Unexpected by Shayheyred (R)

[pargoletta.livejournal.com]

Fandom: SHAKESPEARE -- RICHARD II
Pairing: Richard II/Bolingbroke
Length: 1790 words
Author on LJ: shayheyred
Author Website: Today's Menu at Chez Shay
Why this must be read: Richard II is one of the Histories that doesn't get a whole lot of love. That's understandable; Richard II is sort of in the middle of the pack as far as colorful English royalty goes, and the play has a complicated plot that involves the niceties of feudal politics, and you have to know not only who the major characters are, but also how they're related to each other, who they're descended from, and a little something about the laws of medieval French succession. For people four hundred years from now, following the plot of Enron: The Smartest People In The Room will be like this.

Shayheyred neatly sidesteps all of this. She gives us two men caught up in a relationship as complicated personally as it is politically. They wrestle with love, jealousy, their own insecurities and weaknesses, and the bitterness of the way that they finally part. Richard and Bolingbroke are real, flesh-and-blood people whose attraction is almost palpable. It's also one of the very few stories written in the second person that I've ever really enjoyed. That's how good it is.

Richard is late.

You've just returned to court and you're a hero. Despite the abortive attacks on Vilnius, there's nothing like a successful foray to Jerusalem to erase failure, and you've been feted and hailed by everyone…except the king. And here you are, in the garden, awaiting his tardy pleasure. It's not your favorite place – you much prefer the stables, or the tournament yard, or the hall lined with armor and Plantagenet escutcheons. But Richard has said he'll meet you here, and in all things one must obey one's king.

It's hot, and he's very late now, and you're pacing, frowning at flowering borders as frivolous and decorative as Richard himself. No doubt he'd know the names of all these flowers, but to you they're merely the (brightly-cloaked) red one, the (golden-curled) yellow, the (royal) purple. The garden suffers from a surfeit of sun; there are brown edges on even the most glorious petals. The sun–

"We trust we've not kept our cousin waiting."


Unexpected