Chapter Twenty-Six: Jaypros and Farla-Having An Affair?
Three days later.
"I'm going to miss everyone here," Tayla told her grandmother. "Are
you sure that I'm coming back home again?" Tayla was to leave for the Isle of
Chloe Orchid in one week, and Shalila, Gracina, and Mykia were helping her pack
her things.
Shalila smiled bravely and kissed her granddaughter. "Yes,
dandelion, you'll come back home again. I'll miss you, little one."
"Can't you and Dirkan come with me?" Tayla asked earnestly.
Shalila smiled sadly. "You know we can't, sweetheart. Who's going
to run Astoria while we're gone?"
"Raakon or Gracina can do it. Wait, couldn't they come, if you
couldn't?"
"Tayla," Shalila told her gently, "This trip you will have to be on
your own, with Orchida."
"I can't even take Mykia? Or my puppy, Hugs?" Hugs was Tayla's new
chocolate-colored cocker-spaniel-like dog with four floppy ears, instead of two;
all Astorian dogs had four ears and two tails. Bajal had given Tayla Hugs for
her eighth birthday, and Tayla thought that the little animal was the best gift
of all.
"Kami Orchida will let Hugs and Mykia come see you from time to time
with us, sweetheart," Shalila tried to reassure her.
"Don't let Hugs forget about me," Tayla said, as sternly as possible
for an eight-year-old.
Shalila smiled. "I won't, dandelion."
Tayla then started to worry about Mykia. "What's going to happen to
Mykia? She's going to be out of a job! She'll have to go back to Brimmel,
won't she? I don't want her to leave Chloe! She has to come with me, Nama!"
"Tayla, calm yourself," Shalila told her. "Mykia will be reassigned
as a domestic servant in the Palace. When you return home, she will be your
maid again. She's not going anywhere."
"Princess," Mykia told her softly, kissing Tayla on her worried
face. "I will be right here waiting for you when you come home to stay."
"And then I won't ever have to leave Chloe again, right?"
"Not if you don't want to," Shalila told her.
Gracina bent down and kissed Tayla on her cheek. "We all love you,
little Tayla, and we will miss you greatly."
Tayla hugged her fiercely, and Gracina hugged her back, as if she
never wanted to let Tayla go. If only Tayla had been her child, then Gracina
could have found a way to make Tayla stay. Well maybe not, since not even Nama
would oppose Orchida.
Tayla declared, "When I come back home, I am never, never, never
leaving my family again!" Shalila, Gracina, and Mykia laughed softly.
"What if you marry someone outside your Clan, Princess?" Mykia asked
her.
"I'll just have to marry someone in my own Clan, or he'll have to
live here on Chloe, or else I won't marry him!" Tayla told her firmly, as if
that matter was settled.
"Tayla is going away! Tayla is going away! Hey, ho, merry O,
Tayla's is going away! Yay!" Rojal crowed in front of his despondent sister,
Lelina, who had cried all night because her best friend was leaving her. Did
Great-Nama really have to send her away?
Riccan had picked fights with all of the other children, especially
little Nikon, as a way of relieving his feelings about Tayla leaving. Tayla was
one of his best friends, and one of the few viable sparring partners close to
his size. Nikon was still too small and weak to be of any use to Riccan as a
partner.
Kekron was trying to comfort Lelina, reassuring her that Tayla would
come back someday, and it made Lelina feel a little bit better, but not much.
Arlina had cried too, for although she was a Priestess in training, she was
still a little girl herself. Veal had also cried all night.
Tila, Tayka, and Nikon were too young to realize yet that Tayla
would not be playing with them and the others for a while. Jaca and Fayra were
sad too; they had not really been close to Tayla, but Tayla had always made
things fun and interesting. Petalia, Dedron, and Rojal were happy that Tayla
was leaving; maybe they'd get more time with Great-Nama, now that Tayla would be
gone. Petalia was jealous of Tayla's popularity and beauty, although at that
time Petalia was considered prettier than Tayla. The children from other Clan
of Chloe families were divided: two-thirds of the children knew they'd miss
Tayla greatly, but one-third agreed with Rojal, Dedron and Petalia, saying that
Rojal was right about Tayla receiving too much from Shalila.
"Rojal, you are mean!" Lelina exclaimed angrily. "Tayla is our aunt
and my best friend!"
"And?" Rojal prompted her. "I rank above her."
"You should show Tayla more respect, Rojal," Kekron scolded. "If
there is no other reason for you to show consideration for her, then respect her
because she is your aunt-and mine. And didn't Great-Nama make you swear Seven
Moons Oath that you would not be cruel to her anymore."
Rojal glared darkly at Kekron. "I am to be Superior Granden one
day, and she will have to respect me! She better just keep out of my
way-especially after that kiss she gave me at Great-Nama's wedding ball!" He
scrubbed his lips in disgust.
"It was just a dumb dare we did, Rojal," Kekron told him. "Tayla
and I fell down first and we had to kiss you and Petalia."
Rojal smirked. "How's that eye of yours, Kekron?" Kekron
unconsciously rubbed his swollen eye, given to him by Petalia. Kekron kissing
Petalia had inadvertently caused an argument between his father, Raakon, and
Petalia's father, Cletos, who had listened to an overdramatic, sobbing Petalia
claim that Kekron had accosted and molested her. Petalia had made Kekron seem
like an oversexed pervert, even though he was only twelve, and Cletos had
confronted Kekron and raged at him for bothering his daughter. Raakon had
intervened and insisted that Kekron tell exactly what he had done to Petalia.
Raakon didn't think that Kekron was right to force a kiss on Petalia, even on a
dare, but he didn't think that a quick kiss would traumatize Petalia for life.
He told Cletos that much, and Cletos took it entirely the wrong way.
"How would you like it, Raakon, if my Dedron had kissed your Arlina
like that?" Cletos had raged at his younger brother.
"Cletos, please, Kekron just did it because of a stupid game the
children had going," Raakon had tried to appease his brother. He had always
been one of the peacemakers in Mantros Chloe's family. He turned to his
embarrassed son. "But you won't do it anymore, will you, Kekron?"
"No, Father," Kekron had told his father, ashamed now.
"And you will apologize to Petalia," Raakon had continued. Kekron
muttered a quick, embarrassed apology to Petalia, who grudgingly accepted it.
"I'll forgive you this time, Kekron, but if you ever touch me again,
I'll have my father or my brother pound you into a bloody pulp!" Petalia had
replied resentfully.
"Petalia," Raakon scolded, "My son has apologized to you, so there
is no cause for you to threaten him like that." He sighed; he was surprised
that Petalia had not been chosen to be a warrior, for she was fierce and nasty
enough to be one. But Petalia had been born with too low a ki level to qualify.
Because of her powerful singing voice, she had been chosen to become an Artisan
instead, a singer. (Artisans on Astoria included singers, musicians, poets,
painters and anyone involved in fine arts.)
