Chapter 21 - The Day Between
The first thing Min noticed as she moved through a set of arches into the dining hall was the massive table running down the entire length of the room. This table was so huge and heavy that Min could think of no way that it could ever have been brought into this room, never mind fabricated in the first place. The seamless slab of richly-grained dark-brown wood had room to seat two hundred people, with space to spare. There were hundreds of modestly carved and comfortable looking chairs around the chamber, but many of the wooden chairs made to exactly match the table had been moved into a far corner of the room to make space for other seats placed in their spots around the banquet table. Every second or third chair around the huge board was either heavily upholstered and incredibly plush or had a backing designed for an occupant with wings to be comfortable. The matching chairs were all well-made and heavy, interspersed between the fancier seats. The entire hall was brightly lit with Craft-fire from several fantastic chandeliers hanging over the massive slab of polished wood, all along it's length.
The grouping of people who had come to celebrate her successful Offering was numerous, and yet they seemed a small crowd in the colossal room. They gathered just inside the chamber and passed Min around for hugs and congrats while the Hall-staff brought drinks to all and slowly filled the table with the delicacies Mrs. Beale was able to provide at short notice, having expected to have another few hours to finish her celebration preparations. Once they had all had a moment to visit they began choosing seats around one end of the table.
Jaenelle and Daemon sat on the end of the wooden slab with Min and Rand, with Jaenelle and Rand on the edges next to Gabrielle and Saetan respectively. Convivial chatter went to and fro around the table as everyone grabbed a bite of what they fancied as they listened eagerly to Min's questioners and the witty and sometimes outright ignorantly naive responses of the spirited young foreigner. Min slowly came to realize, from the number and quality of questions and the surprise in many eyes, that meeting Draca in her Abyss was somehow special. Lucivar told her plainly that it was an unprecedented occurrence after she attempted a second time to deflect her questioner's interest. The talk slowed for a moment at his indiscreet proclamation, but Min's enthusiasm was not dimmed and so conversation bubbled back to a steady stream while they all enjoyed a late-night, or a very early morning repast.
Rand and Min both remembered being congratulated again before being excused from morning training shortly after Jaenelle introduced them to a favourite drink of hers. Gravediggers were a marvelous invention almost equivalent to the coffee she had been brought that morning, Min decided as she guzzled her way through her second large glass. Rand found that the friendly atmosphere and the delectable beverage made things wonderfully fuzzy, and he could not imagine being more content as he leaned over and passed out with his head on his lover's shoulder, with the fragrance of Min's sweetly scented neck befuddling his senses further. Min smiled at her cute farm-boy's antics before she decided he probably had the right idea and dozed off in the middle of a conversation with tiny Katrine.
The celebration went on for a short while before Helene and Erin, one of the multi-talented residents of the Hall, levitated their sleeping guests and took them up to their suite. The rest of the celebrants joked and laughed for a while before heading to rest themselves. Several comments were bandied about as they filed out of the dining chamber, mostly about how interesting the next night's Offering may be.
Rand awoke in Min's chamber late the next morning to the barely audible sound of the shower running. He dragged himself out of bed and went to join Min under the streaming water of the multiple shower-heads. He was just standing and enjoying the hot water pouring over him when he was suddenly smothered by a vast sweeping surge of affection and frolicsome glee from Min. She had decided that then was the best time to ambush her half-asleep lover, having resolved to execute a surprise attack as soon as she had woken to find her man snoring loudly and drooling away on the bed next to her. She used her newly gained Craft Power to envelop and then skewer Rand with intense feelings of love and excitement, laughing gayly when he jumped in alarm and flushed bright red.
"Ha," she began with a big smile, cackling with mischievous laughter, "now I've got mighty sex-beams of my own. And don't you try anything, Buster, 'cause now I've got the Power to snap you like a toothpick." She finished with a mock-serious face and her hands planted on the swell of her naked hips. She could not hold her grim expression for long as he fell to the tiles on his knees and clutched her to him, begging to be blasted away as he could think of no better way to die.
They joked and laughed and loved for quite some time, refining and honing their ability to reduce each other to senseless, quivering masses of delightful sensory overload on a whim. Rand had developed considerable control over his sendings, but had no Jewel to back them up. He found quickly that the Red strength sendings radiating from Min were far stronger than his and were capable of wringing him dry over and over. They used some of their newly acquired skills to keep their adventures private that morning, and it was a blissfully satiated couple who eventually moved out of the bathroom to dress for the day.
