Ch ch ch ch changes

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Disclaimer:

The original characters and plot of this story are the property of the author. No infringement of pre-existing copyright is intended.
This story is copyright © 2013 - 2020 Julia Phillips. All rights reserved.

It uses some of the associated characters and situations that arise from the world called ‘Anmar’ created by Penny Lane, whose stories
are also copyright © 2010 - 2020 Penny Lane. All rights reserved.

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When I think back to those days, I realise that the Royal Visitors had settled in quite quickly really. Our routines had indeed been rocked a little but to no great extent; no great differences occurred in actual fact. 'Twas just that the Town was suddenly fuller and there were more people around I had to curtsey to.

However, the incidence of noteworthy events for me to report upon went up, as you might well imagine.

I find it, in retrospect, impossible to provide a day by day account, simply because, for many of the things that happened, there was one contributory event here, another there, a third maybe then and so on, before the combination came together and the final notable happening occurred. Therefore I shall simply tie all the bits and pieces together of each strand and present each happening at either its conclusion, or at a natural break point.

Which means that I shall have to skip forwards or backwards from time to time.

This also means, of course, that these following tales cannot be said to be in strict sequence of time; hence the term 'Anthology' is good, but the term 'Chronicles' is inaccurate!

Having said that, I am forced, for accuracy's sake, to point out that there IS a sort of timeline to them though, so maybe it isn't all too bad. Generally, I deem, I have managed to keep the ends of these events in chronological order.

That said, I shall start now with the earliest event possible – things which happened about a thousand or two years ago!

As Bezan once said to me: “Blackstone was important enough to the Chivans for them to build a road to it. The experts have told me that originally they got as far as roughly where the Forest Roadhouse now is. Just down the valley from there, they had established a fort by some falls and, in all probability, they came to the conclusion that that was the end of the road. You may recall that we met a young journeyman, Skanik, there when we came back upvalley recently. He had established something the Princess had declared she wanted and he had named it 'The Retreat'.

“But to get back to the subject of the Chivans - they had then discovered a route up the rock face, climbing diagonally across it from our modern Roadhouse area to the foot of what we nowadays call Strettalm. They even chipped out wider bits where necessary from the very rockface itself to make a viable passage up and across.

“And from Strettalm, they pressed on up the valley to the very head of it. They discovered the coal deposits there and spent a large amount of time, energy and men in building a road all that way so that the coal could be extracted easily and transported down to their centres of industry.

“They opened no less than two stone quarries to provide the road with a solid and even surface. They also built a dam to provide water for living and washing their waste away. Again the experts tell me, and I have no way of explaining their reasonings, that there was quite a large military community up here at one time, a hundred or more men with extras to that number being wives and other hangers-on. There is apparently also some evidence of local citizens and their community, who appear to have been cave-dwellers, but those experts admit this is more guesswork than provable fact.”

So all this information from Bezan just highlights the importance of what is now called the Forest Road. The road, the only major link with any other civilisation, emerged from the trees and ran straight to a flattened area next to and in front of the huge solid stone building the Chivans erected as a sort of water reservoir. The building we call the Cistern. That flattened area for years we called the 'Camping Place' but 'tis now called the 'Market Place'.

The Road of course is the dominant feature, the one thing that has the most importance. We consider it has two parts. One the very long road that goes from the bridge across the Blackstone River all the way down to the Chaarn Junction. The other just the very short bit that can be thought of as being within the Town.

This short bit has ever since its first existence dictated the layout of the town. It must be remembered that the road from the Bridge does not run directly uphill, but rather runs diagonally across the natural slope, but still ascending. This means that there is an uphill and a downhill 'END' of the road and also an uphill and downhill 'SIDE' of the road.

As a result of that, the town was laid out in a rather sensible way. Just considering it from the lower flat area and the bridge over the Blackstone to the upper flat area and the Cistern, then the governor's house has always been seated halfway up the street on the uphill side; this is nowadays the house in which the Steward currently resides. The more important members of the citizenry naturally became the closer neighbours. Sort of like the centre of a giant bowman's target, influence and importance waning as you travelled away from the centre.

Other things have happened, many other things, between the times of the Chivans and now; and many of those events over the years managed to change emphases whilst other importances or considerations also changed.

Now that we have arrived in my narrative at modern times, then I find I must needs paint an accurate picture of it all. The centre of town was such that the Steward's house was flanked by the Watch House on the uphill side and the Valley Messenger Service on the downhill side. Downhill from the VMS office sits the Claw.

Opposite the VMS office sits the Bell Inn, uphill of which is the VMS supervisor's house, which itself sits opposite both the Steward's and the Watch House. This house is one of the two domestic buildings on the downhill side of Main Street, all the others being more industrial – working the way up the downhill side then at that time we had the Tanner, the Baker, the Seed Merchant, then the Bell Inn which I count as being the other domestic building. Continuing uphill, the Bell Inn is followed of course by the VMS Agent's home, then the Paint Shop, the Carpenter, the Musician, the Smith, the Wheelwright, the Saddler, and, at the very top naturally, the Bellringer.

