Sixteen Feet of Steel Chapter 19

*Before….Gracia

Valhalla…

Named after the home of some of the lost gods or such.
The Capitol city of the High King and it’s built in these huge levels with like a star or a sun at the bottom and then it rises in huge, huge tiers and adorned with these fancy buildings all smooth and lit up and there’s the glitter of so much light and so much glass.
It looked like a fancy gigantic cake.
I…it…was headed for the palace…the castle called Whitehall…and I barely got a look besides it being huge almost a small city with towers and tall buildings all of its own before I crashed into a fancy garden with flowers and trees that looked decorative and in the end a gazebo of fine wood.
The soldiers came running with fancy spears and some with swords and some with crossbows and I remember seeing a man with a very nice uniform on like the others but with the best embroidery I’ve ever seen and he loomed over me with a dagger at the ready.
“Who are you girl and what sorcery be this!?”
“Gracia…Princess Gracia Lyonnes…my father…my…The Lion has fallen…”
It’s all I could get out.
This man his expression changed to shock then concern and things faded to black as I hear him yelling though he seems far away.
“Get the knight captain! Fetch a healer!”
And that was how I'm here, crying...so very far from home.

*And Now…

I remember healers and I remember there being to many people and then there’s too many questions all coming at me at once and then there’s all of the blood still on me and I remember getting sick over some sharply dressed man with ribbons and medals who was being very sharp with me and calling me girl and asking me questions and shaking me.

I know that being visibly sick in front of people is just not the thing to do but I couldn’t help it with everything that happened.

Bloody rude sod.

It was in the back of my mind satisfying though.

And waking up I’m not in a set of royal quarters but definitely the chambers of a healers ward.

Though I do seem to rate my own alcove.

The bed is metal and enameled white and there’s white fine linens and I’m in a sort of dressing gown.

It’s a little distressing to be here.

It’s a little distressing to not be wearing underwear.

“Hello…?”

“Hello excuse me is there anyone there?”

I see a nurse come in. I am going to assume she’s a nurse since she looks the part with the whole brown sturdy looking gown and wimple and sensible shoes.

I catch myself from saying anything about the clothing since I have none and I am unsure of my fortunes just yet.

Home is gone, everything might be gone and it’s burned.

Tears start coming and I’m wiping at my eyes and that’s when I notices that my hands are in linen gloves and that they stink of medicine, ointment of something really smelly.

She does a curtsey. “Princess you’re awake are you alright are you in pain?”

(Sniffle.) “No…Not really in pain it’s just…just everything’s gone…and…and…and they killed my daddy!”

I start to cry and I can’t really stop it and I want to stop it because I think I cried and slept enough it’s just it’s all coming back and the more that I cry the more that I hurt and the more that the tear soaked life that’s in front of me becomes this whole flashback of what has happened.

I think I hear her squeak and there’s footfalls of her running away.

There’s others that come an go.

Healers that dose me.

And I sleep.

Sleep, cry, wake repeat, repeat and repeat.

I’m numb when I wake the next time.

I find my pillow and curl around it until someone comes and it’s a man in brown and he looks older and two nurses and there’s a man in armor that looks quite regal.

He’s not the fellow that I vomited on thankfully.

I’d imagine him to not be very impressed with me.

The man in armor comes over and he’s tall and he’s handsome and that armor looks very keen and fashionable with all sorts of engravings and inlays. Tasteful though it’s complex more than it’s gaudy.

He’s definitely not a fop.

He sits on the edge of the bed and he takes out a flask. “Here princess drink this.”

It smells like brandy and I drink it, I drink all of it and I think that it surprised him.

(Sniffle.) “Th…thank you Sir?”

“Lord Charles Bonham.”

I just look at him blearily through my tears and he dries them with a handkerchief that he pulled from a bracer.

“I’m the Captain of the High Guard Princess.”

Oh…well that makes sense. The High Guard are the guard that was established by The High King to bring peace and justice throughout the realms. This…me…all of this is definitely his business.

He’s also like a general in reality, the rank of Captain is just like traditional.

He’s also fairly young too, for a job like this. I mean he could have inherited it but I’m not sure if that is likely.

He’s fairly earnest when asking. “Princess would it be too much to ask what had happened at Lyonnes?”

I shake my head. “No, but I…I think I’d like something bracing first.”

He nods. “I understand that.” He looks to the nurse. “Please fetch some hot tea, and some brandy to fortify it with.”

She does the curtsey and she leaves pretty fast and I’m looking at him and then I’m looking at myself.

“Where are my things Captain?”

“I believe they’re being held for you someplace.”

I look at him. “There was a sword and other things there they’re important.”

He looks at me intrigued. “In what way princess?”

“We had guests the night of the attack, one was a young man a young knight and he saved my life.”

The young Captain looks like he has questions a good many of them but he’s patient and thoughtful and he just sits and he listens.

“When the attack hit the point when they started using siege weapons there was a trebuchet missile that crashed through my walls and I knew it beyond any mere chance but he pushed me clear Captain Bonham and he was killed by it. I stayed until his last seconds and I had to bring his things as best I could with me…his people deserved to know what kind of a hero he was.”

I see him lower his eyes some and he swallows a little and I can see that there’s some blood on the man.

Not literally but he’s seen it, he’s seen the horrible up close and fought with that devil too.

He’s a fellow soldier respecting what another died for.

He’s about to say something when I hear voices and I can hear someone yelling. “It’s awake is it; well clap the wench in cold wrought iron because all of those Lyonnes bitches are witches!”

I…

How…

“Who! How dare he!” I screamed it and with everything that has happened instead of bursting into tear I’m madder than a hornet’s nest that was just shaken up by a drunkard.

I get up and The Captain looks surprised by that and I drag the sheets with me and he’s following me as I storm to the source of the voice.

I’m robing myself as best I can with the sheets and I go through a set of double doors out into a hall and then down a set of steps to where there is an archway and a courtyard and that’s where there’s several noblemen in various kinds of dress and some in armor and one of them is in armor and wearing a robe like one of those temple folk wear.

There’s Highguards keeping them from entering here.

They all look decided unpleasant and they look very unhappy to see me and I am not happy to see them either as I push past the two Highguards

“Who names me a witch?”

He turns and he looks at me and there’s a couple of knights that move and stand with him. “I do, it’s well known and documented that Lyonnes had been bent by the Blackhanded witch, it’s known too that you’ve been harboring other witches too.”

“Well known by whom? And who are you, I demand to know the name of the man that slanders me and my family!?”

“I am Lord Byron Dempsey and It’s well known by everyone.”

“Oh well I’ve heard of this everyone ever since I was a small child but never seen them surely you have a much more credible source than an invisible friend.”

“You dare talk to me that way; you’re nothing but a landless child. The lion has fallen and you are nothing.”

