Riada, Ebon Askavi, Askavi, Kaeleer, Afternoon, Wednesday (Fandom Time)

[glacial_queen]

"So this is Riada," Karla said, looking around at the village Lucivar had chosen to call his own. "It looks happy. Prosperous. Familiar, too, but I can't figure out why."

"Agio's not far from here," Jaenelle said, lacing her fingers through Karla's own. "It was a Rihlander village, just like this one. Only landen, rather than Blood."

Karla nodded, looking out the window again. Perhaps she'd pick up a few more things while she was here, bring them home to Cora. The memory might hurt a bit, but she thought her adopted daughter would be pleased, too, to have something of her home from so long ago. "I'm surprised Lucivar decided to settle here," she said softly. "We were all too happy to kick the dust of Agio off our feet."

Dust hadn't been the only thing caked to the soles of their shoes. Not after Jaenelle had finished with the Jhinka.

"He didn't have much choice," Jaenelle said, a sad smile on her face. Her own thoughts mirroring Karla's, no doubt. "The valley that belongs to the Keep, Ebon Rih, isn't that big. Just a few scattered Blood and landen villages, and Doun, the largest city in the valley. But you can imagine how Lucivar felt about living in any city, I'm sure."

Karla snorted; a most undignified noise. "Considering his mother doesn't live all that far from here and yet he chooses to stay, it says a lot." She gave Jaenelle a sharp look. "How long has Marian been staying with her?" She didn't ask, Has Luthvian been completely horrible yet? which just went to prove that Karla was putting Mallory's diplomacy practice to work.

Jaenelle made a face. "I haven't heard anything to suggest anything other than Marian's settling in and healing up nicely."

"Then we're visiting because...?"

"Because just because I haven't heard anything to the contrary doesn't mean it's true."

"Aww, and here I thought you wanted to see Luthvian have to act like a gracious hostess to me."

"Well, there's always that, too," Jaenelle said, giving Karla a smile though her heart wasn't in it. "Who knows? Maybe we're worrying over nothing."

[Continuing the canon catchup for "Prince of Ebon Rih" by Anne Bishop, Chapter 6]

Comments

[skillet-wielder.livejournal.com]

Since Jaenelle seemed truly guilty, Marian worked up the courage to speak. There were things Luthvian had hinted at, reasons why enduring work she knew was harming her was better than being told to leave. But now that she had been taken from the cottage...

It took until the three of them were ensconced in the Coach and the Coach was moving before Marian was able to blurt out, "I don't want to go back to Terreille!"

[glacial_queen]

"Why the bloody fuck would you?" Karla asked, blinking at Marian in surprise. "No one's going to make you do that."

[skillet-wielder.livejournal.com]

"But if I don't serve Lady Luthvian--"

[changeable-eyes.livejournal.com]

Jaenelle swore in the Ancient Tongue. Neither Karla nor Marian spoke it, but they could both understand the vicious way the words were said.

"You don't serve Luthvian," Jaenelle said tightly. "You serve in my Court."

[skillet-wielder.livejournal.com]

"I--Your Court?" Marian stammered. "I serve in the Dark Court? Me?"

[changeable-eyes.livejournal.com]

A small smile finally broke through the thundercloud that was Jaenelle's expression. "Eight Circle. Don't you remember signing the contract after I explained that you needed to serve in a court for eighteen months if you wanted to stay in Kaeleer?"

[skillet-wielder.livejournal.com]

Marian remembered Jaenelle handing her a piece of parchment and explaining something about her needing to sign the document in order to stay in Kaeleer, but she'd been feeling too weak and woozy to take in anything except that signing would let her stay. And when Luthvian had implied that staying or being sent back to Terreille rested on her decision...

Well then. Yes. Things might have been very different had she been aware of how things truly stood between them.

"What do I have to do? To serve, I mean."

[glacial_queen]

Karla sighed and rolled her eyes at Jaenelle. "I told you she needed another day or two," she said.

Yeah, the 'I told you so's' were going to last for three weeks by this point.

[changeable-eyes.livejournal.com]

"Shut up and help me think of what service in the Eighth Circle requires," Jaenelle grumped.

[skillet-wielder.livejournal.com]

Marian blinked at Karla. "You were there?" she asked. "You serve in the Dark Court, too?"

[glacial_queen]

Karla laughed. "I did the majority of your Healing," she explained gently. The only part she hadn't Healed were Marian's wings, because Jaenelle had taken care of those. Her knowledge of Eyrien physiology far outstripped Karla's own, so Karla had hardly protested. "And yes, I serve in the First Circle of the Dark Court. I'm also the Territory Queen of Glacia, which is why I have a better idea of what the duties of the Eighth Circle entail."

She saw Marian looked confused and laughed again. "Yes, I know. Territory Queens serve no one else. Well, we do things a bit differently in the Dark Court. I rule my Territory and serve my Sister. It works."

[changeable-eyes.livejournal.com]

"And guess who remembers enough Protocol to not need you to answer Marian's question!" Jaenelle crowed. "I knew there was a reason I paid attention to papa's lessons."

[glacial_queen]

"Because Uncle Sae--" Karla glanced at Marian and decided to skip over names for now. The poor girl was looking positively pole-axed. "Because he'd just give you the patient look and sigh when you didn't?"

[changeable-eyes.livejournal.com]

"I really hate the patient look," Jaenelle confided to Marian. "Especially when I deserve it."

From Marian's startled blink, Jaenelle guessed that the hearth-witch was having trouble wrapping her mind around the idea that the vaunted Queen of Ebon Askavi had a papa that dared criticize her, even if it was just with a look.

"Anyway, service in the Eighth Circle? A meal once in a while while I'm staying at my cottage here in Ebon Rih should probably cover the requirements fairly well."

[skillet-wielder.livejournal.com]

A few meals. Would Jaenelle supply the food for her to cook or would she be expected to provide it? How would she provide it? And what would she do in the meantime?

"Where are we going?"

[changeable-eyes.livejournal.com]

Jaenelle smiled again. "First? Back to the Keep for a few days so you can rest. And then, well, I was telling the truth to Luthvian, actually. Your skills really are required elsewhere. I know someone who needs a housekeeper."

[glacial_queen]

That got Karla laughing, too. "Awww," she said. "And I was really enjoying the ongoing saga of him being overrun by helpful females."

[changeable-eyes.livejournal.com]

"You just enjoy hearing about him stubbornly standing out in the cold, naked, for idiotic male pride reasons," Jaenelle said, shaking her head.

[glacial_queen]

"I'm a simple girl of simple needs," Karla said, shooting Marian a grin. "And hearing about your brother's idiocy always makes for a great time."

[skillet-wielder.livejournal.com]

Marian relaxed a little. Working for Jaenelle's brother couldn't be that bad, could it? It would likely include wages, as well as room and board, so she could fill her obligation to the Lady's Court.

Either way, working for him got her away from Luthvian, and Luthvian's son. She'd never met him, but Luthvian had used him as a threat more than once--anger her, and her son would take steps. He had absolute control over who lived in the valley and if he demanded Marian leave, she'd have no choice but to obey.

Yes, getting away from that spiteful witch and the Warlord Prince of Ebon Rih was the best idea she'd heard in a very long time.