Susanna began to weep softly. “There was an apple tree outside my bedchamber at home on my father’s farm,” she said.
Sir Ferris patted her arm, and smiled, well pleased. “Now that is settled I shall send you and Lara off to the Crusader Knights warehouse so you may choose your furnishings. Men are useless in such an endeavor. You may bring a few personal possessions from the Quarter, but nothing else,” he explained. “We like our new knights and their families to fit right in. Your husband will meet you at home later, my dear.”
They returned to the cart and were taken out of the Garden District to a large building on the edge of the City. There they were greeted by the manager, a self-important little man, who escorted them through the warehouse as Susanna made her choices of furniture, draperies and all manner of household goods, Lara at her side. When they had concluded their business the manager assured them all would be delivered on the morrow early, and if my lady would be there to tell the movers where to put everything it would certainly be helpful.
“Gracious!” Susanna exclaimed as they were returned to the Quarter. “I have never in all my life had such a day, nor could have even imagined one like this.”
“We are both beginning new lives,” Lara responded. The Garden District was lovely and the house Susanna had chosen was beautiful. Lara wondered if her new home would be as fine. But then the Pleasure Quarter was said to have some of the loveliest houses in all of the City. She had never been there, of course, but it was said, and if it was said, then it surely must be true.
The following day when Lara and Susanna arrived at the new house they found three slaves awaiting them. The trio bowed politely.
“I am Nels, and this is Yera and Ove,” the man said, indicating the women who stood beside him. “We now belong to John Swiftsword, and are bound to obey him and his wife, mistress.”
For a moment Susanna was speechless, but Lara quickly spoke up. “My stepmother, the lady Susanna, thanks you. Serve her well and you will be treated well. Serve her badly and you will be beaten.”
Susanna now recovered. “Which among you is the nursemaid?” she asked. She didn’t know what she was going to do without Lara, who seemed to have instincts beyond her knowledge and above her station.
“I am, my lady.” The younger of the two women curtsied.
“And you are?” Susanna said.
“Ove, my lady.”
“My son is called Mikhail. He does not yet walk, but he will in a few weeks. You must keep him from the reflecting pool at all times, Ove.”
“Yes, my lady,” the girl replied.
The furniture arrived, and the rest of the day was spent deciding where it would be placed. Yera took charge of all the household supplies, and began to set up the kitchen. Susanna was kept busy running from place to place, making decisions, while Lara quietly directed Nels in the hanging of the draperies. On the following day Nels arrived in a cart at the hovel to collect the few personal items they would be taking with them. When they departed on the day of the knighting they would not return again; a young mercenary and his bride-to-be had already been assigned their hovel. At the end of the knighting ceremony Lara would spend a final night with her family. On the following day she would be taken to Gaius Prospero’s home, and after that she knew not what.
On the day of the knighting, the Master of the Merchants sent his litters for them as he had on the first day of the tourney. John had already gone ahead. Tania arrived once again, and this time she braided Lara’s magnificent long hair into a single braid into which she wove fresh flowers. Lara and Susanna donned their fine gowns. Tania departed, and without a backward glance Susanna picked up her son, and hurried to the waiting litter, but Lara remained for several more minutes.
Looking about her she felt tears coming, and forced them back. This was her home. The only home she had ever known. She had been comfortable here with her grandmother Ina and her father. And after her grandmother’s death, and the passing of the initial sadness, she had never been lonely. There was dear old Mistress Mildred, her grandmother’s best friend nearby, and then Susanna had come. She knew every inch of the Quarter for she had explored it over the years, but she had never had any friends. As a child she remembered playing with other children, but after her grandmother died there were fewer and then none of them. She had heard the word “faerie” murmured often enough as she passed by. Why did people hate her mother’s race so much?