While she was dressing Min sent a query to the kitchens about the possibility of getting brunch sent to their room. As she straightened her shirt Min informed Rand that she had just ordered food for them and she wanted to eat alone with him before going over her ceremony from the previous night, and that the brunch would be delivered to their suites soon. Rand happily accepted Min's plan and kicked off the boots he had just placed on his feet, not wanting leather between his feet and the incredibly plush carpets. He moved over to the double-doors and opened them so they could hear knocking from the corridor before striding over to pull the heavy window coverings back.
It was another absolutely beautiful summer day in Dhemlan, causing brilliant rays of late morning light to flood their forest-scape chamber. The lovers sat together on the plush carpet in a bright patch of sunlight and held lightly to each other as they shared Min's recent experience. They had only reached the point when Min had started weaving at the Opal before they heard a rapping at the far doors from the hall. They severed their link and went out to the sitting room to open the door and have breakfast.
Clarity loped through the doors while they were finishing their repast and moved right up to Min's side in the large armchair. Rand gave the Warlord a smile before returning his attention to the remaining bacon on his and Min's plates, while Min leapt out of her chair and wrapped her arms around Clarity's neck in a big good-morning hug. He informed them that everyone else was up and about already, excepting Saetan, and that Jaenelle and Katrine would like to begin Craft lessons for Min later on that day. Rand was welcome to join her in the lessons, but Daemon and Clarity had set aside time that afternoon to address any issues or questions Rand had about the Offering, or anything else about local customs.
They thanked the wolf and told him that they intended to spend an hour or so together in their suite, but after that they would come and find everybody and get on with the lessons. The huge wolf gladly agreed to spread the word and leave them for a time before receiving another scratch from Min and bounding away, right through the block wall. The well-fed young lovers then retreated to their forest-suite sanctuary and replaced themselves on the bed, sitting comfortably facing each other and maintaining skin contact with hands entwined. Rand was shown once more through the entire exchange Min had had with Draca, including Draca's imparted memories, before Min quickly showed him how she had woven her webs at both levels of the Abyss. Rand paid close attention and made mental notes as he examined the weaving constructions Min had made, formulating a plan for his own Offering rite that night.
They spent a fair amount of time together analyzing and revising Min's techniques based upon her experience in the Abyss before they broke the link and prepared to leave the suites. They both donned long-sleeved shirts of a very lightly woven fabric in dark Jewel hues and full-length brown trousers of a tough but comfortable material neither recognized. Rand wore his old brown leather boots and Min sported a short pair of snazzy black leather boots that had been newly made for her and placed in their armoire. They moved together through the ante-chamber and saw that all of the mornings dishes had been cleared away as they swept out of the suite and through the corridor.
Upon reaching the ground floor they were accosted by Surreal, who called them layabouts and wastrels before dragging them into the family wing. They were joking with Surreal as they arrived at a beautifully bright sitting-room and both of the visitors were temporarily stunned by the brilliance and variety of the myriad of colours reflecting from the windows. Each window was crafted of hundreds of small shards of vividly coloured glass, all held in place with incredibly thin filaments of what looked to be solid silver. The chamber was in a corner of the colossal building and so had two large walls covered in the glass constructions, each wall had a similar pattern; four large rectangular windows in a row at the bottom with three slightly smaller windows centered above, the top three with highly arched and sharply pointed finials. The dazzling sunlight streaming through the cunningly crafted panes was fragmented by the many shards of glass, causing a dizzyingly luminous play of light to dance across every surface in the room.
When they recovered from the momentary shock the colourful room had delivered, the visitors saw that Jaenelle and Katrine sat on a long couch with Marian and Gabrielle. The women were conversing with Daemon and Chaosti, both of whom were sitting in arm chairs placed not far from the couch. Chairs were rearranged for their usage and Rand and Min were quickly brought into the group, and a cheery and lively discussion commenced. Lucivar had taken Daemonar back to Ebon Rih with him for the day while Marian had stuck around the Hall to visit with Min and get to know the young visitors better. Not long after sitting down, the four smiling witches led an excited and gleeful Min out of the room on a mission to find Erin, the tailor who had made most of Min's new clothes. Chaosti and Daemon both chuckled at the girl's enthusiasm as the women departed and then suggested Rand join them for a walk on the grounds near the Hall and he readily agreed.
The five witches traipsed through the Hall and out a set of doors in the middle of a long corridor, stepping out into the bright sunshine in a lovely open-air courtyard filled with flowers of all kinds and a few small trees. Min was amazed at the variety of plants and the obvious health of everything in the spacious and elegantly designed garden. Jaenelle dragged Min from the edge of the outer path straight into the garden in search of Erin, as this worthy was a skilled seamstress as well as one of the head gardeners at SaDiablo Hall. Jaenelle explained that it had been Erin who had fabricated most of Min and Rand's stylish new clothing, and now that Min was awake and Healed she could help design the rest of her ensembles. They found Erin puttering away in the center of one of the flower patches and convinced her to join them for drinks and clothing design discussion.
