A Bewildered Heart, chapter 2
Feb. 7th, 2017 03:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
scripsiTitle: A Bewildered Heart
Fandom: Versailles
Rating: Mature
Genre: Drama
Word Count: 774
Chapters: 2/?
Characters/pairing: Fabien Marchal/Sophie de Clermont.
Warnings: None so far
Summary: Sophie de Clermont is settling down to her new role in life, but Fabien Marchal still disturbs her peace of mind. If not exactly the same was as before.
AN: This is a sequel to a story called Show Me. The observant may notice I have not been completely faithful to a few historic facts. But then the TV series is not completely faithful either, so I felt I could bend facts to suit my story.
One of the various amusement the King’s court entertained themselves with, was hunting. Sophie didn’t care much for the chase and the bloody ending, but she enjoyed riding and being outside in the forest. Her horse was a gift from Madame, a beautiful little chestnut mare with a perky disposition. It was the first horse Sophie had ever owned, and by far the best she had ridden and she loved it. Horsemanship had been as much a part of her education as dancing and needlework, but as her mother had not cared for horses herself. It had been the only part of Sophie’s life which hadn’t been supervised by her parent, and she had enjoyed these rare moments without the constant criticism. Even now when she would have welcomed a poke in her back as a reminder to not slouch, or a pointed remark over her dancing, Sophie still felt like she was free when she was on her horse.
This particular day the hunting party disturbed a family of wild boars and the enraged sow threw Sophie’s horse into a panic. Though she didn’t fall off, it took her some time to make it calm down. When Sophie looked around, she realised she was far from her friends and her surroundings were unfamiliar. At first she felt alarmed, but then she thought it likely her horse would know its way home. Letting it go as it pleased soon led them to a road, but there her horse decided it was more interested in a tuft of especially tempting grass, than moving. Sophie looked around trying to determine which direction would lead her home when a small group of riders came around a bend in the road. To her mingled relief and apprehension she saw that the leader was Fabien. He said something to his men who continued past Sophie.
“What are you doing here, all alone?”
“I’m lost”
Sophie quickly explained what had happened and Fabien nodded.
“I will follow you back to the castle. It’s not far.”
Sophie glanced at him, it felt strange to see him outside in daylight. He belonged to Versailles and to the night in her mind. He seemed perfectly at ease on his large black horse, temporarily freed from duty, just as she was. The sunlit road with the green trees all around was beautiful and serene, and the tension between them, which at times had been almost palpable, seemed to melt away. Perhaps it needed thick stone walls and darkness to be maintained. They rode in silence for a few minutes before Fabien spoke.
“Have the Duke of Cassel continued to harass you?”
It took Sophie a few moments to answer as she had not expected any concern of her well-being.
“No, not at all. I think he is avoiding me. I’m a little surprise it was that easy to make him give up.”
“He is a coward,” Fabien said as if that was the only explanation needed.
All at once Sophie felt she was in an excellent mood and gave him a radiant smile. Fabien, who had never been subjected to it before, looked a little bewildered for a moment or two. And Sophie, who often thought he was beyond surprise, felt this gave her courage to ask him something she had been wondering for some time.
“How do you make sense of everything you find out?”
“How do you mean?”
“It’s not only simple information, is it? You can’t just sort it into a list, because everything connects with something else. I try to make sense of what I find out, and that must be so very little of what you know. How do you remember it all?”
“Hmm. Have you tried to sort it out yourself?”
“Yes; I imagine it like a spider web. But I don’t dare to write it down and I find it difficult to keep it all in my mind and not get it muddled.”
Fabien looked at her with a certain appreciation.
“Wise.”
At this point they emerged from the trees and entered the park around the castle. In the distance Sophie could see the hunting party, and Fabien turned his horse around.
“I leave you here. I will be back in two days time. I will show you what I do then.”
Not until he was out if sight did Sophie realise he had taken the time to escort her back to Versailles himself instead of sending one of his men. She returned to her friends feeling quite elated and not at all as unsettled by her little adventure as her companions seemed to think she should.
Fandom: Versailles
Rating: Mature
Genre: Drama
Word Count: 774
Chapters: 2/?
Characters/pairing: Fabien Marchal/Sophie de Clermont.
