The Shadowy Path - 9. Chapter 9

Danae
Naldau, Grand Duchy of Malkania

Danae Dannkas nodded approvingly to the maid who had just finished doing her hair. She uttered a polite thank you, then sent the maid on her way, nodding again to her reflection for reassurance.

The maid had done a first-rate job, especially remembering that Danae's hair was not the easiest to comb. Shoulder-length blonde hair tended to bend into defiant waves, which required precision and willpower to style into the latest trend in Naldau's high society. Especially these days, when Danae would not have patience to sit down at the dressing table for half an hour.

But Danae didn't care much for following the latest fashions. In fact, it was rather silly that all noblewomen had to have their hair done in the same way. She would have preferred to choose her own style, or even to comb her own hair independently.

It was equally silly that all the young girls were dressed in the same way. Especially as Danae hated the open necklines that were in fashion this spring. It made her breasts look so insignificant. Duke Agerbah's full-bosomed daughter, Semma, had cast mocking glances at Danae's bust and whispered nasty things in the ears of her sniggering friends. Danae could guess the taunts without hearing them: "flat-chested bitch", "pancake", "boobless bimbo".

Semma's malice might have hurt Danae even more had she not known that, despite her small breasts, she was many times more popular with the boys of Naldau's palace district than Agerbah's plump cow. She had only a few friends among the girls, but the boys almost adored Danae. This was because she was not like the other girls of Naldau. Danae had the courage to say and do things that were not considered appropriate for girls.

She enjoyed hunting deer and hiking in a nearby beech forest. Danae loved to pedal her bicycle at full speed, imagining for a moment that she was free of all the tiresome formalities that filled her life. Danae also had fun running away from the palace in the middle of the night to party with the boys and get drunk. It was all completely inappropriate and dishonourable behaviour for the heiress of a prestigious noble family.

Not only was Danae too reckless to be friends with many girls her age, she was too wild for the strict mold of Naldau social circles, which required a young girl to be nothing but sweet and pretty. Sometimes, of course, it was nice to play the socialite, if only to keep Aunt Anibella from imagining that Danae was somehow strange or didn't want to be a woman.

That was not the point at all. Danae did like all the advantages of being a woman. She enjoyed testing her feminine charm on the boys around her. The boys competed to see who could win Danae's favour and intimacy.

Had the supposedly chaste Semma ever been kissed by a boy? Danae had done more than that. She knew from Semma's whispered insults that word had got around. But no matter, the mockery was just a sign of jealousy. Danae was something Semma and her blathering friends could never be. She was different from the rest. There were dozens of Semmas in Naldau, but only one Danae.

But not for long. Danae would soon leave Naldau behind. Aunt Anibella had had enough of Danae's antics. The latest all-night excursion had finally been the last straw for Duchess Anibella Dannkas.

According to her aunt, Danae had disgraced the family name. "When it is my time to go, you will be the last of the Dannkas. By the Gods, behave with the dignity of your family!" she had bellowed.

Strictly speaking, Danae was not the last member of the house of Dannkas, but her maternal second cousins had no right to inherit the title of Duchess from Anibella. The thought of the Dannkas name disappearing from the directory of Malkanian nobility haunted Anibella, who cherished her family's heritage.

Finding a worthy husband for Danae was therefore her aunt's most important task. A well-behaved son from another ducal family, but far down the line of succession, might be a possibility. Then the family could continue under the name of Dannkas. Unfortunately, the niece's unconventional behaviour seemed to jeopardise the plan.

Anibella had been an important support for Danae after her father Farrain and mother Arlene, Anibella's younger sister, died of lung pox. Danae had been a baby at the time and had no memory of her parents. Her father, Farrain, had come from the lower nobility, so the name Dannkas had been passed down from mother to daughter, as was the custom in Malkania in such cases. The Dannkas family was very small, and childless Anibella was the last of four siblings to survive, so it had been only natural that the orphaned girl would be raised by her aunt.

Raising a child had brought a welcome change to Anibella's regular life, and Danae had willingly pleased her silly aunt. Everything had been going well until the days when Danae had decided to be different.

"In the name of Voltha, will this difficult age never pass?" Anibella had lamented to her friends, unable to make her young niece fit the part of a noblewoman.

But Danae knew better than her aunt. Adolescence had not changed her. Danae had always been that way, but it was only when she had grown into a woman that she had had the courage to act on it. It was liberating to break out of the role that the society had set for her. Once Danae had begun to break boundaries and go her own way, she had felt like a bird released from a cage. After that, she had no intention of returning to that cage. Life outside it was simply too interesting.

Despite Anibella's tearful prayers, Danae had shown no sign of change. So her aunt had decided to act before the girl became pregnant or thought about running away with a servant boy.

The worst part for Anibella was that Danae had made her look like an unworthy guardian. To Anibella, who was chaste, religious and conscious of her reputation, this was an abomination. As a result, the niece had received quite a tongue-lashing from her aunt after her last night out.

"In heaven's name, Danae! It is not appropriate for a fine lady of fifteen to go out at night to whoring and come home in boys' clothes, drunk as a skunk. You remind me of some cheap tavern wench."

At first, Danae couldn't believe her ears. Duchess Anibella Dannkas never used such language. Auntie was the finest of ladies, pious and meticulous about formality. But this time aunt Anibella had stammered out one harsh word after another, looking like she was about to bawl like a little child.

Besides, her aunt was wrong. Danae had never gone that far with a boy. But no amount of reassurance could calm the seething Anibella. Auntie had not listened, even when Danae had tried to explain, promised to mend her ways and behave like a Priestess of all Gods.

