Rachael Ross Archives

- - Approved for Public Release 112910

The Wisdom of Youth
by
Rachael Ross

Codes: SciFi-Fantasy, Romance, Incest (Brother-Sister)

Copyright 2010 Rachael Ross all rights reserved

When Yanko's wars were finished, the Crown Prince returned home as he'd promised. The ill-fitting uniform I remembered had been replaced. His tunic and breeches, the wide belt and scabbard, everything about him now seemed tailored to his confident maturity. I liked to imagine he'd worn his medals just for me, braved such dangers as I could scarce imagine only so I'd be impressed. And perhaps that's the truth of it, for he wouldn't tell me otherwise.

"I know you like it," Yanko whispered in my ear.

"I like you," I whispered back, playing my foot along his shin and enjoying the cool leather of his jackboot under my naked toes. I'd missed everything about him.

The Dark Court had assembled with much fanfare, of course. I'd watched Yanko parade through the streets by torchlight his ten thousand slaves, his sleds piled high with gold and ivory and brilliant silk. His captives for ransom were showered with rose petals, the princelings and their royal sisters lounging on litters while defeated generals marched with heads held high. Yanko had let them keep their honor and their swords. The ancient flags of proud regiments were unfurled and laid upon the stones at our father's feet.

Later, he presented me with an odd little beast on a silver chain. It had six legs and scales, delicate and soft and glittering like rare gems. I thought it entirely too beautiful for a cage and so I'd let it go, watching the creature disappear into the moonlit gardens. Yanko frowned and then laughed and finally stole a kiss that was already his.

==============

"I'm just glad you're home safe and sound," Mother said, leaning between us and pouring wine for her son. She'd waved the servants away, wishing to wait on her child as a mother should.

"I told you he would be." Father was being very unaffected about it like always, but I'd caught him up at night and unable to sleep. He'd walk the ramparts outside, looking toward the Imminence and then away with a frown. I'd often done the same and we were very much alike in that way.

"I'm fine, Mother." Yanko turned his head, catching her on the shoulder with his lips. "I was only wounded twice."

"What?" Her eyes widened above freshly florid cheeks.

"I'm joking." Yanko laughed and Mother looked ready to cry, actually.

"Don't be so cruel, Yanko." I might have giggled a little, but I was serious. "You're so juvenile sometimes."

"Watch your tongue, Jilly," Father said and then looked at Yanko. "A clean cut might have done you some good, I'm thinking."

"Yes sir." He drew a sigh and rolled his eyes, pale like our Mother's, and I kicked him under the table.

"So�" Mother had regained her color and we were all sitting down finally, eating together like we used to. "Are you going to continue your studies then?"

"Uh, well�" Yanko scratched at his handsome jaw. 

"That doesn't sound good," Father said around a sip of wine.

"�I'm just here for a visit, Mother." He looked at me and I looked back. "I thought I'd collect a few things, you know, and�"

"What? No! I don't know. What does that mean?" She blinked rapidly, stealing Yanko's attention away from me.

"I want to travel a bit," he said with his typical good humor. "Seek my fortune, that sort of thing."

"Make the Pilgrimage, eh?" Father would be okay. Being a man, he understood what Yanko was saying.

"The Pilgrimage? No, that's dangerous," Mother said. "And too far away. When did you decide this?"

"Not that far," I offered, but everyone ignored me and I didn't mind. This wasn�t really any of my affair, for the moment at least.

"I don't know," Yanko smiled at her. "When I was about eight years old?"

"I don't want you going anywhere," she said. "You just came back home!"

"I know, Mother, but�" he sighed. 

"He's grown up," Father said and we knew he'd talk to her later.

Yanko gave me a look and I just shrugged my eyebrows, we didn't have to say anything. This had gone about like we�d expected. Mother was pretty high strung and maybe our father was too, but he could handle it. He'd have to because we needed him on our side.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Someone had started a fire in the hearth for the first time in years, since Yanko had taken his commission and left us. The lights were dim with only a few table lamps burning, old ones with yellow glass blackened by soot. Unlike much of the castle, Father's study had been paneled in bloodstained oak, the walls adorned with huge tapestries and a great many books. It was a warm place and cozy despite its size and I remember curling up near my father's feet as a child and listening to his stories in that room. How he'd fought the Dragons of Iakke and saved the day, my brave father. My brave king. 

