Questions of a King.
For the first time in a long time, His Royal Majesty, King Jonathan of Tortall didn't know how to handle the unexpected visit of the foreign visitor that had been taking up residence in one of the Palace guest rooms for at least a week and a half now….without explaining exactly why he was here.
The man had arrived almost on his doorstep without any of the pomp or ceremony that Jon had come to expect of the State visits and without preamble, had explained that he was Kotoko Shihagiri, one of the ten royal advisors to His Imperial Highness, Rising Sun of the Western Kingdoms and All that Lay Therein. With uncustomary un-Yamani-like frankness, he explained that he was here, not to pay a visit to the royal couple (may their marriage be showered by fortune), but to speak to the Mindelans that had once saved the Sacred Swords from desecration and more specifically, to Lady Keladry of Mindalen who had lived in His Imperial Highness's Golden Lotus Court as a child. It was imperative that he be able to speak with them with all due haste.
That said, he had sat down on the floor of the Guest Room and promptly become their Majesty's newest lawn ornament, eating little and moving not at all from his bowed position. Only the word that Lord Shihagiri still responded when spoken to had convinced Jonathan that the Yamani ambassador had not indeed turned into a slab of granite where he sat.
Although even those responses didn't really explain much. Gary had tried to divine his reason for coming…only to be met with painfully polite evasions. Shinkokami had come to seek out news of the Yamani Islands...only to spend the rest of the afternoon listening to a solemn lecture on her duty to both the Yamani and Tortallan people as a Princess to both kingdoms. He had even sent Miles of Olau to speak with the ambassador…only to have Miles come out and tell him, rather sheepishly, that he and the ambassador had had a rather delightful conversation on their different experiences growing up in court.
And if Miles of Olau, his chief Spymaster and information gatherer, couldn't pry anything out of the stone-faceed Yamani, Jonathan was pretty sure that he wasn't going to have much more luck in that department, no matter what Gary said.
With a mental sigh, Jonathan gave the door one polite rap and eased into the room with a perfunctory nod of his head. "Ambassador Shihagiri."
The man looked up, in what had to be the first movement in days at least, and upon seeing who it was, immediately bowed his head over his knees until his forehead touched the ground. Almost as if he had memorized the speech by rote, and Jonathan was sure he had, he began, "My Imperial Emperor sends greeting to his cousin by blood and marriage and hopes that the flower of knowledge and freedom in the Eastern Lands, the most luminous country of Tortall itself, prospers and blooms as any seedling would under the tender care of vigilant caretaker."
Jonathan's lips twitched in carefully concealed amusement. Trust a Yamani to orchestrate a beautifully executed poetic masterpiece that simply said, 'Hello.'
"Please rise. There need not be such formality amongst allies." When the ambassador had settled back in his former position, Jon knelt on a cushion that a silent servant had placed on the floor and for a few minutes, the two men regarded each other contemplatively. After a while, Jonathan folded his hands on his lap and said candidly, "I have dispatched messengers to the south and west, and while the Lady and Lord of Mindalen are serving as Our ambassadors in the Empire of Carthak, Sir Keladry of Mindalen sends word that she comes with all due haste and shall be arriving within the day."
Something that might just have been relief flickered in the careful blankness of the ambassador's almond-brown eyes and he inclined his head slightly in acknowledgement and thanks. "On behalf of my Master, his Imperial Majesty, I do thank you for the promptness in which you have sent for Lady Keladry, Your Highness. Truly as a good neighbor should, you offer your hand to us in time of our need."
Well that was as good an opening as he was ever going to get. Leaning forward, Jonathan replied quietly, with almost (just almost) Yamani-like grace, "Ambassador Shihagiri, you have honored my Palace with your visit for one and a half weeks now, and you have told no one of your reason for this visit. And yet, many can see the anxiety that rests heavy on your brow, and we would wish to know if we can offer more in order to alleviate your burden."