In the past, Danae had always managed to worm her way back into her aunt's good graces after the worst blows, but now no amount of persuasion had worked. Aunt Anibella said she had prayed month after month for a change in Danae's behaviour.

The prayers had not been answered, so Aunt Anibella had sought the advice of her friend, Grand Duchess Ofelja Henermas, who was - if possible - an even greater authority to Anibella than Gods.

Grand Duchess Henermas had always been cold towards Danae. She had probably seen her opportunity and suggested to Anibella that her niece should be sent away from Naldau for a while. Aunt Anibella, who was rather sensitive to the advice of those wiser than herself, had accepted with a heavy heart.

That was the reason why Danae was packing her things now. She did not blame her aunt, whom she loved despite all her faults. The plump and pockmarked Anibella hadn't been able to marry or start a family. According to mocking rumours, as a young girl she had been hopelessly in love with a handsome and arrogant young man who was now the grand duke of a powerful family. This young man had then broken poor Anibella's heart by telling her how ugly and repulsive he found her. Nevertheless, Anibella was still rumoured to keep a picture of the grand duke in his youth in her bedside drawer as her most treasured keepsake. The knowledge of this made Danae very sad, but she had no means of consoling her unhappy aunt.

Anibella faced a difficult dilemma when it came to finding a new home for Danae. Despite her certain sluggishness, Anibella had realised that sending her niece away for a year to live with another Malkanian family might not have been a good idea. Danae would surely have carried on as before, and word of the Dannkas heiress' disgraceful behaviour would have spread throughout the Grand Duchy. In that case, Danae could be in real trouble.

Not everywhere was the atmosphere as tolerant as in Naldau, a secularised and liberal town in Malkania. In many parts of the Grand Duchy, the moral code of the clergy extended not only to the common people but also to the upper classes, and a wanton daughter of a house of dukes could face a fate far worse than public shame. Her aunt had therefore decided to send Danae as far away from home as possible.

After sending several letters and receiving negative replies, Anibella had finally remembered her childhood friend, who had married a Dimali official against her family's wishes and had been forced to move to the hinterland of Andiol.

Although the general mood among the nobility of Malkania was strongly against relations with the Dimalis, Anibella had not abandoned her friend. It had been nearly ten years since she had last met Naeda on a visit to Dimalos, but they had continued to correspond by letters ever since.

When, after more than two weeks of agonising waiting, Naeda had agreed to Anibella's request, Danae's aunt had almost laughed with joy. At last, the problem that had plagued her nerves would be solved.

Auntie had begun her preparations in good spirits, but had immediately mourned her separation from Danae. However, she had convinced herself that it was all for the best. Danae learned that Naeda had a teenage son who, according to his mother's writings, longed for the company of a girl of his own age. Aunt Anibella could already see in her mind's eye a well-behaved, quiet and more indoors loving Dimali boy. Unlike Danae, who had nightmares of the pimply-faced, nearsighted and stooping monster whose lovesick advances she would have to endure.

Despite the horrors, the thought of leaving caused a spark inside Danae that could not be described as merely unpleasant. She'd never been much further than Naldau because Aunt Anibella didn't like to travel - especially if it meant coming into contact with the country folk.

The very act of travelling was agonising to Anibella, who saw trains as a mode of transport for the bourgeoisie, something a noblewoman should never set foot on. Airships, on the other hand, she feared, seeing them as a defiance of the will of the Gods, since humans were not meant to fly. Occasionally, Anibella would take an uncomfortable carriage ride to Vendum to attend to family business or meet acquaintances, but she was always exhausted after her journeys and vowed to stay in Naldau for the rest of her life.

Danae, on the contrary, had dreamed of seeing distant lands. Places whose images she had admired in the book Wonders of the Inhabited World. The black ledges of Rotthyi Cliffs defying the fury of the sea, the unconquerable Pike Peaks rising above the clouds in the snow, insurmountable Starveds' Desert, vast Tigeros Forest teeming with wondrous life, and wild rapids, the Flurrying One with its deathly whirlpools. She wanted to see them all, and much more.

After Anibella's announcement that Danae would be travelling all the way to Andiol, she had thought for a while that she would see the tower buildings of Dimalos, the gardens with bubbling fountains and the glittering palaces. So it had been a great disappointment when Anibella had told that her destination was a provincial town in the south of Andiol, of which Danae had never heard.

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When the day of departure came, Danae had said goodbye to her weeping aunt with more sadness than she had imagined.

She had said her farewells to close friends the night before. None of the boys were any more special to her than the others, but she knew she would miss each of them. But now she was grateful that she hadn't chosen one of them as her boyfriend, because then it might have been even harder to leave. Would the boys forget her in the year she was gone? Danae had quickly put the thought of the boys in Semma's arms out of her mind.

Danae did not have to make the journey alone. Offus, the head chamberlain of the Dannkas family, would see her to her destination. They would ride in a carriage drawn by Anibella's best horses to the airship field. There they would board an airship to take Danae close to her destination. Auntie had told her niece's new guardians the exact date of her arrival so that they would be ready to meet her at the landing site.

As Danae gazed out of the coach window at the palace grounds, and gradually at the whole of the Naldau descent, she suddenly felt very lonely. The familiar world, everything she had loved in her life, would soon be a thing of the past. There was nothing but the unknown ahead, a year or maybe two in the company of strangers in a place she knew nothing about except its name. Paidos, that was the name of the town.

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