“You may have her, Gilor,” he answered with a faint grin, looking me over with a good deal more amusement than he was showing. “Teach her what there is of kitchen work, so that it shall no longer be a mystery to her.”
He strode on out through the curtains, and Gilor laughed softly. “You have now found a new place, Terril, yet shall it soon become familiar to you. Come, I shall explain your duties.”
She led the way to the kitchen while I seethed quietly. She and the barbarian both were having a grand time at my expense, but it might be possible to disappoint them. The mysteries of a kitchen were ones I had no intentions of reading.
Gilor had me wash off some of the seetar smell, then gave me a large bowl filled with some sort of pod vegetable. She showed me how to open the pod to reach the vegetable inside, providing another bowl to hold the shelled results. When she’d watched me do it once and was satisfied, she started to turn away, then changed her mind.
“Terril,” she said hesitantly, “during the last sun you spoke of being a—a Prime. I would know the meaning of such.”
“It is merely my position in my own land.” I answered, inspecting the pod vegetable unenthusiastically “A position of high respect—and no menial labor.”
“I know of such.” She nodded, the hesitation immediately gone. “In a manner of speaking, a wenda denday. The Revenas to the south are ruled by wendaa, and sacrifice all captured l’lendaa to them. Yet now are you the belonging of Tammad. Best you forget that which is past, and learn the ways of your new land. It is in my mind that the denday shall not unband you.”
Not until I’ve done his job for him, I added silently as she walked away. And a job that would not be long in coming. There was no telling how long I would spend at Tammad’s house, but it couldn’t be too long. The Ratanan was soon due to convene.
I spent the next hour or so getting on Gilor’s nerves. When she came back to check on the pod vegetables, she found that I’d damaged most of them and had mixed in a fair amount of shell with the vegetable. Her annoyance was of a pleasing intensity, and it didn’t take much of a touch to make her pull the whole thing away from me. She tried me on stirring a thick soup next, and was appalled at the amount of soup I managed to slosh onto the floor. After she’d inspected the metal plates and bowls I’d supposedly scrubbed with sand, she gave up altogether.
“I shall inform Tammad that should he wish to have sustenance for his guests, he must find other use for you,” she said with her fists on her hips. “It is beyond my comprehension how wenda may grow to your size and still have learned nothing. Here, take to him this trejna and be gone!”
I took the bowl of stew she thrust at me and escaped, pausing near the curtain to the meeting room only long enough to remove all traces of my grin. Wholehearted cooperation can often get you out of unpleasant situations a good deal faster than stubborn balking.
I pushed the curtain aside to see about a dozen men sitting in a loose semicircle near the barbarian. The men were wearing those robes I’d noticed earlier, and most of them held piles of cured animal skins and pieces of charcoal. One of the men to the barbarian’s right was speaking to him.
“...and should the raids continue, denday, I shall have nothing for the people of our city” he said firmly “How may my caravans arrive intact when the savages are allowed to ride unmolested?”
“I shall have a number of my warriors accompany your next caravan, Voldar,” the barbarian answered. And should there be the need, we shall ride out in full strength at the conclusion of the Ratanan. We cannot survive without the caravans.”
“It is good you have returned, denday,” another of them said. “As merchants, we must have the support of warriors if we are to see our city live and grow, but not many of the l’lendaa are able to speak with us without insult, unintentional as it may be. To be merchant does not make a man darayse.”
“You yourself are proof of that, Naggas.” The barbarian grinned. “Though a merchant these many years, you still remain true l’lenda. It is good for a man to show others that new ways may be learned with ease.”
“Less with ease than with hard work.” Naggas laughed. “Though there is much to commend the life of l’lenda, still do I find the many demands of a merchant’s life more fascinating. And you, Tammad, have done exceedingly well as denday of our city, far better than the denday who was.”
“The man knew little of a city’s needs.” The barbarian shrugged. “We are fortunate that he knew equally little of the use of a sword. Bring the trejna here, wenda. I would taste it before the mold sets in”
The other men chuckled, and I realized I’d just been standing there listening. As I carried the bowl toward him, I tried to control the light blush on my cheeks, but couldn’t seem to do it. I always did something wrong in front of him.
“A wenda worth the banding,” the man Naggas commented in approval as he stared at me. “Should you tire of this one as you did the others, Tammad, I would buy her from you.
“Best you bear in mind what you have learned as a merchant, Naggas.” The barbarian grinned. “The most attractive bolt of cloth may be useless for practical purposes. This one shall take much teaching yet before she is worth the banding—if ever she is worth it.”
“You misbegotten son of strangers.” I choked as the merchants laughed. As if I were there because I’d asked to be! I took the bowl of trejna and threw it at him with all my strength, then turned and ran from the room.
I slammed the sleep room door behind me and went to the window, totally unable to control the misery I felt. “Useless” he’d called me, and it wouldn’t have hurt nearly so much if it hadn’t been true. On Central, I was respected as a Prime; on Rimilia, I was useless. I put my hand on one of the window bars, and the gleaming, bronze-colored wrist band caught my eye. I looked around, saw an empty dagger sheath on the floor in the corner, went and got it quickly then forced it under the band. If I pushed hard enough, the band would open, and I didn’t care how much it hurt as long as the bands were off!
“No,” the barbarian said, suddenly right behind me. “The bands shall stay as they are.”
He twisted the dagger sheath out of my hand, making me furious. “What for?” I demanded harshly “I’m obviously not fit to wear them. Go and find a kitchen queen to band and leave me alone! And I don’t care if you beat me for throwing things at you. If I ever get another chance, I’ll do it again!”
“You shall not be beaten,” he said gently holding me against him in spite of my struggles. “Do you not know, warrior, that it is fitting for a man to speak well of another man’s wenda, but not of his own? It was not my intention to give you insult, yet I had forgotten how deep ran your pride. I ask your pardon.”
“Just leave me alone.” I repeated in a whisper, not even struggling any longer. “Take your bands and your furs, and forget about me until it’s time for me to do my job. I’ll sit in a back room somewhere and not bother anybody.”
“You shall remain in my bands as well as my furs,” he said softly, stroking my hair. “All know of your presence, yet even had they not known, I would not allow you to do such a thing. It would not be fitting.”
He picked me up then and carried me to his furs, and it was impossible not to respond to him. He echoed my projection more strongly than ever, showing that my projection was stronger than it had been, which wasn’t surprising. He finally left me there in the furs, and when he was gone I had the usual trouble moving.