Warnings: None so far
Summary: Sophie de Clermont is settling down to her new role in life, but Fabien Marchal still disturbs her peace of mind. If not exactly the same was as before.
AN: This is a sequel to a story called Show Me. The observant may notice I have not been completely faithful to a few historic facts. But then the TV series is not completely faithful either, so I felt I could bend facts to suit my story.
One of the various amusement the King’s court entertained themselves with, was hunting. Sophie didn’t care much for the chase and the bloody ending, but she enjoyed riding and being outside in the forest. Her horse was a gift from Madame, a beautiful little chestnut mare with a perky disposition. It was the first horse Sophie had ever owned, and by far the best she had ridden and she loved it. Horsemanship had been as much a part of her education as dancing and needlework, but as her mother had not cared for horses herself. It had been the only part of Sophie’s life which hadn’t been supervised by her parent, and she had enjoyed these rare moments without the constant criticism. Even now when she would have welcomed a poke in her back as a reminder to not slouch, or a pointed remark over her dancing, Sophie still felt like she was free when she was on her horse.
This particular day the hunting party disturbed a family of wild boars and the enraged sow threw Sophie’s horse into a panic. Though she didn’t fall off, it took her some time to make it calm down. When Sophie looked around, she realised she was far from her friends and her surroundings were unfamiliar. At first she felt alarmed, but then she thought it likely her horse would know its way home. Letting it go as it pleased soon led them to a road, but there her horse decided it was more interested in a tuft of especially tempting grass, than moving. Sophie looked around trying to determine which direction would lead her home when a small group of riders came around a bend in the road. To her mingled relief and apprehension she saw that the leader was Fabien. He said something to his men who continued past Sophie.
“What are you doing here, all alone?”
“I’m lost”
Sophie quickly explained what had happened and Fabien nodded.
“I will follow you back to the castle. It’s not far.”
Sophie glanced at him, it felt strange to see him outside in daylight. He belonged to Versailles and to the night in her mind. He seemed perfectly at ease on his large black horse, temporarily freed from duty, just as she was. The sunlit road with the green trees all around was beautiful and serene, and the tension between them, which at times had been almost palpable, seemed to melt away. Perhaps it needed thick stone walls and darkness to be maintained. They rode in silence for a few minutes before Fabien spoke.
“Have the Duke of Cassel continued to harass you?”
It took Sophie a few moments to answer as she had not expected any concern of her well-being.
“No, not at all. I think he is avoiding me. I’m a little surprise it was that easy to make him give up.”
“He is a coward,” Fabien said as if that was the only explanation needed.
All at once Sophie felt she was in an excellent mood and gave him a radiant smile. Fabien, who had never been subjected to it before, looked a little bewildered for a moment or two. And Sophie, who often thought he was beyond surprise, felt this gave her courage to ask him something she had been wondering for some time.
“How do you make sense of everything you find out?”
“How do you mean?”
“It’s not only simple information, is it? You can’t just sort it into a list, because everything connects with something else. I try to make sense of what I find out, and that must be so very little of what you know. How do you remember it all?”
“Hmm. Have you tried to sort it out yourself?”
“Yes; I imagine it like a spider web. But I don’t dare to write it down and I find it difficult to keep it all in my mind and not get it muddled.”
Fabien looked at her with a certain appreciation.
“Wise.”
At this point they emerged from the trees and entered the park around the castle. In the distance Sophie could see the hunting party, and Fabien turned his horse around.
“I leave you here. I will be back in two days time. I will show you what I do then.”
Not until he was out if sight did Sophie realise he had taken the time to escort her back to Versailles himself instead of sending one of his men. She returned to her friends feeling quite elated and not at all as unsettled by her little adventure as her companions seemed to think she should.
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Date: 2017-02-07 06:43 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2017-02-08 12:16 pm (UTC)I don't think we will ever see this pairing in the show, but that's part of the fun with fanfic, isn't it? :) I hope you will enjoy the rest. It's a sequel, though, so you might want to read the first one too, but I think they story will hold even if you don't. It's probably easiest to find my fics on AO3 than on my journal:
http://archiveofourown.org/users/Dancingsalome
i've also written a Fabien/Claudine story, if that is something you enjoy. :)