Cletos had been in a rotten mood to begin with before Petalia had
sobbed her story about Kekron to him. His marriage to his Scribe wife, Farla,
had not been going well lately; he suspected that Farla was cheating on him, but
he could not prove it. Farla being always pretty and flirtatious did not help
matters any either. So he had taken his anger out on Raakon and Kekron.
"Just keep your son away from my daughter until he learns to behave
himself," Cletos had scolded him.
Raakon had told Kekron not to worry about him and Cletos, and that
they would work things out, but Kekron still felt bad about what happened.
Kekron didn't feel like fighting with Rojal, so he merely said,
"It's healing, Rojal."
Rojal smirked again. "Let's hope Petalia's ego is healing too-for
your sake."
Cletos stopped by Tayla's room to give her a going-away present of a
new gold necklace with a small emerald. He was morose and worried about his
marriage to Farla; their marriage seemed to be falling apart, and they had not
mated for seven weeks. Farla seemed to be making more and more excuses why she
couldn't spend time with her husband, when before she had been complaining that
Cletos had never spent enough time with her. Cletos scratched his red hair that
was the same shade as his sister, Marya's (he was a masculine version of her and
of their mother, Tika). He suspected that Farla was having an affair, but he
couldn't figure out who it would be. Probably one of his man servants; there
were two young handsome men that regularly attended Prince Cletos that had been
showing too much interest in Princess Farla.
Tayla, after sensing Cletos coming, poked her head out of her
doorway. "Hello, Cletos!"
"Hello, Tayla! I have something for you." Cletos handed the child
her present, wrapped in pink tissue paper.
Tayla tore off the paper, and she squealed in delight when she saw
the necklace. "Thank you, Cletos! This is pretty! I like it!" Cletos put the
necklace on her neck, thankful that he managed to get it to her before Petalia
saw it. Petalia would have been furious that her father was giving Tayla a
necklace and not her, especially since emeralds were Petalia's favorite gems.
"Look, Nama, Gracina, Mykia! Look at what Cletos gave me!" Tayla
ran inside her room and showed them her new treasure.
Shalila smiled and examined Tayla's new gift. "It is a pretty
necklace, dandelion."
Tayla twirled around the room, so that she could see the chain of
her necklace swish about in rhythm to her flowing sky-blue caftan.
Cletos told the group, "I would stay, but I need to find my wife.
Has anyone seen her in the last few hours?"
No one had. Cletos sighed wearily. "She didn't come to breakfast
or lunch. She didn't go to the bathhouse today?"
All four females shook their heads, and now they were starting to
worry about Farla, as well.
"Maybe she's sick," Tayla spoke up.
"She would have gone to the Medical Wing, if she had, Tayla," Cletos
told her. "And no one saw her there either. I can't sense her ki anywhere."
"I'll find her," Tayla told him. "I need to go see Veal and Lelina
anyway."
"Don't you need to finish helping with your packing, dandelion?"
Shalila asked her reprovingly.
"I'll help when I get back, Nama, I promise," Tayla told her. "It
won't take but a couple of hours. And we have all week. We're almost done
anyway."
"Two hours, Tayla, and then you must return here," Shalila told her
firmly. "You have to be measured for new clothes for your stay at Chloe
Orchida." Tayla is growing so fast, Shalila thought.
Shalila hoped that Tayla would not have to grow up too soon.
"Tayla, you don't need to hunt my wife down, if there are things
that Nama needs to have you do," Cletos told her. "I will eventually find
Farla."
"Let her go, Cletos," Shalila told him. "She may as well spend as
much time as she can with her friends while she can. If she can find her puppy
when he gets lost in the wilderness, she can find your wife."
"Bye now! Be back soon!" Tayla told everyone, as she stepped out
the door of her chambers.
Tayla went down to the bathhouses, thinking that Lelina was probably
taking her bath, and that she would find her-and Farla-in the women's bathhouse.
She sensed her brother, Jaypros', ki coming from the couples' bathhouse.
Jaypros wasn't married; why would he be in the couples' bathhouse?
Tayla decided not to worry about it for the moment, as she headed for the
women's bathhouse. She called into the bathhouse and asked for Lelina and
Farla, but the Bathing Laborers told her that neither Lelina nor Farla were in
there.
"Princess Lelina has not come for her bath yet, Princess," Saudra, a
Bathing Laborer from the Clan of Ruben told her. "But I saw Princess Farla
heading for the couples' bathhouse." Then Saudra gasped in horror and covered
her wide mouth, as if she had already said too much.
"Why would she go there without Cletos?" Tayla asked her.
Saudra's first cousin, Aydra, who was a seventeen-year-old Bathing Laborer, also
from the Clan of Ruben, laughed salaciously. "That's a good question, Princess!
However that is one question only Princess Farla-and Prince Jaypros could
answer. This isn't the first time those two went into the couples' bathhouse
together." Aydra giggled. "The way those two act together, you would think
Prince Jaypros was Princess Farla's husband, instead of Prince Cletos!"
Saudra nearly cuffed Aydra. "Aydra! For shame, maligning the names
of Princes and Princesses of Chloe! You don't know the whole story!" Saudra
scolded her cousin sharply.
Aydra was not to be repressed. "Oh, stop it, Saudra! Princess
Tayla may as well know the truth, as you and I know it! You know as well as I
do, Saudra, that Princess Farla and Prince Jaypros are having an illicit
affair!" She winked at a confused Tayla, who had recently learned from
indiscreet Palace servants and her brother, Bajal, what "illicit affair" meant.
"Aydra! Hold you tongue-now!" Saudra screamed at her. Saudra
quickly spoke to Tayla, "Princess, please pay no mind to what my foolish cousin says; she never knows what she is truly saying. I'm sure Princess Farla will come out here soon; I'll just tell her you stopped by."
Aydra was no quieter after Saudra's outburst. "Tayla, don't worry
about Farla; I am sure that she and Jaypros will be out here shortly." She
grinned at Tayla, and Tayla noticed a malicious glint in Aydra's blue eyes. She
did not know that Aydra greatly disliked Cletos Chloe's family because Cletos'
bratty children, Dedron and Petalia, had played a mean prank on Aydra, nearly
getting her fired from the Palace' s employ. Aydra had not forgiven them yet,
especially since Prince Cletos and Princess Farla had let their children off
with only a slap on their royal wrists. Aydra had also made romantic overtures
to Prince Jaypros, who had snubbed her.
"Aydra," Saudra snapped. "You are not to speak the names of royal
members so casually. And you must not address Princess Tayla informally. You
know that you must always use 'Princess' before her name." She turned to Tayla
anxiously. "Princess, will you please excuse us? We must be returning to our
work."
"Wait!" Tayla exclaimed, "Jaypros and Farla wouldn't be having an
affair, would they, Saudra? Please tell me that they are not!"
"Princess," Saudra stammered nervously, "do you even know what an
affair is?"
