Looking at Me

Manueline sat on Cavalla with Libby beside her. She watched as Illumina spoke to the representative who had come to meet them at the Norton gate. He was nervous, constantly looking around him, as though seeking someone who would take away the responsibility of representing the town. There was a group of people behind him, still in the shadow of the gate, they slowly edged forward as the discussion between the representative and Illumina progressed.

Manueline looked around, looking briefly at Libby, smiling at him as he smiled at her. She looked back at the rest of the company, Felice and Cosimo sat on horseback behind her, Nina was behind them, her face settled into a look of blank disapproval. Manueline wondered if she was just tired or if there was something bothering her. She turned back, looking over the heads of Drem and Brac, watching the discussions again.

Illumina seemed to have matters well in hand; taking one or other of the townsmen aside, talking to them and then addressing the group as a whole or nudging one of the other men into saying something. Something in Manueline intuitively understood what Illumina was doing. Chipping away at any certainty directed against her and Wals, drawing them into the easy path of giving any responsibility over to someone else. Ultimately, confronting them with the reality of the following, as she turned and pointed up the hill where members of the following were already beginning to come in sight.

It did not surprise Manueline when it emerged that Wals had been accepted as the Lord of the North; at least by the small group at the gate. He was soon authorizing the requisition of property such as the shingles, the tanning cauldrons and the grain from the Norton granaries. Each step he took, each act that went unchallenged, fixed his role more firmly in the minds of the people dealing with him.

Manueline witnessed a little of this before she was taken up in the business of organizing the camps for the following, going around explaining to people where they should go and what they should do. She selected a number of others from the following and had them doing the explaining as well. Manueline rapidly had a hundred people, two for each camp, acting as liaison and spokesperson, explaining to the people what they should be doing and communicating any needs or problems to her or Illumina. Both Libby and the wolf stayed with her through this process, the pair of them adding a vast authority to everything she did.

Once Manueline had a sufficient number of people doing the explaining for her, she contented herself with walking among the crowds, watching to see that the people of the following actually understood what was going on. The wolf stayed close, as he did not like all the people. Manueline was constrained in her contact with the Prince as he was thought of as the personification of death; people believed it was risking death to touch him.

As it grew dark, Manueline had a brief conversation with Drem who told her Illumina had gone into the town, drumming up support for Wals as the Lord of the North, saying they should all meet at the North Lord's house. She called to Libby. He was standing a little way off, trying to make sense out of an apparently acrimonious conversation going on between two old men. Manueline called to him twice and he did not hear. She bent down and picked up a clump of grass that had been kicked up by a passing horse. She threw it at him, intending to hit him on the shoulder. Instead, the clump of grass went sailing past and hit one of the old men in the side of the head.

Manueline gasped and hastily reached down to pat the wolf, trying to appear as absorbed as possible in her attentions to him. She heard and saw out of the corner of her eye, the consternation caused by the impact of the grass on the old man's head. He stood stunned for a moment looking at the other old man and then started saying something in an accusatory tone. The other old man angrily protested his innocence talking in a suppressed whisper, every now and then, looking significantly in Libby's direction.. After arguing a little, they both turned to Libby, who by this time had understood what had happened; he was trying to suppress a guffaw as he looked back at Manueline. He laughed outright when she slowly raised her head with a wide-eyed, innocent 'why are you looking at me?' expression on her face.

The old men recognized Manueline and Libby and would not dream of making any accusations but obviously had the greatest trouble explaining to themselves why the personification of death should be throwing hunks of grass at them. They clearly thought Libby was the culprit. They nervously edged away from Libby who, in his assumed innocence, continued to look in their direction with his back turned to Manueline. She could not resist the temptation; she kicked up another clump of grass, picked it up and threw it, a little more accurately this time, hitting Libby squarely in the back of the head.

She almost doubled up with laughter when he got a huge fright, turning round to look at her, completely forgetting about the old men. He looked frantically round in the gathering dark, trying to find something he could throw back. She waved a finger at him indicating the personification of death could not possibly be seen throwing clumps of grass around. Matters were not helped by the wolf catching the spirit of the moment and starting to cavort around like the massive puppy he was. He loved to find and fetch things and thought that Manueline was trying to get Libby to play. He certainly had no inhibitions and had not had a decent game since before they went through the forest. He even resorted to his odd, gruff bark, trying to get Manueline to throw something for him.

