Seventeen Stones

by Vanessa Wells

  Lady Anne studied Mia for a moment and then looked at her daughter’s hopeful face. “As a matter of fact, for the first time since my marriage I am free to do what I like for mid-winter.” She looked at Sarah. “Your grandfather has asked his sister, Lady Bernice to come and live in his household, since she was just widowed and her husband was rather…lax when it came to finances. Lady Bernice has taken up most of the duties on the estate that I’ve been juggling since your father and I married. I’m grateful, because my schedule here in the City has become more strenuous over the past year and a half. I was thinking about giving a party here at the townhouse for those who had to remain in the City, but if you need the aid of an experienced hostess, I’d be happy to help.”

  Sarah’s face glowed and Mia gave a subdued exclamation. “Please! I can’t tell you how much I’d love for Sarah to be able to come.” Lady Anne smiled indulgently and directed her next comment to Sarah. “It’s going to be a lot of hard work. I think if you girls will help we can get it together in two months…though you know that I normally start planning a year in advance. But it’s not for nothing that I have contacts in every corner of the City bounds.” The anticipation of the upcoming challenge gleamed from the Lady’s eyes. It made Mia feel a little better about the lady’s offer to help with the party.

  Sarah ran up and hugged her mother, and Mia experienced another little pang of jealousy. Emma was wonderful, but she had always known that Emma wasn’t her mother. Lady Anne looked at her daughter’s smiling face and snuggled her only child next to her on the sofa. She turned to Mia. “What did you have in mind?”

  Lady Anne searched through the fat stack of notes to remind herself of some point or another. “So we know there are three local Greatlords and their families, though we don’t know how many members each might bring: and we have some idea of the wanded population, but don’t have exact numbers. That’s fine; all we need for now is a rough estimate. Greatlord Chilton’s estate is four hours away…we’ll send him an invitation, but I wouldn’t expect him to come. His wife’s gone stone-mad with age, and he normally attends the Magus’ mid-winter celebration to stay away from her. It’s just as well. He’s going around the bend a bit himself. Hopefully he’ll resign his post as Council Representative for the College before he goes completely deranged. Now, what size ballroom do you have in the manor?” Mia’s head was reeling; she’d been able to answer about one in five questions that Lady Anne posed, and she could tell the lady was getting a little discouraged.

  “I hope you don’t mind Mia, but I think it would be good if we went to your estate next rest day to look at it in person.” Mia nodded; maybe Lady Anne would find her answers then. Lady Anne put down her note book. “On to the next matter. Have you any idea what you’re going to wear?” Mia mentioned the emerald silk gown. Lady Anne lifted her pale eyebrows. “Dear, you can’t wear a dark color like that before you graduate the college. Girls your age wear pale colors like...” she pulled out her wand and summoned a pale blush gown from Sarah’s wardrobe. “Like this. You see how wide the skirt is? The layers of tulle and satin? It’s supposed to make a young girl look like a blooming flower: if she’s not slim the way the two of you are, it makes her look like a pink cabbage, but you’re lucky, you’ll be able to wear something like this and look nice in it.” The gown was lovely, with tiny little puff sleeves over a stiff bodice, and yards and yards of silk tulle in the skirt. The blush color would suit Sarah’s pale coloring. Mia would look like a corpse in it.

  “Are you sure we have to wear something like that?” she asked thinking of the striking color of her own gown. Lady Anne nodded. “Absolutely. If you break the unwritten rules about the way young girls should behave, the old tabbies will never forgive you. Trust me, you can be as rich and beautiful as you like, but if you insult the old dames, you won’t be marrying an old blood boy.” Mia looked down, not sure she cared about offending the old tabbies, whoever they might be. “It doesn’t have to be pink does it?”

  Lady Anne ordered lunch and sent a note to her own dressmaker. “Madam Reece isn’t cheap, but she’s the best. She’ll make something that suits you and is still acceptable.” Madam walked in after lunch with a young girl and two large trunks floating behind her.

