It was just as luxurious and beautiful as the wood flooring and the rug. Small, but dazzling chandeliers hung from the ceiling fourteen feet above, bathing the foyer in comfortable, cozy light. Lovely tapestries hung from the stone walls as well. Two wide benches with animal blankets lain on top sat in the room at right angles to each other, flanking the rug. A round table with seven chairs stood to the right of the rug. There were two doors set in the right hand wall of the foyer and another set of double doors straight ahead.
A fireplace set in the left wall provided warmth and additional light. Winter wouldn’t officially start until tomorrow, the twenty-first, but this far North, winter already seemed to be in full swing given the abundant amount of snow covering the valley floors. Esther wondered if the Northerner’s celebrated the solstices as well, or if that was strictly an Ardmorran tradition. She realized now that she had neglected her studies when it came to the peoples of the North and had focused too much on cultures and people further away—like the Easterners.
Ambassador Rashad opened the double doors and Esther walked into a room that was even more ornately decorated than the foyer. Again, it was furnished with the same, beautiful wood flooring, an even larger area rug in the middle, with a four-poster bed to her right, a vanity and mirror set against the left wall, and four wardrobes—two on each side of the doors she had just come through. The far wall slanted inward slightly as it rose up to the ceiling with four large, trapezoid-shaped windows set in deep wells with thick-paned glass to keep out the chill. Thick wooden shutters could be pushed closed and barred if desired. Two more doors were set into the wall on the right with a desk next to the nearest one.
“The privy is through the door nearest the outer wall. The bath is through the other door,” said the Ambassador. “I believe there should be enough rooms along this hall to fit everybody—” The Ambassador hesitated. “Although I may have to assign a larger space for your tutor—I had not expected her to have so much…equipment.”
Esther laughed. “Yes, well neither did I, to tell you the truth—otherwise I would have sent word ahead.” Esther paused. “Have arrangements been made for Prince Gregory’s quarters?” At first, she had been in a bit of a quandary about what to do with Gregory once they reached the Northern Kingdoms. Technically, as royalty and a family member of a Head of State, Gregory would be entitled to a suite of his own, but as a member of her crew, he should either stay in the midshipman’s cabin aboard ship, or bunk with any junior officer’s she had brought along. In the end she had sent word to the Ambassador that Gregory would accompany her so he could continue to work with Ms. Graves, but would bunk with any other junior officer’s she brought with her. She hoped that he didn’t throw a fit about his ‘station’.
“Yes, Your Majesty,” the Ambassador replied. “I spoke with Ambassador Stainton, who had received word of Prince Gregory’s assignment to the Retribution in the same set of dispatches that had your instructions. He agreed that since Prince Gregory was an officer on the Retribution, it would be inappropriate for special accommodations to be made. He should be discussing that with Prince Gregory as we speak. From what Ambassador Stainton told me, he didn’t think that Gregory would even think about it.” The Ambassador smiled. “He said he’s somewhat of an odd one—it seems he just doesn’t pay attention to such things.”
Esther smiled. “I got that impression. Thank you Mr. Ambassador. I appreciate you taking care of that.”
“My pleasure, Your Majesty. I will get the rest of the group to their rooms while you get settled in. Please let me or one of the Cielian staff know if you need anything.”
“I will. Thank you again, Mr. Ambassador.”
Chapter 23
Stitches over Riaseth
The dinner with King Hávarđr and Queen Rúna of Ciel, King Agnarr and Queen Inga of Lothaekin, and King Randolf of Rodheim had been interesting. King Hávarđr and Queen Rúna were both older and more…refined, and of course King Randolf was a complete gentleman and very much like an Ardmorran. But King Agnarr was a prime example of what many thought a stereotypical Northerner should look and act like—blonde haired, blue eyes, loud, boisterous, and fierce. And his wife, Queen Inga, was as big boned as Esther’s good friend Tanya Green, and though she didn’t have Tanya’s striking beauty, she was every bit as charismatic and forceful as her friend.
