by David Ekrut
“Ah,” Elwin said. “Of course. I was supposed to meet her to see the seamstress. Apparently, my clothes are not good enough for the castle.”
“Indeed,” Harkin said.
Elwin scowled at him, which was difficult to maintain while brushing out the wrinkles. Bah. It was useless. He shouldn’t have slept in his clothes.
Jasmine hadn’t let him go by the farm to get his belongings, but she had said she would send for them. In the meantime, they would have the palace seamstress fit him with clothes.
All he really wanted was his books.
“Asalla,” Elwin realized.
“Young sir?”
“I left the book he gave me in the grass behind Madrowl’s store in Benedict,” Elwin said. “I can’t believe I forgot it.”
“If it pleases my young sir, I will send an inquiry on his young sir’s behalf to someone in Benedict.”
He nodded. The first rain would ruin it, and Asalla had said that it was a special book. Maybe he could get a letter to Drenen or Poppe before it rained. He walked over to the balcony to look at the cloudless sky. His balcony faced north and east, providing a nice view of the city of Justice.
Near the northern wall, a wide lake separated large homes on the west from smaller homes on the east side. The western structures had all been made of stone with slate roofs, and most were surrounded by tall gates. The smaller buildings on the east had also been crafted from stones but had little if any space between them. The coloring and styles of their stones differed as if they had been conjoined at different times.
Narrow cobblestone roads split the buildings on the east side of the lake, while wider roads provided room for horse-drawn carriages on the west. But the roads leading to both the north and east gates stretched the widest.
Beyond the gates, Elwin could see the countryside for a league or more. Many of the buildings outside the stone walls were larger than the ones inside with more distance apart and were built with redwood or stones of various colors.
Below him, people already began to fill the streets. From his vantage point, the people moving in and out of shops and buildings seemed like the wooden soldiers he played with as a child.
“Ahem,” Harkin said, “if it would please my young sir? Lady Zarah?”
“Oh,” Elwin jumped. “Sorry Harkin. And please, just call me Elwin.”
“As my young sir commands,” Harkin said. “This way please.”
Harkin turned and walked toward the outer door.
Zarah waited for him in the hall. Her long hair hung loose about her shoulders. She had on an emerald dress that draped around her shoulders and exposed all of her neckline and the top part of her bosom.
Elwin swallowed. He had never seen a dress so … No one in his town wore anything that …
“Good morning, Elwin.”
Zarah’s voice made his eyes snap up to her face. Her red lips smiled in a way that made him feel warm and cold at the same time.
“Oh. Uh. Go—,” his voice cracked. “Good morning.”
Her smile deepened as her eyes studied his. “Mother wants me to show you about the castle. We cannot have you getting lost now can we?”
“Hmm?” He forced his eyes to remain on her face. It took an effort not to glance down at her … dress. “No. I guess not.”
“The first place we are going is the seamstress. We need to get you out of those farm clothes.”
“Out of my clothes?” Elwin’s voice cracked again. He began to imagine himself naked and standing in front of Zarah. His eyes flickered to her bosom again, and he quickly looked away. Despite the breeze from the balcony, he felt sweat appearing on his forehead.
“Right,” she said with a smile. “Those clothes will not do for anyone living in the castle. We need to get you new ones.”
Right. New clothes. She hadn’t meant … Elwin felt his cheeks flush again. Of course she hadn’t meant for him to take off his clothes. It seemed to be getting warmer in the hallway by the moment. He looked down at his brown trousers and green shirt more to avoid looking at her than to study his attire.
But, he couldn’t help but feel a tinge of irritation at her casual dismissal of his best clothes. He had only worn both shirt and trousers a few times. Even wrinkled, he would look dressed up enough for the temple on Lifeday in Benedict. He had been about to tell her as much, but she spoke first.
“Shall we then?” She turned and offered him her elbow.
Scowling, Elwin looped his arm through hers, and she led him down the long corridor.
Her skin was like silk, soft and smooth. She had the sweet smell of flowers. Or, maybe it was honey. He hated the way being near to her always made his heart beat faster. He glanced at her from the corner of his eye but immediately looked away, feeling abashed. Being taller, he could see much more of her bosom than was decent at this angle. His hands began to feel like heated clams.
He made a point of studying the tapestries to avoid his eyes wandering to places they shouldn’t go.
Most of the embroidered textiles depicted various battle scenes, but a few had images of strange animals. One animal was grey with a long, white horn. Another picture had a massive animal of a grey-brown color with a long nose above large white tusks coming out the sides of its mouth.
“Those are called monotooths, and the others are elephants,” Zarah said. “They are found in the Kalicodon nation. It is east of Alcoa, across the Tranquil Sea.”
“Oh,” Elwin said, still not looking directly at her.
Half an hour passed, and she continued to lead him around corridors. Aside from the tapestries, not much else seemed to change. Most of the doors were propped open with plain wooden chairs or tables outside.
“We are here,” she announced, coming to an abrupt stop. He felt a moment of regret when she released his arm. Focusing, he could sense the warmth of her arm fade into the Air around him. When she spoke, his eyes snapped to her face. She gave him a wry smile.
