still more happiness and protect my father while he is on his holy crusade."

"Oh yes, wedding portraits of the happy couple for you to look at."

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v324/Izulde/PrincessAlix.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v324/Izulde/charlestherich.jpg

I don't know that they look all that happy to me, but I don't get the feeling that Melody's saying the same things about Chet that Princess Alix said about this rich Charles guy. Heh, rich guys... they always get the best girls in the end it seems. I mean hell, Alix was one smart, not bad looking princess.

"As gratitude for Orson's permission, Charles the Rich paid the staggering sum of 910 florins for a dowry, enough to lift the royal treasury out of debt, pay for the construction of an expanded harbor in Siracusa, and still have a considerable sum of money left over to finance Orson's Middle East expeditions.

A week before Christmas 1171, Eira came into Orson's possession and, elated with his success, the Restorer pressed on. But the Emir of Edessa proved a far more wily foe than anyone could've anticipated. Twice in 1172, he defeated Orson on the field of battle, once in late November that put nearly the entire campaign in jeopardy, but with the help of another Charles, the long-time Three Kingdoms marshal Charles Gradegenio, Orson's troops rallied, finally beating back the Emir in 1173 and resuming their assault.

In the lightning campaign that followed Amida fell to Orson in March and Asas in May. The Emir of Edessa was now wholly and completely defeated.

But the Restorer was not content with these victories. Seeing the chance to establish a more permanent presence in the Middle East than either Louis the Great or Robert the Holy Warrior had been able to achieve, he began warring with the small shiekdoms around his new territory.

His efforts were so successful that by March 1174, Orson was able to name himself Duke of Mesopotamia. Although he granted territory to several of his courtiers to keep his demense from being spread too thin, he issued yet another decree, this one declaring that the title of Duke of Mesopotamia would remain his personal title, though unlike Dauphine, those who came to rule after him would be free to do with it what they wished. This last condition was an acknowledgement that the Middle East had always been, though a subject of repeated warfare for the de Semur kings, an area of only minor interest.

Eager to continue his march in the Middle East and to conquer territory that had once belonged to the de Semurs, Orson declared war on the formidable Sheik of Archa, who held, among other territories, Tripoli, once a crown jewel of the de Semur lands. In a May 17th, 1174 battle in Archa, Orson showed his greatest military prowess yet, crushing the Archan armies so swiftly and terribly, that a 5,000 to 4,600 man battle at the beginning ended in a 3,000 to 160 troop split, with the Three Kingdoms the resounding victors.

This campaign proved just as resounding a success and only a massive castle, extremely well-fortified to be the Shiek of Archa's last stronghold delayed Orson from taking the title of Duke of Tripoli until July 1175.

Realizing his troops were tired from the long war and wanting to return home and seeing no benefit in pursuing further conquests at the time, King Orson I the Restorer ordered the troops to return home. With his two new ducal titles in hand, he felt he'd given the de Semurs stability in the region, and more importantly, by keeping Edessa, Bira, and Amida, three strongly defended, continuous provinces, in the royal domain, he had a base from which to launch further conquests should the desire rise again.

The Three Kingdoms had never been richer. Although there was some efficiency issues as a result of the spread of the royal lands, Italy-Croatia-Naples was now making 111 florins in pure profit a month. Even in Louis the Great's time, such a sum would've been unimaginable.

And to think that this was all put together by a king, who, at the start of his reign 15 years before, looked like he was going to lose at least one of his crowns, thanks to the disadvantaged position he was in.

That's a good stopping point for today, but before I let you go, I want you to take a look at the Three Kingdoms' Middle Eastern territory in 1175, with the exception of Pelusia, which now belonged to the Duke of Romagna, Orson's vassal, after a mini-crusade. As always, it's in the light green."

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v324/Izulde/3kingdomsME.jpg

A lot of people thought Louis the Great was a super king, but honestly, after listening to Morengay's stories about Orson the Restorer and seeing all the maps Morengay's put up, I don't think Louis could hold Orson's jock..

But I've got other things to think about, like making sure I've got everything together for Formal tomorrow night. Becky's going to be a real fun date, I think.

[Izulde]

Ask anybody in a fraternity what his fondest fraternity memories are and about half of them will say Formal.

Every fraternity, no matter whether local or national, has two formals a year, one in the fall and one in the spring. The names, colors, histories, and traditions associated with them vary from fraternity to fraternity, but they're all designed for the same thing: To give the brothers and their dates a night to dance, drink, relax, and have fun while dressed to the nines.

Each chapter decides for themselves the particulars of formals, with some hosting elaborate events that are a few hundred bucks a couple. Others, like ours, go for the more economical option.

Tonight's formal promises to be fun. I'm just finishing adjusting my tie when Drake walks in, dressed in a bright blue three-piece suit and by bright I mean shiny. I don't know what the material is, but he'll definitely be easy to spot.

"Hey, man. You got something to drink? I want to get loosened up before formal."

"Yeah, look in my fridge. I got ice cubes and Bacardi in there."

"Cool, thanks."

We're not supposed to have alcohol in the house, but what nationals doesn't know won't hurt them.

Drake takes the rum and a handful of ice cubes, racing out to get to the kitchen for a glass before the ice melts.

Hmm, some pre-Formal drinking sounds pretty good actually, but I'll wait. I'd like to be completely sober when Becky shows up.

I walk down the stairs to find a lot of the brothers and their dates are already there.

"Hey Nick!" "How you doing stud-muffin?" "Nick! Hi!"

I love Formal. Everybody's always so friendly and in such a good mood.

Well, almost everybody.

As I mingle and chat with the others, I notice Caveman standing outside, pacing up and down the sidewalk, smoking in his dark green suede sports coat, probably swearing on top of it.

"Poor Bobby. I wonder why he doesn't talk to people more."

I start and turn around.

There's Becky, smiling and looking stunning in a simple, bare-shouldered white dress and white, short heel shoes. She's got some kind of lip gloss on, too, because her lips are shimmering in the light. Overall, it's not as elaborate as I was expecting, but it definitely works on her.

"Hey Becky! You look great!"

"Thanks. You don't look so bad yourself."

I went with the basic black three piece outfit myself. It's traditional and it does look good on me.

"Thanks. And I think he's just getting nervous about the bus. It was supposed to be here by now and he's Formal Chair this year."

She nods and we make small talk while we go back to my room, so I can pin the customary corsage on her wrist. A few minutes after that, the bus finally comes and we all pile on, couples and singles alike.

The ride to the Pine Acres Country Club is about 20 minutes, just enough time for all of us Theta Sigma Phis to get in such great fraternity songs such as the TSP Sweetheart Song, Raiders, and of course, every group's favorite, the Yo Ho Song.

Night's already fallen when we get there and the greens of the golf course look chilly, but beautiful under the starry, clear dark blue sky. Kind of like Scotland, Drake remarks on our way inside.

We usually have our formals here at Pine Acres, both because it's cheap and because they'll serve underagers without any hassle. The room we have this time is pretty nicely laid out, with around 60 tables, a well-staffed bar, a good-sized dance floor, and those dangling icicle lights that's been really popular the last few years.

There's an hour to go before dinner, so I leave Becky to chat with those of her sisters who are dates and go to help Caveman with setting up the sound system we brought with us to save money on a DJ.

"Hey Caveman! Looking good, man. You did a great job of this."

He grunts as he pushes a speaker up on the table.

"Eh, a monkey could set up formal. It's a weak position and it sure as hell isn't going to get me on Exec Board for next year."

Caveman's been obsessed with some time now about getting an officer position when elections are held at semester's end. He's right about probably not getting on Exec Board, but that's more because nobody ever sees him because he's always in his room than anything to do with Formal.

I don't say anything, other than a "Yeah" and help him finish.

Becky's still talking to her sisters, so I stroll over, snag her about the waist and wink at the others, "Sorry, ladies, but I'm stealing my date back. You can get her back later."

They laugh and dart off to their own dates, who are lined up at the bar, drinking like pigs at a trough.

"Mmm... so you had to steal me, did you?" Becky's eyes are alight with laughter or maybe it's the half-full glass of wine in her hand. Asian women never can drink worth a damn.

I pluck the glass from her and finish the rest of it in a gulp, "Yep."

"Nick!" She hits me on the arm. Hard. "You're such a bastard! Buy me another drink!"

She's slightly tipsy already all right. I hope she doesn't go on a bender, because I don't want to have to baby-sit her all night. Well, not that I'd have to. Caveman would do it, but still...

"Sure. But not until after dinner."

"Okay!"

Dinner's buffet-style, with chicken, fish, vegetables, a few different desserts, rice, and so on. It's quite good as it usually is. Becky and I sit at a table with Drake and his girlfriend and Charlie Fontaine and his date, a pretty Latina who's thankfully not Greek. I do get a little sick of seeing so many sorority girls at Formal.

After dinner, Drake, in his role as chapter president, hands out the semester awards. Best Pledge, President's Man, Highest GPA, Most Improved Theta Sig, a few joke awards with stories behind them, and so on. Caveman gets congratulated on a fine Formal, which elicits cheers and applause that he stands up to acknowledge quite gleefully.

Attention whore.

Oh yeah, I've had a few drinks myself by now, both before and during dinner, so I'm not exactly the most clear-thinking.

After the awards, Caveman gets the music going and the dancing starts. Becky and I go out and dance a few, the dinner conversation and the food having made her forget all about her demand for another wine, thankfully.

She's got a light step and dances extremely well, with terrific footwork and a way of matching me that's truly awesome. I've had dates before that weren't such hot dancers, so to have this lovely Korean girl melding and dancing so perfectly with me is terrific.

A few songs later, she starts singing softly along to it. I can't hear her too well, but it sounds really good.

"Hey, you sing really well... you should sing for all of us."

"What? No, I can't... It'd be too embarassing."

"Aww, come on, it'd be great."

Drake, who's dancing nearby, overhears us.

"Yeah! SING, BECKY!"

He's so loud the rest of the room hears him and before too long, somebody's turned off the music and we're all chanting for Becky to sing.

She groans and hides her face in her hands before sighing and smoothing her hair back. It's simple, too, a straight, loosely falling hairstyle that's more charming than a lot of the updos and curls most of the other dates have.

"All right, all right. I'll sing something."

A roar ripples through the room, coming from the waiters and bartenders too, who have stopped to join in on the fun.

"I'm going to sing a song that's originally Korean, but has an English version, too. I'll sing the English one so you guys can understand, but if it sounds a little odd, it's the translation effect. The song is called 'Because I'm a Girl.' "

Becky closes her eyes and a hush sweeps across the room. Her face turns into one of concentration, her brow furrowing, then smoothing as she begins to sing.

I just can't understand the ways
Of all the men and their mistakes
You give all your love
And then they rip it all away

Caveman's glaring at her from the table he's sitting at by himself. It's something I only half-register, because Becky's voice is incredible. I'm too drunk to have the words to describe it, but she's amazing.

You told me how much you loved me
And how our love was meant to be
And I believed in you
I thought that you would set me free

Everyone else is silent, too, staring at her with the kind of rapture and awe that only the best singers can command. She looks angelic there, all in white, with that beautiful voice and the sadness of the words she's singing. How could I have ever considered Melody? She can't be like this after all.

You should've just told me the truth
That I wasn't the girl for you
Still I didn't have a clue
So my heart depended on you
Although I'll say I hate you now
Though I'll shout and curse you out
I'll have always love for you
Because I am a girl

She's looking at all of us, taking us all in with her eyes and gazing directly into us as she gazes into us. I feel a shock pass through me and whether it's her voice, her beauty, or the alcohol, I get the urge to rush up there and just kiss her.

Been told a man will leave you cold
Get sick of you and bored
I know that it's no lie
I gave my all, still I just cry
Never again will I be fooled
To give my all when nothing's true
I won't be played again,
But I will fall in love again

Caveman's standing up now, gripping his drink and chugging it down with a tense look on his face while Becky sings that part about telling the truth again, apparently the chorus. I'm focused on him now, because when he looks that pissed is when he's about to do something really wild and crazy.

I loved you so
Now you leave me in the cold
How could this be, thought that you'd only love me
Into the night, I'll pray that you're all right
You hurt me so, I just can't let you go
You took advantage of my willingness to do anything for love
Now I'm the only one in pain... will you please, take it all away

I'm looking at Caveman and Becky's looking at... me?

Yes, she's looking at me when she sings that last line.

I'm just sitting there, trying to fight through the haze as she goes into the chorus again, when there's the sound of shattering glass.

Caveman's thrown his glass against the wall and is storming out.

Oh. Fuck.

Drake rushes out after him, looking back only to catch my eye and motion me to come too.

Damn it. Still, he's my brother.

I get up and exit, ignoring the eyes on me, while Becky sings on, trying to get the crowd's attention.

Never thought that being born a girl
How I can love you and be burned
Now I will build a wall, to never get torn again

Heh. The girl who wrote the song has nothing on Melody's walls.

With that thought, I go back out into the chilly, starry night whence I came.

[Izulde]

It's raining when I walk outside.

Caveman's furiously smoking a clove, his back turned to Drake, who's trying talk to him.

"Come on, Caveman. So what if Nick brought her? I mean, shit, you never acted like you were interested in her."

"I'm not."

"Then why so pissed off?"

"I'd like to know that, too", I interject as I stroll over to them, the torrent of water splashing on the blacktop and the overhang that keeps us from getting wet, "I mean, fuck, she's just a friend, man. It's not like I'm planning on screwing her tonight or anything."

Caveman turns around to flick his clove in a puddle. A brief plume of smoke rises out of the doused smoke as he gives me a withering look, brows and teeth clenched together.

"Fuck you, Nick! Just because you don't have the fucking balls to have asked Melody before she dumped your ass doesn't mean you've to got to snipe on my shit!"

Drake's gesturing me for to leave so he can calm Caveman down, but I'm too pissed to pay attention. Who the hell does this guy think he is? I mean, the one guy in the whole fraternity who talks to him on a regular basis and he's bitching me out for a friends date?

I open my mouth to answer, but the slam of door hitting door and the angry stamping of heeled shoes interrupts me.

It's Becky, storming out of the building and over to Caveman.

"What the fuck, Bobby? Why are you acting like such an idiot?"

"What? What are you talking about?"

I quietly sneak over to the wall, still irritated, but figuring it's best Becky handles this. Drake slides over to join me, whispering, "Damn. Look at her eyes. They're purple! Far out!"

Drake's right. She's so pissed her eyes, normally light blue, are a crackling purple, well more violet actually, as she reams into Caveman.

"What am I talking about?! I'm talking about you being a jealous asshole! What's your problem, Bobby? I've been waiting for months for you to notice me again! Why didn't you ask me to Formal if you didn't want to see me here with anybody? In fact, for that matter, why didn't you call me back?"

He glowers at her, lighting another clove and exhaling licorice-scented smoke in the air.

We wait for his answer, but he stays silent, looking away and smoking.

Becky stamps her foot in a way that looks cute because of how small she is, eyes flashing darker still, more towards true purple.

"This is bullshit, Bobby! What the fuck do you want me to be? Some cute Japanese girl who calls you baka when you're an idiot like right now and make you cute bento lunches and say no don't do that and blush when you're fucking me? Is that what you want? Well it isn't going to fucking happen, because I'm Korean! Not one of those stuck up Japanese bitches!"

Drake's laughing quietly and I have the urge to do it myself, but I bite my lip and just lean against the wall to enjoy the show.

Caveman shakes his head and finally answers as he ashes on the blacktop.

"No. It's because I didn't have to try for you. You were already there and already liked me."

She stares at him in shocked disbelief, at a loss for words. I have trouble believing it, myself. What kind of crack is Caveman on that he passes up a great girl just because she liked him first?

"If that was true, then why did you fuck me?" she at last responds, in a voice as small as her.

He shrugs, silent and stony again.

"You're an asshole."

No more than a lot of guys, I think to myself.

Caveman shrugs again and looks up to take a drag on his clove and survey the road.

"Oh, wow. A silver Porsche Boxter... I've always wanted one of those... Hard to believe that there's one here."

Becky flares up with anger again, "What the hell does that have to do with anything?!"

Drake and I exchange glances, simulataneously moving forward.

The four of us watch in silence as the sleek little car cuts through the rain and mist, turning on to the gravel driveway that leads to the administrative building and parking before it.

The door opens and a little jolt passes through me when Melody steps out, wearing a white wool coat that runs to her ankles and an incredibly cute red beret. Without looking around, she walks to the door and enters.

"Come on. We're going in", Drake says with a slight grin, already heading towards the door that Melody went through.

There's enough alcohol in our systems that we all think this a fantastic idea and follow him out into the storm and across the lot.

[Cap Ologist]

Fucking cliffhanger.

[rjolley]

Yeah...what is this, sweeps week?

[Izulde]

Fucking cliffhanger.

:D

[Izulde]

Yeah...what is this, sweeps week?

No, it's end of the semester/grad school application crunch time, so I write when I can in between projects, studying for finals, and applications. :)

[rjolley]

What's more important? Your future or this thread?

I think you know the answer. ;)

[Cap Ologist]

If you're considering moving to Texas, this thread should take priority, especially with all the excessive death penalties here. ;)

[Izulde]

rjolley: :D Oh I know a lot of answers, that will be revealed in time. ;)

Cap Ologist: Welll...... there'll be another post by sometime next week at the very latest. :) Hopefully that'll be enough to stave off the Texas Death Squads ;)

[Cap Ologist]

rjolley: :D Oh I know a lot of answers, that will be revealed in time. ;)

Cap Ologist: Welll...... there'll be another post by sometime next week at the very latest. :) Hopefully that'll be enough to stave off the Texas Death Squads ;)


Depends on the quality of the post. ;)

[Izulde]

Depends on the quality of the post. ;)

You'll be able to judge it in about 15 seconds. :D

[Izulde]

We creep our way into the administration building. The hallway's deserted, allowing us to hear two female voices from three doors down.

Under Drake's direction, we inch forward, peering around the door's edge.

Melody's standing in front of a glass counter, golf clubs and equipment surrounding her. Apparently it's the club's golf shop. Behind the counter is a pretty, young girl, maybe about 24, with short, soft brown hair.

"So you'd like to reserve the course for January 5th?" asks the clerk.

"Correct. From noon until 11 pm", Melody confirms.

"I'm going to go check this out" whispers Becky, darting forward before any of us can stop her.

"Melody! Wow, fancy seeing you here!" she calls, the little Korean vixen in the white dress already upon my tall, blonde love before she has a chance to react.

Melody smiles slightly in that polite, aloof manner of hers, "Hello, Becky. I'm just here arranging a small party after the new year. What brings you here?"

"Oh, I'm here with Bobby Schwarzwald at the Theta Sigma Phi Fall Formal."

"Lying bitch!" Caveman hisses under his breath.

Drake's covering his mouth to keep from laughing as he whispers aside to us, "Stay here. I'm going to go have a little fun with this" and before we can say anything, he, too, is joining what is rapidly becoming a crowded counter.

"Ah, there you are, Becky! I've been looking all over for you!"

Becky giggles, sinking back into Drake's arms as he comes up behind her, "Sorry. I just wanted to get some fresh air and I thought while I was out there, I'd see what was in this building."

Drake laughs and shakes his head, winking at Melody as he offers his hand to her, "Becky can be so silly sometimes! I'm Bobby Schwarzwald, by the way. I don't believe we've met."

"Melody Suchet. A pleasure." she replies, briefly pressing his hand with a small smile. Drake has that ability to put anyone at ease, even an ice princess like this girl.

Caveman's eyes are narrowing as he's listening to this conversation and I grab on to his arm, muttering, "Hey man, keep cool. This is funny, right?"

"Is.... Nick Hunter there?" asks Melody, her look a casual one, though I can tell by the faint flush of her ears that it's not so idle a question for her.

Drake nods, "Yep, he's here. He didn't bring a date, though, because he said after you, there wasn't anybody really worth taking, so he's been hanging out with Caveman all night."

"His real name's Drake Winters, but everybody calls him Caveman", Becky chimes in.

"I see." Melody's lips are thin with distaste and disapproval, "Poor Nick, that he has to have such company."

"Yeah, Caveman can be a little weird", Drake admits.

"Weird? You mean a total and complete loser! I agree, poor Nick that he has to put up with that ass all night!" Becky's eyes are starting to get that purple edge again.

The real Caveman snarls and only a well-timed arm twist thanks to yours truly keeps him from darting out into the shop to defend himself. Trapped, he mumbles about how he's going to strangle us all.

Drake quickly glances back and sees Caveman struggling against my hold. He makes a subtle motion for us to get out of there while he turns back to the two women, who are comparing notes on what a pathetic human being Caveman is.

"Hey, Melody. I know a way you can save Nick from Caveman. Come hang out with us for the rest of Formal. That way he can tell Caveman to kiss off and he can hang out with somebody really cool, namely you."

Drake's suggestion draws another small smile from Melody.

"Yes. All right. I think I can do that, because no one should have to suffer a night with a boy like Caveman."

I pull the real Caveman away from the door and we rush out of the building as quickly and quietly as we can, his eyes murderous, mine gleeful.

Now we just have to get back to the formal in time to let everyone know who is who for the rest of the evening.

[Izulde]

We stumble back into the room and things are still going full swing. Although Caveman's still pissed, he stands on a table and shouts for attention.

The crowd, who's as drunk, if not more, than we are at this moment turns to look at him.

"I'm Drake Caveman and the guy coming in with Becky is Bobby!"

"Hi Drake!" everyone shouts agreeably.

That business done, we rush over to Drake's girlfriend to explain the situation. She sighs and rolls her eyes, "Why am I not surprised? And that's all well and good, but what I am going to do about a date now?"

"I'll be your date!"

One of the pledges, a short freshman, cuts in and grins up at Drake's girlfriend, whose name I've forgotten because I see a flash of blonde and white out of my eye.

"Oh, that works."

"We'll call him Two Dates McGee", Caveman mumbles in his ear. It's a good idea.

"The pledge has a new nickname." I solemnly agree while going to the bar. I need reinforcement of the alcoholic variety if I'm going to live through this. Ah, Melody, sweet Melody.

...Where did that come from? Never mind.

Drake weaves through the people to the bar, Becky and Melody both in tow. I concentrate on my whisky and Coke, acting as if they're not there. Caveman's slipped off somewhere. Just where I don't know and don't particularly care.

"You girls in the mood for a drink?" asks Drake, all game-show host smiles and charm.

Becky is, Melody isn't.

"Come on! You mean to tell me you can't drink?"

From the light in Melody's eyes, Drake's just made a challenge he's going to regret.

"Of course I can. In fact, you would be in quite the sorry state after going against me."

God, she looks so damned beautiful when she gets mad like that.

"You're on!" Drake grins, a gleam in his own eyes.

My love leans forward to whisper into the bartender's ear. He nods and starts pulling down bottle after bottle of hard liquor.

Those of us nearby stare with mixed horror and awe as the concoction is prepared. I lose track after about the 12th different liquor and just settle for Melody's smug look as she takes the two tall glasses, shooting one to Drake and reserving one for herself.

She lifts hers, that haughty smile still in place, "Say goodbye to your memory, Bobby Schwarzwald."

"And say goodbye to your dignity", Bobby-Drake counters with a game grin.

Despite the glass's height and despite the amounts of alcohol within, they both chug down in a race, drawing cheers and chants from the quickly growing gathering around the bar.

