Oddly, one by one they stood or looked around them. There was no obvious physical distinction between the two groups. Wals stayed with the Prince and Illumina as they cared for Nina. Cosimo and Felice had joined the circle either side of Manueline. She stood between them looking at Wals and the strange woman who, she suddenly realized, looked much like her. She looked around, not wanting to face the group centered round the woman on the ground. The fire caught her eye. It was dying down and the pot over it looked as though it needed attention.
She turned away, saying, "Excuse me," as she made her way past one of the strange men. She went over to the fire, there was some wood piled beside it, she worked on the fire for a while and then lifted the lid of the pot. It was obviously just a mixture of vegetables with some grains in it. She tasted it. She looked around to see what else might go in the pot, it needed salt; she found some and put some in and then looked around to see what else she might do. There was a lot in the pot but there were a lot of people. She saw that the two men who came running in had obviously been hunting. They had killed a couple of large hares. The two guides were talking to each other. She called to the guide asking him to talk to the men about getting the game skinned and ready for the pot. There was a burst of conversation round the camp and one of the men went off carrying the hares and followed by the dogs.
Nina by this time, was sitting between Wals and Illumina with her eyes closed. The Prince had gone off to get some water for her; Wals had taken his place. The Prince now knelt down in front of the others watching Nina but watching Wals as well; curious about his obvious need for contact with Nina. There was a look of constant, wide-eyed surprise on his face as he gaze flicked from Nina, to himself to Illumina, who he was also touching, as the two of them supported Nina.
Cosimo and the two guides had joined Manueline round the campfire. Felice had gone off to butcher the hares. There was a complicated three-way conversation going on between Cosimo, Manueline and one or other of the guides as Cosimo tried to explain what he thought should be done with the hares and Manueline basically told him he knew nothing about the preparation of a stew.
The Prince heard all this rather than saw it, as his back was to the fire. Looking round, he saw the most beautiful thing; it was Manueline suddenly laughing at some combination of word and gesture from Cosimo. She laughed and waved a spoon at him. The beauty in it followed from the expression on her face. It was a look, not just of good humor, but also of relief and release. She had been bound by something, trapped in something, so much so that she could not even conceive of the possibility of an escape, because she had forgotten what escape might look like. In her expression, if only for a moment, the Prince realized that she had escaped. It was as though someone in a garden maze had suddenly walked out into some quiet, peaceful part of the garden, not a part of the maze at all, not even consciously realizing that they were no longer in the maze.
He had a sudden urge to go and talk to her, to lead her away from the thing that trapped her. He looked briefly again at Nina and then walked over to the fire, holding out a hand as he approach, smiling at Manueline, saying, "Hello, my name's Libby, though sometimes people rather stupidly refer to me as 'the Prince'."
Manueline took his hand and introduced herself, then asked, as a general question to the circle round the fire, "What is a Prince?"
It was Cosimo's turn to laugh. He pointed at the Prince, "He is the Prince. He is the Prince because his parents are King and Queen. When his father dies or gives up the throne he will become King."
Manueline was giggling throughout this speech making, the rest of them smile. "What do you mean, 'the Prince'? Is there only one of them?"
At this point Felice came back with a wooden platter piled with bits of hare, Manueline turned on the log she was sitting on, smiling at him and indicating she would take the plate. She had a bowl set to one side with some kind of mixture in it. She took a fork and one by one took the bits of hare, dipped them in the bowl and then brazed them over the fire before putting them in the pot.
In and amongst, Cosimo had explained that, "Yes, there is only one of them, but that is just a result of inactivity on the part of his parents. Ordinarily there would be as many Princes as he had brothers, though really only the eldest counts."
Manueline finished with the last piece of meat and put the lid back on the pot. "What you mean is that when his father dies, he takes his father's place? It sounds like a terrible system to me. The father must be constantly afraid of the son, the eldest must be afraid of those younger than himself. Factions will form around all of them. Am I right?" It took her some time to say all this as her command of the language required long detours round concepts such as forming factions or rivalry between siblings. With a lot of amused prompting from round the fire, she eventually got the question asked.
Cosimo was about to reply when Libby held up his hand and spoke quietly, almost affectionately, almost as though he were thanking her for allowing him to say something. "You are right. It builds an awful distance between father and son and a strange relationship between mother and son. You see, if my father dies, I become my mother's King. I'm sure, if I had brothers I would have problems with them as well. As matters stand, I'm rather grateful I don't have any. They sent me away because the King's City had become too dangerous for me to stay there; at least that is what I was told. Now I am trying to get back again so I can help to protect them, as apparently they are in trouble. It does seem like a terrible way to organize things."
Manueline listened to this with a still, quiet look on her face, responding to the quietness in Libby's voice. "Maybe now you do have a brother, you look so much like Wals, you could almost be brothers."
Libby looked round over his shoulder to where Illumina and Wals were quietly talking to each other over the now sleeping Nina. He smiled as well, "He does look like me doesn't he. Illumina looks like you. Do you know everyone? The one with opinions about stews is Cosimo; the one with the meat is Felice." He looked at the guide who was the third straggler. "I'm terribly sorry but I have never known your name."
The man met his gaze without reproach or resentment, "My name is Drem." The other guide was clearly the younger of the two. Drem touched him on the shoulder, "He is Brac. We set great store by names, both giving them and sharing them. We are happy to share names with you."
Significantly, he did not use Libby's name. Libby wondered at the omission but did not follow the thread and the moment passed by. "So, we are Manueline, Drem, Brac, Cosimo, Felice and Libby." He turned pointing to the people round Nina, "The woman who was upset is called Nina, the other woman's name is Illumina. Who is your companion?"
There was something awkward in the question but Manueline let it go by, sitting for a moment looking at Wals, wondering what to call him. Watching him talking to Illumina with Nina now curled up asleep on the ground between them. Both Wals and Illumina looked up as Libby asked the question and Manueline looked at them. Manueline smiled as she realized that Illumina and Wals were having the same conversation as she was having with Libby and the others.
To follow this thread in the story go to: Whatever They Call Me
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JP Thompson (patrick@standingwaiting.com)