Tayla nodded. She had ran into Bajal after hearing about Sedra and
Trocos' illicit affair from the servants, and after asking Bajal, who was not as
prudent as Shalila or Gracina, he had told her bluntly that Sedra was probably
cheating on her husband with Trocos. Tayla had asked Bajal why it was so bad,
and Bajal explained to his little sister that adultery was wrong, and that you
were supposed to be faithful to your mate, no matter what. Tayla liked asking
Bajal and their cousin, Lektron, about things like that because they didn't try
to censor anything that they thought would be inappropriate for a child at her
age to hear about.
"If Jaypros and Farla are having an affair, they would be doing
wrong, wouldn't they, Saudra?" Tayla pressed.
Saudra grew more uncomfortable. She did not want to be involved in
this situation, and even though she would never say so, she didn't think that
Tayla should be either. "It is best to ask your grandmother about that," she
told Tayla finally.
Before Tayla could ask anything else, Saudra took Aydra by her arm,
and they both hurried back into the bathhouse. They knew that leaving a
Princess of Chloe like that was rude, but Saudra did not want to cause
additional trouble for Prince Jaypros and Princess Farla, especially since they
only suspected that the royals were having an affair.
No one else was in the women's bathhouse, except for Saudra and
Aydra, who were cleaning up the building. Tayla left the women's bathhouse and
walked by the couples' bathhouse. She knew she could not enter, for the
couples' bathhouse was off-limits to children, so she just sat on a stone bench
in front of the bathhouse and waited.
Dacos, a male Bathing Laborer, came out of the bathhouse and noticed
Tayla sitting in front of the bathhouse. The elderly Laborer choked nervously
when he saw Tayla sitting there. He began to tremble. Prince Jaypros and
Princess Farla were in the couples' bathhouse, locked together in a private
bathing room, doing only Orchida knew what, and now Prince Jaypros' little
sister, Princess Tayla, had shown up. Dacos prayed to Orchida and the ancestors
and good spirits that the small princess would not suspect what her older
brother was up to with their first cousin, Princess Farla. Princess Farla was
Prince Etros and Prince Lektron's younger sister.
"Princess Tayla, what are you doing here?" Dacos finally spoke.
"You know that the couples' bathhouse is off-limits to children. Your
grandmother would not want you over here."
"I'm just waiting on my brother, Jaypros, and my cousin, Farla.
When are they coming out, if they are in there?"
"Soon enough, Princess, but perhaps you should go now. I will tell
them that you stopped by-"
"I can't go yet. Cletos wants to know where Farla is, and I told
him I'd find her for him," Tayla told the Bathing Laborer firmly.
Dacos gasped in horror when Prince Jaypros and Princess Farla came
out of the bathhouse, dressed only in their robes, walking about serenely, as if
there was no one in the world but them. Farla was indiscriminately nibbling on
Jaypros' ear, and Jaypros had his muscular arm wrapped around Farla's waist
tightly. Jaypros was also boldly kissing Farla's white neck. Jaypros was a
masculine version of his sister, Gracina, and he was considered the second
handsome male in the Mantros Chloe family, next to his brother, Raakon. Farla
was lithe and delicate in appearance, an older version of her beautiful
daughter, Petalia.
Tayla was scandalized to see Jaypros and Farla acting like this.
What would she tell Cletos? Did she have to tell Cletos anything? Should she
tell Cletos anything? She was so shocked, that she did not think of her first
words to Jaypros and Farla, and they came out of her mouth faster than she could
think about not saying them.
"Are you two having an affair?" she asked them bluntly before she
could censor herself. To her credit, Tayla did not truly know any better.
Dacos gasped in horror, but he did not reprimand her; correcting her was not
really his job, so he held his tongue. He was a Bathing Laborer, not her
grandmother, her nursemaid, or her guardian.
A horrified Farla, however, had no reservations about scolding her
young cousin. "How dare you ask us such a thing?" she screeched at Tayla, who
almost shrank back from Farla's sharp tone. "I had thought that Nama had taught
you better manners than that!"
"Don't be so hard on her, Farla; she's only eight," Jaypros
protested. "She does not know any better."
"But you do," Tayla told him softly. "If you are having an affair,
it's adultery, and adultery is wrong. That is what Bajal told me. You can't
have an affair with Farla 'cause Farla's married to Cletos."
"T-Tayla," Jaypros laughed nervously, knowing that Tayla was right,
so he could not snap at her for butting in his business. "Farla and I are very
good friends; we were just spending time together."
"Cletos wanted to see Farla," Tayla told him. "I told him that I
would find her for him."
Farla paled. "Tayla, will you please go back and tell Cletos that I
will meet him for dinner later?" she asked in a more kindly tone. "I must get
dressed, and I cannot meet him right now."
"What shall I tell him, if he asks where I found you at?" Tayla
asked her.
"Just tell him th-that I was bathing," Farla stammered fearfully.
"You don't need to say anything else."
"Tayla," Jaypros began, as he knelt before his little sister and
took her tiny hands into his large ones. "Cletos would be very upset, if you
told him that Farla was with me. He would think badly of both of us, and Cletos
would be very hurt. You don't want Cletos to be hurt, do you?"
Tayla chewed on her lip uncomfortably. She looked down at her
slippered feet.
"Do you, Tayla?" Farla pressed. "Do you want Cletos' feelings hurt?
If you don't, then you must not tell Cletos that Jaypros was here with me. The
story you tell him is: I was bathing, so I could not come, and that I will see
him at dinner. That's all you have to say. It's that simple."
"And you are going away soon anyway, so there's no real chance that
Cletos would question you further," Jaypros added. Dacos glared at the royals
darkly, for trying to make an innocent child cover up a scandalous affair, but
he did not say anything; he didn't feel it was his place to do so.
"But you were kissing Farla's neck-that counts as adultery; Bajal
told me so," Tayla told him persistently.
"Does Bajal know about us?" Jaypros asked worriedly.
Tayla shook her head. "I don't think so. We were talking about a
couple of Bathing Laborers that the servants were talking about." Dacos shook
his aged head at this; he knew about Sedra and Trocos' affair, and he knew that
one day the two would get caught. He suspected that Superior Gran Shalila had
been having an affair with Commander Dirkan before they were wed, but Astoria's
leader had been a widow, and at least she and her bodyguard had done the right
thing and married, so there was nothing left to say about that. And they had
not been married to others when they had started courting.
"Tayla, just use the story that Farla gave you, okay?" Jaypros
pleaded. "There is no real need to say anything else."
"Um..." Tayla stammered, shifting from foot to foot.
"Tayla!" It was Shalila's voice. Jaypros, Farla, and Dacos froze
when they heard their ruler.
"Um...I have to go now...Nama's calling me," Tayla said quickly,
thankful for an excuse to get away. Tayla hurried away to where Shalila was
calling her from inside the entryway to the gardens and bathhouses.
"Tayla, wait, please," Jaypros begged. "Don't go just yet!"
Farla trembled with fear, especially when she heard another voice:
"Farla? Farla, where are you?" It was Aijal, Farla's father and
Shalila's second oldest son.
"My father!" Farla gasped. "Jaypros, I have to go; I am sorry!"
But she did not run towards her father's voice; instead she ran off in the other
direction.