To my half-shock, Melody slams hers down first. I say half-shock because somehow I get the feeling that she wouldn't challenge somebody to a contest she didn't think she could win.

Drake slams his down three seconds later and salutes her with a smile, "You beat me this time, but I'll beat you next time."

"Pay attention to me, Bobby!" whinnies Becky.

Heh. She gets drunk way too easily.

In any event, Drake heads off with Becky and it's only then that Melody turns to me with her aloof look.

"So, you're here alone?"

"Pretty much."

"Is it really because of me?"

A loaded question to be sure. I play it safe by shrugging. She doesn't answer to that and we stand there together by the bar in silence for a time. I don't know how long. All I know is that it's her voice that breaks the silence next.

"We should dance. Just as friends, of course."

"Sure."

She takes me by the hand and we head out to the floor. I don't know what song's playing and I don't care. I'm just happy that it's slow.

This time, this place
Misused, mistakes
Too long, too late
Who was I to make you wait?

We twirl around the floor with more ability and grace that we should rightfully be doing, given how much booze is in us, but it's all her. It's always been all her. Why me again?

On my knees
I'm last
Last chance for one last dance
Cuz with you I'd withstand
All that to hold your hand

Is this the last dance? My mind's a swirl of images, of sounds. The tub, her hair, her scent, her body, her everything, her everything.

She draws closer to me and as always happens when you're drunk and nothing, nothing matters and everything matters, we kiss.

It's slow at first, but then it's deeper, hungry and full, like we've been starving since the last time and can only be complete again with each other.

The music, the lyrics, the other dancers, everything fades out of mind as we continue our kiss, our bodies pressing together.

In the distance I hear a crash and feel the wall against my back. Or is it her back? I am her and she is me as we meld together against what is apparently a wall in this room, in this little heaven, this little slice carved far away from everyone.

The last words I remember that night are Caveman's.

"For God's sakes, Nick, wait till we get back to the house before you fuck her!"

[Izulde]

I awake to the sounds of birds chirping.

By the sun's slant through my window, I'd say it's about 11 am.

I lie there a moment, gradually letting things come into focus as my eyes adjust to being open again.

"Ahem."

I roll over.

Melody's standing there, looking impossibly cute and appealing in one of my university sweatshirts and a pair of jeans that are probably mine as well, since they hang low on her and I don't remember her wearing jeans last night.

"Morning", I grin.

"It's about time you're up." She tosses me a set of keys, "Here. Go to my house and get me a change of clothes."

Wait, what?

"Um, excuse me, but why do -I- have to get your clothes for you? You're dressed. Go out and get them yourself or just put on..." My eyes dart around the room, finding her discarded white dress, crumpled in the corner, "..that dress from last night.

She sighs impatiently, tossing her hair in that indignant way that girls know how to do so well, "Because I'm not going to be seen walking out of here wearing your clothes like some slut and I never, -ever- wear the same clothes two days in a row."

I'm still only half-awake and while I apparently had the presence of mind to drink some Gatorade last night, judging from the half-full bottle on my nightstand, I've still got a mild headache. Fuck, I don't want to argue about this.

"Fine."

She nods and sits on the bed, picking up the textbook from history class, "Good. I'll just sit here and read until you get back."

Why am I not surprised that she reads textbooks for leisure? I just grunt in answer and head out into the hall and down the stairs.

"Hey stranger. Hope you're not too worse for the wear after last night."

Becky's coming up the stairs, carrying a bowl of soup in her hands. It smells damned good and I'm suddenly a little hungry as I grin at her.

"Hey. Sorry about taking off on you last night. But, well... you know..."

"Yeah I know", she smiles, "It's okay. Drake was a fun date and at least one of us got what we wanted." She looks at the bowl in her hands, "I'm bringing Bobby some soup... He'll need it because he's probably pretty depressed right now, if I know him."

I shake my head in disbelief, "Why are you even bothering? I mean, Caveman's made it clear he doesn't like you like that, so why keep hurting yourself?"

Her smile turns sad then, as she shrugs, "Because I love him. And besides, Bobby's fire. Fire people need someone to tend to them or they'll destroy themselves."

...Huh?

"Um, fire people?"

She brightens, nodding, "Yep. Everyone in the world has the four elements in them: fire, earth, air, and water, although in different proportions and one element will always be the dominant one. Bobby's fire, you're water, Melody's earth and Drake and I are both air."

I think she's on crack and from the disbelieving look I give her, Becky sees she's going to have to explain this one a little bit better.

"Fire people like Bobby are capable of great change or great destruction. They are the creative spirits, the geniuses, the ones who challenge the world around them and either alter it or themselves in drastic ways.

Air people like Drake and I are able to dart from place to place, always ready to discover and explore new ideas and able to fit in any situation and talk to anyone.

Earth people like Melody are conservative, constant, and unyielding. They're the rock on which society depends to keep it going in an orderly, steady fashion."

"Heh, sounds like Melody all right... Believing she and her fellow richies are the ones to maintain the world and rule it."

Becky giggles, "Yeah, you're probably right. Now let me finish. Water people like you are essential to life. You just go with the flow, adapting yourself to your environment and affecting quiet, subtle changes on the world around you. You're the unseen strength, the support that allows others to go and do the grand things they were destined to do."

"Hmmm, sounds like I'm not one destined for fame and riches by your account", I quip.

She looks at me with a surprisingly serious and thoughtful expression, "But would you really be happy with money and fame, Nick?"

She's right. I wouldn't be. Melody's got that right about me, too. It's just one more thing to think about it in the confusion my life's become since getting to know Melody.

"Anyway, the elements don't exist in a vaccum of course. There's relationships between them all. Air feeds fire and ruffles water's harmony, earth traps air and is burned by fire, and..."

...I have no idea what she's talking about.

"And...?"

"And water, your element, douses fire and erodes earth. In other words, Nick, you're able to calm Bobby's most destructive impulses and you eat away at Melody's defenses."

I can't help but grin at that. Now -that- I understand and it's certainly true enough.

"Sounds like I'm the super element then. Nobody can stop Nick the Amazing Water Boy! Roar!"

Becky laughs, starting up the steps again. She pauses when she's alongside of me and leans in to whisper.

"Water's weakness is air. Like I said, we air people disrupt your harmony and leave you befuddled. So be careful, Nick... or you find your smooth waters stormy."

She giggles and dashes off up the stairs, leaving me shaking my head as I go to the door.

That element stuff is absolute hogwash. After all, if what she said is true, then Drake would ruffle me and I certainly don't feel ruffled by him. In fact, he's my best friend in the chapter.

Ugh. I'm going to have to get some more Gatorade. My headache's killing me now after that weird Becky crap. Better pick up some for Melody too on my way back from her house. She didn't look hung over, but a $1.49 ounce of prevention is worth three hours later of her bitching about a hangover.

[Cap Ologist]

bout damn time

[Izulde]

bout damn time

:D Sorry, grad school app anxieties and a general crappy mood for a few weeks really had me not in the mood to update anything narrative at all.

Still stressing the grad school apps, esp. Oregon State with its Feb 1 deadline, but my mood's improved enough to write again :)

[Izulde]

It took two trips to find the clothes Melody wanted, because the first time I went, I didn't remember what she wanted. She chewed me out for it and gave me even detailed directions, so I made damned sure to get it right that time.

We didn't hang out together afterwards like I'd hoped. Said she had homework she wanted to get done. I wound up playing video games after she left. Screw it, it's my last semester. Just as long as I pass everything, I'm cool.

Monday, which means Morengay and his obnoxious grin.

"Good Monday morning, everyone! Hope you all enjoyed your weekend!

When we left off last time, Orson the I the Restorer had just achieved unequalled success by becoming the Duke of Mesopotamia and Tripoli, establishing the strongest de Semur foothold in the Middle East ever. The Three Kingdoms were also richer than they'd ever been, turning a profit of 111 florins a month.

A quiet period followed, in which King Orson I concentrated and rebuilding and restoring The Three Kingdoms infrastructure to its former glory and beyond. Indeed, the only event of great acclaim for the rest of 1175 occurred in late September, when Bertrand, Orson's only son and heir, married Simonis Akropolites, the niece of the Emperor of Byzantium, further strengthening the bonds that'd developed between Orson and the Akropolite dynasty.

In June 1176, the unthinkable happened. Upon the death of the beloved and long-standing Marshal Charles Gradegenio, the latest in a long line of illustrious military men to lead the de Semur armies, Orson I appointed Abelard de Hauteville of the once-mighty de Hauteville dynasty as Marshal. Many in the family feared that Abelard would seek to inspire insurrection against the Restorer and once again bring about an independent de Hauteville power.

King Orson I waved off these concerns, saying that no man should be cursed by the crimes of previous generations. Some construed this as hope that the Premyslids might one day be able to return to court, but later historians have proven that this was the wrong hope to have, because Orson was very much attached to the Akropolites of his own generation and to the Jimenez of all generations, for remember, it was Sancho Jimenez, the King of Navarra, who first gave the de Semurs their prestige by marrying one of the women of the family.

In fact, the worriers were half-right. Abelard did incite something, but it wasn't against the de Semurs. It was urging Orson the Restorer to war with the Emir of Mosul, in order that Orson might be known as the greatest Christian king in the world, for Mosul was a formidable enemy and the Emir's defeat would mean that none could challenge King Orson I in terms of prestige or piety.

For those of you who might be surprised at Orson's readiness to accept, I must remind you that it was a common trait of every de Semur king to seek some kind of greater glory. It also doesn't sound quite so strange when I tell you that as part of his building projects, the Three Kingdoms monarch had invested heavily in churches and other religious constructions.

A fierce conflict immediately erupted on the border between the Emir of Mosul's lands and Orson's personal domains. Abelard de Hauteville decided that the best choice was to fight a defensive battle until the bulk of Orson's armies arrived from Italy and Croatia.

The fighting was still ongoing and still very much hanging in the balance when word reached the king on his way to Mosul that Simonis Akropolites died along with her child giving birth. Although Orson mourned for his son's wife and his grandson, he chose to press on to Mosul after sending a letter back to Bertrand, authorizing him to marry whomever he wished.

It was soon revealed that Abelard's plan was designed to destroy the de Semurs, as he deliberately lost battle after battle on the field, causing Bira and Almeria to fall to the Emir of Mosul by February 1177. This plot was not revealed until March, however, when Hransilav of Salerno angrily stormed King Orson I's tent with letters from Abelard to other de Hauteville loyalists. These letters had been intercepted by Hransilav, an expatrite, obscure captain in the Bira regiment who'd escaped the province with a band of his men by nightfall.

Impressed with Hransilav and his story, Orson immediately appointed him the new royal Marshal and vowed to deal with Abelard when he returned back to Bologna.

Under the new Marshal's direction, a plan was launched to attack Mosul directly and begin taking the Emirate province by province from within.

Although initially successful in taking Mosul in June 1177, it was almost immediately reconquered by the Emir, which set the stage for a very long war of attrition that wasn't likely to end until one or the other of these superpowers was fully conquered.

By late December 1179, the Three Kingdoms had not only undergone yet another marshal change, but they'd been driven completely out of the Middle East save for the county of Mesopotamia and the territory surrounding Tripoli.

It was then that the third plan was conceived and launched: to attack the northern part of the Mosul Emirate, which was not only isolated from the rest of the emirate, but also would form a land bridge with Mesopatamia. As incentive to try and get as many people to enthusiastically follow his plan as possible, King Orson I decreed that he would not keep the lands for himself, but give them posthaste to his courtiers.

This not only increased zeal for the crusade throughout the Three Kingdoms, it also had the effect of diverting the Emir's attention as the Mosul leader was of the opinion that the only way to defeat Orson was to take all of the king's personal domains.

It was a shrewd strategy, made all the more so by the Empire of Byzantium's joining the fray. Better still, Orson killed the Emir of Mosul in single combat in a July 1180 battle, meaning two years of regency and confusion for the Emirate. The Restorer pressed his advantage, swiftly conquering all three territories in the north before heading to the Emirate's main body to the south.

Things were progressing well until May 23rd, 1181, when Bertrand de Semur, the Three Kingdoms' heir and Diocese Bishop, who despite limited martial gifts, was fighting extremely well on the campaign, died in battle.

Now there was only one hope for a direct heir to the throne, the child in Antoinette de Blois, eldest daughter of the Duke of Champagne and second and last wife of Bertrand de Semur. Should she bear a son, the line could yet survive. Should she fail, the line would turn impure.

By May 1182, King Orson the Restorer's fight in the Middle East was done. He'd become disillusioned with the Crusade as his friend Anastosios Akropolites used his superior armies to conquer domain after domain, building on much of Orson's own work. Bertrand's death, later biographers have suggested, made him forever after cold to the idea of conquering the region.

So it came to pass that for a staggering 5,365 florins, which turned out to cover all of the massive war debt, Orson the I opted out of the battle against the Mosul Emir, now of age.

Few questioned his heart in accepting the deal, for he'd already spent more money and more lives than virtually any other monarch before him, and though the crusade was not the grand success he'd hoped for, he could at least hold his head high, for he'd not done all that badly, either.

Here's what the de Semur region looked like at the peace treaty signing. Outlined in orange this time, by my 5-year old."

We chuckle as we look at the map on the overhead.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v324/Izulde/desmuremiddleast.jpg

I don't know. To me it looks like he didn't really make much headway at all. But then, I guess that's all we can do sometimes, is just tread in place. Kind of like how I seem to be doing with Melody now.

"What about Antoinette de Blois or whatever? Did she ever have the kid?" asks a fat guy in a backwards Florida cap in front.

Morengay beams, "Yes, as a matter of fact she did. A son, named Errard."

Scattered applause from throughout the room, which the prof grins at before raising a hand.

"But keep in mind, at the conclusion of this treaty, the boy's not even a year old yet and furthermore, he's not even in the Three Kingdoms at all. For where he was... come to class on Wednesday!"

I'll admit, I didn't expect this twist coming.

Then again, I didn't expect Orson the Restorer to fail at something either.

But then, there's a lot that's gone down recently that I didn't expect.

And I have the feeling there's even more unexpected things to come.

[Izulde]

Oi, I'm a git. :(

Was rushing around packing to go back to sku and I forgot my CK disc :( That means no updates for this dynasty till late Feb. most like. :(

[thealmighty]

Actually, since you were in spanish speaking lands, not english, you are not a git, but more of a pendeho (or something like that). :(

[Izulde]

Actually, since you were in spanish speaking lands, not english, you are not a git, but more of a pendeho (or something like that). :(

Yeah I know :( The good thing is, I didn't leave it in Spain, I left it at my parents' house, so I'm having Mom send it in the mail.

[Izulde]

"Nick! Wake up man!"

I grunt as a hand shakes me out of a deep, dreamless sleep.

"What?"

"Dude, get up! Now!"

Ugh. Why can't he just leave me alone? I've got Morengay's class ungodly early tomorrow.

"Fine", I mumble after a moment, "This isn't something I have to be dressed for is it?"

"No, it's cool. Now hurry up."

Two minutes later, I'm in Drake's room in my underwear, still blinking under that god-awful bright light he has on in his room.

"Now what's this about?"

He forcibly pushes me to his black leather computer chair. Nice spot, but I'm too groggy to appreciate it right now, "My girlfriend just sent me an email. She hangs out on this message board on the internet where they talk about celebrities and rich and famous people and crap like that. Look, just read it, okay?"

I sigh and sit, knowing damn well that Drake wouldn't drag me down here without a good reason.

The screen glows blue like all computer screens seem to do when you're not really awake and it's a few moments before my eyes adjust enough to actually see what's on it.

To: [email protected]
From: [email protected]

Honey buns,

I was on the board earlier today when somebody posted a thread about Melody Suchet. You know, the girl that Nick Hunter's kinda dating? Anyway, in it was a link to a news article that I thought Nick might want to know about, so you should probably let him know.

See you tomorrow, honey buns! Love you!!!!!

Love,
Sugar Plum"

I glance behind me at Drake, brows raised with a smirk, "Honey buns?"

He snorts, waving his hand, "Not important. You see the email? Laura forgot to put the link in, but go to my Inbox and click on the next email from her. It's in there."

A sick bubbling starts up in my stomach, that sort of gurgling you always get when your body senses something bad is going to happen. I'm hoping I'm wrong...

Two seconds later, I'm staring at another screen for some magazine that I don't notice because I'm too busy wanting to throw up that bubbling at seeing the article title.

"Suchet Heiress to Wed Chet Astor"

Sources tell us that two of the most prominent families in the United States will be united this June when the dazzling, darling Melody Suchet, daughter of Baron Jean Suchet and socialite April Suchet (nee` Dombrowski) weds Chet Astor, a distant descendant of the famed John Jacob Astor.

The wedding is certain to be -the- event of the season and in addition to that, the marriage has the potential to unite two vast private companies' fortunes. Suchet Shipping, which controls 42% of the world's commercial transportation by boat and Astor Enterprises, owner of 9% of aerial international shipping and controlling interest in companies ranging from a German watchmaker to a South African bank, are both said to be eventually passed on to Miss Suchet and Mr. Astor respectively.

Although no further details of the event were revealed as of press time, we here at The Glamorous e-zine will update our readers as soon as we find out more!"

"...It's not very well-written." I say after a bit, just to break the uncertain silence. God, I want to punch the hell out of whoever wrote that crap. I don't need this thrown in my face. Not now.

Drake actually has the nerve to laugh as he puts an arm around my shoulder.

"Of course not! It's some crappy e-zine probably put together by the same people who visit that lame board. It's probably just an all-volunteer staff who does this as a hobby."

I look at him, letting the worry show in my face.

"You don't think I should be concerned about this, then?"

He shrugs, looking out the window.

"I don't know. I mean, it's not like it's a reliable source... but she did tell you she was engaged..."

His voice hangs there and suddenly all I want to is just go back to bed. Just sleep it off and pretend I didn't see the article, didn't see that disgustingly cheerful reminder on the screen.

But I can't. I'm awake now.

"Hey, Nick? What do you say we go down in the basement and shoot some pool, drink a couple beers?"

Any other semester, I'd probably say I've got class in the morning.

But it's my last semester and it's not like it matters anymore. I've got no interest in grad school and the jobs I'd be looking at don't give a shit about GPA anyway.

So fuck it.

"Pool and beer sounds good."

"All right. Let's rack 'em and chug 'em!"

[Cap Ologist]

About damn time, was it shipped via pony express? ;)

[Izulde]

About damn time, was it shipped via pony express? ;)

I don't have it yet, no.... but I'll be home for at least a day in mid-March when I can hunt for it... this was just a story post that I'd been toying with for a while... came out wretched, but that's what I get for writing it when I feel like crap.

[Izulde]

It has been found!

[Cap Ologist]

Would have preferred "It has been updated!", but I'll take what I can get. ;)

[Izulde]

Would have preferred "It has been updated!", but I'll take what I can get. ;)

I'll get an update in later tonight or sometime tomorrow. :)

[Izulde]

Wednesday. A dull ache in my head and heart, the e-article's words burning their stamp into both. I'll have to ask her about it at some time, I know, but there's a time and place for every question and I need to find the right moment and spot to find out.

Her scent drifts in my nose as she passes by my chair in the aisle, sitting up front. It's beautiful, soft and gentle like her in certain situations, certain... No, can't think about that no. It's a pleasant perfume, though. Like lilacs in full bloom in mid-May.

Morengay's clearing his throat. Lecture's starting.

"When we left last time, I told you that Antoinette de Blois gave birth to a son, a new heir to the throne, Errard. I also told you that the infant was not in Bologna, but what I didn't tell you was that he was in the county of Macon, where his mother had married again, to a courtier of no real significance.

The absence of his grandson and heir pained Orson the Restorer greatly, so much so that he had difficulty in taking pleasure in his other three grandchildren, the offspring of Alix de Semur and her Steward lover, Charles the Rich.

This situation, coupled with the Three Kingdoms' nominal defeat at the hands of the Mosul Emirate, despite the staggering war reparations paid out to Orson by the Emirate regency council, meant that the Restorer no longer dreamt of glory or conquest.

That isn't to say things were all gloom and doom for the Three Kingdoms in this period. In November 1182, the Duke of Campania pledged fealty to King Orson I, bringing the de Semurs another step closer to uniting the entire Italian peninsula and the New Year's celebrations were highlighted by Orson's being crowned the Duke of Trapezous, a title he immediately gave to the extremely loyal Aubry Cenci, Count of Amida.

Still, despite these successes and a continued, extensive building program under Orson's oversight, including the order to construct the University of Venezia, which would become, upon completion, the first university in all of Europe, those close to the king recorded in their diaries that his desire and passion had died out after Mosul and this depression only intensified when Queen Maria, his life's only love, died in 1184. Orson plunged into a deep sorrow from which he never fully recovered, vowing never to marry again unless his grandson Errard came back to the Bologna court.

Orson's obstinancy terrified the Bolognan court and in desparation, the Jimenez Spymistress of the Three Kingdoms secretly hired an agent to assassinate Antoinette de Blois's husband. The plot not only failed, but the man she hired revealed all to the Count of Macon and the de Semur and Jimenez families were both thought poorly of in Europe as a result.

The king's depression and loyalty to the Jimenez were such that he not only forgave the Spymistress, but stunned her by requesting that she try again. If the man died this time, reasoned Orson, then it was God's will that he die. If he lived, there would be no further attempts on his life.

At least that was the plan until the Count of Macon struck by having Charles the Rich, Steward of the Three Kingdoms and beloved husband of Princess Alix de Semur, murdered.

Enraged and galvanized by this murder of his most cherished courtier, King Orson I not only ordered an immediate assasination attempt on Antoinette's husband, but he claimed the County of Macon as his own and declared war.

The second attempt failed, as the effort was anticipated and the target, who incidentally was also the County Steward, was extremely well-guarded.

Much more seriously, however, was the fact that Orson's impassioned and rash declaration of war drew the Three Kingdoms into war with the most powerful kingdom in the entire world and the birthplace of the de Semur dynasty.

That's right, folks. The Three Kingdoms now had to fight... the Kingdom of France, Europe's single greatest superpower.

Now, it must be said that the move wasn't as crazy as it sounds, because France was bogged down in Iberia and North Africa, fighting several Muslim kingdoms, so the French were not free to train the bulk of their armies on the Three Kingdoms.

Also, remember that Orson was long considered a military genius and this reputation was revived in the campaign, as he routed every single French army he came across on his way to Macon and by October 1185, the County of Macon belonged to the king's personal demense.

But the war was from over and Orson quickly marched north towards Ille de France, King Badouin's royal county. Although he met with great victory, over 20,000 French troops were in Italy and by February 1186, the scoreboard read 1-1, with Ille de France in Orson's hands and Padua in Baduoin's, with Venezia feared to be not far behind.

As of April the score was 2-2, with Orleans and Bologna the latest to fall, but frantic recovery efforts were going on in both the Italian and the French theatres of war. But then, in late April, a combined force of Orson's vassals took Genoa.

Deprived of his two largest troop resources in Genoa and Ille de France and still fighting on multiple fronts in Spain, North Africa and the Middle East, King Badouin of France was quite willing to listen to Orson's peace proposal: immediate cessation of hostilities in exchange for Genoa's return to the Three Kingdoms.