Immediately, the ambassador bowed again. "Such words show the true friendship and honor that the Crown of Tortall gives to its Yamani neighbors. I give you most fervent thanks for Your concern. The Sovereign of Tortall is a most gracious host and this humble servant from a distant sovereign is grateful and flattered by your generosity of spirit, so little seen in the world of today."
Jon paused, easily seeing the evasions through all the flowery flattery. "But…can we help you?"
"You are wise as well as gracious," the ambassador looked at him with a calm, bland eye and folded his hand serenely in his lap, "and the people of Tortall are lucky indeed to be blessed with such a king. We have heard rumors in the Yamani court of the beauty and bounty of Tortall but I did not truly believe until I came here. Is this a particularly fruitful year or is it this….normal?" There was a smidgen of doubt in Lord Shihagiri's voice, as if he truly doubted that Tortall could ever be this wonderful, despite rumor.
Jon sighed as the ambassador rather smoothly switched topics again and this time tried also to needle his pride into defending his country, thereby forgetting to continue on his former vein of discussion. Very clever, this ambassador. All I've learned so far is that whatever this is…he's holding it so close to his heart that nothing short of Carthaki black-robe could pry it out of him, and even then, I doubt it. Or Numair. But my old friend has, unfortunately at this time, a pesky thing called morals.
It's like trying to woo a maiden, prying his secret out of him. All you get is, "Thank you for caring. I won't tell you anything, but now then, let's talk about you."
Jonathan made the barest of responses, trying not to be annoyed.
But he was. Just a little. He wouldn't show it of course….but…well…Goddess Bless it, this was his castle, in his city and he wanted to know
why there was a brightly robed Yamani High Lord sitting in his ambassadorial suites, seeming, for all the world, to be trying to turn himself into a slab of stone!
Jon eyed him for a moment longer, then said abruptly, "If I had a mind to be offended, I could take your evasions to me and my court in a very negative light."
He expected excuses, perhaps more flattery and disavowal of any evasions, but the Yamani Lord nodded soberly, once more touching his head to the floor, "I apologize, Your Highness, but this small prevarication is necessary…at least until the Lady Keladry arrives. Please allow me my small eccentricities a while longer."
"And then you will tell us this great secret when my Knight arrives?"
"I will tell you all that I am allowed to tell."
Jon just nodded and gave a mental sigh. When I was a child, there was a reason I wanted to be king right? So I could snap my fingers and Gods willing, my word be done. And here I am. Still waiting. Doesn't this job have any perks anymore?
Almost as if his thoughts had been an impetus, a herald messenger burst through the door, giving the barest imitation of a bow before gasping, having obviously run long and hard, "Yer…Majesty. Ye wanted t'know th'minute…th'Lady Knight….stepped foot'n Corus, sir. Well, sh'n the Knight Commander'r comin' down the main boulevard, ridin' like th'hounds o' the Black God r'on their heels…yer worship." He added the title belatedly and slumped against doorframe, completely exhausted.
"Good man," Jon said with an approving nod, "Thank you for telling us. Before returning to your post, take a few minutes off to rest and feed yourself. You must be tired and I don't want you to be dehydrated."
The man flashed his sovereign a gap-toothed grin and a jaunty salute before disappearing out the door. When the runner had left, Jonathan let himself smile complacently at the Yamani ambassador.
I love my job.
~*~
Keladry had barely gotten off Peachblossom before she was hauled into Lalasa's sitting room with barely a "Hello, m'lady. It's good to see you again." And there, she ran upon an insurmountable ambush that not even she could run around: three ladies with various bolts of cloth and determined expressions on their faces.
For the next hour, they mauled her and draped with various combinations of Mindalen blue and cream, snaked measuring tapes across her waist ("You've gotten skinnier, m'lady! Don't they feed you?!") and arms and legs until she barely kept from screaming with the thinnest thread of her considerable Yamani will. Jump, the traitor, sat in a corner well away from all the bustling ladies, opened his mouth in a pant and laughed at her.