"Tayla, there you are! I need you to come back sooner than I
thought, I am sorry," Shalila told her granddaughter. "The Tailoring Laborers
came sooner than I thought they would. You will need to be measured for your
new clothes for your trip."
Aijal addressed his youngest niece. "Tayla, did you ever find
Farla? Cletos told me that you went to find her."
"Um..." Tayla stuttered.
"Well?" Aijal pressed her.
"Yes," Tayla mumbled.
"What was she doing?" Aijal asked
"She was bathing." Tayla was not a good deceiver, and Shalila
quickly realized that Tayla was hiding something. She could read Tayla like a
book. Tayla was looking neither her nor Aijal in their eyes, and she was
squinting her eyes, sure signs that something was not right.
"Tayla," Shalila began firmly, but gently, "is there something that
you're not telling us?"
Tayla looked down at her feet again. She could never lie to Nama.
"Yes, Nama, but if I say anything, it will get someone in trouble."
Shalila continued, "Will it get this person in major trouble or
minor trouble?"
"Major trouble. Very major. I don't want these people to get in
trouble, even though they may have done something wrong."
"Well, Tayla," Shalila told her, "if they did something wrong, they
would deserve to get in trouble, don't you think?"
"That's just it, Nama. I don't know if they actually did what I
thought they did, but I know that if they did do what I thought they did, they
would get in big, big trouble, and someone's feelings would be hurt."
Aijal interrupted then. He peppered the girl with questions.
"Tayla, what did these people do? Is my daughter involved? Did someone ask you
to keep things a secret?"
"Well not exactly, Uncle Aijal, for you see, she just told me to
just say that she was bathing-Oops!" Tayla covered her mouth.
Shalila looked Tayla directly in her eyes. "Tayla, did Farla do
something that she wasn't supposed to do?"
Tayla nodded, but she said, "I don't like to tattle on people, or
get them in trouble."
"I know you don't," Shalila told her understandingly, "but sometimes
we have no choice but to tell. Just tell us what you think happened, and we
will decide if Farla and whoever else was involved should be confronted. Then
it will be our worry and not yours."
"They're going to hate me," Tayla whispered.
"No, they won't," Shalila promised her. Tayla beckoned Shalila to
bend down, so that she could whisper in her ear. Aijal thought about forcing
Tayla to say her secret out loud, but decided against it. He knew that his
mother would tell him, if she thought it necessary.
Tayla whispered what she knew in Shalila's ear, and Shalila listened
and nodded gravely. "Thank you, Tayla," she told her quietly, when Tayla had finished. "That is all I needed to know. Now return to your room, so that you may be measured for your dresses and uniforms."
"Am I going to get in trouble?" Tayla asked worriedly.
Shalila solemnly kissed her cheek. "No, dandelion, do not concern
yourself with this; this is no longer your worry." She gave Tayla a small smile
to reassure her, and then she patted Tayla's back and told her to go.
Shalila called to Tayla, just as Tayla was leaving, "Tayla, don't
mention this to anyone else just yet. Keep mum for now until I have a chance to
handle this problem."
"Yes, Nama!"
Jaypros had sent Dacos away, and not knowing what else to do, he sat
down on the stone bench and rested his head on his chin. Shalila came into the
bathhouse area; Aijal had left his mother to find his errant daughter. Aijal
had demanded that his mother tell him what was going on, but Shalila silenced
him with a withering glare and told him that he would know everything soon
enough-when she was ready to tell him. She had sent Aijal on his way and told
him to find Farla.
"Jaypros," Shalila said sternly, "we need to talk."
"A-about what, Nama?" he stammered.
"I think you know, Jaypros," Shalila told him severely, as she sat
down next to her grandson on the bench, rigid as one of the courtyard statues.
"If it's about me and Farla, Nama," Jaypros began, "we are just good
friends. You know that Farla and I have always been close, ever since we were
children."
"I am aware of that," Shalila continued in a steely tone. "I am
also aware of certain other things as well, such as you once loved Farla
yourself a long time ago, but before things became serious between you two,
Cletos had begun to woo her himself-"
"She has never truly loved Cletos!" Jaypros cried out fiercely.
"She loves me, and I love her!" Shalila was taken aback by Jaypros' outburst,
and then she started to worry. She had honestly been hoping that it had only
been a casual affair between Jaypros and Farla.
"So it is true then," Shalila told him finally. "You have been
having an affair with your brother's wife?"
Jaypros nodded shamefacedly, and Shalila felt a small spark of pity
for him. But she could not show her sorrow; she was the Superior Gran of
Astoria, and she had to maintain Astorian law and standards, even with her own
grandson. And she would have to correct her grandson and make him see the error
of his ways.
"Jaypros," Shalila said, keeping her uncompromising tone of voice,
"you know that what you are doing is wrong. You will have hurt your brother,
Cletos, greatly with your actions. How could you do this to your own brother?
How could Farla do this to her own husband? What has Cletos done to you two
that you two would do such a horrible thing to him? Cletos has done you no
wrong, Jaypros."
"I know," Jaypros mumbled miserably. "I don't wish to hurt him,
Nama, nor does Farla, but we love each other, and that fact can't be changed.
Nama, Farla wishes to divorce Cletos to be with me."
"I cannot allow it," Shalila said severely. Her gray eyes became
hard and stern, like the walls of stone surrounding the gardens. "She cannot
divorce Cletos just because her fancy in men has changed; you know that,
Jaypros. You must forget about her, I am sorry, but she is married to your
brother, and there is no true cause for her to divorce him for you. Cletos has
not cheated on her or abused her. If I allowed people to divorce their spouses
just because they happen to fall in love with someone else, Astoria's divorce
rate would go through the atmosphere. And think about the pain and scandal a
divorce would cause Dedron and Petalia, Farla's children who are innocent in
this. They do not deserve to be hurt just because their mother cannot keep her
caftan pulled down away from their father! They do not deserve to be hurt just
because their mother and their uncle can't keep their hands off of each other!"
"Nama, there is no need to be so crude about this," Jaypros told her
softly.
"Me, being crude?" Shalila hissed. "What do you call your sordid
affair with your brother's wife, Jaypros? Pure and clean? Where is Farla
hiding?"
"I-I don't know, Nama," Jaypros voice shook. "She-she left after
you called for Tayla."
"And about Tayla," Shalila continued angrily, "she had to witness
your nasty business with Farla. All right, so you did nothing more in front of
her than kiss Farla's neck, but still-"
"T-Tayla told you?" Jaypros cried in dismay. How could she do that
to me, her own brother?
"I made her," Shalila said stonily, "so do not take your anger out
on her. If you wish to be angry with someone, then you may be angry with me.
She did not want to tell on you two, but I insisted that she did. It was noble
of her to want to protect you, but she had misguided intentions. She is not a
good deceiver, Jaypros, and it was shameful for you both to involve that
innocent girl in hiding your illicit affair. What kind of example does that set
for her? And from what else I heard, you happen to be the talk of the Bathing
Laborers." She meant to confront Saudra and Aydra later about how long they
had known about Jaypros and Farla's affair.
