Title: Lonely at the Top Ch 2/? (Six at the moment, but it's running away
with me.)
Author: Kate, k4writer02@yahoo.com
Disclaimer: I do not own Kalasin, Lianne, Buri, Kaddar, Carthak, Tortall or any of the people/places named in this story. I am not making a profit and no infringement is intended.
Rating: PG
Summary: In a time of loneliness and need, Kalasin Iliniat of Conté, empress of Carthak, receives a visit from her sister the princess Lianne of Conté and her friend Buri.
Authors Note: Please review. I've never written a Tamora Pierce story before, and I'd really like to know if I'm doing justice to the originals. Thanks for reading! I appreciate it.
Ch 2
In her suite at the palace, Kalasin hastily removed her sandals. The shoes were heeled in the style of the Empire, and even after four years of practice, the straps did vicious things to her feet. "Oh." She gasped to empty air. "Oh, that's better."
She began to work at unbuttoning the heavy dress. The garment was designed for appearance, not for the wearer's comfort. It was garishly colored, heavily embroidered and encrusted with jewels. Kalasin could barely stand the waste the gown represented. She could've freed a slave for the same price as this gown. The fabric, the stitching and the gems had cost more than she could justify, since she didn't actually take pleasure in the garment. At least the gems could be reused. Perhaps the fabric could be cut down to a smaller dress after the baby was born.
Kalasin shed the heavy fabric and stood in her undergarments, breathing quickly to cool herself. The suite had been specially altered to fit her specifications. Numair had accompanied her to Carthak four years ago, to leave her for her training. With his coercion and guidance, one of the university mages had found a way to chill the air and fan it through her suite. The temperature delighted her.
She reached toward her hair, which had been ruthlessly styled this morning. She couldn't undo it before the state dinner that evening. She sighed. As Empress, she both set and followed Carthaki styles. She had been unable to change the hairstyles this far, and she wasn't particularly fond of the elaborate, restrictive headwear favored by the ladies of the empire. But there was only so much the conservatives would tolerate-and deviance in dress would upset them more deeply than quiet, behind the scenes work to free their slaves and ameliorate the conditions in which prisoners lived.
The door that connected her suite to the guest suite swung open, and Lianne burst through. "Oh, Kally, how are you, really?" Lia froze when she saw that Kally was basically standing in her underwear, trying to cool off.
"I am so glad to see you." Kalasin said softly and honestly. She did not try to cover herself modestly or shrink away from her sister's scrutiny. "I was worried about you, though. I didn't think you would leave home with conditions as dangerous as they are."
Lia tisked briskly, overcoming her surprise at her sister's condition. "You shouldn't let them work you so hard, Kally. You're not taking care of yourself."
Kalasin let out a strangled giggle. "Well, that's why they sent you, isn't it? To take care of me."
"For the next few months at least. Hush." Lia said, frowning as she looked around the room.
"No one's eavesdropping. I have it checked for listening spells twice a week, and I personally control all of the adjoining suites. All servants have been reassigned to other locations for the afternoon."
Lia breathed a sigh. Kally didn't have a devious bone in her body. "Are you sure about the listening spells? Some are very subtle."
"Numair set up a wall of protection for me. It also gives off innocuous noise to anyone who cares to try to eavesdrop. I myself have the Gift, and check my rooms frequently. In addition, I pay a number of different mages to maintain my security. If one is paid to miss something, another catches it."
Lianne saved her breath and bit her tongue to keep from pointing out that someone willing to pay one mage would have few qualms about paying others. "You look fabulous." She remarked, studying her sister. "The sun here has darkened your skin a bit. Very becoming." She commented. "Your hair is shining, your eyes are bright, your teeth are flawless and all present-I believe I can give mother and the superficial biddies at home a good report."
Kalasin laughed. "You have a strange way of measuring my appearance. Not a single mention of my figure?"
Lianne shook her head and embraced her older sister. "How much longer?" She asked.
"Three months till the baby's born." Kalasin said, resting a protective hand over her swollen stomach.
"I meant how long till dinner?"
"Two hours." Kalasin sighed. "Hand me my robe, I need to sit down."
Lia fetched it for her, biting her tongue from voicing her worry about how tired Kalasin seemed. Her sister all but collapsed in the chair, leaning her head back against it and yawning. "You shouldn't have come out to meet me." Lia scolded. "You look worn out."
"Behold your future." Kalasin said dryly. "When you marry the prince of Maren, you'll find yourself running all about showing the commoners that you value motherhood by running yourself ragged while pregnant."
Lia pouted at her sister.
"Sorry." Kalasin sighed and resettled herself in the chair, and looked down to adjust her dressing gown. "I'm just desperate for some gossip from home. Letters aren't the same." Kally looked up. "I need to hear all about the Great Progress and the Maren Prince who's courting you. And the details of the Scanran war that I can handle. And don't leave out a single word of Alianne's story."
Lia flushed uncomfortably. "Let me hang up that gown. That's no way to treat good fabric." She imitated their dressmaker, Kuri, flawlessly. It used to draw a smile at least from the princess, but the empress just closed her eyes guiltily. "I mean it. Stop pushing yourself so hard." Lianne lectured. "I know how badly you want to change this country, but you can't do it if you drop dead of exhaustion."
"You've been here an hour and you're already lecturing me?" Kalasin asked, in a tone too tired to be tart.
Thoroughly alarmed, Lia paused, arms full of fabric. "Has it been so bad as all that, then?" She asked sympathetically, using the more colloquial speech of the commoners, which Alianne of Pirate's Swoop had taught them.
Kalasin shook her head. "No, no. It's not like that. Kaddar really is wonderful, you know. He treats me. . ." She smiled, "I was about to tell you he treats me like a queen, but really, it's better than that. He loves me, I know. I'm lucky."