You may be wondering why I have bothered to go to this level of detail. It is not simply because I wish it to be recorded for posterity.

It is also to use as a base for understanding some of the changes that happened quite rapidly now. Not much domesticity on the downhill side of the road, much more on the uphill side.

The major point though was that nearly every one of those businesses, previously all clustered together so 'twas never far to go from one to the other for your buying sessions, had by now moved over to the Artisans' Area.

And this had had more than just one major effect.

The traffic on Main Street had been reduced dramatically, and the workshop areas were being demolished making more open space, particularly on the downhill side of the road, behind the residential parts of the holdings. Space that was being sold off for more residencies. Building plots were appearing now between Main Street and West Street, which had still to be properly finished. And don't forget that there were plenty of building plots on the uphill side of Main Street too, mostly between East Street and the Dam Road.

But until those houses were built and occupied, the 'balance' of the town had shifted. The Miners' Villages, up there along Loop Road, had meant that the population-weighted centre of the town had shifted from the Steward's house to somewhere beyond the Market Place.

Going back once more, albeit briefly, into the history of our town, we had, before I was born, a boom period in which the quality of Blackstone pakh wool was much sought after. Many locals made significant amounts of coin, but the dread disease that struck meant that period of prosperity was actually quite short-lived.

Most of the pakh-farmers soon departed, since our town is very much stuck away in a corner of our land. A few however felt they had made enough coin to eke out the rest of their lives and they stayed, too tired perhaps for the upheaval of moving downvalley.

One of those was named Wagras. Wagras was actually the last surviving one. He and his wife lived in the final house at the uphill end of Main Street, on the uphill side which was of course across the road from Zytan's family, the Bellringers - Kelly's family.

Wagras and wife were rarely seen and it appeared they needed each other to keep upright whenever they did emerge into the daylight. They seemed to have grown old, feeble and infirm almost arm-in-arm. Their house was steadily getting more and more decrepit and I knew that the Steward had sent Bezan to visit them often, offering whatever assistance they might accept. But they refused to accept any help, preferring to live together in splendid isolation. There was one exception to this. They allowed their house to be painted on the outside to look less like an eye-sore.

And now, at long last, we reach the night of the day after the Royal Party came to the Salon for the first time. 'Twas the 26th Pertelin, my notes tell me.

Our guests had all gone and we had tidied away all the dirty dishes and pots and so on. The girls had all left for their beds while Kelly and I had discussed what needed to be done in the morning, making suggestions for the new girls' and also the NN girls' further training. We both agreed that Frowka seemed to be the best sauce maker amongst them, so we would get her to teach the others in the morning.

The fires were properly banked down, the cupboards and doors closed and the house shut up behind us. Kelly and I walked up Main Street, still talking quietly about various work related things. We had almost reached Kelly's home when we got an unwelcome surprise.

“Is that smoke I smell, 'Lina?”

I stopped, which is something we humans do that is faintly ridiculous. As if my lack of movement would improve my sense of smell! However, stop I did and then sniffed deeply.

“I believe you may be right!”

At first we just smelled it, looking all around us to try to see where it was coming from. To see as soon as we may if this was the bad news beginning of a major event.

But at first we could not detect the source. The wind was blowing, unusually, from the south-west, so at first we scanned Trokos' and Waldan's houses, since they were downwind of us. We could detect no sign of it there though even as the smoke seemed to grow a bit thicker and the smell grew ever stronger.

We decided to sound the alarm before we even knew where the danger was. We could not risk a disaster. Even as we started screaming the warning, Kelly tapped me on my forearm and pointed across the road to Wagras' house.

Obviously, something must have somehow gone wrong inside the house, perhaps the ripe old age of Wagras' wife was a factor, but it is something that every householder knows to do before retiring to bed - check and double-check that the fires were banked properly or doused. But there were suddenly plainly apparent billows of smoke pouring from their home. Coming from the back of their home, where the kitchens were.

The smoke turned quickly into flames even as the community began to react. It was so late that there were none of the miners around in their hall, just the live-in staff. There were no longer any campers living on the Camping Place. The miners were all a fair distance away up the Loop Road, settled into all their small but new homes. The firefighting was going to be down to us town residents. Kelly's family had heard our shouts of 'Fire' so they were ringing the bells in the Alarm Sequence which added to the cacophony. Two men were trying to get into the house, they were calling out the names loudly, but neither they nor we could hear any replies.

Every home always keeps at least two buckets of water to hand in case of fire, for that would be the disaster of all disasters for the town, built as it was with mostly wooden buildings. With the direction of the wind that evening, the other buildings being threatened were the Shuttle Shed and, further away, the Auction Hut and the under-construction 'Frolicsome Frayen Inn'. The Barracks construction was yet to get underway. And my 'Market Place Mansion' had just a couple of wall units in place, forming the only right-angled corner.