I�d curled up again, this time upon a thick leather chair, with one of Mother's golden shawls over my shoulders and wearing a modest nightgown. I felt comfortable and happy, gazing at Yanko and wishing he would glance at me. He did, occasionally, but this was between father and son now and like all good daughters, I could only wait upon their decision.

"So? You said you're back to get some things." Father poured a careful measure of rye into a glass.

Yanko nodded and I bit my lip, feeling annoyed with their patience.

"Any thing in particular?" Father asked slowly as he pushed the crystal tumbler towards Yanko with the back of his hand.

"Yes." He looked at the glass and nodded, waiting until Father picked up his own. 

"My son's my son til he gets him a wife," Father lifted his glass and turned to me, "but my daughter's my daughter all of her life."

The two men drank and I blushed prettily, turning my eyes downward and smiling, but inside my heart leapt at his words.

"I'm taking Jilly with me, Father," Yanko said, looking at his now empty glass and turning it over in his fingers. 

"Ask me for anything else," he replied.

"I love her." My brother put his glass on the bar and looked up. "She loves me. If we can't have your blessing�"

"You can't." Father put his glass down as well.

"�We ask for your love," Yanko continued.

"You'll always have that." Father reached for the bottle. "But your sister�" he poured slowly, "�I've longed for this day with dread in my heart."

"And with its arrival my dread doth depart," I smiled at him. "Would you see me unhappy, Father?"

"Of course not," he snapped.

"Then be happy with me," I continued, ignoring his obvious annoyance.

"Jilly." Yanko gave me a sharp look and I turned my head, hiding behind a veil of black hair. A woman should be seen and not heard in the company of men.

We were all very quiet for some time and Yanko walked to the mantle, reaching for our great-grandfather's rapier. I watched my brother closely and he was a magician with such things, an artist with a blade in his hand. None could stand against him and my brother did not pose with it, but merely examined the weapon. After a moment he kissed the jewel encrusted hilt before replacing it carefully.

The chief steward ushered a child into the room, one of the many in our household, and we watched and waited while he tended the fire. It crackled, fretting cinders up the flue and roaring back to life. The warmth was immediate and welcome. I gave the boy a smile which he returned after endearing me with his innocent eyes. He scampered quickly away, melting beneath the steward's disproving gaze and a frown that should have been mine alone. 

"Ten thousand talents," Father finally said, pushing the bottle towards my brother; he could fill his own glass now. 

"Twenty," Yanko filled his glass, "and the Sword of Erebus."

"Thirteen," Father cleared his throat, "and the Wisdom of Youth."

"I need the Sword."

"And you imagine I would sell it to you?" Our father smiled. "She's only a girl."

"She's only a daughter," Yanko answered. "You said so yourself."

"But the Sword�" Father looked at me with old grey eyes.

"Is Gillian's by right, Father," my brother said. "I'm only asking for what's fair, nothing more. If I were any other suitor�"

"She'll have it upon my deathbed," he decided and Yanko frowned, but didn't try to persuade the man further. "Fifteen, that's my final offer."

"And the Wisdom," Yanko insisted.

"And the Wisdom." Father extended his hand. "Agreed?"

"Aye." Yanko took it and I allowed myself a smile. The Wisdom of Youth was all we'd really wanted; the rest of my inheritance could wait.

"Your dowry is set, girl." Father looked at me. "You have a husband now."

"And where is my brother gone?" I asked with a pout and Yanko merely smiled at my flirtation. I rose gracefully and smiled back at him. "I'll wait for you upstairs, husband."

"Jilly�" Yanko stopped me.

�My Lord?�

"Wear something white," he said and I grew suddenly conscious of his eyes. I clutched the shawl closely between my breasts and licked my lips.

"As you wish," I said softly and then lowered my head. "Goodnight, Father."

"Goodbye, Gillian." He wished to embrace me one last time, I thought, and I left my father with that yearning.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

I walked across the room, but ran through the castle. I giggled as my bare feet slapped the stones, and gathered curious looks from the servants who were arranging the halls. The poor guards tried to ignore me as I danced past and around them, flinging my shawl this way and that. I took the grand staircase two steps at a time and flew into my bedroom, slamming the door behind me and leaning against it while catching my breath.

I was married.

