Book 3 - Ravlyr

atalie all but ran out of the dining room, as soon as her host said dinner was over and dancing would start in the ballroom. She was furious, how dare he say such things to her, who did he think he was to make fun of her like that!

"Oh dear, I do wish she would walk more sedately, such an ungainly child, I shall never get her married, with her odd looks and being so unusually tall." sighed Patricia to Jacquilt. Jacquilt simply looked at Patricia knowing he need not say a word for her to keep talking. "I've tried to convince her to let me cut all the mess of hair she has but she absolutely refuses, she knows the style is short hair done up with ringlets, and my, my, when I mentioned she put a touch of rouge on her cheeks to give her color, since she looks like a pale corpse, she actually got angry at me." said the much put upon Patricia. Jacquilt was shocked, he looked at Lady Patricia, "You don't think Lady Natalie is an attractive woman?" Patricia tittered "why, of course she has a certain amount of charm, but as to being a beauty, I love my niece but she is too pale and that black hair only makes it worse, why, her bosom is so large I've had to make sure she keeps it tightly wrapped and only wears high necked dresses, I certainly don't want her to be mortified if some young man made a rude remark. I've told her repeatedly that she just has too much of everything to be attractive." Patricia flushed realizing what she had just said and quickly turned the conversation to how good the food at dinner had been. Natalie walked up to her aunt, "I would like to go home, Aunt Patricia, I have a splitting headache." Patricia pouted, "but the evening has just started and I do think that's Lord Barkley coming over to ask you to dance, he is a favorite of Natalie's you know," Patricia said the last to Jacquilt. Natalie smiled politely at Jacquilt, and turned as Lord Barkley came up beside her and took her by the arm. "I'm here to claim my dance, my dear Natalie." Lord Barkley said in his oily to sweet voice. Jacquilt watched Natalie shudder slightly as Lord Barkley's hand touched her, looking closely at her he also saw that she was close to tears, he could feel her headache pounding at her temples. Jacquilt sent a silent message to Rav "your lady is in genuine distress and could use a little assistance," Rav walked up quietly behind Lord Barkley, "ah Barkley, I'm surprised to see you still on your feet, I understood you to be feeling quite ill." Barkley looked at Rav, "nonsense I'm quite fit and more fit then some to give a good ride, if you take my meaning." he leered at Natalie, who was rubbing her temples but froze as she heard what Lord Barkley had said, she wasn't quite sure as to the exact meaning but the leer he gave her told her all she needed to know. Once again Rav looked at Barkley "you're quite pale, and seem to be sweating profusely, old man, you should be in your bed, with your physician at your side." Then said oh my with everyone else as Lord Barkley slumped to the ground in a dead faint. Turning to Lady Patricia, Rav smiled "I'm sure someone will pick him up and carry him home eventually." then he turned to Natalie "you seem to have lost your dance partner, allow me," but instead of leading her out to the dance floor, he guided her to a chair set behind a large group of potted palms. He said soothingly "sit down, sweet." Natalie who just wanted to close her eye's for a moment, sat down with a sigh. Rav stepped behind the chair and gently put his fingers on her temples, then started to rub in gentle soft circles. Her head leaned back against the chair and she let out another sigh, closing her eye's. No matter how outrageous the man was, his hands felt like heaven at the moment, she knew she shouldn't be allowing him such liberties but at this point she really didn't care, all she cared about was getting rid of the pounding in her head. She was amazed to feel her tight shoulders relaxing and her whole body seemed to let out a sigh of relief, the headache slowly slipping away. A few moments later her aunt found her and said they were going home, that she couldn't have Natalie coming down with something and missing all the important social events of the season. Natalie reluctantly got up out of the chair, she hadn't felt so calm and relaxed in ages. She started to say something to Rav when her Aunt Patricia smiled at Rav saying good evening, then she drug Natalie off to their waiting carriage. Talking the whole time about all the terrible maladies one can contract in a town like London. A pensive Jacquilt filled Rav in on his conversation with Lady Patricia at dinner and afterwards, still somewhat shocked that she thought her niece unattractive. Jacquilt was a solitary man, but still had an appreciative eye for beauty and Natalie was blessed with a great deal of it. Dressed properly, with her hair done right, she could out shine any lady in town. He had also noticed that she had a great deal of beauty inside, but hide it behind a cold biting exterior. Rav listened to Jacquilt feeling very annoyed with the flighty Aunt Patricia, he grinned at his old friend, "the lady Natalie has quite a temper when she dares to let it loose, its a start to getting those frosty walls of hers to crumble a bit." Raising an eyebrow Jacquilt asked Rav exactly what he had said to the lady to get her so angry she had come close to stabbing him with her fork. Laughing Rav told him everything but the comment he had made about being between her thighs. Jacquilt chuckled, over the years the rat story had become legend among the family. After Rav had retired for the night, Jacquilt sat down and wrote a long letter to his parents, Collin and Katrina. Every afternoon Rav and Jacquilt had taken to meeting Hank in the park, Rav and Hank sailed little boats in the lake, flew Hank's kite. On occasion Rav's friends would join them, they also had taken a liking to Hank. Jacquilt always brought a picnic basket, and soon had the satisfaction of seeing Hank putting on weight and filling out, color was showing on his cheeks and his eye's were not quite so filled with anger at the world.