“'Tis easily rebuilt, 'Lina, should the fire catch that far. It's not as if the building is complete and full of treasures. 'Tis unlikely that the fire would spread unless the wind changes suddenly.”

Nevertheless, some residents took their buckets to the Shuttle Shed just in case.

We all - Kelly, I and the closest neighbours - immediately began a bucket chain. Others had soon come pouring up the hill to help.

I really didn't feel like doing all this as 'twas the first day of my Call, but we all knew we had to work together for the sake of the town.

It was frightening how swiftly the blaze spread, how swiftly the old place was being consumed. Despite our back-breaking and arm-stretching work, we were too few, reacting too late. There was no hope for either poor Wagras nor his wife. The whole thing really hit me hard and I was sobbing nearly the whole time I was lugging buckets. I spent that night at Kelly's home, and Malet, poor Malet, took the brunt of my mood.

I do not wish to diminish the sadness of this story, this unintended double pyre, but I feel I must needs mention some of the aftermath of this for, much later and speaking Town-wise, this house fire had a quite basic after-effect.

The destroyed house stank for days, a nasal reminder of the fortunately isolated outbreak. It's an unpleasant smell, one that clings and lingers. For days the pulling beasts on all the wagons showed their discomfort as they went past.

It was eventually cleared away and replaced by a two-floor building; one that had an office on the ground floor, with a floor of rentable rooms above. The whole had no kitchens, neither had it bathrooms. The Miners' Hall kitchen and showers were just a few casts away, and the Frolicsome Frayen, directly across the Market Place, would be in business very shortly after these alterations had been made. This was designed to be cheap accommodation purely for temporary use whilst more permanent accommodation was found. The whole was taken over by Master Selden to be used as the VMS centre – it was a very sensible move to be nearer the centre of the town now the expansion had changed the 'balance' of it all, and now the VMS had taken over direct responsibility for semaphores and semaphoring.

The old VMS office was taken over by three of us, well by our companies if you like – Mousa, Sookie and I – as a central foodstuff store and a large food preparation area. This streamlined each of our kitchens and actually enabled us all to be more effective and proficient. And meant we had more cool areas to keep food fresh for longer. But more of that later.

… … ...

Personally, that tragic fire was the culmination of quite a difficult day actually, made lighter only by the delight and congratulations of our diners.

We had the usual start to the day with the usual flirting betwixt the youngsters during the Tai Chi. Then I went out for a ride, but my Call, which came on earlier than I expected, made me give that up and leave the others before we had even reached the Market Place. They were riding off to the Dam, which again had been my suggestion, intended to be in contrast to the other side of the Valley where we had ridden before.

Once I had got myself as comfortable as I could, I decided that I needed to deal with something I had been putting off. I sent Surtree to find Mistress Lendra and find somewhere for us to have a chat. When he returned, saying that she could come to Em's house in half a bell, I quickly went upstairs.

“Excuse me Master Berdon and Mistress Bettayla.”

Their eyebrows rose at my formal address, so they knew this was serious.

“Mistress Julina?”

“I am not riding today and shall try to use this opportunity to have 'The Chat' with Venket. But first I require as much information as I can gather. And I need to do that away from any chance that Venket might overhear. Would the two of you be prepared to give me some of your time in a half a bell, when Mistress Lendra shall arrive too? And would it be possible to have such discussions here, in your rooms, that we might not be overheard? I deem we must do it today, for her father shall be tried this very afternoon and the whole story might well become public knowledge as a result.”

“Of course you may, and we shall be delighted to offer what experience we have. We agree that it should be done today, this morn if possible and approve of your reasoning. That poor girl has lived in fear for far too long. I would that the man is indeed sentenced to many years hard labour. Mayhap Kassama should also attend this discussion?”

“I thank you both and shall return to the kitchens now to assign tasks for the girls, and to await Mistress Lendra. I shall ask Kassama too.”

As I descended the stairs, I was a little surprised to hear many voices. The other girls were arriving a little earlier than normal, as apparently they wanted to spend a bell or so at their lessons, in order to advance as quickly as possible. But on that day Em and Kelly were off riding, and I would have been too, so they themselves had selected Kords and Venket to show them things. This timing was the one that was most convenient for them all.

I sent Surtree to help, and also to receive some of the gentle training in the kitchens with them. But I had to do some little organising first. Kassama was going to be involved with us upstairs for a little while, so that left Kords of all people in charge.

To make things a little easier for her, I decided to reduce the number of people for a little while so I sent Venket, Dravna and Surtree off down to the Claw, taking something down there for Sookie and arranging a delivery of wine and beer from her to us. I also left instructions, in both senses of the word, for making a batch of each of several sauces.

