Julina finds life a little different after The Demonstration

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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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I was trying to hold back my sobs as we all dispersed. I don't think that any of us will ever forget that devastating demonstration of why that wagon's load had to be treated with care and caution.

To my eyes, it all happened in a dreadful sort of slow motion.

We had seen the demonstration of the trail of what the Steward had named 'gun powder' and how it burnt fizzily as it snaked across the grass.

Then our Steward grabbed our attention with his words: “But that is innocent, with a thin line laid on the ground and out in the open. What is important is that you see and understand that this powder is burning rapidly and igniting the next grains as it goes along. Observe closely and you will see that the burnt track is wider than the original laid line. This is because, as well as burning, or actually rather better said, WHILST burning, the powder expands. Out here on the open ground that matters very little. But what happens if the powder is contained in some rigid container? Like in the barrels in which it was delivered? How can the powder expand if it has nowhere to go?

“The answer is that 'twill create an explosion – and 'twill explode with great force, sending injury, death and destruction to all that surround it. So please make sure now that you have yourselves and your children under control. Someone could be killed in the following demonstrations. Approach no nearer than you already are.

“This explosive property of the 'gun powder' is why the special hut in which it is stored has a great gap above the walls and under the roof . 'Tis also why the roof there has enormous overhangs. The gap is there to allow much of the explosive force to escape should something untoward occur and thus hopefully reduce surrounding damage, by not totally enclosing the blast. The extra overhangs? This so-called gun powder will only do its job if it is dry and so must be stored under cover. The overhangs should keep any rain out. But if there were an accident, then we need to make appropriate allowances to reduce the damage.

“Now here you will see Quadrant Ponstib filling a small and simple child's mug with the powder.”

He cleverly released some of the tension in the atmosphere by thanking the child whose mug it was before continuing his commentary in those wonderful carrying tones he employed for public announcements spread over a large area.

“Now he forces a tight stopper into the mouth of the mug. Thank you, Quadrant. The more observant amongst you will have noticed that the stopper has a small hole in it. Now the Quadrant pours a small pile of powder there on the ground. He now inverts the mug with his thumb closing the opening and shakes it so that some powder fills that hole in the stopper, and finally he places the inverted mug on the pile of powder on the ground. Now he lays a thin line of powder for a hand of strides across the ground. Good. Now he hands the barrel of powder to Guardsman Geral who carefully removes it from any danger here.

“Guardsman Jisty now brings a lit spill from the other side, taking care not to ignite anything else as he progresses. He now applies it to the powder trail, and he and the Quadrant sprint back towards us as the powder trail fizzes. This is why we made it so long, to give them time to get out of harm's way.”

The running men were almost comical and many of us began to grin; but those grins were swiftly wiped from our faces when the end result occurred.

We all watched, grinning you will remember, as the smoke trail approached the mug. The larger pile flared and the mug toppled over. There was a silence for a few heartbeats, long enough for me to suspect that the toppling of the mug had spoiled the demonstration. Some watchers even began to laugh.

Then there was a loud cracky sort of bang, and the mug disintegrated. The grasses round about were flattened and some were burning as much as a hand of strides away. We were all shocked at the vehemence of the explosion.

The avians, plentiful and seemingly less timid at this time of year, were as always scratching and pecking for their food in these weeks of plenty. All of them arose as one with great squawks and dashed away from the spreading dark cloud.

The entire crowd watching were struck into silence. There were no more laughs nor any grins.

Obviously, 'twas not possible for every single inhabitant to be present, but I would wager that only a few hands of them were elsewhere. Every single one of us were shocked into silence.

The Captain then got our attention once more. “You all know how fragile a child's mug is. But what happens if the container into which the powder has been packed is of a far more robust nature? Let us proceed to our final demonstration.

“Now look over there. There are four concentric rings of wooden cut-outs shaped and sized like men. Each is a thumb thick, a thumb thick of solid wood. In fact, they are all made from the same wood that is used for most of the walls of the houses around here. So you all know how hard and solid they must be.

“Guardsman D'Kenik here has something we call a 'grenade' in his hand. This is a ceramic container also filled, packed, with gun powder – the capacity is roughly thrice that of the little mug we just destroyed, and the powder has been tamped much more than as was in the mere mug. The string that is hanging from the ceramic ball, is what is known as a fuse. It is a cord that has been soaked in a flammable solution. We know quite precisely how quickly it burns and can thus delay any explosion by a precise amount of time simply by cutting off a certain length of the fuse.

“D'Kenik will now light the fuse and toss the grenade into the centre of the circles of the cut-outs.”

We watched as the guard did just that.

It was at this point in time that things started to go wrong.

