Page Life 1: Correction
May. 23rd, 2019 08:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lonesparkFandom: The Dragon Prince
Raiting: General audiences
Characters: Original characters, mention of child!Harrow & family
Tags: accidental misgendering, trans Harrow, commoner OCs, anxiety, nonbinary character, other human kingdoms, discussion of cultural norms regarding gender, I invented Camboria after S1 and I'm not giving it up, not everyone likes jelly tarts
Summary: Yok isn't as prepared as she thinks.
When Yok found out she had earned the stressful honor of introducing the royal families of the Pentarchy at the next summit, the first thing she did was gather all the information and write herself a script. She practiced it it three times alone before she felt ready to do it for anyone else. The next step was rehearsing in front of her friend Asha, a fellow page with more experience.
Yok was proud that her voice didn't shake. She was looking forward to getting feedback about fine points of pronunciation and body language.
Since the delegation from Katolis was usually the largest and last to be announced, and none of their names were too complicated, she breathed a sigh of relief when she got to them.
"...and their daughter, Princess Ha-"
"No, that's not right."
"WHAT?!?"
Yok tried very hard not to panic, to give in to the thought that she had missed or forgotten a detail this important, that she would be dismissed and her family would starve and most if not all of the ancestors would hold her personally responsible...
Asha could see it in her expression and rushed to reassure her.
"It's not your fault! Our records were wrong. There hasn't been a full summit in in over five years, and the... issues... with the Bird Mistress's abrupt departure meant the correction message didn't end up getting to the scribes in a timely manner. But anyway, yeah, you need to change it to '...their son, Prince Harrow,' and make sure you get all the pronouns right."
"And then practice three more times before I practice in front of you again, and then the other pages and..."
Asha cocked an eyebrow.
"If that's what makes you feel comfortable, I guess."
Yok carefully crossed out and rewrote the relevant parts of her script in a neat hand, blowing on the ink to dry it. She chewed the end of the quill and frowned.
"Are you saying it was a mistake with the records? But I remember an announcement and a celebration. It was right after I got here. We were all invited to their capital, and we got to eat those... pastries... with the jelly in them. They were so good!"
Asha made a face.
"They call them jelly tarts. They're too sweet for me. And too flaky."
Yok laughed.
"I promise to eat yours. We have lots of desserts sweeter than that at home!"
Asha muttered, "Thanks for the warning," kicking their feet against the chair legs.
"Anyway, wasn't that like, a big celebration for a princess?"
"I guess so, but he's not, so there was confusion somewhere. It probably happens all the time, just not with royalty. What else do they expect assigning names and genders before the child can even talk?"
Yok shrugged.
"We do that too. Everywhere except a few of the islands. They have a lot of different rituals for birth and naming. Prince Ahling's parents are from there, but they didn't insist on anything unusual... I guess assuming works out for a lot of people?"
Asha scowled, possibly contemplating a lecture on the five traditional Camborian genders.
"Do you think they'll have another celebration?" Yok asked.
"You just want more jelly tarts! And no, they won't now, and I don't think they would have back when we were supposed to find out. When powerful people make mistakes, they just quietly pretend it never happened, and if you bring it up you might suffer. I'm sure they just changed the books and statues and everything else and strongly discouraged anyone from noticing."
"I guess that makes sense. It's not the prince's fault, and if anyone made a big deal of it he would feel bad."
"That's true. That might be true in a lot of cases. Forcing powerful people to admit they made a mistake just makes life harder for everyone else."
"On that cheerful note, I'm ready to practice again."
Raiting: General audiences
Characters: Original characters, mention of child!Harrow & family
Tags: accidental misgendering, trans Harrow, commoner OCs, anxiety, nonbinary character, other human kingdoms, discussion of cultural norms regarding gender, I invented Camboria after S1 and I'm not giving it up, not everyone likes jelly tarts
Summary: Yok isn't as prepared as she thinks.
When Yok found out she had earned the stressful honor of introducing the royal families of the Pentarchy at the next summit, the first thing she did was gather all the information and write herself a script. She practiced it it three times alone before she felt ready to do it for anyone else. The next step was rehearsing in front of her friend Asha, a fellow page with more experience.
Yok was proud that her voice didn't shake. She was looking forward to getting feedback about fine points of pronunciation and body language.
Since the delegation from Katolis was usually the largest and last to be announced, and none of their names were too complicated, she breathed a sigh of relief when she got to them.
"...and their daughter, Princess Ha-"
"No, that's not right."
"WHAT?!?"
Yok tried very hard not to panic, to give in to the thought that she had missed or forgotten a detail this important, that she would be dismissed and her family would starve and most if not all of the ancestors would hold her personally responsible...
Asha could see it in her expression and rushed to reassure her.
"It's not your fault! Our records were wrong. There hasn't been a full summit in in over five years, and the... issues... with the Bird Mistress's abrupt departure meant the correction message didn't end up getting to the scribes in a timely manner. But anyway, yeah, you need to change it to '...their son, Prince Harrow,' and make sure you get all the pronouns right."
"And then practice three more times before I practice in front of you again, and then the other pages and..."
Asha cocked an eyebrow.
"If that's what makes you feel comfortable, I guess."
Yok carefully crossed out and rewrote the relevant parts of her script in a neat hand, blowing on the ink to dry it. She chewed the end of the quill and frowned.
"Are you saying it was a mistake with the records? But I remember an announcement and a celebration. It was right after I got here. We were all invited to their capital, and we got to eat those... pastries... with the jelly in them. They were so good!"
Asha made a face.
"They call them jelly tarts. They're too sweet for me. And too flaky."
Yok laughed.
"I promise to eat yours. We have lots of desserts sweeter than that at home!"
Asha muttered, "Thanks for the warning," kicking their feet against the chair legs.
"Anyway, wasn't that like, a big celebration for a princess?"
"I guess so, but he's not, so there was confusion somewhere. It probably happens all the time, just not with royalty. What else do they expect assigning names and genders before the child can even talk?"
Yok shrugged.
"We do that too. Everywhere except a few of the islands. They have a lot of different rituals for birth and naming. Prince Ahling's parents are from there, but they didn't insist on anything unusual... I guess assuming works out for a lot of people?"
Asha scowled, possibly contemplating a lecture on the five traditional Camborian genders.
"Do you think they'll have another celebration?" Yok asked.
"You just want more jelly tarts! And no, they won't now, and I don't think they would have back when we were supposed to find out. When powerful people make mistakes, they just quietly pretend it never happened, and if you bring it up you might suffer. I'm sure they just changed the books and statues and everything else and strongly discouraged anyone from noticing."
"I guess that makes sense. It's not the prince's fault, and if anyone made a big deal of it he would feel bad."
"That's true. That might be true in a lot of cases. Forcing powerful people to admit they made a mistake just makes life harder for everyone else."
"On that cheerful note, I'm ready to practice again."