Her grandmother had said it was because they were so beautiful, and people were jealous of such beauty, but not just the beauty, Ina said. There was faerie magic to be feared. Faeries were different from ordinary folk. You never really knew what a faerie would do. They could be the kindest of all creatures, and the most vindictive. Their women seduced human menfolk out of spite because their menfolk seduced human women, who seemed to give them intense pleasure. More so, Ina said with a wise nod, than the faerie women who had cold hearts. Lara knew she looked like her mother for her father had always said so. But did she have a faerie’s cold heart, she wondered?
With a final look around the hovel, Lara stepped through the door for the final time. There she found Mistress Mildred waiting. The old woman hugged the girl, and there were tears streaming down her face. Reaching up with a dainty hand Lara brushed some of them from Mistress Mildred’s lined face, and smiled sweetly.
“Don’t weep,” she said softly.
“I’ve known you since the day your father came to his mother, my friend Ina, with you all swaddled in his arms.”
“I wasn’t born here?” Lara was surprised.
“Nay, you was born in an enchanted place, or so your da told his mother. You was six months old when the faerie woman who bore you left him. He awoke one morning to find himself, and you, on the edge of the forestland. He said that he had gone to sleep the previous evening in the magic place where he lived with the faerie, and you were in your cradle.” Mistress Mildred shook her head. “Your da was barely fifteen when the faerie woman lured him away from his family’s farm. Your grandfather had died during that time, and your uncle, who had inherited the farm, would not allow his brother to remain when he returned with you. He did not even want you in his house for you were half faerie and he feared you, but your grandmother’s will prevailed, and he said you might remain until your father joined the mercenaries. Once that was accomplished your grandmother brought you to live in the City. She was so angry at her eldest son’s behavior that she stayed to care for you rather than go back. Ina never spoke to him again, or even saw his children. I know he did not come to her departure ceremony after she died. I don’t believe your father ever forgave his brother for it.”
“How odd that I should know none of this,” Lara murmured.
“Tonight, before you are separated from your father, ask him to tell you about your mother, child,” Mistress Mildred said. Then she kissed Lara on the forehead, and gave her another hug. “The Celestial Actuary will protect you, I know.”
“Thank you,” Lara responded, kissing the old lady’s withered cheek, and hugging her back. Then she turned and got into her litter. Drawing the curtains she settled back. She would not look again. She felt the bearers lifting her transport up, and they began to hurry through the City toward the Tournament Gate and to the grandstand where she would alight and enter Gaius Prospero’s box once again. She could hear the murmur of the crowds as they drew closer to the tourney grounds. Now and again the litter bearers would slow until the mercenaries hired to clear their way could force people aside.
When the litter was finally set down it was Aubin Prospero who drew the curtains aside, and handed her out. “My father has sent me to escort you,” he said. “I am learning his trade, and will one day be the Master of the Merchants myself.”
“Who told you that?” Lara asked him as she exited the vehicle. “It is an elected office, young master.”
“My mother told me,” he replied. “And my mother is always correct. Come!” And he led her up the steps of the
box.
“How old are you?” Lara asked him.
“I was eight on my last natal day,” the boy responded.
“Do you not play games?” He was just eight and he sounded like an old man.
“Games are for those with no goals in life,” Aubin Prospero answered her. “Games are for the poor. I have no time for games. There is so much to learn.”
Lara shook her head. Poor child, she thought to herself.
“Ah, Lara, here you are at last!” Gaius Prospero was beaming at her. Reaching out, his grasp closed about the gold chain with its crystal star. “What is this?” he asked her, curious, fingering the star that seemed warm to his touch.
“It is the only thing other than life that my mother gave me,” she answered him. “You will not take it from me, my lord?”
Gaius Prospero thought a moment, and then he said, “Nay, I will not. It burnishes your natural beauty. Each time I see you I am amazed at your beauty, my dear. Are you excited?”
“To see my father knighted? Oh, yes, my lord!” Lara said.