A grenn, probably thinking this was some sort of game, leapt forward from the edge of the crowd and bounded towards the thrown ceramic ball, barking joyously.

“Stop that grenn!”

“Hold! Stop that child!”

A child had run out from the crowd, cajoling the grenn to him: “Drumpf! Drumpf! Here, boy, here!”

A soldier ran after the boy.

The grenn reached the grenade just as the boy reached the outer circle of cutouts – and just as the soldier grabbed the boy. Wrapping the boy in his great chest, the soldier twisted round and presented his back towards the grenade just as it exploded.

Blood and bits of bones flew through the air. The first circle of cutouts disappeared entirely, the second circle were severely and shockingly mangled, the third circle remained standing but were deeply scarred. The outer circle of cut-out figures was gashed badly, each and every one of them.

The boy was safe and unharmed – maybe deafened slightly by the loud explosion.

The people were all stunned into silence at the very violence and sudden death dealt by a device barely bigger than a man's fist. Certainly, the demonstration of the dangers of this dreadful 'gun powder' had brought its message firmly home to all and sundry.

The soldier though was a different matter.

The upper part of his left leg was grotesquely deformed. Sticking in one side, and poking out of the other side was what was discernible as being one of the grenn's legs. Blood was pooling on the ground beneath the man, where he had collapsed. Lendra and Twaite rushed to treat him from where they had been standing a few casts away.

The man was groaning in pain and shock.

The very man I had cuddled up to a few scant bells before. The man who I had offered my virginity to. The man who had warmed, sheltered and held me while we were in a sort of afterglow. The man who had reluctantly parted from me in the crepuscular light of that morning.

My Jerk.

… … …

I had known that our attraction was mutual from various little attentions he had given me since we first met. His duties and mine were not very compatible though, and it had been difficult to meet very often. But that night when I had stumbled into his arms as I left the Salon had confirmed to me that the time was right for me to discover the next step in my womanhood.

Once I learnt more from Lendra about fruitable weeks and so on, then the when part of the problem had been solved. The who part I had solved (quite easily), or at least my internal roilings had. All that was left was the where part. So my big problem had been to find a suitable place. His barrack room was quite clearly out of the question. I wouldn't want to embarrass Em by asking her for a room, and booking any other room in Town would immediately set tongues a'wagging. My own home, even though I had my own separate entrance, would not be a good idea with younger siblings likely to hear everything, not to mention my father and stepmother.

I cursed myself for not thinking of Gyth's place, well Waxerwet's really, so much earlier.

After the discussions yesterday with Vastan and Rindal, and once they had departed, I had made up the bed with fresh bedclothes, positioned several extra candles, and set the place up for one of the most profound nights of my life.

The timings were right. I just had to make it happen.

And happen it did.

We shall gloss over the first time; some blood, some pain, many fumbles, some mess and over very quickly.

The second time was infinitely better.

I will swear, though, that Kalikan reversed direction, Anmar swung around on its axis (twice!) and eighteen earthquakes all happened with the third time.

We also talked together, needless to say. We both decided that we needed to be discreet lest our duties and availabilities were compromised.

And until we had decided how we might continue.

There were many factors to be considered.

But we rejoiced in one another and settled for that intimacy as a first step towards something else, something wondrous that would grow. In our innocence, we were confident that we could work something out.

… … …

From the moment I got up, I had this silly grin on my face and seemed to be twice as tall as normal. Clearing up after us was the lightest housework I had ever had, and I found I couldn't stop humming to myself.

Dsherk, or Djork, or Dschjerg or however it is properly written had left early that he might start his duties as required at dawn. We were both aware that the so-called 'Hunter Games' were due to start soon, whether that would be today or tomorrow, neither of us was certain.

I, in my selfishness, reset Waxerwet and Gythy's house ready for the two of us to enjoy again during the coming night. I skipped and hummed my way home, going to Master Mayler's to get a few little baked surprises for my family on my way. I got there at such a time that, as I suspected, only Swayga was up, so I lent her a hand. Yes, I was still grinning and humming. She looked at me, and I at her. We both knew the other knew.

“Have you considered your fruitable week?”

“Aye! 'Tis from the 7th.”

“You do know that a man's seed can live inside you for up to half a week don't you?”

My eyes widened. “No! I didn't know that. In fact, I only recently learnt of the fruitable week - from Lendra, may she be praised. She calculated that 'twould start on the 8th and said I should consider it starts on the 7th. But she didn't mention that little extra piece of information. So to be avoided after the 4th then?”

“I would say the 3rd. Until the 15th!”

“Thank you,” I said gratefully, but now regretting that I had never really allowed Swayga to be a mother to me. I sort of wondered if there was anything else she might have been able to educate me with.

