�Don�t pout, Xandra. It isn�t pretty,� said Nerys as she crochets a baby shirt. As if any man would want to mate with a hag like her!
�What would you know of pretty? I�m not pouting. I�m sulking, and men find it desirable,� she said.
Nerys smiled softly at the girl�s naivety. She was happy for the punishment. Although close quarters with Xandra for days on end would be tiresome. However, maybe a look at the outside world would help the girl�s personality before they carted her off to the King of Cyra on her 18th year.
�Look. The outpost,� said Nerys.
�Oh yeah, a bunch of wood and mud!� she exclaimed annoyed. �You don�t honestly expect my handmaids to be able to clean a house made of dirt, do you? You know how long they�d have to sweep a floor made a dirt. Do you? However, will they have the strength to do my hair?"
True, thought Nerys. It must take a lot of effort to get her hair to look so utterly ridiculous. At the moment Xandra had pink hair, the color pink of a sunset. With the aid of horse marrow, fine silver thread, and wire they managed to make it stand almost six inches off her head in a great puff then create eight little bun hearts with streaming ponytails bursting out at the ends of each heart dyed navy blue. Each bun heart contained a big sapphire in the center and streamed in a net over her outlandish puff was lace and pearls.
Xandra was beautiful with the delicate little nose and big gold eyes that were much in favor of the court at the moment. Her cheeks were rouged to make them appear sunken as well as high. Her face painted to a deathly pale white. Her eyelids were painted in navy blue clear up to her eyebrow. Her own eyelashes were replaced with the red hair of a fox�s tail, impossibly thick and long they swept out at the end to form like a moth�s antenna. She had many courtiers in the court. She was the envy of all the women, even the daughter of the first wife.
Nerys herself was plain. She had strawberry blonde hair that paled to silvery white in the summer, that she kept long and only took to messing with when it was a special occasion. As now was, she was moving in with her husband, Caden. Her one friend in the court. An ally she missed terribly while he was away at the academy. Many saw their love as true love, due to their close friendship and all the letters they sent back and forth while he was in the academy. It hurt that he was ridiculed so much for his current jump in rank and his marriage to the ugly daughter of the king. He took it all in stride but she knew him inside and she knew it hurt him deeply. For the occasion, she wore her hair in a series of braids that were clasped on the back of her head in a copper ornate hair piece that sent the loose ends of the braids sticking out in varies directions, which she had dyed a midnight blue which was Caden favorite color. It was impulsive the dying and she hoped that she didn�t look foolish to make her hair so rich with a face so plain as hers. She looked like a pagan wench with her heart shaped face with its full cheeks and small chin. Unlike her sisters, who were teased for their attempts, she didn�t paint her face and rouge her cheeks to look nobler. It was too much of a bother; she would rather being reading about the great military strategies of the current age. The reason she loved Caden was because most men shunned and laughed at her but he respected her knowledge. She dare say that he even respected her. Although, he did tease her and tell her she should smile more for it was the most beautiful smile in the world. She blushed a little wishing it was true.
�Oh my! Is that a pig? Ewwww... I think I may faint!� screeched Xandra, waking Nerys from her thoughts. Nerys looked out the carriage window and smiled at the little boy herding a pig three times his size with a stick. She smiled wistfully and returned to her crocheting.