Manon's Ascension

Awkward Beginnings

Awkward Beginnings

"My queen! Please, don't run!"

Manon completely disregarded the pleas of her new lady's maid as she rushed across the deck of the airship, heading towards the foremast. She was already pulling up her skirts before she even reached the pole, preparing for the long climb to the top.

She had been queen for only a few months. She tried to take the role seriously and to follow her mother's example in her duties with the way she carried herself and how she behaved and talked in her day to day life. But there were times that she couldn't help but want to run free and be herself. The bratty, wild child that had run her parents ragged in her youth was still there, even if Manon had forcibly buried her down under responsibilities that she had willingly taken on.

It was good to let her free, even if climbing the foremast of her private airship meant that her oldest lady's maid fretted a bit.

They were approaching Ambraude, and Manon wanted to get a glimpse of her home from the air. It wasn't the first time she had approached the city by airship, but it was the first time that she was going to be seeing it in a time of peace.

The last few years had been hard. Not just on her home country of Vasconia, but on this new country she had married into, Gascony. War had raged between the two countries that, historically, had always been friendly. Thousands had died. So many homes had been destroyed. By both armies. And it had all ended here, just a few short months ago.

Manon climbed into the nest at the top of the mast and leaned onto the rail, staring forward as the wind whipped through her hair.

Ambraude was a beautiful city built atop the stunning Amber Cliffs that were constantly beat upon by the bright, blue sea. The city was built in a series of rings that became brighter in color and slightly different in style the further they were from the palace as they had all been constructed at different times.

Her home since her marriage just a few months ago when the war ended. It hadn't ended with her marriage, but the vows she had taken solidified it. Made her queen. She was returning now from her brother's wedding and the coronation of his own queen in Vasconia.

Now that the loving siblings sat on the thrones, peace was practically guaranteed.

It seemed so unreal. Manon had planned for this. She had orchestrated it herself. Somehow though, it still seemed impossible that she was queen.

Or that she was married.

Manon's wedding day was a blur in her memories. She barely remembered it. She knew that she had gone through all the traditional motions. Stripping down to nothing but a robe. Repeating her vows to her husband. Accepting the coat that he put on her shoulders in the way of Gascony. A tradition she continued to follow though she hadn't seen her husband in weeks. When she left Gascony, he had sent her with multiples coats of his for her to wear. And though it wasn't part of the culture of Vasconia, she had done it.

It was one of the few requests she made of her. In Gascony, men offered their coats first to their wives, then their daughters after they began bleeding. Their daughters wore their father's coat until they married, then they would wear their husband's coat. It was both a sign of protection and love as well as a reminder to the men that they had to sacrifice to protect their women. Better for a man to suffer the cold than his woman.

Jacques, her husband and king, had made the request that she wear his coat, though it wasn't really done in Vasconia. She didn't know if he did it because he genuinely wanted her to wear his coat or because he didn't want the stigma associated with a man that didn't properly protect his wife. They had agreed to be progressive in how they ruled Gascony, but that was a tradition that he wanted to maintain with her. She hadn't minded either, even if it had taken some time to get used to it over her shoulders. Even now, as the wind caught it, she had to resist the urge to remove the weight. She didn't want to offend Jacques that way, even if she knew that he would say he didn't mind.