So I've been bad about writing things lately. I'm in school again and the amount of time I have for extra things like reading, writing, and jewelry making has drastically decreased. So I decided to do a little exercise in comparing and contrasting. Yay!
Lord Ashley’s Dilemma
The Lord Ashley looked quizzically over his glass of scotch eyeing the two young ladies sitting across the room with their heads bent over a piece of artwork they were admiring. As he watched them his feelings became more and more muddled. They had both come into his house as prospective brides but the two ladies couldn’t be more different.
How was he to choose between them? He thought to himself. One was as fair as a clear winter morning. Complete with a frosty complexion that shone in a uniquely pleasant way, sparkling and beguiling. She was perfect. With her halo of fair hair that fell just past her shoulders and emitted a faint reddish glow when seen in a certain light. Her eyes were equally as beautiful. They were an icy blue that glimmered when she laughed as she was doing now. He could feel the corners of his mouth twitch upward as he thought about those eyes and how they made him feel when they laughed because of him. He sighed as the sound of her laughter filtered through the quiet room like a tinkling of tiny bells.
She was his Winter Queen, as glorious as a freshly frosted morning and just as warm, which is to say she wasn’t. Despite her beauty Lord Ashley’s winter queen was a cold as could be. She rarely spoke to anyone beneath her station with anything less than disdain. She acted as though the world was her playground and everything in it belonged to her. What she wasn’t given she would just take. With her radiant smile she could coax money from a beggar, take candy from babies and seduce any man whether he was inclined toward women or not.
Lord Ashley’s gaze focused on his Winter Queen as she studied the back of her hand with some determination. She glanced up at him and smiled. This smile, however, was not the sweet smile that she turned on so many unsuspecting victims but the smile of a predator. She was born with a title but little money and he had plenty. It was for this reason he knew she was here. Lord Ashley admired her ambition and knew that she would look good standing next to him for the rest of his life, there was nothing the two of them couldn’t do and that thought thrilled him.
The other lady was quite different from the first in many ways, if the first was his Winter Queen than the second was a warm Summer Breeze. She was shorter and looked rather plump sitting next to the Winter Queen but not unpleasant. She had long hair that curled delicately as it fell. He noted with some surprise that her hair, which was a warm tawny sort of color, was the exact same shade as his scotch. The thought made him smile. Her eyes were also blue but with touches of green mixed in. Not that muddy brownish green that so many people have but a deep sea green that made him feel like if he was not careful he could loose himself in their fathomless depths. She had a light dusting of freckles across her nose and a dimple on the right side of her mouth when she smiled. Though not classically beautiful, he thought, there was something about her that unsettled him, or maybe that was the scotch.
At that moment there was a knock on the door and his new page boy tumbled in bearing what could only be the long awaited correspondence from his younger brother who was currently serving in the Kings army. The boy looked to be about eleven years old though not even he knew his real age. When he showed up on Lord Ashley’s doorstep only the day before begging for a job he was dirty, bruised, hungry and covered in lice. The boy who stood before him now proffering the letter was, after much consternation on the lads part; clean, fed and although still bruised was no longer covered in lice.
The young boy shook, whether from excitement or fear no one knew. Lord Ashley excused the boy and as he turned to leave he tripped over his own feet and landed head first into the table knocking over the bottle of scotch which splattered all over the two ladies.
The Winter Queen gasped and began frantically wiping at her skirts which were far less soaked in the precious scotch than the skirts of the Summer Breeze.
“Lord Ashley I demand that you dismiss this boy at once.” The Winter Queen shrieked.
“Please ma’am I have no where to go” The lad pleaded reaching out to grab her skirt.
“Get off of me you good for nothing piece of trash” She yelled as she kicked the lad squarely in the ribs causing him to whimper and curl up in a ball before she stormed from the room shouting for a maid servant.
Lord Ashley watched her go, the letter from his brother lay forgotten on his lap. It took a few moments to remember that although the Winter Queen had left he was not alone. Slowly he turned his head back to the lad who no longer lay curled in a ball on the floor but sat sobbing into the shoulder of his Summer Breeze. She ran her had down the lads back as she made soft soothing sounds telling him everything would turn out right.
“But the Lady…” he sobbed.
“Pay her no mind.” The Summer Breeze said “she never learned how to be kind.”
This woman, Lord Ashley thought didn’t need his money she had enough of her own. She was not in his house to become rich or gain status. She didn’t mind holding a penniless boy with no family in her arms as he cried; in fact it seemed she rather enjoyed it. It was then that he realized that she didn’t need him. How could that be? He wondered. How is it that this woman who could remain unmarried if she wished was here on his sitting room floor soaked in his best scotch holding a weeping lad?
The boy’s voice interrupted Lord Ashley’s musings
“But I canna loose my job. I’s doing so well.”
“You will not loose your position in this household. Do you hear me?” Summer Breeze said as she looked up and determinedly to meet the Lord’s eye. Her gaze was direct and beautiful as her eyes held him captive and it was in that moment that he knew he’d rather spend his days in summer than glory in the beauty of winter.
