Reign

[Adira]

Deep in the countryside of Germany, Mary Stewart sat at dinner table of the Van Housels, a powerful Lord and Lady who ran the manor. Mary and her ladies had been guests at their manor for years now. The Van Housels were good friends of Mary's mother and happily welcomed the girls into their manor and had raised the girls in the royal ways. It was on this day that Mary sat outside enjoying a cup of tea with her ladies. Mary had been laughing at a joke Finny had made and she picked up a small cake to eat. As she raised it to her lips a sudden scream rang out across the manner, making the ladies jump and Mary drop her cake. A servant suddenly came running out screaming "My Lady! Don't eat the cakes!! They have been poisoned!" Mary looked around, a shocked expression came to her face as she ran to see the servant laying on the ground dead. The girls were joined a few short seconds later by Lady Van Housel who shook her head in sadness. "Such a shame, Bethany was such a sweet young lass" Mary looked up at the beautiful lady, her hands shaking from fear. "I'm so sorry.." She muttered as she hung her head in shame. "Oh my dear, you were never suppose to know that she was your tester," Lady Van Housel said as she held the shivering girl. "But, this attack on your life means that an english spy had invader our household. It is no longer safe for you or your ladies and so you must be transported to the French courts at once. Ladies, Get your Queen ready to leave immediately." With the Lady Van Housel disappeared to gather a carriage together, a quickly.

Once Mary and her ladies were rushed into their rooms, servants had already begun to pack their belongings, soldiers carried their trunks to the awaiting carriage and Mary's head was still spinning from the earlier events. Odette, her oldest lady, was brushing her long brunette hair as their last trunks were loaded up. "Can you believe were going back to French court?" Mary asked her ladies. She knew what this was leading to, her inevitable marriage to France's next King and the safety of Scotland from the english who long treasured her country. A servant bowed his head and said in a small voice "Your Highness, Ladies, Your carriage to.." He paused unsure if he should disclose the location. "French courts.." He finally said in a hushed voice "Awaits" And with that he held open the door for the ladies. "Shall we?" Mary asked her ladies as she got up and descended the stairs. Hugging and Thanking the Van Housels and promising an invitation to the long awaited marriage of France and Scotland. She and her ladies were comfortably seated in the carriage and departed swiftly from the manor. Longingly watching the manor disappear from sight she gave a sigh, she knew she could never stay there but leaving the place they had all grown up was leaving Mary with a sour feeling in the pit of her stomach.

The trip to French court was a long one to say the least. Sticking to the main roads and stopping only if a lady had to pee or to refuel and even switch out horses. The girls had very little time to stretch, and a lot of time to fill with card games and gossip. Much of the gossip was about French Courts. How it had probably changed since the last time they were they're. It was known the the King of France had taken quite a few mistresses in the last year. Much to the disgrace of his family and his wife. "I wonder about Jean.. Is he the same since we last played together as children?" Mary wondered aloud. As the carriage pulled to a stop the driver opened the door and pools of sunshine filled the dark compartment, making Mary shield her eyes. "I apologize my ladies I should have asked, but we will be approaching the castle soon.. I thought I should give you a warning so that your ladies could make you look more presentable. Not that you don't already look presentable! You look perfect my Queen" The man stumbled to correct himself and Mary laughed goodheartedly. "Yes I understand, Thank you" She said as he bowed and the carriage began to move again. The carriage consisted of around 5 carriages carrying luggage and servants, surrounded by guards on horse back. "Well Ladies, do with me what you will" Mary said, giggling as she let her ladies work their beautiful magic.