Badouin promptly agreed and as a result, not only did the Restorer win a war that many felt dangerous for him to embark on, but he'd succeeded in bringing every single province in the Italian peninsula under his banner, with the sole and expected exception of the Papal lands.

But of course, there were still two glaring problems. First, the treasury was not only bankrupt, it was heavily in debt as a result of the campaign.

Second, Errard, the heir to the throne, still was not in his grandfather's court.

That's a good stopping point. We'll pick up from there on Friday."

Melody's out the door before me naturally, but I jog to catch up with her, tapping her on the shoulder.

She turns around, looking not at all surprised to see me there, just as I'm not surprised when she doesn't say anything.

"Hey, I was wondering... could we go somewhere and talk? Privately?"

"Yes... tonight. Come by at 7."

"All right."

Now I just have to work out what exactly I'm going to say. If it was anyone else, I wouldn't care and wouldn't think ahead. Because it's Melody, I want to take the time to think it out beforehand.

Tonight, then, I'll get to the bottom of this whole Chet Astor business. Maybe find out more about her family, too.

[Neon_Chaos]

Chet Astor Must Die.

[Izulde]

Chet Astor Must Die.

:D

I just watched John Tucker Must Die again a few weeks ago.

[Izulde]

Once again I'm walking up the cobblestone walk, the grass around me somber in its dark greenery as the flowers are gone now, their bright color lost with the approach of late fall and the winter that will follow.

Melody answers my knock, not with a brilliant smile and bare-shouldered white dress as before, but with a careworn look and a modest turquoise sweater and white jeans.

We say our hellos and she leads me into the opulent living room, which seems somehow gloomy, too. Even the massive fireplace seems low-burning.

I'm feeling nervous, gratefully taking the wine glass she offers as we sit on the centermost couch, sipping and looking at the flickering flames.

"So, what do you want to talk to me about?"

"Us."

She takes a deep breath, exhaling slowly at hearing my answer.

"What about us, Nick?"

Why is she being so evasive? Damn it, this isn't like her.

I keep my eyes on the fire still as I reply, "About where we are, where we're going... If we're back together or you're still engaged to that... Why didn't you tell me he was an Astor?!"

Damn it! Here I was planning to be all calm and rational, had it all figured out and then I pictured that smug bastard and I just got pissed all over again.

Her voice drops several degrees, acid edging the frost.

"I didn't think it was important for you to know he was an Astor." She softens her tone then, placing her hand over mine, "As for us, we will stay as we are... Two people who love each other and stay by each other's side as much as the situation allows us to. I'll marry Chet for his money, but you and I will still be lovers."

...What?

I jerk my hand away, turning to stare at her in a mixture of shock and rage.

"What the hell?! You expect me to just cheerfully go along with that? To be your lifelong affair?! No!"

Her lips turn into a little frown, her hand resting on my shoulder, "Nick, darling... Please. It's the best for both of us. Don't you see? I don't love Chet. I haven't even slept with him!"

"You're marrying the guy and you haven't even slept with him?!"

She nods, smiling serenely now, "Yes. I told him I'm a virgin and I want to wait for marriage."

"That isn't going to work, Melody. I mean, even when I slept with you the first time, you were no virgin."

"Oh that's easy. I'll just tell him I broke my hymen as a little girl when I was riding my bike."

Unbelievable. That's what this girl is, unbelievable. Beautiful, rich, sophisticated, with an answer to everything... and a little crazy. Still, I'm not going to accept her arrangement and there's got to be a way around it... Wait.... yes, there's an opening...

"It won't work, Melody. You said in your note to me that I wanted children and I do. How am I supposed to do that if I'm your lover? My kids would be Chet's kids and if I married someone else, we couldn't be together anymore."

She smiles with sudden, strange brightness in her lips and eyes, leaning forward to clasp both my hands in hers.

"That's the simplest part, Nick! Every time I have a child, I'll have a paternity test done. If the child's Chet's, he'll stay with Chet and I. If the child's yours, they'll go to you and you can raise them as a single father, properly supported Suchet money of course. Or if you insist on maintaining the traditional mother-father facade, we can hire a girl to act as your wife. Don't you see? It's perfect!"

What.the.fuck?!?! Forget about a little crazy, she's full-blown insane. I can't deal with this. I need to get out before she makes me crazy, too.

I pull sharply away from her and jump to my feet, hastily walking to the door, "No. Just... no. It isn't happening. It's over. You're sick, Melody. I mean really sick, sick in the head. Get some help. I'm sorry, but I can't do this. Goodbye."

She rises, following me even as I'm practically running, tears in her eyes and voice.

"Nick, wait! Wait! Nick, please! Please... at least come to my father's party!"

I stop in the doorway, turning to gape at her. What the hell? I'm breaking up with her and she's talking about that damned December party?!

She takes another breath, trembling in her words and body, "Please, Nick. He really wants to meet you. Don't do it for me... do it for him."

"....I'll think about it."

I walk out into the night and halfway down the walk, I'm shaking with sobs and shock. Is this just some horrible dream, horrible nightmare? I hope so and that I'll wake up soon, but the churning in my stomach tells me it isn't.

Part of me wants to scream at her, at myself, at the whole crazy, damned mess.

Another part of me wants to run right back in the house, gather her up in my arms and convince her that she's insane, that she doesn't need to do this, that we can be together and only us together and to hell with Chet and money and everything else.

But my feet keep on walking, carrying me away from this house of horrors, this pretty palace where poison exhales out of every breath.

I need time, time alone and quiet to think about this.

[Izulde]

It's only a crescent moon tonight, but the light is still enough to illuminate the Theta on the rooftop. I always smile, seeing our first letter, even now, when I'm still disturbed over Melody's wild schemes and plans.

But it's not Sigma and Phi that follow, but a single letter. Mu.

Yep, Becky's sorority. It's pretty new, only been here 10 years or so, which is why their house is off campus and not on Greek Row like my fraternity, which is one of the oldest and longest running chapters at our school.

It's also pretty low on the tier in terms of popularity, because it's a tiny chapter, so small it fits all its members in its house. Rumor has it that they barely make quota each year, but make it they do. If it wasn't so small, though, it'd be a lot more popular, in line with Drake's girlfriend's sorority, because the girls in it are pretty awesome.

I walk up to the door and knock. Marybeth, who has bright red hair and an obsession with Miles Davis, answers with a grin.

"Hey Nick!"

"Hey. Is Becky around?"

She raises her brows, eyes all curiosity that I'm not about to satisfy, "Yep. She's up on the second floor, last room on the right, by the big picture window."

"Thanks."

I ignore Marybeth's question about why I'm looking for Becky and make my way up the stairs and down the hall, knocking on Becky's door without taking the time to look around.

She opens the door, dressed in a matching university hoodie and pants, screams, and grabs me up in a hug far bigger than I'd expect from a girl her size.

"Nick! Oh my god! What are you doing here?! Come in!"

Her room's pretty tiny, just big enough to fit a desk, a bed, a small TV and not much else. Must have pretty low room pick.

"Come! Sit!"

I laugh at her cheerfulness and sit on the bed, really the only place there is to do so. A small Mac laptop rests on her desk and there's no posters on the walls, just a continuous row of shelves lined with books whose titles I don't bother to read.

In fact, the only real decoration in the room is on the windowsill, a giant brown, yellow and red plush turkey with a $20 bill in its mouth.

"How come the bird's eating money?" I ask with a grin, pointing a thumb at the turkey.

Becky rolls her eyes as she flops down beside me, "My mom got me the turkey because she said she was sick of my room being so boring and my dad told me , 'Here's 20 bucks. Go buy yourself some turkey soda.' He thinks he's sooo funny."

"...Is there really such a thing as turkey soda?"

"Yep! Jones makes it! But I'm not about to buy any... I hear it tastes awful!"

The face she makes is hilarious and soon we're both laughing, comfortably leaned against one another. After a few moments, she sits up, reclining against the wall and looking at me with a sharpness in her eyes.

"Now, I know you didn't just stop for a social call. What's up?"

Damn women and their intuition. Still, this -is- what I came for, the need to vent and so do I, outlining the whole nasty exchange from start to finish.

Becky's face starts off solemn and quiet, her eyes are flaring violet with rage, her lips contorted with wrath.

"She what?! What the fuck?! Oh my god, that bitch! I'm sooo sorry, Nick! God, how awful!"

She jumps off the bed and paces in the little strip of floor available to her, her hands clasped behind her back, head bowed. Funny, Caveman does the same thing, too. It makes me chuckle and I find myself relaxing in this tiny room in spite of my mixed fury and sorrow at Melody.

"We've got to figure out a way to make her see she's being an idiot!"

"...No, we don't. Forget it, Becky. It's not worth it. I'm not you... I can't just keep giving myself to someone when they've made it clear that they don't love me."

She gasps and for a moment, I think she's about to slap me one, but then she sighs and nods, crawling up to join me back on the bed, hugging her knees to her chest.

"I know. It just... It makes me mad, you know? I mean, you're such an awesome guy... But it's funny how much we're alike in this situation. I mean, we're two ordinary people in love with two geniuses."

Huh?

"What? You're not ordinary! You're really smart and pretty, pretty amazing too yourself."

She smiles a little and quickly shakes her head, "Thanks, Nick, but I'm serious. I've had Bobby and Melody in classes before and they're both super smart, geniuses like I said. I can't compete with that..."

I blink and drape my arm around her shoulders, pulling her in for a hug. Now she's starting to talk crazy like Caveman.

"Hey... that's a load of crap. You -are- smart, smarter than me. Just because Caveman's an idiot and can't see you for how great you are doesn't mean anything."

But as she smiles and thanks me, snuggling in, I can't help but think she's right in a way. Not on the intelligence thing, but in that she's totally wrong for Caveman.

She gives and gives and gives so much of herself to the ones she loves that she loses herself in them and when that happens, you stop being a person and become just an extension of who you're pining for. I've been on the receiving end of that kind of attention before and it isn't a pretty sight. Kind of horrifying, actually and the breakups are always rough on everyone involved.

Maybe that's what Becky meant when she said that her element, Air, feeds Fire, Caveman's element. It feeds and feeds so that the fire becomes stronger, but in doing so, the air sacrifices itself. I'm not a believer in this whole element stuff, but I can see where it makes sense in that regard.

"Nick?"

"Yeah?"

"I was thinking... you know what you need to do?"

Her eyes are back to their normal pale blue now as she looks up at me and the back of my neck tingles with a knowing. A knowing that if I wanted, she'll sleep with me, no questions asked and no remorse afterwards. It's an instinctual thing and maybe experience with women, too, that I can read the softness of her voice and the gentleness of her eyes for what they are.

Now as to -why- she'd be so willing, I don't know. Maybe to know she's still desirable after Caveman dumped on her.

"Yeah?"

"You need to take a date to that party in December. Let Melody know you aren't going to just sit around and be down just because of her. And it should be somebody that she has respect for."

I grin and give her a sly look out of the corner of my eye.

"So in other words, you want me to take you?"

"Yep!"

"All right, I will."

She smiles that brilliant little smile that's the equal of Melody's when she lets it be, snuggling tighter against me.

"Good. Now it's too cold to go out again tonight, so you're staying here for the evening, okay?"

"Okay." Something in me needs to not be alone tonight and maybe it's the same way for her, too.

And so we fall asleep in each other's arms, fully clothed and comfortable in a way neither of us has been in a while.

[Izulde]

The weekend is upon us, but first, Morengay, whose voice is oddly calming after Wednesday night's events.

"We ended last time with Orson's brilliant military campaign that netted him the return of Genoa to the Three Kingdoms, even as it bankrupted the royal treasury.

I also mentioned the Errard, his grandson and heir, was still not in Bologna.

You see, while Orson was campaigning in France, he sent a letter to Antoinette de Blois, begging her to come back to Bologna with Errard. Antoinette wrote back her refusal, saying, and I quote in translation, "A woman's place in this world is by her husband. I go where he goes. You have furthermore attempted to murder my husband, not once, but twice. For this, God will punish you and you will burn everafter in Hell. Errard will only return to Bologna when you are cold in the ground."

Her answer devastated the Restorer and he wrote another letter, this time to his daughter, Princess Alix and asking her advice on the matter, as he was too grieved himself to think clearly. This was her reply, again in translation.

'Dearest Father, you must re-marry. There is no other action you can take. Yes, we both loved the ones we wed and fortunate we were in that regard. Yet, I can afford to take no other man and stay true to my Charles, for I have three children already. You do not have this luxury, my Father and King. I know your heart still weeps for your Maria and my brother, but you must remarry, for the security of the kingdom. Errard is the last direct member of your line and if something should happen to the infant, another branch will inherit and worse yet, one who has no ties to our beautiful city of Bologna! For the kingdom, you -must- remarry! Faithfully, Alix'

And so it was for the safety and stability of the Three Kingdoms that King Orson I the Restorer married Princess Kunigunda Guthi-Orszagh of Poland, who though of the Polish nobility, was actually Hungarian. Hungary had become a major source of aristocratic power, with the thrones of Hungary, Poland and Bohemia all belonging to Hungarian royal families.

Present at their May 1186 wedding was the newly coronated Byzantine Emperor, Manuel Akropolites, an extremely intelligent young man who maintained the strong bonds of friendship and affection between the two great powers by extending the alliance with the Three Kingdoms created by his forefathers.

Oh yes, one other small note. King Orson was 53. His new bride was 16."

As the class gasps and eews in turn, Morengay puts up a picture on the overhead.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v324/Izulde/kunigunda.jpg

"The new Sweet 16 teen queen was considered one of the most beautiful women in Europe at the time, but even more attractive was her dowry. In excess of 1,200 florins, it took the Three Kingdoms' debt from horrific to managable, so managable that it was paid off in two months' time.

But she was also one of the most cruel and King Orson I found her so distasteful that their marriage never produced any children and so it was that the Restorer passed away in his sleep at the age of 56 on September 1st, 1188, just a few scant months to the day after the University of Venezia was completed on May 1st, 1188.

All of the Three Kingdoms went into deep and prolonged mourning over the loss of this great monarch, this mighty lord who had raised the de Semurs back up from the mire and into an incredible acclaim and prestige unlike any they had ever known. Although he was never an overtly pious man, the Church recognized his crusading efforts and the domestic constructions of Templar houses and elaborate churches throughout the kingdoms under his rule and so King Orson I the Restorer was beatified upon his death and the Pope gave serious consideration to canonizing him as well, but decided not to.

Still, it was a magnificient accomplishment for one of the most incredible rulers in the history of the world and one to be proud of.

However, his failure to produce issue with Queen Kunigunda meant that she was now the Regent and Chancellor for 6 year old Errard de Semur, who would have a full decade before he would be allowed to be king.

Queen Regent Kunigunda's first act was to strike an alliance with King Badouin of France, a fact that would have absolutely appalled and devastated her former husband, Byzantine and Akropolites loyalist that he was. Indeed, Emperor Manuel was so outraged at hearing the news of this balance of power shift, it's said that he strongly considered invading to overthrow the regency. It was only respect for Orson and awareness of the dead king's love for his grandson that stayed the Purple Hand.

Nonetheless, Manuel decided to raise the regiments on the Byzantine/Croatia border and threaten war unless the French/Italian alliance was revoked. The Byzantines, while not as strong in Europe as they were at the beginning of our story, were still a force to be reckoned with and owned virtually all of the Holy Land besides.

The regency council, terrified by the idea of a wrathful Empire on their doorstp and paranoid that King Badouin would break the alliance and invade himself, pressured the Queen Regent to cancel relations with the French and ally with Akropolites. It was with great reluctance that she agreed and so the de Semure/Akropolites alliance continued for another generation.

In retaliation and to further increase her own power, Kunigunda had the young crown prince sent to a monastary in Croatia for his education and training in the Church. Her public reasoning for this was that because his grandfather Orson the Restorer was beatified, his grandson should follow in his predecessor's holy tradition. Surprisingly, the public bought it.

With the last real obstacle to her control of the court removed, Kunigunda set about organizing, of all things, a military campaign, seeking to take advantage of some of the many claims the de Semurs had on various territories throughout Europe.

Her first target was the County of Rashka, owned by an indepedent German. The campaign was swift and small, needing only the royal regiments of Usora and Hum to capture the county by June 1189. Next on the list was the County of Ragusa and though it was held by a de Semur, the Queen Regent successfully argued that all de Semur lands should belong to the Three Kingdoms and war was declared immediately following Rashka's surrender.

This conflict was even more brief, culminating in Ragusa's surrender before the summer was out. What's important to remember about Ragusa is that Emperor Manuel Akropolites had his eye on the territory as well and declared war to nominally aid the Three Kingdoms.

That the hated Queen Regent succeeded before him rankled Manuel all the more, but the worst was yet to come.

For three days after the victory in Ragusa, Queen Regent Kunigunda declared the County of Belgrade the rightful domain of the Three Kingdoms and ordered war.

War was now joined between the Three Kingdoms, capable of 130,000 strong army and the Byzantine Empire, who could field in excess of 200,000 troops.

Kunigunda, together with her military advisors, deduced that the best strategy was massive levy of all the royal regiments and a blitzkrieg assault of Belgrade. The plan worked flawlessly and in November 1189, the Count surrendered the county, along with an extraordinary sum of 1,300 florins.

And that's when Kunigunda's real plan was revealed.

With enough of the historical territory now under her control, Kunigunda had herself crowned Countess of Belgrade and Queen of Serbia, completely independent of the Three Kingdoms. She immediately left for her new capital along with her two vassals who joined her--I'll tell you about them next week and turmoil reigned in Bologna.

Here's her coronation portrait.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v324/Izulde/QueenKunigunda.jpg

Of course, thanks to her treachery, not only was the court left in chaos, but the remaining members of the regency council now had to fight a war with even fewer troops and with an even less clear-cut leadership before against the world's most powerful army.

Things looked grim, indeed.

Enjoy your weekend! See you all Monday!"

...Wow. What an unbelievable bitch! Kind of reminds me of someone else I know.

Someone else I'm ignoring as I walk out to get lunch.

OOC Note: Funny thing happened. I agreed to the alliance with France and my game crashed. So I panicked, but it reloaded fine and first thing that pops up is the alliance offer from Manuel Akropolites. Guess Orson's ghost wasn't going to let that France/Three Kingdoms alliance happen no way, no how. :D

[Cap Ologist]

Glad to see this back!

[Izulde]

Glad to see this back!

Thanks :) I'm glad to be back, believe me!

[Izulde]

And so we swing around to another Monday. My weekend was more like my pre-Melody days with the parties, the beer pong and stuff like that. I didn't feel the pang I figured I would because Becky came to the house looking for me every night and we did the rounds together. She filled the spaces with chatter about the things and people she saw, which was a striking contrast to Melody and to me, who, though we talk, don't talk as much as Becky does, who keeps up a blue streak.

No wonder she got on Caveman's nerves, with how anal he is about having it quiet.

He didn't react to Becky's coming for me either, at least not that anybody could tell. Of course, the rest of the house is dying to know what's up, but I'm not telling anyone, even Drake and he's my best friend.

It's something I need to figure out for myself.

In any case, as I said, it's Monday and that means madly grinning Morengay. I still want to know what he does on the weekends.

"Hope you all enjoyed your weekend! On Friday, we concluded with Kunigunda Guthi-Orszagh's treachery of the Bolognan court by having herself crowned Queen of Serbia and declaring indepedence from the Three Kingdoms.

She took with her two vassals, the Duke of Bosnia, who was also Count of Rama and Piombino and the newly appointed Count of Ragusa. The Duke of Bosnia's defection caused considerable consternation, both because he was of the de Semur dynasty and because with his fealty to Queen Kunigunda, he removed Piombino from the Three Kingdoms' control, thus ruining their perfect dominion of non-Papal lands in Italy.

Here's a map of both the new Kingdom of Serbia, outlined in brown and the European possessions of the Three Kingdoms, including Macon way off on the left hand corner.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v324/Izulde/Serbia.jpg

Despite the Bolognan court's anger at the Duke of Bosnia's treachery, there were still more pressing concerns. The war that Kunigunda started to get Belgrade and become Queen of Serbia was still ongoing, pitting Errard's regency council against the Byzantine Empire and the Akropolites dynasty, who'd been faithful allies throughout much of Orson the Restorer's reign. There was also a vacuum of power within the regency council itself following Kunigunda's deception.

Into the breach stepped Alix de Semur, Royal Steward and still Princess of the Blood, last remaining child of King Orson I and aunt to the boy Errard. Using her blood ties to the throne, she assumed authority as Head Regent and immediately dispatched an envoy to Emperor Manuel, beseeching him to end the war sparked by the diabolical Kunigunda and return to the friendship and affection long enjoyed between their two dynasties.

But the Emperor refused outright and so it was with heavy heart that Alix began the counter-offensive in earnest.

Nisbin was surrounded by Byzantine troops in the Middle East and so it's no surprise when I tell you that it fell in late winter 1190, as did Rashka, but by March, Rashka was liberated and the Three Kingdoms troops, with steely resolve, prepared to march into the Byzantine Empire proper.

Summer proved fruitful for the Three Kingdoms army, as it won a crushing battle against Emperor Manuel himself in June in the province of Ochrid and by August, Thessalonike fell to the Three Kingdoms and the Prince of Butrinto, the former Count of Belgrade's liege, settled for peace with a massive cash payment.

This influx of income was vital for the war effort, as Emperor Manuel persisted in refusing all peace offers even after his humiliating defeat in Ochrid and the capture of Thessalonike. So the troops pressed on, sailing their way to Constantinople itself.

But then an equally devastatating defeat occurred en route in Abydos as the fearsome Prince of Abydos, a devout and brilliant warrior-priest, halted the advance and reversed the tides of fortune back to the Byzantines.

The war thusly waged on and by the following summer, a new kind of stalemate had been reached, with Thessalonike not only liberated, but Rashka and Hum captured by the Byzantines. In counterpoint, however, Constantinople fell to Royal Marshal Hranislav of Salerno, whom you may remember from an earlier lecture.

Still Emperor Manuel refused peace and outraged, Hranislav ordered the marvelous city of Constantinople sacked and burnt to the ground. A lot of beautiful buildings and priceless artificats were lost in the ensuing mayhem, but the Marshal felt he needed to make a point, that the Three Kingdoms were just as capable a military power as the Empire and that Manuel was a fool not to make peace.

The stalemate continued until March 1192, by which time Thessalonike was back in Three Kingdoms control, but Constantinople had been liberated in turn. Finally, out of desparation, Princess Alix de Semur sent an envoy to Emperor Manuel agreeing to acknowledge all of his claims over titles in dispute, which included three Middle Eastern provinces and a Middle Eastern dukedom, or principality as the Byzantines called it, along with an offer to renew the old de Semur/Akropolites alliance.

Manuel accepted what amounted to the total surrender and absolute humiliation for the Three Kingdoms, but he refused to renew an alliance, saying that the de Semurs were no longer worthy of his love and affection now that Orson was dead. The Emperor was also beside himself with rage when he discovered what happened to his jewel of a capital city, for Constantinople was as cherished by the Akropolites and indeed all of the Empire as Bologna was by the de Semurs.

The double whammy made the regency council the laughingstock of Europe and nobody respected the Three Kingdoms after the complete defeat at the feet of the Byzantines. Still worse, the treasury was once again in shambles.