Three days later.
"I'm going to miss everyone here," Tayla told her grandmother. "Are
you sure that I'm coming back home again?" Tayla was to leave for the Isle of
Chloe Orchid in one week, and Shalila, Gracina, and Mykia were helping her pack
her things.
Shalila smiled bravely and kissed her granddaughter. "Yes,
dandelion, you'll come back home again. I'll miss you, little one."
"Can't you and Dirkan come with me?" Tayla asked earnestly.
Shalila smiled sadly. "You know we can't, sweetheart. Who's going
to run Astoria while we're gone?"
"Raakon or Gracina can do it. Wait, couldn't they come, if you
couldn't?"
"Tayla," Shalila told her gently, "This trip you will have to be on
your own, with Orchida."
"I can't even take Mykia? Or my puppy, Hugs?" Hugs was Tayla's new
chocolate-colored cocker-spaniel-like dog with four floppy ears, instead of two;
all Astorian dogs had four ears and two tails. Bajal had given Tayla Hugs for
her eighth birthday, and Tayla thought that the little animal was the best gift
of all.
"Kami Orchida will let Hugs and Mykia come see you from time to time
with us, sweetheart," Shalila tried to reassure her.
"Don't let Hugs forget about me," Tayla said, as sternly as possible
for an eight-year-old.
Shalila smiled. "I won't, dandelion."
Tayla then started to worry about Mykia. "What's going to happen to
Mykia? She's going to be out of a job! She'll have to go back to Brimmel,
won't she? I don't want her to leave Chloe! She has to come with me, Nama!"
"Tayla, calm yourself," Shalila told her. "Mykia will be reassigned
as a domestic servant in the Palace. When you return home, she will be your
maid again. She's not going anywhere."
"Princess," Mykia told her softly, kissing Tayla on her worried
face. "I will be right here waiting for you when you come home to stay."
"And then I won't ever have to leave Chloe again, right?"
"Not if you don't want to," Shalila told her.
Gracina bent down and kissed Tayla on her cheek. "We all love you,
little Tayla, and we will miss you greatly."
Tayla hugged her fiercely, and Gracina hugged her back, as if she
never wanted to let Tayla go. If only Tayla had been her child, then Gracina
could have found a way to make Tayla stay. Well maybe not, since not even Nama
would oppose Orchida.
Tayla declared, "When I come back home, I am never, never, never
leaving my family again!" Shalila, Gracina, and Mykia laughed softly.
"What if you marry someone outside your Clan, Princess?" Mykia asked
her.
"I'll just have to marry someone in my own Clan, or he'll have to
live here on Chloe, or else I won't marry him!" Tayla told her firmly, as if
that matter was settled.
"Tayla is going away! Tayla is going away! Hey, ho, merry O,
Tayla's is going away! Yay!" Rojal crowed in front of his despondent sister,
Lelina, who had cried all night because her best friend was leaving her. Did
Great-Nama really have to send her away?
Riccan had picked fights with all of the other children, especially
little Nikon, as a way of relieving his feelings about Tayla leaving. Tayla was
one of his best friends, and one of the few viable sparring partners close to
his size. Nikon was still too small and weak to be of any use to Riccan as a
partner.
Kekron was trying to comfort Lelina, reassuring her that Tayla would
come back someday, and it made Lelina feel a little bit better, but not much.
Arlina had cried too, for although she was a Priestess in training, she was
still a little girl herself. Veal had also cried all night.
Tila, Tayka, and Nikon were too young to realize yet that Tayla
would not be playing with them and the others for a while. Jaca and Fayra were
sad too; they had not really been close to Tayla, but Tayla had always made
things fun and interesting. Petalia, Dedron, and Rojal were happy that Tayla
was leaving; maybe they'd get more time with Great-Nama, now that Tayla would be
gone. Petalia was jealous of Tayla's popularity and beauty, although at that
time Petalia was considered prettier than Tayla. The children from other Clan
of Chloe families were divided: two-thirds of the children knew they'd miss
Tayla greatly, but one-third agreed with Rojal, Dedron and Petalia, saying that
Rojal was right about Tayla receiving too much from Shalila.
"Rojal, you are mean!" Lelina exclaimed angrily. "Tayla is our aunt
and my best friend!"
"And?" Rojal prompted her. "I rank above her."
"You should show Tayla more respect, Rojal," Kekron scolded. "If
there is no other reason for you to show consideration for her, then respect her
because she is your aunt-and mine. And didn't Great-Nama make you swear Seven
Moons Oath that you would not be cruel to her anymore."
Rojal glared darkly at Kekron. "I am to be Superior Granden one
day, and she will have to respect me! She better just keep out of my
way-especially after that kiss she gave me at Great-Nama's wedding ball!" He
scrubbed his lips in disgust.
"It was just a dumb dare we did, Rojal," Kekron told him. "Tayla
and I fell down first and we had to kiss you and Petalia."
Rojal smirked. "How's that eye of yours, Kekron?" Kekron
unconsciously rubbed his swollen eye, given to him by Petalia. Kekron kissing
Petalia had inadvertently caused an argument between his father, Raakon, and
Petalia's father, Cletos, who had listened to an overdramatic, sobbing Petalia
claim that Kekron had accosted and molested her. Petalia had made Kekron seem
like an oversexed pervert, even though he was only twelve, and Cletos had
confronted Kekron and raged at him for bothering his daughter. Raakon had
intervened and insisted that Kekron tell exactly what he had done to Petalia.
Raakon didn't think that Kekron was right to force a kiss on Petalia, even on a
dare, but he didn't think that a quick kiss would traumatize Petalia for life.
He told Cletos that much, and Cletos took it entirely the wrong way.
"How would you like it, Raakon, if my Dedron had kissed your Arlina
like that?" Cletos had raged at his younger brother.
"Cletos, please, Kekron just did it because of a stupid game the
children had going," Raakon had tried to appease his brother. He had always
been one of the peacemakers in Mantros Chloe's family. He turned to his
embarrassed son. "But you won't do it anymore, will you, Kekron?"
"No, Father," Kekron had told his father, ashamed now.
"And you will apologize to Petalia," Raakon had continued. Kekron
muttered a quick, embarrassed apology to Petalia, who grudgingly accepted it.
"I'll forgive you this time, Kekron, but if you ever touch me again,
I'll have my father or my brother pound you into a bloody pulp!" Petalia had
replied resentfully.
"Petalia," Raakon scolded, "My son has apologized to you, so there
is no cause for you to threaten him like that." He sighed; he was surprised
that Petalia had not been chosen to be a warrior, for she was fierce and nasty
enough to be one. But Petalia had been born with too low a ki level to qualify.
Because of her powerful singing voice, she had been chosen to become an Artisan
instead, a singer. (Artisans on Astoria included singers, musicians, poets,
painters and anyone involved in fine arts.)
