by Kelly Napoli
CHAPTER 23
DINNER
Kiethara let out a soft moan, rolling her head to the side. She flexed her fingers; one arm lying softly over her head and the other lay gently over her stomach. With her lower arm, she clenched soft, warm fabric in her hand, reminding her of the blanket she used to own before the fire. That had probably been the last time she had ever felt as comfortable as she did now. She almost felt like she was floating in a cloud, with the warm sun trained onto her face.
Slowly, the previous events came to her. She was lying in Navadar’s bed, in Navadar’s house, in the kingdom of Redawn. Warmth that had nothing to do with the toasty bedcovers spread through her.
She was safe.
She did not know what was more unreal—her situation now or what her situation had been over the past few days. One was as horrid in memory as it had been in experience, details that she was not eager to relive. She had figured Gandador to be cruel—a title he still held—but almost everyone else she had met so far came mighty close. The people of Redawn did not seem too bad, besides that girl Trinnia, and Desan had been a wonderful person to her. But the way she had treated him in the end, well, maybe she deserved that title as well.
Kiethara opened her eyes. Sunlight streamed in from the two windows behind her, into a very spacious room. Besides the bed, there was an ornamentally carved wardrobe and a small desk, on whose surface was a pile of books and a small piece of mirror.
She pulled herself up out of the bed, stretching the kinks out of her joints with a yawn. How could she still be tired? Idly, she wandered around the room, running her finger over the polished wood and intricate details. She wandered over to the desk. Did she really want to see? She didn’t know what to expect, and that scared her more than anything. How much could she have changed? She bit her lip and then gave in to her curiosity.
Kiethara picked up the piece of mirror.
Perhaps the most alarming thing that first met the eye was her bruised cheek. Other than that, to her shock and relief, she couldn’t find a tremendous change to her features. Her lip was split a bit, and her skin was a little more pale than usual, but that was the extent of the damage. She let out a breath she had not realized she was holding in and smiled.
She placed the mirror back on the desk and padded towards the far window. She ran her finger down the curtain before drawing it aside, and then gasped at the view that met her eyes.
How she had not seen it yesterday, she did not understand, but perhaps that was a blessing. If she had seen one more thing yesterday that was as mind-blowing as this scene was, just as everything else in this kingdom was, she would have fainted. It was the sea, and it stretched out to her right with no boundaries, the only thing separating them being a few houses and a dock. It shimmered, flashing golden light just as a jewel in the sun, which was low in the western sky. It stood quite still, the waters so calm. Many ships could be seen indolently sailing over the smooth surface and, just as many were bound to the dock, rocking in the gentle swells. It was astounding, like a forest made out of water.
She didn’t know how long she stood there, drenched in the light pouring in from the window, gazing at the sparkling masterpiece. After a while, though, she got the impression that she was being watched.
Navadar was standing in the doorway, leaning against its frame. He smiled when she looked up, shutting the door behind him and striding forward.
“Kiethara,” he said almost breathlessly, rounding the bed.
“Navadar!” she replied in relief. The house had been so quiet she had feared that no one had been home. Seeing him reminded her of all her worries and they burst from her mouth before she could stop them.
“I need to get back to the forest! I was taken, Navadar, and all of my magic is gone. Gandador could be burning the place down while I sit here! I need to go now, to fight him off—”
He put two fingers over her lips to stop the flow of words.
“Kiethara,” he sighed. “You’re in no state to go anywhere.”
She opened her mouth to reply, but he just shook his head, pressing his fingers harder on her lips.
“Let me talk. I’ve cleared everything with my father. He knows I have been traveling to the forest. I told him that we were good friends, and that you were the daughter of the guardian,” he said with a smile. “This is true, so I didn’t find it necessary to bother him with the whole story.”
“Thank you,” she said when he removed his fingers. “But I still need to get back to the forest.”
“Not in your condition,” he said sternly.
“What condition?” she demanded.