“No sir I am not nothing I am a daughter of Lyonnes and I am one of its princesses and I will make sure that justice is done.”

“You arrived here by sorcery! You’re a witch in your own right and you deserve to be locked up before you poison the mind of the king and those around you!”

He steps in and he punches me in the face and he sends me back flying to the stones and I taste blood.

The Highguard shove him back hard and fast and they pull swords as does two of the men with this Lord Dempsey.

Captain Bonham stops and kneels and he offers to help me stand. “Princess are you alright?”

“I’m fine…” I grit my teeth…and I take his help up and my face is screaming with pain and heat and I know that this will be a horrible bruise and I can feel that feeling as it’s fixing on swelling.

The captain glares at Lord Dempsey. “The princess is right, you have no cause for your blames or your accusations, and now you have struck a woman and a fellow noble and she has cause to cite you.”

“The little whore would do well to know her place and you as well bastard. She is a deviless and she’s a danger to this court you can see it right in her eyes.”

I spit some saliva and blood out like one of the guards had taught me.

Yes I’m the bad daughter; I’m that one that was grounded for a week for trying chaw.

“Yes you can see something in my eyes alright and that’s revenge. See those bastards might have killed my father but I’m still alive and my sisters are still alive and that’s where you make the biggest mistake….you and the men that attacked my home.”

He blanches and he honestly looks like the sort of man who’s never had a woman speak up against him.

“And that mistake is?”

“You have us daughters left to deal with and it’s the female lions that you really have to look out for in a pride.”

“You speak brazenly witch.”

“I’m no witch but you give me a sword and I’ll show you that I’ve already taken the manhood right off of one man this week.”

We’re locking eyes and he breaks first and looks past me to the captain.

“You can’t protect her forever bastard, I’ll have satisfaction and so will The Lord of Light over this slatternist’s unnatural family.”

He spins and storms off and he’s taking his entourage with him.

I stay glaring at him until he’s well out of sight and then I unclench everything inside me that I had that I locked up to stay on my feet.

I’m covering my face with my hands and that really hurt.

“Why? Why is this all happening?”

Captain Bonham leans over my back in a protective way and slips an arm around my shoulder.

“There are folk that believe in their own ways and their own ways alone and he is one of those I’m afraid he and his Lord of Light don’t seem to have the same place of respect for women that I do.”

(Sniffle.) “He was so mean…”

“I’m afraid he meant to be and more, he wants you tried most likely.”

I look at him shocked. “Tried for what?”

“Witchcraft.”

“Is he warped and cracked I’m no witch!”

“There are many that will see it differently, Lyonnes was rich and some say that a lot of that was from Lady Blackhand and her coven.”

“Coven?”

“Yes she is known to have a coven.”

“Where?”

“I don’t know the name of it but it’s a walled place up on a hill that is full of witches.”

I stare at him and I’m honestly drawing a blank.

He’s looking at me.

I stare back.

“You honestly don’t have a clue do you?”

“No, of what witchcraft?”

“Yes there been rumors, lots of them Princess.”

“Well they’re lies.” (Sniffle.)

He goes over to help me and I hurt, my hands and my face really hurts and so does my neck. And I’m not ashamed to admit that I’m crying because it hurts so much and he’s really kind as he walks me back inside and two of the nurses are there with a chair that has wheels and one of them is clucking at me and the other she well she sort of looks afraid of me?

Afraid of me?

They wheel me back to where I was and the nurses help me into bed and one goes for Maister Taen and commander Charles is speaking to the men he has with them and they leave in a hurry and it’s not too long before there’s an incredibly handsome man that comes in with long blonde hair that’s tied back and a kind smile.

“You my dear are a most unruly and welcome patient.”

“A welcome unruly patient?”

He has some ice brought to him. “Very much, people like Lord Dempsey are not my favorite people.”

I shiver as he applies the ice and he smiles at me. There’s a lot of handsome men here, this fellow included. “Why?”

“Oh he and his have no sense of history, and quite honestly if they had their way would cast away a whole lot of learning and leave us in the times darkness all over again.”

“Wow…why?”

“Power and fear.”

“Power and fear, there’s this whole method of getting people to do things out of fear and Lord Dempsey and his ilk are very good at milking that.”

“I’ve a bull in Lyonnes he can milk instead.”

He chuckles. “I’d wager he wouldn’t know the difference.”

I smile a little a wince. “I’m in deep trouble aren’t I?”

“You certainly are.”

Oh great, he wouldn’t even try to say things to make me feel better.

“What would you do if you were me?”

“I’d get yourself to see the King before he has to deal with the this in a bad way.”

“Deal with me in a bad way?” I know he said this but I know what he meant by that and that was me correcting that.

He looks at me and he takes the ice off and he brushes back hair and he sighs. “He’s a wealthy man with a lot of properties in the city, and he’s allied to The Temple of light who have a very, very strong dislike of witches and folks of the educated or powerful female persuasion.”

“So they hate women.”

He nods. “And he will use how you arrived combined with pressure that he will put on his tenants or at least to bend the ears of and then there’s the church who will back him and fast.”

“Why?”

“Ah that I don’t know, not outside of hatred.”

He puts the compresses back on. “There is a push to change things here in the city, and in the kingdoms there are lords and other nobles that dislike things changing out an away from them.”

“Excuse me?”

“Power’s been shifting to the people, there’s a good number of nobles that fear that as loss of power an as theft.”

Oh…

Oh…and more than oh.

“Father was part of that, nobility was far more than a birthright…he’d say stuff then, with people.”

I look at the windows. “He had folks over all the time, other nobles, but others too.”

He nods. “Right then, now we know part of it at least, now we know that there was a reason.”

Lord Charles says. “And while Dempsey’s a coward it’s likely he’ be seen as able to deal with a battle shocked girl.”

I look at them both.

“Then I need to see the King.”

I look at Lord Charles. “Can you do that for me?”

“I’m not sure, I can take you. But to get you an audience will be another matter, and there will be those who will see you and definitely pass it on and those people will certainly demand things especially the Priests of Light.”

“Demand, demand what?”

“To be present in the talks so that you don’t witch the king.”

“I’m not a witch.”

Maister Taen shakes his head. “You’re an educated woman you might as well be.”

“I’m not, not really I’m the family strumpet!”

Master Taen gives me a smile. “Hardly Princess and don’t give them ammunition either.”

I frown.

Now what do I do?

I look at Lord Charles. “But you can come and go yes?”

“Yes, yes I can but even a letter might not do you the best of good.”

“Why not? Not that I’m any really good at writing letters and the like.”

“There are spies in the court and they would see a scroll or a letter being read.”

“Oh….”

Lord Charles says. “You’d have to be invisible.”

“I’m not witch I can’t do that…..oh…oh, oh, oh…I can do that though.”

The two men look at me and I get out of the bed.

“Sir and Maister I have a plan.”

Lord Charles looks at me. “And that is?”

