Meet Eva Von laCourt

Eva is one of my Point of View characters for the novel that I am writing currently entitled: Finly. She is an interesting character and in my head she is one of my favorites. Of course this is a rough draft in one of the earliest stages of writing so expect this scene to change...A LOT, before the final cut, but hopefully this free write will give you a sense of Eva's essence. Please also ignore grammatical or spelling errors as this is an unedited free write. However, DO DO DO leave comments or get in touch with me with praise, questions, critique about content, something you don't understand, or if you are excited about this world that I'm building. Let me know!!! (email: n8charley@gmail.com) Enjoy!




THE EAST WATCHTOWER STOOD TALL AND SKINNY LIKE A LIGHTHOUSE ALONG THE POTOMAC RIVER. The northeaster Territory called the Grey Skyline stretched towards the horizon behind the Watchtower. The southeastern Territory called the Swamplands spread down from the tower’s toes. The Watchtower was the separating point between the two Territories — but just like America’s capital city almost a thousand years ago, it sat not truly in either Territory, but a Territory of its own.

Eva Von laCourt sat on the window seat her father had made for her. She’d begged and begged for the window seat. She wanted it littered with pillows and comfy blankets. Nothing was out of reach for Eva’s father. She was in a beautiful dress, reminiscent of a time long passed. It was pink with many frills and extra poofy-ness. The seamstress that constructed the dress needed to visit the library’s older books on styles of passed times. Today’s world was no place for frilly, obnoxious dresses.

Eva didn’t want the dress because she was a spoiled brat. She sat on the many layers of tulle looking out one of the highest windows of the Eastern Watchtower. On clear mornings she could see straight to the sea. She’d wanted the dress to draw attention from her father. Her nanny knew it, but the old woman would never speak as much to Master Von laCourt.

It was like the time Eva had wished for a cat. Mr. Von laCourt sent a pair of his guards down to the market to fetch his girl a cat. Back then Eva was simply lonely. She wasn’t aware that she could vie for her father’s affections. He was such an important man…But she was older now. She knew better.

Her father’s guards had come back with a tiny kitten, black with white spots. Eva named it Rajah, after one of her favorite princess’ companions. Everyone believed Rajah was simply a house cat — until she grew much too fast! The cat was a leopard from some rare species found across the sea where their knowledge of herbs allowed them to live perpetually. The leopard’s species was rare due to overhunting for its bones.

Mr. Von laCourt had ordered his guards to kill the cat, until Eva threw herself between the cat and the guard’s blade. Rajah had saved Eva’s life several times. Eva’s nanny even felt more comfortable leaving Eva alone with the cat than some of her Master’s guards.

Rajah sat upon Eva’s over-sized bed licking her plate-sized paws. Eva watched out the window. There was a fog rising from the river. The first drafts of chilly wind was coming in from the west. Soon the trees would start to turn brilliant colors. Eva’s favorite festival of Summer’s Pass was only two months away. It was a time when Summer would pass its power to Winter. A time when the veil between reality and magic was thinnest. A time when, what once was, could mingle with what currently is.

The crowd was already building outside. Stories below her lonely bedroom — save for Rajah — there was a balcony that her father, the Icon, would speak upon. He had been spending the last week with the Council. They were making plans. They were making rules. There, on that balcony, her father would reveal to the people what the Council had voted upon. Nine people who make decisions for all of the people in the five Territories across America.

Dear father, you do demon’s work. Eva often thought. Her father was just a tool, a pawn that the nameless, faceless Council used to present their expert decision. They knew what was proper for all the people of fallen, poor America. No one has even seen them — except for Mr. Von laCourt and past Icons.

Nothing good ever came from father’s speeches, or revealings, as Eva came to know them. Her hair was long and golden, nearly reaching her ankles. She passed the time braiding her hair as she waited for the telltale cheers and trumpets that marked her father’s appearance upon the balcony below.

Rajah broke her from her reverie. Braiding her hair always put her into a trance. The leopard growled playfully and head butt Eva’s hands. The cat was begging for a pet. “I suppose I am not the only one pleading for attention in this tower. I am truly sorry Rajah.” Eva said as she shifted from braiding to giving the large cat a good scratching.

“I do hope father has good news for the people. I can feel the morale like a cold chill from the Ice Flats.” Rajah purred in agreement. Eva suspected that it was mostly due to the good scratching she was receiving behind the ear, but there were times that Eva swore the giant cat completely understood what she was saying.

Rajah shook Eva’s hand off and bound for the bed, leaping in a single jump from the floor across the room to the bed and then back. Rajah wanted to play. She stopped before Eva and let out a playful roar. Only Eva and her nanny would recognize the leopard’s roar as playful. Anyone else would swear the leopard was giving a warning before it attacked and ripped Eva to pieces.

“Okay, okay!” Eva leapt from the window seat and Rajah rolled onto her back, catching Eva with her stomach. The two rolled around as if they were both rough-housing boys. They rolled and tumbled, Eva even slammed her head against her bed post, but kept with the game, giggling. They didn’t stop until Eva heard a loud rip!

