Yhejia gave the baby a good once over, obviously checking to make sure that all was well, then came over give Telriy the same thorough examination. For Yhejia, being a mother was a vocation as well as a condition.
"Everyone would love to greet Celly. Would you mind if Tsyl and the children and some of the others came up to join us? It was something of a custom in our old neighborhood in the Citadel that everyone would always come out to greet every newborn. People said that seeing a newborn on its first day would bring luck. There was always food, and dancing, and a big, friendly celebration."
Telriy held back a frown. She did not feel like a party, but saying no could only come across as an uncharacteristic rebuff. Yhejia had been her dependable companion, unswerving confidant, and steadfast friend since the day that they had met during the fall of Mhajhkaei.
Of course, Telriy had never shared her secrets with the older woman, but that had never mattered to Yhejia.
"I don't really feel like a lot of company right now."
Yhejia grinned. "Oh, we'll keep it small! Just the families here, maybe a few noshes and desserts, some games for the children, and I'll make sure to chase everyone away before it gets too late."
Telriy sighed. A few more hours would not disrupt her plans to any great extent.
Naturally, the planned small family celebration grew. At first, there were just the few dozen that Yhejia had initially invited. Then, a few more joined, friends invited by friends. Then, many more showed up, friends, neighbors, and kin of friends. At its height, somewhere around midnight, the affair became a full blown grand and boisterous fete of Princess Celly nhi Telriy nh Mar, Daughter of the Emperor and Heir to the Empire.
There were martial songs sung by inebriated marines, skyship crews, and legionnaires bearing torches and banging swords on shields as they marched about the courtyard. There were banquet tables covered in all manner of foods and many broached hogsheads of wine and beer, with every family and group contributing a dish or libation. There were competing hurrahs as various gangs gathered below the balcony to hail Telriy's daughter. And throughout the villa, the courtyard, and even the street leading up to it, there was singing and dancing and chatting and joking and laughing and all manner of people finding a moment to enjoy themselves in a world that anymore very seldom offered such opportunities.
And through it all, Telriy was made to hold an informal court in her bedchamber as a seemingly endless stream of well-wishers rotated through, many given to spontaneous kneeling, bowing, and praying when they came within sight of the daughter of the king.
The daughter, many whispered, of the Beloved of the Gods.
And there were gifts, small and large, precious and simple.
Children brought flowers and small toys. Grandmothers brought salves and time proven words of advice. A one time Mhajhkaeirii'n aristocrat presented Celly with a ruby ring taken from her own finger. An old carpenter hobbling on two bent legs presented her with a small but exquisite puzzle box.
Telriy let Yhejia manage everyone and everything, smiled when she should smile, cuddled her daughter when she began to fuss at the noise, nursed her when she was hungry, changed her nappy when required, and made no attempt whatsoever to hide her own all consuming pride.
And when Yhejia said enough, the marchers and the singers and the dancers quickly faded away to leave the villa quiet and dark, and Telriy slept with her daughter in the big, still half-empty bed.
In the morning, she awoke before full light, still sore but energized, tended to all of Celly's needs, then completed her preparations. She packed little -- travel clothes and an oilcloth coat, Celly's gowns, blankets, and nappies, two stoppered flasks of water, some blazes that she had brought with her from the cottage, a good knife, a heavy sack of coins, none of them gold, and the ruby ring hidden in the puzzle box.
Her most necessary preparation could not be completed until she and Celly reached the docks.
It was just foolish to travel on land when one could fly and she was going to steal a skyship.
She could have chosen to enchant any available wooden item -- her bed for example -- but given the length of her journey, she wanted enough room for comfort and practicality.
There was no doubt but that Master Khlosb'ihs would have presented her one at the asking, but that vessel would have come with a full crew, a double compliment of marines, and likely a small flotilla of heavily armed guardian skyships.
While she was confident that she could pilot any size skyship, she had no real need of anything larger and her intention was to take one of the nimble, ten-armlength courier boats.
She hung the strap of the satchel on her shoulder, then gathered up Celly, who opened her eyes. "Darling, are you ready for our first adventure?"