I smile at him.

“Who’s you slightest and shortest knight with you.”

.................... It’s two hours later and I’m dressed as a man. Not just a man but a knight and I’m layered in armor and cloth and quilting and chainmail and plate armor and I’m sweating like a pig and this weights so much it’s insane but at the same time it’s invigorating.

Crazy too, I’m impersonating one of the High Guard.

This can’t be remotely legal.

And I used to think that a lot of the full on court kit with the corset and the petticoats and the layered skirts was completely too heavy but this is nothing compared to what I’m wearing.

Hose and a cod piece and then over that soft linen pants and over those leather half pants that have buckle bits and things and even these things that actually look like hinges with pins.

And that’s just my bottoms.

Up top it’s the same a light tunic of sheer cotton and then linen but after that I’m wearing a jacket if quilted cloth and leather sleeves that had shining chainmail over it. Oh and then there was the whole chainmail head thing and a head and that let me have the helmet on.

People wear this and fight?

Half-suit chain and quarter plate?

Well the best of it that there’s no way that I look like a woman, I didn’t even look like one when I looked in the mirrors of the sick room.

I was so bulked out with everything and my curve was all gone and I felt like a bit of pressed meat to be honest and then there was that damned codpiece and that was awkward and chaffing and I needed to re-adjust a few times.

And then there was the fact of wearing weapons too.

I passed.

Which was good and I walked with Lord Charles through the grounds and I tried to do as he did. Back straight, big strides, holding onto my pommel like a gentleman lord’s cane and step sideways and turn to face and half a bow towards all the women and not just the ladies and give the right of way to higher ranks than myself.

I’m so not used to doing either.

I’m a spoiled vain little princess who has lost everything that I have and had been beaten up by a zealot to go on top of everything else.

Oh and I’m being accused of witchcraft.

As things turn out I’m actually already on the castle grounds and that in itself is dizzying in scope and scale.

The whole place is built into three terraces with long shapes that I guess are supposed to be shields and they don’t start until the very end of the one before it like almost overlapping scales and it’s a castle as far as I can tell as much as a palace with a tall wall between levels and then a wall that tops the next level that’s pretty defensible looking as much as it seems fancy.

Like there’s four like mini-keep things Commander/Captain/ Lord Charles says are bastions and that they house Footmen and archers as well as the four thrones.

Yeah each one of these bastions has a large throne for a resting/sitting battleknight in each direction and these aren’t The Rampant these things are as big but they’re enameled and as pretty as fine china with designs of their houses and the like.

But still that’s sixteen rigs right here plus footmen and archers and that’s just here.

Small wonder this is the seat of the kingdom….you’d never take the place.

And it’s a lot of walking.

No horses allowed in here except for these small coaches that look official and apparently they’re not for the troops.

“I know we’re doing this to hopefully save me from a burning but I’m not that unsure that the weight of all of this isn’t going to kill me Commander.”

“It’s the price of being a knight, it’s a lot of work and very little ease.”

We finally get to the third level and it’s at least a few hundred steps up the rise for us and I’m sweating and aching and coughing as we get to the final leveled off parts of it and Commander Charles takes us off to the side where there is a fountain in an alcove and dippers on a marble shelf.

“We have a few of these secreted away from the foot traffic, being a knight is thirsty work sometimes and it’s always good to have free flowing sources of water close at hand.”

I nod and look around before taking the metal bucket off of my head even though I’m still in the mail hood and helm/head cloth.

He passes me a dipper of water and it tastes so cool and sweet and I try not to gulp it but I halfway fail at that and I choke some and he smiles and looks at me.

“It’s been a while since I had a Squire.”

I have another drink. “Are you even old enough to have had one?”

He nods. “I am and he’s a fine young knight now, but I did have to wait until I was older than when I first gotten my shield to do so.”

I look at him. “I was just joking.”

He smiles. “Well you might just have magic then since I was what the call a prodigy. By the time I had gained my shield I was the age of all the squires in my years that were looking for knight masters so for another three years I worked with the Knight Captains in training the pages instead.”

Oh well that is astounding actually.

“So you were placed into the High Guard because you were an elite warrior and you’d be in the company of elite warriors?”

He nods. “Something like that.”

Oh I can tell there’s more.

I watch him watching the sun and he nods. “The King will be eating now so if we move quickly we can catch him just before he takes his cup.”

“His cup?”

“His Highness takes a glass of whisky after his meal and before his fresher.”

“Fresher?” It’s like he’s speaking another language.

Commander Charles shrugs actually. “I’m unsure the details but after such he seems to have bathed and he is drinking Kaffet.”

“Oh…well that sort of makes sense. I like a brandy after a good meal and if I was going to relax it would help but a bath and a Kaffet? That’s like tea right? Well that might just set me to rights to face the afternoon’s ordeals.”

He nods. “We should go we need to make haste.”

I pull the metal bucket back on. “Haste? I think you might as well call me a racing snail.”

He’s chuckling as we head off with him in the lead. “Racing snail, that’s clever.”

“I’m glad I could bring you some mirth, perhaps if being a princess doesn’t work out for me then I can be and entertainer and tell jokes and juggle.”

“As brave as you are I’d say you’re better suited to being a fire breather.”

“I’m actually more of a sword swallower.”

Oh gods it’s a struggle not to laugh as he reddens at that as my words catch up with him. I do adore men and I do adore teasing men. It’s just in my blood and not all of this wars and armor and manly things that weigh me down and make me sweat and chafe.

But I’m a Lyonne.

And I’ll be dead and damned before I let Lord Byron Dempsey slander and malign my family’s name.

And that of my real and my people.

We pass through a small walled garden gate and that leads to a side stair that climbs part of the actual castle itself and as we pass through the guards and are yet climbing another set of stairs I hear and see a commotion and there’s a set of the High Guard escorting a carriage from the palace hospital and there are many men on horses and some with flags and pennants trying to block it’s way and keep it from passing.

Then there’s another two groups of High Guard on horses leaving from other smaller gates and they’re getting pursued as well by these people making even more chaos.

“Remind me to bake a thank you cake to the young knight that lent me his kit and the ones lending me such aid.”

“You bake?”

“Actually yes. I’ve not much of a hand for needles and no head for figures and books but I can feed a man and I can feed him well.”

“Well that’s a good skill but one not too practiced here with the noble ladies.”

“My mother said you have to know it so that you’d know that the staff was doing their jobs….plus.”

“Plus?”

“Well there’s a fine art to boiling oils and sugars and the like for use on the walls.”

He stops and he looks at me. “Too true, your mother was expecting a siege?”

I shook my head no. “No, it’s something that she got from home in the east and defending against sea raiders which she had been raised to do since she was a girl.”

He nods. “Gods grant me to not be struck with boiling sugar. That’ll take flesh with it.”

I nod. “But refined or pearl sugar is useful for stopping bleeding too.”