But time heals many things, if not all things, and a month later, Emperor Manuel, at the urging of other members of the Akropolites family who remembered Orson's loyalty and praised Princess Alix's handling of a difficult war, agreed to renew the alliance, recognizing that it was not the de Semurs' fault that Kunigunda had exploited the opportunity presented her for her own personal gain and a crown.

However, Manuel also passed an edict which said that Hranislav of Salerno was to be considered an enemy of the state and executed on the spot if he ever re-entered the Empire. The Marshal had no problems with this and is said to have remarked upon hearing of his ban, "I would never want to visit that land again anyway, for the Greeks are lovers of men and bad poetry."

What was intended to be a long, peaceful regency period of recovery lasted for two years until the summer of 1194, when, seeing the ancient ancestral province of Chalons under Muslim control, Princess Alix declared war on the shiek.

This not only brought the Three Kingdoms into war with the Caliphate of Zenata, one of the last remaining Muslim powers and the lone Mohammedan kingdom in North Africa, it had the Three Kingdoms indirectly allied with the recently elected Pope, who wanted to prove himself by removing the final Muslim force in North Africa.

By spring 1195, Chalons was held by Marshal Hranislav of Salerno and although Alix as Head Regent and de facto leader of the ruling de Semur dynaty planned to ask him to give the county back to the Three Kingdoms, she waited while the marshal pressed on from Chalons to Aargau and Bern, former Papal territories that had been conquered by the Zenatan Muslims.

Alix's persistence paid off, as by this time in November 1195, Hranislav conquered both Aargau and Bern and, content to rule Bern alone, agreed to give the de Semurs their ancestral county back. Finally, after decades of waiting to get their homeland back, the Three Kingdoms' only dynasty had it back in their possession and Princess Alix de Semur decreed that, like the Duke of Dauphine, the title of Count of Chalons would remain forever after part of the de Semur inherited lineage, never to be given away.

What followed was a long, drawn-out war that didn't end until the fall of 1199, when the Caliph of Zenata, with most of his territory gone and his lone remaining vassal engineering a civil war against him, begged for peace. The regency council accepted, in keeping with the long-standing policy of little interest in the de Semur domains outside the Three Kingdoms area.

One significant benefit of the war in that regard was the liberation of Istria, which had been under the yoke of Zenatan rule for some time, but was quickly restored to the Three Kingdoms in the early phases of the war. This harbor was important, for it restored absolute control of the Adriatic to the Three Kingdoms, save for the Serbian port of Ragusa, which really wasn't in position to argue about it.

But as the 13th century dawned, that's the 1200s for those of you who don't know the conversion, there was a problem.

Errard de Semur, who was of age, still wasn't King.

As to why that is... come back, next time! Wednesday!"

Damn Morengay and his cliffhangers. I'm actually hoping he shows us a map of North Africa next time.

Funny how the de Semurs get involved in areas they have no intention of messing with.

Kind of like me in some ways, I guess.

[Izulde]

Time is winding down and fast. Hard to believe that it'll only be a month and I'll be graduated.

I should be thinking about what to do with my life after graduation, I guess, but I'm not sure yet. All I do know is that I've got no interest in graduate school. That's for the Cavemans, the Melodys and the Beckys of this world, not the Nicks. Caveman, especially. He's even bragged about how professors have strongly encouraged him to go to graduate school and he's got recommendation letter offers by the truckload.

It's sad in a way... I mean, sure he'll be great and a success at it and everything, but at what cost? I keep picturing him being this lonely, bitter old college professor who fights about things that don't matter like.. oh I don't know, what the significance is of a minor character's red bonnet in the 89th page of some novel nobody other than a lit professor has ever heard of or something.

I may not be smart like all the others, but at least I'll see my way to being happy.

But I haven't graduated yet and there's still lectures to attend, like this one. Morengay's at the lectern and starting to speak.

"When we left off last time, I told you that Errard was still not King as the 1200s began.

What had happened was that when Kunigunda sent Errard to Croatia to a monastary for his education, she paid his escort a large sum of money to tell the monks that the boy was an orphan with no background of consequence. She also hired a band of highway robbers who were plaguing the province the monastary was in to assassinate the escort after he left the monastary, so that word wouldn't get out of who the boy was or where he was.

To further complicate matters and to ensure that nobody would know precisely which monastary Errard was in, Kunigunda told people that he was in an entirely different province than the one he was actually in, so that when the time came for the court to retrieve Errard at age 16 to be coronated, he naturally wasn't there.

Aghast, Regent Alix de Semur sent an envoy to Serbia, demanding of Queen Kunigunda the full disclosure of what had occurred 10 years prior and the precise location of the crown prince's schooling. If she did not come clean, the regency council would invade Serbia and take the throne by force. Kunigunda, having nothing to lose now that she had her crown, answered, detailing everything.

But when the courtiers arrived at the proper monastary, Errard was no longer there. The monks said he'd set off on a spiritual journey three weeks before and no one had seen or heard from him since.

Over four and a half long years passed by, quiet and peaceful years that were in the capable hands of Alix de Semur.

Until one day, early October 1202, Errard simply showed up at the castle and announced he was ready to be crowned King.

From the records we have, it appears he was quite a sight, dressed in well-used chain mail, with dried blood still caked on the longsword that he strapped to his side. His beard was magnificient, bushy and brown with glints of red in the afternoon sun.

He would not speak of his adventures, nor say where he'd been during the roughly four and three-quarter years he'd been gone. All he said was that it was time for him to assume his grandfather's throne and set things right.

Here's his coronation portrait:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v324/Izulde/KingErrard.jpg

King Errard I's first act was to claim the Serbian throne, swearing to avenge the wrongs done to him and his family by Queen Kunigunda. The war that followed was a fairly swift one, aided by the Byzantine Empire as Manuel Akropolites hated Queen Kunigunda with almost as much fervor as Errard himself. And so by February 1103, Serbia was part of the Three Kingdoms, which now became the Four Kingdoms.

It was at this time that some began to call for the Kingdoms to be called an empire, but Errard would have no part of it, saying he had only just recently be crowned and besides which, he had not yet achieved the kind of great victory that would make him worthy of being called Emperor.

What he did do, however, was marry Violante de Leon, daughter of the Duke of Leon, a Castillian girl reknowned for her beauty and wisdom. It was a great coup for the 68 year old bed-ridden Duke and his family and he strongly urged King Errard to come and drive the remaining Muslims out of Iberia. Left unsaid, but important to note, is that the Four Kingdoms would then provide something of a counterweight to the French dominance in the region.

Errard, eager to make his mark, readily accepted and attacked the Beydom of Algeciras, annexing the southernmost point of the Iberian peninsula by March 1204. Flush with the ease of victory, the young monarch pressed on, invading not the Emirate of Almeria, the last remaining Muslim stronghold on the peninsula, but the Sheikdom of Snessen in northern Africa, who held lands that if conquered, would connect most of the Four Kingdoms' territory in the region.

Snessen proper fell to Errard in October 1204, two years to the day after his coronation. He had himself named Duke of El Rif on the battlefield and continued onward, intent on making himself master of North Africa before he quit the war.

Unfortunately, the Sultanate of Zenata stood in the way. Although a ghost of itself following the regency war, there was still technically a truce between the Four Kingdoms and the Zenatan Sultan. King Errard I was a shrewd man, however, and declared war on a vassal of the Sultan, thus leading the Sultan to declare war on the Four Kingdoms in defense of his vassal. This proved Zenata's undoing and April 1205 saw another battlefield duking, this time naming Errard Duke of Alger.

And still the ambitious king marched on, annexing shiekdom after shiekdom. The two independent Christian counts in the region also pledged fealty and by October 1205, King Errard I had done it.

He was crowned King of North Africa on a desert battlefield in a militaristic ceremony. No courtiers, only his battle-hardened soldiers gave their lustful cries of approval as Errard accepted dominion over North Africa.

Three years to the day of King and in those three years, he won two more crowns.

It was a rise so meteoric and so fierce that people believed that Errard was ordained by God to be the bringer of punishment to the Moors and all those who had gone against the de Semurs. King Robert I may have been the Holy Warrior, but King Errard I was nicknamed the Divine Avenger.

We'll stop here with a look at the now Five Kingdoms' map of North Africa and sorry about the pink. It's my daughter's favorite color.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v324/Izulde/NorthAfrica.jpg

See you all Friday!"

...I'm in absolute awe. This guy wins two entire kingdoms in three years?! And I thought Orson was impressive.

I'm not the only one who's amazed, judging from the slightly dazed looks of some of my classmates. I mean, here Errard goes and conquers two kingdoms in less time than it takes us to earn a piece of paper.

That's just incredible.

[Izulde]

"I told Caveman to fuck off today."

"...You did what?"

I'm not sure if I'm more shocked that Becky called him Caveman or that she's smiling up at me as she tells me about it.

"Yep! I walked right up to him in that coffee shop he always hangs in out and told him he was a bastard who didn't deserve me and that I was a daisy fresh girl and now he's ruined me. He was soooo pissed at me for that!"

"For telling him off?"

She shakes her head quickly, glossy hair shimmering under the candlelight in my room.

"No, for the daisy fresh girl line."

Huh?

"...I don't get it."

"Does the name Dominique Swain mean anything to you?"

"No?"

Becky blinks, staring at me for a moment in confusion before laughing and leaning back on the bed, "Sorry, I forget you aren't an English major. Anyway, Lolita is Caveman's favorite novel and in the color movie version, Dominique Swain, who's Lolita, says that to Jeremy Irons, who's Humbert."

"Okay."

She laughs again, half-sighing in playful exasparation, "Nevermind. It just really pissed him off, is all. I thought he was going to throw his coffee at me, he was so mad."

I can't help chuckling at the mental image, little Becky theatrically ripping into Caveman and him sitting there, looking angrier and angrier while everybody in the place looks at him like he's some sort of criminal.

"Nice one. Did he say anything?"

"No. He just got up and stormed out... somehow I don't think he'll be going back there anytime soon."

"Wow... that was incredibly bitchy of you and, genius, I have to admit."

"I know", she smiles quietly, her eyes glinting with mischief as she leans into me.

We sit there in silence for a few moments, just listening to the cold wind rattling the trees outside as an early hint of winter cuts through the cloudless night.

"I have to admit, I'm kind of curious as to why he slept with you. I mean, you're gorgeous and all, but I remember his pledging semester, all he did was talk about how he was like a prize fish, all the more sought after because he was that old and still a virgin."

She smiles a little sadly, glancing out the window, "I know. I was a virgin, too. All I'm going to say is that the whole experience was awful and no two virgins should ever sleep together because neither one of them knows what they're doing."

I bite my lip, but it doesn't completely stifle the laugh at the picture of the two of them fumbling with each other, awkward and uncomfortable.

"Ow!" My shoulder throbs from where Becky just punched me.

"Don't laugh! It's not funny!"

"Sorry."

After a moment in which I rub my shoulder and she returns her gaze to the window, she speaks again.

"Nick? I think we should like, sleep together. Right now."

...Is she serious?

From the thoughtful look in her eyes as she turns around to face me, it appears so. It makes sense, really. Like I've said before, it's something she needs, to know that she's still desirable.

And so we make love, a long, slow lovemaking. It's more for her than for me and so I take my time, giving her the full range of experiences. I discover she nearly melts when my tongue touches the curve of her ear in a certain way and that she shivers from my nails being dragged over her bare back just so.

It's a lot different, this being with Becky than with Melody. My experience with Becky is like a warm bath in the evening--pleasant, but not incredible. Melody, on the other hand, is like everything beautiful and intoxicating all rolled up into one ball of her and I and with her I soar heights of ecstacy like no other girl before her or, in this case, since.

After we're done, Becky and I lay together, still naked, on my bed, listening to the increased howl of the outside wind, still raging in the empty void.

"Thank you, Nick."

It's comical really, a girl thanking me for sex. But sad, too, in a way, that she feels she has to thank me for sleeping with her.

"Do you feel okay?" Standard rules of the game forbid the question, but this isn't your normal situation by any means. We're two people who have just scorned the ones we love and by coming together like this, we've run the risk of the worst kind of awkwardness, the kind that can destroy friendships.

"Yeah. I mean, it gets a lot easier the second time and not only physically. Mentally and emotionally, you're a lot more prepared for it." She grins then, leaning up to nip my nose, "Besides, you're a lot better at it than Caveman."

I'd certainly hope so.

Still, I can't help but feel that something's been altered here, some change that has my stomach churning in discomfort.

Thankfully, sleep is soon upon us.

[Izulde]

When we woke up this morning, Becky told me not to worry about what happened, that this didn't change anything between us. She also said it'd be better if we didn't see each other before Melody's dad's party in December.

"We don't want to be rebounds for each other, Nick. So go out and sleep with as many girls as you like. Try to forget her as best as you can and I'll see you again when the snow's on the ground."

But how can I forget Melody when she's lovely in casual green hooded sweatshirt and black jeans that are probably by some gay Italian designer? My god, she makes even hoodies look sexy! And how can I sleep with other girls when they're just pale imitations of what I've had before? The Becky thing was a favor to a friend. Any other girl... I just can't.

At the same time, I can't go back to Melody. Not when she's so crazy... crazy/beautiful yes, but still crazy.

All this thinking is making my head hurt and so Morengay's voice is actually a comfort this Friday morning.

"Hello, class! Before you all dash off to your fun-filled weekends, it's another hour learning about the adventures of Errard the Divine Avenger!

We left off last time just as King Errard I completed his conquest of North Africa and brought a fifth kingdom into the rapidly expanding de Semur empire.

But although it could legitimately be called an empire now, Errard still refused the title of Emperor, saying he hadn't yet done anything to deserve it, that Serbia was not even worthy of being called a kingdom and North Africa was a backwards region, full of sand and Muslims.

A brief respite ensued while the Five Kingdoms allowed their troops and treasury to recover, but by late June 1206, that peace was ended with Errard's second war in the most unlikely of all places.

England."

The class stares in confusion while Morengay puts a map up on the overhead.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v324/Izulde/grrengland.jpg

"You see, the Five Kingdoms had territory in England decades before Errard even turned his eye there. The County of Shrewsbury, outlined in white, had come into the possession of a de Hauteville branch that was vassal to the de Semur kings. Furthermore, because of complicated inheritance laws through marriage that I won't go into here, Errard had a claim on the county of Derby, outlined in blue.

And so it was against the mighty Norman lion that the Five Kingdoms now sailed.

Although the Duke of Lancaster agreed to surrender Derby fairly early, by March 1107, the king of England stubbornly insisted on dragging the war out for another year before finally agreeing to peace in March 1108.

The Derby Conflict, as it came to be known, wiped out the Five Kingdoms' treasury, so much so that Steward Alix de Semur estimated it would be close to a year before they could embark on another military endeavor.

As if this state of affairs weren't bad enough, Emperor Manuel Akropolites passed away shortly after peace was made between England and the Five Kingdoms and his son, Emperor Petros, refused to honor the long-standing de Semur-Akropolites alliance, instead attaching himself to the King of Hungary.

Outraged, King Errard I declared that the Five Kingdoms needed no ally and that they would go it alone until the day he himself died.

It was a declaration he kept even as he declared war in February 1209 on the Emirate of Almeria, which, as I mentioned last time, was the final Muslim stronghold in Iberia. Historians have suggested that Errard I launched this crusade to prove to the world he was still deserving of the Divine part of his nickname.

Unfortunately, the Emirate proved stronger than it looked and in June, a great scandal rocked the court in Bologna.

Queen Violante was revealed to have committed adultery with one of her Castillian servants and thus, Sancho de Semur, Errard's second son, was in fact not his son at all. Although this did much to explain Sancho's swarthy features compared to his older brother Guy's, it stunned the Five Kingdoms and made for a great many jokes in the far reaches of the de facto empire.

King Errard I's fury was so great that he immediately ordered the queen to give up her worldly life and die in the only way that suicide was acceptable to the Catholic Church at the time. In other words, he demanded that she become an anchoress.

For of those you who aren't familiar with the term, an anchoress is a person who in medieval Catholic theology were given their last rites and walled up for the rest of their lives in a extremely cramped, tiny room with no furniture, no openings and no light of any kind. They were considered to be officially dead by the Church, although many of them, such as Julian of Norwich, became famed mystics for the visions and revelations they had in their last days and months.

I have to say that Violante, although she accepted the demand made of her and lost everything, she was not one of the famous mystics whose writings we have with us today. From all accounts, she died in body two weeks after she was considered dead in spirit, heartbroken and filled with shame, grief and guilt over her adultery.

King Errard I did not marry any time soon after that, for he was embroiled in a surprisingly nasty war against the Emirate of Almeria, as I said.

It was so nasty, in fact, that the very end of that terrible June 1209, Algeciras fell to the Emirate. But then the Divine Avenger won a great victory in January 1210, as with just 7,000 men, he crushed the combined 18,000 strong troops of the Emir of Almeria's armies.

The Muslims were not about to let their 500-plus years of rule in the area go down without a fight, however, and by April, another force of over 8,000 troops swept the Five Kingdoms monarch out of the peninsula and so the war continued to rage on.

By February 1211, things were looking pretty bad for the Five Kingdoms. El Rif, in North Africa, had fallen to the Emirate and the war was proving so expensive that King Errard I had to endure the great shame of being the first de Semur king to call for the Estates General in order to finance the campaign.

But on the other hand, the great Venetian regiment was finally on the move and had landed on the shores of Malaga province. With this powerful regiment, Errard was able to conquer Malaga by May 1211.

And then disaster struck.

Emperor Petros Akropolites, seeing the Five Kingdoms in this weakened state and desirous of reclaiming Belgrade for the Empire, declared war.

Although infuriated, Errard I did the only thing he could do when facing the one superpower even stronger than he was.

He sent an envoy offering Belgrade, no questions asked. It was, after all, not a county he held any particular love for, site as it was of Queen Kunigunda's capital when the traitor Regent ruled over Serbia.

Petros refused, for his real goal in starting war was nothing less than the total and complete humiliation of the de Semurs.

The summer months saw the beginning of fighting in Croatia, as Errard's military advisors determined the best route was to fight a defensive war while the king was on the offensive in Iberia. Also, there was another flip-flop of ownership, as Algeciras was liberated by Errard, but Snassen in turn was conquered by the Almeria Emirate.

Then, in the fall, Emperor Petros had a change of heart, for after his troops conquered Hum and Nisbin, the always neglected royal post in the Middle East, he felt the Five Kingdoms learned their lesson and accepted peace in exchange for Belgrade.

It was the March 1212 conquest of Granada that signalled the end of the Almeria Emirate. Although the final coup de grace would take a year and more to accomplish, the tide had turned to such a degree that King Errard I, the Divine Avenger, was able to peacefully marry Esclarmonda de Milhaud, daughter of the Duke of Bordeaux, in the spring of 1213.

What's significant about this marriage was that the Duke had successfuly rebelled against the embattled King of France, a Phillipe who looked very much like the last of the Capetian line. The Duke had won his independence outright a few years before and so contently watched as the jackals who were the other French dukes devoured the bloodied wolf carcass of the inept Capet.

Why could the Duke of Bordeaux do that and not try to get the throne for himself?

Because he and his vassals controlled half of France proper and most of Iberia.

I'll show you pictures and maps on Monday, as well as tell you about the final conclusion of the Almeria/Five Kingdoms war. We're out of time for today.

Have a good weekend everybody."

My eyes go to Melody without my meaning to and the pang that goes through me drives me out of the room faster than I'd planned to.

I can't breathe, can't think. It's like I'm in the middle of my own Almeria.

I have to get to the archery range.

[Izulde]

42 arrows later, my arms are sore. The good kind of sore, where my body's pleasantly exhausted and I'm feeling calmer, close to tranquil.

It's a clean, well-lit range here, with a neat, orderly row of targets, the first one of which is pockmarked in clusters in and around the bulls-eye from my recent rounds. I don't always aim for the bulls-eye itself. Sometimes I target other areas, just to prove to myself I can sink the arrows wherever I want them.

I collect my just-shot arrows and carry them to the counter F.W.'s sitting behind, where he's been silently chain-smoking and watching shoot my rounds.

"Nice shooting."

"Thanks."

F.W. chuckles, ashing into the tray on the counter, "So tell me, Nick. You've come in here every day this week except Thursday. Normally you're here once, maybe twice a week. Not that I don't appreciate the business, but what's wrong?"

I study him quietly for a few moments. With his heavy body, flabby arms, Walgreens bifocals and thin gray hair, if you can little wisps at the temples hair, F.W. doesn't look like much, but he was a champion archer in his day and just missed qualifying for the U.S. Olympics team when he was a lot younger. He opened the shop after he retired from competition and has been here ever since.

"Who says anything's wrong?"

He looks at me over the tops of his glasses, chuckling before going into a spastic cough, "Come on, Nick. You can't fool this old codger. I've seen many young people in my day and I have a pretty good idea when something's wrong. Tell you what... you tell me what's wrong and I'll let you have your next three rounds on the house."

The offer's too good to pass up and so I spill out the whole twisted mess, naming Melody as This Girl, Chet as This Guy, Caveman as This Other Guy and Becky as This Other Girl. I don't leave out any details, either, because F.W.'s the kind of old guy you can say those kinds of things to and he'll just roll with it.

As I tell him the story, he just sits quietly, smoking and now and again giving a little nod. When I'm finished, he stubbs out his ninth or tenth cigarette since I've been there and exhales slowly.

"Sounds to me like this other guy's right. You haven't really shown this girl that you love her. Not really."

What? He's agreeing with Caveman?

"See, you can... ah, let me put it to you in the words of an old favorite song of mine. It explains it better than I can."

And so, to my stunned amazement, F.W. starts singing in a voice that, though it's scratched from too many cigarettes, is pleasant in an odd sort of way.

You can tell her
That you love her
A hundred different ways

But it won't mean as much
As just the right touch
At just the right time of day

You've got to show her
A little each day
Really show her
You mean what you say

It's not enough just to tell her you love her
If you want her to know
You've got to let it show.

When her laughter
Turns to tears
For reasons she can't explain
Remember this
Just one kiss
Is all your love needs to say

Go on and show her
A little each day
Really show her
You mean what you say

It's not enough just to tell her you love her
If you want her to know
You've got to let it show

So if you can't live without her
You better learn to let her know how you feel
Just remember that you hold the power
To tell her all that words can't reveal.

You've got to shower her
A little each day
Really show her
You mean what you say

It's not enough just to tell her you love her
If you want her to know
You've got to let it show.

A curious kind of silence settles over the area of the counter once the last, long, drawn-out note finishes echoing through the air. F.W. picks up another cigarette and lights it, just as calmly as if he hadn't just serenaded me.

"So you see, Nick, in order to get this girl, you've got to show her you love her."

I snort.

"Come on, F.W. What about her obsession with money and class and all that crap? I mean, don't forget, she's engaged to that guy."

F.W. laughs, a raspy, quiet laugh, and winks at me through a drag of his cigarette.

"That's the thing, Nick. She wouldn't still be sleeping with you and still be planning to keep you in her life if she didn't love you. If you can show her beyond a doubt that you love her, I think you'll be surprised."

"I guess..." Only I don't. I can't see what he's talking about and I'm starting to think maybe old F.W.'s a little senile, listening to corny songs and smoking himself stupid.