In the short meeting upstairs that followed Lendra's arrival, I learnt much from the others about the 'condition' that Venket was suffering under. Much more than the superficial chat we had had down in Tranidor just before the New Year started; the time Epp put forward her pendulum theory. (About a page before the end of #36) But the others thought that perchance Epp had indeed stumbled upon the answer, once I had repeated her suggestion.

At one point in the discussions, I remembered something. Suril had said that Venket's father had basically told everyone concerned there in the Watch Complex about Venket's duality, so I wanted to get Suril or Fedren involved in our talks at the moment. But I had no-one I could send. I determined that I would report the findings to Fedren or Suril later.

I was a little frustrated at first because the discussions were all about what the effects of the secret getting out would be. After a while I had to break in forcefully: “I care not about the reputation of the Salon in this instance, I am at this moment concerned about the PERSON involved. What do we have to do for Venket? How do we ease what is obviously a burden to her? How do we care for HER? And, by extension, for her mother?”

It brought everyone up short, and they all had the grace to look a little repentant. Mistress Lendra was deep in thought about some information that Bettayla had supplied when Kassama spoke for them: “Aye, 'Lina, 'tis so. The lass needs support before anything else. I deem she needs to be told that we know, but make it clear that we have no problem with her behaviour.”

The others all agreed so we then discussed ways and means of bringing the subject up. Unfortunately, they all determined that I should be the one to deal with it.

Thus it was that I called Venket into a private meeting when she got back. Alright, I may have dropped a few hints that I wanted to discuss the training of the NN girls, just so that she wasn't stressing herself out before we started.

“Dear Venket, let me start by saying that you have consistently impressed Kelly and I with your attitude, your questions and your willingness. And I tell you freely that we want to continue in the same way. You are an asset to us just the way you are and we want to do nothing to change you in any way.”

When I saw the sheer delight on her face at my praise, I almost felt guilty about what I was about to say. I knew that that delight would be wiped away all too soon.

Like now.

I swallowed and licked my suddenly dry lips.

I still didn't know how to gently break into the subject. It was fraught with potential problems. She might feel let down by Berdon and Bettayla if she believed that either of them had told me and thus betrayed a trust. She might be upset about how many people knew. But she had to know all that too. It was just the first words I was struggling with. Just the way to get into it, so as to speak.

“Now Venket, what do you think of Paivi? About her excellence with peet-zers for example?” Even I was surprised at that question as it was uttered by lips that seemed to have a mind of their own.

“She's very good, isn't she? And I deem her Brifil is somehow better than mine. Which I understand not, because I'm sure I do exactly the same as her.” She said this last with a little twisted grin.

“And Frowka? What about her abilities or specialities?” This time, my brain was beginning to catch up with my lips, and I relaxed slightly now I knew in which direction we were going to go.

Without hesitation, she answered: “Sauces! She's VERY good at sauces.” Then she thought. “But why do you question me about those other two?”

“Bear with me for just a moment longer, if you would. Tell me what you have observed about them since all three of you started. About their attitudes, that sort of thing. I already know their hair and eye colours,” I added with a grin.

She too relaxed slightly before gushing: “We have all three gained in confidence most, I would say. Those two they stand straighter, they are no longer so hesitant and retiring ...” I breathed a deep relieved sigh for I no longer had to go searching for my way in “... no longer the naïve girls that started here not so long ago.”

“And now tell me about yourself. What is your speciality?”

“Oh! I deem my Foti is probably my best dish. I dare say that we seem to get just a few more compliments on the nights that has been served, but I have no other way of telling.”

I beamed at her. “Indeed, your Foti is excellent. And many of your suggestions are also excellent. But I deem also that that is not your strength. I have observed you with the new trio of girls and I may say … no, first tell me what is your impression of the way that you personally, and also all three of you have been trained. What can we do better? What was not so good? What did you find good? We ourselves need to be rated, have suggestions for improvement and so on.”

I could see her think about this topic with a little surprise. But as we all discussed each other's performances each night, then I guess she thought this was just the same but on a sort of larger scale.

“I liked, like, the way you all taught us early on to handle sharp knives that we would not be afraid of them. And the way you in particular explained the whole idea behind what we were about to do, that it was CUSTOMER based, not SELF based. And that you gave us responsibilities as soon as you thought we could handle them. I like the way we have to do some evenings on Dining Room duty, to actually see the customers eye to eye as it were. I don't really think that there is anything you can improve upon. I deem we have learnt so much so rapidly because you and Kelly, Kassama, Kords and even Mistress Michet have spent time and effort with us, and encouraged us and shown us, and gently corrected us and so on. I deem that ...”

She broke of when I raised a hand, smiling as I did so. “Now, Venket, what about the working environment?”

I saw by her frown that she didn't understand my question, so I hastily rephrased it: “The 'atmosphere' you have at work. The friends you have made. The layout of the kitchens. Is there anything you would change there?”