Then another thought occurred to me, so I said earnestly to her: “Kords and Kissa should maybe be told this too, as Kords only knows what I knew, and she passed it on to her younger sister. I haven't really had a chance to bring her up to date with my new knowledge, let alone what you just told me. Should I? Or will you?”

“I have more opportunity, I suppose.” I detected both a reluctance and a delight, which suddenly told me that Swayga too was nervous about some of the aspects of parenthood.

“Thank you,” I said. I knew for certain that I didn't really want to take up this subject with Kords right then. She would bombard me with questions on the other aspect of the subject. And tease me. And probably gossip.

Swayga's face took on a more serious look, and yet at the same time an almost embarrassed one: “Where?”

“Gyth's.”

Her relief at my answer was almost palpable. She grinned once more as she said: “Go and wash yourself thoroughly. There should be enough warm water now. I shall wake you a half bell before we must leave for the demonstration. I shall keep the others away from you. I suppose you worked late?” she finished with a wink.

I grinned back. “Indeed I did! But 'twould have to have been on matters other than the Salon!”

“Of course!”

… … …

I had not believed that I would sleep, so elated was I, but I was so deep down in that dark, velvety smooth pit of total rest when Kords shook me awake. Another swift wash, a little Tai Chi – not all the forms that day – a light breakfast, a quick change of dress and a more prolonged hair brush than usual.

We went up to what was now already known to the Town as the Barracks. We went in a bunch, chattering away to each other. Very much as a family. I could see Kords eyeing me sideways, wondering why I was so skippy and smiley and hummy that morning.

I noticed my Jerk almost immediately, and he noticed me at nearly the same time. I indicated to him with my eyes where we would be standing and he had managed to swap positions with two of his colleagues in order or be nearer us. I beamed with delight as I saw him trying to swap places with another but then the Captain called for all our attention and the fateful event started.

… … …

“Stand away – now, Julina!” Twaite's commanding voice penetrated my tears. She gently prised my hand away from where it was trying to crush Jerk's.

He looked at me and nodded, smiling reassuringly. But his eyes showed me, us, all who were gathered around him, that he was in shock. And then the pain seemed to hit him and he winced, squeezing his eyes shut.

I had been one of the first to get there and he smiled at me as I knelt on the ground beside him. All the Einnlander soldiers were rapidly there, and Captain Subrish, His Honour, Commander Feteran and several of the other soldiers came swiftly as well, arriving at the double. There were so many gathered around that the two healers, Lendra and Twaite, had to force their way through to begin their ministrations.

Swayga came and helped me to my feet. Papa was with the rest of my siblings, leading them gently away. All of them had their heads twisted round as they walked off in the other direction. 'Twas only later that I discovered how shocked they had been. I also saw Kords looking at me with a stunned awareness. I knew at that very heartbeat that she now knew. Kissa was also looking at me wonderingly, but without the awareness that Kords showed.

As I rose to my feet, my unsteady legs threatening to spill me to the ground once more, the Steward thrust a small body into my arms, saying: “Find the parents of this lad, would you please Julina? We'll take over here. ... Mistresses, what sort of recovery room shall you require for this man? Can he be treated in the soldiers' common room? Or do you require some other arrangement?”

“Very well, Captain,” I replied automatically. It was only later that I realised he gave me something to do to help me concentrate upon other things.

Jerk's and my relationship was immediately apparent to all, but the events allowed me no embarrassment.

I was so very tempted to shake the stupid boy that had caused all this, and to shout at him loudly, but then I caught sight of his whitened face, saw the shock in his eyes and felt his shivering, quivering body. I found I could not add to his misery, even though a part of me was internally screaming my anguish.

Swayga and I backed away from the busy group on the ground and turned to walk back to where the spectators had been. The mother of the child was quite easy to spot. She was wailing and crying, held around the shoulders by a strongly-built, stocky man just a little taller than Swayga.

As we neared, the man shook her to get her attention, said something in her ear and pointed to us. She looked over, screamed and ran towards us, yelling “Bedo! Bedo!” over and over again.

When she got to us, she just ripped the boy from my arms and smothered him with hugs and kisses.

I looked down at my now empty arms.

The sight of the blood seeping from the marks made by her nails tipped me over the limit of my control: “You stupid, stupid woman! Which bit of the Steward's warning did you fail to understand? This is dangerous, he said. Let no-one approach closer, he said. People could die, he said. But oh no, you don't find it necessary to control your child. A soldier, highly trained, now lies dying upon the ground because you are too stupid to keep your equally stupid brat under control. Stupid, irresponsible and arrogant. If I had my way ...”