“You just woke up, for one,” Navadar said gently, leading her back to the bed. “A few hours ago, I came in and you had a fever.”
Kiethara frowned. It had been years since she had had a fever. Luckily, it had gone away after just two weeks.
Navadar put a hand over her forehead.
“However, it doesn’t seem to be too bad right now…”
“Great! Let’s go!” she stressed.
“The next step is to get some food in you. Come, we’re expected for dinner,” he said, ignoring her.
“We?” she repeated.
“Yes,” he sighed. “It took a while, but my father now considers you our guest. Trinnia will be attending as well, and I’ve told her you’re not a slave.”
“I don’t think she likes me very much, regardless,” Kiethara pointed out.
“Trinnia has her own way of looking at things,” he said in a hard voice. “Don’t let it upset you.”
Kiethara bit her lip. She was anxious to learn more about this Trinnia. She had questions about her bouncing around in her head. Why was she, too, coming to dinner? Why had she been riding on Navadar’s horse, and why did she seem to be so entwined in his life? Was she his sister? He had never mentioned a sister. Or was she something more?
“Let’s go,” Navadar said, helping her off the bed.
Together they walked through the hallway and down the stairs. Nervous, she pulled her hair back up into a bun. Now fully awake, she could truly take in the fine finishing and beautiful artwork that embellished the house. One thing was for sure, Navadar and his family were nowhere near poverty.
Navadar gestured to a door before opening it for her.
Timidly, she walked into the room.
It was a very well sized room, but it had no windows. A large fireplace loomed in the center of the wall, with flames smoldering inside. Innumerable candles were scattered around the room as well, casting more than enough light. A large oak table took up most of the room, surrounded by six chairs. Two of which were not empty.
At the head of the table sat a very fine looking man. His skin was the same tone as Navadar’s, one that indicated he was only in the sun as much as he wanted to be, but his hair was dark. A braided beard dangled from his chin and light brown eyes twinkled under heavy brows. A crooked grin lit up his features, almost making it impossible to feel uncomfortable in his presence. From what she had heard from Navadar, this was certainly not the man she had been expecting.
Trinnia sat to his right, chin up and jaw taunt. Her hair was curled up into a bun, but with one perfect blond curl draped elegantly along the nape of her heck. She wore a different dress than she had been wearing before, this one a royal blue and adorned with a good deal of lace.
Navadar’s father stood as they entered the room and bowed his head.
“Kiethara, this is my father, Raynock. Father, this is Kiethara,” Navadar introduced.
“It’s a pleasure, Kiethara. Navadar has told me much about you,” Raynock said in a pleasant tone. But Kiethara picked something up something else in his eyes, something that almost seemed to be mocking her. Or calculating.
“Thank you for welcoming me graciously into your home,” she replied readily. Oh, did she owe Aaron for teaching her the rules of society. Had he considered that she would be in this situation one day?
“Not at all,” he said. “Please, sit.�
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Navadar walked forward and pulled out her chair, second from the head of the table. She sat down carefully, watching as he took the chair next to her, closest to his Father and across from Trinnia.
This...stiff and formal atmosphere was making her squirm in her seat. This was how they ate their meals? She preferred her way so much more to this rigid setting. Just to grab an apple off a tree, to throw herself into the grass, and eat at her own leisurely pace…
Raynock clapped his hands, and immediately two men and one woman bustled in.
“First course shall do, I think,” he told them.
The woman nodded, and then the group left. Raynock turned to Kiethara.
“I have no mind to what you indulge in at your own home, but I can assure you that you will not be disappointed by the feast I shall provide.”
“I am certain it will be much better than my usual,” she assured him.
“What do you eat in the forest, er…Kiethara,” Trinnia asked, pronouncing her name with a sneer.
“Whatever I can grow,” she told them.
“Ah, so your father is a farmer?” Raynock asked. She found this amusing.
“Not exactly,” she laughed.
“Then what, may I ask?”
