[#199] NEITHER PRISON FOR ME (VALDEMAR SERIES - MERCEDES LACKEY)

[imhilien]

Theme Prompt: #199 - Altar
Title: neither prison for me
Fandom: Valdemar Series - Mercedes Lackey
Rating: PG-13
Bonus: No
Word Count: 995
Summary: Talia hadn't intended to run away on her thirteenth birthday, but it was better than an altar

Talia didn't want to go to the altar, whether it was for Marriage or constant service to the Goddess in the Temple Cloisters.

She was only thirteen, too young for either of these prisons. But in the eyes of her Steading she had fled before in terror, she was a woman now and it was time for one of these lives or the other.

Talia had never been allowed to talk of the third choice, to become a Herald in service of the Queen. Even thinking of it was rebellion in her home - to say her dream out loud had made her an instant pariah. Even though it was her birthday today... now she was only fit for the worst of husbands as punishment. If they could catch her, that is.

They won't now as a Companion is carrying her away - a shining white horse that belongs to a Herald. Not her, of course, as her dream would never become a reality. Why, she barely knows of life outside of her Steading.

But somehow Talia knows deep down that if her family tried to retrieve her, this Companion would be there for her.

Comments

[badly_knitted]

Good luck, Talia. Hope she gets away and makes a better life for herself.

[imhilien]

She will need it. She had no intention of going back.

[redthedragon]

Oh this is interesting. Good for Talia? Glad she could take a different path than that laid out in front of her, at least, even if this sounds like it might not end so well, either.

[imhilien]

Thanks for that. She's on a different path, but not always an easy one.

[m_findlow]

Very brave of her to break from convention and seek adventure.

[imhilien]

It helps that she was allowed to read and write and so had some knowledge of what life was outside her small world.