Take The Universe To Pieces and Put It Together Again

Marisa scanned the room, the glass of wine cool in her hand. The thousands of crystal eyes sparkling from the chandelier above her reflected the decadent ballroom and its milling inhabitants. Amongst them was her target: Edward Coulter. After painstaking research, including several truly painful private social engagements, she had discovered Brytain's most eligible bachelor.

She had seen a picture of him in a popular political magazine. He wasn't a young man but he'd aged decently, he was of average height with a sort of deflated look about him, as if he'd lost a lot of weight in a very short amount of time and didn't know what to do with the skin. Her golden monkey had volunteered this description, cackling cruelly as he did so. Yet Edward Coulter dressed and groomed well, and most importantly was a politician of great current and extreme potential future importance, one of the King's closest advisors, and that was Marisa's primary interest. If she was stupid enough to believe she could wait for a man who was incredibly powerful, rich and attractive, she'd be waiting all her life.

As she sipped the reassuring sweet burn of her wine and considered how best to approach and handle Edward Coulter to ensure he would be inescapably smitten by the end of the night, her golden monkey appeared at her shoulder.

"Listen," he whispered excitedly, "Those girls,"

He pointed a horned finger to the group of girls Marisa was half-standing with. She was casually friendly with them; their main use being in situations like this when she could appear to be socialising with them to limit the number of unwanted men approaching her.

The girls were also vital, of course, for gossip. They were all similar in age and social status to her; the daughters of middle class parents who by looks or charm or scholarship had managed to fight their way into the social circles of the upper class. Like Marisa, their life's primary goal was securing a great husband.

Marisa differentiated herself from them in many ways; for one, securing a husband was just a step in Marisa's long-term plan, which included goals beyond their wildest dreams. For another, it was clear to anyone that Marisa was by far and away the most beautiful charming intelligent and intoxicatingly wonderful girl, to such an extent that the other girls weren't envious at all; they accepted her as a natural phenomenon, and her status and power was automatic.

Marisa edged closer to the girls now, her golden monkey leaning forward eagerly through the curtain of her shimmering gold waves of hair, both of them listening carefully to the gossip,

"They say he's known all around the world," gushed Celeste, a banker's daughter with a particular affinity for being in on the latest happenings.

"He's been exploring all over the North, he's just come back, that's where he's been, and everyone wants to know what he's found; apparently he's made a discovery that will change the world. The Royal Arctic Institute has offered him more gold than he knows what to do with"

Regan, a petite brunette whose eyes were dancing with excitement babbled, "Yes, and he's got estates all over Oxfordshire. He's richer than a king."

"He dined with the King last night; in his private chambers," Celeste added, "and on his expeditions he befriended all the important Muscovites, and the King of Corea, and he fought the Tartars and won."

"He's ever so good-looking", giggled Penelope, a tall pale girl who blushed pink.

"And a clever scholar," Regan swooned.

"Passionate and absolutely wild, they say," her twin sister, Phoebe added in a thrilled whisper, and the whole group of girls broke into scandalised giggles.

"Who is he?" Marisa, a little breathless, asked her golden monkey, who was trembling with excitement on her shoulder.

"Shhh, listen!" he scolded and dug his little hands into her shoulder to make her pay attention to the girls.

"Lord Asriel Belacqua," Celeste rolled the name out like velvet, "What a magnificent name."

"Oh, he's completely perfect," sighed Regan. Her sigh was echoed by the others.

"I want to know who this Asriel is," Marisa whispered urgently to her golden monkey.

"So do I, so listen," he urged, flicking his tail agitatedly. When they wanted something, they became quite set on it. Within a few minutes, Edward Coulter had rapidly faded into the background. If everything they'd heard about Lord Asriel Belacqua was true, he was a more than perfect match for them.

Could it really be possible to find a rich and powerful husband they were attracted to? A world famous explorer adventurer and scholar, passionate, wild…it was like a fairytale. They had resigned themselves to the fact that Edward Coulter, a compromise, was the very best option they would find. If Lord Belacqua wasn't too good to be true and really did exist, so perfectly, he would certainly replace Edward Coulter as their target husband.

"Oh, there he is!" gasped Regan. She nodded discreetly with her head to the far left of the room, where Marisa saw, with a jolt of pleasure, a ruggedly handsome, powerfully built man intensely engaged in a passionate argument with another. The other man was visibly shrinking from Asriel Belacqua, who was not much older than Marisa herself but commanded an aura of authority and wisdom, and the man's stallion daemon was cowering behind his legs. Asriel's daemon was a beautiful proud diamond-white snow leopard, and she stood aloof at his side, hardly bothering to bare her teeth at the other man's cowering daemon.

The second Marisa and the golden monkey saw them they knew they had to have them.

"I'm going to go over and introduce myself," Regan announced, almost shuddering with excitement and nerves, "I just can't help it, I've got to."

Regan whipped a silver mirror out of her tiny shoulder bag and checked her reflection intently. When she looked up, snapping it shut, her eyes met Marisa's.

"Oh, Marisa," she said in alarm, as if noticing her for the first time, "You're not going to…are you going to…?" she tripped over her words, but Marisa knew what she meant and smiled sweetly.

"No, please Regan darling, you go ahead."

Whether or not Regan approached Asriel first was irrelevant to Marisa. One thing she and her golden monkey had been sure of since birth was that whatever the situation, they could make anyone fall head over heels for them and do exactly as they wanted. They had decided they wanted this man. Though the Asriel-induced fluttering of excitement in their insides was a welcome change for them, they were not at all worried about charming him to their whim. He was a man and would be no more trouble to manipulate than any other.

It would be interesting to watch how he behaved with Regan first. It would help them plan their strategy. They waited as the girl gathered together her courage and crossed the room towards Asriel. Regan was not a shy girl, but Asriel's brilliance in almost every way made him a particularly intimidating man. Several of the girls whispered words of wonder and envy and praise as Regan went.

They could not hear over the music and the other guests, but Marisa and the girls saw Regan sidle up beside Asriel, who was now talking animatedly with two new men, one of whom Marisa knew as the King's most trusted advisor; a man she had considered for herself before she found out he was already married.

They watched Regan giggle and blush as she introduced herself to Asriel, and Marisa saw him raise an eyebrow as he gave her a second's appraisal before turning back to his conversation. She hung at his elbow for a few more minutes but he ignored her completely. Her sparrow daemon flew around the snow leopard's head eagerly and she batted it away with a lazy sweep of her paw.

This excited Marisa greatly. Finally, a challenge; a worthy match.

Regan, gasping in shock, hurried after her dazed sparrow daemon, who had landed on the floor a few feet away. Cradling it in her hands, she rushed to the washroom in a flood of embarrassed tears. Most of the other girls followed their rejected friend; either to comfort her or to gossip more about her encounter.

Marisa turned to her golden monkey, her dearest companion, and in the depths of his black eyes she saw her excitement and delight mirrored.

"Let's do it now," he begged, "I can't wait any longer."

"All right, let's," Marisa almost glowed with her smile.

Together they crossed the room to Asriel, turning every head they passed as they went.