"Love does a lot, when you're trapped in a foreign land." Lianne allowed. "But it doesn't stop you from missing home."
"You speak from experience?" Kalasin skillfully redirected the conversation.
"Time for that later." Lianne said. "Tell me, have you thought about names yet?" She asked.
Kalasin nodded. "We've started by striking off the things we know we don't want. Ozorne, obviously is off the list."
Lianne laughed, grateful to witness Kalasin's sense of humor. "Might as well strike Jasson, Roald and Jonathan off the list too."
"Whatever for?" Kalasin asked. "I like my brothers and father."
"Aye, but think of the poor school children who'll have to learn our history. They won't be able to keep all the Jassons and Jonathans and Roalds straight as is."
"Anything for future students." Kalasin smirked.
Lianne sighed. "It really is remarkable."
"What?"
"You."
"Me?" Her sister laughed.
"Yes, you. I spent a year with the Court of Maren, you know, and their Princess is a lovely little thing. I met the new Queen of the Copper Isles, and she is quite nearly breathtaking. I've known mother since I was in my cradle, and I spend plenty of time in front of my mirror. But you're more beautiful than any of us. Pity you're married."
"Oh, not you too." Kalasin said in disgust. "I feel like a wine skin that's too full and heating up in the sun. I'm ready to burst all the time, from the heat and the hormones."
"I think it's the dreamy, content expression when you talk about the baby and Kaddar." Lianne evaluated. "And you're such a blend of our parents. Yes, I think it's true. Mother has finally been surpassed as the world's most beautiful royal."
"She'll be delighted to hear it." Kalasin said tartly. Like most young women, Kalasin enjoyed compliments, but she refused to allow pleasure in her appearance to deteriorate to vanity. "Stop. If I wanted a litany about my beauty I'd call one of the poets. I want to hear about you and the Court of Maren. What did you think of the Prince?"
"No one will ever call him handsome or clever unless they're trying to flatter the fool." Lianne laughed a bit scornfully. "But he's a good enough man, I suppose." She tried to coax the displeased look off her sister's face. "He'd rather be a priest than a Prince, but he'll do his duty or find competent advisers to do it for him. Of course, he could leave it all to me, the stuck-up Tortallan who doesn't know her place."
Kalasin shivered at Lianne's cynical bitterness. "It's not so bad, not knowing your place." She murmured sympathetically.
Lia laughed at her, shaking off the dark cloud. "I brought it all on myself. I was so sure I knew the right way to do everything that I started correcting everyone."
"You were just enthusiastic." Kalasin murmured.
"Arrogant is more like." Lia confessed. "I stayed with a good family, though." She said wryly.
Kalasin nodded. "Did you take care of any children while you were there? I remember hearing that Maren women are very devoted to the maternal aspect of the Goddess."
"I did take care of the children in the family." Lianne confirmed. "It's the one thing that redeemed me in their eyes. Instead of being hopeless, I just need work." She rolled her eyes.
"Oh, so young Lianne put her skills to work, did she?" Kalasin teased.
Lianne blew a raspberry at the older woman. "I may have shirked baby- sitting as a child, but it was only because you loved the duty so." She adopted an innocent tone.
"You're lucky we won't see each other frequently." Kalasin tisked. "I won't have to explain to my children that you're a terrible liar."
Lianne giggled. "Oh, I did miss you." She said suddenly.
Kalasin sighed. "I should bathe before dinner. It's likely to be quite warm in the dining hall."
"How charming." Lianne commented sarcastically. "We have some time left. Now, I want to hear about you."
"Running an empire may sound glamorous but really it's a lot of painstaking administration and trying to help people who don't want help and don't want to be happy and don't want to change." Kalasin shook her head. Her sister already knew that. "I'm sure you know as much about the politics of my empire as you want to, so I won't bore you with details. There are still problems along the borders, but each year Kaddar and I get stronger. I'm changing things quietly. There are no slaves in this palace, only hired servants. I'm starting schools throughout the nation, and making it law that all children, even slaves, must attend long enough to learn letters and numbers. I'm working on programs that allow slaves to earn freedom and send messages to their families."
Lianne sent her friend a quizzical look.
"Uncle George and I have been writing letters lately. He's developed new sympathy for slaves since Aly disappeared. He pointed out that it was quite possible that some silly girls who have families willing and able to pay for their freedom may have been taken for slaves. There are families who would sacrifice everything to recover their daughters and sons. I simply give them the opportunity to do so."
Lianne sighed. Kalasin was an intelligent woman, but not every family had the means to buy back a lost son or daughter. Some families even sold their children in order to keep the rest of the family together. "It's a wonderful idea." She said simply, though the impractical side of things had immediately caught her attention.
"I know it's not perfect. My reforms eat up a lot of money, and it's so hard to measure the benefits. It's hard to know if morality always beats the bottom line, but I have to try." Kalasin said, and there was such pure passion in her eyes that Lianne blinked. "You know it's always been their Majesties' practice to buy back Tortallans, but how can they do that if they don't know who the Tortallans are?"
"You get that idealism from Mother and Father too. The idea that you can make the world a better place."
"I can." Kalasin insisted. "So could you." Lianne's face closed. "But it is hard work." Kalasin conceded lamely.
"And it's a tough balance, doing all that noble reform quietly and keeping your Court in line and happy and sure that the boat won't rock." Lianne teased.
"You don't know how right you are." Kalasin told her. "And after reform and maintenance of the Empire and the nobles, there's worrying about producing an heir and keeping Kaddar's mother satisfied and in her place-,"
Lianne choked on a laugh. "What?"
"Lia, be grateful you don't have a mother-in-law yet." Kalasin told Lianne wearily.
