Sandry's Tale

(A/N: Thank you to everyone who reviewed, I appreciate all feedback. Sorry this chapter took forever, I was marvelling in my new-found freedom and was distracted, but hopefully you'll enjoy it. Happy Summer!!!)

Chapter 3: Suitcases

Dark. It was so very dark. She reached out to grab Daja's hand, but instead found a root poking in from the earth ceiling. Recoiling in horror, she reached instead for Briar, but where she thought his foot was, she found a jagged rock. She heard Tris sigh and turned round, only to find it was the last of her air escaping with a hissing noise. She panicked, screamed, and opened her eyes-

-and found herself in a strange room, without her precious nightlight but with candlelight coming in through the window. Where am I? Sandry wondered, and peered through the sheer curtains to the moonlit garden outside. A walled garden with desert plants, cacti and other strange, spiky ones, set in stones and sand to form a gentle wave around the courtyard they were planted in. Sandry remembered walking through that courtyard, with people fussing round her, when all she wanted to do was go to sleep... Of course, she was at the Rokat family house, Master Rokat's brother who had recently moved to Summersea and was letting her stay while Winding Circle was rebuilt. Now she remembered arriving late, being ushered to this guest bedroom and being told introductions would be properly made in the morning.

Dawn was coming slowly to the walled garden, so Sandry went out to sit in it, wrapping herself in a shawl although the night was very warm. The sun was just coming up to greet her face when a servant woman, a shawl over her hair, bent double and wrinkled so her eyes were two tiny jets in her brown face, came up to her, tutting.

"Miss should not be here; the Master has a study overlooking this garden, and imagine if he saw Miss here. Miss must come inside to the ladies and wait to be called." She then scuttled off again, turned at the edge of the garden when she realised Sandry was not behind her, and tutted again. Sandry rose from the bench and followed her inside, saying,

"I'm ever so sorry to have been there, I didn't realise it was Master Rokat's private garden – I thought it was just a family garden."

"It is, Miss, but you must not go in it unaccompanied, and in your bedclothes as well! The indecency!" Replied the little old woman, turning sharply into a kitchen filled with dried spices and herbs.

"Am I not allowed in that garden unaccompanied?" asked Sandry absentmindedly, as she paused to examine the embroideries on the wall hangings – she recognised signs for health, and protection against fire and poison.

"Of course not, Miss; you're not allowed anywhere but these rooms unaccompanied! Now pass me that tea!" the woman ordered, and Sandry gave her a packet of dried red leaves, thinking, I've heard of customs keeping women in certain quarters from the eastern lands, but I thought here in Emelan they would have relinquished such harsh rules!

"That rule may apply to the family, but surely I am allowed where I please, as a guest of the house?" She replied in her haughtiest manner – she was not going to be trodden down like a doormat!

"You are one of us now, Miss, and the rules are for every female. Now go back to your room and I shall bring you some tea and fruit in bed, as I am supposed to." The woman, obviously a stickler for tradition, turned her back on Sandry and refused her offers of help and protestations that she was already out of bed, saying, "You may not be in your bed now, but you must be in it when I bring you your tea."

So Sandry went back to her room, got into bed, and waited meekly for her tea and fruit.

After breakfast and her morning ablutions, she went back to the kitchen to find someone to talk to. Outside the door she paused, hearing hushed whispers she suspected were about her.

"She was in the garden, in her bedclothes, no escort – how does she dare be so bold!" said a low, clear voice.

Another, younger one, replied, "She may not be used to our traditions, but she might at least respect them, and learn from us the correct way to behave!"

"She may be an ignorant foreigner" – here Sandry had to put her hand against her mouth to stop a giggle of disbelief escaping – "but she has amazing spirit. A very determined young woman," came the voice of the servant woman.

"Determined maybe, but in this house she will obey the rules." The low voice sounded affronted, and Sandry decided to come in, ignoring what she had heard; she was used to noble people who thought they could control everyone, and they would just have to deal with her.

"Good morning," she murmured, and swept her eyes across the kitchen. The servant woman was standing over a board of chopped herbs, and sitting on a stool by her side was a proud-looking woman, holding a cup of tea. Sandry looked for the third, younger, voice, and found a girl about the same age as her with fierce brown eyes staring out from underneath her headscarf. The woman drew herself up and said formally,

"Welcome to the Rokat house, Lady fa Toren. I am Aila Rokat, the lady of the house, and this is my daughter Jarmin. We are honoured to have you here." She rose from the counter, curtseyed before Sandry, and motioned to her daughter who followed her example, all the while keeping her eyes fixed on Sandry.