We’re walking again and pass through several doors and in and through some halls and up some more stairs talking as we go.

“So you’re trained as a healer then?”

“Not at all the closest to that would have been my baby brother who worked with our various masters in the house from the stores to the apothecary.”

“I’m sorry for that loss.”

“He was a good boy, the youngest son so he did everything that he could to be useful.”

Commander Charles nodded. “That’s often the case really, and it does speak well of him. I’m a fourth son and my brother before me seeks to drink and dally his inheritance away in the dancehalls here in the city.”

“And you didn’t?”

“I was too young and when he had provoked a duel that he was too drunk to fight with some local rafes I was literally forced to fight for his life.”

I look at him. “Sorry to hear that.”

He shrugs which is impressive a thing to do in armor really and he smiles. “The whole thing was seen by the captain of the watch in that block of the city and it was that fight that had him write to the training master and to have me sent her to become a page and then more.”

We end up coming out into a large marble hall with alcoves all along the place and gates behind each of those and that’s close to a dozen gates that can be closed in this hall.

And there’s guards, not guards but knights there on duty and I am very sure of where I’m at now.

I’m in the royal wing now and while it’s not the throne room it’s likely the route to the offices and the like and still guarded and still very important.

We stop and there’s two knights there and they look older and they look like very daunting people with what looks like serious armor and the kind that’s not for show either and they look at him and then to me and one of them slips inside and he’s gone for a few tense minutes.

He comes out and he looks at me and gestures with a gauntleted finger and I walk to him and he opens the door to me and points. “You go lad and talk to him, tell him what you need to and I have a message for Commander Bonham.”

I take a breath and I walk in and to where the knight had pointed at and there’s layers of screens set up like walls here and some of them have rugs over them or tapestries and these almost make like adjustable servants halls or places for guards and spies and all sort of things.

I come out through the maze of these screens and the last ones were very nice like hardwoods and or glass with designs and made to compliment the room and the look of a study or an office.

I swallow a lump of fear because there he is.

High King Boen Whitehall.

He’s a big man even for his age with that frame that speaks of a former battleknighter and a man who has seen lots of battle. His hair is light brown and shortly cropped and filled with greys and he is writing away at a stack of papers and there are many books and things on his desk.

He looks up at me.

“Princess Gracia…I’m glad that you’re alive and well and I’m impressed that you made it here and dared such.”

I walk in and take off the bucket helm.

“I didn’t have much choice My King, Lyonnes was attacked and burned my father and brother and mother all murdered and on coming here of all places to get to safety I’m under attack and I’m accused of witchcraft as is my family.”

He takes a drink of something in a mug and he nods.

“There’s a growing force of nobles that have a lot of support in keeping to or reviving the old ways of power and command Princess. These men have the church of The Light and the Clerics of the Lord of Light behind them and that holds a lot of influence here in the city as well as court.”

“How?”

“The priests tell things to their followers who will not gainsay the word of their god. The nobles that are allied with them perform favors to those clerics and to those in their lands to convince people of they are the right side.”

“But they’re lying.”

“They’re not actually. Your father was in arms and a compatriot of Aurora Blackhand who was well known for travelling through all of the kingdoms and gathering witches and she has been building a kingdom of them with a coven town..”

I look at him. “What Haven’s Hill? That’s a home for women and yes a few with power that needed shelter from being abused or hunted or killed.”

He looks at me. “I know that and you know that but there were many of those rescued women that were hedge witches and midwives and worse educated women who might have known more than the local lord or the local clerics of The Lord of Light.”

“If you know this then why can’t you stop them?”

“Honestly there’s too much power and there’s too much evidence they have of wrong doing.”

“Evidence?”

“Potions, poisons, magic. They’ve been found and there’s being sworn reports.”

“Magic isn’t forbidden is it?”

He looks at me. “It’s not yet but every month there are those in the courts with petitions to label all non-clerical magic as witchcraft and it’s gaining support.”

“But you’re High King?”

“And as such I can affect how laws are made and passed but even if I strike down a proposed law or set of laws this does not decrease their sentiment. And every time that I do this I earn enmity.”

“So what do I do about my losses?”

“I don’t know honestly Princess I could try and take this to the courts and argue it as your father was a good man and he served the realms well against our foes. But The Gorgon he has the backing of the Church of Light and the nobles here and they’re claiming that the lands are forfeit.”

“But they’re lying your majesty.”

He looks tired and he looks sad too. “I know, and then again they actually were not. I have no evidence save my time on the battlefield with your father fighting Aurora’s insane father a man that could and did wield power and who nearly rendered all of the kingdoms to ruin with his mad plans.”

“So the fact that he fought is…”

“Cancelled out by Aurora being close to your family.”

“How do I stop them?”

“You can’t.”

I’m crying and I’m frustrated.

He gets up and he comes over to me and he actually gives me a hug which is shocking given he’s The High King.

“I’ve sent for help if they’ll come…I know what’s going on and what will happen if those that want you dead and charged for witchcraft get here first.”

I nod and swallow and he walks me to his desk and a seat in front of it and I sit after taking out the sword I had with me and reminded of that I take out an envelope too.

“If I can only do one thing out of this entire horror story then can I beg you to get this blade and these belongings to the family of Sir Shane Winterbrook he was a knight cavalier who was at our castle when the attack had happened and he died saving my life.”

The High King nods and he looks at me. “Please if you’re able tell me the story. Tell me how Lyonnes fell.”

I tell him what happened and it comes out haltingly at first and he pours me a whisky of my own and I’ve never had the drink before and it’s smooth like a brandy but there’s more fire too but it’s a good fire and it has all these notes like woods and vanillas like from wine’s stored in oak and there’s other flavors as well that I don’t know but it sort of goes down very well.

It helps.

I think that I could drink some of this more often.

It’s a long story and to not just do justice to home I tell everything I know of Sir Shane as well from the time he came to our castle and court to the sword dueling in practice he did with my father and older brothers and the light jousting he did with Stephen.

I want The High King to think well of the man.

I’ve a second whisky going when I can hear the commotion outside in the halls and I can hear someone shouting.

“We know the witch is with the king and his immortal soul is at risk every moment that he is with her!”

I don’t hear what the guards are saying but I hear more shouting.

“Move sir knight or The Lord’s Light will punish those that thwart his will.”

There’s some more sounds and there’s the sounds of steel now on steel and The High King moves and he goes to open the large double doors at the end of the room and I see some of the men that were with Lord Dempsey but not Lord Dempsey himself but there’s others there and some look like holy order fighters and knights and they’ve squared off against the Kings Guard and there is a man in robes that looks like he’s been eating and shitting lemons his whole life and he glares at me.

“There’s the witch and she’s full of deceit look at her and how she’s charmed one of the High Guard into giving her his things.”

There’s some men moving forward and they stop when The High King moves in front of them.