It was some time later when Mary heard talking and she looked out the window to see the French castle getting bigger and bigger as they drew closer. "Wow, it's just as lovely as I remember it" she breathed. Her heart began to race and she fanned herself as they stopped. She saw the servants gathered around to watch their soon to be Queen descend from the carriage and catch a glimpse at the now 16 year old Queen of Scotland. "Introducing, Her royal highness, Mary, Queen of Scotland" The doors opened to unveil the mystery girl and she was helped down by a footman. "Thank You" She said with a smile as she awaited her ladies to join her. "And her ladies in waiting Miss Beatrice Abery, Miss Fiona Hambledon, and Miss Odette Juliette Portier" One by one her lovely ladies joined her and they watched the King and Queen be announced. As well as their children, ending in her fiancé, "Prince Jehan de Longueau" Mary's first look at her soon to be husband didn't disappoint. He was as handsome as a prince should be, but something about his posture now was, more mature. She only stopped looking at him when she heard "Mary, isn't that an English flag?" Mary's attention looked over at the english carriage as a farmilar face looked out at the crowd. England's next King was here.. and he brought friends. "Oh no.."

 

[LeVen]

Beatrice followed closely after Mary. She was unnerved by what had happened, but dutifully helped her mistress pack her things as well as her own. It had been a long time since she'd been to France before, and despite everything that was going on, was very excited. "I can hardly believe it." She breathed, agreeing with Mary fully. France was a beautiful country, but she didn't much care for the ride there.
Beatrice was the one that noticed the English flag, and pointed it out once she figured out what exactly it was that she was staring at. Englishmen in France could only mean trouble. "What do we do?" She asked, but she already knew the answer. There really wasn't much they could do about them, and would just have to deal with them as needed.

 

[Mundane Monster]

Fiona was practically bursting with excitement. France was just stunning! Lovely! Spectacular! And in the words of the blessed french, 'Magnifique!'. So it was safe to say that when the English were spotted, she was just a teensy bit distracted but as soon as everyone's attention turned, she composed herself. She gave Mary a little poke. "You should go inside shouldn't you? It'll be hard for those crumpet scarfing bastards to get you then, right?" She whispered, maybe a bit too loudly, but she didn't care. This could quickly turn into a crisis, and Queen Mary needed to be protected and shielded at all times.

 

[Duchess]

Odette, or Jules as she was commonly known, smirked as she saw the nearing English carriage. She folded her arms across her chest, leaning forward to whisper, "It appears French Court has gotten a little more interesting, ladies." She didn't know the reason as to why the English would be there, well other than the obvious. They wished for Scotland to be in their hands, but that was all politics. Who had time for politics at court? Now that Jules rethought her silent question, she realized everyone had time for politics at court. When she was just a small girl, her brother would tell her stories of the Scottish Royal Court and his short time at French Court. They enchanted her then, but as she grew older she realized her brother's underlying message. She had to be careful, because this was a foreign land and she didn't know the people. Jules missed the Scottish countryside that she had called home when she was younger. She only wished to see it again, so she planned on finding a husband, quickly. Taking in a deep breath, she looked to Mary. In Jules' eyes, she believed her friend to be lucky. Well as lucky as a royal could be with England breathing down there necks, but lucky nonetheless.

"Perhaps we should get you inside, Your Highness." Jules' words were barely there as she spoke. They were light and airy as if she were afraid of someone hearing what she had to say. Jules learned a lot from her brother, even as womanizing he was, but she learned. In all honestly, she was taught to think like a man than a young lady. It was bred into her system at such a young age that even living with Mary and the others for so long, that thinking like a lady didn't catch on. Don't get me wrong, she could act as she should with the best of them, but she preferred not too.

 

[LeVen]

Bea nodded, agreeing with Jules and Fiona. "I agree, and it is quite warm too." Perhaps it was her nerves, or her dress that was making her hot, but it was hard to tell. Suddenly, she smiled. "Perhaps you could even sneak a better glance at your fiancé, I've heard he's handsome." If Beatrice had better eyesight, she would have been able to tell that those rumors were quite true. Without waiting for further answers, Beatrice started to usher Mary inside to get away from the Englishmen and to have a chance to get settled in. It would have been nice to actually see what was going on, and Beatrice found herself jealous of the other girls and their perfect eyesight. She had to squint very often to read things that weren't a foot in front of her face, other times she had to be led around so that she didn't disgrace herself by talking to the wrong person. Many times she'd been scolded for talking to someone that she shouldn't have, when she really thought it was someone else. By then, she'd learned to stick close to either Mary-when permitted, or one of the other ladies in waiting who could see better than she did. Hopefully they didn't mind.