"Thank you, Lady Rokat. It is so kind of you to accommodate me. I hope I will not extend your courtesy too long. And it is nice to meet you, Jarmin." As she formally thanked her hostess, effortlessly curtseying back, she realised why the girl was staring at her.

"Is it the custom to wear a headscarf in your family? I feel out of place without one." She asked, noting that the girl's eyebrows lifted in astonishment – or appreciation.

"All women must wear a headscarf to protect them from the eyes of men. We find it strange that you are so willing to be taken advantage of. But we are happy to provide you with a scarf for your stay here." Said Aila, still extremely formally, and motioned to the servant woman to fetch one. After an awkward pause, Sandry said

"Is there anything I can do to help? I don't want to be a burden. Perhaps I can help in the kitchen, or with the laundry – I do sewing magic."

Both women gasped at this, but the girl looked oddly happy. "You have magic?" she asked, speaking for the first time in Sandry's presence in a quiet voice. Her eyes were still locked on Sandry's, but there was a different expression in them; pleading, perhaps. Her mother glared at her and her gaze fell, as she calmly intoned, "No woman can have magic as it is reserved for the powerful men, so that they might use it best." She then got up and walked quickly from the room.

"You must forgive my daughter, she thought she was gifted when younger, but the family tester persuaded her that she was mistaken." Said Aila smoothly, but Sandry was still staring in disbelief.

"Women cannot have magic? What do you mean? And why was Jarmin persuaded?" she exclaimed, thinking of everything she could do with her magic, and imagining what it would feel like if she were not allowed to use it. She shuddered, feeling terrible for Jarmin, and was so absorbed that she nearly missed Aila's next comment.

"You must not work here, you are our guest. This morning I will show you around our quarters, and in the afternoon I believe you have been granted an interview with my husband – he will explain the details of our household to you."

Sandy nodded, still trapped with the idea of not being able to use magic, and was unusually quiet as she followed Aila round the tour of the part of the house that belonged to the women. Aila explained that because the house belonged to Master Rokat, women could only go where he permitted them to – "And he has graciously given us the whole of this wing!" – and could only be in the company of men with a suitable, married, escort. The children lived with the women until the age of 12, when boys went to live with the men, and husbands were found for the girls. At that time, there were four children in the women's quarters; a boy aged 10, twin girls aged 7, and a two-year-old baby boy, as well as the 16-year old Jarmin and two older sons who were out doing business deals for their father for a few weeks. Sandry briefly met them all before being swept off and shown the women's parlour, where they entertained female friends in the afternoons.

The Rokats were very wealthy, and because Sandry was used to wealth and the pretensions that come with it, she did not feel too out of place. However, at lunch, when faced with mounds of food and expected to try – and enjoy – them all, she wished she had Briar there to pass the time quicker, or Daja to laugh about the customs with, or Tris, just to take the attention off herself for a bit!

That afternoon she expected to be summoned to properly meet and talk to Master Rokat, but was told that he had urgent business plans he needed to investigate, and that he trusted his wife would look after her for as long as she needed to stay. Which, it seemed, was going to be rather a long time – the earthquake had damaged the foundations of Winding Circle, and it would take months to rebuild strongly enough to survive another. So Sandry began to settle into this way of life; rising to tea and fruit brought by Jamala, the servant woman; a leisurely morning involving planning meals and watching Jamala cook them; then after lunch she would sit and try to make conversation with Aila's friends, all of whom were very keen to meet this new 'impudent' girl. She found the days extremely boring, and longed to do some magic, but the only embroidery she was permitted to do was after dinner in the parlour, and then she could only make useful items, such as baby clothes or dishcloths. She found Aila difficult as the older woman was very strict and obviously disapproved of Sandry's remaining differences, such as her refusal to get rid of her mage's kit; but the relationship she worked hardest at, and got the least out of, was the one with Jarmin. The girl obviously envied her magic and the fact she was allowed to train and use it (although not in this house), and rebuffed every one of Sandry's advances, whether an invitation to play cards or an offer of help with her chores. Sandry desperately wanted to be friends with her, but try as she might, there was no favourable response – Jarmin seemed to think she was stuck-up, spoiled and dishonourable.

She tried to help Jamala in the kitchens, but was informed she was too high-born to concern herself with trivial matters, and despite Sandry's attempts at friendship – she had a feeling the woman would be a good gossip, and she loved to find things out about other people – the servant insisted on the more formal relationship she had with the Rokats. Sandry felt very alone, and missed her foster-family so much that she was tempted to go rent a house near Lark and the other students, before she remembered that all the houses there had been destroyed, and that Lark had her hands full looking after the novices. So she remained in the Rokat house, friendless.