• June 18, 2012 /  Memoir

    If ever one doubts whether the favor they enjoy touches on how their other dealings are viewed, then finding themselves in poor graces will quickly disillusion them.

    Take for example the one-time Duchess of Farin, Paloma de Preston.  I was there at court when her place in Charmaine’s good graces was suddenly turned upon its head.

    When I first met her, she was Paloma ab Beaufort, the Baroness of Asglen.  Always sweet and gentle, if a bit of an odd duck.  And I might not have been surprised had she one day announced that a duck had called her such.  Her personifications of animals were always an interesting touch.

    An impromptu trip to Montford saw her married to Duke Jaafs de Preston in something of a rushed wedding, before they turned their horses straight around to attend the royal council.  And when she arrives back in Lithmore more than a touch too pregnant, everyone had smiled and overlooked it.  How important is such a thing?  No cause for making a stir.  She was a good woman, however feather-brained, and she was married now.

    But then, several months later, there was Charmaine in the middle of court, hollering for Jaafs’ whore and his bastard.

    It was soon after the assault on Daravi.  Lithmore had had good success overtaking what would be called Edessa.  Jaafs had spoken against the venture from the beginning, though he eventually relented and gave his vote, provided he was to lead a command of his own through the passes.

    To this day, I do not think anyone can say why he withdrew his troops from Edessa, leaving conquered keeps undefended, as he called them back to Farin, without a word to Charmaine, let alone her approval.  Whatever his reasons, the actions swiftly earned Jaafs the title of traitor, and the Council of Three were only too quick to agree.

    And changed his bride’s fortune in a moment.  Paloma made it through that time still duchess, ruling for the time on behalf of her infant, but the views of her were forever changed.

    What once was social adeptness was soon a lack of care for anything but parties.  As one of the co-rulers during the regency council, there was no patience for her oddities or lack of understanding for her own Farin people.

    But Paloma had not changed, only the world’s view of her, and its expectations.

    Her position has shifted again since, but not yet for the better, not for her.  I will not pretend against my relief when her own Council of Three determined she had not met her agreements with Charmaine to marry again and provide young Ingram with a strong Farin stepfather to raise him in Farin tradition.  A match had been considered, a young Kaerrick de Winter, but the Church would not allow it, not with his branding.

    And I have not heard of her since the new duke, a return to the de Montford line, gave word that she would not be welcome in Farin.

    I wonder at times how her tale might have been told had she never fallen from Charmaine’s good graces.

    Posted by Marisa @ 2:41 am