Lianne made a dismissive noise. "I lived at the Maren court for a year. I'm well acquainted with how charming the Queen is."
"Wait until you get married." Kalasin predicted in a dire tone.
"The woman is already convinced there's no one good enough for her son, especially not a know-it-all Tortallan."
"Not a thin-blooded Northern princess." Kalasin said, at the same time Lianne said know-it-all. Kally rolled her eyes. "One second I'm so beautiful I'm having an affair with this or that noble and the next I'm pale and thin and colorless." Kalasin rolled her eyes. "I haven't produced an heir yet, so there must be something wrong with me. . ." She sniffled.
Lia reached out to Kalasin, sensing true pain. "Shh." She murmured.
Kalasin's defenses weakened. "I miss my own home. I miss Mother." She whispered. "She knew how to laugh at the nobles behind their backs without being cruel. She knew how to laugh, period." Kalasin confessed in a torrent of words. "I miss Buri, who could disappear and hide during social functions. I miss Roald. I still haven't met his bride yet, or his friend Keladry. I miss you, Lia. I miss Jasson and Liam and Nora and father and Thom and Alan and Aly and Alanna and George and Raoul and Onua and Eleni and Myles and Daine and Numair and their baby who I haven't met and Duke Gareth and Uncle Gary and Cythera and their children and Neal and his smart mouth and duke Baird and--," She took a deep breath. "And food that tastes sweet without spice and potatoes and bread and breeches and comfortable clothes and-and seasons and not worrying about who's listening every second and Corus and the sea side and the way the air smelled and oh, I miss home." The empress babbled.
For a long time, both girls were silent. Lianne rocked Kally back a forth for comfort, much as she had calmed the Maren children the year before. Kalasin took deep breaths to calm herself. Her tears eased and stopped. Finally, she sat up straight. "It's the baby. I weep at the drop of a hat these days."
"That's not true." Lianne told her. "I see the way your servants treat you. They think you're far too wonderful to be true, but they're willing to hope. They trust you the way they wouldn't trust someone who changed her mind at the droop of a handkerchief."
Kalasin smiled, a genuine smile. "So, tell me about Roald's bride."
"She's quite pretty. Smart. Shy, though. They love each other."
Kalasin nodded, pleased. "That's what I hoped."
"She brought her best friend Yuki with her from the Yamani Isles. Yuki's having a romance with Neal. They're married, but his mouth is still smart as ever. He makes me laugh." Lianne smirked. "It is too bad, he used to be wonderful to flirt with."
Kalasin sighed. She had done very little flirting, believing it was unfair to play at love when she knew she was promised to life in a distant land.
"They're friends with Keladry, who the Lioness still adores." Lianne shrugged. "Kel seems a good sort. She did something grand and heroic in Scanra that has helped to end the war. Raoul and Buri both like her, so she can't be too bad. She's a good, solid warrior, you know? Not so quick, not so sparklingly beautiful, but a good warrior and a good woman. The realm is glad to have her." Lianne thought for a second. "Who else haven't you met? Oh, yes, Daine and Numair's baby. A beauty, that one. Little girl they named Sarralyn. Active little thing, she keeps them busy, no doubt about that."
Kalasin nodded. "All babies keep their parents busy, I hear."
"You'll know, soon enough." Lianne indicated the bulge in Kally's midsection. "Mother stays busy as ever. She misses you something fierce." Lianne's perceptive gaze met Kalasin's red-rimmed eyes. "And I bet it's the same for you. You two always were closer than she and I. Or she and Nora, for that matter."
"How's Roald?" Kalasin didn't answer directly in words, but her eyes were eloquent.
"He's well." Lianne said. "All of us are. Liam won his shield this year, and is going up to Galla to see if he can't court the daughter of the king who Kaddar rejected in favor of your own lovely self." Lianne teased. "Jasson's quite the charmer. I'm not sure how he'll turn out, but whatever it is should be grand and shocking. Maybe he'll marry one of Aly's friends from the Copper Isles and cement peace along Tortall's coast. Anything's possible." Lianne thought for a moment. "Nora has all the pages and half the squires in love with her. Half the Court is enthralled by her antics, the other half appalled."
Kalasin nodded. "I expected no less."
"Father is well too. In his own way he misses you as much as mother."
That almost started a fresh round of tears. Kalasin had always been close to Thayet, but a special part of her heart was reserved for Jonathan. He loved each of his children deeply, but Kalasin, his first daughter, had a special place in his heart. It hadn't stopped him from dissuading her from enrolling as a page. It hadn't stopped him from sending her to Carthak and an arranged marriage to a stranger. But he contacted her frequently through magic. Even when the war had stretched him and his concentration thinner than anyone liked, he was the Voice of the Bazhir. After communing with the desert tribes, once a week he contacted Kalasin. But not even magic could make up for no longer sitting at his side during evening meal.
She had known how to prepare his favorite drink and snack after a stressful day. Kalasin had always been the child who wanted to please, wanted to make others around her happy. She had a powerful Gift to heal, and her entire personality was geared toward healing wounds. Once, she had wanted to do heroic deeds. Now, she concentrated on healing the wounds left on and by warriors.
"Let's see." Lianne mused. "Uncle Gary and Cythera are happy as larks, though Uncle Gary worries after us all, you in particular, since you are so far from his watchful eye. Their girls are the light of their father's life, while their son is the light of Cythera's. The Duke is greatly enjoying watching what goes around come around, if you know what I mean, though he's resting on the estate at Naxen under the Duchess's eye. Father sent Nora to them until the Court calms down over her latest rash of pranks. Raoul and Buri get on quite well together. No children, but plenty of duty. Myles and Eleni are busy as bees and rather content, now that the war is ending."
"Latest pranks?"
