Torgan Wine Ch. 29

"Krouth says I need to have dresses taken in and to consult with the dressmaker about the clothes I'll be taking with me." She smiled at Lislora's almost disparaging look. "After lunch I'll be going into town with Halloc Aurim so that I'm not under foot."

"Krouth arranged it?" Draeseth looked amused.

"After I asked him to, yes."

"The Halloc has been busy' it would do him some good to stroll while he gives you your lessons." The pair of Torgans exchanged a look of annoyed amusement.

Isonei chose not to correct them.

°°°°°°°°°°

The dressmaker, Fahra, insisted that Isonei should have her Aran gowns ready to wear; they would be requested as a novelty. She seemed more than a little concerned at how much the dresses needed to be taken in. Truthfully, Isonei hadn't realized how much thinner she'd become.

According to Fahra, the Torgan Court wasn't as strict as Isonei had expected. No colors were reserved for royalty, and the crowning braid was a common style while nothing imitating a crown was permitted in Ara. Black was frowned upon in general at the Torgan Court, but as the Duchess of Kroscur it was expected that she would wear it.

With Fahra's help, her chests were sorted and planned if not packed well before lunch. Isonei found her way to the servant's dining area where the priests sometimes gathered, intending to find one of them. Instead she found Krouth having an early lunch, alone.

"I've wondered when you found the time to eat!" She teased as she approached, receiving a flat look in response. "May I join you?"

"If you wish, your Grace. Your fittings are done?"

"And the plans for what dresses should come with me have been made." Isonei inclined her head. "It's going to be strange wearing Aran dresses again. They felt so light when I tried them on."

"You could refuse." The slim Torgan frowned at her.

"I somehow doubt that, Fahra was very insistent. I'll be in the Queen's retinue and from what I understand she'll try to make me feel ill at ease. She isn't fond of Draeseth and Lislora says she's cruel. Insisting I wear my Aran dresses will be... an opportunity to mock me if I allow it. I need to be confident and show no insult." She gave him a rueful smile as he straightened. "I have dealt with unpleasant people before."

"It is rare to hear you speak so plainly about such things, your Grace. Something is bothering you?"

"I suppose it is. My uselessness has been assumed so often I'm looking forward to showing how well I can navigate the Court. It won't be pleasant, I've never enjoyed it, but I can do it well enough."

"You are not useless, your Grace. It is the difference between a slim, jeweled dagger and a plain short sword. They each have their uses." His lips twisted with something bordering on amusement.

"Thank you for saying so, Master Krouth." Isonei smiled and eyed his apple, "Where do they keep the apples? I think I'd like one."

"Have half of mine, your Grace." Krouth put down his fork, picking up the apple and breaking it in half cleverly with his bare hands.

"My father used to do that! I could never figure out how to do it on my own." She took half of the apple with delight.

"Your Grace's hands may be too small." He looked pleased with himself as she began to eat her half of the apple. "I can arrange for fruit to be brought to you between meals if you wish."

"If you start feeding me between meals they may need to let my dresses out, and they only just took them in." Isonei teased him, taking another bite.

"It would be worth the expense to see you looking healthier, your Grace." Krouth resumed his meal. "Were you looking for someone?"

"One of the priests, they like to gather here. You're usually busy; Draeseth and Lislora are occupied with preparations. There isn't anyone else here who doesn't seem either cold towards me or terrified of me."

"Your open affection with Prince Draeseth at the celebratory dinner made finding a companion for you nearly impossible. The concerns that you might be a poor influence on an impressionable young lady..."

"Torgans are so baffling. By Aran standards I've been prudish since I came here."

His softly annoyed exhale as he prodded another bite onto his fork amused her. "That is the concern, your Grace. Those who know you can see your redeeming qualities, those who do not still have doubts."

"I understand. I feel the same way about Torgans. The Torgans I've come to know are good people, those I don't yet know..." She nearly laughed as he narrowed his eyes at her and frowned at her teasing.

"Eat your apple, your Grace."

"Yes, Master Krouth." Isonei took a bite of apple feeling cheerful. "You'd get along well with my father."

"He raised a respectful and generous daughter, I will take that as the compliment I believe you intend it to be." His annoyance faded only slightly.

After a few moments of silently eating together, she was finishing her half of the apple as Brother Jannun entered the dining area. He looked at Krouth with some concern and they spoke briefly in Torgan before the priest nodded and beckoned for her to come. "We can go now. Halloc Aurim ahh, is early."

She looked at Krouth with a little confusion and he translated, "The Halloc has chosen to leave earlier than planned. If you wish to go now you may."

"I'd like that." Isonei rose and inclined her head to Krouth before following Jannun into the kitchens to hold a sack as he gathered bread, cold chicken, and several apples.

When her cloak was fetched from wherever Draeseth was keeping it, she was surprised to find a small pouch of Torgan money carefully tied inside it. He apparently expected her to be perusing the market stalls. The thought irked her, but if she were careful perhaps she could hide the money away and use it another time.