I didn't say any more.

I couldn't.

I was unconscious. I never saw the blow the stupid woman's husband dealt me.

… … ...

“Two months hard labour! Report to Master Simman there as soon as you are herefrom dismissed.”

Rather than looking at Simman, all three turned and looked directly at me, anger and indeed some hate conspicuous in their stares. Only young Bedo looked in any way repentant, and even then 'twas but fleeting.

“And we do not accept that you had any justification for striking a woman, however stressed you might have been at the time. She too was stressed, her man having been struck down protecting YOUR child, a child that should not have been in such a dire situation in the first place. Your nails raked her arm and drew blood.

“Yes, we understand the child was attached fondly to the grenn, yes we understand the grenn pulled away. But that was simply because the child was too weak to control him properly; you, as parents, should have known that, should have taken adequate precautions. Mistress Julina was perfectly right in what she said. But remember also that she too was stressed at that moment. You are asking for leniency because YOU were stressed and yet you make no allowance for HER stress. We abhor double standards such as you have just clearly demonstrated. Just as much as we abhor your ignoring direct and unambiguous orders that the entire rest of the town managed to obey. 'Keep everyone clear and children under control.' Not very difficult to comprehend, surely?

“The direct result of your actions, perchance better said your INactions, is that a grenn died most horribly, many in the Town being unable to get the dreadful vision of that out of their heads even now, six days later. On top of that, a highly trained soldier, personally acknowledged by our King no less as a hero of Palarand, has suffered a grievous wound to his leg. And two women have been injured after a violent physical attack. One woman had a blooded arm and was struck unconscious. The other has had her arm broken. Both women being the primary care givers to their family. So you have managed to deny their family members their own care and comfort as well.”

At that point, the Prince, our Prince that is, spoke up: “Your Honour, if I may?”

The Steward inclined his head, ceding the centre of attention to Prince Keren: “Your Highness.”

“Thank you,” the Prince acknowledged the Captain as he rose to his feet, “I would first say that I deem you to be excellent at governing my wife's lands for her. As stated earlier, I am here in an observatory capacity, but I deem that myself and Prince Torulf here, have seen the wisdom, authoritativeness and fairness with which you have conducted this court in her name; this throughout our visit, not just today, even though today has produced perchance the most serious case so far.”

He swung round and fixed the male prisoner with a steely gaze, keeping his eyes firmly upon him even as he spoke: “As regards this last case of the day, this most serious case, then I say to the prisoner that he is a lucky man. There is NEVER any excuse to strike a woman, unless of course she is attacking you, and we have today in Palarand a society based upon the tenet that men shall PROTECT women. I myself would have been tempted to sentence you to half a year's hard labour. I doubt that my wife would have been able to restrain herself to much less, but I must stress that that is my impression of how she might have reacted had she been here. The Steward's consideration of your family and the circumstances they would find themselves in with a lack of any income for a half year is indeed a tempering caution to us all.

“I saw your glances of anger towards the women you victimised and shall add a note to the report of this session of my wife's court, for as we all are aware, or should be, it is convened in her name after all.”

His voice took on a most chilling tone, and an authority that none could deny. “If any retaliation is visited upon Mistress Julina, or Mistress Swayga as a result of this, I shall do my utmost to see that you hang, even should I be at the other end of the country. It behoves us men to act with dignity, control and care, all three of which you signally failed to do. So-called stress is not and never should be an excuse to lose your expected abilities. We should pride ourselves upon rising above such moments. We require the menfolk of our land to exercise such control, all day and every day. Let others be warned that such argumentation shall find only short shrift in the future. I repeat it that all may hear the words clearly and unambiguously - stress is not now, nor ever shall be, an excuse for ill behaviour. That is all.”

His eyes locked upon those of the prisoner even as he seated himself once more.

Everyone in that courtroom was left with no doubt whatsoever that this man was destined to be our King and would be a fair but firm one. Even the other Prince, that Torulf one, was looking at our Prince in awe and no little wonder. And maybe I detected a deal of respect too, but I must surely be mistaken.

… … ...

I would rather skip over my reactions and doings during the intervening days. I was tearful, sobbing most of the time, fretful, grumpy, surly, distracted and barely polite to anyone. I'm sure I must have been a trial to the healers as they worked on Dshorg, and, in retrospect, my continual wailing in his ear whenever I had an opportunity to visit him, was probably unhelpful for his recovery.

