~*~*~*~

The rest of the trip passed fairly uneventfully. Conversation was easy to come by and Jiang was a veritable wealth of information about the country. "What about slavery?" Alanna asked suddenly.

"Slavery?" Jiang echoed.

"Is this a slaving country?" Alanna asked all trace of humor cut off immediately.

Jiang sighed a bit. "It is a difficult question to answer…but for simplicity sakes, yes we do have slavery here. It is a fact that Her Benevolence has spent most of her reign attempting to change, but change is difficult to come by. We are running into blocks wherever we turn. But rest assured, slavery has greatly diminished and continues to do so. There are no slaves in the palace for instance. And until slavery is completely banned there are numerous regulations and if you are found in violation of these regulations the consequences are most harsh."

"That's not much of a consolation for the slaves." Duke Gareth muttered.

Jiang thought that he hadn't meant to be heard and decided not to comment on it. Glancing out of the window she noticed they had arrived at the wall around the estate that they would be staying at for the night. "We've arrived at the halfway point, my friends."

The carriage slowed to a stop and one of the twin boys opened the door. The step was already in place and Jiang was first to leave. It was just starting to rain, large cold drops splattered against the leaves of the dense foliage nearby. The other four people and Skysong quickly clamored out of the carriage as well.

The estate was sprawling, massive gardens surrounded the entire one-story structure. Stained wood and parchment colored coverings over the windows protected the inside of the house. Slightly curved red tiles formed the roof and dragonheads formed the gutters. A few people hurried around the garden, pulling delicate items such as glass orbs inside in preparation for the coming storm.

A woman wearing a light pink dress came forward with a gentle smile. "Mistress Jiang-Thi. I was hoping you'd arrive before the rain. Please, My Lord is in the middle of an urgent report and will join you shortly but we should wait inside before we get soaked." She said kindly.

"Of course." Jiang agreed with a bow. "We are to wait for Lord Kishia inside, rain comes quickly here."

"You know best." Alanna muttered looking up at the steadily darkening sky.

They hurried inside the double doors and into a large room with a shrine on the far wall. Other than the shrine a few pieces of art hung on the wall but the room was otherwise empty. "Whose shrine is that?" Gareth asked examining the large gold statue of a sitting woman on a pedestal.

"The Mother Goddess, Shi'nui." Jiang replied softly.

Several minutes passed in silence. Numair was examining the paintings on the wall while the others wandered the room. "These paintings are odd…" He muttered.

"They are painted with sand." Jiang answered the unspoken question. "I can show you later."

The silent waiting was slowly becoming awkward as the Tortallan's ran out of things to look at. "Where are the doors in this place?" Alanna asked after a minute. Even after walking the entire length of the room she hadn't seen and knobs or handles or even hinges to indicate a door. Just panel after panel of the same cream-colored fabric-like wall.

"They are disguised. Such things do not need to be advertised. They slide into the wall." Jiang answered. She stood stock still in the middle of the room as she waited for Lord Kishia to appear.

Finally after another several minutes, a piece of wall slid to the side revealing a hallway and a man with long black hair tied into a low horse-tail. He examined the people in the room for a moment before stepping completely into the room. He stopped in front of Jiang-Thi and bowed low. "Mistress Jiang-Thi. It is good to see you made the journey from the docks in good health."

Jiang returned the bow. "Lord Kishia…I am glad to see you well. Thank you for allowing us to use your home for the night. It is most generous."

"Not at all. Come, a meal has already been prepared for your arrival." Kishia said gesturing to the hall he had just come from. Without waiting to see if they would follow he started down the hallway.

Jiang turned to the Tortallan's who looked rather confused. "Lord Kishia is a dear man but rather…abrupt. He simply has little patience and is most likely very busy with his lands. But he says that dinner is already waiting for us. Come, we shall see how you like our country's food."

They followed the hallway through for a few moments until the reached a large room with a low table and large plush floor pillows instead of traditional seats. The table was already heaping with food. The room had an entire wall missing that let the garden outside be completely visible. The rain was falling steadily now.

Two people were already sitting at the table. Lord Kishia and another man that looked quite a bit younger but had the same thin face that Kishia did. "Lord Kishia's son, Minh. He is in the process of learning your language…as are most aristocrats…"

"It's…fun two try an speak him." Minh said haltingly.

"To speak it." Jiang corrected. "Please, sit." She added to the Tortallans.

It took a minute but eventually they were all situated around the low circular table. For a moment nothing happened then Kishia nodded and Minh instantly reached to one of the bowls full of long strings of dough. "Where is the silverware?" Numair asked suddenly noticing that there were only a few large serving utensils around the table.

Jiang looked surprised. "I'm sorry?"