Cletos had been in a rotten mood to begin with before Petalia had
sobbed her story about Kekron to him. His marriage to his Scribe wife, Farla,
had not been going well lately; he suspected that Farla was cheating on him, but
he could not prove it. Farla being always pretty and flirtatious did not help
matters any either. So he had taken his anger out on Raakon and Kekron.
"Just keep your son away from my daughter until he learns to behave
himself," Cletos had scolded him.
Raakon had told Kekron not to worry about him and Cletos, and that
they would work things out, but Kekron still felt bad about what happened.
Kekron didn't feel like fighting with Rojal, so he merely said,
"It's healing, Rojal."
Rojal smirked again. "Let's hope Petalia's ego is healing too-for
your sake."
Cletos stopped by Tayla's room to give her a going-away present of a
new gold necklace with a small emerald. He was morose and worried about his
marriage to Farla; their marriage seemed to be falling apart, and they had not
mated for seven weeks. Farla seemed to be making more and more excuses why she
couldn't spend time with her husband, when before she had been complaining that
Cletos had never spent enough time with her. Cletos scratched his red hair that
was the same shade as his sister, Marya's (he was a masculine version of her and
of their mother, Tika). He suspected that Farla was having an affair, but he
couldn't figure out who it would be. Probably one of his man servants; there
were two young handsome men that regularly attended Prince Cletos that had been
showing too much interest in Princess Farla.
Tayla, after sensing Cletos coming, poked her head out of her
doorway. "Hello, Cletos!"
"Hello, Tayla! I have something for you." Cletos handed the child
her present, wrapped in pink tissue paper.
Tayla tore off the paper, and she squealed in delight when she saw
the necklace. "Thank you, Cletos! This is pretty! I like it!" Cletos put the
necklace on her neck, thankful that he managed to get it to her before Petalia
saw it. Petalia would have been furious that her father was giving Tayla a
necklace and not her, especially since emeralds were Petalia's favorite gems.
"Look, Nama, Gracina, Mykia! Look at what Cletos gave me!" Tayla
ran inside her room and showed them her new treasure.
Shalila smiled and examined Tayla's new gift. "It is a pretty
necklace, dandelion."
Tayla twirled around the room, so that she could see the chain of
her necklace swish about in rhythm to her flowing sky-blue caftan.
Cletos told the group, "I would stay, but I need to find my wife.
Has anyone seen her in the last few hours?"
No one had. Cletos sighed wearily. "She didn't come to breakfast
or lunch. She didn't go to the bathhouse today?"
All four females shook their heads, and now they were starting to
worry about Farla, as well.
"Maybe she's sick," Tayla spoke up.
"She would have gone to the Medical Wing, if she had, Tayla," Cletos
told her. "And no one saw her there either. I can't sense her ki anywhere."
"I'll find her," Tayla told him. "I need to go see Veal and Lelina
anyway."
"Don't you need to finish helping with your packing, dandelion?"
Shalila asked her reprovingly.
"I'll help when I get back, Nama, I promise," Tayla told her. "It
won't take but a couple of hours. And we have all week. We're almost done
anyway."
"Two hours, Tayla, and then you must return here," Shalila told her
firmly. "You have to be measured for new clothes for your stay at Chloe
Orchida." Tayla is growing so fast, Shalila thought.
Shalila hoped that Tayla would not have to grow up too soon.
"Tayla, you don't need to hunt my wife down, if there are things
that Nama needs to have you do," Cletos told her. "I will eventually find
Farla."
"Let her go, Cletos," Shalila told him. "She may as well spend as
much time as she can with her friends while she can. If she can find her puppy
when he gets lost in the wilderness, she can find your wife."
"Bye now! Be back soon!" Tayla told everyone, as she stepped out
the door of her chambers.
Tayla went down to the bathhouses, thinking that Lelina was probably
taking her bath, and that she would find her-and Farla-in the women's bathhouse.
She sensed her brother, Jaypros', ki coming from the couples' bathhouse.
Jaypros wasn't married; why would he be in the couples' bathhouse?
Tayla decided not to worry about it for the moment, as she headed for the
women's bathhouse. She called into the bathhouse and asked for Lelina and
Farla, but the Bathing Laborers told her that neither Lelina nor Farla were in
there.
"Princess Lelina has not come for her bath yet, Princess," Saudra, a
Bathing Laborer from the Clan of Ruben told her. "But I saw Princess Farla
heading for the couples' bathhouse." Then Saudra gasped in horror and covered
her wide mouth, as if she had already said too much.
"Why would she go there without Cletos?" Tayla asked her.
Saudra's first cousin, Aydra, who was a seventeen-year-old Bathing Laborer, also
from the Clan of Ruben, laughed salaciously. "That's a good question, Princess!
However that is one question only Princess Farla-and Prince Jaypros could
answer. This isn't the first time those two went into the couples' bathhouse
together." Aydra giggled. "The way those two act together, you would think
Prince Jaypros was Princess Farla's husband, instead of Prince Cletos!"
Saudra nearly cuffed Aydra. "Aydra! For shame, maligning the names
of Princes and Princesses of Chloe! You don't know the whole story!" Saudra
scolded her cousin sharply.
Aydra was not to be repressed. "Oh, stop it, Saudra! Princess
Tayla may as well know the truth, as you and I know it! You know as well as I
do, Saudra, that Princess Farla and Prince Jaypros are having an illicit
affair!" She winked at a confused Tayla, who had recently learned from
indiscreet Palace servants and her brother, Bajal, what "illicit affair" meant.
"Aydra! Hold you tongue-now!" Saudra screamed at her. Saudra
quickly spoke to Tayla, "Princess, please pay no mind to what my foolish cousin says; she never knows what she is truly saying. I'm sure Princess Farla will come out here soon; I'll just tell her you stopped by."
Aydra was no quieter after Saudra's outburst. "Tayla, don't worry
about Farla; I am sure that she and Jaypros will be out here shortly." She
grinned at Tayla, and Tayla noticed a malicious glint in Aydra's blue eyes. She
did not know that Aydra greatly disliked Cletos Chloe's family because Cletos'
bratty children, Dedron and Petalia, had played a mean prank on Aydra, nearly
getting her fired from the Palace' s employ. Aydra had not forgiven them yet,
especially since Prince Cletos and Princess Farla had let their children off
with only a slap on their royal wrists. Aydra had also made romantic overtures
to Prince Jaypros, who had snubbed her.
"Aydra," Saudra snapped. "You are not to speak the names of royal
members so casually. And you must not address Princess Tayla informally. You
know that you must always use 'Princess' before her name." She turned to Tayla
anxiously. "Princess, will you please excuse us? We must be returning to our
work."
"Wait!" Tayla exclaimed, "Jaypros and Farla wouldn't be having an
affair, would they, Saudra? Please tell me that they are not!"
"Princess," Saudra stammered nervously, "do you even know what an
affair is?"
Tayla nodded. She had ran into Bajal after hearing about Sedra and
Trocos' illicit affair from the servants, and after asking Bajal, who was not as
prudent as Shalila or Gracina, he had told her bluntly that Sedra was probably
cheating on her husband with Trocos. Tayla had asked Bajal why it was so bad,
and Bajal explained to his little sister that adultery was wrong, and that you
were supposed to be faithful to your mate, no matter what. Tayla liked asking
Bajal and their cousin, Lektron, about things like that because they didn't try
to censor anything that they thought would be inappropriate for a child at her
age to hear about.
