[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.Lightlow s voice.Shelooked up toward the front of the room and hopped down off the high seat.Shecouldn t stop staring.The queen had arrived.Juele had never seen anyone so beautiful.Her Majesty, Queen Harmonia, lookedmotherly and kind, butat the same time, she was a vision of celestial glory.Under a crown offiligree gold set with sapphires, her black hair was coiled and shining.Herskin was silky and translucent in its perfection.And her eyes eyes were neverthat blue.Juele wondered if any of the queen s beauty could possibly beillusion, then chided herself for such an uncharitable thought.Hastily, sheforced her mind to think of something else, lest the notion make its way intoher thought balloons.With envy and wonder, Juele took in the details of thequeen s traveling gown, deep blue velvet to match her eyes, and embroideredwith gold and silver.Page 88 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlBehind the queen was an entourage of six.At the fore were two guardsmen inmatching livery carrying steel-tipped lances, followed by a pinched-facedmaidservant in bonnet and apron, a couple of ladies-in-waiting, and a man in somber black carrying a little satchel.Juele recognizedthe sort of bag and the metal device hanging about his neck, and realized hemust be the royal physician.In the coffeehouse and up in theIvory Tower Juele had heard conflicting rumors that the queen had chronicailments or that she was a notorious hypochondriac.She hated to believeanything uncomplimentary about such a perfect person.Perhaps the doctor was just for show.Juele hated to think the queen requiredhim any more than she needed the guards.The teacher clapped his hands. Back to work, all of you! Her Majesty does notwant to disturb you.She only wishes to observe. As if we couldn t see her, muttered Gretred.As if we weren t aware of her every movement, Juele thought, trying to keep from peeking at the beautiful vision walkingaround the room on a red carpet that unrolled itself before her feet.TheSleepers had certainly favored Her Majesty with their very best efforts.She was graceful, and she had a delightful little laugh.Everyone whispered among themselves or sent surreptitious little pictures toone another s desks about their impressions of the visitor, but they were alsoaware of the importance of how their assigned images would look.Juele spottedCal trying to enhance his red-and-black illusion of anger with a littleextra influence to cover the holes in his design. Concentrate, Mr.Lightlow boomed, his stick tapping down on Cal s table. Ifyou have any extra to give, why don t you use it on your regular assignments? Cal went scarlet with embarrassment and fury.At once, the blank parts of hisillusion filled in, but the whole thing had gone lopsided, instead of beingerect with righteous anger.Fuming, he rubbed the whole thing into a pool ofcolor and started over.The others tittered and bent over their own work to keep the teacher fromcriticizing it in front of the queen.It was hard to concentrate when one wasso aware of the royal presence.But a week in the IvoryTower in the midst of the crowd around the Idealists was training Juele toignore distractions.Firmly she put her mind back on her work, trying to shutout the fact that the queen was only a dozen feet from her.Biting her lip, Juele frowned at the image on her easel.The shape was comingalong nicely but the face wasn t forming to her satisfaction.No matter howmuch she tried to make the doll s mouth turn up, it turned down.She pickedout the stitches over and over again, but the little red arc kept tippingover.Oh, come along, Juele thought impatiently.You can t miss me that much.But it wasn t the doll s sorrow that was coming through her hands.It washer own. And what are you doing here? the queen s voice asked over her shoulder. Oh,look, the poor thing is frowning.What is this meant to represent? There wasn t time to redo it.Juele looked up.Her teacher was standing behindthe queen, with a strange expression on his face.Juele wondered hastilywhether she ought to scrub it all out or lie.She sighed. Homesickness, she admitted. My goodness, that s lovely, my dear.Look at the depth of feeling, and onsuch a tiny face, the queen said. You artists are so skilled at representingemotions you are not experiencing.Or, I hope not, my dear. She gave Juele a smile brilliant with understanding and put a kindly hand onher shoulder.Juele remembered that she had a daughter. Very nice. The handpatted softly, then lifted away.The queen moved on toGretred s easel, and the teacher trailed behind her. Ah, very nice. Was itJuele s imagination that HerPage 89 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlMajesty sounded less enthusiastic about her friend s work? No, certainly not.When Mr.Lightlow drew level with Juele, he held his fist out with his thumbup.A gold star appeared on Juele s desk.Juele sat staring at nothing, feeling a little kernel of warmth in the pit ofher stomach.The queenunderstood the feelings of a schoolgirl from a small town.Her Majesty waswholehearted with her compassion, not using it as the bait for a trap, likethe clique, or making her a specimen to be studied, like the Idealists.Shesaw Juele as an individual, not just one of millions of subjects.Juele feltbetter already.Now she had faced the fact that she was homesick.The fact that someone elsecared made it immeasurably easier to deal with it.She finished up herillusion and saw to her amazement that the doll s mouth had turned upward.Now, it looked contented.Chapter 14 Turn a little more this way, dear, Rutaro said, peering at Juele past hisupraised thumb.Obediently, Juele swiveled on her heel, trying not to drop thebasket of acorns she had balanced on her hip. That s it.Now, think immature, tender, young thoughts.You are the symbol of everlastinglife.Renewal.Springtime personified.Perfect.Now, hold it as long as youcan. The sunshine played on Juele s face and bare arms.She was wearing a palegreen, gauze tunic bound with a tie that crossed between her small breasts andtied around her waist, and left her shoulders bare.The light skirt was barelylong enough for modesty, and she worried about playful passing breezes liftingit.On her head was a crown of rosebuds that went well with that day spink-and-white complexion, and her hair, strawberry blond, fell down her backalmost to her knees.Rutaro, dark-skinned as a woodland god, kept rearrangingthe mass of hair so it flowed loosely, draping along her body, but notconcealing anything.She thought she looked very pretty that day.From thelife-sized sculpture rising on Rutaro s stand, he was exaggerating even thatnatural beauty to a higher degree than she d ever look on her very best day. Very nice, darling, Callia said, studying Juele critically from her proneposition in a wooden lounging chair. But don t you want her eyes rounder? No, I do not, Rutaro said, with his teeth clenched. They are fine the waythey are. He transferred the glare to Juele. And don t you change them,either. No, I won t, Juele said, shaking her head vigorously.A few of the acornshopped out of the basket and landed next to her feet.A white kitten, one ofthe many animals that posed on the school grounds, pounced out of the shadowsand played with them.Rutaro s eyebrows flew up, and he grabbed another globof shapeless matter and began to knead it into the shape of the cat.Workingwith nebulosity, he had explained, was a hobby of his
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]