Another surprise was being loaded into a cart with the rest of the priests and driven out of the gate. They didn't stop in the town below; instead they travelled to a village that felt like it was quite a distance away. The cart wasn't covered like a carriage and her fingers were so cold when she took off her gloves to eat underway with the rest of them that she only had a small piece of bread with chicken before putting them back on.

Once they arrived at the grim quiet looking village, Halloc Aurim spoke quietly to the priests and made a gesture toward Isonei. Brother Jannun helped her down as they all clambered from the cart. "He reminds, you ahh you are not the Duchess, you are a help."

The words made her try to smile. "How can I help?"

"Come." Jannun took her into what appeared to be the largest house in the small village. "The mother is sick and father must to work." He spoke quietly with a harried looking man as she looked around. There was very little wood by the pitiful fire and the one frightened child peering around a doorway was bundled at least as much as she was.

"They need wood, don't they? What else do they need?"

"Yes, but ahh, he must work or they have nothing."

Reaching into her cloak she untied the purse. "I don't know how much this is. Draeseth expects me to spend it frivolously; I'd rather spend it on wood and food or whatever else they need."

Jannun shook the money out into his hand and nodded slowly. "This is enough. Enough for the village, Duchess."

"Then ask him to do that." Isonei gave the priest a small smile. "Have him take the cart and get the things he and the rest of the villagers here need. I can stay with the children while he goes."

"Ahhh, Duchess. A man must work." He gave her a vaguely disapproving frown.

"It looks as though he does, and I know that he will. In Ara we say that charity is its own reward, but if Torgans don't understand that... Tell him I will ask him; ask any of them who accept the things this money buys, to do something kind for someone else. Something kind for kindness' sake."

He paused and then turned to the man who looked at her incredulously as Jannun spoke at length. At the end he made a comment about Kroscur and the man closed his eyes and dropped to his knees. "I told him, and ahh told him the Duchess of Kroscur has a kind nature and will see kindness here."

Isonei smiled wryly and stepped forward intending to help him back to his feet until she heard him whispering something about Ganas. Softly she asked, "He's praying?"

"He gives thanks for Ganas' answer to his prayers and the kindness of the Duchess."

"May someone else give thanks for his kindness." She smiled warmly at him as he opened his eyes and Jannun translated.

They spoke again and Jannun looked amused as the man bolted from the house with the purse. "He says ahh you must be a saint." Beckoning for her to follow he led her deeper into the house looking for the children.

The seven children looked at her much the same way the Lerian children had looked at Draeseth. Jannun managed to get them all in the same room and spoke to them reassuringly before he left her alone with them. Remembering how thrilled Haithe and Kaithe had been to sleep under her cloak she took off her new one and offered it to a trio bundled up and huddling together.

After a moment under the warm cloak they spoke amongst themselves and offered her some of their blankets they no longer needed under her cloak. Isonei accepted them gratefully and with gestures asked the oldest if she could hold one of the little ones. He seemed skeptical of her but let her hold the smallest who had begun to fuss.

They gathered around as she began to sing Aran songs and dance slowly with the child. Once the little one in her arms had managed to fall asleep she entertained the others with more songs and some of the dances she knew. The birdlike hopping of the Zuac made them giggle, even the eldest who had been trying to be as stern as any Torgan man.

After a time, more children seemed to find their way into the house and it got very loud, waking the fussy little one and setting her to crying again. She wasn't entirely certain what she should do until a Torgan woman came in and spoke sharply to the children and shooed all of them, except the one in her arms, out of the house.

Her cloak was left in a heap on the floor as they bounded out. The Torgan woman offered an awkward curtsy and picked it up, shaking it out for her and draping it over a chair before hurrying out.

Isonei settled into the chair pulling the cloak around her and began to sing again. She was still singing softly to the child in her arms, when Brother Jannun returned to look in on her.

"Ahh... What song is this?"

"One I heard often when I was sick, The Merciful Men of Mun. It's so cheerful-"

He held up his hand, "The ahh the words I do not have, but the song..." Jannun started to sing the same tune with Torgan words and she beamed.

"You should teach me that!"

His face split in a grin as he nodded. "How is this one?"

"She's fussy, I don't know why. I adore children but I'm not very experienced with them. I was the youngest in our House."

Jannun took her and then gestured for Isonei to follow him. The child needed feeding and he seemed to know where to find the milk and a powdered mixture he added to a horn, affixing a cloth teat.

She was seated again and feeding the child when the man returned home beaming. He spoke excitedly to Brother Jannun, pressing something into his hand, before taking his daughter with a broad smile.

"They have wood and food, ahh some medicines. The glassmith gave as gifts tokens for healing and says the Duchess favors?" Jannun looked at her with a smile as he held out one of the peculiar glass knots.

"I thought it was very pretty and Draeseth got one for me." Isonei smiled. "I have it in my room."

"There will be a feast of thanks tonight. We are asked to stay."

"Can we?" She nearly bounced on her toes, at her excitement the priest began to laugh.

"I will ask."

The Torgan gave her back the purse with a smile and she tied it into her cloak again, noticing that there was now something else in it. It felt like a folded slip of paper. Something in the back of her mind told her she should wait to look at it until she had some small amount of privacy.