The priest and even some of his knights look ready to do violence to him and they stop short.

“The King has been charmed by the whore!”

The High King says. “I have not been charmed, not manipulated.”

“You cannot know this to be true your highness; her powers have already run over you.”

“But not over me and mine human.”

What?

Oh I had the same thought as the cleric.

He spins on his heels to face whoever just spoke and I look too and see this woman in a simple white dress…no it’s not simple it’s elegant, it’s white within white and there are flowers inlaid like embroidery but so fine there’s no stitches to be seen and the dress is tight to her waist but the neckline is deeply and almost indecently plunging showing tanned flesh and revealing a modest sized but indecently covered pair of perfect breasts and she’s just stunning.

She has the most amazing hair as well long and golden blonde falling in these impossible waves and totally unrestrained yet tamed and styled.

And she has the face of an angel.

An angel with pointed ears.

“Demon elf this is human business!”

She looks at him.

“Cleric Quintin Solemn is it? You know your histories do you? You humans live here landed for safety by the graces of us the elder races. It was we that showed you how to survive here and clothed and fed you as the wars raged when the gates had fallen. You seek grace seek mine and that of my people for that is what grace truly save you.”

He literally purples with rage.

“Heresy!”

She looks at him like he’s an angry toddler.

“Swear it then, swear that I’m a liar by so moting it? Put power behind your claims. Call me a liar, call the king a lair swear to it with power before the gods including your own then if you are so passionate.”

Some of the holy knights pull blades on her and there’s the ring of steel drawn as Commander Charles is there and he’s in just his clothes that he wear under all his armor layers and he’s soaked in sweat like he just…oh I think he ran to get this elven woman.

I look at her. “I’ll swear, I’ll god swear that I’m not a damned witch and that I never charmed the high king.”

He turns and he looks at me and he looks incredibly mad.

“I’ll be the one demanding the swearing By The Light!”

She says. “Then do so, but you first. So mote it and shall we see what happens?”

See…

See when you so mote something you draw blood on yourself and you say your oath or your truth and you say so mote it be. And if you break that oath or you have been lying then the gods who have very real power will strike you down and they will boil the very blood in your veins.”

I don’t know how it works but it always has worked this way.

It’s one of the reasons that the gods have followers and legitimacy.

He looks at her and he looks at me and he looks at The High King.

“I swear by The Gods and by The Lord of Light that I am working in the feverent belief that witchcraft and unnatural magic is at threat to our world and our kingdoms and that I am trying to save us all…so mote it be.”

Dammit.

I was really hoping that he’d burst into flames.

The High King looks at all of us. “I Boen Whitehall High King of the realms of man hereby declare myself free of witchcraft and charms and am untouched by such arts before the people here and the eyes of the gods….so mote it be.”

The Cleric looks at me and so do the others.

I take a breath. “I Princess Gracia of Lyonnes swear to those here and before the eyes of the gods that I am free and clear of any witchcraft and I am not witch and never have been…so mote it be.”

They’re staring at me and I stare back at them and then I take a drink of my whisky.

No more than a drink I drink it all the way down and I fight the burn and the urge to cough.

“I swore, The High King swore, you swore your grace and if we’re not lying and you’re not lying priest then maybe you should take your fellows with you and maybe find out just who’s been lying to you.”

He glares at me. “There’s been evidence found of witchcraft and of collusion by your father and mother with the witch Aurora Blackhand and as to such your family has been judged and found guilty and wanting.”

“Not by the law you arserag.”

“The laws of the gods supersede the laws of mankind!” he shouts at me.

I shout back at him. “Then let your precious Lord of light himself come down to the courts and make his presence known personally instead in having someone like you do it!”

“Someone like me?! I am the voice of the Lord of Light!”

“You’re a man and men create the laws of men! You can’t just decide it’s against your faith and that people are against your faith because they don’t believe the same things and be allowed to do whatever your church dictates to them!”

“You’re a child and a woman!”

“I know the law!”

“You have no business speaking the law you’re a woman!”

We’re shouting and tensions are high with this cleric and the nobles with him and the knights and holy knights with him and the King’s Guard and Commander Charles of the High Guard and myself of course and The High King himself and of course this elven woman…lady…princess?

That is until more of The King’s Guard shows up and the very nasty men and their even nastier zealot are really outnumbered.

The High King says. “There is no law that grants men rights over women in these realms she is entitled to speak her voice.”

The cleric scowls. “That too will change; it’s an affront to the gods for a woman, a craven thing to speak of the laws on man and in full insult to the laws of heaven.”

High King Boen looks at him. “You are welcome to try to change them sir this is why we have the courts of law and the courts of the upper councils.”

The cleric draws himself up to his full puffiness and he glares at me and I glare back and he does the same to the High King and he says. “Are you going to refute the finding by Lord Kingsland and return the tainted lands of Lyonnes to her?”

“No, as you said there is enough evidence.”

I choke out a sob.

The cleric looks even more puffed up.

The High King says. “I will however put this before the Upper council courts to debate over and will abide by their decision.”

I pull off the ridiculously heavy chainmail hood thing and wipe at my bruised face. “And what if I contest this decision that they’re making.”

The High King looks at me. “You can, you will need votes and an advocate.”

The elfin princess says. “Or a champion.”

The King nods, the cleric laughs at me. “You’re welcome to try.”

I look at the others….my shoulders slump and I know that the elf cannot help since she’s an outlander and her votes will likely not help and Commander Bonham won’t help or more to the point her really can’t give his position with his rank.

I have no one here, and I know no one here either and I have no money to campaign with and no favors owed that I know of.

The Cleric turns on his heels. “We will see all of you in the courts, and we shall truly see how The Lord of Light bestows wisdom amongst the people.”

He sweeps out and I sob and fall down and start crying.

The High King actually kneels and his hand is on my shoulder. “I’m so sorry Princess, I have to be neutral, I have to keep the peace of all our kingdoms together.”

I cry and I wipe the tears away but it’s so hard to try and fight them and to try and to stop crying and I look at him.

“So what can I do?”

He looks at me. “The reports have said that your sisters have survived hopefully. I will send messengers to your family and I can try and to use that to delay the debates in court until you are able to come together and to face them together. Hopefully they will bring you aid and votes as well as any lord and noble in the United Kingdoms of Titan has a vote in court as long as they are directly present.”

Commander Bonham says. “It will give them time to build their cases and gather allies as well.”

The elfin princess says as she’s pouring herself a drink of whisky.

“And we can use that time for our champion.”

I look at her and she passes me her glass and I take it and I drink and she raises an perfect eyebrow at me.

“You would drink from the same glass as one not human?”

I nod. “Actually given how my lot seems to behave I’m just grateful for the aid.”

She smiles at me. “I dislike bullies and cowards and especially ones that hide their racism and bigotry and sexism behind cheap displays of faith.”