“Oh no! Sometimes when it gets hectic, like when the Royal Party was in last night and we had to serve all the meals at once, rather than spread out as we can on a normal night, then we needed more work surfaces, but that dish wheeler thing is useful to take finished plates out of the way, and we just about managed.”

“What about your colleagues? Do you like working with them?”

There was no mistaking her enthusiasm as her face lit up while answering: “Oh yes! They are all individually nice and we all make such a wonderful team, ...” Phew! Another word I was wanting to hear. “... something I have never had before, a comradely respect and strong friendship. Yes, we are girls and will sometimes disagree about something, but our respect and togetherness bring us through.”
I swallowed once again. Here we go. “And you yourself, it seems to me, are no longer the little murid that first arrived. You stand straighter yourself, you have much more confidence. You have grown up, rapidly I deem.”

She nodded.

“There was that silly incident when my stupid father tried to play a joke on me ...” she blushed. “... and we were all very worried. But you have shown me that you yourself are an excellent teacher with your attitude with the three newest ones. And I shall want to use that ability more and more as time goes by.

“There is one little thing though that I need to clear up. You admit you have developed, grown up, grown in confidence and that the team attitude we have here is excellent. That here has, in short, been good for you.”

Again she nodded.

“So I need to mention that the team environment, you remember that word I deem, the team environment depends upon open honesty between us all. I want you to know from this very heartbeat that I have been guarding your secret now for some little while. Now don't worry,” I hastily said as her face paled and her knees turned wobbly, “I am happy with the way you present yourself and indeed the way you improve daily.”

Now was the time to use motherly tones, to make her keep a hold on herself. “So stand straight, VenkET, be proud of who you are and continue to improve as you have. Concentrate on that, young lady, and be proud of your achievements. We are not going to throw you out or anything. We all approve of the Venket we have come to know. We ALL want to continue to work with that Venket we have come to know and indeed love as our little sister.”

She was trembling but I was secretly proud of her that she remained standing, looking at me with huge eyes brimming with unshed tears.

“Now before you say or do anything, I need to tell you how I knew. And the list of those who do. It all happened like this – when you showed you were terrified of men in particular, I sent Suril to find out why. The shortened version of what happened after that is that your bullying father has been arrested, your mother has had what medical treatment she can to help alleviate her problems, and you have developed into the girl you should be. Your father in fact shall be tried this afternoon, so I must tell you that your secret may not be a secret after today. He blames you for making him a bully, which is plainly ridiculous and will be shown to be. He also says that your determination to be a female has to be knocked out of you. He said all this to Suril from the very first. I shall NEVER let that pathetic excuse of a man come near you again, for the rest of your life.”

“He … he … he ... always called me 'freak'. How can you, you and all the rest of the team, love, as you said you did, a freak?”

“But you are NOT a freak, are you? Didn't Berdon and Bettayla also tell you that?” She gasped as she realised I knew that she had confided in those two. “So you need to know who knows your not-so-secret at this heartbeat. Suril and Haka, for he asked his wife for help in finding what YOU need, Master Fedren, perhaps Mistress Yanda for I know not what husband and wife speak of, Berdon, Bettayla, for you told those two yourself, Mistress Lendra of course has been involved with your mother, Mistress Michet, Kassama, Kelly and myself. I think that's all. And we all are determined to do what we can for YOU. I have spoken with each of these people, although some on that list know not all the others on it!”

“So many!?”

“Yes. And we have known for a long time. And yet none of us have changed our attitude to you. You are liked, loved, wanted and employed as you ARE, young lady. Not as anything else. As the wonderful person called Venket.”

It was then she collapsed into my arms, sobbing.

I comforted her even as my heart quailed at the next steps that would have to be taken with her. I wished this had been on any other day than the first of my Call.

Thank the Maker I did not know then what I would encounter later - I do not mean the busy evening in the Salon, but rather the Wagras fire and pyre.

… … ...

One connected event that occurred was on the next day. It was, I should warn you, one of the more distressing events that I had ever witnessed.

It was just after breakfast and after the Tai Chi (more Surtree and Kissa flirting). Surtree and I were walking up from the Claw with a pale and obviously underslept Venket. “Stand up, girl, as you walk. You are a woman, so look like it. Don't slouch like a boy. Remember to always carry yourself properly. Head high.”

We were almost up to the Steward's house and my gait, nay our gait, faltered slightly, as the door of that house opened, letting Princes Keren and Torulf out with the Steward and of course all the various on duty guards with Commander Feteran. They didn't go far though. They just passed uphill far enough to observe the Watch Complex, where I saw Kulyer with our wagon waiting. The door to the cells opened and Venket gasped. Fedren, Uncle Brydas, Suril and another man were dragging out a big man, strong and powerfully built. It was Venket's father. The prisoner was not making it easy.

The previous afternoon, the Steward and Prince Keren had jointly passed sentence upon him. Due to his lack of contrition and his continual aggression, he had been sentenced to seven years on a Galley ship, and was to be transported to Dekarran to meet the ship sent from Viridor.