The healers had sliced open the back of his leg, a cut in length of slightly more than a handswidth. They had done this so that the grenn leg bone could be simply lifted out rather than be dragged out and thus possibly cause more damage had there been unseen barbs buried in his muscle mass. They had then kept herbs compressed into the wound, and they made it bleed every day, a little less then again a little less as time passed. This was because they knew not how grenn blood would mix and react with human blood, so they made the wound bleed in order to help wash away any 'foreign objects and fluids' as they put it.

Once the visually disturbing grenn bone had been removed, the wound could then be treated as they would any sword stroke wound to the back of the upper thigh, even if it was much more ragged than that at the bottom of damage (well he was lying on his front!). They assured me that he would regain the use of his leg and 'twould be a strong as ever in the fullness of time, once the healing had been done and he had properly exercised.

He was being housed in one of Em's upper rooms, so I found it easy to access him, to pester him with my lachrymosity. It was only much later that I discovered that Lendra, Twaite, Em, Dshorg himself, Papa and Swayga, the two Princes and His Honour, along with the Count and Countess all banded together and cooked up a scheme to get me out of the way, in an attempt to bring me back to myself. Commander Feteran was also involved to a certain extent as were Bezan, Sookie and several others. I suspect the idea came from Senidet originally, but more of that later.

… … …

In an ultimately futile attempt to distract myself, I once tried to talk with Senidet about her next scheme, her next implementation of some of the Princess' ideas. This was all to do with thick metal wires and replacing ropes with them. Some ropes, not necessarily all ropes. My usual sharpness of mind had deserted me, making me feel even more at a loss. And making me feel even less useful. Unworthy somehow.

I was barely coherent, I suspect, but nevertheless somehow that fact that Waxerwet's home was currently unoccupied emerged as we talked. This fact was seized upon eagerly by herself. This was so surprising that, apparently, I returned briefly to my more usual self. But I still couldn't quite see the connection between wires and Waxerwet's and Gyth's house. As it transpired, there was no such connection at all, just that it provided fertile ground for Senidet's next idea, next topic, which was formed right there and then as well.

Which is where, I deem, the scheme to remove me temporarily was also grounded.

To cut a longish story short, and as an example of how my depression had affected me, I ended up giving her the responsibility and authority to maintain Waxerwet's house for them, rather than myself, until such time as I felt capable of doing the job properly once more. I just could not handle the associated memories and all that for the moment.

However, I remember clearly being surprised at the alacrity with which she scooted away, looking for Bezan once our initial discussions were over.

That had been the day after the explosions. On the day following THAT day, I was again brought a bit out of my funk when I saw her working at one end of one of the now buried tubes that passed under the road. She had a seemingly complex arrangement of material around her as she sat on the footwalk next to two co-workers.

She explained to me that 'electrics' (which she spelt out for me so that's where I learnt that!) consists of what she called a pair of wires, one to take whatever out and another to bring it back. She called this an 'out and back pair'.

She drew a swift diagram in the dust. There was something she started with which she called a battery; she drew a square box in the dirt. She then drew a line from the battery to another box she drew, which was sort of half a circle and which she ended up calling a clock of all things. Then she drew another line this time from the clock box back to the battery box.

“The electrics is stored in the battery. This line here represents a special, thin, metal wire, that takes, carries, the electrics to the clock, which will then do its business there. I will not try to explain how that works right now. But so far, nothing will happen, because the electrics needs to get back to the battery in order to work. It needs a completed return as well. Her Highness calls this a circuit, even if 'tis not a round. See here, the electrics travels along this 'out' line, does its job at the clock, then travels along this 'back' line. An out and back pair, you see.

“But there is a problem. See here. What happens if the out line touches the back line? That way the electrics just flows round this shortened way, and the clock doesn't get it. So we must make sure that the out and the back lines do not touch. That they do not create what she called a short circuit. So we have to ...”

She then used a word which was new to me. I THOUGHT that it seemed she said a word that had an 'n' in it, but I thought about it long afterwards and now believe she just said 'isolate' which I knew was based on the Chivan word for an island, meaning not touching anything else. Master Jepp had told me that early in my teaching days; he used it as an example of the power of understanding the ancients and how that can help us understand some of our words. It was then when he taught me what an anagram was and other things like that, thinking that it would be valuable for a teacher to know such matters.

“... isolate the wires. We did some experiments down in Palarand and discovered that wax is quite a good thing to use, and also that wood doesn't easily let the electrics go through. So what we are doing here now is to coat these thin wires with wax, and then lay them along these shaped pieces of wood, in the shallow grooves channelled into them. Eventually, the wax will dry out and probably crack, which is why we are doing the wooden isolation too. We won't actually do that right now as there is another consideration we need to take note of, but I am just describing the process to you. Then we put a capping piece of wood on top and then turn it over. On the other side of the wood is another channel down which we run the other wire after waxing it. Then it too has a wooden cap placed along its length. Now we have three pieces of wood with the separated wires running each in the 'gap' between the wood pieces, on each side of the central piece. Once we have all three pieces of wood properly aligned, we use either thin wire or twine to tie the three together, tightly so the wires inside cannot drop out or anything.”