"You don't believe me, I'm sure. That's okay. After all, it's in keeping with your character."

"What?" I'm starting to get a little pissed now. My character? What the hell is he talking about now?

He chuckles and sets his smoke down in a notch of the tray.

"It's simple, Nick. The simple fact of the matter is you've never really tried hard for anything in your life. You're smarter than you give yourself credit for, but you never reach for anything. You've never run for any of your fraternity's offices, you've never tried a serious relationship with any of the umpteen pretty girls you've slept with, some of whom I'm sure are very nice young women and, much closer to home, you've never joined one of the house leagues even though you're one of the best damned shots in this joint."

"This is about me not joining one of the leagues isn't it? I told you, F.W., I shoot for fun and relaxation, not for competition."

He levels me with a direct stare, gazing me so intensely in the eyes that I find myself looking away.

"Competition is fun and relaxing too, my boy. But you're afraid of trying and failing, so you settle for what comes within easy reach of you, like this other girl. Sure, this other guy may have treated her like a bastard, but at least he's confident enough in himself and what he wants to know he's not going to settle for that. If you really want this girl, you're going to have to actually step outside of your comfort area and really try. Look, I'm not saying it'll be easy, because it won't and that's the whole point. It's going to be hard, but if this girl's really worth it to you, you'll find a way."

Ugh. I hate to admit it, but he's right. I prefer to be content with what I have rather than trying to get more. Damn Melody for making me want her and damn F.W. for agreeng with Caveman and pointing this out to me.

"So how am I supposed to show this girl then?"

He grins and picks up his now nearly-spent Marlboro for one last pull.

"That, Nick, is something you'll have to discover yourself. In the meantime, if you're going to be around after graduation, you can sign up now for a summer league team!"

[Izulde]

The weekend passes by in a blur after Friday night. No Becky or Melody of course and I still haven't come up with a plan like what F.W. suggested I should do. I don't even have the faintest idea yet, in fact.

Thinking about it makes my head hurt, so I'm actually looking forward to ridiculously happy Morengay this Monday morning, even if it's chilly outside and a touch of winter hangs in the air.

"Good morning class! Hope you all had a lovely weekend!

Picking up where we left off last Friday, I promised you maps and pictures today and we'll start off with a map of the situation in Iberia and North Africa as the Almeria/Five Kingdoms war was drawing to a close.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v324/Izulde/IberiaAfrica.jpg

The Five Kingdoms' territories are outlined in orange, the Duchy of Bordeaux's in pink and the Kingdom of France's in brown.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v324/Izulde/QueenEsclarmonda.jpg

Here is the lovely young Queen Esclarmonda's coronation portrait.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v324/Izulde/DukeBordeaux.jpg

And here is her father, the Duke of Bordeaux, along with all 27 of the counts who swore fealty to him.

Although most expected the war to reach a swift conclusion, the inhospitable North African desert combined with the fierce loyalty and determination of the Muslim populace and remaining troops of the Almeria Emir meant that it would not be until late November 1217 before the last of the Emirate was finally wiped out.

By way of celebration for his great and monumental victory that ensured there would never again be a Muslim power in Iberia, King Errard I ordered the construction of the greatest and largest expansion to Louis Castle yet. Upon completion almost a decade later, it stood as the greatest citadel in all the world and made Bologna a city even greater than that of Constanti-"

Suddenly Morengay gasps and holds on to his chest.

"Sorry folks, I-"

And then he falls to the floor, his knees buckling.

We sit there in shock before someone screams out. A girl.

"CALL 911!"

[Izulde]

"So what's going to happen now with your history class?"

I stare at the twin spirals of smoke coming out of our cigarettes, the lazy curls oddly fitting against the backdrop of the densely forested hills that surround the campus and by extension our house.

"They said in an e-mail he's going into retirement effective immediately. We're given a choice of either taking our midterm grade as our final grade or we can petition for an incomplete and work something out with the History Department Chair to do something during J-term to make it up."

Drake nods, sitting on the railing of our upper deck and staring out into the cloudy, chilly evening.

"So you're taking the midterm grade, right?"

"Yeah. First A I've earned in college and I get it my last semester on a fluke."

It's not really all that funny, but we laugh anyway, just because when something like that happens, something depressing like one of your college professors has to quit the job he loves because of a heart attack, you have to laugh at something or it's just too much.

"It's funny... I mean, here we are, a month left to graduation. It's weird, you know?"

I nod and ash into a battered steel can that's been serving as a tray for years, maybe even decades. Generations upon generations of Theta Sigma Phis have sat here, on cold late fall nights or warm mid-spring afternoons, smoking and talking, discussing the now, maybe dreaming of the future. It's got me in a surreal, strangely philosophical mood.

"Yeah. I mean, I still don't know what I'll do. Find a job, probably."

Drake chuckles and flicks his cigarette over the edge, watching as it's snatched up by the wind to land in the yard across the street.

"Same here. I mean, I love college, but I'm ready to get out there and work, you know. Marry the girlfriend, settle down and all that."

It's strange. At the beginning of the semester, I would've said the same thing, except the girlfriend part.

And yet, in the months that have passed since then, I find myself not wanting to settle down, but instead have this urge to wander, to explore, to see more of the world than my home state, the only place I've ever really known.

Maybe it's Melody, maybe it's F.W.'s speech or maybe it would've happened anyway, this gradual realization that I'm not really ready to go into a, well, I guess you could call it a completed life. Where there's no real progress, no real dreaming. Only contentment and all the passive buying and watching that goes into a middle-class life.

"Nick? You okay? You look a little out of it."

I blink and raise my head.

"What? Yeah, sorry about that. You want to go play some video games?"

"Yeah, that sounds cool."

Whatever's going on, all I know is that I've changed in a very real way. Just what exactly that change is and where it's going to take me is still a great unknown.

But I have a feeling that December will bring a lot of answers.

[Izulde]

"Hello?"

"Hi, Nick. It's Becky. I'll be in about an hour. Be prepared to surprised."

"All right!"

"See you then! Bye."

"Bye."

And so it begins...

[Neon_Chaos]

I'm prepared to be surprised as well!!!

[Izulde]

I'm prepared to be surprised as well!!!

:D

[Izulde]

November has passed over into December and with it, colder temperatures have arrived, but it looks to be a mild early winter, as its in the 40s and no precipitation torments Caveman and I as we stand out on the front porch, smoking.

"You going out with her?"

He means Becky, of course.

"No. This is just a friends date."

He's about to say something more when our eyes are stolen by the sight of a stunning girl making her way up the walk, the sound of her feet on the pavement odd to our ears.

Her hair is in a style like nothing I've never seen before, a tightly controlled, elaborate updo that looks like it took hours to put together. She wears a brightly colored kimono of blue with what look like some kind of orange birds on it, cranes maybe.

But it's her face that's most striking, full white makeup, save for the lips and the eyes painted and outlined in red and black in such a way that it makes my nerves tingle like they haven't since Melody.

We both gasp as she turns and ascends up the steps leading to the porch we're smoking on, a wide smile on those entrancing lips.

"Hi Bobby, Nick!"

"...BECKY?!"

Caveman's so stunned, he drops his cigarette and stands there, mouth hung open like a goldfish.

She beams and leans up to kiss me on the cheek before turning to Caveman. To be honest, I don't register it, because I'm as taken aback as he is.

"Yep, it's me, Bobby! Like it?"

She turns slowly, letting him absorb every inch of her finery. I'm staring, too, wanting to say something, but I sense this isn't my place.

"You look.... incredible...", he croaks out at last. "Are you a geisha?"

I have no idea what that is, but it must be bad because the next thing I know, Becky's hand is slapping hard and fast across his face, sending Caveman staggering backwards.

"No", she answers sharply, "I'm a kisaeng! God, you're so stupid! Nick, let's go."

Caveman just stands there as Becky and I make our way down the steps, going slow because she whispers that she can't go very fast.

When we reach the bottom of the steps and are about to start walking to my car, I look back at Caveman.

His head's hung low and his hand's pressed to his forehead. There's something pathetic and sad about his pose, like he's realizing that he made a mistake with her in some way and now regrets it.

Whether it's taking her virginity or dumping her or something else altogether, I don't know.

What I do know is that I feel very sorry for him.

But I can't waste time trying to cheer him up.

The greatest adventure of my life waits an hour away.

[Izulde]

I turn the heater on shortly after we get to the highway and we drive through the chilly night. It's empty on the freeway tonight and soon an air of warmth and peace settles in.

Quiet, too, as we're both content simply to sit and enjoy the ride.

About four miles away, we come up on a roadblock, patrolled by a young, solemn looking police officer.

"Name please?"

"Nick Hunter."

There's a rustle of paper as he rifles through the clipboard in his hand before making a check mark.

"Here for the Suchet party?"

"Yes sir."

"Enjoy."

"We will."

He smiles then and we smile, the kind of serene, understated exchange of smiles that happens when everybody's in a good mood.

The mood changes to one of a tensed excitement once we're through the roadblock and the night takes on a cast of enchanted possibility.

We're roughly two miles out when our eyes are held and bedazzled by a towering, glimmering white... castle?

"It must be as big as the Ritz", Becky murmurs in wonder.

"Huh?"

She starts, blinking with a sheepish smile as she looks at me.

"Sorry. It's a Lit thing."

"Thinking about him, huh?"

"Yeah... Look, Nick, before we get there and before you see her and everything..."

I hear what she's going to say in the slow breath she takes and it makes me grip the wheel, the mystic quality of everything replaced by rapid and jumbled thoughts that race along with the words that swiftly spell from her lips.

"I know this probably isn't the best time to let you know, but if I don't tell you now, then I'm afraid it'll be too late and I know it sounds really strange and probably a little weird but... I, I'm falling for you."

Her voice drops its volume, becoming the small, quiet voice I last heard the night of Formal, when she asked Caveman why he did what he did to her.

It's a tone that weighs heavily on me and slows the hurtling rush of my garbled thoughts down to a careful pondering.

"Well, thank you Becky, but the thing is, I don't really know how I feel about you. I mean I know I like you, I like you a lot... It's just, you know..."

She does know and I feel it in the way her tiny hand closes over mine and squeezes it.

And it's true. I don't know how I really feel about Becky. She's sweet, beautiful, intelligent and fun, but love? If there's one thing I've learned in these last four months, it's that love has the power to change a person in ways that, once you've been affected, you can never go back.

Take just now for instance. It's the first time I've ever been honest when a girl's said she loves me and I either didn't love her or wasn't sure. Before Melody, I would've said some crap about loving her too and strung her along a while more before I got bored.

I'm still in that reflective mood as we ride up and down roller-coastering hills, the highway's former smoothness gone. The castle looms larger and larger as we draw closer and closer, never losing its shining majesty.

When we crest to the top of the last hill, we're greeted with the sight of a long line of limosines sleekly gliding parallel to a gate whose ends we can't see, the cars passing into the far darkness after they let out their passengers. From this spot, they're little more than stick figures.

They become more and more fully realized as I slowly take my car downhill, Becky's breath caught beside me at the majesty of the castle that reveals itself as a mansion with four-cornered towers up close.

But I can't look too closely, because I have to concentrate on driving. Hitting one of these limos would put me in such debt that I'd still be paying it off when I'm ready to collect Social Security.

A man in a black suit and wearing sunglasses in the dead of winter appears in the misty pools of my headlights to stop us as we draw near to the entrance of the gate, now shown to be made of intricately woven cast black iron.

"Your name?"

"Nick Hunter."

"Very good, Mr. Hunter. Will you and the young woman please exit the car? One of the valets will park it for you."

I feel a little sheepish at the idea of my old 1994 blue Toyota next to all those limosines and what are probably Porsches and Jaguars and Lamborghinis and all that, but I hand over my keys to a red-suited valet who doesn't look much older than I am.

Once the exchange's complete, the man in black turns to Becky, "Miss, Mr. Johnson will show you around. As for you, Mr. Hunter, come with me please."

Another black suit and sunglasses comes over to whisk Becky away. She waves to me, her blue eyes dark and sparkling with excitement.

I wave back with a smile and turn to follow my own guide, wondering just what in the hell is going on.

Strange way to start a party, if you ask me.

[Cap Ologist]

Just in case you forgot where you left it.

[Izulde]

Just in case you forgot where you left it.

Oh trust me, I haven't forgotten. ;)

I'll try to update tonight, but no promises.

[Izulde]

I'm led down a cobblestone walk whose stones glow orange-white in the duelling lights of torches and moon. In the distance, there's the sound of music and chatter, but I don't have time to sort it out all before my escort's opening a side door with the type of arch you usually see in churches.

"Second door on your left" are his parting instructions before he heads back to what I'm guessing is the main entrance.

Although I'm curious to look around, something tells me it's best just to follow directions and so I do, beelining straight for the indicated door without so much as glancing at the hallway.

I open the door to a room whose first impression is a study of some kind.

Cherry wood dominates the paneling, taking up the floor what I can see of the walls, which isn't much, because the west end of the room is occupied by a humongous tapestry on which a train of richly dressed elephants march majestically through a marketplace and the east end holds a massive poster that, when I look at it, appears to be some type of family tree. I can't make out the names though, because the font is too hard to read. Not clear like Melody's calligraphy.

There's a book shelf here too, next to the family tree with lots of hardback books that look like they're either dusted often or read often.

My eyes travel to the desk next. Like all the other wood in this room, it's cherry and it runs parallel to the immense picture window that offers a great view of the lawn beyond. I can see people outside, though from this distance, they still look like nothing more than brightly colored fireflies lazily floating from place to place.

It's a rainbow spectrum that fits rather well with this room, with the multi-colored stained glass lamps that provide the only lighting and give the room a certain coziness.

"Enjoying the view?"

I start. What the hell?

I turn around to see a cheerfully grinning man, about six and a half feet tall and thin, the dark purple suit and gold tie he wears making him look even slimmer. I'd say he's about middle-age from the crinkles about his eyes and grey mixing with the sandy base of his hair to create a rather distinguished look.

"Forgive me, Mr. Hunter. I'm Jean Suchet, Melody's father."

As I return the greeting and shake the hand he extends to me, I notice not only his firm grip but the way he didn't use his title when introducing himself. It makes me like him all the more than I did from what little Melody's told me about him.

"Let's take a seat, shall we?"

He indicates the burgundy leather chairs on either side of the desk and I take the one closest to the door.

Once we're settled in our seats, he smiles and pulls out a box from somewhere on the other side, flipping it open.

"Fancy a cigarette?"

"Sure."

He hands me one, along with a surprisingly battered Zippo lighter and we each light up in turn.

I take a drag.

It's the smoothest, most flavorful cigarette I've ever had. I'm not surprised considering who this is, but it's still a delight to discover anyway.

"Not bad, eh? The lighter was my father's, by the way. A great man and a shrewd businessman."

I nod and exhale another stream of smoke.

"Thanks. These are incredible. Where did you get them?"

"Turkey."

Heh. I love the way he says Turkey, so off-handedly, like saying he gets them at the corner store.

From there, we fall into a discussion of our favorite fishing spots and swapping stories. It turns out he's fished a lot of the same local places I have which surprises me until he explains.

"When Melody decided she wanted to go to college here, April and I decided to do shopping around for a place nearby. There wasn't anything on the market that we really wanted, so I bought the land this house sits on and had it built over the summer."

....He had this freaking palace built in a single summer?!?!

"I had to hire a lot of crews, but it was worth it. When I wasn't here supervising the construction, I'd go fishing at places I found about from the local residents, which is how I came to hit the same spots you have."

"That's just amazing."

He smiles and shrugs, fiddling with the lighter, our spent cigarettes in an unobtrusive sterling silver ashtray on the desk.

"It wasn't my doing. It was the men I hired. And anyway, I have a question for you, Nick."

"Yeah?" A question? For me?

"How do you fly?"

....

What the hell?! He didn't just... he couldn't....

But my lips are forming the words in a dazed whisper against his serene smile.

"On the wings of the Scarlet Dragon to Paradise."

He's still smiling while I sort through my shock.

"You're.... you're a member of Theta Sigma Phi?! How?!"

He laughs, a pleasant, mellow laugh and that first grin makes itself known again.

"It's quite simple, Nick. Although I was born in Italy, I went to school in the United States. Although I could've gone to any Ivy League school without question, but I was interested in getting to know normal people, so I went to the best public college in the Midwest, where I joined Theta Sigma Phi, Beta Kappa chapter. Then for my graduate work, I went to the University of Venice in Italy."

"What was your major?" A silly question, but I just have to know.

Another grin, "Theatre Arts, with a concentration in Performance. My best role was Sky Masterson in my college's production of Guys and Dolls."

Somehow it makes sense, strange as it seems, that this confident, carefree baron who likes to fish and know people like me would be a drama geek.

"But that's not all, Nick."

"Oh?"

With a quiet smile, he pulls out a drawer and takes out a small black velvet box, setting it before me.

"Go on and open it."

My breath catches when I open the box. It's not a shock and it's a shock all at the same time. The ring shimmering back up at me, with its five-pointed diamond star and the ruby dragons clutching to the gold on either side....

"Yes. I'm also a member of the Pentacle of Light."

...The Pentacle of Light. Theta Sigma Phi's ruling council of five. Unlike other fraternities who might let it be known who their national leaders are, the identities of Theta Sigma Phi's Pentacle of Light are kept secret. All the vast majority of initiated members know is that the members of the Pentacle are appointed and that when appointed, they're part of the Pentacle for life.

I'm still processing it all as he replaces the box in the desk and offers me another cigarette.

I take it with thanks and a peaceful quiet settles over the room again for a while as we smoke.

"Shame about Professor Morengay", he says after a time.

"Yeah, it sucks. He was a great lecturer, not like most professors."

Jean chuckles and nods, exhaling a perfectly smoke ring, "I'm going to miss having him around."

"Huh?"

A mischievous gleam comes into Baron Suchet's eye as he leans forward, grinning in such a madcap way that he reminds me a lot of Drake.

"Who do you think was giving him all the information and research for his lectures? It was me! You see, after Melody told me about the class and how she really wanted France so he would do the de Semurs, I went to the good professor and told him if he would spend the course lecturing on the de Semurs, he could come out here on the weekends and hobnob with the local elite and research from primary and secondary texts in the library that he wouldn't be able to get anywhere else on short notice."

"That's... damn cool."

And it is. That the most fun class of my entire college experience is all thanks to the father of my quasi-girlfriend and nobody knew about it is just awesome in a weird way.

"That also explains why he was so happy in class on Mondays, then."

The baron nods and blows another series of smoke rings, the movements graceful as they are idle. I can definitely see how he was a good actor on the stage.

"Precisely. He's a bit of a wine and cheese nut, too, so I would bring him a new vintage or a new cheese to try out every weekend. He loved it, as you can imagine."

Looking thoughtful, Melody's father adds with a tilt of his eyes to the ceiling, which I'm just now seeing has an intricate scene with a bunch of guys in turbans on it, "Of course, I imagine he'll still come here, come to think of it. He said he plans on researching the de Semurs more fully for a book now that he can't teach anymore... but I'm babbling on and keeping you from the party. And besides, you have an important decision to make."

Huh?

"What decision?"

He stubs out his cigarette and folds his hands in his lap, leveling me with a solemn expression.

"About my daughter, of course. She loves you."

"But she's engaged to that Chet guy."

"Engagement isn't the same as marriage, Nick and even marriages are broken easily enough in this day and age."

I stand and make my way to the door. I don't want the night and the pleasant experience with Melody's father to be spoiled by this debate.

"With all respect, Mr. Suchet, I'm not sure I'd feel right about being the reason an engagement's broken."

He smiles faintly, nodding from the desk.

"I know. That's why no matter what you decide, whether it's this Becky girl I've heard about or whether it's my daughter, I want you to work for me after graduation. Consider it a networking opportunity through the fraternity. We won't talk about it now and you don't have to accept, obviously. We'll discuss it next weekend after graduation."

The job offer elates me and a flurry of images races through my mind, vague images without real substance or form. The job's market tough and I was having trouble finding employment for after graduation, so I'll probably take this.

But like Mr. Suchet says, there'll be time next weekend to discuss it.

For now, there's a choice waiting outside the house for me.

A life-defining choice.

[Wolfpack]

Way back towards the beginning of the thread I had said that I thought I saw a potential twist coming with regards to Melody. I think I was wrong about what the final outcome was, but I was in the ballpark anyway. Of course, the story's not over yet so there's still a chance my hunch could pan out....

[Izulde]

Way back towards the beginning of the thread I had said that I thought I saw a potential twist coming with regards to Melody. I think I was wrong about what the final outcome was, but I was in the ballpark anyway. Of course, the story's not over yet so there's still a chance my hunch could pan out....

Be interesting to see how it shakes out. You'll have to let us know when it's over what your hunch was :)

[Cap Ologist]

tease

[Wolfpack]

Be interesting to see how it shakes out. You'll have to let us know when it's over what your hunch was :)

Oh, it's nothing terribly significant and doesn't have any heavy bearing on plot, so don't read too much into anything I say. :)

[Izulde]

Cap Ologist: Yep! :D

Wolfpack: Fair enough, though I'm still curious. :)

It may be quite a while before I update this one, folks. As I noted in the Dolphins dynasty, I'm at end of semester crunch so I may be burnt out on writing for a bit.

[Izulde]

I enter the rainbow stream of light, grass, shadow and people outside on the lawn, a lawn that's big enough to house an entire small college campus.

My steps are leisurely, because I want to soak in all the sights and sounds of this party. After all, who knows when I'll be attending an event like this again, if ever.

"Well of -course- this is a smashing party, darling! It's the good Baron throwing it after all, with a teensy amount of help from yours truly!"

Something about the voice draws me to look in that direction and standing there is Melody, all glitter and ancient Greek beauty in an airy, white gown scattered with diamonds.

Wait, it's not Melody, but an older Melody. One with much shorter hair, once my eyes fully adjust. But in that sensuous sway, the way the fingers curl around her flute glass, her hypnotic voice... it's all Melody.

"Well, you did a splendid job, April! You should be quite proud!"

At her side, a chubby woman with three chins and badly spiked, rusty hair in a purple dress so shapeless and so large for a moment I think she robbed a sporting goods store of a tent.

"But of course, Bess" replies the blonde vision, who I've by now figured out is Melody's mother.

Her eyes, the same blue as her daughter's lazily drift about, passing over everyone without looking at them. It's as if we're all just props for her perfectly staged party. I can't say where that impression comes from or when and how I started thinking like this, but women like Melody and her mother have the ability to draw the poet out in all of us, even those who aren't like that usually, like me.

I walk closer, quietly, so as not to draw attention. This should be interesting.

"It's a shame Gerald couldn't be here tonight", she sighs at last, "But he's networking with the Countess de Macon's eldest daughter tonight and he's a very private kind of boy."

Heh. Whoever Gerald is, I'll just bet he's networking with her all right.

"But at least Melody's here, so you have one of the children present!" remarks the purple cow after retrieving a champagne glass from one of the silently rotating waiters.

"Oh, Melody..." sniffs the Baroness, "That girl has far too many of the Baron's bad habits. I told her it was simply absurd to go to a third-rate college, but would she listen? No! Just said that's what the Baron did, so that's what she was going to do. But at least she hasn't been fooling around with the boys at that school. They're beneath her, you know. At least Gerald knows the importance of getting to know the right kind of people."