 

[CrypticWriter]

Prince of England, blue

The voyage to the French court seemed like it took forever, which indeed it did. He asked his mother and father, the King and Queen, why did he have to go by himself but he did bring a few friends. A soft sigh escaped through the prince's parted lips as he could be seen, standing on the deck. His eyes went over towards the workers, who were sitting down, basically doing nothing as he shook his head then turned heel and walked back towards his room, which was somewhere below the ship.

Not even a few seconds into his room as he heard someone knocking on the door, telling him that they were close to reaching the shore. With the lowering of his head and a soft sigh, he walked over to his bed and sat down. Samson wishes that he was back home, fencing with his friends, riding horseback through their garden or jumping half naked into the nearby lake. Samson wondered why his mother and father made him go to Scotland - A place that made his stomach churn with absolute disgust.

Upon reaching landfall, Samson was basically bombarded with questions as he raised his hand up and closed his eyes with a breath to ease his mind. Still, he said nothing as he walked up to his carriage and waited for his friend to get inside before having the door closed, with the nod of his head.

As they reached their destination, it seemed like they interrupted something as a sly smirk appeared among his charming facial features. 'It's showtime.' Samson thought to himself as he opened the door and stood up on the top step. A hush came over the gathered crowd. Samson smiled towards everyone then stepped down the three little steps, his feet soon hitting the ground. He approached the apparent Queen of Scotland, Mary then bowed to show his respect then turned around and went over towards the King and Queen and bowed at them as well.

"Feels good to be back here." Samson said while breathing in the air, holding back a cough of disgust. His eyes diverted over towards Mary's beau then looked back at her then back at him and scoffed.

Again, that sly smirk began to spread among his facial features.

 

[Adira]

Mary was filled with absolute disgust as the royal prince of Assholes descended from his carriage. "Can't he ever just leave me alone?" She whispered to her ladies. It seemed they all had the same idea about getting inside. Her heart rate picked up as Beau started to talk about her fiancé. "I haven't seen him in quite sometime.." Mary said as she glanced about. It seemed her handsome prince was no where to be found, oh well. "Shall we ladies?" Mary asked her ladies as she began to take a step forward. Her pace was cut off by none other than Prince Samson himself. His arrogant smirk wore proudly on his face as he bowed to her, a sign of mock respect. As he walked away Mary leaned towards her friends and whispered. "He thinks he owns us" She decided to hurry into the safety of the castles walls, where at least the only danger was her social status and politics. Oh so she thought.

Curtsying politely to the King and Queen of France she thanked them for the honor of returning to French court and allowing her to bring her ladies as well. The King smiled at each of the ladies, a bit of lust in his eyes as he replied. "No trouble at all Mary dear, I hope you and your ladies will find everything to your accomdanction and if there's anything I can do, please don't hesitate to ask." He said with a bow. Mary smiled politely and walked into the large castle gates. The guards on duty bowing to her and her ladies as they entered. "Wow.. It's much larger than I last remembered" Mary said with awe, looking over the tapestry's and furniture. "Well, shall we explore? The day is still young and I'd like to enjoy my first day before the politics sets in..." Mary said to her friends as she watch business as usual rushing all around her. She just hoped that the darling Prince of England kept out of her way, her country, and her soon to be marriage.

 

[Sashakiki]

Leo followed the prince, his hands behind his back and his face showing no emotion. The ride here had not been bad and Leo had spent much of the time looking over documents that needed the Prince's signature. He had stayed in his room most of the time, not wanting to have to watch as they got closer and closer to where Mary was. He had just finished organizing the papers when someone had knocked on the door and said that they would be landing soon. He had walked up to the carriage and sat across from Samson and it was a silent trip.

