Three Twisted Knots

Three little maids from school are we
Pert as a school-girl well can be
Filled to the brim with girlish glee
Three little maids from school

Everything is a source of fun
Nobody’s safe, for we care for none
Life is a joke that’s just begun
Three little maids from school 

Three little maids who, all unwary
Come from a ladies’ seminary
Freed from its genius tutelary
Three little maids from school
Three little maids from school

One little maid is a bride, Yum-Yum
Two little maids in attendance come
Three little maids is the total sum
Three little maids from school
Three little maids from school

From three little maids take one away
Two little maids remain, and they
Won’t have to wait very long, they say
Three little maids from school
Three little maids from school

Three little maids who, all unwary
Come from a ladies’ seminary
Freed from its genius tutelary
Three little maids from school
Three little maids from school

-Gilbert & Sullivan, The Mikado

I showed Aoibheann, Gabrielle, and Rachel the bathing pool. Gabrielle and Rachel had come through either the previous night, late, or that morning; I was unclear. Both were in serious need of a bath, so I used the opportunity to tell one of the servants to provide me with three identical dresses, because it would be such fun to dress alike with Aoibh and Rachel, just like we were friends from school. That’s where the Mikado song comes in: once I’d thought of this plan, I couldn’t get it out of my head. Even Aoibheann (that sounds funny when you say it together) didn’t mind being in the bath, I guess because she couldn’t imagine people looking at her if she couldn’t see them. And besides, nobody worries about other people seeing you naked in the sithen: it’s just not important. Aislyn even came in with us after a while, though she looked unhappy to be sharing the spring with Rachel.

I shouldn’t have, but Aoibheann was so beautiful I have sketched her from memory. She’s not here as an illustration, more as just a study. I’ve made sure nothing is really showing, though I didn’t properly trace the swell of her hip. I’ll try her again sometime and get her right.

After the bath, I took Aoibheann off to get her dressed. I had to make her wait for a while, because it took forever for the servant to get the dresses together. Luckily, Aoibh couldn’t see what was going on, so I just put her in dress after dress, telling her they didn’t fit right, until the girl finally came with the right one. And of course it had to be fiddly, so Aoibheann with mightily pissed off with me by this point. I barely got the second arm ribbon tied before the physically broke away from me and just stumbled out of my room. I knew nothing could hurt her in the sithen, so I put my own dress on and put Rachel’s dress in a package so I could give it to her when I came back out. This whole thing was meant to take a few minutes, but it ended up being like three hours because the servant girl couldn’t get the arm ribbons straight and we ended up just laughing our asses off about that.

When I came out in my dress, Tristan the elf guy was there, and Nathaniel — the guards had let him in. Rachel reminded me about her dress, so I handed her the package and just waited for the lulz!

Rachel actually bitched about me putting her in pastels again! She looked amazing! I really think purple is a great colour for her.

Things were going really well — everything was fun and lighthearted despite the circumstances outside — until Val showed up. She asked to speak to Nathaniel, sent two little Cait sidhe over to hang out with Aoibheann, and asked the Prince for assistance as she was bringing her cait into the battle that would surely be fought soon with the big giant hand (did I mention the earthquake was caused by a big giant hand sticking through the earth?) sticking through the earth, to which something more must be attached.

It all went a little sour when she addressed Rachel as “demonling.” Now, half the time, she calls Aoibh and Nathaniel and me “kittens”, so I thought little of it. I know she calls us that sometimes when she’s irritated, but she also calls us that when she’s being super affectionate and motherly. The idea that it might be an insult would never occur to me. But Rachel, who kept telling me that Valene had kidnapped her twice, once as herself and once possessed by her mother, the carrion crow. Rachel demanded that Valene use her name, and Val responded in true Val fashion, telling her she’d use a name when Rachel earned a name, and for now she would be “demonling”.

Rachel stalked off, spitting insults. Her magic raised a wind around her that she couldn’t seem to stop. I shouted at her to take some deep breaths and try to calm down: she was out of control and there was no way she was going to be in control of magic if she wasn’t in control of herself. That seemed to help a little bit. Prince Blaise took her behind the trees, I hope to tell her off for being an asshole to Cait Sidhe royalty in the Seelie Sithen and also for using destructive magic.

A lion, who I suspect was the animal form of one of the sidhe, came by to inspect the cait kittens, and I had to explain to Aoibheann what a lion was. I think at this point she was just exhausted and overwhelmed from using different senses and having her usual ones taken away, so she asked me to take her to bed. She wouldn’t let me help her with anything; I hope she’s not too angry. I’ll have the servants send her a dress more suited to her personality in the morning.

I put Nathaniel to bed as well — now I can’t remember if he or Aoibh went first, but it must have been — no, I can’t remember. I went back to bed with Nathaniel, but when it was time to sleep, I couldn’t sleep. I was all wound up from the day, so I went out to walk around in the sithen. I met the Prince as he was coming home from some meeting or other and he suggested we have a talk. I think he thought I was upset because I couldn’t sleep, and maybe I was. I think there was just too much going on for me to quiet my mind. Anyway. We sat in the spring for ages, and he gave me a foot rub and asked me about magic, and I told him about that time I aced a test I hadn’t studied for because I visualised a book I’d never read. He said I might be a seer, but then he seemed not to think very much of that and kept pressing me to think of an element I liked. I finally said water, because we were in water, and the ocean calms me down, and I like to swim. So then he made me try to move the water. At first I went really slowly, trying to work with the water, and I made a wave on the rock. But he said that was the slow way and told me to try to make a splash where we were. It didn’t make much sense to me, but I put my hand down and just tried to think it, if that makes any sense. And, sure enough, I made three little bubbly splooshes come up. It wasn’t even that hard, but I know being in the sithen makes it easier to do magic: Lady Siansa told me that. Then, the Prince said, OK, that was the medium fast way and asked me if I wanted to know the fastest way to make a splash. I said sure. He told me to look down and get my face really close to the water. I had a bad feeling about this — I had older cousins once, you know — but I did it anyway, because maybe he was serious. And then of course he wasn’t and he splashed the shit out of me and I got water up my nose and splashed him back and we laughed a lot. Then he had to go to bed, and I went to bed too, in the safety of the sithen, with Nathaniel. I can’t think why I was unable to sleep before. What better combination could there be?