I haven’t been keeping to my schedule this month due to a few reasons and tons of excuses. It hasn’t been an easy month for me. Being a non-summer (anti-summer?) person and allergic to pollen, I’ve been tired and sick for most of it. Hopefully, April will be better (I’m not hopeful about the temperatures coming down before June, but I’ll survive), at least in terms of blogging. Apart from getting baked under the tropical sun, this is what I’ve been up to in March.
As you can gather from the title, this is my first ever guest post.
Yay!
Briana and Krysta over at Pages Unbound are hosting this amazing, fun-filled event for the next two weeks – the Tolkien Reading Event. The schedule is up here, so be sure to check that out. I’m so glad to be a part of this as you all know what a huge Tolkien fan I am. This post will tell you all about my obsession. Thanks again, Briana and Krysta, for having me over. 🙂
Every year on March 25, the anniversary of the Downfall of Sauron, the Tolkien Society hosts Tolkien Reading Day. This year’s theme is Poetry and Songs in Tolkien’s Fiction. The primary goal is to promote the reading of the works of J.R R. Tolkien! To celebrate, Pages Unbound will be hosting two weeks of Tolkien-related […]
via My Journey Through Middle-Earth (Guest Post by Nandini) — Pages Unbound
This isn’t what I wanted to write about at all. I think last night I’d decided on anger. (You really should’ve gone with that.) Then I wanted to talk about depression. (That book was totally out of your comfort zone.) After that, I saw a friend was struggling with anxiety and was tempted to discuss that. (Let’s go on Twitter again!) In the morning, I woke up to another friend being mad at me because I did the right thing and I thought that could span an entire post. (It couldn’t have.) I picked up the newspaper and read so much about Holi that I texted a third friend about how it is overrated. She suggested I should talk about it in my blog post for today. (You should mention her name – she’d like that.) It so happened that when I opened up my laptop and saw the new layout in WordPress, I started typing about something else entirely. (Why does everything have to change? You should write about that.)
The colours seemed too bright to his pounding head when he stepped inside The Golden Apple. A guard escorted him to a far table in one of the corners, where a man sat with a mountain of papers stacked perfectly in front of him. The morning sunlight fell on his back and illuminated him like some sort of angelic figure. Dwayne lifted a hand to shield his eyes. The guard released him from his grip and trooped back the way he had come, leaving the two of them alone in the tavern’s main hall.
“You seem like the pleasanter sort,” the man commented, looking him up and down. “What might your name be?”
Dwayne shrugged and answered.
“Dwayne?” The change in the other’s voice was evident. “I should’ve recognised you instantly, I suppose, but it’s been many years. I hope you remember me, cousin.” He got up and moved to stand in front of Dwayne.
“Rick?” asked Dwayne, uncertainly.
“And so you do,” replied Richard, clapping him on his back. “It’s a pleasure to see you after… how many years has it been?”
“Six or seven,” mumbled Dwayne, leaning away from him. It was as if his nightmares were suddenly coming true. The news of his turn of fortunes had sped like a wildfire among his relations and the last thing he wanted was one of them to see him in his poor condition.
“Too long, too long. But I suppose I have been busy. It must be desperate times indeed for you if you’re thinking of applying for this job.” He chuckled, but Dwayne chafed at the insult.
“I heard it pays very well,” he defended his decision.
“Of course it does because the job itself is nothing short of torture,” Richard guffawed.
“I do need the money, Rick. If you could help me out, I’d be forever indebted to you,” Dwayne said through gritted teeth. Only Lessie’s pleading eyes had kept him there even after Richard’s words.
“Anything for you, dear cousin. I’m certain that you’re the most qualified man to apply; over-qualified, really.” He gave Dwayne a pointed smile and continued, “I would have to hire you based on merit itself. But I must ask you, Dwayne, after your stint as a businessman, can you take orders from a little boy?”
Dwayne nodded but said nothing. He would do whatever was asked of him for that amount of money, or so he told himself. He had already buried any pride he had had when he walked into this tavern.
Richard shook his hands solemnly. “Then welcome to the palace, Mr. Dwayne Ferrars, as the caretaker of Prince Jeffrey. I hope you enjoy your time in the palace.” There was a mischievous sparkle in Rick’s eyes that annoyed Dwayne. He withdrew his hands quickly.
“Thank you, cousin,” Dwayne said with as much fervour as he could muster. “Is there a contract I must sign? When do I start?”
“Come round to the palace tomorrow morning and I shall have your contract ready. You will start two days hence, if that is fine by you.”
“That would be perfect. Thank you again, Rick.”
“The pleasure is all mine, Dwayne. Oh, but when you do arrive tomorrow, make sure to ask for Mr. Richard and not Rick. We are colleagues now, after all.” He laughed without humour.
“My apologies, Mr. Richard,” replied Dwayne, doffing his hat and curtsying. He hoped Rick wouldn’t notice the mockery in his fake smile.
“That’s much better now,” Rick called, striding away from him towards entrance. “Send the rest away,” he ordered the guard as he left.
Dwayne should have been happy as he followed his cousin out of the door, but a heavy dread filled his heart. He had to see Lessie and tell her he had a job, but he wasn’t yet sure if that was good or bad news.
I haven’t been able to post since the dawn of March due to an illness and other unforeseen circumstances. All the while I was away, I was brainstorming post ideas. Many of them were interesting and I’m pretty sure I’ll flesh them out soon, but only one made me think twice about writing it, for it wasn’t a ‘safe’ idea. The more I thought about it, the more it struck me as odd because I didn’t feel comfortable talking about whatever struck my fancy on my own blog. I’ve always been a cautious person and deep in my heart I can still sense a certain reluctance warring with my bolder side, begging me to reconsider.
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