Once the carriage stopped, he closed the door behind the prince and followed him. It had been awhile since he had seen Mary. Once the door opened he saw that there were girls standing outside, they seemed excited. Then again, why wouldn't they be? The English Prince didn't come every day. Hearing the clicking of the shoes fill the empty castle, he couldn't help but smile. Leo bowed to the King and Queen as well as Mary before standing next to Samson.

 

[LeVen]

As soon as physically possible, Jehan slipped away from his parents, the court, and every other prying eye. How many years had it been since he'd last seen Mary? Too long, far too long for his liking. Mary had gotten more beautiful than he'd last seen her, she'd really grown into her role and moved with a grace he hadn't seen in her before.
The first thing he did was seek out his fiancee. Jehan wanted to greet her without all the formalities, and possibly catch up their lives. He did find her some time later, obviously still surrounded by her ladies-in-waiting.
"Mary of Scotts, it has been some time hasn't it?" He asked smoothly.

 

[Duchess]

As Sampson approached Jules and her friends, she couldn't help but to look away in disgust. Who did he think he is? A prince, well that was technically true, but that was just technicalities. Out of defiance, Jules didn't curtsy when she saw the young prince. He wouldn't get any of that respect out of her. As Jules saw it, he would have to earn her respect. Which she highly doubted he could do. The moment Mary began her mad dash towards the castle, the young woman didn't object. She wanted more than nothing to be out of the prying eyes of court and everyone else. She had never been one for public displays and she knew this one would be the talk of the court for at least a week.

"All of England believes that they own us, Mary. It's not just the royal-" Jules cut herself off before she said anything too vulgar. She supposed it would hurt herself more than anyone else considering she did have English blood running through her veins. It was hard to admit, but her mother was English. Anyone who would have seen her mother would have assumed she was from Scotland by the way she spoke, acted, and honored the crown, but it was a truth. Jules only wished that her mother could see her now. It was hard for a young girl to grow up alongside her brothers for so long, but somehow she had survived. She could only hope it wouldn't hurt her when she began looking for a husband. Of course, he would never care how she grew up, but she hoped he would. It was a part of her after all.

When Jehan approached the group, she could honestly say he had grown into a man. Jules only wished she could trade places with Mary if that meant...Well, let's not discuss such vulgar thoughts shall we? The young lady did have them quite often, thanks to her many, many brothers. Jules curtsied, bowing her head in respect before saying softly, "I'm going to retire to my room for a few hours. I need some rest after such a long journey. Excuse me, Mary, Prince Jehan." With another curtsy and a another bow of the head, Jules parted from the group wanting to explore the castle on her own. She loved her fellow ladies, but after being stuck in a carriage for so long, well she needed some time to herself. So she decided to go exploring the castle. Perhaps she would meet someone interesting.

 

[Adira]

Mary was startled by the sudden presence of her fiancé. Taking in his imagery for the first time in many years, it seemed he had finally grown into those broad shoulders of his. "Ah Prince Jehan, what a pleasure it is to see you again, my you have grown quite handsome if it isn't to bold of me.." She added with a slight bow to her fiancé, respect was to be given at all times. Even if she was a Queen. "How has life been?" She asked him and turned her head to Jules, "Ah Okay Jules sleep well." She said as she waved and then looked to the rest of her ladies. "Ladies, if you'll excuse us.." She asked and looked back to Jehan. "Are the gardens still as lovely as I last remember?"

 

[Mundane Monster]

At the appearance of Mary's future husband, Fiona couldn't help taking a few appraising glances. She was only a young girl but she knew a handsome fellow when she saw one, and the Prince of France was definitely a handsome fellow. At the dismissal of her lady, Fiona let out a quiet and teasing "Ooooh~", she would have made a kissy face, but even the 'ooh' was a bit much while being in the presence of the prince. So instead, Fiona curtsied and began turning away. "Yes, my lady. I'll go retire to my roo--"At the grumbled of her stomach, Fiona halted and changed course. "the kitchens." And with that the girl quickly went in search of a meal.