The Fae World: Earth: Finula: Arranged…

[k_a_webb]

It shouldn’t have come as a surprise, but it did. Finula managed to get through the handfasting and the party afterwards easily enough. There was so much going on that she did have to spend much time with the man her father had chosen for her, although he did always seem to be by her side. She wasn’t entirely certain how he’d managed it, or that she appreciated it, but it did tell her what sort of husband he was going to be. Her sisters had told her that was what would happen – if it hadn’t been for their support she wasn’t sure she would have been able to deal with everything and she still had the hardest part to go.

Consummating the handfasting wasn’t difficult because Finula was a virgin. She’d never had any issues with sex and her partners had all been… interesting, even if they weren’t necessarily good in bed. The difference was then it had been her choice. Her father had been the one to chose her husband, she hadn’t met him before the actual ceremony, and when she did she realised exactly why he’d been chosen. Instead of someone young, someone her own age, her father had picked someone his age, to teach her what he thought she needed to know, because being on Earth, being taught at a school that was mixed, meant that she wasn’t the person he wanted her to be.

Of course it didn’t matter to him that Finula was the person she wanted to be. It was what he wanted that mattered, because he was her father… and he seemed to think that meant she should always accept his point of view as the true one. Fortunately she had been to a school where she was taught by people who knew what the actual truth was. All she had to do was spend ten years with the husband that had been chosen for her and then she’d be free, then she’ll have done her duty to her family, so she could pick her own husband, if she even wanted one after the first. All she knew was that the handfasting had been created in order for her father to cement an alliance, but she wasn’t certain with who or why.

As Finula studied him, trying not to make it too obvious even though she was certain he felt her eyes on him, she attempted to work out why her father had chosen Orion. It was something she would have talked to her sisters about, if he hadn’t been hovering the whole time, but he had, so it was down to her to come to some sort of conclusion. She knew he wasn’t the sort of man she would have chosen herself. He looked older, like he’d been through the same sort of things her father had, which made her think he was probably just as hidebound. All of her previous boyfriends had been her age, taught at the school, and with an understanding of everything that had been kept from them by parents who didn’t want to believe the truth – and now she probably had a husband who would act in exactly the same way.

“Would you like to ask me the question you’re pondering the answer to, Finula?”

Tempting as it was to shake her head she decided to do just that. “Why did Father choose you?”

“Before we travelled to Earth we were friends. We had been for decades, from the time our fathers chose us the same mentor, and it’s a friendship that, somewhat surprisingly, didn’t fade away when we got here, even though we’re very different people now. I’m not entirely certain why he chose me as your husband – honestly I thought I was probably the last person he’d chose, but obviously I was wrong.”

“My sisters’ husbands were all picked purely due to their family.” Finula bit her lip. “I’m the youngest of that group, Father won’t be having any more children for at least another decade, and I thought he would use me to do the same thing.”

“Your father contacted me a month ago. I lost my wife before Willow took over as the ruler of our people and I feel she made the best choices for us, when her father was busy burying his head in the sand, which is something we argued about numerous times, but it’s never been so bad between us that either of us walked away. Even though your father knew I’d said I’d never have another wife he asked me to handfast you, because he wanted you to have the right husband, which he seemed to truly believe was me. I’ve never heard him so earnest and uncertain, as he tried to convince me it was time to let go of my grief.” Orion sighed. “I still don’t think he was right.

“In the end I agreed because he’d been my friend for so long and he seemed to desperately want me to be your husband. When I tried to get him to explain why he wanted it to be me so badly he wouldn’t explain, but I’ve been thinking about it a lot since then and I have a theory. Before we travelled to Earth, long before, your grandfather was trying to decide between two possible husbands for one of his daughters, but then there was another offer. It was a good one as well and that was the one he chose…” Orion shrugged. “For a while it seemed like a good match. Everyone was pleased, apart from your father’s sister, but she wouldn’t tell anyone apart from me what the issue was, as there had been a time when it seemed like the two of us would have ended up together, until that final offer appeared. Their relationship was violent, he had rages that would last for days and when he did he would blame everything on her, and when she showed me the bruises I went to your grandfather to tell him what was happening.

“Nothing happened. The handfasting continued on, even though it didn’t have to, and she ended up dead, after one of his rages. He was arrested, her diary was used as evidence in his trial, and he was left on Kalinia when we walked away, because the only people Willow chose not to bring with her were the criminals. I’m glad she didn’t, I’m glad he died there and I will never have to see him again after what he did, and I can’t help feeling just as glad that your grandfather lost his life there, too, as he didn’t do anything to help her when he could have done. I think your father got an offer in the same way, which worried him, so he decided he would choose someone he knew, rather than make the sort of mistake your grandfather did.”
For a moment all Finula could do was stare at him. “Father’s never said anything about that before.”

“Would you like to talk about it?”

“No, I don’t suppose I would.” She sighed. “Yet he married my sisters off in order to strengthen alliances.”
“The one thing your father has never been is consistent. He hated your grandfather for what he did, but that doesn’t stop him from clinging onto the lessons he learnt when he was a boy, as though they’re some sort of life raft. I thought he’d change when we came here, but he didn’t. Being here seemed to make everything harder for him.” Orion bit his lip, which made him look younger than he was, and Finula could easily believe he was handsome once. “With your sisters it might have been easier. He was strengthening alliances with people he knew and could trust. For you it became different when that offer came in, because he suddenly realised he might end up choosing someone he didn’t know well enough to be certain that you’d be safe with them.”

“I never thought my safety was something that would have crossed his mind when he was working out who to sell me to.”

“Finula, it’s not that simple. To you it may seem that way, because you’ve never had to pick someone to handfast your child after seeing more than one go very wrong, but for us… I don’t know how to explain it in a way that you’d understand. Until the time comes that you’re in the same position it would be impossible for you to and I hope that you never do, as it means that you’ll have lost someone because your father or one of your friends’ fathers made the wrong choice.”

“My friends’ fathers wouldn’t arrange a marriage for them, as most of my friends are mixed bloods, or half breeds as Father likes to call them, and they can all make their own choices. I knew I was never going to be that lucky, not with my first marriage, but once this is done I don’t owe him anything any more.”

Mirrored from K. A. Webb Writing.

Comments

Feedback

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

>> but she wasn’t certain with who or why. <<

That should say "with whom" above.