![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
feredarStory: Agenda
Characters: Sorell
Warnings: References to forced/purely political marriage
Every woman I met, in the context of my consort search, had an agenda. Some had their own, most were agents for their parents or brothers. Please, don't misunderstand--this isn't a mark against any of those ladies. It is a simple fact. I was King. Nothing I do--nothing anyone does with regard to me--is completely altruistic. But many of them, I think--or hope--would have grown to value me for more than my crown in time, and some of them I genuinely believe would have made me happy.
Of course, only one of them was Nida.
She, like the others, had an agenda in pursuing me. I don't know quite what it was, but...well, her oldest sister was a traitor, her remaining sister has suspect loyalties. And, of course, the fact that both of them were presented to me as well...
Let's just say that I'm aware of the family she grew up in, so I can guess at least some of what it was. I pretend not to, of course--this is part of how it works. And if people call me love-blind for it, well, perhaps I am. But if I mistrusted everyone who had an agenda, or whose politics didn't entirely line up with my own, I would never be able to accomplish anything. And I--and my family, and my entire nation--would be miserable. Also, to be fair, I myself wasn't entirely altruistic, knowing what I knew. But sometimes, deep divisions are better resolved with marriage or diplomacy than with wars or arrests. Besides, I know she would never do anything to harm me, or the interests of my nation or my Crown.
Because of course she had an agenda. Of course there are disturbing trends in her family. I am not stupid, nor entirely love-blind.
But...somewhere along the line...the agendas and the politics became less important. Somewhere along the line, we fell in love. Whatever marred the beginnings of our courtship, how it ended is far more important. And what remains--that is no agenda.
That is only love.
Characters: Sorell
Warnings: References to forced/purely political marriage
Every woman I met, in the context of my consort search, had an agenda. Some had their own, most were agents for their parents or brothers. Please, don't misunderstand--this isn't a mark against any of those ladies. It is a simple fact. I was King. Nothing I do--nothing anyone does with regard to me--is completely altruistic. But many of them, I think--or hope--would have grown to value me for more than my crown in time, and some of them I genuinely believe would have made me happy.
Of course, only one of them was Nida.
She, like the others, had an agenda in pursuing me. I don't know quite what it was, but...well, her oldest sister was a traitor, her remaining sister has suspect loyalties. And, of course, the fact that both of them were presented to me as well...
Let's just say that I'm aware of the family she grew up in, so I can guess at least some of what it was. I pretend not to, of course--this is part of how it works. And if people call me love-blind for it, well, perhaps I am. But if I mistrusted everyone who had an agenda, or whose politics didn't entirely line up with my own, I would never be able to accomplish anything. And I--and my family, and my entire nation--would be miserable. Also, to be fair, I myself wasn't entirely altruistic, knowing what I knew. But sometimes, deep divisions are better resolved with marriage or diplomacy than with wars or arrests. Besides, I know she would never do anything to harm me, or the interests of my nation or my Crown.
Because of course she had an agenda. Of course there are disturbing trends in her family. I am not stupid, nor entirely love-blind.
But...somewhere along the line...the agendas and the politics became less important. Somewhere along the line, we fell in love. Whatever marred the beginnings of our courtship, how it ended is far more important. And what remains--that is no agenda.
That is only love.