"How do you eat?" Alanna asked looking for the missing items.

Jiang reached over to a ceramic cup full of thin wooden sticks and pulled two out. She held them up to Alanna. "What do you use?" She asked curiously.

"A fork!" She said exasperatedly. "And spoons, knives too when necessary!"

"What is…fork?" Minh asked curiously.

"I…do not know…" Jiang answered. "What is a fork?"

Numair put a hand to Alanna's shoulder before turning to Jiang. "It has three, sometimes four, slightly curved prongs and a handle."

"I…see…Let me see if I can find something that may help." Jiang said getting to her feet and leaving the room. While she was gone the Tortallan's watched in amazement as Minh tried to demonstrate how they used their bizarre utensils. By holding them in-between his thumb and index finger and firmly pinching whatever he was attempting to eat. Daine even attempted it once or twice before giving up.

Kishia for the most part just watched the proceedings with a faint look of amusement. Finally Jiang returned with a four two pronged forks. "These are the best we can do, I'm afraid. It hadn't occurred to me you would use such things for eating. We only use them to hold meat while cutting."

Kitten was the only one who didn't seem particularly interested in the slight delay, eating away at the food Daine had given here without a single care. After handing the Tortallan's the makeshift utensils Jiang retook her seat.

"Miss Jiang?" Daine asked looking at the strange foods in front of her.

"Yes, Daine?"

"Is there something here…mild?" She asked sending Numair a glance. He didn't seem particularly thrilled with the prospect of trying new foods. Alanna and Gareth were at least taking tentative tastes of the variety of foods.

Jiang thought for a moment before nodding. "There is a very mild soup that is normally served later in the meal, but if you wish I can ask for some to be brought out now."

Numair gave a slight smile. "Thank you, I'm afraid my stomach is…not quite sea worthy."

"Quite alright." Jiang waved a woman over and said something to her. The woman bowed and quickly left the room. "She is bringing some now. Gareth, how do you like those rolls?" She asked nodding to the bite-sized green rolls that he had tasted.

"They're…salty." He said with a frown.

"It is the seaweed wrap used to hold it all together. Try eating the entire thing at once." Jiang suggested.

Gareth hesitated for a moment before popping the morsel into his mouth. After a moment he swallowed. "That's…actually not bad…what was that?"

"Raw fish."

Gareth almost instantly sputtered and reached for his glass of tea that they had been served. "You eat raw fish?" He demanded after draining half of his glass.

Jiang looked amused. "It is perfectly safe. We are very careful about the types of fish we use and you said yourself it was good."

"I said it wasn't bad! And I didn't know what it was!" Gareth said drinking the rest of his tea in a huge gulp.

"Would you have eaten it if you had known?" Jiang asked curiously.

"Of course not!"

Dish after dish was served, a constant stream of plates being brought and removed. Most of the meals were noodles of some kind with spicy sauces though there was a fair share of mild sauces as well. After the raw fish incident the Tortallans didn't ask what they were eating, just commented on whether they liked it or not.

"There's so much food…" Alanna commented as another plate was brought to the table.

"A traditional meal can have up to a dozen courses." Jiang said before draining a thin saucer of clear liquid.

"What is that you're drinking?" Daine asked curiously. She'd only seen Jiang drinking it, neither of the men on the other side of the table had ventured away from their green tea.

Jiang held out the saucer so that it could be refilled from a small bottle. "A very potent alcohol. I always drink it with dinner. It is very…caustic I believe was the word used to describe it. If you cannot handle raw fish I do not think you should try this."

Suddenly Daine's head shot up. "Daine? What is it, magelet?" Numair asked looking over instantly.

"There's an immortal coming." She said looking out at the dark sky. The rain had slowed to a mere drizzle. "A stormwing." She added with narrowed eyes.

Jiang tilted her head to the side. "Really? I wonder what she wants." She said draining her saucer of alcohol again.

"You're friends with them?" Alanna asked incredulously.

"I would not go so far as to say friends but we have avoided outright confrontation." Jiang said putting her saucer down and getting to her feet. "Spoil my appetite though." She added stepping out to the slight overhang where the slight breeze would protect her nose but still allow her to be out of the rain.

A few moments later, a young stormwing with long blonde hair braided with tiny metal beads approached. As she got closer they could see she had two bright, intelligent green eyes. She stopped to hover just outside the overhang. "Shani…how unexpected to see you. I thought you hated rain."

"I do. But I don't get to choose when I fly, what with being a carrier pigeon and all…who're your friends? Look like Tortallans to me…"

Jiang took a step to the side so that Shani could see in completely. "My friends from Tortall. Royal ambassadors. My friends this is Shani Moonsword."