Fableweaver
 
Prologue: Caecilia de Luchella
 
            As day leapt from the east, Dawn stroked the horizon with her rosy fingers, tinting the sky with the vivid hues of daybreak. The golden sun illuminated the high-piled clouds tossed above the warm purple sea--- calm, shimmering in the sunlight and stretching to the sky’s very edge.
            Caecilia de Luchella leaned against the ship’s rail, her rain-grey eyes alert and shining. Though not perhaps beautiful, there was something about the pale face, the expressive lips half-parted, the rich dancing eyes nearly hidden by a dark fringe of lashes; the faint flush lingering upon her high cheekbones that caused any passerby or casual observer to look twice before going their way. Her slender fingers gripped the rail as she stood like one held under a spell, her eyes fixed on the vibrant horizon. So absorbed was she in her thoughts, she did not hear the footsteps pause beside her.
            “Beautiful sunrise, isn’t it?”
            Startled, Caecilia swung about to face the young sailor. He leaned indolently against the rail a few yards away from her, staring out to sea.
            She smiled and nodded, her chin cupped in her hands. “I’ve never seen anything like it.” There was a short silence as she with an almost inaudible sigh, inhaled the fresh sea breeze.
            “It’s the first day of the voyage. Been seasick yet?” teased the sailor.
            Caecilia arched her eyebrows, her light laugh as arresting as her merry eyes. “No. But Madame—that is, my traveling companion, is below in her cabin. She complains dreadfully of seasickness, though I can’t see why. The sea is perfectly calm.”
            The sailor slouched against the rail, a knowing smile playing upon his lazy lips. “Perfectly calm the sea might be, but I should like to see you keep your balance walking along the deck without the assistance of Monsieur-the-rail.”
            With a haughty lift of her chin, the girl released the rail and took a few brisk steps down the forecastle before returning. “There! That was easily done.”
            The sailor hid an admiring grin by looking up the deck and saluting one of his comrades.
            “But perhaps it is because I have traveled oversea before,” Caecilia continued. “My father owns a great deal of merchant boats, and often, I have traveled with him. Oh, to beautiful places across the sea like Ivayle, Terra Cova…”
            “Terra Cova of the white cliffs,” murmured the sailor reverently, a dreamy expression on his face. It flitted away in an instant, and his nonchalant manner returned. He glanced towards her, his brilliant blue eyes twinkling with good-natured mischief. “I have heard rumors that you are going to meet Your Promised at our destination, the port town of Hanwell.”
            Caecilia bent suddenly and a cloud of auburn curls hid her rose-scorched cheeks. “Then the rumors are true.”
            The sailor turned towards her and blinked in a sort of lazy curiosity. “Really? Tell me about the lucky fellow.”
            The gray-eyes flashed dangerously. “Don’t be impudent!”
            The sailor apologized, but sincerity lacked in his tone.
            “I am betrothed to the son of Lord Wellington, whom I have never met. You see, when I was first born, my father, the Lord de Luchella, and his father, the Lord Wellington, decided that when we two children were older, we should be married to create an alliance of peace between our fathers’ kingdoms. There, that is my story. Though why I have told you it, I do not know.”
            The sailor looked at her for a long moment, then stretched and stood. “What is the young man’s name, this son of Lord Wellington?”
            “Lionel is his name.” Caecilia’s rain-gray eyes clouded for a moment. “Sir, this subject wearies me. I must go. I heard the breakfast bell a moment ago.”   
            The sailor grinned, looking roguishly at her from under his unruly fair hair. “Very well, miss. May I escort you?” The gray eyes twinkled with fun as Caecilia gathered her skirts and took the outstretched arm. “Madame would go half distracted if she heard I visited the upper deck unattended, so you must leave me when we reach the cabins. But here we are. Many thanks, sir.”
            Caecilia vanished around a tight corner, and the sailor watched her go. A frown knit his brow, and, for the first time, a concerned expression softened his brilliant blue eyes. Then, he turned abruptly and sauntered away.