  The premier dressmaker in the City was a neat little woman in her mid-fifties. Her hair was mostly silver, with hints of dark brown around the ears. She was a comfortable size (partially due to her love of truffles) and had a decidedly motherly air. The young girl behind her was one of her multitude of great-nieces. Madam Reece employed a huge number of seamstresses. It was a fine position for a wandless girl to take, as long as she married and left the City before she became infertile. Madam herself had no children, she had tarried too long in the City as a girl.

  Lady Anne had a high opinion of Madam Reece, and with good reason. A Lady in town was only as good as her wardrobe. Lady Anne had been the arbitrator of fashion these past ten years and more, ever since she’d met the little dressmaker. The current mode for ladies of good family and finances (clean, elegant lines and neutral colors) was entirely their doing.

  “Oh, I wouldn’t think that pink would be so bad on you, but you’d need a pale, clear pink like this, not a blush like Miss Sarah wears. The two of you have totally different coloring.” Madam Reece handed her a small square of pale pink silk. Mia looked at it. That wasn’t nearly as bad as the blush. “Yes, I think the pink silk for a morning gown, or perhaps a tea frock. And here are samples of velvet for the riding habit, I think the navy blue would work nicely. Thankfully, society only requires those pale colors for afternoon and evening wear.” Mia kept her face smooth as she ordered dresses without even knowing the price, much less haggling a sharp deal the way Emma had done for her school uniforms. She tried not to wince as she thought about how much this was going to cost the estate.

  Madam held up sketches of morning gowns, tea gowns, walking dresses, riding habits, and finally, ball gowns. They were fuller than Lady Anne’s famous mermaid trains and tailored suits. These dresses moved with the wearer, using yards of fabric to soften a young girl’s too-thin frame. She showed fabric samples with each gown, velvet, muslin, cottons, lamb’s wool, and wool plush that was as soft as the velvet. Trims and decorations were discussed and chosen, beads, lace, and even some leather and fur.

  Madam Reece and Lady Anne insisted on pale clear colors for the gowns, darker colors for the riding habits, and simple lines and decorations on the gowns themselves. Suits like her school uniform were debated and bought, in plum, navy, and dark grey, with skirts and jackets and black shirtwaists. These suits were most suitable for traveling by carriage, shopping, or walking in a village or town.

  They had nibbled their way through dinner while they continued the discussion of shoes and accessories. This was an admittedly interesting subject, but neither Mia nor Sarah could feel the same fanaticism that Lady Anne and Madam Reece exhibited about fashion. Sarah wondered off to a chair with a book after the third hour of rapturous delight, and Mia found her eyes glazing over as the ladies gushed about some beading detail that she hadn’t paid attention to. The windows outside the sitting room were edging into a purple sunset as Madam Reece packed up her trunks and apprentice.

  “Don’t worry about a thing my dear! Lady Anne’s taste is legend here in the City. We’ll have the first suits and tea frocks ready before the house party begins, and plan to deliver the rest a few days after the College gets out for the holiday.” Mia nodded and made a mental note to send Mr. Smith a copy of the expenditures once she had the final total. There was another half-formed plan percolating in her brain, but she might have to enlist Vivian’s help in pulling it off.

  Before they left for the evening, she plucked up the courage to ask Lady Anne about the mountains outside the window. The lady dimpled. “Oh, that’s my home, where I was raised, near the Gambor pass. The windows change from time to time, some days I get a fine view of the ocean, or a formal garden, or the islands off the coast where they
grow our tea and coffee. The spell is integrated into the glass, as old as the townhomes. This wall looks out over a lovely view of my neighbor’s window three feet away. Neither of us would appreciate that, and neither did the original architects. So the builders came up with alternatives. It’s easier to build a building than to do a spell to add room, but when there’s not a lot of land to build on, people tend to get creative. This town-home has a full ballroom, a three story greenhouse, and an excellent private library.”