She held up the final piece of wood she had constructed which was about the length of her arm. There was a wooden lug sticking out one end, and a hole set into at the other end, both of which she showed me. She hadn't actually tied the components all together as she had described, but 'twas easy to see what she meant, even in my unenthusiastic condition that was prevailing over me. I have to say that her explanations did go some way towards easing, albeit temporarily, my poor mood.

“These are made this length because that is a workable length to enable us to bend or twist the entire length into one of the underground little pipes. Now we locate one these lugs into the hole at the end of the PREVIOUS one, and gently press the length down and into the underroad piping. Slowly we build up sufficient lengths of these so that the original end appears out of the pipe way over there. Two or three of these three-piece woods fit inside a single one of those little pipes, or we could pass more wires through simply by increasing the number of channelled pieces of wood, making a five or a six or a seven and so on piece combined wooden thing.”

I was about to ask her more, but just then I was called back to the Salon by Surtree who told me I was needed there in the kitchens.

… … …

The next day was frankly dreadful, so much so that on the yet following day, I tried to distract myself and ended up riding alone all the way up to the Stone Sea. I had hoped that by finally achieving a long held ambition, that of actually seeing the Stone Sea, that maybe I would be kicked back into normality. But that didn't work like that. I rode up there, passing the railroad experimental works. I turned across country at the Tree, passed along the works they were doing there and soon joined the road that led upwards. Trumpa helped me avoid the few wagons that were using the Michen Method path, and we were able to progress across the bare ground once the prepared road petered out.

I had to do a lot of riding across the bare ground up there, since the workers were not prepared to be civil to a single woman and I had to keep a good distance from them in order to have my freedom. But their unwanted attentions just served to remind me of my wanted ones.

I doubt I saw most of the available sights, so much did I find myself crying again. And those that I did see, I seemed incapable of processing.

… … …

So yes, hereby I confess I was not so very observant as normal, nor so very enthusiastic in all of the days of the week following 'The Demonstration'. I suppose it was obvious to all, but I felt so very much alone. I was convinced my heart had broken and when Dshorg told me off on one of my visits for being 'too clingy', I just rushed away, sobbing uncontrollably at first.

The guardsmen, the Princes and the rest, the Steward included, and Em and half the Assembly members were all up in the Vale for their big game of playing at being soldiers, so I only had Swayga, Sookie and Pomma as adults to whom I could really pour my heart out. And Swayga had had her arm broken by that idiot, so she couldn't really hug me. Sookie was mostly busy managing her domain and Pomma was needed at home for most of the time. I found myself missing Epp.

My girlfriends were all sympathetic but knew not really how to console me, for they had never before seen me like this. And I wanted to keep away from them quite a lot, as I couldn't have handled their more intimate questions just then.

I did one of the peet-zer sessions over at 'The Tree' to see if it would shake me out of it, but it just made it worse somehow. I was alright gathering the necessaries and going over there to set it all up, but having all those young men around me just made we want to burst out in tears – and many of them were STILL talking about gun powder and The Demonstration.

So I sat in miserable silence for most of that time, those six long days. Even the musical lesson failed to cheer me up much. Most of the those who had been up the Vale had by then returned, so there were more people around but still I felt somehow excluded. I felt like a stranger in my own home environment.

… … ...

Just after that mentioned musical lesson ended, there came the trial of the man who had hurt Swayga and I, and which I reported above. Both of us were required to attend, of course. I don't know about Swayga, but I felt nothing as the sentence was handed down. No relief, no elation, no sadness, nothing. As though my emotions had been cut out of my body.

Then I was asked to stay behind by the Prince no less. The Steward also smiled at me encouragingly as did the Count and Countess. My depression was beaten temporarily into the background by my nervousness, for everyone who was anyone was there – and they were all looking at me.

“Mistress Julina, we are aware that you have been knocked from your normality by that man's blow to your head, but we find ourselves at something of a loss at the moment. I would personally be most grateful if I could enlist your services for a direct favour for myself and most particularly for my wife. ...”

The Prince looked at me with a very engaging smile as I wondered what on Anmar I might have that would be of assistance to the Princess and himself. I looked round at the sea of faces, some of whom I knew well. Em and the Steward were particularly encouraging; oh and Sookie over there too.