"Lalasa," she said to her former servant from between her clenched teeth, "I don't have time for this. I need to see the ambassador immediately and really, I don't think he would care if I walk in there as naked as a jaybird as long as I get there!"
Lalasa smiled at her sweetly as she pinned together a pattern for one of Kel's kimono sleeves but merely replied, "You haven't been in the Palace a long time, m'lady, if you think you can just off your horse and waltz into the ambassadorial suites with the mud still stuck to the heel of your boot. And no one's going to say that I'm not taking care of you right letting you do that."
Kel rolled her eyes; she couldn't help it. "I was twenty one this past spring! I think I'm a tad too old to be taken care of, don't you?"
"Nobles are never too old to be taken care of," one of the other servants provided helpfully, "They think they have the world resting on their shoulders and forget to do normal stuff. Like eat. And run a hot shower."
Kel flushed. Tobe had said the same thing more than once when she had become dug into 'plottin' and plannin' mischief' as he called it. Without him, her workroom would be consumed by the sheer mass of papers, folders, and maps and she would be hard pressed to find decent space to even think about sitting down.
"Be that as it may, it's because we think the world is 'resting on our shoulders' that we try to change it and make it better and Lalasa can I please go now?!" If she wasn't too old and too mature to do it, her voice would have been called nearly a whine and she fixed Lalasa with an exasperated if-I-don't-get-out-of-here-in-five-seconds-there's-going-to-be-some-unusable-ripped-fabric-lying-around glare.
The seamstress grinned and finally (finally!) waved the rest of her helpers off and tossed Kel a bundle of clothing. "Get behind that screen and change, m'lady. Tian, Jenny and I will have the rest of the designs done by tomorrow night, won't we ladies?" A chorus of cheerful agreement filled the room and Kel ducked gratefully behind the screen.
"Don't make anything too elaborate, please," Kel pleaded as she hauled on the soft, full legged pants and the loose shirt. "I need to walk and fight in those!"
Lalasa sighed wistfully, "As you wish, m'lady. But when are you going to come to me for something finer? Like…a ball gown or a woman's riding habit instead of your usual pants and shirts. Maybe even a wedding dress." There was a sputtered squawk and the screen that Keladry was behind almost fell down as she knocked clumsily against it.
"A whaat?!"
"Well, it's about that time," Lalasa offered philosophically as the other ladies stuffed their fists into their mouth to keep from laughing. "Girls are usually ten and eight when their mums begin eyein' the young bucks and buying debutant dresses. You've not even made your official bow and you're one and twenty."
The Lady Knight emerged from behind the screen, her face in a Lump expression but her ears were burning a deep shade of pink. "I made my bow as a knight of the realm. I don't need to be reintroduced to court, Lalasa; they know me." She gave the others a small smile of thanks and hugged her former maid. "Thank you. I'll catch up with you later, alright?"
Almost in the same breath, she was gone, her footsteps fading down the hall as she shouted for a page to bring her to the guest rooms. Lalasa sighed, "She gets older and older every time I see her," she said nostalgically. "I remember when she was still growing like a weed and ripping the seams out of her clothes at least every week or so."
"They never stay young for long," Jenny agreed, "I've got two of 'em myself, and boy they can't wait to leave their old mum and join the Riders. And they're only twelve! They're always in a hurry to grow up and do something."
"Well this young lass is hurrying so much, she forgot her boots," Tian chuckled quietly, eyeing the abandoned pair of muddy leather boots that Jump was currently worrying with his teeth, "I wonder how far she'll get before she sends back for them?"
~*~
Kel was very aware she had no boots on a few minutes later as she sat drinking green tea, not only with High Lord Shihagiri of the Kotoko family, but also with the sovereign of her own country, who frequently glanced at her stocking-ed feet as if to make sure that one of his knights had really run around the castle without her shoes on.
Stone, Kel reminded herself, calmly taking a sip of nice, rich tea from her cup, let all of it roll over and off you like water.
She turned back to the High Lord, setting her cup carefully on the lowered table with a barely audibly click. Studying her hands meditatively, she began quietly, "I must confess to some confusion over your note, my Lord Shihagiri."