"Well, the Duke survived Uncle Gary. He can tolerate Nora. You never know, she might learn discipline. At the least, he'll have something to laugh about."
"Well, who was involved in these pranks?"
"Most of the pages and the younger squires." Lianne smiled. "Nothing dangerous or cruel, just lightening the mood in her own creative way."
Kalasin's eyebrows rose. "Father disapproved of lightening the mood?"
"It's an excuse. You know they've wanted Nora to spend time at Naxen with Duke Gareth for a long time. Cure some of those high spirits of hers."
"You mean at the least there'll be someone with healing magic about to shore him up." Kalasin surmised.
Lianne shrugged and nodded. She and Liam were the only un-Gifted Conté children. She had always enjoyed her great uncle, who was the brother of her namesake, but his temper was best suited to peppery little Nora. Plus, her sister could preserve her dear uncle's health better than she could.
"She shouldn't just be shuttled away so the Court doesn't have to look at the only one of us who never bent to anyone's will." Kalasin sighed. "The Duke never curbed our high spirits."
"He loved me too much." Lianne laughed. "You? High Spirits? Mithros bless me, you were always sweet as sugar. You loved Mother so much, you adored Roald, you were Father's pet, you ran herd on us wild young ones. You didn't have spirits to curb or cure."
Kalasin blushed. "You haven't mentioned your own love life." She needled, deflecting the compliments by asking a question.
"You know me. So many boys, so little time." Lianne fluttered dismissively.
"I don't buy it." Kally shook her head. "You understood what I meant, when I talked about how comforting it is to have the man you love with you when you're far from home. Is it the Prince?" She asked hopefully.
Lia rolled her eyes. "It's confusing." She said indulgently.
Kalasin paused. It was no secret that arranged marriages didn't always work out happily, but she had hoped for better for her siblings. "Look at our parents, Lia. Of course our love-lives are complicated."
"The prince is a decent man, but I'm not in love with him." Lianne said honestly.
Kally sighed. This was bad news, because selfish concerns and desires could not come above the concerns of the state. "Who, then?"
"No one you know." Lia averted her eyes. "We should really get ready for this evening. I bet Buri is almost done with directing the cargo of the ship and unpacking our trunks." Lianne tried to evade Kalasin's piercing eye.
"Trunks?"
"You've three months yet before you give the world another idealist." Lianne teased. "You don't expect us to leave before the naming of the baby, do you? Mother's given us the next half-year to spend looking after you. Perhaps Lord Raoul will come for a visit if his wife's away long enough."
"Perhaps." Kalasin agreed doubtfully. "Perhaps he'll bring your friend."
"I don't know who you're talking about." Lianne flushed.
"Don't lie to me." Kally exhorted. "Who is he?"
Lianne ignored her and stood as if to go.
Kalasin frowned and applied her powers of deduction. "He was with you in Maren, but you were lying when you said I don't know him. So he was a member of the party that accompanied you, yes? Let's see, you were gone a full year, so it couldn't be a page or a squire, unless the squire were accompanying the knight who escorted you." She frowned. "They needed men at the front, but perhaps an armed escort went with you. Bazhir? I know that an older knight led the party, a man of good name and character but no use in the fight against Scanra."
Lianne pursed her lips. "Stop it. I just said it. I didn't even mean it. Please, Kally, you could really mess up something good for me."
"Something good?" Kalasin repeated in near disbelief. "You think that a marriage to a man who is neither clever nor attractive, a man to whom you pay only the compliment of "decency" is good?"
"I can't stay at home forever. Mother and Nora and I will argue each other to pieces. I can't join the Queen's Riders, and eventually I'll get bitter at Father for refusing to let me have a go at training for knighthood. The person whose identity you are trying to discover also has a complicated family, and I don't think marriage is an option for us." Lianne made a puh sound. "Even if it were, we have to live somewhere. You can't offend royalty the way we would if we got married. We can't just lose ourselves in the Great Southern Desert or go North to the Roof of the World." She sighed. "I wish I weren't a princess. If I were a noble I could still do something good and useful like healing or teaching. Something beyond marrying a prince I don't particularly like. I want to do something important. Discover something worth remembering. I don't want to get married yet. Kally, I'm only fifteen."
Kalasin sighed, stretched out her arms to her sister. It was Lianne's turn to lean against her sister and shed a few tears. "Well, you have six months with me, and then you know how long it takes to plan these things. That's another year, at the least. You'll probably go on progress, too. There's time." She murmured, soothing her sister and hoping Lianne wouldn't notice the way her fatigued arms were trembling.
"It isn't fair." Lianne mumbled. "Nora's older than I, and there's no marriage in the offing for her."
Kalasin had no reply.
Lianne sniffed and dabbed at her face with the handkerchief Kalasin gave her. "Nora's more clever than she lets on. She's been studying at University for ever so long. She's Uncle Gary's assistant, you know. She'll be allowed to stay in Tortall and help Roald run the country, since she understands so much. She'll probably even get to pick her husband, since she has such a talent for offending foreign dignitaries. I wouldn't be surprised if she marries Thom." Lianne babbled.
"Please hush." Kalasin pleaded, suddenly understanding too much about the identity of Lianne's beloved.
"Maybe Duke Gareth isn't trying to curb her spirits. Maybe he's giving her special Prime Minister secrets so she can have that much more reason to stay home." Lianne was almost hysterical.
Kalasin held on tight while Lianne sobbed. After a few minutes, the empress reminded her younger sister that she would be meeting the Court of Carthak with red eyes if she didn't stop crying over something she couldn't solve with sniffling. The princess calmed herself. The sisters parted then, to bathe and dress and prepare for the banquet. It would be Kalasin's first opportunity in four years to see Buri. She did not intend to waste a moment of the time with the woman who had been her surrogate mother.
