Helke jumped on the idea of a lady’s fan and got busy making one. His first prototype was a simple wooden frame around a piece of parchment. Lily tried to decorate the parchment with some paints she had bought. It came out pretty bad—more avant-garde than elegant—but she was satisfied that she would make an impression. And it looked perfect against the background of her new green and white dress.
Lily was so busy that she skipped every other church service. She made sure to be at special services, but she didn’t have the time or energy to sit through the daily attendance. When she went, she tried to pretend that she was at a fancy concert. She sat and listened to the music, entertained herself with her own thoughts and wished that she could use the time to take a nap.
***
It was almost the day of the ball. Lily turned her attention to her appearance. Helke’s cousin had given her an attractive hairstyle with bangs in front and curls in the back. Her nails were clean and shaped. The girls had made her a gorgeous white silk dress with green trim using the money they got from selling her old pink tents. Lily felt like a queen.
Strangely enough, she wasn’t nervous about meeting the local elites. She had done a good deal of listening during her time in Altver and had learned that the highest-ranked person in Altver was probably a Baron. Everyone else at the ball would be merchants and wealthy craftsmen, with a few landless minor nobles thrown in for good measure. That explained why no one had tried to make her acquaintance. She was simply too important, so locals didn’t expect to be noticed by her. That suited Lily fine. She was too busy for social calls. If she had time, she would meet with the local shoemaker and show him some ideas for long-lasting soles and maybe for high heels, too. And wedges, and platform shoes! There were too many opportunities to count, especially if Helke could figure out how to make the right buckles and clasps. Lily reflected that she shouldn’t overload Helke—he had enough to work on.
***
By the day of the ball, Lily was as weary as an old horse. She didn’t want to talk to anyone, much less dance. Her only wish was to lie down on her bed and sleep for twenty-four hours straight, but she had promised to go.
The Baron sent a carriage for her with his son as escort. Apparently, it wouldn’t do for her to arrive alone, and Torius’ son was one of the highest-ranking young men in town. Lily didn’t object. Honestly, I’d rather ride in a dark carriage with a little brat than with that priest. I don’t like the way he looks at me during services. The priest obviously hadn’t given up his secret hope of moving to Earton to serve as Lily’s spiritual advisor.
But she was too busy to pay attention to him, and it wasn’t in her nature to waste time on an affair. The one bright spot in her preparations came when she picked up her surgical instruments from the blacksmith. She was gratified to find that everything was as she had ordered. Treasures, all of them!
In her reading, Lily had learned that doctors in her new world knew nothing of surgery. In fact, as far as she could tell, metal instruments were never used on the human body. Anatomy was another mystery, and one the church was likely to frown on. So, doctors treated their patients with herbs. If that didn’t work, they practiced bloodletting. Amputations were occasionally performed, but no other operations were ever done because they had no way to keep wounds sterile.
That makes sense. Why bother operating on a patient if he’s just going to die of infection?
Without the benefit of microscopes, people in Lily’s new world knew nothing about bacteria and other microflora. They talked about bad blood and good blood. A doctor’s toolkit contained pliers for pulling teeth, a saw for amputating arms and legs, and herbs that caused diarrhea to “cleanse the insides.”
Darius interrupted her train of thought when he leaned over and tried to say something gallant. Lily nodded and then turned back to look out the window. She was ready to shine at the ball, but she didn’t want to shine too brightly. Her dress buttoned up the back with buttons made by Helke, but it didn’t have pockets. She would let the dressmaker’s girls be the first to wear pockets. A wide, elegant shawl over her shoulders was just the thing, but she had used a plain straight pin to pin it. It was too soon to show off everything she knew.
There was a small golden box of fragrant herbs tied to the waist of her dress. Helke had recommended that she wear it, and Lily had agreed. Her new fan was tied to her wrist with a silk ribbon. Her hair was arranged in a crown of curls around her head that showed off her earrings. Helke had taken her emerald earrings and reworked them with the new clasps. The Eveer was already planning to expand his business. Lily’s dip pen and inkwell were a success, and merchants were lined up around the block to buy them from him. He had hired four more people to try to keep up with demand, but he made sure that every set bore his craftsman’s mark.
Lily could tell Helke adored her, and he promised to visit her in Earton every month. Lily reminded him that if he did that, he wouldn’t have time to work. They agreed that Helke’s nephew would visit her. Since Aldonai had not given the jeweler children of his own, his nephew, Simon Leitz, was his heir.
Lily approved of the nephew. He was intelligent and practical and even looked a little bit like a hobbit—short, with dark, curly hair, and bright eyes. Whenever he talked to the Countess, he was respectful and businesslike. Lily expected he would skim a little off the top for himself, but as long as he did his job, she wouldn’t mind.
“My Lady?” Lily turned to the young man with impatience. What on Earth does he want from me? “My Lady, I wanted to apologize most sincerely again for the misunderstanding with your guards.”
Lily put up a hand. “Your father and I have reached an understanding. You don’t have to keep apologizing.”
***
Darius Avermal could have howled in anger.