King Jonathan lifted his eyebrow in query, "If you wouldn't mind Keladry, my lord, what note are you speaking of?"
Kel gave him a distracted look of apology, and fished the square of paper from her belt pouch. "Milord Raoul gave this note to me in addition to the Yamani family's imperial seal, your Majesty," She said, passing him the note with both hands, "when he road up to New Haven to retrieve me."
The king studied it for a moment, his brow furrowing in concentration before he glanced up at Keladry and the Yamani ambassador, almost accusingly, "This seems to be a bit of poetry, if I'm not mistaken, about flowers."
Kel nodded, her eyes a little disturbed although no other emotion showed on the Yamani calm of her face. "The falling of flowers, I assume these are Sakura blooms, are often an euphemism for death or an end to a cycle, your Majesty, just as we might use the phrase 'eternal rest' or 'in the Black God's hands'. 'Chi' can mean life energy, or balance within and with nature, but it is also the character for blood. The imperial seal tells me that the royal family that is under attack and perhaps even specifically, the Emperor." She glanced at the silent ambassador, tightening her clammy hands around the warmth of the teacup. "But I hope I am wrong, my Lord, when I say you imply there are assassins in the Golden Lotus Court that have gotten past the royal bodyguards to touch the Emperor himself."
Shihagiri bowed his head. "You are not incorrect, Keladry of Mindalen, although it shames me to admit it. There has been protest against one of Yamani royal blood marrying a foreigner, no matter how high in rank and no matter how honored our ally. There have been demonstrations against it on the street of the capital itself. My Emperor rode out to quell it and in the middle of the Royal procession, an assassin got through the bodyguards and stabbed the Son of Heaven. We subdued and detained him of course, but," the Yamani's eyes were bleak, "while held in detention, he swallowed a cyanide tablet and killed himself. There have been three more attempts since then"
Jonathan narrowed his eyes, a muttered oath passing through his lips and Kel tightened her fingers around her mug until the knuckles showed white. "How long has this been going on?" Jonathan demanded, "And why did you not inform us that your people were against this alliance?"
"We did not want to trouble our allies," Shihagiri sighed, "In time of war, it was necessary to find allies and the citizens of the Islands were in agreement. It is only that now, they believe that Yaman, like a sunflower that swivels its head to follow the sun, should look back west upon itself and worry no more of outsiders and their wars. His Imperial Highness, in his wisdom, did not think that would be possible and sought an alliance with Tortall, having found their ambassadors to be strong of will and mind, on par with the oldest of the Yamani houses." He looked up and caught Kel's eyes. "That is why we need you to protect the Emperor. Come back to the Yamani Islands, Lady Keladry, and take up your place in his court again."
"You want me to go to back to the Yamani Islands," Kel's voice was curiously flat and emotionless, "To protect the Emperor."
"Yes." The ambassador nodded once.
Jonathan glanced between them, "If you wish to go, Sir Keladry, I will give you royal permission and ambassador's status."
"I don't think an ambassador's status is going to save me from what Lord Shihagiri has planned." Kel murmured, a funny tone in her voice. She looked at the ambassador steadily for a long time then abruptly shook her head. "I believe that we have two different definitions of the word 'protect', my Lord." She said quietly. "I think your definition would be detrimental to my health."
"What?" Jon asked sharply.
She looked at him with cold eyes. "I am to be used as a scapegoat, Your Majesty. If I go back to the Islands, what m'Lord is hoping is that they'll stop targeting the Emperor and go after me instead. Since I am gaijin and the Emperor is not. What better way to stop them from killing the Emperor than to give the people another person to hate?" She glanced at the Yamani ambassador. "Forgive me for being frank. Perhaps I have misjudged your motives?"
Shihagiri wouldn't look at Kel, "You have a duty to the Yamani Emperor as well as your own King, Keladry of Mindalen and the Inner Lotus Court."