I blush a little. Her smile and her gaze is powerful, she’s just…she’s an elf and that’s definitely hitting home with me. I have no idea how to behave around her but I think I’m crushing on her as a person.

It’s not like a romantic thing, but she just seems to be one of those people that you meet in life that you meet and can’t help but to think of with a whole feeling of wow.

I take another drink and pass it back and she takes it and she turn the glass so she is lined up with my lip prints on the glass and she drinks from the same spot.

I don’t know if it’s like a thing with elves or if it’s just a gesture of good faith but I’m actually happy she did it.

I wipe at my eyes. “You mentioned a champion, why?”

The High King says. “If you can challenge a lord’s vote then you can have it stuck down from the roles if you beat him or his champion in a contest of arms or a joust or defeat him in the battleknight arena. It’s long held as an ancient law that the winner has the favor of the gods on their side on that matter.”

I look at them. “But who would champion me? I know nobody?”

The elfin princess looks at me. “Come with me and I will explain this to you.” She looks at The High King. “To save you from further troubles that might come your way I would be very humbled to guest the adopted niece of Aurora Blackhand in The Grove.”

I look at her and I look at the High King and he looks at Commander Bonham. It’s tha commander who says. “It’s your best bet Princess Gracia for security, they will and do have spies here and they might actually try something while they are waiting to debate this while your family gathers here to face the charges. It would render it academic if they could do that and Lyonnes is a rich prize and one that they won’t want to part with.”

I’m a little more than confused at this point but I get that they might try things, there are always spies in the realms and between them and there are reasons why nobles need to have guards.

But there’s a good chunk of this that I think that I am missing.

The High King looks at me. “I will keep you safe her but in all honesty I would trust Lady Aliantha with my life.”

Aliantha…

That definitely has a very elfin sound to it and just a lady? Well that could mean more than just a ladyship or a lordship.

I look at all of them.

Honestly I want to as much as I have really no choice in the matter either.

“I accept, I gratefully accept Lady Aliantha.”

She finishes her drink. “We should be off straight away then there will be no dallying with your enemies in looking for their next bit of foulness.”

She offers me her hand and she pulls me up armor and all and she did it with one hand.

“You’re strong would you be my champion?”

She shakes her head. “While I would gladly stand beside you on the battlefield this is politics and I’m forsworn from taking a direct hand.”

I blink. “Then what was just that?”

“That was me calling out an overblown arrogant troll of a human and seeing that he had to follow the rules.”

“Oh…”

The High King shakes my hand. “Princess it’s been an honor and I will fight to see that sanity prevails over this rhetoric. And I will return the sword and those items to the Winterbrook holdings his family will be glad for them and the news I imagine.”

I try a courtesy but it’s hard to do in this get up and I look at Commander Bonham. “Sir Charles should I return this now?”

He shakes his head. “No I’ll go with you to the grove and collect it there.”

He leads us out and we just get out of the royal wing we were in when we’re flanked by several of the High Guard and they fall in around us all the way to a carriage that is flanked by two hooded riders in these thick richly deep green tabards and the rest is plate armor like I have never seen before so form fitting and so ornate looking and they’re well-armed and I notice that we do have an audience.

There’s castle folk and there’s courtiers as well and numerous other well to do’s here looking and watching us and I can feel eyes on me and I can see some of the ones that were with the cleric and they seem to be glaring at the lot of us.

I’m getting a lot of looks since I’m no longer wearing that stifling chain hood thing and the bucket helmet and people are whispering and pointing.

There are lady knights but they are very few and there hasn’t been any that I know of in my lifetime and there has never ever been to my knowledge a princess wearing armor so there is that.

And I’m with elves.

And according to nasty rumors a witch or bespelled.

Well hopefully the swearing by the gods will take care of that one.

As to the rest.

Well I never did like just being one of the crowd.

I’m helped into the carriage and then we head off and it is a lot more comfortable and thankfully cooler riding in this as it was killing myself to hike through this place.

Lady Aliantha leans forward and oh…well she is braless and they’re perfect and I can see completely down her dress.

“May I princess?”

“May you what?”

“Tend to your hurts.”

“Oh…yes please you’re a healer?”

She nods. “Yes it’s part of the way, this much I can do/”

“The Way?”

She touches my face and it tingles and suddenly it feels cool almost as if someone had pressed a cool washcloth to it and the pain is gone and she sits back.

“The way is elfin magic.”

“Oh…Oh I just had magic done to me?”

She nods. “You could call it that.”

“What is it them if not magic?”

“Communion really, see the entire basis of elven life is the fact that we have a connection to life, and we have fostered and strengthened that connection for ages upon ages. I didn’t so much heal you as to share my life force with some of the cells in your body in order for them to heal faster and do the things that they need to do like reduce the swelling and the like.”

“That really sounds like magic to me.”

She smiles. “Then please think of it that way Princess.”

I nod. “Gracia you can call me Gracia or Grace.”

He smile gets even brighter. “I will, you do me a great honor again.”

I grin back. “Yeah I’m good like that.”

She actually laughs and it’s surprisingly a human sound and she just sort of shines.

“Are all elves like you?”

She shakes her head. “No, but I have ties here so I was asked to come to The Grove and be ambassador.”

“Ties?”

“I was actually born here on this continent.”

“Oh and that’s why?”

“That and I lived here until my people had returned to Elvenmere.’

“Elvenmere?”

“The Continent that we live on, it’s our home here on Titan.”

“Oh…that sounds like this could lead to lessons.”

She nods. “There will be lessons.”

“There will be?”

She smiles and she nods. “I would be a poor hostess and protector if I did not share things with you while we do other things.”

“Things with this whole getting a champion for my family.”

She looks at me.

“Things in line with teaching you how to be a champion Grace.”

“Me a champion, I’m just a girl and I’m no knight.”

She looks at me. “There are many more ways of fighting in the world Grace than just those taught by the men that train knights and soldiers. You don’t have to fight like them Grace you just have to win.”

“Me…?”

She smiles. “Yes you.”

“You really think that I can do this?”

Lady Aliantha looks at me. “You survived an invasion in your lands in the middle of a night and then lived through the journey here and all of the things that have targeted you and befallen you since and even showed great cunning and courage in getting to Boen. You are more powerful than you think Grace, you have great fire and great mettle you just need someone to show you how to forge it.”

Boen…

She called The High King by his first name.

That says something doesn’t it?

I’m thinking and we’re going from the palace and it’s huge, and it’s pretty and it’s very white washed and painted too. There are great pains taken to make sure the great capitol looks literally bright and shining.

I gawk, even with all the frippery and show here there’s things that make me feel like I’m from a backwater.

There’s illuminations here and there and everywhere and they’re used to light the streets from what I can tell. There are buildings all over the place and there are many that are seventy or eighty feet tall and they’re not guard towers or forts but just buildings of some kind and as we get lower and lower into the city and the levels the tighter the building actually get.