“It will be an hour or so of fitting. I will be back in time to take you to breakfast. If I am not, can you make it back to your quarters?”
Elwin thought about it for a moment. He had not been paying attention to their path at all. And the castle was huge. “I don’t think so.”
Zarah shook her head and rolled her eyes lazily. She probably thought Elwin was the biggest country bumpkin.
“If I am not back before you are finished, you will have to wait for me. Well, go on, then.” She nudged him for the door. “Mahindria is waiting for you.”
He turned from her and walked through the doorway. Not sure why, the sounds of her retreating footsteps made him feel exposed. As her footsteps grew more distant, the fresh smell of honey faded. With Zarah’s absence, the feeling of exposure became something more. There was no word for it. Bah. What was wrong with him?
Elwin forced Zarah from his mind and glanced around the large room.
To his right a large open window provided an abundance of light. Various fabrics hung on racks in rows to either side of him, and more fabrics were folded and stacked in corners. A wooden table twice the length of his mother’s table back home rested at the center of the room. Next to it stood a portly woman with dark hair pulled into a bun.
“Well get yourself in here,” an accented voice said. “I haven’t all day to get the size of you.”
He hurried over to her. Without further discourse, she began to position him and hold a slender wooden tape for measuring up to him. He flinched. The tape had the same look of the one his father used to measure wood for cutting.
She nudged him with a surprising amount of strength. Then, she herded him around the table to a wooden stool and all but lifted him onto it. The large woman brought several fabrics over and held them against his chest. Several of the fabrics went back to racks or corners, while a few made it onto the table.
&n
bsp; This went on for some time.
Elwin tried to stay rigid or bent as she directed him. But nothing he did made her happy with him. She would express her displeasure by a tap, none too gently, with her measuring stick to the area she thought needed adjustment. If he slouched too often, she would tap his backside. If he leaned too long on one leg, she would tap his lazy leg. Sometimes she would preempt her strike with a warning of, “Up now,” or, “You slow me down.”
But even when he scrambled to heed her warning, she would still strike him. After a few times, he learned bracing for the blow was better than trying to avoid the venomous bite of Mahindra’s stick. He decided that he would go to great lengths to avoid “fitting” in the future.
Without preamble, she struck his backside and said, “Off with you now. I will have an outfit or two for you by the end of the day.”
She pointed the stick at his face, almost hitting his nose. “And you best not let me see you in rags again.”
“Rags?” He looked down. “These are my Lifeday best.”
“Off with you, I say!” She waved the stick at him once more. Had he not ducked, she would have struck his cheek.
Elwin ran from the room, watching over his shoulder to ensure she hadn’t chased him with the stick. She didn’t give chase, but he did not slow.
Zarah waited for him in the hallway. She had a hand covering her mouth, but he could see the smile in her eyes.
“You could have warned me,” he said accusingly.
Replacing her smile with the perfect visage of innocence, she shrugged. “Whatever do you mean?”
He wanted to storm off, but he didn’t know which way to go. She didn’t hide her smile from him this time. He stomped off in the direction they had come.
“That is the wrong way,” she called after him.
He stopped and turned around. “You did that on purpose.”
“Maybe.” She offered him her arm, again. “Hungry?”
“Sure.” He looped his arm in hers. Once more the warmth of her skin sent shivers up his arm and down his spine.
He tried not think on the feel of her skin as she led him down several corridors. Instead he focused on the path to the seamstress. All the hallways looked about the same, but he kept up with the turns. Not that he wanted to make it back to Mahindra’s. But it would be good to know how to avoid that corridor.
After the last turn, the end of the hallway opened up to a large room with a stone table the size of a small field at its center. The table stretched longer than the Scented Rose was wide. By Elwin’s best guess, over a hundred people could fit in the lacquered chairs surrounding the table. Though, at the moment, less than half the seats held people. Of those, Elwin only recognized Lord Lifesong and Jasmine sitting across from one another next to the table’s head.
The chair at the table’s head held a silvery hue and stood an arm’s length higher than the rest of the chairs. Elwin wasn’t sure what it could be made of, but he was certain its price would fetch ten farms, complete with livestock. An aging man sat in the chair. He had a muscular frame that was distinguishable beneath his red robes. Upon his head rested a silver crown. The golden gilding made the symbol of a sword with balanced scales replacing the hilt.
The king! He was in the presence of the king. Should he bow? No. No one even acknowledged Elwin and Zarah as they stood in the entryway. If he bowed at this distance, he would look the fool for sure. He glanced to Zarah to be certain.
Her eyes were wide as she pulled on his arm. She had only stopped because he had. He felt his cheeks color and let her lead him toward the table. Elwin glanced to the head of the table. No one had seemed to notice them. Elwin tried to look at the others around the head of the table without staring.
To Jasmine’s right sat a thin, tan-skinned man. He wore no shirt, and Elwin could see twin blades, jutting up from his waist. They were curved and had short hilts.