Celly's face shifted as if she were trying out a smile for the first time, but could not find the exact combination of muscles to make it work.
Happy that her daughter was in agreement -- or at least not adamantly opposed -- she turned towards the door and prepared to cast the glamour that would hide her from all eyes.
Yhejia knocked softly and then immediately poked her head in. "Oh, good! You're both up. I'm sorry to disturb you this early, my lady queen, but Master Khlosb'ihs is here with the Civilian Council and they're all in a tizzy. You must come to sort them all out."
Yhejia had herded the entire group, which numbered almost a hundred including a generous leavening of marine and legionary officers and a large contingent of partisan civilians, into the recently renovated ground floor dining hall. This was the only space at the villa large enough to accommodate the company, but had yet to be cleaned after the festivities of the night before. When Telriy, carrying Celly, walked in, she smelled spilled spirits and stale beer and had to walk around a table heaped with orphaned glassware and dishes. All of the other dining tables, though bare, were scattered chaotically and likewise the chairs. The councilors, armsmen, and various supporters had claimed the insufficient seats on an apparent first-come, first-served basis. A good number had been left standing and quite a number of these displayed disgruntled expressions.
Master Khlosb'ihs rushed up to meet her, then belatedly awarded her an awkward bow. "My lady queen, I'm happy that you're here. Maybe they'll listen to you."
"I think it best that I listen to them, first. Yhejia, some organization, please."
Yhejia snapped orders at the officers hovering behind the Viceroy and in short order the far end of the hall had been cleared and three chairs placed in a line there. The rest of the tables and chairs were quickly sorted and aligned in rows within a few paces of the impromptu thrones. Yhejia directed the councilors to these and exiled the spectators to stand at the rear.
When it was ready, Telriy went to the center chair and sat, placing Celly on her lap. Master Khlosb'ihs fidgeted for a moment, then at Telriy's glance took the seat to her left. Without prompting, Yhejia occupied the seat to her right.
Telriy did nothing at all for several moments save coo at her daughter. The councilors caught on in short order and quieted.
When all attention was on her, Telriy nodded to the Viceroy. "Master Khlosb'ihs, you may begin."
Sifting through the dispute took most of the day, including an extended break for lunch and numerous nursing and nappy adjournments.
The central point of contention was an effort by a faction of the recently appointed Council to pass a motion to order the evacuation of all non-combatants from the Monolith as a precaution against potential subsequent stronger earthquakes.
Every councilor, of course, had something to say on the matter, but major positions were summed up in the closing statements of the de facto leaders of the three discernible factions.
Master Bulhwoael represented clerks, common citizens, and midwives. "Another earthquake could topple every building on the Monolith! Hundreds could be killed! We must move everyone to safety!"
Seamstress Nione represented craftsmen, herdsmen, and scholars. "In this unsettled time of war, the safest pla
ce for all of us is here at the Monolith, where the Gods and their Beloved has brought us!"
Constable Haewflysd represented stevedores and skyship sailors. "It's not for us, being as we are, so to speak, servants of the common folk, to order them to stay or go, but rightfully we should let each decide as his Gods lead him."
Master Khlosb'ihs seemed both flustered and aggravated by the proposal. "I am opposed to any hasty action, but absolutely have no intention of abandoning the skyship works or the duties of the post entrusted to me by the king! The skyship crews, the legionnaires, and the marines will remain no matter what action is taken by this council, and I hope that all of the civilian shipwrights, carpenters, and other workers will show enough backbone to remain at the tiller through any coming storm!"
Telriy sat through it all and let everyone speak at least once. When the rehashes began, she nodded at Yhejia. After Telriy had mentioned to her that no steward should be without her badge of office, the older woman had had Tsyl bring her one of the legionnaire's practice staves. When Yhejia dropped the end of the half fingerlength thick hickory truncheon onto the tiles, the sharp, echoing sound immediately silenced the hall.