Author: Kate, k4writer02@yahoo.com
Disclaimer: I do not own Kalasin, Lianne, Buri, Kaddar, Carthak, Tortall or any of the people/places named in this story. I am not making a profit and no infringement is intended.
Rating: PG
Summary: In a time of loneliness and need, Kalasin Iliniat of Conté, empress of Carthak, receives a visit from her sister the princess Lianne of Conté and her friend Buri.
Authors Note: Please review. I've never written a Tamora Pierce story before, and I'd really like to know if I'm doing justice to the originals. Thanks for reading! I appreciate it.
Ch 2
In her suite at the palace, Kalasin hastily removed her sandals. The shoes were heeled in the style of the Empire, and even after four years of practice, the straps did vicious things to her feet. "Oh." She gasped to empty air. "Oh, that's better."
She began to work at unbuttoning the heavy dress. The garment was designed for appearance, not for the wearer's comfort. It was garishly colored, heavily embroidered and encrusted with jewels. Kalasin could barely stand the waste the gown represented. She could've freed a slave for the same price as this gown. The fabric, the stitching and the gems had cost more than she could justify, since she didn't actually take pleasure in the garment. At least the gems could be reused. Perhaps the fabric could be cut down to a smaller dress after the baby was born.
Kalasin shed the heavy fabric and stood in her undergarments, breathing quickly to cool herself. The suite had been specially altered to fit her specifications. Numair had accompanied her to Carthak four years ago, to leave her for her training. With his coercion and guidance, one of the university mages had found a way to chill the air and fan it through her suite. The temperature delighted her.
She reached toward her hair, which had been ruthlessly styled this morning. She couldn't undo it before the state dinner that evening. She sighed. As Empress, she both set and followed Carthaki styles. She had been unable to change the hairstyles this far, and she wasn't particularly fond of the elaborate, restrictive headwear favored by the ladies of the empire. But there was only so much the conservatives would tolerate-and deviance in dress would upset them more deeply than quiet, behind the scenes work to free their slaves and ameliorate the conditions in which prisoners lived.
The door that connected her suite to the guest suite swung open, and Lianne burst through. "Oh, Kally, how are you, really?" Lia froze when she saw that Kally was basically standing in her underwear, trying to cool off.
"I am so glad to see you." Kalasin said softly and honestly. She did not try to cover herself modestly or shrink away from her sister's scrutiny. "I was worried about you, though. I didn't think you would leave home with conditions as dangerous as they are."
Lia tisked briskly, overcoming her surprise at her sister's condition. "You shouldn't let them work you so hard, Kally. You're not taking care of yourself."
Kalasin let out a strangled giggle. "Well, that's why they sent you, isn't it? To take care of me."
"For the next few months at least. Hush." Lia said, frowning as she looked around the room.
"No one's eavesdropping. I have it checked for listening spells twice a week, and I personally control all of the adjoining suites. All servants have been reassigned to other locations for the afternoon."
Lia breathed a sigh. Kally didn't have a devious bone in her body. "Are you sure about the listening spells? Some are very subtle."
"Numair set up a wall of protection for me. It also gives off innocuous noise to anyone who cares to try to eavesdrop. I myself have the Gift, and check my rooms frequently. In addition, I pay a number of different mages to maintain my security. If one is paid to miss something, another catches it."
Lianne saved her breath and bit her tongue to keep from pointing out that someone willing to pay one mage would have few qualms about paying others. "You look fabulous." She remarked, studying her sister. "The sun here has darkened your skin a bit. Very becoming." She commented. "Your hair is shining, your eyes are bright, your teeth are flawless and all present-I believe I can give mother and the superficial biddies at home a good report."
Kalasin laughed. "You have a strange way of measuring my appearance. Not a single mention of my figure?"
Lianne shook her head and embraced her older sister. "How much longer?" She asked.
"Three months till the baby's born." Kalasin said, resting a protective hand over her swollen stomach.
"I meant how long till dinner?"
"Two hours." Kalasin sighed. "Hand me my robe, I need to sit down."
Lia fetched it for her, biting her tongue from voicing her worry about how tired Kalasin seemed. Her sister all but collapsed in the chair, leaning her head back against it and yawning. "You shouldn't have come out to meet me." Lia scolded. "You look worn out."
"Behold your future." Kalasin said dryly. "When you marry the prince of Maren, you'll find yourself running all about showing the commoners that you value motherhood by running yourself ragged while pregnant."
Lia pouted at her sister.
"Sorry." Kalasin sighed and resettled herself in the chair, and looked down to adjust her dressing gown. "I'm just desperate for some gossip from home. Letters aren't the same." Kally looked up. "I need to hear all about the Great Progress and the Maren Prince who's courting you. And the details of the Scanran war that I can handle. And don't leave out a single word of Alianne's story."
Lia flushed uncomfortably. "Let me hang up that gown. That's no way to treat good fabric." She imitated their dressmaker, Kuri, flawlessly. It used to draw a smile at least from the princess, but the empress just closed her eyes guiltily. "I mean it. Stop pushing yourself so hard." Lianne lectured. "I know how badly you want to change this country, but you can't do it if you drop dead of exhaustion."
"You've been here an hour and you're already lecturing me?" Kalasin asked, in a tone too tired to be tart.
Thoroughly alarmed, Lia paused, arms full of fabric. "Has it been so bad as all that, then?" She asked sympathetically, using the more colloquial speech of the commoners, which Alianne of Pirate's Swoop had taught them.
Kalasin shook her head. "No, no. It's not like that. Kaddar really is wonderful, you know. He treats me. . ." She smiled, "I was about to tell you he treats me like a queen, but really, it's better than that. He loves me, I know. I'm lucky."
