Ha, I will try to be insightful about this without actually giving away any important plot points!
It would not have befitted the honor of the House of Loristan or the nation of Samavia for Marco to pace back and forth on the throne dais in front of his entire court. Therefore Marco sat in his throne, a little below his father’s, as calm as if the eyes and the whispers of the court were not fixed on him.
Marco gets watched all the time, being the prince, so he’s used to it – though usually it’s not quite this acute. I suspect the Rat had more trouble adjusting – because of course he’d be under observation too, as the prince’s closest companion.
The mocking gaze of the Jiardasian ambassador, dashing in his short velvet cape, especially vexed Marco. The ambassador looked as self-satisfied as a cat, his white teeth flashing occasionally when he could not fight back his smile any longer. “Where is Captain Ratcliffe?” he asked, just loud enough that Marco could hear, and it took all Marco’s self-control to remain calm in his seat.
The Rat would be here soon, he told himself. He would be here at any moment, and then he would explain everything, and they would trust him again. They should never have doubted him, when he had helped bring the message across Europe to Samavia. But of course they did not know the Rat like Marco did.
And they could not forget that the Rat was British. “He is a foreigner,” General Sapt had said, his voice gruff, during the Cabinet meeting that had led to this gathering in the throne room.
General Sapt is named after Colonel Sapt from Anthony Hope’s Ruritania books. I thought there might be some fandom overlap, as Prisoner of Zenda is just like The Lost Prince except with actual swashbuckling (although no bestest best friend ever. There is an attractive villain, if you’re into that…), but not so far.
“I’m a foreigner,” Marco pointed out with asperity.
The cabinet was so shocked that no one spoke. “Oh no, sir,” said old Tamboran, who was in charge of the exchequer. “A Loristan could never be a foreigner.”
After five hundred years away, the Loristans are not particularly Samavian; the customs of the country, even its language, have surely evolved since they left. Maybe this wouldn’t be a problem at all; Queen Victoria was awfully German for a queen of England, for instance, and the Romanovs spoke French rather than Russian at home.
But The Lost Prince takes place during the time period where this sort of cosmopolitan royalty was becoming really at odds with nationalism…so maybe it would be an issue.
Even if it didn’t become a political issue, I suspect it’s something that causes Marco occasional discomfort. He worries that he won’t be Samavian enough to rule well.
And Marco had not pressed the matter, because he knew that he had to be Samavian for them, even if he still sometimes felt hopelessly confused by the customs of the country that he would one day rule.
Marco wished the Rat would arrive. Despite his resolve to sit still and dignified, he briefly touched his father’s signet ring. If only his father were here!
But Stefan Loristan was away, calming Kaiser Wilhelm from another one of his rages. Marco could not call him back from a mission that was of such importance to Europe. Certainly not for something as minor as this.
Stefan Loristan saves Europe from both World Wars! I am so curious what this alternate history would look like. Are the Romanovs still on the throne in 2013?
Minor.
But it was minor, Marco told himself fiercely. He and the Rat would laugh about it that evening, sitting in front of Marco’s fire.
The throne room, hitherto buzzing quietly, fell abruptly silent. The Rat had entered.
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Date: 2013-06-17 04:18 am (UTC)It would not have befitted the honor of the House of Loristan or the nation of Samavia for Marco to pace back and forth on the throne dais in front of his entire court. Therefore Marco sat in his throne, a little below his father’s, as calm as if the eyes and the whispers of the court were not fixed on him.
Marco gets watched all the time, being the prince, so he’s used to it – though usually it’s not quite this acute. I suspect the Rat had more trouble adjusting – because of course he’d be under observation too, as the prince’s closest companion.
The mocking gaze of the Jiardasian ambassador, dashing in his short velvet cape, especially vexed Marco. The ambassador looked as self-satisfied as a cat, his white teeth flashing occasionally when he could not fight back his smile any longer. “Where is Captain Ratcliffe?” he asked, just loud enough that Marco could hear, and it took all Marco’s self-control to remain calm in his seat.
The Rat would be here soon, he told himself. He would be here at any moment, and then he would explain everything, and they would trust him again. They should never have doubted him, when he had helped bring the message across Europe to Samavia. But of course they did not know the Rat like Marco did.
And they could not forget that the Rat was British. “He is a foreigner,” General Sapt had said, his voice gruff, during the Cabinet meeting that had led to this gathering in the throne room.
General Sapt is named after Colonel Sapt from Anthony Hope’s Ruritania books. I thought there might be some fandom overlap, as Prisoner of Zenda is just like The Lost Prince except with actual swashbuckling (although no bestest best friend ever. There is an attractive villain, if you’re into that…), but not so far.
“I’m a foreigner,” Marco pointed out with asperity.
The cabinet was so shocked that no one spoke. “Oh no, sir,” said old Tamboran, who was in charge of the exchequer. “A Loristan could never be a foreigner.”
After five hundred years away, the Loristans are not particularly Samavian; the customs of the country, even its language, have surely evolved since they left. Maybe this wouldn’t be a problem at all; Queen Victoria was awfully German for a queen of England, for instance, and the Romanovs spoke French rather than Russian at home.
But The Lost Prince takes place during the time period where this sort of cosmopolitan royalty was becoming really at odds with nationalism…so maybe it would be an issue.
Even if it didn’t become a political issue, I suspect it’s something that causes Marco occasional discomfort. He worries that he won’t be Samavian enough to rule well.
And Marco had not pressed the matter, because he knew that he had to be Samavian for them, even if he still sometimes felt hopelessly confused by the customs of the country that he would one day rule.
Marco wished the Rat would arrive. Despite his resolve to sit still and dignified, he briefly touched his father’s signet ring. If only his father were here!
But Stefan Loristan was away, calming Kaiser Wilhelm from another one of his rages. Marco could not call him back from a mission that was of such importance to Europe. Certainly not for something as minor as this.
Stefan Loristan saves Europe from both World Wars! I am so curious what this alternate history would look like. Are the Romanovs still on the throne in 2013?
Minor.
But it was minor, Marco told himself fiercely. He and the Rat would laugh about it that evening, sitting in front of Marco’s fire.
The throne room, hitherto buzzing quietly, fell abruptly silent. The Rat had entered.
I like this line. So dramatic!