I choke back a laugh as Bess emphatically agrees. If only they knew.

"Funny, isn't it?"

What the? That was right in my ear!

I turn and there's a bearded man who looks suspiciously familiar, dressed all in black, with a preposterous cape and top hat to boot.

He grins and tips his hat.

"Hey Nick! Fancy meeting you here!"

....Oh.fuck.

"Caveman?! What the fuck are you doing?"

"Shh!" he hisses, darting quickly about with his eyes to make sure no one's paying attention to us, "Keep your voice down!"

"How did you even get in? There's guards and everything!"

He laughs, green eyes sparkling with glee behind his glasses.

"Well, as it so happens, I found out while doing some research online that I bear a very strong phsyical resemblance to the bachelor Count von Richtenberg, so I hunted up his vital details and here I am!"

..Is he serious?! Wait, this is Caveman we're talking about. Yeah, he is.

"Um, that's really sweet that you pulled that off Caveman, but what if he's like, you know, actually here? You're going to be in a bit of trouble."

Caveman shrugs as he adjusts his top hat, "Not really. It'll be the real Count that gets in trouble if he shows up because I got here before he did if he shows up. Otherwise they wouldn't have let me in."

As much as I hate to admit it, he's got a point.

"So, what are you doing here anyway? How did you even know to find this place?"

"Becky told me and Becky's why I'm here, actually. I want to apologize to her and see if we can fix things."

I just stare at him in disbelief. -Caveman- of all people wanting to apologize to somebody and fix things? With -Becky-?

"Is this just because she dressed up as a kreisha or whatever?"

"Kisaeng", he corrects, chuckling a little, "I don't know. Maybe. And anyway, it's not important why I want to. It's that I do."

I can't believe this. He thinks he can just impersonate a freaking Count, waltz right in here, make some apology to Becky and it'll be all better? After all the shit he put her through and how horribly he treated her? Fuck that!

"Yeah well, see the thing is Caveman... I might be falling for her. Becky, I mean."

He blinks, eyes wide with disbelief before narrowing as he leans in closer to look at me closely.

"Well, all right. I'll just go introduce myself to Melody then."

"You can't do that!"

"Why not? It's not like you can date both girls at once. Not even you can pull that off. Hell, I don't even think Terry could've pulled off dating Melody and another girl at the same time."

That gives us both a laugh and calms us down. Afterwards, Caveman nudges me, looking serious now.

"Come on, though. Really, which one are you going to choose? I'll pursue whichever one you don't."

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, THANK YOU ALL FOR COMING HERE THIS EVENING! WE'D LIKE TO FORMALLY BEGIN THE DANCE PORTION OF THIS PARTY WITH MR. JON MCLAUGHLIN SINGING HIS NEW HIT SINGLE OFF THE VERY RECENTLY RELEASED ENCHANTED SOUNDTRACK!"

We look up as the boom of the PA announcer spreads itself over the lawn. Further ahead, we see a stage, with some balding, chunky guy in a tuxedo who's apparently the MC, a full-scale orchestra behind him.

Walking up the steps to the stage is apparently the Jon McLaughlin guy who's going to sing.

In the press of bodies starting to gather around the stage, I see Becky. She's on the left.

I sweep my eyes across and there's Melody, on the far right.

The singer's making some introductory remarks and Caveman's looking at me, solemn-faced still.

"Now's the time, Nick. This is the perfect moment to decide."

I nod and take a breath.

The past four months have all come down to this.

The first slow notes begin to swell forth from the stage and I begin walking towards the crowd.

As I walk, I think and I come to the realization that after everything that's happened this semester, there can be only one choice, one girl for me.

And it's to that girl that my footsteps now lead me.

[Wolfpack]

Hm...given the fact that this board is what it is, perhaps you should post a poll. "Choose Your Own Adventure", anyone? :D

[Cap Ologist]

damn you ;)

[rjolley]

I say he went straight ahead to the bar. :)

[Izulde]

Wolfpack: I already have the next post more or less figured it out, but it might be an amusing exercise. :D

Cap Ologist: Damn me again for posting a feedback to feedback post. ;)

rjolley: But with ale as my mate, I'll thank God for my fate, while I give her a necklace of pearls - The Poxy Boggards "Lager Than Life"

[Izulde]

dola,

Poll posted in Dynasty Forum Polls. :D

[Izulde]

"May I have this dance?"

She smiles, that quiet smile that I first fell for what seems so long ago.

"Of course. I was beginning to think you'd never ask me."

She draws close, arms sliding over my shoulders as my hands gently take her waist. Her hair, soft and luxurious, brushes against me, sending an electric thrill through my body.

"Melody, there's something I want to say..."

"Shh, don't talk. Not right now. Let's just dance."

And so we dance, the lights and people blurring, fading to nothingness as the music pours around us, through us, that enchanted voice completing the magic of this moment.

You're in my arms
And all the world is calm
The music playing for only two

That's exactly how it feels right now, the world so calm and perfect, Melody in my arms and this song playing just for us. We're the only two people that matter to me right now. Caveman, Becky, the Baron, her mother, Drake, Professor Morengay.. They all dissolve, as those kissable lips, those radiant blue eyes, become my everything.

So close
Together
And when I'm with you
So close
To feeling alive
A life goes by
Romantic dreams must die
So I bid mine goodbye
And then I knew
So close was waiting
Waiting here with you
And now forever I know
All that I wanted
To hold you close

My romantic dreams never lived until her. When I dreamt of girls, when I talked to them, when I slept with them, I never thought of the future, never thought of forever and happily ever after.

But they were born with her and with her love first awoke. I don't know what else I want to do with my life, but I know this much is true... I want to be with Melody until old age destroys our youth and ruins our bodies and beyond. Even with our last breaths, I will love this beautiful girl in my arms.

So close
To reaching that famous happy end
Almost believing
This one's not pretend
And now you're beside me
And look how far we've come
So close
We are so close

We dance and twirl as the instrumental bridge kicks in, a slow circling that lets us feel each other, delight in each other. I hear the murmurs of the people watching, sense the growing of a circle around us, but I don't care. Whatever else happens tonight and in the future, I'll always have tonight.

Oh how could I face
The faceless days
If I should lose you now

My days would be disaster and all the color and beauty would be gone for the rest of my life if I--

"Excuse me. May I cut in?"

I blink and we turn our heads simultaneously to see a man about our age, with slicked back hair, so brightly black it's almost ridiculous.

Melody opens her mouth to speak, but another voice breaks in.

"HALT!"

The crowd watching Melody and I dance snap their heads to the source and I inwardly groan, because I know exactly who just shouted.

Caveman's glaring at the would-be interloper as he noisily unscrews the dragon's head of a cane I just now notice in his hands.

"You are Chet Astor, are you not?"

He nods, looking a mixture of amused and confused as he turns away from us to study my masquerading fraternity brother.

"Yes. Why do you ask?"

The evening turns more surreal still as Caveman yanks off the bottom of the cane and tosses it away, the moon gleaming on the silver sword attached to the dragonhead.

"Then I challenge you to a duel!"

[Cap Ologist]

definitely didn't see a duel coming.

[rjolley]

You should've taken the bar....though a duel is hard to pass up.

[Wolfpack]

From the sublime to the ridiculous, it seems. I'm reasonably sure Caveman's got it under control, though.

http://www.clipartof.com/images/emoticons/thumbnail2/782_fencing.gif

[Izulde]

Cap Ologist: Yeah, I imagine a lot of people were taken aback by that. :D

rjolley: Indeed.

Wolfpack: That is the coolest smilie ever! Where'd you get it from?

[Wolfpack]

Wolfpack: That is the coolest smilie ever! Where'd you get it from?

Do a "properties" check on the image. Leads back to a site that has a lot of them apparently for free use and linking.

[Izulde]

Do a "properties" check on the image. Leads back to a site that has a lot of them apparently for free use and linking.

Good to know, thanks! :)

[Cap Ologist]

cough, cough

[Izulde]

I know, I know.

Unfortunately, ever since I moved back to my hometown after graduation, I haven't been in the narrative AAR mode.

[Izulde]

I unconsciously gasp along with Melody and the rest of the crowd. He didn't.. he.. damn it, Caveman! Why?!

There's the sound of running and shouting as the black-suited security comes rushing into the area. They're about to converge on Caveman, when another voice rings out.

"Stop! You will stand down, men. I will keep an eye on things. As you were."

The Baron, who gave the order, makes his way through the crowd to stand beside Melody, faintly grinning down as her daughter, who smiles back in a way that I can't quite sort out how I feel about it.

I turn back to the possible combatants, wondering just what it is I've gotten myself and, indirectly, Caveman, into.

"On what grounds?" Chet is relaxed, almost amused as he looks at the tight-lipped Caveman.

"On the grounds of...", Caveman takes a breath and starts to sing, very badly and offkey.

Tune every heart and every voice,
Bid every care withdraw;
Let all with one accord rejoice,
In praise of Old Nassau.

In praise of Old Nassau we sing,
Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!
Our hearts will give while we shall live,
Three cheers for Old Nassau.

Let music rule the fleeting hour,
Her mantle round us draw
And thrill each heart with all her power,
In praise of Old Nassau.

In praise of Old Nassau we sing,
Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!
Our hearts will give while we shall live,
Three cheers for Old Nassau.

And when these wallls in dust are laid,
With reverence and awe,
Another throng shall breathe our song,
In praise of Old Nassau.

In praise of Old Nassau we sing,
Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!
Our hearts will give while we shall live,
Three cheers for Old Nassau.

Till then with joy our songs we'll bring,
And while a breath we draw,
We'll all unite to shout and sing,
Long life to Old Nassau.

In praise of Old Nassau we sing,
Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!
Our hearts will give while we shall live,
Long Life to Old Nassau.

The lawn's silent as the last cracked note comes out of Caveman's mouth. Someone starts an awkward clap, but nobody catches on to it.

"What's he on about?", I whisper to Melody.

Chet answers before she can, his eyes solely on my fraternity brother.

"So, this is a Tiger-Bulldog thing, eh? Very well, I accept. Baron Suchet, do you have a sword I could borrow?"

I'm still confused and from the looks of some of the others in the crowd, I'm not the only one.

The Baron smiles reassuringly at us and steps forward into the clearing that's formed by the newly-reconfigured circle.

"Of course, Chet."

He stops in the middle of the space and raises his voice, his tone changing to one of authority, an authority I imagine he's acquired naturally over the years, or maybe he had it from birth.

"Ladies and gentlemen! This man has challenged Chet Astor to a duel on the grounds of the time-honored Princeton-Yale rivalry! Mr. Astor has accepted and so they will fight to first blood! In other words, whosoever draws blood from their opponent first will be the victor!"

...What? This has got to be the stupidest thing I've ever heard. Fighting over a rivalry that last mattered sometime in the early 1900s? Caveman doesn't have a good reason to fight Chet. I do, though.

"I object."

A sea of eyes turns to me as I step forward, breaking away from Melody to join the group in the middle. I don't like this kind of attention, but it has to be done.

Caveman and Chet are both smirking at me, the Baron smiling a little as he replies, "And why do you object, Mr. Hunter?"

"Because fighting with swords over where you went to school is silly. If you want to argue about the rivalry, watch the game together when your school's teams play each other and get into a ribbing contest or whatever. To literally bleed for where you happened to get your education makes no sense."

I don't know if I even made any sense, but my words set off a murmur in the audience. Baron Suchet waits until it settles down before he speaks again, his face studious now.

"Then on what grounds should they fight? The challenge has been made and accepted, you know."

"I don't pretend to know anything about the rules of duels or anything like that, sir. All I know is that if anyone has a legitimate reason to fight Chet, it's me."

The air crackles with electric tension. I know I've just stunned everyone watching except for Caveman, the Baron, Melody and Becky, but I don't look at any of them. Instead, I turn to look Chet straight in the eyes.

I don't know him and I've never even met him until now, but I hate him. Not just because of Melody, but because he just seems to reek of the stereotypical snobbery I hate in his and Melody's class. Yes, I'm being as guilty of class typing as Melody right now, but in this bastard's case, it fits.

"I love Melody and she loves me, too. You're standing in the way of us being together. I'll give you one chance to step down. Break off the engagement. Find some other rich girl to marry. Let her and I be happy together."

A roar rips through the crowd and pandemonium reigns for a few moments before the Baron raises his arms to call for quiet again.

But it's not completely quiet, because Chet's laughing in disbelief, his eyes scornful as he stares back at me.

"And who are -you-? I've never even seen you before or even heard of you."

"I'm Nick Hunter and I'm going to fight for the girl I love. Unless you're too scared of losing to an ordinary guy like me."

Chet recovers from his laughing fit and sniffs disdainfully.

"Scared? Not at all. I accept your challenge as well. I'll even let you choose your weapon. But first--"

"I withdraw my challenge. Mr. Hunter has made me see the error of my ways", Caveman jumps in.

"Very well. It appears we have an agreement. Mr. Hunter will be contesting Mr. Astor for my daughter's hand in marriage", announces the Baron, his eyes bright with what can only be described as glee, "Mr. Hunter, your choice of weapon?"

"Bow and arrow. But not here. I know the perfect place in town, if Chet isn't afraid to go there."

"Of course, I'm not afraid", Chet replies with a haughty air I'm fast growing to despise, "Wherever you like! And I'll have you know that I'm not bad at all with a bow."

"Then it's decided! Mr. Hunter, lead the way!"

I glance over at Caveman and give him a look under cover of the hubbub that follows.

He nods and slips off into the darkness.

He knows what he needs to do and so do I.

[Cap Ologist]

Nice to see you back in the saddle.

[Izulde]

Nice to see you back in the saddle.

Thanks, though I'm not that happy with how the scene turned out. But I knew I had to write something before I lost the feel for the story completely.

It's been a tough writing environment since I've come back home for the summer, due to a certain very unwelcome houseguest who will fortunately be moving out in a couple weeks, which should get things back to normal.

[rjolley]

Nice turn. This should be a storyline in a tv series or somethin.

[Izulde]

Nice turn. This should be a storyline in a tv series or somethin.

Thanks. :)

[Wolfpack]

Hmm...given the choice of weapons, should someone be blaring "Shot Through the Heart" by Bon Jovi in the background of this contest? :D

[Izulde]

Hmm...given the choice of weapons, should someone be blaring "Shot Through the Heart" by Bon Jovi in the background of this contest? :D

:D I'll have to look up that song, though the title certainly sounds fitting and given the band, the tempo and sound is probably right for this sort of competition.

[Wolfpack]

:D I'll have to look up that song, though the title certainly sounds fitting and given the band, the tempo and sound is probably right for this sort of competition.

D'oh! I'm an idiot. Chose the wrong part of the chorus as the song title. It's actually "You Give Love a Bad Name". Still, seems to fit given the romantic entanglements going on. :)

[Izulde]

D'oh! I'm an idiot. Chose the wrong part of the chorus as the song title. It's actually "You Give Love a Bad Name". Still, seems to fit given the romantic entanglements going on. :)

:D I still have yet to check it out, but duly noted. :)

[Izulde]

"Come on, Nick. You'll have to lead the way because none of us knows where we're going."

I'm embarrassed at the idea of having my ancient beater leading all these rich cars, but to my surprise, the Baron puts his hand on my shoulder and steers me away from the parking lot. I don't question him because I know he's not the sort to be deterred from something when he gets an idea.

We go past the still shining mansion and a couple more smaller buildings that I didn't notice before until he turns, blazing the path across the darkened grass and pavement into a garage.

And waiting there is the most beautiful car I've ever seen.

It's a sleek, silver Porsche Carrera GT, a gorgeous thing that makes Melody's Boxter look plain in comparison.

I stand there, staring and gasping, much to the grinning Baron's amusement.

"I always did prefer Porsches. Ferrari has the Enzo, but it's too loud to me, the Buggati Veyron is uglier than sin and while the Shelby Ultimate Aero is nice, there's just something about the Carrera's quiet elegance that appeals to me over everything else."

I can only nod my dumb agreement and I'm further shocked when Baron Suchet tosses me a set of keys from his pants pocket.

"What?"

"You drive Nick. You're the navigator after all."

It feels like I'm dreaming as I get in the driver's side and just gaze in awe at the dashboard and the beauty of the car's interior. I never thought I'd ever see one of these in person, much less actually get the chance to drive one.

"Are you sure about this? I mean, what if I wreck it or something?"

Jean laughs as he settles in beside me, winking with that familial mischief in his eyes.

"Then I'll just have to get another one, that's all."

Unbelievable.

But the unbelievable is reality as I slowly and carefully drive the Carrera out on to the driveway, following the Baron's instructions to the main road and the forefront of the rapidly forming caravan.

With all the limosines, Porsches, Ferraris, Jaguars, Lamborghinis, Shelbys, and so on, it looks like the world's greatest carshow. A mobile carshow that I, Nick Hunter, am the parade marshal for.

We head out, the pace slow as I'm still cautious while we go up and down the hills before reaching the flat road and then on to the highway.

Once we change from two lanes to four, the Baron turns to me and smiles.

"All right, it's late at night and you're going to have open road for a good stretch here. Open it up and let's see how fast this car can -really- go."

A tremor passes through my hand at the thought of that kind of speed, but he's right and hey, it's his car.

I grip the beechwood gearknob and start opening it up as he says. The speedometer starts climbing at a smooth rate. I can't convert from kilometers to miles, but I know we're going faster and faster.

And it's a heady feeling.

By the time we hit top speed, I'm shivering with the delight of it all, the blurring of the horizon, as we surge through the highway in excess of 200 miles an hour.

Ecstacy floods me and all my nerves are alive and singing with the sensation of superspeed. For the first time in my life, it's feel like I'm actually flying, like we could launch into the night sky and journey through the stars.

I risk a glance at the Baron as we continue to stream over the empty space of highway. His eyes are half-lidded and he looks as blissful as I do. What a man this guy is, the kind I'd love to have as a father-in-law. After tonight, I'll know for sure if he will be.

I'm so caught up in the feeling of flying that we shoot past our exit.

"Damn!" I swear, "I missed the turn!"

The Baron opens his eyes, chuckling, "So slow down, turn around and go back. The others still have a ways to catch up."

He ends up being right, for even after the balatantly illegal U-turn and wrongway driving to get back to the exit and another turnabout to head for the ramp, the others are just coming up on the horizon once we're back in place.

Evidently they didn't fly. Too bad for them.

The sense of exhiliration gradually shifts to nervousness as I downgrade to a sedate level of speed to drive into town. I, who have never tried for anything, -really- tried, now have the test of my life before me.

F.W.'s shop is lit to the hilt as we pull in. Apparently Caveman either got there in time before he closed or he found some way to wake him up to open up again. At this point, I can no longer remember the range's hours.

Hell, I don't even know if I can remember how to shoot now, as the enormity of the upcoming competition weighs down on me.

I take a deep breath amidst the sound of car doors opening and slamming, the nobility and the esteemed chatting quietly amongst themselves, some of them gazing curiously about.

I have to be calm.

Everything, and I mean everything, is riding on this.

"Mr. Hunter?"

"Oh, right. Sorry, sir. Right this way."

And so we approach the unassuming door leading to the range.

[Cap Ologist]

nice to see this picked up again

[Izulde]

nice to see this picked up again

Thanks. :) Updates will be slow, what few remain that is, but they will come, eventually.

[Izulde]

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Right this way, please. The bar's open and we're serving a variety of drinks for your pleasure this evening."

Drake's dashing in the same outfit he wore for Formal and as my eyes adjust to the change in lighting, I see that every single Theta Sigma Phi active is there, as well as a good number of alumni who stayed in the area.

"Open bar tonight! Drink as much as you like!" The Baron calls out, drawing a round of applause as this impressive assembly makes its way into the range. It's rather surreal, seeing the kind of upper classes you only read about in the news mingling with a group of fraternity men, most of whom either are or will become middle class.

I wonder which group will be my fate. Before this semester, I knew I'd be part of the second. Now, the first is tantalizingly within reach and as I subtly shudder with the realization, I begin to see what Melody means about the distinction between the two. Which isn't to say I agree with her and her mother's views. I don't. But the first time, I can understand a little where they're coming from.

The press of people makes it impossible to find Melody, but I doubt I'd be able to spot her anyway because my eyes are caught by another shocking sight on this night of surprises.

F.W. in a white tuxedo that looks like it came out of the '70s and is so rumpled it looks like it was last worn about then.

Nonetheless, he's grinning, advancing upon me with his ambling walk.

"Good evening, Nick. Looks like we're going to have an interesting time of it, no?"

The glee in his eyes is unmistakeable as he claps on the back with a laugh, leaning in to whisper, "About damned time you got off your duff and stood up for something."

"Who told you?" I ask in a low tone.

"Caveman, of course. He rallied the troops and between him and Drake, they got everyone here in a jiffy."

I can't help but shake my head in admiration as the infamous fraternal networking and brotherly assistance prove themselves once again. It's a common cliche of recruitment to cite those things as advantages and here they are in full evidence.

Once everyone is inside, has their drinks, served by a couple alumni who are managing the bar, and is settled, F.W. clears his throat for attention.

"I understand we have an archery duel tonight between two gentlemen. Mr. Hunter, Mr. Astor, if you would please... Come with me to the office so we can discuss terms."

Chet emerges from the crowd and we walk side by side, but apart as we follow F.W. into his office, a small, cramped backroom littered with archery paraphenalia and the huge collection of trophies won during his competitive days.

I see Chet's face take on a look of guarded respect as he looks over F.W.'s hardware while the boss gets settled in his overstuffed, foam-bursting roller chair behind the battered steel desk.

"All right, boys. What type of duel were you thinking of setting up?"

Chet and I look at each other warily. Neither one of us seems willing to take the lead here. I know I don't, though I'm hard-pressed to say why. Nervous, maybe, or maybe I'm feeling a little overwhelmed seeing all F.W.'s trophies. I mean, I knew he was good, really good, in his day, but it's something else altogether to be faced with the evidence of it.

F.W. lights a cigarette, chuckling when we don't answer.

"All right, all right. Let's try a couple suggestions. Now, my own personal opinion is that you boys are better off postponing this thing until tomorrow and we can set up a clout shoot."

"No", we both answer simultaneously, so quickly that it takes all three of us by surprise.

"It has to be tonight", Chet insists.

"He's right", I say, "Besides, a clout shoot would be fun, with this large a group of people, but it'd take a lot of work to find a place big enough and set one up. I mean, how many 180 yard places are there in the area that we could get on this short a notice?"

That look of odd respect passes from F.W. to me now. I think Chet's realizing that he's in for more than he bargained for when he challenged me.

"All right, all right" F.W. sighs with a short laugh, "I suppose you're right. What about a wand shoot? We could get the campus police to allow us to use the football stadium. That's 100 yards and we could pack people in the stands to watch."

Chet's silent, so I take the lead in replying.

"No. Even with the floodlights on, it'd be hard for people to see the strip and besides, a wand shoot is boring in my opinion."

"Well, we can't have a normal competition", F.W. retorts, "I know how good you are, Nick, and Mr. Astor, if you're anywhere close to Nick's level, we'll be here all night and people will be getting tired after a while."

"So what do you suggest then?" Chet interjects with a touch of irritation. I don't know if he's asking me, F.W. or both, "We're wasting time here. Melody belongs to me in the first place, so if you ask me, this whole duel is silly. She accepted my proposal and I have the legal upper hand here. I'm only doing this to be nice."