"Love does a lot, when you're trapped in a foreign land." Lianne allowed. "But it doesn't stop you from missing home."
"You speak from experience?" Kalasin skillfully redirected the conversation.
"Time for that later." Lianne said. "Tell me, have you thought about names yet?" She asked.
Kalasin nodded. "We've started by striking off the things we know we don't want. Ozorne, obviously is off the list."
Lianne laughed, grateful to witness Kalasin's sense of humor. "Might as well strike Jasson, Roald and Jonathan off the list too."
"Whatever for?" Kalasin asked. "I like my brothers and father."
"Aye, but think of the poor school children who'll have to learn our history. They won't be able to keep all the Jassons and Jonathans and Roalds straight as is."
"Anything for future students." Kalasin smirked.
Lianne sighed. "It really is remarkable."
"What?"
"You."
"Me?" Her sister laughed.
"Yes, you. I spent a year with the Court of Maren, you know, and their Princess is a lovely little thing. I met the new Queen of the Copper Isles, and she is quite nearly breathtaking. I've known mother since I was in my cradle, and I spend plenty of time in front of my mirror. But you're more beautiful than any of us. Pity you're married."
"Oh, not you too." Kalasin said in disgust. "I feel like a wine skin that's too full and heating up in the sun. I'm ready to burst all the time, from the heat and the hormones."
"I think it's the dreamy, content expression when you talk about the baby and Kaddar." Lianne evaluated. "And you're such a blend of our parents. Yes, I think it's true. Mother has finally been surpassed as the world's most beautiful royal."
"She'll be delighted to hear it." Kalasin said tartly. Like most young women, Kalasin enjoyed compliments, but she refused to allow pleasure in her appearance to deteriorate to vanity. "Stop. If I wanted a litany about my beauty I'd call one of the poets. I want to hear about you and the Court of Maren. What did you think of the Prince?"
"No one will ever call him handsome or clever unless they're trying to flatter the fool." Lianne laughed a bit scornfully. "But he's a good enough man, I suppose." She tried to coax the displeased look off her sister's face. "He'd rather be a priest than a Prince, but he'll do his duty or find competent advisers to do it for him. Of course, he could leave it all to me, the stuck-up Tortallan who doesn't know her place."
Kalasin shivered at Lianne's cynical bitterness. "It's not so bad, not knowing your place." She murmured sympathetically.
Lia laughed at her, shaking off the dark cloud. "I brought it all on myself. I was so sure I knew the right way to do everything that I started correcting everyone."
"You were just enthusiastic." Kalasin murmured.
"Arrogant is more like." Lia confessed. "I stayed with a good family, though." She said wryly.
Kalasin nodded. "Did you take care of any children while you were there? I remember hearing that Maren women are very devoted to the maternal aspect of the Goddess."
"I did take care of the children in the family." Lianne confirmed. "It's the one thing that redeemed me in their eyes. Instead of being hopeless, I just need work." She rolled her eyes.
"Oh, so young Lianne put her skills to work, did she?" Kalasin teased.
Lianne blew a raspberry at the older woman. "I may have shirked baby- sitting as a child, but it was only because you loved the duty so." She adopted an innocent tone.
"You're lucky we won't see each other frequently." Kalasin tisked. "I won't have to explain to my children that you're a terrible liar."
Lianne giggled. "Oh, I did miss you." She said suddenly.
Kalasin sighed. "I should bathe before dinner. It's likely to be quite warm in the dining hall."
"How charming." Lianne commented sarcastically. "We have some time left. Now, I want to hear about you."
"Running an empire may sound glamorous but really it's a lot of painstaking administration and trying to help people who don't want help and don't want to be happy and don't want to change." Kalasin shook her head. Her sister already knew that. "I'm sure you know as much about the politics of my empire as you want to, so I won't bore you with details. There are still problems along the borders, but each year Kaddar and I get stronger. I'm changing things quietly. There are no slaves in this palace, only hired servants. I'm starting schools throughout the nation, and making it law that all children, even slaves, must attend long enough to learn letters and numbers. I'm working on programs that allow slaves to earn freedom and send messages to their families."
Lianne sent her friend a quizzical look.
"Uncle George and I have been writing letters lately. He's developed new sympathy for slaves since Aly disappeared. He pointed out that it was quite possible that some silly girls who have families willing and able to pay for their freedom may have been taken for slaves. There are families who would sacrifice everything to recover their daughters and sons. I simply give them the opportunity to do so."
Lianne sighed. Kalasin was an intelligent woman, but not every family had the means to buy back a lost son or daughter. Some families even sold their children in order to keep the rest of the family together. "It's a wonderful idea." She said simply, though the impractical side of things had immediately caught her attention.
"I know it's not perfect. My reforms eat up a lot of money, and it's so hard to measure the benefits. It's hard to know if morality always beats the bottom line, but I have to try." Kalasin said, and there was such pure passion in her eyes that Lianne blinked. "You know it's always been their Majesties' practice to buy back Tortallans, but how can they do that if they don't know who the Tortallans are?"
"You get that idealism from Mother and Father too. The idea that you can make the world a better place."
"I can." Kalasin insisted. "So could you." Lianne's face closed. "But it is hard work." Kalasin conceded lamely.
"And it's a tough balance, doing all that noble reform quietly and keeping your Court in line and happy and sure that the boat won't rock." Lianne teased.
"You don't know how right you are." Kalasin told her. "And after reform and maintenance of the Empire and the nobles, there's worrying about producing an heir and keeping Kaddar's mother satisfied and in her place-,"
Lianne choked on a laugh. "What?"
"Lia, be grateful you don't have a mother-in-law yet." Kalasin told Lianne wearily.