Meredith stood near my bed, frozen in the act of lighting a lamp. I ignored her, losing the shawl from my shoulders as I went to my closets. I needed something white and virginal, something for my wedding night, and I frowned, looking through my clothes and not finding anything like I wanted.

"What are you doing?" she asked suspiciously, covering the flame and adjusting the wick.

"I've been wed." I looked at the woman over my shoulder. "What should I wear?"

"Wed?" Meredith blinked at me. "Wed to whom?"

"My brother!" I stuck out my tongue. She had been my nursemaid until I'd grown too old to suckle at her breasts, and she frowned at the news.

"When?" she asked, finally coming to her senses and moving quickly to join me.

"Tonight!" I giggled. "We must hurry! He'll be here soon. Will it hurt, do you think?"

"This one." Meredith ignored my question and retrieved a silk gown, white and shimmering like the crest of a falling wave.

"I hope it hurts," I decided, struggling with the clasp of my nightgown and throwing it impatiently over my shoulders. "Will there be blood?"

"Shush," she breathed, tugging at the linen as it fell down my slender body. "It'll hurt and you'll bleed and afterwards you'll cry. Is that what you want to hear?"

"You don't have to spoil it," I frowned. "Rouge my nipples�and my sex. He was in the army. He'll like that."

"Lift your arms," Meredith commanded. "You're no camp follower�"

"Paint me!"

"�you're a Princess," she snapped. "Act like one."

"I want to be a whore," I breathed, but the woman wasn't listening and I was soon wincing as she pulled the bodice tight.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

"I've never been in your bedroom," observed Yanko from the open doorway.

"Not for lack of trying," I retorted bravely, wishing to hide the terrible, wonderful nervousness I felt.

"May I come in?" he asked, and I laughed lightly, wondering how long he would wait.

"You tease me," I sighed, sitting and then laying upon my bed.

"It's still my father's house," Yanko said, "and you're still his daughter."

"Until you take me," I agreed. "Must I invite you in, husband?"

"I think so." He glanced at Meredith and she lowered her eyes, but only so much as custom required. She had a right to be there.

"Please," I cleared my throat. "Come in, sir. Would you like some wine? Meredith�"

"Mistress," the woman nodded, moving quickly to fill a goblet for my brother.

"He knew," Yanko said, stepping inside and closing the door behind him.

"He's always known," I shrugged and then smiled. "It's his house; the only secrets here belong to him."

"Even yours?"

"She's a woman, my Lord," Meredith answered for me. "Gillian has no secrets, only mysteries."

"Of course." Yanko smiled at the rebuke and accepted it with his wine. "Forgive me. I meant no insult."

The old woman sniffed at that and I laughed from my bed, gathering the silk of my gown and smoothing it carefully. There was a ritual to be performed, a protocol to be observed, and I watched and waited while Meredith undressed my new husband. Yanko's form had always pleased me, but now I found him sleek with new muscle and the wary grace of a predator. He'd been campaigning for many years and the deprivations of war must have suited my brother well, I thought somewhat unhappily.

Soon enough I forgot my petty jealousy and embraced a pain of much different, less subtle sort.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

"How long will it take?" I wondered.

"The Pilgrimage?" Yanko shrugged. "There's no telling."

"The maps we have are incomplete, Mistress," the captain explained. "Those who've made the journey and returned�"

"Refuse to speak of it," I sighed. "I know."

"Are you frightened?" asked my husband, and I shook my head emphatically.

"No," I answered, taking his strong hand in both of mine. "Merely curious, my Lord."

"Our father made the pilgrimage," he reminded me. "And his father before him."

"I know."

"I have to do this, Jilly."

"Yes," I agreed and pulled his palm to my flat belly. "And so your son will make the journey as well."

"Perhaps he'll be born there," Yanko suggested with a smile. He buried his face in my hair, kissing my neck so that I laughed. 

"Perhaps, my Lord," I whispered between kisses. He'd spoiled my disquiet completely and I pushed him away while the captain politely ignored us.

I let Yanko comfort me with his playful attentions. We were passengers now, pilgrims on the road to Jerusalem. To Earth and the rumor of a distant planet circling a far star on the edge of known space. We had no compass to point the way, no charts or maps to guide us, only our love and faith�and our ship, the Wisdom of Youth; her good captain and crew.

That would be enough.

The end

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