  “The lady next door has an indoor stable with practice ring for when it’s raining. Another gentleman down the way has a full orchard. These were built shortly after the City itself, and the Greatlords and Ladies remembered the chaos times. That’s why so many of these have their own water sources, and even areas where it would be possible to store enough food to feed the entire City if need be.” The lady cocked an eyebrow and lowered her voice. “I’ve heard that some of them have secret passages to the other homes, but as hard as I’ve looked since my marriage, I’ve never found one. The first wand wielders readied this City for a war. All they would have had to have done was seal the doors with magic, and there wouldn’t have been anyway to force them out of the estates and townhomes. If they had enough supplies, they might not ever have to come out, though I suppose they would have eventually.”

  Mia was amazed at the idea that the homes were so saturated with magic. She was very, very glad that she didn’t live during a time when you had to be so cautious. After all, what could attack the City?

  As soon as they returned to the dorm, Vivian pounced on them. “So?” Sarah grinned. “My mother is going to help Mia plan the party. She’s going to come, so I get to! Even better, she’s going to let all of us help, if we want to.”

  In fact, Lady Anne had been quite adamant about all of the girls helping if they could. “You girls need to learn how to do this, and I’m sure they’ll be helpful. Bring them along when we visit your estate Mia. They don’t teach Elegant Assembly 101 at college.”

  Mia had never paid so little attention to her studies, or found her mind wandering off so continually. “Miss Rusticov!” Mia glanced up guiltily. She’d been thinking about the final drawing of the ball gown Madam Reece had sent for approval the evening before. Professor Stoats was glaring at her over a three dimensional model of a bunyip: a shy water-dwelling mammal found in many lakes and lazy rivers. They looked like moles with flippers. “Miss Rusticov, I asked if you understood the biological rational behind the bunyip’s ability to stay underwater for hours or even days.” Thank goodness, it was a question from the reading he’d assigned. “The bunyip uses the same process that some cold-water fish employee to slow its heart-rate and therefore use less oxygen. Combined with the animal’s over-sized lung capacity and proto-gills…” Professor Stoats held up a hand and growled “Well at least you did the background reading.” He still assigned her a punishment essay.

  Once they were alone in the study, Ella giggled and rattled off the facts about bunyips that she didn’t know. “They’ll drown a man if you aren’t careful around their hunting areas. They eat mostly fish, but they’ll eat snakes and even turtles. They’re completely blind, but they know everything that’s going on in the water, every plop and splash. I’ve never liked them much, personally. There’s something too canny about the way they lurk in the water, and those long fingers feel like death…” Mia decided to leave that part out. It was too much like a scary story. She’d never seen a bunyip in person. Ella’s description left her with no desire to do so.

  After her punishment essay, Mia approved the dress and went back to talking with the others. They were all chatting excitedly about the ball that Mr. Smith had approved in addition to the house party…except for Sarah. She was working on something for her Advanced Research class and didn’t spare them a glance. Mia marveled at her focus, without quite being able to envy it. She was too wound up. Sarah’s focus seemed unshaken, and while Vivian was as excited as Mia, excited was Vivian’s natural state. Lizzy and Beth had written their Grandmother and included Mia’s invitation that Lady Imogene was quite welcome to come to the house party if she chose. They were a bit despondent at first, but eventually a letter came with plans and permission. Mia danced around the room with Lizzy and Beth in tow. The girls giggled half the night when the letter arrived. Mia didn’t stop grinning for days.

  ***

  Lady Anne had completely taken over the practical aspects of planning the party, and Mia couldn’t help but wonder if it was mostly because the lady pitied her orphaned state. She suspected that she was doing for her what Lady Anne would want someone to do for her daughter if she found herself in the same situation.

  Sarah was one of Mia’s best friends. They shared a similar sense of humor, long hours studying many of the same subjects, and a certain creative streak. They tended to form a smaller group with Ella during the evenings, though sometimes Ella joined Lizzy and Beth going over music, or spent time with Vivian in the tea room.