Lianne made a dismissive noise. "I lived at the Maren court for a year. I'm well acquainted with how charming the Queen is."
"Wait until you get married." Kalasin predicted in a dire tone.
"The woman is already convinced there's no one good enough for her son, especially not a know-it-all Tortallan."
"Not a thin-blooded Northern princess." Kalasin said, at the same time Lianne said know-it-all. Kally rolled her eyes. "One second I'm so beautiful I'm having an affair with this or that noble and the next I'm pale and thin and colorless." Kalasin rolled her eyes. "I haven't produced an heir yet, so there must be something wrong with me. . ." She sniffled.
Lia reached out to Kalasin, sensing true pain. "Shh." She murmured.
Kalasin's defenses weakened. "I miss my own home. I miss Mother." She whispered. "She knew how to laugh at the nobles behind their backs without being cruel. She knew how to laugh, period." Kalasin confessed in a torrent of words. "I miss Buri, who could disappear and hide during social functions. I miss Roald. I still haven't met his bride yet, or his friend Keladry. I miss you, Lia. I miss Jasson and Liam and Nora and father and Thom and Alan and Aly and Alanna and George and Raoul and Onua and Eleni and Myles and Daine and Numair and their baby who I haven't met and Duke Gareth and Uncle Gary and Cythera and their children and Neal and his smart mouth and duke Baird and--," She took a deep breath. "And food that tastes sweet without spice and potatoes and bread and breeches and comfortable clothes and-and seasons and not worrying about who's listening every second and Corus and the sea side and the way the air smelled and oh, I miss home." The empress babbled.
For a long time, both girls were silent. Lianne rocked Kally back a forth for comfort, much as she had calmed the Maren children the year before. Kalasin took deep breaths to calm herself. Her tears eased and stopped. Finally, she sat up straight. "It's the baby. I weep at the drop of a hat these days."
"That's not true." Lianne told her. "I see the way your servants treat you. They think you're far too wonderful to be true, but they're willing to hope. They trust you the way they wouldn't trust someone who changed her mind at the droop of a handkerchief."
Kalasin smiled, a genuine smile. "So, tell me about Roald's bride."
"She's quite pretty. Smart. Shy, though. They love each other."
Kalasin nodded, pleased. "That's what I hoped."
"She brought her best friend Yuki with her from the Yamani Isles. Yuki's having a romance with Neal. They're married, but his mouth is still smart as ever. He makes me laugh." Lianne smirked. "It is too bad, he used to be wonderful to flirt with."
Kalasin sighed. She had done very little flirting, believing it was unfair to play at love when she knew she was promised to life in a distant land.
"They're friends with Keladry, who the Lioness still adores." Lianne shrugged. "Kel seems a good sort. She did something grand and heroic in Scanra that has helped to end the war. Raoul and Buri both like her, so she can't be too bad. She's a good, solid warrior, you know? Not so quick, not so sparklingly beautiful, but a good warrior and a good woman. The realm is glad to have her." Lianne thought for a second. "Who else haven't you met? Oh, yes, Daine and Numair's baby. A beauty, that one. Little girl they named Sarralyn. Active little thing, she keeps them busy, no doubt about that."
Kalasin nodded. "All babies keep their parents busy, I hear."
"You'll know, soon enough." Lianne indicated the bulge in Kally's midsection. "Mother stays busy as ever. She misses you something fierce." Lianne's perceptive gaze met Kalasin's red-rimmed eyes. "And I bet it's the same for you. You two always were closer than she and I. Or she and Nora, for that matter."
"How's Roald?" Kalasin didn't answer directly in words, but her eyes were eloquent.
"He's well." Lianne said. "All of us are. Liam won his shield this year, and is going up to Galla to see if he can't court the daughter of the king who Kaddar rejected in favor of your own lovely self." Lianne teased. "Jasson's quite the charmer. I'm not sure how he'll turn out, but whatever it is should be grand and shocking. Maybe he'll marry one of Aly's friends from the Copper Isles and cement peace along Tortall's coast. Anything's possible." Lianne thought for a moment. "Nora has all the pages and half the squires in love with her. Half the Court is enthralled by her antics, the other half appalled."
Kalasin nodded. "I expected no less."
"Father is well too. In his own way he misses you as much as mother."
That almost started a fresh round of tears. Kalasin had always been close to Thayet, but a special part of her heart was reserved for Jonathan. He loved each of his children deeply, but Kalasin, his first daughter, had a special place in his heart. It hadn't stopped him from dissuading her from enrolling as a page. It hadn't stopped him from sending her to Carthak and an arranged marriage to a stranger. But he contacted her frequently through magic. Even when the war had stretched him and his concentration thinner than anyone liked, he was the Voice of the Bazhir. After communing with the desert tribes, once a week he contacted Kalasin. But not even magic could make up for no longer sitting at his side during evening meal.
She had known how to prepare his favorite drink and snack after a stressful day. Kalasin had always been the child who wanted to please, wanted to make others around her happy. She had a powerful Gift to heal, and her entire personality was geared toward healing wounds. Once, she had wanted to do heroic deeds. Now, she concentrated on healing the wounds left on and by warriors.
"Let's see." Lianne mused. "Uncle Gary and Cythera are happy as larks, though Uncle Gary worries after us all, you in particular, since you are so far from his watchful eye. Their girls are the light of their father's life, while their son is the light of Cythera's. The Duke is greatly enjoying watching what goes around come around, if you know what I mean, though he's resting on the estate at Naxen under the Duchess's eye. Father sent Nora to them until the Court calms down over her latest rash of pranks. Raoul and Buri get on quite well together. No children, but plenty of duty. Myles and Eleni are busy as bees and rather content, now that the war is ending."
"Latest pranks?"