The King and Queen of Riaseth’s chairs had been conspicuously empty. The invitation had been sent by the Cielians at same time as those sent to Lothaekin, but they had received no reply. At the dinner, Ambassador Rashad had told her that he might not come at all, preventing them from getting a treaty signed, and even if he did, he would likely veto any treaty, given his ingrained prejudices. He tolerated Ardmorrans for the most part, as long as they weren’t of Easterner decent like Marigold’s family, but despised Hadiqan’s, Madrausan’s, Kamakuran’s, Easterner’s, or pretty much anybody else with non-Northern blood.
“So how do we get him here and convince him to sign a treaty?” she had asked.
The Ambassador had simply shaken his head and said, “I don’t know.”
Now she sat in the foyer of her suite on one of the benches, gazing into the warmth of the fire, remembering the conversation with the Ambassador, and trying to bury her frustrations towards the King of Riaseth. Adeline sat on the bench perpendicular to her and watched her stare into the fire. It still amazed how comfortable she had become in the other woman’s presence in such a short amount of time.
“So what did you think of Agnarr?” said Adeline.
Esther pulled her gaze away from the fire and smiled. “That was a very interesting dinner. I don’t think I’ll ever think of meat the same way again.”
Adeline laughed. “Oh, those were good manners. You should see how his soldiers eat.”
Esther grimaced. “Please,” she said, holding up a hand, “I’ll be sixteen weeks tomorrow and the pregnancy sickness is still giving me problems. I don’t need images like that in my head.” Real nausea suddenly came as she remembered the way Agnarr had eaten his turkey leg and she held up a hand to her mouth, touching her lips with her fingertips, afraid she might actually vomit.
Adeline’s smile faded. “Sorry.”
Esther smiled wanely, still keeping her fingertips over her mouth. “It’s alright.” She rubbed her belly with her left hand. “I was just glad that I didn’t throw up while I was watching him eat. That would have been embarrassing.”
Adeline smiled again. “Yes, many thanks for small miracles.”
A knock sounded on the door.
“Come,” said Esther. The door opened to reveal one of her marine sentries.
“Lt. Ben-Ezra to see Your Majesty,” said the guard.
“Let him in please, Corporal Naudar.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Lt. Ben-Ezra stepped into the room and bowed. “Your Majesty.”
“Come. Have a seat Lieutenant,” said Esther. “Have you been able to get anything out of Airman Hilal?”
“Yes, Your Majesty,” he said, his eyes flicking to Adeline.
“Go ahead, Asher. It’s alright to share the results of the assassination inquiry with Lady Adeline.”
“Yes, Your Majesty,” he repeated. “So, we have been questioning Able-Airman Hilal thoroughly over the last several days. I’ve come to believe that he doesn’t know who he was supplying the information to. According to the logs, he was assigned to the Retribution when she was commissioned. As you know, he replaced Airman Kentish, who had fallen ill. His orders came from the Admiralty, and were signed by Admiral Chayyim’s office, but all crew assignments are signed that way. Any further inquiry into who generated the transfer will have to be done in Al Farnaka at the Admiralty.”
“I’ll send word to Asserius to begin an official inquiry,” said Esther. “In the meantime, you might want to begin cultivating contacts in Al Farnaka, and more specifically within the Admiralty for our own network. Were you able to find out what his motivation was? Was i
t money?”
“Partially, Your Majesty, but it seems ideology mixed with bigotry were the primary reasons. Hilal is a reactionary who doesn’t think a commoner should wear the crown. And the fact that you’re a foreigner as well just makes it worse, in his eyes.”
“Great! So the Lords of Riaseth despise me because I’m too Hadiqan and the Hadiqan nobility and their puppets despise me because I’m not Hadiqan enough?”
Asher Ben-Ezra chuckled. “That about sums it up, Your Majesty. I know this perhaps looks like the nobility are behind it—what with the transfer coming from within the Admiralty, as well as the tie to Halil’s motivations—but I don’t think that it did.”
Esther quirked an eyebrow.