Across from that man was a short man, stout in build. His torso made a redwood’s trunk look thin. He had long red locks of hair, which wound into his thick beard. His thick nose was as wide as Elwin’s hand. Elwin almost stopped again, but caught himself just short of gaping like a yokel.
“A dwarf,” Elwin said much louder than he had intended.
Zarah’s elbow jabbed his ribs hard enough to knock the air from his lungs. “Yes. Now, please do not embarrass me. Mother has charged me with teaching you proper etiquette.”
“No one heard me,” Elwin said glowering at her and resisting the urge to massage his ribs.
“This time,” she whispered. “Mind your tongue.”
He gritted his teeth and let her guide him to the foot of the table. No one else sat near this end. After releasing his arm, she grabbed the sides of her dress and squatted. Belatedly, Elwin realized that it was a curtsey. The noble women in his books did that.
Zarah raised her voice, “Thank you, Elwin Escari. You are quite the gentleman.”
She pulled out her seat and sat with a graceful ease.
He felt his cheeks burning and sat across from her, attempting not to look at anyone.
“Why are we sitting so far from everyone else?” he whispered.
Her voice was just above a whisper. “We sit in order of importance. As we are not members of the council or head of a noble family, we sit toward the foot. If there were more noble children here, we would sit further up the table, since my family is next in line for the throne.”
She looked up. Two men dressed in white leggings and tunic with red trim walked toward them. The first man placed a covered plate in front of each of them. The second placed a goblet with an amber drink beside the plates. She continued after they moved away.
“If the king dies having no heir, my father is next in succession as Captain Commander of the White Hand. So that places me at a higher ranking than the children of other families. Since you are here as my guest, you would sit with me.”
“Oh,” Elwin said. “There seems to be a lot of things I don’t know.”
“That is why Mother wants me to teach you. At least she trusts me enough to teach you how to behave.”
“I know how to behave,” Elwin said. “And I can already pull in Air and release it back into my surroundings. And there is that whole I can tame all four Elements thing.”
Zarah’s eyes widened and turned into a scowl. “Shhh. We aren’t supposed to speak on that yet. Remember? There are a lot of superstitious people that will see you as … uh … a bad omen.”
“Bad omen?” Elwin said. “How come I have never heard about this prophecy?”
She gave him a wry smile. “Because you grew up on a farm. People in civilization know of the prophecies because the priests preach about it every Lifeday in the temples.”
“Every Lifeday?” Elwin asked. “How can this prophecy be so important that people talk about it at the end of every tenday?”
“The beginning,” Zarah said matter-of-factly.
“What?”
“Lifeday starts the tenday,” Zarah said. “Evesday ends the tenday. Evesday is the day that comes before. The eve of Life announces an ending. Then the cycle begins anew on Lifeday, and we begin each tenday in reverence of the Lifebringer.”
“Well,” Elwin said feeling a bit agitated, “on the uncivilized farm, at the end of the tenday we rest. It is the only day of the tenday we don’t spend in the fields. Some people go to the temple, sure, but most people just rest. What does it matter which day is first anyway?”
“It matters,” Zarah said. “Anyway. Where was I? Ah. Right. The noble families.”
Elwin blinked. They hadn’t been talking about the families. He had asked about the prophecies. Zarah continued without giving him a chance to object.
“There are several lords and ladies that help King Justice rule the realm,” she said. “The power of each house is in the order of succe
ssion. Though, the western lords sometimes forget that we are one kingdom. Lord Paradine is regent in the lands west of the River Serene, but he answers to the king of Justice, as does my family.”
Elwin stared at her for a moment. Her smile made her eyes brighten in the morning light. He sighed. Perhaps he would just have to go to the temple to learn about the prophecies. Better for now just to play along.
“So,” Elwin said at last, “if the lords and ladies live in other places, why is the table so large?”
Her voice seemed to explain that one should not eat dirt. “There are frequent balls and tournaments held for nobility. The table must be large enough to house all of the noble families and their children for the duration of the events.”
“Oh,” Elwin said. Then after a moment, he said, “I guess you have many friends and suitors?”
Zarah’s eyes widened and her cheeks turned a light crimson. Elwin could not help but feel a moment of complete satisfaction at her reaction. She took a drink from the goblet in front of her. After replacing the cup, her face had regained its cool composure.
“Ours is one of the few noble families gifted with the powers of the Elements. The gifted lords and ladies seldom leave their estates to attend the events held by other nobles. I have been to several balls with lordlings of noble families, but I make those who are not gifted uncomfortable. It is the same with the maidens. Sure, they will speak politely with me, but they have never treated me like one of them. Mother says it is because they are jealous of my power.”
“But you don’t think so?” Elwin said.
“No,” she said in a resigned voice. “I think they fear me. They know someday I will fly and tame lightning. No man wishes to be wed to a woman who has such power. Few women care to befriend a woman whose power they can never rival.”
“But,” Elwin said, “your father does not tame the Elements, but your parents seem to match.”
“Yes,” Zarah said. “But he was born to the first noble family. And he has touched weapons and the training to combat the Elements.”
“Touched?” Elwin said. “Like my pendant. So it was a weapon made by tethering the Elements?”