Look at her just sitting there without a care in the world! Daughter of Maldonaya! Lily was queenly in her indifference to Darius, and that hurt his pride. She looked very different from the sweaty, angry woman who had confronted him in the inn. Back then, she had been a fat lady in a ridiculous pink dress. Now, as he looked at her, he saw a woman who was large, but well-proportioned. He noticed for the first time that she had green eyes and gorgeous golden hair and a calm, clear smile. He knew she was clever since his father had given him a lengthy lecture about the folly of angering an intelligent woman.
It must be that new dress. She doesn’t look bad at all.
Darius frowned. The Countess was undoubtedly a servant of Maldonaya. There was no other way to explain the shape-shifting changes in her. He thought about sharing his concerns with the priest, but his father had told him that Father Leider was very fond of the Countess and couldn’t stop talking about her mental energy. And yet she did business with Eveers and hired those godless Virmans to work for her. Surely the priest will want to know about that?
***
Lily was so deep in her own thoughts that she never noticed Darius’ hostile demeanor, and she almost missed their arrival. However, she came back to the present moment just in time to elegantly descend from the carriage holding up her skirt with one hand.
If I can get out of an army jeep without jumping or falling in the mud, I can get out of a carriage without looking ridiculous.
She took her escort’s arm and walked with him to the front door of the town hall. A man dressed in red bowed, opened the door, and announced, “Her ladyship the Countess Lilian Elizabeth Mariella Earton.”
Lily stood elegantly in the doorway and gave Altver’s high society a chance to look her over. She studied them, too.
Wonderful!
She counted about three dozen gentlemen and the same number of ladies. Some of the men were obviously there with their wives and children. Lily squinted with pleasure. She was ready to advertise some of her best products. They don’t have television or top models, so I’ll just have to do it myself!
As Lily sailed into the room, she hoped she looked more like a southern belle than a cowbell. Baron Avermal
boosted her self-esteem when he hurried to her side and said, “Countess, you look wonderful!” He took her hand and bowed, pronouncing compliments all the time, and then led her off to introduce her to high society.
For the next hour, Lily was much in demand. She felt like a rock star at a small-town diner. Altver’s best and brightest were tripping over each other to make her acquaintance. The town’s leading craftsmen and merchants had heard rumors about her work with Helke and the local carpenter, and each of them wanted to make sure she remembered his name. Their wives wanted to meet her, as well, so they could look over her hair, jewelry, and dress.
Lily had been careful to wear several new and interesting items. Her fan was the hit of the evening, especially after Lily demonstrated its usefulness as a screen for gossiping or drawing attention to one’s low-cut dress or face. The ladies in the room were insanely jealous. Lily was confident that Helke would soon be overwhelmed with orders.
We’ll need to have more than one type of fan, all made of different materials. Nobody has ever seen one before, so we have to take advantage of the demand!
The guild had given Helke a five-year monopoly on ladies’ fans. He and Lily had already agreed that he would put his mark—a letter H surrounded by flowers—on all the new goods. When he had suggested that they add the Earton crest, Lily was taken aback. She was already worried about what her husband would think about her business interests, and she didn’t want to get caught using the family crest. She could just imagine his surprise if he walked into a store and saw his family crest on a fan or a hairbrush. He would naturally make inquiries and discover that, instead of dying along with their stillborn child, his dear wife was alive and well and turning a profit. As far as Lily could tell from her reading, wives (and their property) belonged to their husbands. So, her husband could quite reasonably expect to confiscate any money she made, and if she complained, he would just remind her that Aldonai had willed it.
After much thought, she had told Helke to make her symbol a red cross, the international symbol of doctors and medicine. Lily alone would know that it was a silent testament to her old life and her parents. Her new world did not use the cross as a symbol of anything, so Lily felt free to do so. Helke promised to put her cross on everything he made using her designs. She told him to make the crosses out of carnelian—her favorite stone. He also promised to make sure that her name and her connection with Earton were never mentioned, and she took him at his word. She knew that the jeweler saw her as a valuable source of ideas and that he would take great pains to keep her happy. Thankfully, she wasn’t worried about running out of innovations anytime soon.
They had not yet tried to sell any of the vodka she had taught him to distill, but Lily expected it would do well. She suggested that Helke flavor the vodka with berries and herbs and sell it in fancy bottles.
When he asked her for help naming the different flavors, she thought back to the bottles lined up on shelves in her own world. They would call their straight vodka “White Nights.” The vodka infused with walnuts would be called “Nutcracker.” Berry vodkas would be called “Cranberry” or “Currant.”
Helke would make the classic, double-distilled vodka with the help of his second and third cousins, nieces and nephews and other members of his clan. Lily saw that the Eveers stuck together, both at home and in business. That makes sense. They’re outsiders, so they have to watch out for each other.
***
The evening’s program was simple: a party, followed by dinner, and then dancing. Lily felt that the party went well, but she wasn’t looking forward to the dinner. She didn’t like to eat late at night. At the table, she enjoyed a plate of beef stewed in red wine, tossed back a glass of the local sour wine, and even tried a baked sugared apple. It wasn’t much, but it was more than she usually ate after six in the evening.