“It just doesn’t feel right. It’s too early for the nobility to make such an abrupt move—especially when they are working so hard on the political side of things in Al Farnaka against King Asserius. I hate to say it because I know how much you already struggle with how you feel about them, but I think it may have been ordered by the Madrausan’s. I don’t have any proof yet, but that’s what I think.”
Esther tried to keep her heart rate from spiking with anger, but it was difficult. Her hatred of Madrausan’s and what they had done, and kept doing was becoming increasingly difficult to contain.
“Was there anything else on Halil?” she asked.
“No, Your Majesty.”
“Alright, so where are we on Riaseth?”
“Well, from the information I’ve been able to obtain, King Yngvarr is going to be difficult. He’s got a real problem with foreigners, especially foreigners who don’t have light skin—and most especially women. He tolerates Ardmorrans. He’s a big man and very good with a battle axe, but he has a weakness for drink and beautiful women, and is hard on both. His first wife died when she ‘accidentally’ fell from their palace balcony, and his current wife lives like a recluse, purportedly to hide the bruises. He cycles through mistresses like a lumberjack through axe handles.”
Esther bared her teeth. “And why do the other Northern Kingdom’s tolerate that?”
Asher shrugged. “He’s Riaseth’s King, and his political support is currently on top. There are those among the Riasethan opposition trying to erode his power, and I think that Ciel—and to some extent Lothaekin—are secretly providing support to the opposition, but Yngvarr and his cronies are very wealthy and too strong at the moment.”
“Alright, we’re going to have to think of another way to approach this. Keep thinking about it and let’s see what we can come up with. These talks aren’t going to go anywhere if we can’t convince him to even meet with us because of the color of my skin. At this rate, it’ll be years before we can get a treaty formalized.”
Just then, the door from the hallway opened and Marigold walked in.
“So, have Ms. Graves and Gregory gotten settled in yet?” Esther said with a smile. Given all of the stuff that Ann-Marie had brought from the Retribution, Esther had decided that it might be good to have Marigold help Ambassador Rashad coordinate getting it all up to the suite that Ms. Graves had been assigned to. Gregory had also helped—or hindered, depending on your perspective. Esther was pretty sure which perspective Marigold had at the moment, given her persistent frown.
“Well, yes and no,” she said. “I don’t think that they have spent much time settling in and unpacking their things into their respective rooms yet—in fact, I don’t think Gregory has even been to his room yet. But I know that they have almost all of their equipment unloaded and unpacked in Ann-Marie’s foyer and stateroom. She has as large of a room as you do, Esther, but it seems small now that it’s full of all that stuff. When I left, they were tucked away in a corner, talking about—” Marigold paused. “Well, actually I have no idea what they were talking about, but it was keeping them busy.” She shrugged.
Esther smiled. She knew it frustrated Marigold to work with those two, but she truly was a good Chief of Staff, and her getting them settled in was a great help. Esther was also glad that she had put Gregory under Ann-Marie’s care. Ann-Marie had so far been able to successfully focus Gregory’s abundance of energy in more productive ways. Although still clumsy, he didn’t make nearly the blunders that he had during his first few days as a midshipman. Some people just weren’t able to be made into sailors and Esther thought that Gregory was probably one of those people.
Another knock sounded on the door.
“Come,” said Esther.
Corporal Naudar poked his head in. “Dr. Scott to see Your Majesty,” he said.
Esther waved. “Go ahead and let him in as well.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Geoffrey stepped through the doorway and nodded to Lt. Ben-Ezra, Marigold, and Adeline, his gaze finally resting on Esther. “So, Your Majesty, are you ready to remove those stitches now?” he asked.
Esther groaned. “I had forgotten about that.”
Adeline and Marigold rose, followed by Ben-Ezra.
“I think I’ll take my leave then,” said Adeline. “Medicine was never my thing.” She touched Esther’s arm lightly, then turned to leave. Ben-Ezra bowed and followed Adeline out the door.
“So how do you want to do this?” asked Esther.
Geoffrey set his bag down on one of the animal fur covered benches. “Well, if we can scoot this bench over near the fire, that will probably give me the best light.”