The thought of Chet being nice strikes me as hilarious, but I choke back my laugh and just shrug.

F.W. closes his eyes, taking a drag of his cigarette and exhaling slowly before he slowly grins.

"All right, I've got just the thing. Will you two both agree to the terms I set? It'll be a standard setup, here in the range, tonight, but with a little twist."

"Fine. Let's just get on with it", Chet answers. I voice my agreement, even though my instinct says I shouldn't trust a sneaky old man like F.W.

"Good."

And so we all exit his office, the milling, chatting crowd stilling and turning to us as we appear.

F.W. sets his cigarette in the nearest ashtray and rolls up his sleeves.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we've reached an agreement. In accordance with international rules regarding finals round competition, we will be shooting four rounds, or ends, of three arrows each at the maximum distance this range allows. We will be adding a little twist to make things interesting, however."

The audience and I listen and watch with baited breath.

"The contests will shoot... blindfolded. They will each have two practice ends of three arrows to acclimate themselves to the new conditions."

...Oh God. I'm in for it now.

[Izulde]

Oh ho!

It doesn't look like neither Mr. Hunter nor Mr. Astor were expecting that one, judging from their expressions! Brilliant play by the old dog, who I'm beginning to think is a man after my own heart.

F.W., as I believe his name is, is coming over here now after distributing blindfolds to the two men and informing us that in keeping with Olympic competition rules, both of them will be using recurves.

"Your Lordship?"

"Call me Jean."

He grins, nodding, "All right then. Jean it is. Since you're the father of the young woman being dueled over, I'd like you to do the scoring, if you don't mind. You probably already know, but just to make sure there's no confusion, I'll go over it with you again.

"All right", I agree, though I do know.

He points to the nearest target.

http://i341.photobucket.com/albums/o395/Izulde08/ArcheryTarget.png

"There's 10 circles and it's a 10-point scoring system here. White are worth 1 and 2 points, black 3 and 4, blue 5 and 6, red 7 and 8 and yellow 9 and 10. I'm going to have you put up a paper target just like that one after each contestant shoots an end, so people who don't have a good view of the target from here can see how they did. Mark Nick's arrows in green and Mr. Astor's arrows in grey. Also, in the event of a line breaker, where an arrow is on the line between two circles, the archer gets the higher of the two scores. As the owner of the house, I make the final judgement call on all disputed scores. Also, I'll be explaining all this to the audience while the boys are taking their warm-up shots. Sound good?"

"Sounds splendid."

"Oh, one more thing. They'll have to stay blindfolded the entire time, even when arrows are fetched and even when the other one's shooting."

*****************

They say that an arrow shoots straight.

But they're wrong. Arrows wobble as they go through the air, which is why it's almost impossible to split an arrow in half with another arrow.

They also say that when one of your senses is taken away, your others become better to compensate for it.

And there they're right.

I hear murmurs, shuffles, coughs and the squeak of shoes and footsteps all around me. I hear snatches of conversation too, individual words that have no meaning for me and F.W.'s explanation of the scoring while Chet and I take our practice ends.

After every shot, F.W. apparently looks back, because he calls out "3!" "6!" "1!" and so on.

It's more difficult than even I figured shooting like this. Even as I can visualize the target perfectly in my mind, figuring out just where precisely they're landing and what adjustments need to be made take the full extent of my practice shots.

But by the end of warmups, I think I have a good idea of what I'm doing and from the calls of Chet's scores, he's not far off the mark either.

"Nick, as challenger, I, as match official, am giving you the option to choose who goes first."

"Chet", I answer F.W. as the crowd falls to a hush.

I take a few steps back to give Chet room and as the whirr of his first arrow sounds in my ears, a familiar perfume drifts in my nostrils.

"Nick, I don't know what to do. Caveman wants me to forgive him and to try for a relationship, but I just don't know if I can go through that pain again."

"6!"

"He may be my fraternity brother Becky, but he treated you like shit. You deserve better than that."

Her small hands grip my arm and anxiety is there in her voice, which I realize now I like, but could never love.

"4!"

"I know, but... I do love him."

I sigh as Chet's third arrow reports off his bow, "I've got to shoot. Ask me after this end, okay?"

"7!"

"Okay."

********

http://i341.photobucket.com/albums/o395/Izulde08/ChetE1.png

I think Nick's in trouble. I mean, he's my best friend and everything and I know he's a good shooter, but this is something completely different.

"I can't believe everyone here! The board is going to be so jealous! Drake, you -have- to take pictures of me with people if they let me okay?!"

"Sure."

It's tough sometimes having a celeb nut for a girlfriend, especially when your best friend is trying to win the girl of his dreams and your girl is gabbing away about Prince so-and-so and movie star her-and-her.

**********

Deep breaths, deep breaths.

Be the arrow.

As the arrow, this is me notching myself to the bow, sniffing out the eye with my point.

I think I've found it and fire.

"2!"

Damn it! My hands slipped right when I released! I need to calm down. Just relax, Nick... Just relax.

Lower, much lower. Fire.

"3!"

...Fuck! Okay, okay. 2, then 3 and I went lower. That means I'm on one side or the other. From the way my hands went, I think I go left... this much. Aim. Make the release smooth. F.W. forgot to specify a time limit after all.

"8!"

Yes! Getting closer!

***************

http://i341.photobucket.com/albums/o395/Izulde08/NickE1.png

"Come on, Becky. Why won't you give me another chance?"

Caveman just doesn't get it. But can I really blame him? He doesn't know anything about love and I didn't either when I let him have my virginity. But I've seen how great, how caring a guy can be from Nick and I want that in my life now.

"It's complicated, Bobby. I mean, how do I know you won't turn into a jerk on me again?"

"I've changed! I swear! Why can't you just give it a shot?"

"Because you had your shot. I'm going to go give Nick a pep talk.

"....Do you like him or something?"

I don't answer. He doesn't deserve to know.

**************

All right, so I'm 5 points down after the first round. I can still pull this out depending on how Chet does.

"Nick? I made my choice. I'm not letting him back in my life."

"Good. It's for the best."

"5!"

...Damn it.

"Don't tell me where he's shooting or how it's going, please."

"Okay. Listen Nick, I just wanted to thank you for everything you've done me and I mean that and like, about everything."

"5!"

Whew. I was scared there a moment.

"I'm just glad there I could be there for you."

"6!"

"You can do this, Nick. You deserve Melody a lot more than Chet. He's a jerk, just like Caveman."

I can't help but laugh.

"Thanks, Becky."

**************

http://i341.photobucket.com/albums/o395/Izulde08/ChetE2.png

"Looks like your Mr. Hunter's in a spot of trouble."

"I know."

"What are you going to do if he loses?"

I shrug. As much as I love my father, he's entirely too inquisitive for my tastes at times. At least my mother has the decency not to care unless it concerns her personally in some way.

Even now, she's not watching the duel, but instead talking with that boring cow friend of hers. It's ridiculous, really. She married a Suchet and talks like she knows what it means to be one, but sometimes she acts like the Dumbrowski fools she came from.

********

Don't think about the score. To be honest, I don't even know what the score is at this point. I just need to focus on shooting and shooting well.

The break between ends makes this a much more equal contest with the blindfolding, because while I and I suspect Chet too to some extent, have some memory of the last end, the exact physical memory of hands, bow and arrow is hard to remember at first.

Slow breath, pick a point and shoot.

"7!"

Good start, but now that I'm thinking back to the last end, it felt like I was leaning to the right, so I move over to the left a few degrees and fire again.

"9!"

The place goes crazy with roars, cheers and applause, but I don't even really hear it as I notch again, shift left a slight bit and fire.

"And we have our first perfect 10!"

"YEAH NICK! YOU GO BOY!"

Drake's screaming above the crowd and all the Theta Sigma Phi's spontaneously break out into one of our fraternity songs.

But I'm not celebrating just yet. We're only halfway through and anything can happen from end to end.

**********

http://i341.photobucket.com/albums/o395/Izulde08/NickE2.png

"Ladies and gentlemen, we'll take a 5 minute break to give our contestants a chance to relax a bit and to let everyone get a refill. After the first two of our four ends, Mr. Hunter leads Mr. Astor 38-33."

[Celeval]

Great to see... home stretch, Iz! :)

[Izulde]

Great to see... home stretch, Iz! :)

Thanks :) And yep, home stretch we're in!

[Izulde]

I'm sweating and because I'm blindfolded, I feel each individual drop sizzling my skin. It's too crowded in here and I'm starting to feel the full weight of the pressure. A five-point lead is pretty sizeable halfway through, but by no means guaranteed.

A hand takes my arm, Drake's voice coming into my ear.

"Let's get you of here for a bit. You're looking pretty stressed, man."

He leads me outside and I hear another pair of footsteps behind us. For some reason, I'm not surprised to discover it's Caveman.

"You need a smoke, Nick?"

"...No. I need something to drink. Get me a shot."

One of them, I don't know who, runs back in and comes out a few moments later, shoving a shotglass into my hand.

I toss it back without bothering to ask what it is. Whatever it is, it's delicious, with a sweet grape flavor dominant, notes of what tastes like vodka and rum underscoring it.

"Thanks."

"No problem", Drake answers.

"You sure you don't want a cigarette?" The sound of Caveman clicking his lighter on echoes through the silent, dark night, the licorice scent of Djarum Black wafting in my nostrils.

"No, I'm good... and I don't mean to be a dick, but do you think you could go back inside with that? The smoke's bugging me right now. I'm just trying to concentrate, you know?"

A sensation of icy hostility hits me, but it fades as Caveman's feet shuffle back through the door.

Drake chuckles, "Man, I don't get that guy sometimes. Sometimes I wonder why we even pledged him."

"Because in spite of all his faults, he's a good guy. ...And he's smart as hell, which is good for our chapter GPA."

"True enough", Drake replies as we wryly laugh over it together. Any fraternity chapter worth anything emphasizes academics, because one of the biggest selling points we have against the Greek stereotypes is that generally speaking, the Greeks have higher GPAs than the average student. It's a vital weapon against the war of anti-social sorority and fraternity misunderstanding.

We're silent for a time while I let the pleasurable liquor flow through me, the taste and the booze mixing in with the silence to calm me, flushing out my nervousness and worry.

"Hey, I just wanted to let you know that I'm proud of you, Nick. Although I was always pissed at you for not running for office, you're more than making up for it here by doing this. Win or lose, you've officially become a chapter legend and your story will be told for years after."

"Thanks, but you know I never cared about that kind of thing. I'm just a guy who does his part for our chapter and for our fraternity."

And it's true. It's one of the fundamental differences between me and guys like Caveman, who stress and worry so much about wanting to be one of the top dogs that they never will be one. It strikes me, far too late now of course, that maybe I should've tried a little harder, done a little more. I'm ashamed to realize now that I wasn't the best Theta Sigma Phi I could be.

Drake must be able to read the look on my face, because his hand claps my shoulder, "Hey, don't worry about it. Like I said, you're making us all proud tonight. Just go in there, do the best you can and get that girl, all right?"

"All right."

******

"Ladies and gentlemen, take your places. We're about to start again. Mr. Astor? Whenever you're ready."

I should not be losing to that inferior twit. Not me, not Chet Astor. My family is known for doing great things and to lose here would be to shame my name.

But enough thinking, for thinking leads to defeat and doing is the way to victory.

"8!"

"7!"

"8!"

Let's see him beat that.

*****

http://i341.photobucket.com/albums/o395/Izulde08/chete3.jpg

"Oh no! Poor Nick!"

"He can still do it. I have faith in him."

"So do I. Oh! I almost forgot! Baron Suchet and Viscount Duchovny both agreed to have my picture taken with them, so we can do it right after the duel?"

"Sure."

Man, she owes me big for this. Hmm, maybe I can finally talk her into playing priest and nun one night.

*****

Shit, shit, shit. Not good, not good.


Okay, remember, deep breath. I can do this, I can definitely do this. It's just me shooting practice rounds. No stress, no worry.

I step up to the line with F.W.'s vocal cue, take another breath, take aim and fire.

"5!"

Okay, a little -too- loose there. I tighten up and try again.

"2!"

...Way too tight.

I close my eyes behind the blindfold, letting the target and its details come into view. My hands and arms follow my eye and once I think I've found my spot, I shoot.

"10!"

YES! REMEMBER THAT!

They're going wild with applause, even more so than last time, but it's a distant memory as the sweating pops back up again and my heart's pounding as F.W. reports the score.

"Going into the final end, it's Mr. Astor 56, Mr. Hunter 55!"

*****

http://i341.photobucket.com/albums/o395/Izulde08/nicke3.png

"Ah, Mr. Hunter's just one point away."

"I see that."

My father looks at me, trying to read my face, but I just twirl the ring on my left hand and pretend great interest in the play of the room's light on its diamonds.

No one can know what I'm thinking, what I'm feeling. Not yet. I'm the prize to be won, after all and so must maintain perfect neutrality.

So I keep a composed, indifferent face as I watch Chet Astor line up for his final end.

"9!"

"8!"

"10!"

"Door's open, but only a little bit. It'll be a tight squeeze for your boy."

Father, do please shut up.

http://i341.photobucket.com/albums/o395/Izulde08/chete4.png

******

....I have to be perfect, or so close to perfect I have a very slim room for error. Suddenly I wish I hadn't taken that shot, because my stomach's raging and my hands are shaking.

I can barely concentrate as I step to the line, I'm so tense. Shit! This is why I don't do this shit! This is why I play it safe and never challenge for anything!

The stillness of the crowd is oppressive as I raise my bow. I can't even visualize the target, I'm wigging out so bad.

"Nick! Wait! You've got a phonecall!"

...What? I'm confused as everyone else, a murmuring rippling through the hall as a cell phone's pressed into my hand.

I blink beneath the blindfold and set my bow down to hold the phone to my ear.

"Hey, buddy! How's my favorite fellow ladies man?"

...No. It can't be.

"Terry?! How the hell did you-"

"Drake called me and told me about the little duel you've got going on. Listen, I just wanted to say that if this girl's worth it, you'll find a way to win. I'm actually kinda jealous of you, bro. I mean, yeah, I'm banging supermodels and starlets left and right out here, including my second wife, but there's no love in it. Guys like us, we fall in love maybe once in our lifetime, even if that. This is your chance, your love. Don't let it fly away man."

And just like that, all the stress evaporates in this sudden feeling of wonder. Terry McClintock of all people, jealous of me.

"Thanks, Terry. I owe you one."

"No problem, man. Just win one for the Theta Sigs and win one for yourself, all right?"

"Will do."

I blindly hand the phone back to the hand that reaches for it and take up my bow once more.

Now the target comes into view again in my mind and I'm able to aim and fire right where I want it.

"9!"

Okay, okay. No pressure, even though I need to hit both shots in the 10 spot to win it...

It felt just a touch high, so I lower the point a little and shoot again.

"10!"

I smile as I hear the wild screams of the brothers and alumni. I've got this. All I need to do is keep the same pose and fire... just like...

NO! NO! NOOOOO!

My hands, still slick with sweat from the exertion of it all, slip as I let the arrow fly and I'm screaming inside as I hear the arrow fly down and scuttle across the floor.

I don't even wait for F.W.'s grim-faced zero to tear off my blindfold and stare, just stare at the fallen arrow.

This can't be real.

It's just a dream, that's all it is.

Just some nightmare I'll wake up from.

I can't have lost her, I can't have lost her now. Not when I was so damned close, not when she was... "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!"

My scream roars out of my mouth, but I don't care. I don't care how much an idiot I look. I've let myself down, let Melody down, let all the brothers down, let everyone down! I'll never be able to live with myself for this.

"Nick. Stop."

A cool breeze. Melody's voice ringing out commandingly through the crush of people as she steps forward, calm as ever and so pretty in her white dress.

I'm panting, but I stop, looking up at her from the floor I don't remember falling on. Everyone else is watching her too.

"I have decided not to accept the terms of the duel."

"You can't do that", Chet cuts in, "You've already agreed to it and that's that."

She turns and looks at him with all the nobility and aristocracy that her ancestry no doubt instilled in her, her face positively regal.

"Is this not the United States? Does not America, with its traditions of democracy and individual liberty, dictate through that long heritage that I have the right to choose who and under what terms I marry?"

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Caveman open his mouth, no doubt to interject, but Drake kicks him in the shin before he can say anything.

"All right, fine. I can be generous enough to allow you that, I suppose. What are your terms?"

Melody slowly and majestically turns about again, her movement so graceful and so natural, she would look incredible on the stage. Maybe it's her father's theater blood in her or maybe it's something that's uniquely her. Maybe both, but she takes my breath away just watching her.

"Nick. Stand. Come here. Chet, you too."

And here we are, spellbound like sailors to a Siren, like the mythology story Caveman told me about one time. We follow her command and stand in front of her, each of us on either side, because I know if we get too close, I'm going to strangle that smug prick.

"The one who marries me will be able to answer this question. What does the word Paraiba mean to me?"

"What? That's a stupid ques-"

"I know what it means."

Chet starts and glares at me, his face a mixture of confusion and hostility, while Melody smiles serenely, waiting for me to go on.

"It's where you found the thing that's most precious to you, when you were sweet sixteen and begged your father to let you go digging in the mountains, something nobody would imagine you of all people doing."

Her smile widens, brightening and enlivening the whole room as the crowd laughs appreciatively at the image of this pretty, elegant girl traipsing about in the dirt.

I step forward to grasp her hand before she can speak, ignoring Chet's furious gaze plunging daggers into my back.

"And that's what you are, Melody, the most precious thing in the world to me, even more than my brothers, even more than fishing or making pancakes or hot tubs.. even more than the fraternity. You're my Paraiba tourmaline."

She answers me with a kiss, the kind of deep, full, love-flavored kiss that you see in movies and wonder if it'll ever happen to you. It's happening to me now and all the cheers and all the faces fade away in the bliss of this kiss, this confirmed love that will be mine forever after, until we breathe our last and the world knows only memories of us and our story.

I break away from her with a smile, my fingers closing about the ring on her finger.

"May I see this?"

She nods and I pull the ring off. After a moment's inspection, I walk out on the range and pick up my bow and the fallen arrow.

With everyone watching, I toss the ring high in the air, line up my shot and fire.

The arrow goes whistling through the air, the head catching in the loop of the ring and striking the bullseye of our duelling target.

The crowd breaks out in applause, the ring whirling around the arrow twice before settling. I grin, draping my arm around Melody as a furious Chet stalks out to retrieve the unwanted jewelry.

I don't know what's going to happen after this, but I do know that I've found my beautiful girl at last.

And there is no sweeter history than that.

~The End~


(OOC Note: Authorial Afterword to follow)

[Cap Ologist]

nicely done, enjoyed the ride

[Izulde]

nicely done, enjoyed the ride

Glad you enjoyed it :) And thanks for prodding me at various times in here and PM to go keep going. :)

[Izulde]

Authorial Afterword

When I first began this AAR in late January 2007 (hard to believe it's been over a year and a half!), I had only very vague notions of what it was going to entail.

Melody and Nick, the primary characters, were literally mere wisps of pencil sketches in my mind.

My original intention was that Nick would be this cocky ladies' man who would, through Melody, face a reversal of the condition he'd inflicted on so many of the girls who'd loved him but he hadn't loved in return. Of course, it wasn't going to be a deliberate plan concocted by the girls he'd spurned (as I think one reader suggested). That seemed too contrived to me for one and for two, it was completely against the spirit of the story I wanted to write. Rather, I wanted to have it contain the imprint of destiny, no matter how it turned out.

Of course, that isn't exactly what happened. Yes, Nick fell for Melody like girls had him, but the time he realized that he was in love with her, he had long since ceased to be my first concept of him and instead revealed himself to be more of an Everyman kind of character. I think this worked to the story's benefit, because it created a narrator that readers could empathize with, because he was just a normal guy.

As for Melody herself, her appearance and the idea of a beautiful girl in the history class were inspired by a beautiful girl in my Japanese History class the semester before. But outside of that, I didn't know anything about her.

Then, as I began to write more of the story in the early stages of Morengay's background lectures, I came to understand her, to realize her background and just how complex and conflicted an individual she really was. Naturally, she retained some aspects of mystery, both to the readers and to myself as the author, but her multi-dimensional qualities started to show through and became absolutely essential to keeping the story from falling into the triteness trap. It would've been very easy to write her strictly as an object of desire or solely as a class snob, but she turned out to have much greater depth than that. And I think it's that depth and that complexity that engineered a lot of the fierce debates over just who Melody is, outside of the mysterious aspects of her.

Professor Morengay was the easiest character to figure out. From the very beginning, he was what he was, a composite of different aspects of professors I've had, particularly in history classes, and the natural and logical storyteller for the history class (CK portion) of the story.

The Baron and Baroness were also very quickly realized figures in my mind, once I'd determined what Melody's background was. In fact, I had the scene where Nick meets the Baron at the party written in my head literally months before it came time to post it.

With regards to the others, each one has their own individual point of origin.

I intended Drake to play a larger role than he actually did. He was modeled in certain ways after one of my own fraternity brothers and I wanted him to serve as the main focus for the fraternal side of the story.

But then Caveman, who I took a few aspects of my own personality and appearance and lampooned to an exaggerated level to form the basis for, quickly became one of the most popular characters with readers and I realized that he made a far more effective foil for Nick than Drake. He also acquired a much darker nature than I thought he would and became much more integral to the story than I imagined. Quite a far cry from my first vision of him as the comic relief character in the story.

Becky was an accident. She was never planned for, nor, when she made her way into the story, did I ever mean for her to become as major as she did. Yes, I'd toyed with the possiblity of having Nick become involved with another girl as a rebound after Melody's rejection of her love for him, but I didn't expect the situation to script itself so fluidly that Becky would entangle herself with him. But it did and in my opinion, it worked beautifully.

In fact, it worked so beautifully, that for a very long time, the original ending of the story was at the dance during the party, with Nick choosing Becky and one or the other of them remarking as the closing line, "So, you think we should introduce Caveman to Melody?"

Of course, that's not how it turned out and the reason it didn't was because I came to realize that Nick simply doesn't love Becky romantically. Instead, it's a very close friendship/platonic type of love, the kind that so many of us have the misfortune of having been familiar with in our unrequited loves.

All of which brings me to Chet. If I have a regret with this story, it's that I didn't develop him enough. On the surface of it, he seems like a stereotypical rich jerk, but as I go over his scenes again, particularly the short blurb where he reveals his thoughts during the last end, I see someone who's been made bitter by the expectations that come with his family name. I find myself wondering why that's so and I think there's a lot more to him than we've been able to find out here.

I think part of the problem is that he doesn't make his first appearance until almost the very end. This wasn't intentional. Originally, I planned for Nick to find out about the engagement (which I knew about pretty early on) by running across Melody and Chet in the local shopping mall, or by Chet visiting the fraternity house due to a cousin of some kind being in the chapter. I had some very amusing scenes written for both possibilities, including Nick knocking Chet out with a well-placed punch.

But these scenes, like the original ending and like the very brief, but quickly discarded consideration of the greatest cliche in narrative romantic history (I'm so loathing of it, I won't mention it by name), didn't occur and I think the story turned out better for it.