“Y … Your … Your Highness! I will naturally do all that I can for you and the Princess, but I have few skills and I know not if I am in any way suited to whatever task you might have in mind for me. Pray give me more information.”

He smiled again at me. “Your modesty becomes you, Mistress. Before I go further, I wish to make it absolutely clear that this is merely a request to you. If you choose not to perform the little task I have in mind then there shall be no recriminations whatsoever. This would be something that you and a colleague or two would do solely if you so desire. 'Twould be perfectly understandable should you refuse. No pressure shall be applied to you whatsoever. The task requires your culinary and your organisational skills for four days, five nights. Those in this town have advised me that you are more than admirably suited to the task, and my experiences in your Salon confirm to me that their advice is sound.

“I repeat – no pressure is laid upon you to accept. You should know that you are the first to be asked as you are perceived to be the most able to do it.”

“Very well, Your Highness, I understand the terms. But I do NOT understand the task.”

His laugh was genuine and effective.

And affective, I suppose you could say. It certainly affected me, cutting deeply into my depression without actually banishing it.

“I do so like people who not fawn over me because of my rank. It is refreshing. You are right to say as you did. Allow me to answer you by commencing with a relatively recent history lesson. This is not the first time I have been to this place. When my wife, not that she was my wife at the time of course, and I travelled here last year, for reasons best forgot, Merry … excuse me, Countess Merizel there, Mistress Sukhana, Mistress Jenet, Commander Feteran and we had reason to overnight in the Forest below Strettalm. The Forest Roadhouse did not exist then, but Wagonmaster Jaxen found us some overnight shelter in and near an old abandoned Chivan fort.”

“I had heard that, Your Highness. And I deem Her Highness has commanded that it is now to be something called The Retreat.”

He was, just for a heartbeat, taken aback by my knowledge. “Indeed that is so, Mistress. She declared then that she wished the area to be maintained as closely as possible to its original unspoilt state. So we had built a perimeter fence around a section of the river bank there ...”

“Some two marks of river bank extending roughly half a mark inland towards the road, I understand. And further, that the accommodation so provided can be rented to enable such renters to relax and get away from their busy lives.”

“Mistress,” he said with a slight tone of wonder, “you are remarkably well informed. The enclosure is reportedly finished now, however, it has not been accepted just yet. Not signed off, if you prefer. This is because it has yet to be actually lived in, yet to be used, yet to be TESTED I suppose. The construction work has been approved by several Masters, since this was part of the work a young man ...”

“Skanik!”

Again his eyebrows rose: “... did towards his Mastership! Indeed, you are VERY well informed. As I … why are you blushing so and looking so worried?”

“Forgive me, Your Highness, I did not mean to interrupt you so. I regret I have a tendency to let my tongue run sometimes. Mayhap I would not have been struck unconscious had I a better curb on my tongue!”

I think we were all amazed when His Highness let out a loud roar of laughter. The Countess told me later that that was the first time he had let himself go so freely since Princess Garia had left for her other mission.

“Mistress Julina, you are indeed as was reported! So let me play a little game with you now. What do you imagine to be the task which I, we, have in mind for you?”

It took me a little while to answer, not because I had to think about the answer, that was obvious, but because I had to get over my wonder that a certain amount of sharpness of mind had returned – without my noticing it.

“Why Your Highness, I deem you wish me to go down there and set up the kitchens – nay, hold! You have some specific guests in mind, someone to actually live there for a few days, and you wish me to go down there and do the catering for them, returning to make my recommendations as to how the catering should be handled in the future!”

The Prince looked at the others gathered around, respect dawning in his face: “Indeed you all spoke truly! Next I expect the Mistress will be able to tell me who the guests shall be!”

“Oh, Your Highness, that is obvious. That is clear to me already. Ah! Maybe one complication – let me think ...” I looked around the room and all eyes were again upon me, but I felt a savage glee building up inside of me, a glee that was brought on by a sudden need to show off a bit, “... no, that is why he is here too! Of course.” I turned to the Prince. “May I now tell you who I think shall be the guests there?”

“Mistress Julina, I am absolutely fascinated to hear!”

“The guests shall be, I deem, two couples – The Count and Countess, and the Commander and his wife.”

A few gasps were made from some of our audience.

“And your thinking?”

“You mentioned, Your Highness, that the Retreat is to be tested. You have asked me to test the catering facilities, but that meant someone would have to test the actual living arrangements there. They too would have to report back to you the success or otherwise of the project. I deem that the best benefits would be for couples to have time on their own, much of the fundamental idea, as I understand it, is for rest and recuperation.