He wanted to know what her father did? He murdered and tortured, schemed and plotted, and came up with ridiculous plots day by day on how to obtain the guardian’s power for himself. That was what he did. She didn’t think that would count as appropriate dinner conversation, though.
“He’s a scholar,” she lied quickly, trying to remember some of the professions Aaron had told her about. “He enjoys making his point…very clear.”
“That doesn’t make any sense!” Trinnia declared. “Then who grows your food?”
Kiethara shot Navadar a confused glance. He sighed.
“Forgive us, we are not familiar with your ways,” he said. His formal tone surprised her. It sounded nothing like him.
“Her ways?” Trinnia repeated.
“Her family uses magic, Trinnia,” he explained.
Trinnia’s eyes budged, and then she muttered something under her breath that sounded very much like the word “scandalous.” Was that what she was now? Kiethara almost preferred “forest-girl.”
In bustled who Kiethara now figured to be slaves. For some reason, that sparked an intense feeling of rage inside her. She should have known that a house of this size, with such a large income, would have slaves, but it still felt wrong to her. Her past experiences had taught her everything she had needed to know about the treatment of slaves. She turned to them with an expression of pity.
They took no notice of her as they set down goblets and dishes on the table. In fact, from what she could see of their bowed faces, they appeared to be…content. Healthy and well fed, too.
She turned to look at what had been set before her. A glass bowl and a silver goblet; the bowl filled with a rich substance that gave off a wonderful odor, while the goblet held a deep, dark liquid. Nothing looked familiar.
“What are you doing in Redawn, then, if you don’t use magic? A queer choice out of all the kingdoms,” Trinnia continued, unable to contain herself.
“I was in Nikkoi, first,” she replied, wondering if that was the best explanation.
“Really?” Raynock asked, taking a spoonful of the alien substance. “With your father, I presume?”
“Oh, yes,” Kiethara lied. “But we got separated in Nikkoi, and that was when I was taken by a group who figured me a slave!”
Raynock averted his eyes and mumbled something she did not catch. Trinnia seemed to have heard it, though, for she laughed aloud.
So maybe she did look like a slave to these people. Obviously, this was not the world for her. She could see she did not belong here. And if she did not belong here, neither did she belong in Navadar’s life. She bit her lip hard to stop it from trembling and continued to look down at the matter in front of her.
“Do you need me to track down your father for you?” Raynock offered, recovering himself.
“No,” she replied, a bit too quickly. “I mean, I’m sure he’ll catch up with me. He always does.”
“You talk as though this happens frequently,” he noted.
“Well, the forest attracts much trouble,” Kiethara sighed.
“You know, magic is not permitted in this kingdom,” Trinnia said forcefully, her eyes glinting dangerously. “The king would not approve.”
“I’m sure Miss Kiethara will not use any magic,” Raynock said, with a hard glance at Navadar.
“Of course not,” Kiethara said quickly. “I’m under your roof and, thus, your rules.”
Trinnia did not respond, but picked up her spoon and began eating what was in her bowl. The other two followed her example, but Kiethara was hesitant. It smelled nice, but still…
Well, whatever was in the goblet did not have a smell. Actually, it looked as though it could be juice, from a fruit. She picked it up and took a sip.
Oh!
She coughed, bringing her hand quickly to her mouth to cover what she had spit out. She kept it pressed to her lips, blinking rapidly as her eyes watered. That was certainly not juice. It burned her throat!
She looked up to see that everyone was staring at her.
“Is there something wrong?” Raynock asked.
“No, no. It’s just that I’ve never had…” Kiethara trailed off, unable to finish her sentence.
“Wine?” Trinnia finished for her. “You’ve never had wine before?!”
Kiethara shook her head.
Trinnia muttered under her breath again before taking a sip from her own goblet.
“What do you have in the forest?” Raynock asked.
“Much more and much less,” Kiethara explained. “The forest has natural beauty, yet you have man-made beauty here in this kingdom. Our resources consist of that which we can get from it. For example, we do not have any…wine, or make any bread. We certainly have fewer rules, less regulations, and far less company. Still, nothing can equal it.”