The plan was that they would leave early today, overnight at Bezlet, get to Brayview for noon of the next day where a wagon from Haligo would take the prisoner on down to Dekarran. Despite the serious nature of the reasons for the trip, I still found it amazing how all this could be organised with the Semaphore.

Commander Feteran had detailed four of the guards that came up here with the Royal Party to escort the prisoner all the way. The Royal Party had arrived with 40 guards in all, plus Prince Torulf's two, so the Commander had selected the four for this trip, deciding that they were to be drawn from the eight guards attached to the column at Dekarran. That way the four need not return; the Commander deemed that four less would not be dangerous, they could still deal with anything that the road might throw at the Party.

Amidst much clamour, the prisoner was being loaded onto the wagon where Uncle was preparing to chain him into the belly.

What happened next was far too quick that it took me some time and frequent closed-eye rememberings to piece it all together. Rememberings that still make me shudder, even to this day.

Commander Feteran was conducting a weapons inspection of the four Dekarran guards going downvalley. The Princes were talking animatedly with the Steward.

The prisoner looked up and saw Venket on the road behind the Princes and all the rest of them. I happened to be looking directly at him, and I saw a blaze of frightening fire in those eyes. He waited a bare heartbeat, until Uncle was just transferring from one foot to the other to climb into the wagon, then he wrenched the chain holding him to Uncle, who fell backwards from the step and struck his head on the paving stones. With a massive spasm of his shoulders and arms he then sent both Fedren and Suril flying. A single punch to the fourth man meant that he was now free.

In a fire-laden voice, he yelled: “You! You're the reason I am so assailed. Strutting round Town with your nose up in the air. You are nothing but an arrogant little bastard! I shall kill you!”

With that he charged. Straight for us.

Venket froze in fear, her fingers painfully digging into my forearm. Surtree skipped rapidly out of the way and I was remembering my foolish promise of the day before when I told Venket I would never let the man near her again in her life.

“Hold!” came the shouts from many throats, amidst the unmistakeable sounds of swords being drawn. I was petrified and yet a corner of my mind was amazed that the unarmed Prince Keren thrust Prince Torulf behind him and dropped into a sort of watchful crouch, displaying not the slightest note of fear, his hands raised slightly in front of him.

Just behind him, and to the right as I observed, one of the Dekarran guards brought up the crossbow he had been showing the Commander. He swiftly loaded a bolt into it. When the attacker didn't heed the warnings and continued his attack, which I suddenly realised they all deemed the man was making upon the Prince, the Dekarran guard loosed his bolt.

Thwang!

And the prisoner dropped like a stone, the bolt protruding from where one of his eyes had been. I heard the horrified guard say: “But I was aiming for his chest!”

I went to bundle Venket away, not wanting her to see her dead father, but she wrenched herself from me, ran past the others who saw only a young girl and therefore no threat. She stood over the body. Which she looked at dispassionately. And then spat upon.

'Twas then that Prince Keren proved himself to be fit for kingship, at least in my eyes.

He knew, of course, the entire story but had never before met Venket, just seen her as a face in the Salon the night before. He realised in an instant that the irate man had focussed just on his own offspring and did not even see the Princes in between them. Prince Keren also realised that there could be some long term guilt associated in Venket's mind with the death of her own father.

He reached her and gently laid his hand on her shoulder. “Well, young lady, it seems you know this would-be assassin too. I must commend my guards for protecting me from the madman who was angry with me for sentencing him. And he insulted me to boot. 'Twas almost too good for him to meet his end this way, now go you back to Mistress Julina and let my men clear this all away. How he ever thought he could get past my guards, I shall never understand. I thank you for your spirit in demonstrating your distaste for the man who would have attacked me.”

Venket then consented to me leading her away. Over her head the Prince and I exchanged a glance, letting each other know that we both realised the truth of the matter. And that Venket should thereafter always be unsure whether her father was attacking her or the Prince.

… … …

That last event occurred, as I mentioned, as we were making our way back to the Salon from the Claw. We had been talking in amazed tones of the latest invention that Senidet had been demonstrating. Apparently she had been talking with a young Tenant or something from Joth, who had travelled far, from the same place Her Highness came; you may remember I reported that Sookie had heard them speaking their own language together, something I seem to remember she called 'Ingish' or similar. He was the one that had showed them how to make peet-zers.

Anyway, Senidet had listened to his description and had made a drawing of what he described. He confirmed that she had it right. So she brought that drawing up here and had persuaded her father to make one. While her father was off helping with the prisoner transfer, she had taken it herself to the Claw and had shown it to people there, who had all tried it and had all exclaimed; “What a simple idea! Why didn't we think of that?”

“It is on an open Exclusivity Licence,” she reported, “and my Father has several now ready for purchase, for he too was impressed when he saw the first one. More shall be made as the days and weeks pass. Many, many more.”