Esther nodded and Geoffrey and Marigold pushed a bench into position. Esther sat on the bench, placing her wounded left side towards the light of the fire. She lifted her dress on the left side up to her ribs and Marigold helped her hold it up. She felt her face flush at how exposed she was at the moment.
Geoffrey kneeled down next to her and examined the wounds. The bullet had torn rather large holes through her side. Fortunately, it had gone clean through without hitting any bone or vital organs, but it was still going to leave a couple of nasty scars. Esther heard him pull out some instruments from his bag.
“So how are you going to remove the sutures?” asked Marigold.
“Well, I’m going to use these forceps to pull the knot of the suture away from the skin slightly, then slide the scissors between the knot and the skin and cut it.”
Esther could feel the cool touch of metal on her side as he spoke.
“Now this is the tricky part that isn’t real fun for the patient. After you cut the suture, you need to grasp it by the knot and pull it out with one continuous motion so that it doesn’t get hung up.”
Esther gritted her teeth as he cut and pulled out each suture. It wasn’t terribly painful—unpleasant yes—but mostly it just felt weird.
“There,” he said at last. “Now we just need to put a couple of dressings on the wounds since they weep a little bit when you pull out the sutures, and then tie it off with a bandage.” She felt him press the dressing against her skins and then he wrapped a length of cloth around her midriff to hold the dressings in place. Marigold slowly lowered her dress and Esther finished pulling it down into place.
“You’ll be good as new in no time, just take it easy and absolutely no sparring practice for another month at least.”
“Thank you, Geoffrey,” said Esther, standing carefully. “I am very fortunate to have someone as skilled as you to fix me up when I get hurt.”
“My pleasure, Your Majesty,” he said with a smile and a bow.
- - -
Esther knocked on the door to Ann-Marie’s suite and stepped gingerly through it, trying not to knock over anything as she did. The room was full of wooden crates and work benches with various supplies and pieces of equipment covering the tops of every flat surface. Parchments and drawings of various things hung from walls where tapestries used to be. The discarded tapestries now formed a lumpy pile in one corner of the room. Marigold had been right. The suite that Ms. Graves had been re-assigned after Ambassador Rashad had found out how much stuff she had brought was equally as big as Esther’s. She guessed that the layout was the same as well�
�at least, the foyer looked almost exactly the same, though not quite as richly decorated or furnished as Esther’s, but that was partly due to the fact that most of the decorations and furnishings that had been there were pushed into the same corner where the tapestries lay.
This morning had been full of preparations for the negotiations that had been held in the afternoon. This time around, Esther had Lady Adeline on her side of the table with all of her formal education as a resource to help her prepare. That had been a wonderful thing. There was no combativeness among her team this time around, and Adeline had done most of the preparatory work. In fact, it was the first time in a long time that Esther could remember not having to fight and claw her way at something to achieve her goals, and it had been absolutely amazing. Of course, that had ended when they had actually sat down with the Kings and Queens of Ciel, Rodheim, and Lothaekin, and their respective Ambassadors to discuss a prospective treaty.
The seats set aside for the Riasethans had again been conspicuously empty, but no one was particularly surprised at that. It did lend an air of futility to the whole proceedings, since no treaty could be fully signed and executed without Riaseth’s signature as well, but they had proceeded as best they could. They had actually made quite a lot of progress. There were some sticking points to iron out, and of course a myriad of details which would still take a lot of time, but if it weren’t for the absence of Riaseth, Esther believed they could have had an agreement hammered out, the documents drawn up and signed, and been completely done in a just a couple of weeks. They had taken a break from the negotiations and Esther had decided to go up and check on Ms. Graves and Gregory.
“Oh, hello Esther,” said Ann-Marie, who had just walked into the cluttered foyer from the door to the bedroom, which, if the view that Esther could see was any indication, was just as cluttered as the foyer. Ann-Marie paused a moment, obviously eager to go about whatever task she had been doing, but also recognizing that her employer had stopped by and propriety dictated that she wait to complete whatever task that was. Esther didn’t mind that Ann-Marie hadn’t used the proper honorific for royalty. She doubted that the young widow even knew that she hadn’t.
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