“Sounds lovely,” he commented.
The slaves came back in quietly, so quietly that she almost did not notice.
“Dinner is ready, sir.”
“Excellent. Bring it forth,” Raynock exclaimed, clapping his hands.
They cleared all the dishes in front of the besides the goblets and then left the room. They were back in what seemed like no time at all, setting down a dozen or so dishes on the table before them. Gleaming golden plates were laid directly before each of them, so clean that Kiethara could see her reflection. A fresh plate of fruit was placed just before her, making her mouth water. Other laden serving dishes were placed around them, most of the unfamiliar, but a few of them she recognized.
Potatoes that seemed to be mashed and creamed, seasoned vegetables that came in all size and variety, and freshly baked bread by the loaf. The main dish was something she had never seen nor smelt before, but it gave her stomach an uneasy feeling.
“I hope everything is to your liking. The roasted deer was caught by yours truly,” he said with a proud smile.
Kiethara’s stomach dropped. Deer? Roasted deer? She suddenly remembered a conversation she had had with Navadar in the forest, when he had told her that he ate animals. It seemed he had not been lying.
Raynock began to serve Trinnia, and Navadar turned to her with a plate of fruit in his hands.
“Thank you,” she whispered in relief as he piled it onto her plate. He winked at her.
“What do you want?” he asked.
“Anything but the meat,” she whispered. He chuckled.
“You speak so highly of the forest, I’m sure you’re dying to get back,” Trinnia said after they had all been served. Her tone suggested that she was dying for the same thing. What on earth had she done to make this girl hate her so much?
“I’m planning on setting out as soon as I can. Perhaps tonight—”
“Absolutely not,” Navadar inter
rupted. “You’re not taking off tonight, even if you were in good health. It’s far too dangerous.”
“I agree,” Raynock said. “We should wait until we hear word of your father. What was his name again?”
“Aaron,” she answered quickly.
“Mm,” he said through a mouth full. “I’ll keep my ear open.”
It was silent for a moment. Kiethara took advantage and speared a piece of pineapple with her fork. Her mouth watered as she quickly pushed it through her lips.
She almost groaned aloud. It tasted so sweet, so juicy, that she could hardly stand it. As soon as the food hit her stomach, a sharp pain shot through her abdomen and a low rumble issued from her stomach. She was hungrier than she had ever been in her life. She tried to subtly shove the food down her throat, not pausing for a breath.
“Did you hear what happened to the twins today?” Trinnia asked, as though she could not stand the silence.
“Oh, yes,” Raynock commented. “That man will be hanged, I’m sure of it.”
“As he should be! Pursuing the king’s own daughters in public like that, it’s disgusting!” she exclaimed.
Kiethara blinked, utterly perplexed as to what they were talking about.
“The prince was furious as well,” Navadar added.
Ah. They must be speaking of their kingdom. Kiethara continued to eat, listening contentedly as they gossiped. For some reason the senseless babble was enthralling. Navadar shot several looks at her, most of them apologetic.
“It’s getting late,” Trinnia noted after an hour.
“Mm, yes,” Raynock said. “I should take you home now.”
Trinnia stood, as did Navadar and Raynock. Kiethara, a little late, pulled herself up as well.
“Navadar,” Raynock said. “Please wait with Miss Kiethara, will you?”
“Of course,” he replied.
The three of them walked out of the dining room and into the parlor, with Kiethara trailing them from behind. She had never felt so lost before, not even when she had been wandering around in Nikkoi. There was just so much that she did not know. Aaron’s lessons now seemed incredibly basic. He had failed to describe how every move was directed by some form of culture.
They walked out onto the porch, into the warm rays of sun.
“I’ll be back in an hour or two, Navadar,” Raynock told him. It almost sounded like a warning.
Raynock and Trinnia hooked arms and then they strolled down the porch steps and into the crowded street, finally leaving Kiethara alone with the one person who she wanted to be with the most.