“Nay, I mean about tomorrow night. Tomorrow morning you will be brought to my house, and spend your day being prepared for display that evening, when I shall accept bids for your person, my dear. But only for a day’s span. After that you must be sold promptly. It is not wise to hold choice merchandise for too long lest the excitement surrounding it wane, although I do not expect that to happen in your particular case.” He smiled broadly. “Tomorrow night will be a very exciting one for you.”
“I was not aware of how it was to be done,” Lara responded. “I have never been to a slave auction.”
“And you shall not be part of one, my dear child,” Gaius Prospero clucked. “Nothing so common for you, my beauty, as a public display. Rare merchandise is offered privately. Only a choice number of guests have been invited to view you. The following day they will return in the morning to offer me their bids. You will not be there. It will not be necessary. When the bidding has ceased, and I have accepted the highest bidder, the agreement will be struck. Under our laws Pleasures Houses can only be owned by men, but they are managed by women. Both have been invited to your displaying.”
“I see,” Lara said. This was the most amazing new world she was about to enter.
The trumpets sounded with a grand flourish, and they all turned their eyes to the arena. A dozen trumpeters in red and gold livery, the sun gleaming off their shining brass instruments, were standing at the knight’s entrance to the exhibition area. Several Crusader Knights and the new candidates galloped forth and did mock battle before the delighted crowds. When they had finished, a parade of the high officers of the Crusader Knights entered led by the Grande Knight. The five men who would be knighted this day and their opponents joined the great procession. Around the circuit they rode to the cheering of the crowds gathered.
Lara, Susanna and little Mikhail clapped wildly as John Swiftsword passed them wearing his fine armor. His horse was caparisoned in green and gold, and several ribbons of the same color flew from his lance. Finally the procession came to a halt. The knights all dismounted, their horses held by young pages. The Grande Knight took his place upon a raised dais, and each of the new knights came forward one at a time to kneel before him. They were bareheaded as they knelt, and each man clearly recited the oath of loyalty to Hetar before the Grande Knight tapped them with his sword of honor, and raised each one up to present the new member of the Crusader Knights to the citizens gathered.
Four of the men were known to come from Crusader Knight families. John Swiftsword, however, received the loudest cheers, for he was the everyman who had overcome obstacles to gain his rightful place among this high order of warriors. He was a popular hero today, and his companions were happy to allow him his moment. Each of the other men was secretly glad he had not been fighting on the first day of the tournament, for none of them was certain that they could have prevailed over John Swiftsword. He was a great asset to their group, and when it had become known that he was prepared to apply for this tournament the leaders among them had been greatly pleased, and were prepared to welcome him. It was not by accident he had fought the first day of the tournament.
The tournament was now officially over, and the crowds began to stream out of the arena and through the Tournament Gate which would, when all had reentered the City, be closed again for another three years. Lara told Gaius Prospero that she could easily share Susanna’s litter with her baby brother. “I do not need to be paraded into the Garden District before all. Some of the knights might one day come to my Pleasure House, and it could prove embarrassing for them, and for my father.”
He nodded understanding. “You will want to spend your last few hours with your family alone. I quite understand, my beauty.”
Susanna was quiet as the litter made its way through the gates, and toward the Garden District. Mikhail had fallen asleep in Lara’s lap, the slight rocking motion of the litter lulling him into slumber. “This is all a dream, but I hope I never wake up,” Susanna finally said. “I cannot believe that I am not returning to our hovel, but to a beautiful house with a real garden. My sisters will be so envious of me. How they mocked me when I prepared to wed your father, scorning him because he was a humble mercenary. Now they shall see! He has risen high, and I with him.”
Lara laughed. “Why, stepmother,” she said, “I have never seen this side of you!”
Susanna grinned back at the girl. “They were very mean, Lara. They never saw what a good man your father was. The matchmaker gave me the choice of three men, but I wanted only your father. They said a mercenary would amount to naught.”
“Do you love my father?” Lara wondered aloud.