“Oh fudge!” She scowled. The dress had a huge tear in it. Rajah’s claw had separated the fabric like it were made from paper. “It’s okay, Raj, I hate this ridiculous dress anyway.” Eva climbed out of the dress revealing the athletic shorts she was wearing and a tank top. Eva felt much more comfortable in boys’ clothes.

One of the cooks sons played with Eva often. Eva had traded Rajah’s claw clippings for one of his outfits. The cooks son had used Rajah’s clipping for an awesome necklace like the big game hunters had on TV. Eva used his clothes when she practiced sword fighting with one of the guards’ sons — or for her underclothes when she had to wear stupid frilly dresses.

Eva could hear the helicopters as they made their way towards East Watchtower to film the Icon’s speech. She knew that they were only minutes from her father stepping out onto the balcony below. Hopefully they didn’t get a shot of Eva on her balcony seat in boys’ clothing. It wouldn’t be the first time.

“Eva!” Her nanny shrieked as she stepped into Eva’s room and saw her. “You can’t wear those for your father’s speech!”

“I have before,” Eva responded defiantly.

“Goodness child! Look at this dress! I’ll send it for repairs immediately. In the meantime, put something more decent on please.”

“Don’t.”

“Don’t what, child?” Her nanny was nearly towards the door, the tulle-stuffed dress draped over one arm.

“There is no need to repair the dress.”

“Why, might I ask?”

“I’m not going to wear it again.”

“But you begged your father to have it made for you.”

“And it didn’t get the response I was hoping for.” Eva knew that the nanny knew exactly what she was referring to.

Her nanny moved across the room towards her, laying the ridiculous dress down on the end of the bed. Rajah had returned to resting upon Eva’s pillows, cleaning her paws. Eva stopped the nanny’s hug with a simple gesture. “Your father is a busy man,” the nanny said.

“Too busy,” Eva grumbled. She was sitting upon her window seat now, legs clenched into her chest. She glanced out the window. The crowd below was growing. “What did he find out from that witch woman? Why has he been so busy?”

“I’m afraid only your father and the Council know that.” The nanny looked out the window at the gathering crowd below, “Perhaps we will find out today.”

“I wish he would give up this job and just go back to making music and touring around the Territories. I would have remembered seeing so many places had I been old enough.”

“I know child,” Eva couldn’t resist the nanny’s lingering hug any longer. The nanny wrapped her arms around her like she had done a thousand times before. Eva was too young to remember being held by her mother. “Your father is the longest running Icon, he is a very important man.”

“Too important!” Eva spat. “I hardly remember what he looks like. He’s always wearing those masks!”

“Oh, poor child,” the nanny wiped Eva’s cheeks as if she was catching tears, but Eva had stopped crying about it years ago. “You don’t forget what your father looks like. That’s something you can never forget.” The nanny had been sitting on the edge of Eva’s window seat. “Your father is about to go on. Now throw on an easy dress and watch his speech.” The nanny scurried out of Eva’s bedroom, grabbing the pink frilly dress from Eva’s bed as she went.

As if on cue the crowd below began screaming and cheering. Eva opened her window and peeked out. Her half-braided hair fell out along the side of the tower, blowing carelessly in the wind. Her father walked to the end of the balcony, his hands held up in a gesture of greeting and to hush the cheers. He wore a mask, Eva loathed, a new one.

The mask looked skeletal from what Eva could see. A rack of antlers sprung atop the mask like the reaching branches of a tree. The mask was ivory-colored, like bone. Her father must be keeping in style with Summer’s end. Or maybe this dead stag look would be the motif of his newest album. After all, Mr. Von laCourt was a recording artist first. His celebrity platform is exactly what made him so attractive as the Council’s latest Icon.

Just as the crowds thunderous applause was calming to a dull roar, her father kicked up the theatrics with a herd of gazelle that must have been released off to the side of the Watchtower and were trained to leap, prance, and run just before where the crowd gathered. The cheers burst into applause again as a flurry of fall leaves were released from somewhere above Eva’s room. The wind causing some to spin and dance into her room. The helicopters were nearly level with her bedroom window. They would definitely get shots of the Icon’s tomboy daughter — again.

Eva didn't care. In fact, she leaned further out her window, her hair falling lower on the side of the lonely tower. The applause seemed to strengthen. Eva tried to find what type of theatrical tricks were going off now, until she realized that the crowd was cheering for her! Her father had caught the object of their thunderous cheering and looked up at his daughter.

He was indeed wearing a skull of some sort of deer or antelope with its antlers attached. His eyes were streaked with red makeup. His lips were colored black with lipstick. He gave her a look that she’d seen hundreds of times before. She knew that the nanny would have to scold her about this behavior. Her father never took time out to correct her.

Her father turned back to his people.

“Thank you, thank you.” He announced. His voice was amplified by a mic that he wore on her person, usually in his hair like the musicals downtown. Speakers were strung all up and down the Watchtower as well as a few surrounding the main area of where the spectators were allowed to watch the speech live. “Good day to all the Territories of America. I hope this announcement finds you all in good health and safe from the scourges that haunt us since the Great Surfacing.” Eva tuned out most of the beginning. It always started this way.

To be continued...