Aside from the main streets that we are on and having room to move the lowest level is almost claustrophobic to me.

I have also never seen so many kinds of people before in my life either.

I’ve seen some of them in caravans and a few as traders but not like there being vast numbers of them living and working here.

It smells here too, people and foods and everything else and there’s a noise too the sound of a crowd but it’s not like crowds from home…this is a crowd where common is likely the most common second language and the common that is spoken here it comes with an accent.

And I am now very firmly rooted in the fact that I am very much a bumpkin, I am or was a rich bumpkin but I am not well educated and I am definitely not very worldly.

I look at her. “Lady can you teach me this as well?”

She nods. “I would be proud to teach you more of the world.”

We ride all the way to the outskirts of the city passed its great wall and we’re in some outer ward and there are walls here dividing things here like in neighborhoods or what seems to be other places that look like embassies to other places and nations maybe.

We come to one that has very large trees towering up and over its outer walls and those walls are covered in mosses and ivy and it looks almost like the walls for the embassy ward are failing at holding back the forest…The Grove behind them.

The locals seem to give the place a wide berth.

And we get looks upon stopping here and the gates open and it’s a forest but like a hallway going in from the gate… seriously the trees are in neat rows here and they’re grown close together and the canopies are arched together and it just looks so much like a large arched hallway.

I’m helped out and down by Commander Bonham. “Princess welcome to The Grove.”

I look at him. “I’m a little scared.”

“Don’t be, I lived here once and trained in languages and other things. It’s a very strange place and very different but it is a safe place.”

“Will I see you again?”

He smiles. “Well barring battle and missions I think there will be a good chance of that princess.”

“Grace, you of all people should be allowed to call me Grace.”

He blushes and he shakes his head. “No Princess I can’t it just isn’t in me.”

I smile at him and I take off the armor and the layers and he is helping me out of them and I pass them over to him. “Please thank everyone involved in helping me.”

“I will, we’ll all be expecting cakes.”

I tip toe and kiss him on the cheek. “Done.”

He blushes and it’s very nice to be still able to do that after everything.

Well maybe it was because of everything that we just had been through.

Lady Aliantha walks me inside and her two knights stay and close the gates.

It’s so odd here and quiet and I exhale.

“You came to us very fast Lady thank you for that.”

“Not so much I do have an office in the palace.”

“Oh well that makes more sense. Will I be taking you from your duties?’

She shakes her head. “Not really, there’s not too much call for elvish wisdom by the current congress of lords.”

I look at her as we start walking through the tree hall. “And that’s on purpose?”

She nods. “The humans are edging towards a civil war Grace. The people that attacked Lyonnes did so because your father was a member of a group of nobles called The Meritas.”

“I’ve never heard of it?”

She nods. “It’s an old order but one that has been cut down a lot various generations. The Meritas is about Merit. It’s about what you do and what you say and not who nor what you are. It’s a group that seeks to change the laws to reflect that and those in power, those with privilege are hard set against such ideal.”

“People being equal doesn’t seem like a concept that others seem to want to think about. Nobles have money, nobles have power and privilege and they won’t want to lose any of that.”

“Some will always think that raising up others in fairness is taking rights from them Grace.”

“Father died for that?”

She nods. “I think so; Aurora was a member of The Meritas as is Boen and others.”

“What about her father?”

“Rory was a warlord; he was far more of the being so much more special than the others around him he sought to rule. He was one of the rare human males that could wield power and there are many that think that power was bestowed.”

I stare at her. “Bestowed?”

She keeps going and we head into a turn in the hall of trees. “In the most ancient of times grace there was a war in the universes, there were things that sought dominion over all life from other universes and these beings were not defeated not by the peoples of magic nor of the peoples from the ships and they were only sealed off by both sides when the gates were destroyed, sealed off from getting through and devouring the rest of us. There’s still stragglers on this side of things and they all seek to feed and gorge and burn and take and to devour all live and when they are not doing this they are seeking power by any means to find a way to bring their breather through.”

I’m looking at her. “I…I was never told this…it’s…”

She turns and walks backwards looking at me. “It’s ancient faded history to your peoples, but it’s reality to mine. These things they passed power to The Witchkings in the far west and they razed this continent in ancient wars and I believe that Rory Blackhand had done so as well.”

“And all of this with my family?”

“Those dark powers would like nothing better than a war between men, they would love nothing better than to see good fail and fall because the weak, the greedy, the vain will not see their blades fall on them until it is too late.”

I look at her. “Is this why you want to teach and train me?”

She smiles. “Clever and brave as well as Grace you have great merit already. These realms would do well to see you riding through them as a champion.”

I…

“But…but…”

“Yes Grace you have a fine butt.”

I blush.

“That’s not what I meant! I’m a flirt and I like to drink and dance and I’m…I’m the family layabout.”

“That’s not the Grace that I seen, I saw you champion yourself, I saw you champion your dead and I think you are wonderfully strong. And besides a true champion can’t be all black and white they need a sense of fun and humor along with the sense of honor and fair play.”

I…I just…I just blush harder and shut my mouth and look her in the eyes and I nod.

And when we come around the corner my mouthshutting fails me.

It’s unlike anything that I have ever seen.

The embassy is built around trees but to say just trees doesn’t really do them justice. They are huge ten feet across and they rise up at least a hundred feet and they form this thick canopy that sort of lets the light in as much as it seems to create its own from something glowing up there.

There are cellar buildings for each tree and the roots seem to have grown over them and around them and there are stairs that curve around each tree heading up to the crowning place where the branches all seem to come out from the trunks and there on large platforms are these villa houses and each is connected by bridges and walkways as solid looking as any stone work all from vines and branches and planking all grown together in this simple yet unbelievable breathtaking complexity.

And some of those buildings are literal villas large house with two or three stories to them and there’s even what looks like courtyards that are like the walkways but even bigger with limbs and vines coming together from multiple trees to join to the flooring and the craftsmanship in the work, in the wood it’s so simple and so elegant.

And this is just an embassy.

Lady Aliantha comes from an entire continent like this…maybe but at least a culture like this…and all the people outside of here seen is likely just dense trees.

And now I’m crying.

It’s not just all that happened but it is…it’s that and it’s hope.

From the first time that I had everything taken from me I have hope.

Lady Aliantha takes my hand. “Come you need rest and you need healing.”

I go with her and it’s stunning and more so when we get actually up there and she leads me to her home and it’s very large and it’s lovely and I see elves, elves everywhere and they see me and I get smiles and little lifted hands in like a sort of casual wave and everyone seem either happy that I’m here or neutral about it at least.

And I’m not the only human here either, there’s silk islanders here and southern people that are of all those different shades and manners of dress and clothing.

There was a woman just wearing silks but they were so thing they looked like gauze and she was carrying a tray with books and things on them and there’s just so much here.

