Of course I had to do the ICONIC queen herself, Etheldredda !!!! I remember I absolutely adored her Tudorish/elizabethan(?) type clothing when I first saw her picture, so I added my own twist.
I tried to incorporate inktober's "rocket" into this, so she's at a celebration of sorts
@heaptober-2020
[ID
A traditional drawing of queen Etheldredda in front of a marron curtain that leads back to a brown throne that is slightly visible behind her. The background behind the throne is black. The queen is standing front and center facing the front but looking off to the side in disgust with heavy white foundation, rounded red blush, black eye makeup and lipstick with thin, arched brows. She is wearing a gold crown that has three points and has her reddish brown hair in two buns on the side of her head. She is wearing an elizabethan neck adornment, large and white, and a red bodice, sleeves poofed at the shoulders, and sleeves that are slightly poofed and have red lace at the edge. Down the bodice is a gold pentagon with a thick line down to the edge of the bodice where is forms a v. The skirt is layered , the top is short and bright red, middle is a bit longer and black, and the third is a dull red with a black line of fabric down the center. Her feet are visible, black shoes one facing the left the other facing forward. Her left hand side hand is obscured by the dress, the other is extended and bent, her white hand flopped down with disinterest. She had long black nails. On the right hand side there is a large gathering of rockets for fireworks, the have white bodies and red cone tops. The sky above is a boring blue with 3 clouds visible. The grass is a gross green, like it's dying.
Silence.
Jenna was staring stoically out of the window ignoring everything inside.
It was getting late, she noticed. They had been here, how long? Seemed like eternity.
The door opened and Marcellus entered out of breath. "I'm here, I'm here, sorry." Jenna jumped up. "Come on let me take your coat." She ran towards him.
"Where on earth have you been this has been like a funeral in here! She just keeps...staring at me.”, she whispered, eager to get away.
"We had a mishap in the chamber, Simon and I-"
"Never mind you're here now." Jenna forced a smile, more like a grimace.
"There he is grandmama." She said grinning like mad. Etheldredda examined him critically. "Sit Marcellus." "Yes Mama." Marcellus scrambled to take a seat. "Well." Etheldredda huffed. "Now that we are all here-" she said with a pointed look at Marcellus, "we can begin." Jenna groaned, burying her head in her arms.
Sir Hereward dreaded the royal family meetings. However it was a long standing tradition that no Queen had ever dared to doubt. He had seen his share of them, most of them statistically ending with something- or someone being thrown out of a window. (But don't worry, the young prince was perfectly alright after being thrown out the window by an enraged queen. But that's why they moved the meetings to the small sitting room on the first floor of the palace. It was a lot less...deadly.)
He didn't know how exactly she managed, but Queen Etheldredda materialised every 7 years on the day of the family meeting, and stayed there until it ended. Any attempts to remove her failed-even though Septimus was very eager to throw any and every Charm he knew at the ghost. Very eager.
He winced, as did the two glaziers behind him who were summoned to the palace for every royal family meeting to repair the damages. The shouting had started.
"I don't even know what you are complaining about granddaughter I revived him." They heard Etheldredda hiss.
"AFTER DROWING HIM!" Jenna shouted back.
"I have only ever tried to do what is best for this family-"
"you can't be serious! You did it for yourself, all of it, heck I'm sure you would have loved to drown me!"
"Mama, Jenna please-" came Marcellus' softer voice but he was quickly shut down.
The glaziers winced when they saw a figure step close to the window. "It was good work Ted." One said, trying to comfort the other who nodded languishingly. "One of my best work." "I know Ted." The other glazier patted his shoulder comfortingly.
Some time passed and this time it was Marcellus and Etheldreddas voices that were heard.
"You KILLED my sisters! How could you have-"
"now, now, Marcellus this has never been proven as you know."
"Yes because you probably drowned everyone that dared to speak against you!"
"You know I have HAD IT WITH YOU if you had only been a girl!"
Ted looked a lot better now, staring at the window thoughtfully.
"You know Gilbert, maybe this time we could go for an obscured glass. Patterns, it's nice. Some privacy."
Gilbert nodded thoughtfully. "That's a good idea or...I know! Picture this, a stained glass window, all the colours of the rainbow! We could depict the queens coronation!" Ted nodded eagerly. "Handmade glass...I have a beautiful red I have been wanting to use."
Sir Hereward checked the time. Usually it took them about an hour though he had once seen a meeting being concluded after three minutes after one princess accused the other of wanting to steal her throne and had thrown her pet lizard out of the window. (The lizard was fine though)
He looked at the window expectantly around now should be the time...he heard a shout of "you're beyond believe honestly!" And the window broke. It was a nice statue the Queen's father had brought with him on one of his travels. Sir Hereward had quite liked it. Oh well. He made his way to the sitting room to check with the Queen only narrowly avoiding a fuming Marcellus stomping away.
He turned around to see the two glaziers still discussing what kind of window to put in.
In front of the room he was stopped by the ExtraOrdinary Apprentice and her friends. "It was Marcellus who left right?" They asked. "Indeed Apprentice the Alechemist-", they had stopped listening "Pay up!" Oskar told a very disgruntled Ferdie. "I had so thought it would be Queen Jenna." She muttered. Sir Hereward bowed down to her smiling. "Next time. Only seven years left." He floated off idly remembering his favourite window. He liked the one Queen Cerys had once, unfortunately it had been destroyed very early into the meeting, by the Queen herself. Oh well. Only seven years to go. Maybe he could tell the glaziers to replicate it next time.