She had been clever in her demonstration by using it first for dry things and only at the end for wetter things. She finished her demonstration by saying: “For some very strange reason, my father has made a present of this first ever one to the Claw.”

We all laughed as Sookie blushed.

“And I am not sure he would want it back now that it is filled with all that animal waste!”

Again we all burst out laughing.

Thus it was that we left the Claw discussing this new sort of tool called a 'wheel-bro'.

Older Julina says: It was only a long while later, after I had been downvalley to learn English so that I could teach it, to spread it more widely, that I learnt this was actually a 'Wheel-barrow'!

… … …

So now I have mentioned Senidet, I suppose 'twould make sense to go back a few days, back to when she visited Kelly's parents. This was also the day of the night when the Royal Party were fed in the Salon.

Now it is important to bear in mind that what Senidet said to Zytan and Malet was entirely between them and no-one else; neither Kelly nor I were present. And on top of that, this is how Kelly explained it to me, after her parents had tried to explain it to her.

So all this should properly be sprinkled liberally with 'apparently's and 'it seems's and so on, but I will endeavour to leave all those out.

Down in Palarand City, in the Palace, they now have TWO time-keeping systems. One is of course the tried and tested Palarandi system using Bells that we all know, whilst the other is the one that Her Highness told them about that they use where she comes from.

I confess here and now my thoughts on that day: that the one Her Highness' homefolk use is not as logical as the Palarandi one, but has the advantage of being simple. Despite Her Highness bringing with her many wonders from there, this seems strangely illogical to me. I mean a day starts at dawn, it is a simple fact. We all know where we stand. Dawn is dawn is dawn is dawn. Before dawn, it is dark. And dark is not day.

Our bells count the number of time periods after the Dawn. And we have twenty such time periods between each Dawn, the same number of fingers and toes we have. So we have the ability to count the time periods simply. And we announce with bells the time periods as they are completed. Mayhap our announcements are more complicated than they need be, but that is a simple measure brought in to minimise the disturbances when most citizens are asleep, and we soon learn their meanings.

Her Highness' method is weird. Their day starts in the middle of the night! And they split their day up into twenty four things called, apparently, an hour. How on Anmar is the number twenty four either sensible or logical? And each of those hours are split up into sixty – sixty seems a VERY weird number to me – parts they call minutes. And then those minutes are each further split into sixty – that strange number again! - parts called seconds.

This last threw me completely into confusion and Kelly and I picked and picked at it. It finally made a sort of sense when I pointed out that to get to those smallest time pieces was the SECOND time an hour had been divided by sixty. After that, we could more easily accept the name.

But really, why choose numbers such as twenty four and sixty? That seemed really silly to us, why not use tens and twenties?

And for Kelly, the biggest shock of all was that Senidet claimed they did not need weights any more to drive the Town Clock. At this point, our minds closed down. This was all plainly ridiculous and we began to doubt Senidet's sanity. And yet she had left Zytan and Malet with the promise that she could prove what she said.

In the days afterwards, I asked various people from Palarand and they all confirmed Senidet's strange tale, so much so that I began to doubt my own sanity. The Countess, the Commander, the guards, all confirmed it – and left me more and more puzzled as the days slipped by.

I finally understood fully after another event occurred a few weeks later. One of those surprises I once mentioned. But more of that later.

… … ...

Now 'tis time for me to mention some things of a little more personal nature. The day after the shocking killing of Venket's father, the 28th of the month, was a day the Salon was closed. It was also the third day of my Call.

“Venket, my dear. Are you SURE you want to work today?”

“Most certainly, 'Lina. I feel more energised than I have for a long while, now this great burden has been removed. I am not sorry at all for his death, it is a boon for this world. Neither my mother nor I shall bother to attend the pyre later this morn. She too is delighted that her torment is at an end. She and I both wish though that he had suffered more.”

Her words were in one way belied by the tears that slipped down her cheeks every so often, tears she mostly kept at bay by sniffing often.

But she also smiled often, particularly after she had called everyone together, and we were all there early that morning, every single one of us including Kissa and Surtree, and she had bravely told them that she wasn't a real girl in her body but was in her mind.

I cannot say who was the most surprised.

It may even have been me. But Venket's surprise was indeed hard to beat.

Surprise at what? Why, 'twas when Kissa said dismissively: “Duh! We all know that already!” And all the others nodded and carried on as normal.

Soon after, Surtree went off to his next frayen lesson, so then there were just girls there, and the conversation got a little more intimate, more women's talk. I think they were all trying to show Venket that they counted her as one of 'us' – and it worked. After some initial surprise, Venket was pink with delight even as she learnt a lot about female bodies and female problems.

Perhaps it was inevitable when, maybe a half a bell later, the door opened and Lendra came in.

“Julina, I deem I must talk with Venket here, can you spare her for a bell? I must ask her various matters regarding her parents and how best we might help her mother. And also how best we should proceed with herself.”