It’s peaceful inside her house though.

Sparse too but not sparse? It’s like the home itself is most of the decoration and everything else looks like it’s for something or they are displayed gifts.

She has a mixed staff as well.

Or they could be other guests.

She slows me to my room. “This is yours, it’s simple but I think you’ll get used to it.”

“I…thank you…”

She nods. “Come we’ll get you bathed.”

“Oh communal baths?”

“No, healing ones…you need to heal Grace.”

“Oh…” I take a breath and I follow her into what still looks like a fancy bathing place and there’s a pool in the floor and it’s steaming and there’s some other elves there too and they’re pouring something that smells very floral and otherly into the water.

And otherly is as best as I can maybe describe it. Maybe like something from an apothecary but better or more refined.

They undress these two other elves and they’re women and they are astoundingly lovely, lithe and thin and skin free of hairs or blemishes with smallish breasts but they’re not human breasts. They’re actually and literally as close to perfectly symmetrical as I have ever seen.

One of them says with an oddly lilting accent. “May I measure you?”

I nod but swallow and she uses a beaded line and she writes nothing down and she smiles and another one passes me a bowl mug of something hot. “It is bitter and earthy, you may find it unpleasant and off-putting but it is medicine.”

I drink it and it is horrid.

Bitter like chewing bark or dandelion stems and there’s an earthy taste too like mud. It’s really hot too so I drink it fairly quickly since in many cases things like this do not get more pleasant as they cool.

They lead me to the steps to the bath and enter it with me and I see Lady Aliantha undress and that takes all of her shifting her shoulders and her stepping out from the dress….and Lady Aliantha might just be Lord.

Where she should have a woman’s cleft she had a cock.

I…

“I…what?...how?”

She smiles without a hint of modesty or blushing. “Here with my people there are some of us that are not aligned to the way that we are born, there are ways that we can fix that as best as we can for ourselves and we live as the gender that we are rather than the sex that we were born as.”

“Oh…”

I look at the other two women and they actually don’t seem to notice it and I feel very strange really.

“So you live as a woman?”

“Yes by human standards, for my people I have always been a woman and before that a girl.”

“How did you know?”

“Like other do, you just know. Things that are typically sought after and enjoyed by men never held much connection for me and when that was certain enough I began my change.”

“How?”

“Medicine and magic as you call it.”

“Are you going to become a woman…a female I mean?”

“I cannot unfortunately, there’s no one with magic of our kind that is that strong anymore. One would have to reach deep into oneself as one could likely go and rewrite oneself and know how to rewrite oneself.”

“Oh…I’m sorry if I am staring?”

She waded into the water and shrugged. “Every human has always had this reaction or worse Grace. Do you still want to stop after knowing this about me?”

I look at her and I’m surprised by how fast my answer comes to me. “Your merit really doesn’t have a damned thing with what’s between your legs, if that’s going to apply to all of us then it should apply to all of us.”

She smiles and she actually sits in the water and I do the same and it’s really hot and the smell’s going to my head and making me sleepy and not sleepy…my skin tingles and they’re all washing me and touching me and there’s feelings like what she did to my face but in different ways all over in all these places that were “healed” but not healed all the way and I almost fall asleep.

Almost it’s too surreal to fall asleep yet.

Then they wash me, really well and with these great sponges that have different textures from rough to really soft and they’re washing each other too and I help, and washing them is a very heady and odd experience. At most I have washed my sister’s backs and my mother’s backs this is way more personal.

And I’m getting upset.

Thinking about home is coming fast up inside of me and thinking of my sisters has me filled with worry because what if they’re going through things as much as I have been.

Oh gods if it’s not in a book or on an abacus Angeline will not be able to handle it!

And then it’s my brothers, and Father.

Not Father but Daddy.

I can’t stop it.

I can’t stop it or shut it off and I am losing my mind because everything is melting away to that horrible night and seeing Sir Shane die over and over again and feeling it…the vibrations and the splatter of his…of him and I scream.

I somehow know that they’re moving me, but part of them moving me is those men that tried to kill me and some of it is Bryon Dempsey and some of it’s the cleric Quentin Solemn and his hate filled people and I’m screaming and I’m screaming and it keeps going.

And getting weirder…things that I hate about myself coming to torture me, all my mean words all the things that I never should have done to people or said to people.

I scream and I cry and I hate myself, I hate myself with a hate that brings up vomit and bile and I can’t stop shaking.

It’s the tea; it has to have been that tea.

Oh hellfire blood and bloody ashes it’s going to be one of those kinds of cleansings.

Oddly enough that whole realization helps, it helps me hold on and ride it through it in these lucid seconds when I wake gasping and they’re giving me water and I’m sweating and likely other things too.

The last thing I remember out of all of that experience was seeing Daddy getting killed in The Rampant and then seeing this red light…there was this unclean red light coming from within the sealed up rig cage of The Gorgon.

I know I didn’t see it then.

I’m seeing it now.

I wake up sitting bolt upright in the bed in my room and I’m on a wicker mattress and there’s a padded bedroll on it and it’s amazingly comfortable and low key really and I’m in what I’m sure is the room that Lady Aliantha had shown me.

I’m naked, but the sheets are so nice.

But that isn’t stopping me from needing to use the bathroom and I slip out of the bed and I look around and see a note on a low table on part of my room and it has a map of my room as to where my jakes are and where my clothes are to be found and I use the jakes and they have plumbing here and they has a bath and a sink as well as personal things for me to use like a tooth scrubbing brush and a paste that tastes well and there’s lotions and soaps and all of those things and then there’s my closet and dresser.

The clothes are almost men’s wear but loose and with fine, fine cloth and a nice blue grey that matches my eyes.

There’s nothing really constricting, there’s no bras either, no corsets and no hose, just loose clothes and underpants and a very comfortable camisole like thing that is of stretchy clingy cloth that’s really thin.

I follow my nose to where I might find food and there’s a kitchen like place but it’s partly outside and on the edge of one of the courtyards they have up here and there’s a silk islander there and he looks old and he’s making food and he smiles when he sees me and he nods.

His voice is gravelly and full of light humor. “I will make you tea; tea is good after such an ordeal and a slumber.”

I nod and put my hands together and bow as I think I saw my mother do with one of their traders.

“I would love a cup of tea, and the food smells amazing.”

Lady Aliantha is there with some others and they are all around her and they are dancing and it seems strange.

Oh they’re not dancing they’re getting into position.

They they’re fighting and it’s all hand to hand but it’s acrobatic and it’s amazing and she is pure poetry.

The old man sets tea beside me and it’s foamy and green but it smells amazing. “Thank you Sir.”

He shakes his head and a finger. “No, no I am not a sir; I am not of noble birth.”

“Then what would you have me call you?”

He smiles at me and drinks his own tea. “You can call me sensei.”