“You know, you remind me a lot of her. I wish you could have met each other.”
“She doesn’t work for you any more?”
“No.” Naki’s face darkened. “Father sent her away.”
He seems to be the bad guy in all her stories, Lilia mused.
“You don’t like him, do you?” she asked cautiously, not sure how Naki would react to a personal and perhaps sensitive question.
Naki’s face changed dramatically. Suddenly her gaze was darker and her face taut. “Not much. And he hates me.” She sighed, then shook herself as if trying to throw off something bad. “I’m sorry. I didn’t want to say anything, in case it made you afraid to meet him.”
“I’m not that easily scared,” Lilia assured her.
“He’ll be perfectly polite to you. After all, you’re a member of the Guild. He has to treat you as an equal. Well, as a novice anyway. He might turn all teacherly, though.”
“I can handle that.”
“And we don’t have to tell him you’re from a servant family for now,” Naki said anxiously. “He’s a bit … like that.”
“That’s fine. What matters is that you’re not like that. I appreciate it.”
Naki smiled. “And what I like about you is that you don’t hate us, like the other … you know … do.”
Lilia shrugged. “My family works for a nice, decent family. It’s hard to agree with people who say—”
“Look! We’re here.”
Naki waved eagerly at the carriage window. Lilia peered out, looking where her friend pointed. They stopped outside a huge building. She’d known that Naki was from a rich and powerful House, but it hadn’t quite sunk in until this moment. Nerves and excitement warred within her. She tried to quell them.
“Don’t worry,” Naki said, somehow picking up on Lilia’s trepidation. “Relax and leave everything to me.”
The next hour passed in a blur. Naki led her into the house. First she introduced Lilia to her father, Lord Leiden, who welcomed her in a distant and distracted way. Then they went upstairs to a spacious collection of rooms that were all Naki’s. Aside from the main bedroom, there was a room filled with clothing and shoes, and another with its own bath. Naki fulfilled her promise to put Lilia’s hair up, combing through a special cream first, then using smooth silver pins that she somehow arranged so they didn’t pull or irritate Lilia’s scalp. Then they hurried downstairs for dinner.
Naki’s father was at the table. Looking down at all the different types of cutlery, Lilia had a moment of panic. A messenger arrived and Lord Leiden stood up. He apologised at leaving them to eat alone and strode away.
As the door of the dining room closed behind him, Naki grinned at Lilia. Without saying a word, she slipped out of her chair and walked quietly to the door. Opening it carefully, she listened. A distant thunk reached Lilia’s ears.
“He’s gone,” Naki announced. “Grab your glass.” She picked up her own glass, freshly filled with wine, then moved to the door the servants had been entering through. As Naki reached it, the door opened and a servant woman carrying a tray of small bowls paused at the threshold.
“We’re coming down,” Naki told her. The woman nodded, then turned and disappeared the way she had come.
Lilia had managed to pick up her glass and slide out of her seat. Naki beckoned, then followed the servant, leading Lilia down a short corridor with a bench and cupboards to one side filled with vessels, cutlery and glasses. The servant woman was descending a stairway at the end. Naki hurried after her.
“I eat downstairs whenever Father isn’t here,” she explained. “Then there’s no need for them to serve the food on the silverware and I have friends to chat to.”
The stairway was long enough that Lilia suspected they were now two floors below the dining room. They entered a kitchen not unlike the one in her childhood home. Three women and a boy were working, their sleeves rolled up and their hair covered with caps that had flaps to tie around behind the ears. Lilia had worn these herself, as a child.
Naki greeted them with an affection that they did not seem surprised at. After introducing them, she moved to a wellworn old table and sat down on one of the stools beside it. Lilia took the stool beside her. She listened to the banter between Naki and her servants and felt at home for the first time in three years.
What a pair we make, she thought. A snootie who’s friendly and kind to servants and a lowie who doesn’t hate the rich. And the Guild – and magic – had brought them together. That’s an interesting idea. I’d have thought it would be having a similar background, from different sides of the situation. But it’s really due to magic. And magic doesn’t discriminate between rich and poor any more than it does between good and bad.
Dannyl looked around, still struggling to believe Tayend had managed it. The Master’s Room of the Guild House was filled with powerful and influential Sachakans. There were Ashaki here who were deadly enemies. They weren’t exactly talking to each other, but they were in the same room, which apparently was a rare thing.
He didn’t manage to get the king here, though. Tayend had said he’d sent an invite, but Achati had warned him that Amakira would not be able to attend. It was probably for the better. When the monarch was among a gathering of so many Ashaki, the inevitable political scheming spoiled the party. Or so Dannyl had heard. He’d never been in a gathering this big, nor any that included the king. The largest had been the greeting party Achati had arranged for Dannyl and Lorkin’s arrival in Arvice.
Dannyl had to admit, he was impressed. Tayend had managed to organise the event within a few days of coming up with the idea of holding a “Kyralian” party. He’d even taught the kitchen slaves to make a few Kyralian dishes to be served in small bowls or plates. He had given up on the idea of having the slaves walk about with food on platters, since they could not put aside their habit of throwing themselves on the floor for him and Dannyl, let alone important Sachakans.
Tayend had even managed to find more sober Kyralian clothing to wear rather than his usual bright and flamboyant garb.
“Next time I’ll have an Elyne party,” Dannyl heard Tayend say. “Or maybe a Lonmar party. At least then the absence of women will suit the theme. You can’t have an Elyne party without a little witty female conversation to liven things up.” Tayend paused to listen to a response Dannyl could not hear, and then smiled. “Then perhaps I’ll train a slave, or import some Elyne women for the day – or mimic one myself! Nothing spared for my Sachakan guests.”
Laughter followed. Dannyl sighed and turned away. He saw Achati talking to Lady Merria and felt a wave of gratitude. She had looked uncomfortable earlier, with the other guests ignoring her. Watching to see what the Sachakans would do when they saw her, Dannyl had noticed less displeasure and more uncertainty in their faces than he’d expected. Not used to women being among their social circle, since talking to someone else’s woman was taboo, they didn’t know what to do about her, so they pretended she wasn’t there.
Achati looked up and beckoned to Dannyl.
“I was just telling Lady Merria of a group of three Sachakan women I know who meet socially.”
“I thought that was frowned upon here.”
“They get away with it because they are widows and a cripple, and because they hate the Traitors. One of the group believes they killed her husband.” Achati smiled. “I thought Lady Merria might like to join them sometimes. She could become very lonely here otherwise.”