I looked at Venket and she looked back, the previous delight wiped from her face completely. She thought for just a little while before replying: “Aye. 'Tis best to get it over with. Would it be all right if Mistress Julina were also to be present, I feel she is a big sister to me?”

Lendra and I eye-spoke and confirmed.

“Julina, why don't the three of you use the front family room? You should be undisturbed there.”

“Thank you, Kassama. That is a good suggestion.” I stood up as I was saying that. “Come ladies, let us retire to the parlour.”

Which raised a smile, the last one for a good while.

When we got settled, I signed for Lendra to begin.

“Now Venket, what I have to say must be said. You need to react to it factually, dispassionately even though your mind will want to do so emotionally. I had hoped that Darna would be here to hear ...” She broke off as my face must have shown its puzzlement. “You knew not Venket's mother's name was Darna?”

I just shook my head, but was inwardly shocked that I didn't even know that basic piece of information about our trainee, advanced trainee might be a better description. I was tempted to blurt out some feeble excuse but stopped myself in time. If I even slightly suggested that I was not being honest then all the talk about trust in the team and all that would be severely, possibly even fatally, undermined.

“To continue, Darna is in too much pain to move today and so I felt we must deal with this as soon as we might. I have spoken in depth to Berdon along with his wife, but confess that his wife, Bettayla, has been exceedingly helpful, knowing some things that Berdon did not.

“You have chosen, dear Venket, a very difficult path. I can see by your years that for whatever reason you have not developed as other, and I must say this for now, and just this once, as other boys have. So there is in your body already some substance that is stopping you doing so. Had there not been, then I would have expected you to have already begun developing to the size of your father. It is still possible that you might yet do so. Then your chosen life-style would be difficult to accommodate. ...”

“Oh Maker! No. Please don't let me be like him! I don't want to turn into an aggressive, oversexed bully. Please say it isn't true!” The tears started then, and I held her and comforted her.

“Venket, dear, dear Venket. It is not in your character to be so. Even if the worst was to happen, and your body developed so, your mind will still stay the same kind, considerate and loving you.” Over her shoulder, I could see Lendra nodding encouragingly to me.

I continued: “You must hush now, and not assume the worst. But you must listen to all the possibilities of what can be done. Some of them are unpleasant, but for you to make a decision you must know all of them. We all here in the Salon shall support your decision, but no-one else can make that decision for you. Listen now to Mistress Lendra, and discuss it with your mother. Come to a decision when you can. But don't leave it too long lest your body decides for you. That is why we are here today, to make sure you understand your options.”

Lendra took over again then. “There have been some unfortunate soldiers who have been wounded 'down there' so we do know something about what happens if it or they are removed. And then Bettayla confirmed some stories we know about herbal concoctions that have various effects. Then ...”

And so the session went, spelling out to Venket exactly what might happen, and what could happen. And we made sure that she understood what Lendra had told her. Lendra had tried to show both the advantages and disadvantages of the several approaches that COULD be done. Including doing nothing.

At the end of it, Venket was truly grateful. The tears and emotional reactions she had earlier shown had by then dried up. I sent her off to go and find her mother, to at least have the all-important opening discussion.

Lendra was about to leave when I asked her what I thought was a fairly casual question: “Today is the 3rd day of my Call, but I am a little worried. This time I have a new sort of pain down there, which came on when I was lugging all those buckets at poor Wagras' fire. Should I get you or someone to check it out, and if so, when would be best?”

“Well, if you were a married woman and wanting children then I would say leave it until the Call has ended, if it does, at the normal time, and then get checked out before your fruitable week. But as you ...”

“Fruitable week?”

“Yes, of course. Did your mother not tel … Oh, of course, your Mama left us early, did she not? Do you really not know about fruitable weeks?”

“No I don't. And Kords probably not, for I passed onto her everything I knew. And she passed HER knowledge on to Kissa.”

“Very well, I shall tell you. You know that a woman gets pregnant from when a man unloads his seed into her? Well that woman can ONLY get pregnant if that seed enters her during her fruitable week.”

“Oh! No, I really didn't know that! So how do I know when my fruitable week is?”

“Are you already … active?”

“No, no. I am still a virgin!”

“Let me see! You are on your 3rd day now, right? And it is today the 28th. So that means ….” She counted on her fingers. Stopped. Looked at me. Started counting again. Stopped again. Then she simply said: “Double checking!”

There was a longish pause as she went through it all once more.

Then, and only then, she said: “I make it that the first day would be the 8th, and the last the 13th; so I would tell you that your fruitable week would begin on the 7th of a month and end on the 14th. With the 12th and 13th being the most likely days.”

I sat back and thought. “Impossible to get pregnant outside that week? Is that what you said?”

Lendra's head shot up. “Do I get the impression that you think you are going to lose your virginity soon?”

It is indeed possible that I may have blushed.

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