I - Rolling Thunder

Chapter 1 of the Edwardsaga, the meeting of Édouard and Violet at the bowling alley.

Rolling thunder! Thousands of booms rattled Dachßtadt’s riverside lanes over the course of the evening. As the student league wrapped up for the season, those in the year’s graduating class of the Swiss academy were never to throw another meteor into the teeth as students.
One of these students, a young man by the name Édouard of Mohnton, was putting on his wing tipped brogues when he saw a young lady sitting alone at a lane table. She was surrounded by no bowling effects and flipped through a notebook instead. Intrigued, he set his feet in motion towards her.
“Édouard, are you coming to the pub?” asked a fellow student as he stood up.
“Yes, Malgorf. I’ll be there. Hold on,” he replied. He kept walking in the lady’s direction.
“Édouard! Did you see?! He threw a trois cent! To end the season!” Another classmate, George Bandero, intercepted him with excitement.
“What? Who?”
“Edmundois.”
“Wild! Yes. Excuse me.” He pushed on.
He got near the table and tried to shake off his stout buzz as he ran his fingers through his dark brown hair. He leveled off his breathing before entreating the young lady.
“Hello miss. What are you writing there?”
“Oh, Édouard, you know…nothing.”
“Don’t be bashful Violette. The literary ragazza needs not be bashful.”
“If you must know, it’s a novella. My final for the semester.”
“What’s it about?”
“The old empress, Maresa.”
“A suggestion of your father, was it?”
“My grandmother wasn’t that interesting. This was Louis’ wife.”
“He really is grooming you for the senate, isn’t he?”
“Not really. I think he sees more in your future than mine.”
“We’ll see…I’ve just been accepted into the Agency House. But do stick near him! Lord Moreau will find you a quite suitable husband.”
“Oh, I know he will. And God willing not a Mohnton!”
“Ha! I don’t think you’d be lucky enough. Those Mohnton’s aren’t fond of imperials. Anyway, I want to read it when it’s done. Send it, won’t you?”
“Only if it’s any good.”
“In that case, do spare me! Take care Violette, I’m off to the pub. I hear your brother threw ein dreihundert!”
As the daughter of the owner, she was employed at the lanes while a first year in the Academy but mainly used her shifts to get homework done.