While the women chatted about apparel, Rand and the other males wandered out of the Hall and onto the front drive. They walked away from the building slowly, following the wide crushed gravel pathway and discussing cultural differences between their worlds. Daemon and Chaosti told Rand a little about aristo society, and the differences between Blood and landen villages. This led into telling him how much turmoil had erupted after 'The Purging' between those who used magic and those who don't, and how they were still working to improve and rebuild relations with landens. Rand reciprocated by telling them about 'The Breaking of the World', explaining to his spell-bound listeners how deranged men affected by the Taint in saidin had devastated his world's population and changed the very face of the earth over a hundred long years of insanity and destruction. He described the attitude of many people in his world about men who could channel, and how most people were either terrified of him or worshiped him as something more than a man.
They chatted amiably for some time as they walked along aimlessly. Clarity strode along beside them and occasionally interjected a comment or question. They ambled a fair ways away from the Hall before heading back, speeding their progress a little as it was almost time for lunch. They entered the Hall and proceeded to the small dining room they frequented and found it filled with women and papers. Min had found kindred spirits in Surreal and Jaenelle, they had quickly gone from merely discussing fabrics and styles to forcing Erin to draw them good-sized pictures of many designs of outfits they admired. All of the women were fond of practical and comfortable clothing, much of it made in a fashion that would be called manly in Min's world. Gabrielle, Marian and Katrine had added their opinions to the mix as well, creating a wonderfully varied fashion symposium out of their morning visit. The women laughed at the mess they had made when the men arrived and pointed it out to them, before quickly setting all of the drawings aside and sitting down for the mid-day meal.
They enjoyed a hearty repast of vegetable soup and fabulously tasty, thick and dark freshly baked bread. The women chatted as they ate about which outfits should be assembled for Min while the men sat back for the most part and just watched the animated exchange between the witches. When all had completed their meals Jaenelle asked if Rand and Min would like to begin Craft lessons, receiving enthusiastic agreement from both. Gabrielle and Chaosti excused themselves and Surreal followed them out of the room, trailed not long after by Daemon and Clarity. Erin confirmed the first two outfit choices Min had made before gathering the drawings and heading off to her workroom. Marian stuck around to listen in on the Craft instruction and assist Jaenelle and Katrine in explaining Blood society to the guests.
Jaenelle began the lesson by explaining that although Katrine was not a Black Widow, she would be assisting Jaenelle with Min's early lessons. Katrine's mother had insisted that all of her daughters become expert illusionists, as none of them had the physical strength to adequately defend themselves from larger creatures. Katrine and her older sisters had progressed as far in the Hourglass training as they safely could, as none of them were natural Black Widows. Katrine was the strongest of the three sisters at a light-Opal, but was very uncomfortable delving far into the Twisted Kingdom. Jaenelle told them that it was very difficult for a regular witch to learn the Black Widow Craft, and one could only go so far in training without having the exceedingly rare ability to grow a snake tooth late in life. Almost all Black Widows are naturally born Widows whose snake-tooth grows at the onset of sexual maturity. Jaenelle said that Satan was the only person alive who had learned as a mature adult to be a Black Widow and grew a snake-tooth of his own, and that Daemon was the first natural Black Widow male Human in the history of the Blood. It would be some time into their Black Widow training before Jaenelle would be able to tell if they could grow their own snake-tooth, until that time Jaenelle and Katrine would start them learning to identify poisons and antidotes, and show them the basics of weaving a Tangled-web.
The bulk of their lesson that day consisted of history and Protocol instruction, with only a few small Craft skills demonstrated. Because Rand had no Jewels yet, Jaenelle merely taught them how to create small balls of witch-fire and the trick to changing the colour of the ball, as well as the trick to create an extra-dimensional space in which to store just about anything. Rand was only able to create a small cubby, whereas Min easily picked up Jaenelle's technique and was able to expand the space with just a thought. Most of the time was spent discussing Blood hierarchy and the positions therein, and where Rand and Min may fit in. The lesson went on into the afternoon until Jaenelle suggested Rand and Min rest for a couple of hours before Rand's Offering.
Neither Rand nor Min were especially tired yet, but they graciously thanked Jaenelle for the first lesson and politely departed for their suites. When they arrived back at their chambers they lay on the huge bed together and talked over Jaenelle's instruction for a while before Min fell asleep in Rand's arms and he quickly followed suit. They napped for the remainder of the afternoon and early evening until Holt came once again to rouse them, as it was time to head out to the Sanctuary for Rand's Offering.