A Kingdom of Smoke and Steam ;; Emma and Logan
ā ā The fog clung to the captainās heels as he paced back and forth on the bow, eyebrows pulled tight together and moustache limp and disapproving. In the distance, he could see Bowerstone Docksāwell, he could not see it so much as see the fog and smoke that enveloped it, as it always did, as it had for Avo only knew how many years. Ā Long before Logan, though his reign, hisā¦ dedication to production, innovation, ( pollution ), definitely aggravated it.
Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Loganās reign, to be sure, aggravated many things, most of them being people; his father, Sparrow, the Hero King, had set high expectations butĀ these conditions were just monstrous; children forced to work, people starving, bandits running rampant, and the way Albion wasĀ isolated. No one could tell if Logan was trying to keep something inā¦ or keep somethingĀ Ā Ā Ā O Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā U Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā T.
ā¦and the bloodyĀ guards. The captain couldnāt stand them, especially not on his shipāgranted, he was transporting some important woman. Apparently. She didnāt look so important to him:Ā awkward, with simple clothes, brown hair, always with her nose in a book. She smiled too much, too. Obnoxious. Nobody in Albion smiled anymoreā¦ save perhaps the princess.
āBut this, ah, what was her name? Emma. Emma Ravenhearst would stop smiling soon enough.
She was to be a tutor to the princess ( heād sent a royal missive to some womenās school across Skormās creation, and theyād decided to send their youngest teacher ) and anyone working in such close proximity to King Logan was bound to know misery almost immediately. The captain had never met the man ā he just piloted his ships ā but heād heard that he was terribly frightening, face covered in scars, always ordering people about as if they were slaves. Heād heard stories about him executing innocent workersā¦ they said that if he gave you a certain look, you knew you were next.
Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā ā¦Of course, Miss Ravenhearst would hear none of that. Another obnoxious thing about herāsuch optimism! Heād never seen anything like it. But now it was too late to turn āround and send her backāthey were docking.
Princess Cecily was rarely allowed outside castle grounds, but afterĀ begging Ā her brother, sheād convinced him that she should be the one to greet her new tutorāand, hopefully, new friend. She was so lonely, and though she had great mentors and caretakers among the palace staff, she had only one friend her ageāElise, the daughter of a nobleman, on whom Cecily was particularly sweet.
āThe wharf had been blocked off so that no civilians could get it, though many of them would have liked to see the princess who, as the ship docked, could barely contain her excitement. Though she was surrounded by guards, she was able to see Emmaāand likewise, Emma could see her.
She was a girl of about sixteen with a curvaceous figure ( at least in her top halfāshe didnāt have much hip ) and a strong jawātall and lean, she was one of those teenagers who you could tell would grow into a striking adultā¦ and her smile wasĀ rather dazzling. It didnāt fit at all with the horror stories the sailors had been telling about the royal family, to be sure.Ā
Once Emma was close enough, Cecily broke free from her brotherās guards ( herĀ babysitters ) to greet her.
ā¬ ā "Hello! Welcome to Albion, My Lady," she said politelyāher voice was rather more sultry than one would expect, but sweet and soft nonetheless.
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