Telriy passed Celly to Yhejia, and stood. "First, an earth tremor is not a phenomenon that is confined to the Monolith or any other particular place. If the ground shakes here, it will shake everywhere for a leagues in every direction. You can't flee a threat if the threat is everywhere. Second, I have reasons to believe that the earth tremor was the result of a magical conflagration that took place far to the east where our husbands, sons, brothers, and fathers make war against the vile monks. I do not believe that that conflagration can be repeated and so do not believe that there is any threat to be avoided. Third, as I understand it, there are now more than twenty thousand people of all sorts living here. With the skyships available to us, an evacuation of the non-combatants alone would take months -- if not longer -- and thus would fail at the stated objective of removing them from a potential immediate danger. We cannot outrun an earthquake and it would be a waste of effort to try."
Then she sat down and retrieved Celly.
As expected, her declarations spawned another two hours of speeches as individual councilors competed to explain why they had known these things all along and that, in so many words, only an idiot would propose an evacuation.
By mid-afternoon, both speeches and enthusiasm for them had faded, and Yhejia's staff crashed for the final time. Yhejia restricted supper to only the extended family and went so far as to post legionnaires at the doors of the hall to discourage intrusion. After a pleasant, relaxing meal, Telriy retired to her room and once again slept with Celly in the big bed.
The next day, Twelfthday, she once more woke before dawn but then fell back asleep after tending to Celly and did not wake again until Tsyl and two girls brought her breakfast.
When Telriy went to climb out of bed, Tsyl held up her hands. "Oh, no! You stay put! Yhejia has decreed that you're to have the day off. First, breakfast in bed, then a long soak in a tub."
After an extremely brief and unenthusiastic mental debate, Telriy subsided. "Do we have one?"
"Yes we do indeed! Two master coppersmiths and six apprentices spent all night fitting it together after Yhejia mentioned that you needed one. They're waiting on the balcony to bring it in when you're ready and the Auxiliaries are heating water as we speak."
After a leisurely, excellent breakfast of eggs, ham, fresh bread with butter and blackberry jam, and goat's milk, Telriy had to play Queen Empress again, but only for the few minutes it took to personally thank Masters Uroe and Khimea and their half dozen exhausted but grinning apprentices.
The copper tub was huge, quite clearly large enough for two if the need arose, and the Auxiliaries, with whom Baeyrl and Pip had apparently enlisted, made a bucket chain to fill it. The younger Auxiliaries managed to spill more water than they transported, but the floors needed a good rinsing in any event.
Signifier Aael held position by the fire heating the cauldron during the majority of the operation, but he did glide in to check after the tub was half filled. He kept his chair in motion, moving about to keep an eye on all the marching Auxiliaries and offering a sharp word or two of reproach to the older ones and a gentle word or two of encouragement to the younger ones, then asked Telriy, "How hot do you want it, my lady queen?"
She sighed. "Steaming."
Tsyl and her assistants stayed to watch Celly after the old legionnaire had chased the last bucket wielding Auxiliary out.
"Who are your helpers?" Telriy asked her as she began to disrobe. "I haven't met them."
"Lhea, Ceris, curtsey to the queen," Tsyl chided with a smile.
The two girls, dark haired and eyed and both within a year or so of twelve or fourteen, giggled and did so.
"These are my cousin Elvhi's daughters. She and her eldest son cook for us."
"The villa needs two cooks now?"
"Three, actually. Hrebret, a fellow that Signifier Aael has known for some years, kept a tavern in Mhajhkaei before the monks burned it down. Yhejia hired him on just this morning. The Auxiliaries still take a turn at washing the pans and dishes, but with so many mouths to feed and Yhejia being occupied most of the time, it just made sense to get some help."
Telriy simmered for nearly an hour while Tsyl, Lhea, and Ceris made silly noises every time Celly deigned to open her eyes and otherwise sat mending socks. As the water -- steaming as specified -- soothed her body, Telriy decided that it would do no harm to delay her escape for another day.
The rest of the morning was as relaxed as the beginning. She and Celly went down to the big dining room for lunch, sunned a bit on the balcony while watching the Auxiliaries kick a ball about in a game whose rules seemed to change from moment to moment, but otherwise napped, chatted, or played word games with Yhejia, Tsyl, and the other women and girls who joined the group as chores and duties permitted.
