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“But that is wonderful news, Luella!” she exclaimed, clasping her hands together tightly.
“Would that mean that the arrangement would be void?’ I asked, willing my face to be as impassive as was possible. I did not want to tell her that the rain only lasted about a minute because I knew it could rain again tomorrow. And the next. And so forth and so on. Damn. Whatever curse there was could have been lifted already.
“Why do you think that?”
“Well, Metheus is supposedly here for farming. Would he want to stay now that he did not have any precious farmwork to do?”
My mother actually chortled.
“Why are you laughing at me? What is so funny about my question?”
“Luella, you almost make it seem as if we hired the prince to farm our lands.”
I narrowed my eyes at my mother. I knew she laughed at me for a different reason. She was simply scrambling for an excuse at that moment.
“But is that not what his purpose was?”
Suddenly, her face became grave.
“Yes, it is part of it. However, King Doro also wants his son to marry. He had not shown any interest in doing so.”
“So, are you saying he would have still sent his son here even if the drought had never come?”
“I would not have reached out, perhaps, and the king would not have a reason to give his son,” she conceded.
“Oh, I see.”
It seemed like King Doro would be fine with the marriage proceeding, but his son might protest against it now.
“What do you want to happen?” my mother asked softly. She rested the documents on her burnished wooden desk and placed her hands over them. It seemed she was prepared to listen to me. I swallowed, trying to manage the feelings rising inside me. I had never felt like a good daughter, having only brought shame to the domain.
“I am not sure,” I confessed as I finally sat down on the chair across the table from her.
“Luella, I must admit I do not know how Arrowspear royals deal with arrangements. A letter can reach within a week. Prozeus is not too far from the northern tip of their continent, but they might wait for more developments. However, good royals from anywhere would value their word of honor.”
I nodded.
“What you are trying to do, my dear? Get away from the arrangement or solidify it?”
My only response was silence because I was not sure.
#
“You are doing well, Your Highness!” Eli exclaimed, thrilled at how I had learned to dig the soil with a little spade. I felt like a little girl, trying to impress my friends. I had been helping the group till the soil since morning. Cora brought along food to serve as the midday meal. I felt liberated, free from the confines of the Great Hall.
I laughed. For a week now, the rain seemed to come at about the same time. A little drizzle. Then, it would stop.
The drought was still widespread. However, the inhabitants of Leiderman had somehow complained less. They were making do with whatever drizzle they got. I had Farmer David visit the southernmost kingdom to advise the residents to collect their water in barrels. I was not suddenly a fountain of farming knowledge. Razuku and Eli had given me some advice on irrigation. They advised finding ways to get water from nearby lakes and springs for the crops.
It was still muggy. The one-minute drizzle that came somehow cooled us off for those few precious seconds. Afterward, we were back to battling the heat. I had taken to using my oldest dresses for my afternoons at the farm. Francilia grumbled about how I was using more bathwater than usual because of my new outdoor activity. I reminded her that it would be better than me walking to the lake and stripping myself bare to bathe. That often quieted her. It amused and offended me in equal parts that she believed I could do just that.
Even Cora had warmed up to me a little. Or perhaps, it was I who warmed up to her? Of course, Prince Metheus was not there. So, she probably felt that it was safe for her to like me. Somehow. Another theory was that she was making me fat from her cooking.
“You still need the prince, you know, Your Highness,” Razuku suddenly said. His eyes flicked to my face and then back to the soil. He had just rested from plowing the soul. We were working on a strip of field a little further south than the one we went to with Metheus.
Somehow, he was right. We worked on the field for a few days, but it was still much dryer than the first one we visited with Metheus. That soil somehow moistened after Metheus touched it. Wait, that did not make sense at all. I shook the ridiculous thought off my head.
The two weeks were up. My mother said that she would be sending a letter to the king, saying that she would accept any change of heart. She planned to ask about what would happen to Razuku, Eli, and Cora. Would they need a boat to go home?
