The Dolls of 221B: Katherine of Carpenchia: Episode 1

Enjoy :).

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Elsie Abrilsson didn't think she'd ever been so nervous in her entire life.

Not even when her older brothers had all tried to wrestle her at once, mind. And not even when Tulip the cow had nearly taken off her arm. No. These were nothing combined to her queen and liege lying suddenly nearly dead, and her being sent to alert the queen's daughter - Princess Katherine. For Katherine was prone to moods, and Elsie was half afraid she would shoot the messenger, half afraid she would attempt something drastic. But nevertheless, it had to be done.

She banged on the door of Katherine's bedroom nervously. They were friends, the two of them, but the news of the inevitable death of one's mother is not news that one greets with joy and thanks the messenger for bearing.

"Hello! M'lady, Katherine!" Elsie shouted. "Open up!" Katherine was a notorious deep sleeper, but with her mother so ill of late Elsie wouldn't be surprised if the princess hadn't caught a single wink.

The door creaked open, and out peered the princess with a tired but pretty face and that notoriously red hair. "Elsie!" she gasped nervously. "Any news of my mother?? How is she doing?"

Elsie took a deep breath. "She requests your presence immediately."

Katherine nodded and came out into the hall, shutting the door behind her. "I will attend," she said.

They walked down the halls together in silence, the torchlight from the walls dancing on their faces. Elsie was scared for the queen and nervous for Katherine and near close to tears herself. Queen Illiandra had always been a kind mistress. She doubted any would have been as good.

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Katherine breathed in deeply as they entered the royal chambers. She tried to let the familiar smells of lavender and fruit calm the aching, tense muscles, but she couldn't.

Somehow, every detail of the room stood out to her that night. The ship on the dressing-table, which had been a valuable gift from a foreign ruler but with which her mother had let her play sailor when she was little nevertheless.

The painting of the man in his boat, fishing on a mountainside. When she was young, Katherine had always dreamt of going there to fish with the man in the boat. She imagined they would tell each other stories. He would tell her all about being a fisherman in a small fishingtown, and she would tell him all about being a princess.

And lastly, her mother's sword, propped up in the corner. It had belonged to Illiandra's mother before her and her mother before that and was a family heirloom. Illiandra had ridden into battle with it to defeat the Avaldorians at the beginning of her reign, but after that had declared she hadn't any taste for war or killing and had set it inconspicuously in a corner. Katherine had always dreamed about taking up the family mantle with it, but her mother had said no. Of all of Queen Illiandra's things, that was the only one Katherine was never allowed to touch.

And lastly, Katherine's eyes fell on her mother weak and limp in bed. Sweat shone on her pale face, and her chest gasped with ragged breathing. But all the same, famously beautiful, even in death.

Her mother had been like this for several days, but she looked paler, weaker, more resigned this time and somehow Katherine knew. Tears and anger rose up inside her like a volcano and she rushed to her mother's side, tears streaming down her unwashed cheeks. "No."

"My dearest," whispered her mother, turning to look at her. "My most precious flower. Darling, I'm-" she suddenly was cut off my a hacking fit, and could not regain her breath for several minutes - "dying."

"No," whispered Katherine. Words like But can't they make you better? and We'll heal you right away pounded inside her head, but she knew it would be no use to say them.

"Darling," coughed Illiandra. "In a few minutes, when I am gone, you will be Queen of Carpenchia. You will be a good Queen, I know it. Just follow the advice of Lady Elfrea, and-"

"Queen?" gasped Katherine. "But I'm nineteen, mother, I'm not properly trained yet!"

"And yet I would have you over anybody else," whispered Illiandra. "You will be a great queen. You must tend to your subjects, listen to their -" another coughing fit - "needs, and do not be slave to the Council. I love you, my flower, more than anything."

And with that, a last breath sighed from her lips as Queen Illiandra III of Carpenchia turned over and died.

Katherine's world was gone, the center of her universe shattered. She suddenly felt an overwhelming helplessness wash over her, and she didn't know what to do so she buried her face in her mother's arm and bawled - except this time there were no warm lavender-scented arms to wrap around her and tell her it was okay.

Elsie, meanwhile, also felt tears stinging her eyes and rolling down her cheeks. It would be improper for her to break down in such a situation, but she barely held it together.

At last, after what seemed like millennia, Katherine stood up. She wiped her eyes on her sleeve and thought, Mother would want me to be strong. She would not want me to be bawling like a newborn babe. So she said, "Call-ll the guards-s, and tell them my mother is d-" She swallowed, skipped over the horrible word, and continued, "And to t-take h-her away." She gasped. "Funeral arrangements will be made in the morn-morning."