“I therefore considered who might require that. I hesitate to mention it, but you HAVE said not to fawn, rather to speak straight. I deem you are not yet ready yourself for such seclusion; you still, like me, require some activity. So I ruled out yourself. Your fellow Prince is not here right now, I saw him leave with his Einnlander ...” a little catch in my throat came just then “... guards.

“I went, in my mind, through the rest of your party, for these guest testers would have to be someone you trust. Someone you know well, and someone who also understands the Princess and what she might be trying to achieve with this enclave. Who better than her former maid and companion and her former companion and secretary, both of whom, I should imagine, at the moment have reduced responsibilities due to her current absence? ...”

A gasp of surprise and derision came from the Countess at that: “Would that it were so!”

“... It also occurred to me, that both these couples, like my friends the Anagrams, are but recently married and have had no real time alone. I suspected you might be trying to give them that little piece of seclusion if only for a few days.”

There was a sudden silence around the room, all faces looking shocked to a variety of degrees. The Prince actually bowed to me before demonstrably clapping his hands, a gesture that everyone else joined in with. I found I had not completely lost my ability to blush.

“And, Mistress Julina, you had a thought in the middle there. You spoke aloud about it being why 'he' was there, some complication you said?”

“Your Highness, you are the leader of this party of visitors and actually the leader of this town right now. You would not abandon your responsibilities. If the Count and Countess are indeed to be sent - nay 'twould be better to say if they were offered the opportunity to go - down there, then they would need guards; they shall not go alone. So I deemed that say a hand or so of guards would have to accompany the guests. They would need a leader, but then I realised that the Commander himself would be there.”

“Excellent thinking, Mistress. Most excellent indeed. I have just one more question for you regarding your recent statements.”

“Your Highness?”

“Who are the Anagrams? I know full well what an anagram is, but have never heard it applied to humans before.”

“Your Highness, there is a guardsman from Blackstone who recently wed a girl from Blackstone, but did the deed down there in Palarand City. Senidet is an old friend of mine, and her husband I also knew as he grew up here.”

“But your byname for them?”

“His name is Tedenis, Your Highness. It is an anagram of her name Senidet.”

He roared so much with laughter that I thought he would soon start choking.

After he had calmed down, he then turned a little more formal: “Mistress Julina, are you prepared to consider my offer and request for assistance?”

“I am indeed prepared to consider it, Your Highness.”

“And your answer is?”

“I shall NOT do it, Your Highness – not that is until you tell me when!”

He grinned widely at that. “I had thought, considering all that we have yet to achieve here, that we would best fit it all in as soon as we may. I would suggest the Party departs on the morrow after luncheon and stays down there for four full days. I deem we can spare the Count and the Commander for no longer than that. To be honest, the Commander should really be here for the evaluation of what was known as the 'Hunter Games' but we require him for much more in the next few ...”

He broke off as a knock at the door was followed by the entry of one of the semaphore operators. “Begging your pardons, Your Highness, Milords, Your Honour, Miladies. We have just had a semaphore message marked 'Most Urgent' addressed to His Highness, Prince Keren.”

“Thank you, young man. Give it here.”

He held his hand out for it, and ripped the message open almost before the operator had let go of it. After reading it through, he smiled and handed it to the Captain, who in turn read it, smiled and handed it on to his son, the Commander.

“It seems,” said the Prince, “that we have a new member of the Palarandi forces up here. The Forguland High Command have sent permission for Acting-Captain Subrish to join our forces, following his request for a transfer sent to them not so long ago, when we were in Tranidor I seem to remember. We must go and congratulate him, and hammer out the details of the transfer. I believe we are finished here now?”

“With respect, Your Highness, I would need to know the numbers for whom I shall be catering. Guests and guards and anyone else. Maybe drivers? Animal men? Gardeners? Chambermaids? Porters? Will the guests have visitors? Much is yet to be decided. I will need to know these numbers that I might ensure we have sufficient staff.”

The Prince looked round the room and said: “I commend you all. This is indeed the right woman for the task. Your recommendations could not be bettered.” He turned to me. “Mistress Julina, may I come back to you in the morning, that I might have a chance to discuss all this with those involved. I am aware that is short notice, but to ease your planning, I will pay for there to be at least three of you. If more are required, then we will confirm that in the morning.”

“Thank you, Your Highness.”

As we departed, I noticed from the corner of my eye a strange event. Lendra, Sookie, Em and the Countess all seemed to be congratulating each other.

But I dwelt not upon that for my brain was abuzz with candidates I could take with me, some I would take as trainees, some as experienced workers. Maybe I could also use this as an opportunity to test some applicants; I could pay the costs of those that were surplus to the Prince's requirements.

This could be a great opportunity for me to evaluate some of those who had applied for various Meglina positions.

Hmmm, let me see ...

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