Keledry said nothing, but she never looked more forbidding and angry beneath her expressionless façade as she did then.
Tbc…
Glimpse of the future:
"What's got you so mad?" Dom looked at his friend with troubled eyes as she swung and twisted her glaive around her head, the spearhead flashing and glittering angrily. At an attempt at levity, he added, "You'll be there to protect the Emperor. You would have gotten shot at anyway. I think they list that as part of the job contract."
s
Kel snarled. "I…hate…it when people…try to…use me….like I'm some sort of dray horse….or packmule….or some…thing…that's there for their….pleasure! And I especially hate it when…they think I'm too stupid….to understand that! Does he think I don't know what's going on? He wanted me to go to the Islands with him….without ever telling me….that they were using me as a scapegoat….to all of the Yamani population…and he wanted me to bring Mother and Father!" With that she slammed her glaive on the ground, panting hard. "He doesn't care if we die…public apologies to the Crown for the death of their Knight are easy to make after the fact….that's how low he thinks of us, Dom."
RTR (response to readers: my favz)
mae15 - ^^;; I don't know if this is 'soon', but here t'is! Hope it doesn't disappoint!
queenofdiamonds - :-D I hope it turns out Kel/Dom too….even though our cute, dry-witted young sergeant has yet to make an appearance.
jazy716 - =^^= thanks! I didn't know if it was original or not and I came in like "oh-kay, I'm going to get crucified for yet another over used plot-idea." -_-;; thanks for the reassurance and I hope you liked the second chapter!
Felix The Phoenix - O.o;; I…er…guess I deserved that…heehee. Me: *Hands Felix insults on a platter* er…I wrote the next chapter so please don't…faint….yes….you might like, conk your head on a table or something…and I'd be responsible for your resultant concussion….^^;;; and that would make me feel bad.
clarylissa – err…*_^ ? heehee
Tweety - =^^= thank you for the review! And I'll try to continue it as regularly as possible!
Lady Sandrilene - ^^;;; sorry, I don't think k/n is remotely possible at this point…since I said in the first chapter that Neal was married to Yuki and just broke his hand trying to help his wife deliver their first child as comic relief. I REALLY don't want Neal cheating on Yuki, and I think he's too chivalrous to do that anyway…so sorry!
Cartooned - :-D is this considered soon m'lord ruler of the world? Don't tell her I said this, but you know that girl over there? Well she said she's the Insanest Ruler of the World and there isn't anyone as insane as she is…..heehee
Darke Angel –the "D' in D/K at least in this story is Dom….^^ no…it's Kel and a Dustbunny romance, forbidden love! She was a knight…and he was sucked up by a vacuum cleaner! Can they ever find each other across the social and physical gulf that separates them? Hee hee, no no, I'm kidding. I have a weird sense of humor. Don't mind me.
Jamie – thank you for your review and critique! I love it when people give me tips on how my writing is. And yes, the poem is written Japanese because it seemed to me that Tamora Pierce really took off that culture to describe the Yamani. All the terminology was, anyway. Perhaps I'm wrong?
Muse: wouldn't be the first time, you dork.
Me: Shut up…..
As you can see, my muse and I don't get along. *laughs* hope you liked this chapter!
Vilranda – I hope that kind of explained how Kel knew when she had only three lines of poetry and a seal to go by. She made the comment to Raoul once that they made poetry of blossoms falling or the patterns of it in the air etc, so one would assume that she would understand all those Insightful and Meaningful nuances of Yamani poetry. ^^;;
Verne Lata – thank you for your praise! I hope I continue to live up to your standards and keep the characters from spinning wildly out of character. :-) I hope you got my email about my fic…if not, my dratted Yahoo isn't working…AGAIN! Thanx for the suggestion about the mailing list thing!
If anyone else wants to be put on a mailing list, I'd be glad get an email out to you. Just toss your email addy out to me in a review and I'll give you a shout out when I post the next chappy. Take care all….and gee, doesn't that button that says "review" look so goshdarned lonely? *smiles hopefully*