Catherine, Beloved Queen I
Queen Catherine, come back to court! Queen Catherine come back to court!"
As if a strong gust of wind, the words followed her out the rooms where she had just done battle for her marriage, pushing her onwards until her feet steadily trod the path leading back to her chambers. Catherine's gaze rose to the sky; the clouds had gathered force during the time she remained inside. Very soon it would rain, and for several heartbeats she found herself rent anew with another kind of ache- the ache for home, and the warmth of Spain.
'But this too is my home', Catherine savagely thought, while within she shook herself, stopping the flow of memories from a much earlier time, from a time before her sixteenth birthday. She quickened her pace, looking around the grove of ancient oak trees, beginning to hint at the return of spring.
'How can I not think of England as my home when so many of my children, and so many of my hopes lay buried here.'
Catherine's long years of training kept her stride regular, her back straight, her shoulders square. But when she entered her room, and the last of her two trusted ladies, the women who had accompanied her on this awful day, had shut fast the door, Catherine's Queen's mask crumbled. Near the huge hearth, where the embers burned low, she sat down on a chair, bent her head and cried.
The tears stopped almost as soon as they began, for Catherine remembered the two women who stayed near, witnessing her sorrow. Verily, when she raised her eyes she saw them standing together, gazing at one another as if unsure of what to do - so unused were they to seeing their Queen in tears; she wasn't Isabella the Catholic's daughter for nought. Catherine inhaled a deep breath, while wiping more unbidden tears from her eyes.
"My dear friends, please forgive me. This day has been difficult." The two women gave a brief curtesy, one of them moving to a near table where she picked up a brush, coming over to Catherine.
"Your majesty, my dear Queen, would you like me to brush your hair? I know how much pleasure that gives you."
Catherine gazed at the woman, experiencing some surprise to see tears on the woman's cheeks. She swallowed - at least here she knew herself loved.
"That is a very kind thought- aye, verily, why not? It might help keep in check this headache of mine."
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