  They spent most nights doing homework together. “Sarah, what would you say is the major cause of the Great Famine?” Mia and Sarah had exchanged a look at Vivian’s less than subtle attempt to avoid reading the text book. Sarah sighed and said “They discuss that on page four hundred and seven of The History of the City, and they cover it in chapter six of A Thousand Years of City Authority.” Mia took pity on her less studious friend. “They also cover it in the Clifford’s Notes version of Feast and Famine.” Vivian had rushed out of the door in a beeline to the library. Sarah shot Mia a look. Mia shrugged. “At least this way she’ll read the Clifford’s Notes and get a good overview. If we didn’t tell her our “opinion” she would have just asked one of the boys at the tearoom about it and gotten her information that way.” Sarah shrugged, but she nodded grumpily. “The irritating part is that she’d have gotten top marks for sure if she’d done it that way.” One thing Vivian didn’t lack was a near-brilliant understanding of human nature.

  ***

  On the next rest day the girls piled into the estate’s carriage and spent the two hour drive chattering like magpies in the cramped conditions. It would be slightly better on the way home. Lady Anne was driving straight from the family estate and she wanted Sarah to ride back with her so they’d have a bit of time together.

  All the girls let out appreciative sighs when they saw the manor. Lady Anne was waiting in one of the sitting rooms when they’d piled out of the carriage. Mia had sent a note warning Hawkins, the butler, of everything. Mr. Smith was expected after luncheon, and Mr. Dempsey had taken time out to greet all of them. “Miss Mia, ladies” he smiled warmly at all of them. Mrs. Wallace was bustling about, collecting wraps and a cloak, smiling like being invaded by half a dozen young ladies was the biggest thrill she’d had in years. Mia speculated that she probably wasn’t paying the lady enough.

  “Cook has prepared a selection of foods that she would have normally prepared at a mid-winter party fifteen years ago in the dining room.” A wide selection of tiny, iced cakes, portions of delicately grilled white or red fish with different sauces, thin slices of roast beef, artfully cut and garnished with grilled spring vegetables or slices of fruit, bowls of side dishes like baked pumpkin spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg, sweet potato casserole, new potatoes rubbed with butter and herbs, and many, many other dishes. “Oh my!” muttered Lady Anne. “Mia, your cook made enough ‘samples’ to feed every guest on the guest list.” Then in a louder voice she said “Alright girls, everyone take a plate and try just a bite of everything, Mr. Dempsey, I expect you’ve brought your appetite as well…”

  Mia was delighted with the dishes; each was beautifully presented and perfectly proportioned for a single course. Even using several plates she didn’t manage to get a bite of everything. The girls were making notes between bites, sometimes with exclamations of delight, occasionally with expressions of veiled disgust.

  Cook was brought in and congratulated. Lady Anne was particularly impressed. “Do you have enou
gh of each of the ingredients under stasis spells to make portions for two hundred? How much would we need to purchase from the markets?” Cook grinned. “Not a single turnip Lady. We knew our lady’s heir would be returning this year, despite Mr. Smith warning that she might not be wanded.” She smiled warmly at Mia. “As if a child of Greatlady Alexandria’s wouldn’t be!” She snorted and continued. “We started saving some of the best crops two years ago. Our lady provided the estate with powerful stasis spells in the store rooms before she died. The young miss can ask what she will; we will be able to provide it from what’s been saved.” The cook was proud and rightly so.

  Lady Anne and Mrs. Wallace conferred with the cook and together they decided on a menu that wouldn’t tax the staff, wouldn’t give the older guests indigestion, and would impress even the most persnickety gourmet guest. That accomplished, eight very full people waddled their way to the grand ballroom.

  The servants had been forewarned and so the large rectangular room was brightly lit with magelights. Mia had seen the ballroom before, so she was looking forward to their reactions. She watched their faces as they entered and she took in the forty feet ceilings, complete with mural, the crystal chandler, and the smooth expanse of seamless golden stone. Mrs. Wallace caught Mia’s eye as she led the others into the room. Vivian hadn’t really looked away from the mural. She was going to get a crick in her neck. Lizzy and Beth were actually leaning toward the piano in the corner, as if they were holding back their enthusiasm to reach the instrument, but only just. Sarah was examining the golden stone columns that decorated the edges of the room, most likely deciding whether they were entirely decorative or served an architectural purpose.