Dragoncat's Ramblings

“Judith, I don't know how to do this.” Collin tapped his pen on the side of the paper. Giselle rolled her eyes and huffed beside him.

Judith looked at the paper. “You know how to do basic geometry. You know how to find the area of a rectangle. You can't pull the wool over my eyes, young man. Your father tried and failed.”

Collin snapped his mouth shut.

“To tell the truth, and this is between you and me,” Judith lowered her voice. “Your father was barely passing. If the war hadn't started I'm not sure he would have graduated.”

Giselle gasped and almost knocked her books off her desk. “No, you're kidding.”

“Most days he was too busy lollygagging. And getting into everybody's business but his own.”

“That's not what he told us.” Giselle said.

“I spent enough time around him that I figured out what came from his mother, who I already knew, and what came from his father.” Judith walked between the twins' desks and stood there. “Giselle, you got one of the triangles wrong. Remember the hypotenuse goes from the point to the middle of the longest side.”

Giselle whined and scratched the mistake out.

Holst walked in followed by Hilda, who was holding a tray of cookies. “Good afternoon, Judith,” he said. “You're not being too strict on these kids are you?”

“It's spring break and she's making us do math.” Collin protested.

“Can't we do history or social studies instead?” Giselle asked.

Hilda put the tray of cookies on the table near the desks and walked back out.

“Okay, pop history quiz!” Judith grabbed a pad of paper and pen. “Holst, you can participate too. Kids, if your uncle gets more correct answers than both of you combined, you're studying for another hour. If not, you can go out to Derdriu and walk the town. Get ready! Okay! During the founding of the Adrestia Empire, the sky dragon Seiros had a human champion, Wilhelm. Wilhelm and his wife's first born was named?”

“Lysander?” Collin guessed.

“Lycaon.” Holst said.

“One point for Holst! Who was Claudia von Riegan?”

Giselle slammed her fist on the desk. “Influential figure in the Crescent Moon War, became archduchess, and an ancestor of mine!”

“Grandma would have named Dad Claudia if he was a girl!” Collin added.

Judith smiled. “It's tied now! Name the Gautier margravine who led Faerghus against Sreng in 895!”

Holst scratched his head. “Zoe?”

“Oh, Laetitia Zoe Gautier.” Collin said.

“Should I give your old uncle a half point?”

“No!” Both twins shouted.

Judith snickered. “Two to one, kids' advantage.” She grabbed an hourglass. “Flash round! Name all twelve crests that come from Nemesis and the Ancient Elites! Go!”

“Riegan! Daphnel!” Giselle shouted.

“Goneril!” Holst added.

“The Beast, now known as Maurice!” Collin whooped. “Blaiddyd! Gautier!”

“Gloucester!” Giselle added. “Charon!”

“Oh, Flames.” Holst said.

Giselle nearly shot out of her seat. “Lamine! Fraldarius!”

“Dominic!” Collin added.

The hourglass ran out of sand. “That's eleven to two,” Judith said. “Holst needs to go back to school.”

“I could have gotten more. They were rapid fire.” Holst smiled.

When the twins decided to go to different shops in Derdriu and separated, Judith pulled Giselle aside at the cafe. “I want to give you some advice away from your brother. Woman to woman.”

Giselle blinked and took a seat.

“It's about the roundtable. Things that I didn't even teach your father. I'm sure you're aware, but a woman on the roundtable won't be taken seriously as much as the men. It's wrong, but it's the way it is.”

“They have to, Dad has named me next in line to lead House Riegan.”

“They might respect you to your face. But behind your back they'll expect you to marry one of their sons and pop out heirs and then they'll see you only as a wife and mother.”

Giselle thought about a certain handsome Gautier boy. The food arrived and she poked at her pasta.

“Landon was trying to court me,” she said. “I figured his dad was encouraging him to do so. He didn't seem into it. I intimidate him.”

Judith smiled. “Atta girl. You need to be intimidating.”

“But House Riegan is important, so it will need to live on. I don't mind continuing it, but it will be with a man I love and trust and on my own terms. House Daphnel...Judith, what's your plan?”

“I will train a successor. I'm too old to bear children. But we're straying from the topic.” Judith took a bite of her garlic bread. “You need to know they're going to talk behind your back. Don't let them intimidate you, you keep intimidating them as much as you can. Don't take their bait. Be tactful and tell them off without swearing as much as possible, lest they label you the 'angry vulgar woman'. Keep going into that room with confidence and, to be blunt, bigger balls than they have, yours are displayed proudly on your chest.”