"If Jaypros and Farla are having an affair, they would be doing
wrong, wouldn't they, Saudra?" Tayla pressed.
Saudra grew more uncomfortable. She did not want to be involved in
this situation, and even though she would never say so, she didn't think that
Tayla should be either. "It is best to ask your grandmother about that," she
told Tayla finally.
Before Tayla could ask anything else, Saudra took Aydra by her arm,
and they both hurried back into the bathhouse. They knew that leaving a
Princess of Chloe like that was rude, but Saudra did not want to cause
additional trouble for Prince Jaypros and Princess Farla, especially since they
only suspected that the royals were having an affair.
No one else was in the women's bathhouse, except for Saudra and
Aydra, who were cleaning up the building. Tayla left the women's bathhouse and
walked by the couples' bathhouse. She knew she could not enter, for the
couples' bathhouse was off-limits to children, so she just sat on a stone bench
in front of the bathhouse and waited.
Dacos, a male Bathing Laborer, came out of the bathhouse and noticed
Tayla sitting in front of the bathhouse. The elderly Laborer choked nervously
when he saw Tayla sitting there. He began to tremble. Prince Jaypros and
Princess Farla were in the couples' bathhouse, locked together in a private
bathing room, doing only Orchida knew what, and now Prince Jaypros' little
sister, Princess Tayla, had shown up. Dacos prayed to Orchida and the ancestors
and good spirits that the small princess would not suspect what her older
brother was up to with their first cousin, Princess Farla. Princess Farla was
Prince Etros and Prince Lektron's younger sister.
"Princess Tayla, what are you doing here?" Dacos finally spoke.
"You know that the couples' bathhouse is off-limits to children. Your
grandmother would not want you over here."
"I'm just waiting on my brother, Jaypros, and my cousin, Farla.
When are they coming out, if they are in there?"
"Soon enough, Princess, but perhaps you should go now. I will tell
them that you stopped by-"
"I can't go yet. Cletos wants to know where Farla is, and I told
him I'd find her for him," Tayla told the Bathing Laborer firmly.
Dacos gasped in horror when Prince Jaypros and Princess Farla came
out of the bathhouse, dressed only in their robes, walking about serenely, as if
there was no one in the world but them. Farla was indiscriminately nibbling on
Jaypros' ear, and Jaypros had his muscular arm wrapped around Farla's waist
tightly. Jaypros was also boldly kissing Farla's white neck. Jaypros was a
masculine version of his sister, Gracina, and he was considered the second
handsome male in the Mantros Chloe family, next to his brother, Raakon. Farla
was lithe and delicate in appearance, an older version of her beautiful
daughter, Petalia.
Tayla was scandalized to see Jaypros and Farla acting like this.
What would she tell Cletos? Did she have to tell Cletos anything? Should she
tell Cletos anything? She was so shocked, that she did not think of her first
words to Jaypros and Farla, and they came out of her mouth faster than she could
think about not saying them.
"Are you two having an affair?" she asked them bluntly before she
could censor herself. To her credit, Tayla did not truly know any better.
Dacos gasped in horror, but he did not reprimand her; correcting her was not
really his job, so he held his tongue. He was a Bathing Laborer, not her
grandmother, her nursemaid, or her guardian.
A horrified Farla, however, had no reservations about scolding her
young cousin. "How dare you ask us such a thing?" she screeched at Tayla, who
almost shrank back from Farla's sharp tone. "I had thought that Nama had taught
you better manners than that!"
"Don't be so hard on her, Farla; she's only eight," Jaypros
protested. "She does not know any better."
"But you do," Tayla told him softly. "If you are having an affair,
it's adultery, and adultery is wrong. That is what Bajal told me. You can't
have an affair with Farla 'cause Farla's married to Cletos."
"T-Tayla," Jaypros laughed nervously, knowing that Tayla was right,
so he could not snap at her for butting in his business. "Farla and I are very
good friends; we were just spending time together."
"Cletos wanted to see Farla," Tayla told him. "I told him that I
would find her for him."
Farla paled. "Tayla, will you please go back and tell Cletos that I
will meet him for dinner later?" she asked in a more kindly tone. "I must get
dressed, and I cannot meet him right now."
"What shall I tell him, if he asks where I found you at?" Tayla
asked her.
"Just tell him th-that I was bathing," Farla stammered fearfully.
"You don't need to say anything else."
"Tayla," Jaypros began, as he knelt before his little sister and
took her tiny hands into his large ones. "Cletos would be very upset, if you
told him that Farla was with me. He would think badly of both of us, and Cletos
would be very hurt. You don't want Cletos to be hurt, do you?"
Tayla chewed on her lip uncomfortably. She looked down at her
slippered feet.
"Do you, Tayla?" Farla pressed. "Do you want Cletos' feelings hurt?
If you don't, then you must not tell Cletos that Jaypros was here with me. The
story you tell him is: I was bathing, so I could not come, and that I will see
him at dinner. That's all you have to say. It's that simple."
"And you are going away soon anyway, so there's no real chance that
Cletos would question you further," Jaypros added. Dacos glared at the royals
darkly, for trying to make an innocent child cover up a scandalous affair, but
he did not say anything; he didn't feel it was his place to do so.
"But you were kissing Farla's neck-that counts as adultery; Bajal
told me so," Tayla told him persistently.
"Does Bajal know about us?" Jaypros asked worriedly.
Tayla shook her head. "I don't think so. We were talking about a
couple of Bathing Laborers that the servants were talking about." Dacos shook
his aged head at this; he knew about Sedra and Trocos' affair, and he knew that
one day the two would get caught. He suspected that Superior Gran Shalila had
been having an affair with Commander Dirkan before they were wed, but Astoria's
leader had been a widow, and at least she and her bodyguard had done the right
thing and married, so there was nothing left to say about that. And they had
not been married to others when they had started courting.
"Tayla, just use the story that Farla gave you, okay?" Jaypros
pleaded. "There is no real need to say anything else."
"Um..." Tayla stammered, shifting from foot to foot.
"Tayla!" It was Shalila's voice. Jaypros, Farla, and Dacos froze
when they heard their ruler.
"Um...I have to go now...Nama's calling me," Tayla said quickly,
thankful for an excuse to get away. Tayla hurried away to where Shalila was
calling her from inside the entryway to the gardens and bathhouses.
"Tayla, wait, please," Jaypros begged. "Don't go just yet!"
Farla trembled with fear, especially when she heard another voice:
"Farla? Farla, where are you?" It was Aijal, Farla's father and
Shalila's second oldest son.
"My father!" Farla gasped. "Jaypros, I have to go; I am sorry!"
But she did not run towards her father's voice; instead she ran off in the other
direction.