The duel itself was tacked on very late, as in, I didn't know I was going to do it until I was writing the dance scene itself kind of late. Again, my plan for the story called for it to end there, but somehow, I don't remember how, the duel interjected itself before I fully realized what was happening. I perceive a reduction in the quality of writing for those final scenes and I suspect the duel's unplanned quality had a lot to do with that. Of course, my audience may disagree with me on that point and they're quite welcome to.

Overall though, I'm quite happy with how the story turned out, so much so that I think it's very possible to engage in literary criticism and analysis of it. (One paper topic that came to mind off the top of my head is the idea of Drake, the Baron and Terry serving on a symbolic level of the three possible endpoints for Nick's life). I think the fact that it -can- be analyzed is a testament to the story's quality, something that shocked me when I first realized it and gives me hope for my future writings.

Speaking of which, some have mentioned throughout the AAR that I should turn this into a published story. It's a nice idea, but it's not going to happen. Much of the story's strength comes from the parallel structure of the CK narrative with the "real-life" narrative and the alt-history involved is so alt-history, I don't foresee any publisher accepting it, even if it weren't considered already published by virtue of being posted on the Internet (which it is).

Finally, this story owes a great debt not only to Paradox for publishing CK and to the readers for commenting and giving me the energy to keep going when I hit lulls, but a range of literature and music that either directly inspired or are quoted in it or helped me get in the mood for specific updates or arcs. To that end, I present the following lists, titled "The Literature and Official Soundtrack of The Beautiful Girl and the History Class"

Literature
The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald
--The traffic stop scene was ripped wholesale from the novel, as in, it's virtually the exact same scene. I also borrowed Nick's first name from this.
"The Rich Boy" - F. Scott Fitzgerald
--Nick's last name of Hunter came from this story, as well as some of the material for describing Caveman's relationship with the Dutch girl, which I'm sorry that I didn't expand more on later in the story as I'd intended to. Some readers may see other influences as well.
Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
--In my opinion, the greatest novel ever written and a primary influence on a lot of my own creative writing.
"Hungry Stones" - Rabindranath Tagore
--Cited in its entireity within the story, with some obvious parallels to the Nick/Melody arc that some pointed out. One of the most brilliant short stories I've ever read, by the way.
"The Wasteland" - T.S. Eliot
--The hyacinth girl passages are quoted in part in the story. I just thought it fit.
"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" - T.S. Eliot
--I don't remember if I quoted it or not, but I was definitely thinking of it when writing some scenes.

Official Soundtrack
"Far Away" - Nickelback
-Quoted at the formal, I believe. Nick and Melody's theme song. Regardless of what you might think of it or the group, I think most would agree the lyrics are quite fitting.
"Because I Am A Girl" - JiNi/K.I.S.S. (English version/Korean version)
--The original was in Korean, performed by the K-Pop group K.I.S.S. and later sung in English by JiNi, one of its members, after the group broke up. Becky's theme song, obviously and sung at formal. Also the single saddest music video I've ever seen. I highly recommend you Youtube the Korean version.
"Thinkin' Again" - Clint Black
--Quoted in one of the posts following the note Nick gets from Melody. I found it rather apt.
"So Close" - Jon Mclaughlin (sp?)
--The dance at the December party song. And yes, I had that scene written in my head before the movie Enchanted came out. It just so happens that the ballroom scene and the song fit perfectly for my own scene, so I shamelessly stole it.
"Unbreak My Heart" - Toni Braxton
--Not quoted, but I listened to it often to get myself in the mood to write an update.
"Nobody Knows It But Me" - Tony Rich Project
--Also not quoted, but a song I listened to nonstop when writing the Note post and the ones following it.

There were other songs that played a role, but these six were the ones either cited or most often listened to in terms of writing.

I may have missed a song that was quoted or a text referenced in the story and if I did, please feel free to let me know and I'll update the lists.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention one more thing.

I deliberately never specified a place or a school where this story is set. At first, I wasn't sure just -where- it took place and then later on, I thought it would have a greater universality if I didn't place it in a specific spot other than somewhere in the US. The time, is, however, present-day and there's ample markers to establish that.

Thank you again, everyone who read and/or commented or voted for this AAR in the AARland Choice Awards, or who accorded it some other distinction. It means a lot to me that it achieved this type of recognition and acclaim, particularly since I still struggle with doubts as to my talent level in writing.

You guys have helped make this story what it is and for that, you should be proud. :)

[rjolley]

Excellent story, Iz. Enjoyed it and looked forward to the next installment. I didn't think I'd like it, but took a chance and started reading. I definitely think it's worthy of being a published short story with a clean up of the parts you don't like.

[Celeval]

It's been a great read. One of the few online stories of any sort that I've gone back and re-read a number of times.

Side effect of getting me interested in CK, but that's beside the point. :-)

[DolphinFan1]

great job. thanks

[Izulde]

rjolley: Thanks. :) I probably won't ever publish it, but at least I know I can start a long-term writing project and finish it... I wasn't sure if I could before.

Celeval: Wow, that's amazing that you've read it multiple times! Thanks for the compliment. :) And of course, I'm always happy to hear that my dynasties get people interested in a game.

DolphinFan1: Thank -you-. :)

[Izulde]

Jestor's Interview (Of Sorts) With sterlingice

SI sent me a wonderful list of questions, and I thought everyone might be interested in seeing my answers, so I've posted them here.


First, I started reading on the Paradox forums as it's so active but I decided to walk away for fear of spoilers. How much did audience participation sway where you were going with the writing? I even saw polls or posts about which country to follow (inconsequential to the story) and if he should end up with Melody or Becky. The latter I would never leave in the hands of the audience as it's just too critical, but it makes me think of being a GM in an RPG where you roll dice behind the screen and summarily ignore them because you know how you need the battle to turn out to push the plot forward. I will probably spend the next few days reading what was written there now that I am done with the story so hopefully the rest of the questions are not so redundant.

The biggest direct impact the audience had was in choosing the original county, which in turn became responsible for Melody's slightly Francophone tendencies. I say slightly, because the French-Italian nature of the de Semur empire meant there was more of a fusion of the two to create its own cultural identity (somewhat like Catalan, in some respects). Other than that, I used the audience participation as things to consider and play around with in my head, but there wasn't any truly major impact.

Wait, I take that back after going further down. The audience had a significant role in Caveman's blossoming into a mid-major character.


I've never written anything very long but it feels like there are two distinct schools: plot or character, both with strengths and weaknesses. Either you work from a fairly rigid plot outline or you start from scratch and let things evolve naturally with maybe only a few pivotal scenes in mind. The former has tighter plot while the latter has tighter characters as that's the main focus of each. Unfortunately, the weakness of each is, of course, the opposite. For plot-based stories, the characters seem inorganic as you have to fit square character pegs in round plot point holes while the character-based suffers from plot meandering and the plot ends up far afield of where you started with no good reason or explanation. How do you tend to write and how did the writing process work for this story, in particular?

Character/organic. Plot is too artificial because then you're writing to a plot rather than to an actual living, breathing world and its inhabitants. In my MFA program, several of our workshops with one of the faculty ended up discussing the difference between plot and story, and how story is more important than plot. To put it another way, it's very clear when a work is plotted and when it's a story. The difference can also sometimes help distinguish between genre/popular fiction and literary fiction. Most of the former is plotted; most of the latter is story, with the strengths and weaknesses of each methodology.

For example, plot-based narratives are usually much better at pacing and tend to have far more satisfying endings. Character-based narratives often struggle with pacing and, as reading through any number of literary magazines can tell you, are frequently terrible with endings. (Which is why I often call short stories in workshop literary magazine-esque - usually as a negative term that involves a weak ending and oftentimes bland characters ironically, but they'll be very technically polished. Sometimes *too* polished at the expense of vibrancy.)


The writing for this spread across a year and a half during a busy part of your life. Did you get tired of waiting for inspiration and just plow ahead? I ask as I saw two scenes as disjointed. The first is the ending, tho, perhaps you always had the framework in mind. The second was the engagement to Chet: did you have that in your mind all along? Or did that just develop throughout the course of writing? Were there times when you had a great idea for a cliffhanger for a session with no thought or regards on how to complete it (the X-Files model)? If so, were there ever plot twists you regretted taking after putting them down but couldn't since this was done in a dynasty forum? What are the difficulties with taking so long to write a story?

Yes and no on the just plowing ahead. Mostly no, but sometimes if I had just a fragment of an idea in mind and it'd been a while since I updated, I just ran with that fragment rather than letting it develop as I did with some other scenes. The ending, yes, I do regret that. As I believe I said somewhere along the way, my original intention was for the story to end with Nick making his choice at the dance. I should have just gone with my first hunch rather than tack on the second ending.

It reminds me of Jack Nicholson's comment to Elijah Wood after the screening of Peter Jackson's adaptation of Return of the King: "Too many endings, kid. Too many endings."


I was not requesting this of the story but have you ever considered rewriting any stories you did in the past, knowing how it turned out in the end? You can't do that with a living story that is out there as we've that even insignificant changes to Star Wars can get fans up in arms but what about unreleased stories? Have you ever gone back, retconning some items in the past: emphasizing/de-emphasizing certain characters or removing some "fake" foreshadowing to events you never went anywhere with/adding true foreshadowing to items that actually occurred? I think narratives, in general, in the last 30 years have been more and more stripped down to their core plot essence, which in my mind, is a good thing as it adheres more towards the principle of Chekov's gun. An Agatha Christie novel would try to hide a single gun in plain sight with a few red herrings but as you read more and more you're able to think meta-fictionally about those things to defeat the author's system. But now, "post modern" writing turns that on its head with something like "Lost" where they just scatter 100 guns on stage so you stop trying to guess which one will go off. However, this invariably ends poorly as people are more disappointed at the 80 that fail to go off than pleased at the 20 that actually do.

Rewriting, yes, including throwing out entire chapters of my MFA thesis and completely rewriting them from scratch. I don't rewrite as much as a lot of people I know, though. I'm just not that type of writer. Others will go through five or six drafts of a story before they're happy with it. For me, I tend to work within one original document and revise from there. It's too exhausting a process to rewrite anything longer than a chapter or short story from scratch for me personally.


The historical, spiritual, and paranormal disappears as you go along: was that a conscious decision? Also, that's not to say there ever was anything concrete but we had hints about Melody's family, the Hidden Stones story, and all sorts of rich family lore. Early on the story could have been about anything, and please forgive the cliches as I'm trying to talk in broad literary tropes that would have been more capably fleshed out, from Melody or even Nick being a long lost de Semur (I was certain we'd at least end up there) to her being a Bram Stoker variety vampire to her parents being Illuminati. We could even have had something as fanciful as the Romeo and Juliet model involving each being of the supernatural warring houses in de Semur going back to the 1100s. It's certainly not the road traveled but the pieces were there. So were there any plans to go that route or just hints dropped to add mystery to Melody?

Hints dropped to add mystery to Melody for the most part. Although by the end of the story, I think the reader should have a pretty strong grasp of Melody and her background... or at least as strong as the narrative allows. :D "Hungry Stones" I threw in there just because I absolutely love the story and I thought the readers might draw some parallels between Tagore's tale and the narrative. That and Junot Diaz's "Aurora" are probably my favorite short stories of all time (that I can remember off the top of my head anyway).

For the most part, I don't like the supernatural in stories. Well-done magical realism, yes. Varying degrees of fantasy, if well-handled, yes. Supernatural/paranormal, no. While there does tend to be occasional hints of magical realism popping up now and again in my work, it's never a primary focus.


Melody is the star of the show: she is what is new and unique. I'm not much of a character reader so Melody the person is not what is captivating to me. However, the glimpse into the rich and powerful world is fascinating as is the way it molds her character. I have no idea if it's even vaguely realistic or where I would turn to literature that studies true longstanding wealth in more than just cliches but it's what makes the read for me. Her knowledge that she can control the world in an old money "this is how it has always been and will always be" way is new and interesting. Slamming Caveman and then dragging Nick around, drugging Nick, showing the letter to the cop: these are not the calculating ways of the nouveau riche who know they could go back to who they were at any time. So where did the motivation and source material come from to write her? I saw hints of Gatsby but there has to be more than that.

The physical source material, as I've said elsewhere, came from this absolutely gorgeous girl who sat next to me in Japanese history class at my final undergraduate school. (Interesting side note - I asked her to Formal during my pledging semester and she said yes, then backed out two days before because her boyfriend was coming into town for a friend's birthday party.)

Gatsby, and Fitzgerald's writings in general, have always had a strong influence on me, along with Nabokov and, in the last few years, Haruki Murakami. So Gatsby is a definite influence. The other is my own personal history of becoming attracted to upper class girls without realizing they're of a higher economic status. Granted, they're nowhere near Melody's level. They're not even nouveau riche. Rather, they're what we might call well-to-do. And yet, these rich girls are littered throughout my fiction, alongside mock-heroic diction.

Eventually I need to find the right story for this sort of girl, get it published, and then move on to something else. Or maybe I don't. Who knows?


To me, writing Melody would be a paradox. She's going to be less and less interesting the more you know about her and, inherently, as you write more and more about a character, they become more and more approachable. Compounding that problem, frankly, you're going to run out of things you can identify with and personal experience you can draw from as no author is from that world. Someone like that wouldn't deign to write a story for the masses about living that life, she or he would just go out and live it. A real strength of the story is that you supremely succeed in the task of making her moments "onscreen" jump off the virtual pages (the only notable exception for me is when she goes from icy to desperate, talking to Nick after getting engaged- it seems very out of character), even if just in a note or voice. But the struggle comes in where all the others around her need to fill in the plot holes that she can't when she's not around. In short, she sucks the air out of the room so that everything pretty much has to be about her whether she's there or not. How did you try to balance the reveal on a character that clearly benefited from her mystery?

I made the revelation come at a moderate pace. I wouldn't say no author is from that world, depending on the world you're talking about in terms of the upper-class strata (Note: Despite aristocratic thought-tendencies, I myself am that most common of creatures - a Midwesterner from middle class stock). This is also where you start getting into things like research, which clashes with my writing methodology. For some authors, research is great and works out well. Not for me.

It's interesting that you highlight Melody as the star of the story and an overwhelming presence. That's traditionally not the case with my female characters, who some readers don't consider to be real, distinguishable or believable. Then again, most of those making this charge tend to be women in their 30s, for whatever reason. Older women and younger women do buy in, so I'm wondering if this isn't an issue of the women in my generation (since I'm also in my 30s). In fact, in an early draft of the first couple chapters of my eventual MFA thesis at Arkansas, one of my professors noted that I'd captured the voice of a certain type of high school cheerleader "perfectly. Perhaps too perfectly." and mentioned that this was the sort of girl she herself had hated in high school.

The fact that she *is* so powerful is a good thing, though. It's precisely the effect I wanted for her, once I figured out who she was.


I don't know how best to word this so I'm just going to come out and say it: why Nick? You mention some of it in the afterwords, that he's an "everyman" so we can relate to Melody. But that role could have been filled by any of dozens of archetypes. In the end, Nick is the narrator but this story is not even half about him unless we're talking about the Nick-and-Melody relationship unit. I don't think he's the unreliable narrator that Holden Caulfield is as there's nothing wrong with Nick mentally any more than the rest of us but that does make it suspect that Melody would choose Nick. I was constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop: Nick was a de Semur, Nick was from a rival family in Europe, Nick was originally just a plot device for Melody to piss off Daddy/make someone else jealous/be slumming with the "common folk", etc. I even thought we might go somewhere with the archery angle but it was used in the current plot not for any backstory. In short: I get why Nick liked Melody but I never got why Melody liked Nick. He was necessary in that he served the rhetorical purpose of being the stand-in for the reader but I'm not sure he could ever grow into a capable foil for Melody. My best guess is that either you know a lot of Nicks or feel you have some of those qualities so you can most easily write in a foreign situation with a familiar voice. But that's just an off the wall guess, so: why Nick?

You've hit on the biggest problems of both this story and my MFA thesis. In both cases, nobody could really figure out why the girl would be interested in the protagonist, and it was a huge issue in the latter case for a lot of people. Several people also struggled with having a real sense of who the protagonist really was as a character or felt that he wasn't strong enough yet to be a worthy character within the narrative. Clearly, these are consistent problems in my writing that I need to work on or watch for. I tried to explain it here by having Melody say there's no explaining love, but that didn't quite work, unfortunately. My MFA thesis, I defended it by pointing out that it was only half the novel.

The easiest solution to these recurring narrative problems would probably be to get a girlfriend or twenty, and figure out more logical sources of attraction from there.


What goes into picking the supporting cast? It sounds like from the afterword that you pick what fits best for the situation and then assume you can fit them in to the larger picture later (ala Becky). The Becky subplot never quite works for me because, like everyone and everything else (Nick, Becky, Drake, Caveman, the history class)- their primary purpose is to be vehicles to tell Melody's story. Silly as it sounds to say it this way but if she were to end up with Nick, it's not "The Beautiful Girl and the History Class", it's "That Girl He Met Because He Couldn't Go Out With the Beautiful Girl from the History Class". The story, as a whole, slows down when it's about something or someone else. And this view is probably why I'm no good at writing characters: I'm a plot writer to a fault and my characters suffer for it. I'll try to write utility characters that end up fairly boring as I know they serve no greater plot so I don't want to waste words on them. However, by the end, Becky, Caveman, and even Drake all have some character heft to them so I think this all comes back to the character/plot choices made early on.

The Becky ending almost happened. It's a common enough theme in fiction, both literary and film - the guy's dream girl turns out not to be the right girl, but a second, (usually, but not always) less pretty girl who has more compatible or kinder traits turns out to be The One. But the more I thought about it, the more I said fuck that. Too damn much of American fiction these days is about settling, rather than reaching for our ambitions (even if I myself have shown worrying signs of starting to settle with a life, but that's neither here nor there).

I think the Becky problem is mostly one of pacing - The rebound happened too quickly for some readers, which I can see. While such rebounds have been known to happen, they need to set up better in fiction, with light touches beforehand (this starts getting into the wiring metaphor one of my mentors used, but that's getting a touch off track).

The supporting cast and minor characters in my fiction appear naturally. Sometimes they expand to a larger than intended role like Caveman. Sometimes they end up much more minor than I'd originally anticipated like Drake. Personally, I love developing minor characters. They're often the ones I find myself wondering most about and remembering most clearly after reading others' work. The perfect example of this is Count Greffi in A Farewell To Arms. So it's not really a matter of conscious choice that minor characters appear - they're organic too.


I'm going to agree with the afterword about "a reduction in the quality of writing for those final scenes". Did you know how you wanted to end it at any time before the end? I feel like Melody's story starts out grand and mysterious but gets dragged down to the reader's level as we go along. What other endings and plot twists did you have in mind? I'm hesitant to put this as it's unduly harsh but: Were you just trying to finish? There was a jump from 3P-limited-Nick for the entire story to other narrators. I like the idea of blind and heightened hearing as that could be used as an effective plot device but I found it hard to follow what was going on. We had people coming up to him while he was trying to shoot in this high stakes game? Was he just hearing voices far off? I think it was a mixture of both but I'm not sure. The problem is that I'm not sure how I would have finished the story either: I liked the idea of a duel and even could have seen it on the grounds at the mansion. However, going to range seemed really contrived, just to keep the CW scene from just being extraneous. On that tangent, do you keep a list of plot items just hanging free, waiting to be connected back up? It was something I thought about while reading this and am strongly considering doing it for any longer works: basically, spare character and plot parts I can use later.

The whole archery duel was literally an idea that came to mind as I was writing what I intended to be the original ending - where Nick makes his choice at the dance. It's one of those things that was a damn cool idea in theory, but in practice, it was a trainwreck, especially since the multiple voice perspective was handled so damned clumsily. What happened was I got away from the original way the story worked and tried to go full-on cinematic route (I literally pictured these scenes in my head as it would appear on film) and I got so fixated on that it completely threw everything off.

I *might* have made it work if I'd taken more time with it. On the other hand, it could be, as one of my mentors like to put it, that it would have been "breaking the contract you've established with the reader in the beginning of the story and the rules by which the story operates". This happens sometimes, even in celebrated fiction (The Jungle, I'm looking at you). While I don't think the disruption was nearly as bad here as it was in Jungle, the disconnect is still clear.


I noticed the sequel just kindof died. At first I was happy there was one but a bit disappointed as I read: the intro is very morose and only gets a little glimmer of hope in the last entry where she is being whisked away from her life. I feel like it was heading down the road of the modern serialized tv show arms race (think The Shield or The Sopranos or, tho I have not seen them, what I've read of The Wire or Breaking Bad). There's a need to continually ratchet up the tension because viewers start getting immune to the previous tension level. The narrative relies on shocking the audience but you have to always have to push it further. It's just not where your strengths as an author lie and I suspect why you had difficulty motivating yourself to keep writing. Just look at the treatment of Caveman: I think it was a little harsh in the first story to the effect of pushing Becky towards Nick but in the second, you skewer the poor bastard. The challenge of following up an epic with another epic is awfully daunting. In my mind, to make a sequel, you're going to have to reinvent Becky, introduce a new character or challenge bigger than Caveman, and do that all with the shadow of the Melody-Nick juggernaut story looming the whole time. As a writer, that would be a challenge but not one I would relish.

Believe it or not, I had plans for this, and reading over it now, it's still possible to go forward with it, so I'll hold off on commenting further on it other than to say that the shock of the initial scenes wasn't going to continue going forward. Rather, it was designed to... well, I'll wait on that until I decide whether or not to pick it up again. I will say that it was written during one of my worst semesters at Arkansas, which probably affected the story to some degree.

Would it/will it be as good as the original? No, probably not. It's dangerous to go back to the same well, particularly in fiction, unless it's a setup clearly designed to be a series. This is where Junot Diaz's This Is How You Lose Her has gotten slammed, I think. Bringing back a short story collection based around Yunior was going back to the well originally drawn for Drown, and while I'm enjoying TIHYLH a lot, in terms of technical prowess and sharpness of narrative and character, it's clearly inferior to his first short story collection, which had a genuine masterpiece or three in it. I've not gotten the same sense from TIHYLH at all.

And as long as I'm mentioning Diaz again, The Brief, Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, his award-winning novel, is one I have mixed feelings about, but I'll refrain from launching into a diatribe about that.


Thank you for the time in reading this and I hope for a thoughtful response. I hope anything negative is taken as constructive criticism and genuine interest. I wouldn't have written this if it was just another work of fiction but it definitely got in my head for the couple of days it took to read it. It also really helped me put my theory of writing cap on for some other projects I've been considering for a long time. So, again, thank you for any thoughts on any or (hopefully) all of these questions!

Thanks for taking the laborious effort of reading this and providing these excellent questions. :) They personally gave me some own food for thought in my writing, both in terms of this story and in terms of other projects.

[Cap Ologist]

What was the name of the sequel again?

[sterlingice]

What was the name of the sequel again?

I don't think it was posted here but I saw it on the Paradox boards:
Ten Years After: The Lost Girl and the History Book (http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?374416-Ten-Years-After-The-Lost-Girl-and-the-History-Book)

Also, I'd love a peek at that private writing forum to see what the brainstorming there but I missed my chance, discovering the dynasty about 5 years too late.

I am enjoying going back and seeing the comments in the Paradox forums for this dynasty- it feels sortof like reading an annotated version.

SI