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The king and queen called Ute and her Marines in Waiting to the
Great Hall. "Ladies, we have some
sad news to tell you. It appears that the
entire civilized world... let's
rephrase that, all the
countries we've ever heard of... have allied against us with one
demand, and one demand only: that Ute marry one of their princes. Any one of them, but if she doesn't choose one, they will
destroy the kingdom, and Prince Sherman will take her by
force."
There arose an
angry ruckus as
dozens upon dozens of
sprited young women who were never taught to be
seen and not heard all expressed their
indignation at once. The King, the Queen, the
men at arms couldn't quiet them. Ute had to
ascend the podium to calm them down. "
One at a time, Ladies, please!"
"I think... I think that I speak for all of us when I say... that we won't stand for this." said one of the Royal Elite Ladies in Waiting in a
small voice, because she didn't like talking in front of
crowds. She drew a breath, and said in a
larger voice: "They might take dear
sweet Ute. But only over our
cold,
dead bodies."
"
Yeah!"
"
Hear hear!"
"
Right on!"
"
You go!"
The Royal Marine Lady Corps in Waiting started
tossing their
helmets into the
air and creating a generally
unsafe situation, so Ute had to quiet them down again.
"My dear friends. My sisters. My
beloved comrades in arms. I'm sorry, I cannot let you all
perish because of me. I will
choose a prince and marry him."
The hall fell silent. The Ladies in Waiting that hadn't lost their helmets yet put them on, so nobody could see them
crying.
"
Permission to speak,
Ma'am." said the Lady Marine from before, her voice slightly
muffled by her helmet.
"Yes, what is it, Idath?"
"With all
respect, ma'am, it's our own lives we're choosing to
lay down, ma'am. It's not on your
orders, it's on the orders of our own..."
"
Stop.
Listen." interrupted Ute, before another
riot could break out. "My life is my own too, and I'm
choosing to spend the rest of it in
matrimony. This is what I want, I've decided. Really. So just
lay off. Prince Sherman is a fine
man, and I will have
breakfast with him in the
royal garden tomorrow morning. If any of you
kill him or do anything
foolish like that, I will be very
upset with you."
The Elite Ladies nodded
sullenly, but didn't
believe a word Ute said. The King and Queen wanted to believe her, and even they couldn't. Everyone
retired for the night feeling
powerless and
cowardly.
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This non-true mostly-finished story brought to you by:
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