“I do!” her stepmother said enthusiastically.
“I’m glad,” the girl replied. “It makes it easier for me to go away.”
Susanna sighed. “‘Thank you’ seems like two small words in light of what you have done for your father. For Mikhail and for me. I do not know if you will be permitted to come home once you have been purchased.” She stopped, and then her eyes filled with tears. “It is not fair,” she sobbed.
“Susanna, you are older than I, and should know that life is often unfair,” Lara gently chided her stepmother. “You were wise to suggest I be sold. We will all have a much better life because of it, especially Mikhail. He will never remember the Quarter, or the hovel in which he was born. My father’s soft heart will be the undoing of him but that you are there for him. I am glad for it!”
“I know I am five years older than you,” Susanna said. “But sometimes you seem so much older. Even than your father.”
Lara laughed. “I expect that is my faerie blood,” she said. “I am told they are different from…from…well, you know what I mean, Susanna. Being both faerie and human I have no idea really where I belong. I always thought I belonged in the human world, but now with all this fuss being made over what is called my faerie beauty, I do not know at all where I belong.”
The litter came to a halt and was set down. Immediately the curtains were opened up, and Nels helped Susanna from the vehicle.
“Welcome home, mistress,” he said. “Ove! Take the little master from the girl.”
“The girl,” Susanna said sharply, “is Sir John’s daughter and will be treated with courtesy, Nels. Help my stepdaughter from the litter.”
Grudgingly, the slave man obeyed his new mistress. The girl was known to be half faerie, and would be shortly entering a Pleasure House. Faeries were not to be tolerated. He was glad the girl would be gone on the morrow. He was startled when Lara thanked him for his service, and wondered if she had put a spell on him.
Inside her new house Susanna began giving orders. Her husband would want a bath when he arrived home. They were to begin their preparations immediately. Mikhail was to be bathed at once, brought to her for feeding and then put to bed. Dinner, a simple meal she had discussed with Yera the day before, was to be served in the first hour of the twilight. Wi
ne would be served as well, for they would be celebrating.
The new knight arrived just before sunset. He was slightly drunk, for the order had been celebrating the induction of its new members. His bath was waiting, Susanna ready with her scrubbing brush. Mikhail was already in his bed. Lara smiled at the splashing and laughter she heard coming from the bathing room. From the first day of the tournament when he had won all his matches she had seen a great change in her father. All the weariness and care that had been weighing him down lifted from his shoulders. He looked young again, and in these past months with the scarcity of work he had looked so worried and worn.
Part of Lara was happy that her life was taking this new turn, but another part of her was slightly apprehensive. She was leaving her family. She was leaving everything she had ever known. And for what? The unknown. She would be a vessel for a man’s desires. Men, it seemed, got pleasure from putting their manroot into a female’s body. This knowledge was hardly a secret among girls her age. She had listened, secreting herself about the edges of groups of giggling girls in the Quarter, learning what friends, had she had any, might have shared with her. Susanna had been willing finally to answer all her questions with Gaius Prospero’s permission. Ignorance in such matters was not to be tolerated. Hetarian girls were supposed to be prepared to please their husbands and their lovers.
Finally her father and stepmother joined her in the garden where a table was set up for them to dine. John Swiftsword kissed his daughter’s brow. “I am glad that we can have this evening together,” he said as he seated her at the dining table.
“I have questions that I beg you answer me before I leave you,” Lara said quietly. “Questions about my mother, and my birth. You have never spoken on it, but you must tell me now, Da. Mistress Mildred said things to me today before we left the Quarter, and she told me I must ask you before I could not. Will you tell me?”
“Aye, I will tell you all, but let us have our meal first,” he responded. “And I will speak only with you, for Ilona warned me that should I ever speak of her before another woman I love, that woman would cease to love me, and so Susanna can hear naught of what I would say to you this night.” He turned to his wife.
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