"Well, the Duke survived Uncle Gary. He can tolerate Nora. You never know, she might learn discipline. At the least, he'll have something to laugh about."
"Well, who was involved in these pranks?"
"Most of the pages and the younger squires." Lianne smiled. "Nothing dangerous or cruel, just lightening the mood in her own creative way."
Kalasin's eyebrows rose. "Father disapproved of lightening the mood?"
"It's an excuse. You know they've wanted Nora to spend time at Naxen with Duke Gareth for a long time. Cure some of those high spirits of hers."
"You mean at the least there'll be someone with healing magic about to shore him up." Kalasin surmised.
Lianne shrugged and nodded. She and Liam were the only un-Gifted Conté children. She had always enjoyed her great uncle, who was the brother of her namesake, but his temper was best suited to peppery little Nora. Plus, her sister could preserve her dear uncle's health better than she could.
"She shouldn't just be shuttled away so the Court doesn't have to look at the only one of us who never bent to anyone's will." Kalasin sighed. "The Duke never curbed our high spirits."
"He loved me too much." Lianne laughed. "You? High Spirits? Mithros bless me, you were always sweet as sugar. You loved Mother so much, you adored Roald, you were Father's pet, you ran herd on us wild young ones. You didn't have spirits to curb or cure."
Kalasin blushed. "You haven't mentioned your own love life." She needled, deflecting the compliments by asking a question.
"You know me. So many boys, so little time." Lianne fluttered dismissively.
"I don't buy it." Kally shook her head. "You understood what I meant, when I talked about how comforting it is to have the man you love with you when you're far from home. Is it the Prince?" She asked hopefully.
Lia rolled her eyes. "It's confusing." She said indulgently.
Kalasin paused. It was no secret that arranged marriages didn't always work out happily, but she had hoped for better for her siblings. "Look at our parents, Lia. Of course our love-lives are complicated."
"The prince is a decent man, but I'm not in love with him." Lianne said honestly.
Kally sighed. This was bad news, because selfish concerns and desires could not come above the concerns of the state. "Who, then?"
"No one you know." Lia averted her eyes. "We should really get ready for this evening. I bet Buri is almost done with directing the cargo of the ship and unpacking our trunks." Lianne tried to evade Kalasin's piercing eye.
"Trunks?"
"You've three months yet before you give the world another idealist." Lianne teased. "You don't expect us to leave before the naming of the baby, do you? Mother's given us the next half-year to spend looking after you. Perhaps Lord Raoul will come for a visit if his wife's away long enough."
"Perhaps." Kalasin agreed doubtfully. "Perhaps he'll bring your friend."
"I don't know who you're talking about." Lianne flushed.
"Don't lie to me." Kally exhorted. "Who is he?"
Lianne ignored her and stood as if to go.
Kalasin frowned and applied her powers of deduction. "He was with you in Maren, but you were lying when you said I don't know him. So he was a member of the party that accompanied you, yes? Let's see, you were gone a full year, so it couldn't be a page or a squire, unless the squire were accompanying the knight who escorted you." She frowned. "They needed men at the front, but perhaps an armed escort went with you. Bazhir? I know that an older knight led the party, a man of good name and character but no use in the fight against Scanra."
Lianne pursed her lips. "Stop it. I just said it. I didn't even mean it. Please, Kally, you could really mess up something good for me."
"Something good?" Kalasin repeated in near disbelief. "You think that a marriage to a man who is neither clever nor attractive, a man to whom you pay only the compliment of "decency" is good?"
"I can't stay at home forever. Mother and Nora and I will argue each other to pieces. I can't join the Queen's Riders, and eventually I'll get bitter at Father for refusing to let me have a go at training for knighthood. The person whose identity you are trying to discover also has a complicated family, and I don't think marriage is an option for us." Lianne made a puh sound. "Even if it were, we have to live somewhere. You can't offend royalty the way we would if we got married. We can't just lose ourselves in the Great Southern Desert or go North to the Roof of the World." She sighed. "I wish I weren't a princess. If I were a noble I could still do something good and useful like healing or teaching. Something beyond marrying a prince I don't particularly like. I want to do something important. Discover something worth remembering. I don't want to get married yet. Kally, I'm only fifteen."
Kalasin sighed, stretched out her arms to her sister. It was Lianne's turn to lean against her sister and shed a few tears. "Well, you have six months with me, and then you know how long it takes to plan these things. That's another year, at the least. You'll probably go on progress, too. There's time." She murmured, soothing her sister and hoping Lianne wouldn't notice the way her fatigued arms were trembling.
"It isn't fair." Lianne mumbled. "Nora's older than I, and there's no marriage in the offing for her."
Kalasin had no reply.
Lianne sniffed and dabbed at her face with the handkerchief Kalasin gave her. "Nora's more clever than she lets on. She's been studying at University for ever so long. She's Uncle Gary's assistant, you know. She'll be allowed to stay in Tortall and help Roald run the country, since she understands so much. She'll probably even get to pick her husband, since she has such a talent for offending foreign dignitaries. I wouldn't be surprised if she marries Thom." Lianne babbled.
"Please hush." Kalasin pleaded, suddenly understanding too much about the identity of Lianne's beloved.
"Maybe Duke Gareth isn't trying to curb her spirits. Maybe he's giving her special Prime Minister secrets so she can have that much more reason to stay home." Lianne was almost hysterical.
Kalasin held on tight while Lianne sobbed. After a few minutes, the empress reminded her younger sister that she would be meeting the Court of Carthak with red eyes if she didn't stop crying over something she couldn't solve with sniffling. The princess calmed herself. The sisters parted then, to bathe and dress and prepare for the banquet. It would be Kalasin's first opportunity in four years to see Buri. She did not intend to waste a moment of the time with the woman who had been her surrogate mother.