"Tayla, there you are! I need you to come back sooner than I
thought, I am sorry," Shalila told her granddaughter. "The Tailoring Laborers
came sooner than I thought they would. You will need to be measured for your
new clothes for your trip."
Aijal addressed his youngest niece. "Tayla, did you ever find
Farla? Cletos told me that you went to find her."
"Um..." Tayla stuttered.
"Well?" Aijal pressed her.
"Yes," Tayla mumbled.
"What was she doing?" Aijal asked
"She was bathing." Tayla was not a good deceiver, and Shalila
quickly realized that Tayla was hiding something. She could read Tayla like a
book. Tayla was looking neither her nor Aijal in their eyes, and she was
squinting her eyes, sure signs that something was not right.
"Tayla," Shalila began firmly, but gently, "is there something that
you're not telling us?"
Tayla looked down at her feet again. She could never lie to Nama.
"Yes, Nama, but if I say anything, it will get someone in trouble."
Shalila continued, "Will it get this person in major trouble or
minor trouble?"
"Major trouble. Very major. I don't want these people to get in
trouble, even though they may have done something wrong."
"Well, Tayla," Shalila told her, "if they did something wrong, they
would deserve to get in trouble, don't you think?"
"That's just it, Nama. I don't know if they actually did what I
thought they did, but I know that if they did do what I thought they did, they
would get in big, big trouble, and someone's feelings would be hurt."
Aijal interrupted then. He peppered the girl with questions.
"Tayla, what did these people do? Is my daughter involved? Did someone ask you
to keep things a secret?"
"Well not exactly, Uncle Aijal, for you see, she just told me to
just say that she was bathing-Oops!" Tayla covered her mouth.
Shalila looked Tayla directly in her eyes. "Tayla, did Farla do
something that she wasn't supposed to do?"
Tayla nodded, but she said, "I don't like to tattle on people, or
get them in trouble."
"I know you don't," Shalila told her understandingly, "but sometimes
we have no choice but to tell. Just tell us what you think happened, and we
will decide if Farla and whoever else was involved should be confronted. Then
it will be our worry and not yours."
"They're going to hate me," Tayla whispered.
"No, they won't," Shalila promised her. Tayla beckoned Shalila to
bend down, so that she could whisper in her ear. Aijal thought about forcing
Tayla to say her secret out loud, but decided against it. He knew that his
mother would tell him, if she thought it necessary.
Tayla whispered what she knew in Shalila's ear, and Shalila listened
and nodded gravely. "Thank you, Tayla," she told her quietly, when Tayla had finished. "That is all I needed to know. Now return to your room, so that you may be measured for your dresses and uniforms."
"Am I going to get in trouble?" Tayla asked worriedly.
Shalila solemnly kissed her cheek. "No, dandelion, do not concern
yourself with this; this is no longer your worry." She gave Tayla a small smile
to reassure her, and then she patted Tayla's back and told her to go.
Shalila called to Tayla, just as Tayla was leaving, "Tayla, don't
mention this to anyone else just yet. Keep mum for now until I have a chance to
handle this problem."
"Yes, Nama!"
Jaypros had sent Dacos away, and not knowing what else to do, he sat
down on the stone bench and rested his head on his chin. Shalila came into the
bathhouse area; Aijal had left his mother to find his errant daughter. Aijal
had demanded that his mother tell him what was going on, but Shalila silenced
him with a withering glare and told him that he would know everything soon
enough-when she was ready to tell him. She had sent Aijal on his way and told
him to find Farla.
"Jaypros," Shalila said sternly, "we need to talk."
"A-about what, Nama?" he stammered.
"I think you know, Jaypros," Shalila told him severely, as she sat
down next to her grandson on the bench, rigid as one of the courtyard statues.
"If it's about me and Farla, Nama," Jaypros began, "we are just good
friends. You know that Farla and I have always been close, ever since we were
children."
"I am aware of that," Shalila continued in a steely tone. "I am
also aware of certain other things as well, such as you once loved Farla
yourself a long time ago, but before things became serious between you two,
Cletos had begun to woo her himself-"
"She has never truly loved Cletos!" Jaypros cried out fiercely.
"She loves me, and I love her!" Shalila was taken aback by Jaypros' outburst,
and then she started to worry. She had honestly been hoping that it had only
been a casual affair between Jaypros and Farla.
"So it is true then," Shalila told him finally. "You have been
having an affair with your brother's wife?"
Jaypros nodded shamefacedly, and Shalila felt a small spark of pity
for him. But she could not show her sorrow; she was the Superior Gran of
Astoria, and she had to maintain Astorian law and standards, even with her own
grandson. And she would have to correct her grandson and make him see the error
of his ways.
"Jaypros," Shalila said, keeping her uncompromising tone of voice,
"you know that what you are doing is wrong. You will have hurt your brother,
Cletos, greatly with your actions. How could you do this to your own brother?
How could Farla do this to her own husband? What has Cletos done to you two
that you two would do such a horrible thing to him? Cletos has done you no
wrong, Jaypros."
"I know," Jaypros mumbled miserably. "I don't wish to hurt him,
Nama, nor does Farla, but we love each other, and that fact can't be changed.
Nama, Farla wishes to divorce Cletos to be with me."
"I cannot allow it," Shalila said severely. Her gray eyes became
hard and stern, like the walls of stone surrounding the gardens. "She cannot
divorce Cletos just because her fancy in men has changed; you know that,
Jaypros. You must forget about her, I am sorry, but she is married to your
brother, and there is no true cause for her to divorce him for you. Cletos has
not cheated on her or abused her. If I allowed people to divorce their spouses
just because they happen to fall in love with someone else, Astoria's divorce
rate would go through the atmosphere. And think about the pain and scandal a
divorce would cause Dedron and Petalia, Farla's children who are innocent in
this. They do not deserve to be hurt just because their mother cannot keep her
caftan pulled down away from their father! They do not deserve to be hurt just
because their mother and their uncle can't keep their hands off of each other!"
"Nama, there is no need to be so crude about this," Jaypros told her
softly.
"Me, being crude?" Shalila hissed. "What do you call your sordid
affair with your brother's wife, Jaypros? Pure and clean? Where is Farla
hiding?"
"I-I don't know, Nama," Jaypros voice shook. "She-she left after
you called for Tayla."
"And about Tayla," Shalila continued angrily, "she had to witness
your nasty business with Farla. All right, so you did nothing more in front of
her than kiss Farla's neck, but still-"
"T-Tayla told you?" Jaypros cried in dismay. How could she do that
to me, her own brother?
"I made her," Shalila said stonily, "so do not take your anger out
on her. If you wish to be angry with someone, then you may be angry with me.
She did not want to tell on you two, but I insisted that she did. It was noble
of her to want to protect you, but she had misguided intentions. She is not a
good deceiver, Jaypros, and it was shameful for you both to involve that
innocent girl in hiding your illicit affair. What kind of example does that set
for her? And from what else I heard, you happen to be the talk of the Bathing
Laborers." She meant to confront Saudra and Aydra later about how long they
had known about Jaypros and Farla's affair.