Then came the dancing…
Lily whispered to the Baron that her husband didn’t like for her to dance. He nodded in sympathy and made sure that no one pressed her to join the dancing. I would die of shame if anyone found out I just don’t know how!
Lilian was a good dancer, but Aliya had two left feet.
“My Lady…” The priest had snuck up on her like a bad case of appendicitis.
Lily bowed her head with a smile and asked for the priest’s blessing, which she immediately received.
“I see you are not dancing.”
“I promised my husband I wouldn’t.”
At the mention of her husband, the priest winced. Then he recovered and turned on his charm. Lily reflected that Lilian Broklend would have been easy prey for a handsome, smooth-talking priest, but she herself was harder to impress. The dorm at her medical school was no monastery, but Aliya had always been faithful to her fiancé Alex because he was the smartest, kindest and most handsome man she knew. She realized that it was her love that assigned him all those good qualities, but that made no difference. She loved him, end of story. And when she died, her love died, as well. So, Lily gazed at the priest with cool indifference.
“Then can I persuade you to take a walk in the garden, My Lady?”
Lily shook her head. “My reputation…”
“Will not suffer in the least. I am your spiritual advisor.”
Interesting! Where did he get that idea from? Lily decided not to contradict him just yet. She would wait and see what he really wanted. “No, I won’t take a walk in the garden with you. But if you need to speak with me privately, I noticed a bench in a quiet corner on that end of the room.”
She indicated the corner she had in mind. The priest grimaced but realized it was the best he could hope for.
Lily sat down on the bench, and the priest started his speech. “My dear girl…”
Once all of his metaphors, similes, and hyperboles were brushed aside, what was left was the naked fact that the priest had fallen madly in love with the Countess of Earton. As soon as she walked into his church, she was as lovely as a rose blooming in the snow, and he lost himself in the light of her green eyes. He was prepared to risk everything for her.
Lily translated his poetics back into reality. The result was depressing. The priest needed something, and he needed it so badly that he was prepared to sleep with her to get it. The answer was not long in coming. While Lily stared at him, the priest told her that he couldn’t bear the thought of never seeing her again and asked for permission to accompany the most remarkable Countess back to Earton. That way, he could see his goddess at least once a week at services.
Lily thought for a moment. Her husband was not presently at Earton, and she had never actually laid eyes on him. Still, she plowed ahead. In a few short words, Lily managed to describe Jess as more bloodthirsty than a man-eating tiger. According to her depiction, he ate men for breakfast if they looked at his wife. Lunch consisted of men who dared pay her compliments, and dinner was the stewed meat of those who were foolish enough not to learn from the ones who were eaten for breakfast and lunch.
The priest listened attentively. When Lily paused, he said, “My child, he wouldn’t dare raise his hand against a man of the church.”
Lily looked down into her lap, thinking frantically. Finally, she said, “I cannot do anything without my husband’s consent. Write to him. If he tells me to invite you, I will be happy to do so.”
“I see. But how can you live without the light of true faith?”
Lily blinked. “Have you forgotten? We have our own priest. I go to church regularly and frequently converse with him about the teachings of Aldonai. Father Vopler is a very intelligent man.”
Take that!
She reflected that she would have to find out where the church was when she got home.
Father Leider sighed. Lily had left him no options. “Can I at least visit you from time to time?”
“I suppose so if you are careful. Our roads are not passable in the winter, and the forest is full of wolves and brigands. I would hate for something to happen to you.”
The priest sighed again. Lily smiled. You’re used to having your own way. Not today!
She bid the priest a friendly farewell and went to find Torius. I’ve had enough of this! I’ve shown off my fancy new things, and I want to go home! First to the inn, and then back to Earton.
Chapter 10
Hearth and Home
The way home took eleven days. Lily was aggravated, but there was no way around it. Their caravan consisted of several wagons heavily laden with goods and a company of Virmans who had never ridden horses before. Naturally, the pace was slow.
Leif had forced her to take several guards with her. He would have gone with her, but he couldn’t send his ship to Earton without its captain. Before they left, he had explained in a few short words what he would do to the guards if anything happened to Lily. As a result, Lily couldn’t even pay a visit to the bushes on the side of the trail without three guards standing around her.
Her entourage also included the glass blower’s apprentice, the blacksmith’s apprentice, and the young herbalist, who demanded that she provide a separate wagon for his bundles, bags, and jars. Then there were the three young dressmakers, who were not happy unless they were riding next to Lily. Marcia asked permission to be Lily’s Lady in Waiting when they reached Earton, and nothing Lily told her about the amount of work involved would dissuade her. The Countess needed a Lady in Waiting and Marcia needed to express her gratitude before it overwhelmed her. Lily insisted that she would soon be busy enough.
Around the campfire in the evenings, she taught the girls to line their eyes with kohl, pluck their eyebrows, and arrange a variety of hairstyles. Helke had given her a lot of hair clips to use, so they practiced on each other and were extremely pleased with the results.
Lily noticed that some of the unmarried Virmans were more than a little interested in the three girls. She had no objection, but she had a quiet word with the commander of the guards, a man named Ivar, and told him to keep an eye on his men. If any of them got one of her girls pregnant, he would have to marry her or get the hell out of Earton.
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