It was cool inside; this was the first thing I noticed. The second thing I noticed was that there was a courtyard in the middle that was exposed to the elements and in it, with a beautiful mosaic-tiled base, was a small, gurgling fountain. All around the fountain and courtyard were colorful pots filled with spiked or trailing green plants. There were two stories and every door opened out to a balcony that faced or looked down on the courtyard.
The second thing I noticed was there was an older, slightly stooped, short, round woman approaching us. She had an abundance of coarse, steel gray in her dark hair, lots of wrinkles on her face and a bustling but economical manner.
I knew this had to be Twinka, the house slave Lahn told me about who looked after his residence while he was away.
And she didn’t like me, this I knew instantly, and I wasn’t sure she was all that hot on Lahn for she gave me a nod, Lahn a slight bow then stormed right by us without a word to stand outside the doors, plant her hands at her hips and scowl in the direction of the wagons that were coming up the rear.
“She was with my mother and father, this was their home too. She has called this home longer than I have and has spent vast amounts more time here than I have. She thinks of it as her own,” Lahn reminded me of something he’d told me the night before while we were lying under the stars on our hides.
“Mm hmm,” I muttered, staring at Twinka’s straight back.
“She does anything you do not like, I’ll whip her myself,” Lahn muttered back in Korwahk, my eyes snapped to him and Twinka, whose elderly status obviously didn’t affect her ears, harrumphed loudly.
I ignored the harrumph and hissed at Lahn in English, “You will not.”
“Meena,” Lahn said to me then his eyes turned to Twinka and he finished firmly, “kay jahkan.”*
I pressed my lips together.
Lahn’s eyes came back to me and he glared at my lips.
I unpressed them.
Lahn glare melted and he grinned.
I rolled my eyes.
Then Lahn turned to Twinka, “Uvoo kah Dahksahna el cuun, boh. Lee aka lapan ansha bel fahkah yo na geenheeso.”**
“Meena, kah Dax,” she muttered, stomping back our way, “kay pahnsay yo nahna tahnhan.”***
I couldn’t help it, at her muttered, skating on insubordinate words I pressed my lips together as my eyes grew big.
Lahn kept smiling at me.
“If you whip her,” I said in English, “I won’t speak to you for a week.”
Lahn’s smile faded before he replied in English, “If she does something to earn the tip of my lash, you will not do a thing.”
Oh right. I forgot.
“Right,” I whispered, “I forgot.”
Lahn looked at me a second, then he looked to the ceiling, likely for deliverance. Twinka made an impatient noise.
I took off for my tour.
Even if there was a lot of it, there wasn’t much to it. Lots of rooms, not a lot of furniture. Not that I could take too much in, Twinka was practically running, pointing at things, muttering words I barely caught, clearly thinking she had better things to do than give her new queen a tour and wanted to get this over with so she could boss around the girls when they arrived.
I did see they didn’t really have furniture in Korwahn. Mostly lots of cushions and thick rugs over tiled floors. Even the dining room-ish room had a long, very low table with twelve big cushions set on the floor around it. There was no room with a desk in it that would say “study”. There were six bedrooms and each had a bathroom-ish type room off it with chamber pot behind a screen and basin with jug of water and the master (I was guessing it was the master) had another room with a big, carved wood wardrobe and an actual chaise lounge. Each bedroom had real-ish beds, that was to say, the platform was two feet off the ground, the mattress was twice as thick as the one in our cham, there were twice as many pillows at the head and it was covered in silk sheets (no hides) and intricately embroidered silk quilts. But no headboard or footboard.
The best of the lot in the house was the bathing room off the master suite that was really like a bathing pool, with cool blue and green mosaic tiles and blue and green pads on the edges. The bath was big enough to swim in and had a big window that opened to a balcony that looked out over Korwahn and the vista beyond it. At my delighted intake of breath, Twinka grudgingly slid up a heavy, wooden door and a gush of steaming water flowed into the bath. I saw that the bottom of the bath had a slight decline and there were four narrow pieces of some gummy type substance that plugged up drains at the opposite end to the water.
“We have,” she stated haughtily in Korwahk, “a direct feed from the hot spring. We are,” she went on snootily, “one of only seven houses in all of Korwahn who have such a blessing.”
I nodded thinking blessing was the word for it. The water gushing in (before she slammed the door down again), was clear and clean and steaming and I could not freaking wait to take a bath.
Twinka stomped out, I followed her and we continued our tour. I noticed on the walls there were interesting paintings or sheets of copper or silver with designs pounded in the metal and even heavy, carved framed mirrors (and, seeing myself for the first time in months, I had to say, Korwahk sun, Jacanda painted face, love and pregnancy suited me – even I had to admit, I looked freaking great).
It was all sparkling clean and clearly well taken care of by Twinka who looked like she could keel over at any minute but moved like she was about twenty-three.
That was kind of it except for the square roof (with the courtyard hole in it) which was absolutely freaking awesome. It had a bunch of colorful pots, huge to very small, filled with spiked greens, trailing plants and vibrant flowers. It also had an area with what looked like lounge chairs for lazing in and catching the sun that had thick pads on them. Another area with a round iron table ornate with curlicues and four matching chairs. And the last area was an abundance of thick mats and huge, brightly-colored silk pillows.
Total oasis. The best spot in the house, no doubt.
After the roof, it was downhill from there and Twinka rushed me through a kitchen at the back that had what looked like a fire-burning oven as well as rudimentary stove and a long, battered table. Out the backdoor through a small, tidy courtyard (with more potted plants) was where the slaves quarters were, four small rooms, two on top, two on bottom, each room had two twin-sized pallets on the floor, two drawer wooden dressers beside each pallet with one, measly candleholder on each dresser.
Hmm. I was going to have to do something about that.
Packa, I had learned from Jacanda, had served Lahn the longest and took care of his food and cham needs prior to my arrival. He had purchased the rest of them at an auction two days before the Hunt (where many soon-to-be husbands saw to the needs of their future wives).
From Oahsee (who asked Bain who answered), I learned Lahn bought slaves prior to the other Hunts he attended but did not participate in as Dax then sold them immediately after when nothing struck his fancy.
Therefore, Packa was the only one who’d been there.
And by the time we arrived back in the courtyard area, Lahn was gone but my girls were there with trainee warriors lugging in our stuff from the wagon outside and the girls were looking around with awe.
The minute Twinka saw them, she opened her mouth to speak.
And the minute she did, I got there first.
See, I dug it that this was her place, I totally got that, but these were my girls.
And no one bossed them around.
In Korwahk, I quickly introduced my girls to Twinka, Twinka to my girls and then I announced, “These things can stay here for now. Twinka, please give my girls a tour of the house and then they’ll need some time to bathe, put on clean clothes, rest for a bit after that ride and have some food. After that, these things can be unpacked.”