The afternoon, however, brought a surprise.
"Lady Rhavaelei is in the courtyard," Yhejia told her after being summoned away by one of the Auxiliaries. "She wonders if you might have a few moments to speak with her."
Telriy did not try to conceal her frown.
Just before Ghorn had brought Telriy back to Mhajhkaei, Mar had had Rhavaelei thrown into the Palace dungeon for "offences against the Empire." When consulted concerning this news, Yhejia had confided that "offences" had meant a rejected -- and absolutely outrageous and scandalous, though everyone knew such things happened all the time -- attempt at a midnight seduction. Ghorn, scowling but uncharacteristically almost flustered, had appeared at her door to intercede on the noblewoman's behalf, offering assurances, including imposed poverty and permanent exile, that Rhavaelei would never again trouble either Mar or Mhajhkaei.
Telriy, perhaps in a moment of weakness, had agreed for the simple fact that Ghorn had, also perhaps in a moment of weakness, confessed that he had "feelings" for the scheming noblewoman.
Their quick wedding has been less of a shock than a puzzle, until Telriy remembered something that Gran had told her when she had still been small, "Men and women, see, they just can't help it. You'll understand one of these days."
Telriy had been informed when Rhavaelei's skyship had docked at the Monolith, but had understood that the vessel was to continue on to Pamplyea straightaway.
It seemed reasonable to assume, though, that the earthquake, as it had everything else, had delayed the skyship's departure.
Had Rhavaelei come to ask for further leniency? A less distant place of exile?
Neither would be granted. Rhavaelei's punishment was much too soft as it was. Telriy's first inclination was to turn the former Mhajhkaeirii'n senator away, but the pleasant morning had left her calm, relaxed, and -- perhaps unduly -- charitable.
After a further moment of contemplation, she told Yhejia, "Tell her that she can have ten minutes, but no more."
As Rhavaelei deserved no privacy, Telriy did not send the women an
d girls out. Furniture being still in short supply at the villa, Tsyl and the rest had brought chairs and divans with them. These were now scattered in a more or less Celly centered clump throughout the room, but the majority were on the windowed side. After a moment's thought, Telriy had them quickly arrange their various seats in an arc facing the door, with her at the apex. Though she did not mention the reason, this gave the gathering the semblance of a court of judgment.
She was nursing Celly -- her child's needs came before everything -- when Yhejia ushered in the disgraced noblewoman.
Rhavaelei's eyes flicked across the room in a quick scan when she came through the door, obviously noting the arrangement and the audience, but neither her posture nor her expression betrayed any reaction. She was not smiling but neither did she reveal any trepidation. Rather, as she always had when Telriy had seen her, she appeared emboldened, commanding, and contained. This was not the same self-focused arrogance that had seemed an intrinsic element of her character, at least prior to her disgrace, but was more a simple, confident determination.
Rhavaelei's eyes did linger on Celly at Telriy's breast, but only for a second as a quick, gentle and apparently genuine smile teased her lips.
A stray thought flashed through Telriy's mind. Had Lord Ghorn been the potion that Rhavaelei needed all along?
Telriy did not offer the woman a chair, though there were a couple currently unoccupied. "Yhejia said that you asked to speak with me?"
Rhavaelei bowed, low enough to offer respect but not obeisance. "Yes, my lady queen. Thank you for sparing me these moments. I would like to --"
Telriy felt a jolt as the ether stirred and images sprang into her head.
"You already carry Lord Ghorn's son," she interrupted as the words seemed to flow out of her of their own accord. "You will bear him here, at the Monolith."
A stir passed through the others. One of the house maids, sitting around to the left, gasped and whispered, "An augury!"
Telriy saw Yhejia cut her eyes to shush the young woman, then sweep a glare around the room to forestall any additional outbursts. All had been looking on with interest, but now the queen and the noblewoman had everyone's rapt attention.
Thief (The Key to Magic Book 7) Page 12