She happened to see a stick, preserved from the following by the fact that it was hidden in the short grass. She picked it up, laughing again to see a look of consternation on Libby's face as he tried to imagine what she was going to do with it. She laughed, watching the wolf and remembering a game she used to play as a child. She called out to Libby, "Catch!" and threw the stick to him. The wolf watched it sailing through the air for a moment and then took off after it, paying little attention to where it was going; just intent on catching it and bringing it back.

Libby saw the wolf and the stick converging on him. He snatched the stick out of the air and hastily threw it back to Manueline. The wolf seemed about to leap on Libby in pursuit of the stick but somehow turned in mid air and started back after the stick again. Despite being beside herself with laughter, Manueline managed to catch the stick and throw it again. This time the wolf slipped on the grass and took a moment to recover himself so he missed an opportunity when Libby dropped the stick and had to pick it up before hastily throwing it again as the wolf came barreling towards him. Even as he threw it, Libby was asking himself, 'Why am I doing this? I should just throw the stick away and let the wolf have it.' Picking the stick up, Libby had thrown it low and the wolf saw the opportunity, leaping in the air as the stick came towards him, twisting and catching it as it went by.

Manueline called out to him laughing and congratulating him on winning the game. Libby hastily closed the distance between himself and Manueline before she could get the stick off the wolf and start the game again. He came up as she was bending over, patting the wolf. Libby took the opportunity to pinch her making her jump in surprise, startling the wolf who thought some other game was up.

She leapt upright turning to him with an amused and alarmed look on her face. She laughed as he perfectly reproduced her 'why are you looking at me?' expression. She composed herself. "Now enough of that. We are supposed to meet up with the others at the North Lord's house."

"Where is it?"

"I've no idea. I'm sure the townspeople will tell us." She almost reached out to him wanting to touch him with more than just her voice. Libby saw the gesture and came to her, taking her hand, allowing her to lead him and the wolf through the gate and into the town.

Through the gate, Libby drew her closer to him, putting an arm round her waist. She protested at first. He just pulled her closer, telling her not to worry, the people of the town would not care and the people of the following would have to get used to the idea that he and Wals were going to live ordinary lives. "Maybe not that ordinary, but I refuse to personify anything if it means I can't put an arm round you."

"Manueline drew away a little, looked up at him, "What about being a prince?"

He smiled at her, "That too. I was a prince and I must go back, but I will not go back to being the prince I was."

Manueline slipped her arm round him, under his arm around her, pulling them closer together as they walked through the town. Libby could feel the swing and throw of her hips as she walked in step with him, the subtle sway of her body as she moved with him, adjusting herself to him as he adjusted to her, accommodating each other's movements so the walk became a dance carrying them away into a world of their own.

They walked for some time, then Manueline laughed, stopping them, drawing Libby round to take her, still in his arms as she pulled him down to a kiss. "I think we forgot something."

"We did? What was that?"

"The North Lord's house."

Libby laughed and looked round asking where they were. Still in each other's arms, they stopped a passerby, asking him where the North Lord's house was. He looked a little startled and pointed to a large structure just behind them. They were standing right in front of it.

Manueline looked at it and then looked at Libby, "Is that a house? How could anyone live in something that large?"

Libby laughed, pulling him to her again. "It is a house. I admit a rather grandiose one, but you will see much bigger houses in the King's City. Come let's go and see what they're all doing." He took her hand and together they walked and then ran to the front door closely followed by the wolf, who was not impressed at all, his mind was preoccupied with dinner or rather the absence of dinner.

Manueline laughed as they ran up the steps, saying anyone living in it would need a horse and carriage just to get from one end to the other. Libby looked back at her as he ran ahead, holding her hand. As he looked back, he stumbled, almost tripping up over his own feet. They both laughed again as Manueline ran ahead of him, pulling him to his feet and leading him through the door.

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