Part 11 (1/2)
Kel smiled up at the redheaded squire. She had never noticed it before, but his eyes were an interesting, clear gray. ”Wolfhounds are furry,” she pointed out. ”I hope my teeth aren't. And teeth aren't cold enough to be snow. How is it you get sillier every time I talk to you?”
”The joy of our nearness cooks my lovestruck heart,” he explained with a soulful look.
”Or you've been looking at Scanrans longer than is good for you. Spend time with actual girls,” she informed him sternly. ”You wouldn't call me things like 'pearl of my heart' then.”
”No, it's 'mirage of delight' today. 'Pearl of my heart' was when I was but a mere boy.” They stood in the door, looking at the party. ”I hate to say it, my dear, but I think our prince is a fathead,” Cleon remarked. ”There he sits with the most gorgeous creature in shoe leather, excepting your luminous self, of course - ”
”Of course,” Kel replied, straight-faced.
” - without a word to say. Somebody should tell him the lady can converse, and sensibly, too.” Cleon straightened his shoulders. ”If I don't return by dawn, wear my handkerchief beside your heart forever.” He disappeared into a clump of guests. Kel lost the chance to say that she didn't have his handkerchief, and if she did, after a while it would begin to smell. He's right about the prince and princess, though, she thought, rearranging cups so her tray would balance.
”Did Cleon kiss you for Midwinter luck?” a familiar voice drawled in her ear.
”Did Princess Kalasin ask for a dance at the ball tomorrow night?” she retorted to Neal. ”Cleon doesn't mean that stuff. He's just practicing.” Changing the subject, she asked, ”Is Lady Alanna here?”
Neal shook his head. ”Home to Pirate's Swoop,” he said. ”Happily leaving me to Lord Wyldon's guidance while she embraces the baron and the children.”
”You're doomed,” Kel teased, and moved on.
She was about to return for a fresh tray when another familiar voice asked, ”Squire Keladry, how are you?”
Kel turned and faced Commander Buri. The stocky K'mir looked grand in a crimson silk dress. The shade gave a touch of gold to her skin. Her overrobe was crinkled gold silk with jet beads on the hem. ”Commander, you look wonderful,” Kel said, trying to remember when she had seen her in anything but mud-splashed working clothes.
”I feel tormented,” the woman replied. ”And I wish you'd call me Buri. You know Riders don't hold with t.i.tles.” Her dark eyes flicked around the room. ”I haven't seen Raoul about. I suppose he defied their majesties and is hiding in his rooms.”
”No, he's here,” Kel said. ”Not in this room, though, or we'd have seen a big lump behind the hangings.”
Buri grinned, white teeth flas.h.i.+ng against her dark complexion. ”Yes, that's where I'd look. Can't say I blame him. The crowd around Thayet is thinning. I'd best say h.e.l.lo, or she might think I didn't show up per my orders.” She saluted Kel and wandered off toward the monarchs.
Kel's eyes went to the prince and princess, who now smiled at one another as if their teeth hurt. This is no good, thought Kel. They have to learn how to talk. There must be a way to nudge them along.
She went to a door that opened onto a book room and peered in. Raoul was there, talking with Gareth the Younger, the king's closest advisor and one of his friends. Sir Gareth's wife, Lady Cythera, was tugging on her husband's sleeve. ”I hate to interrupt,” the lady explained, ”but Prince Eitaro wants my husband to meet Lady Eitaro.”
Kel moved on to offer drinks to foreign dignitaries. Yuki stopped her briefly. ”When things are quieter, would you sit with her highness for a time?” she asked Kel, her usually merry eyes pleading. ”She and the prince have nothing to say to one another, and she's sad. When someone mentioned you'd fought a forest campaign this summer, she showed interest. She'd love to hear the details.” Kel's plan came together in the flick of an eye.
”Wait a moment, Yuki?” she asked, using her old nickname for the Yamani. She put her tray inside the serving room. ”I've been thinking.”
”Uh-oh,” Yuki murmured wickedly.
Neal and Cleon were talking when Kel approached them. ”Come here,” she said, leading them to Yuki. The four entered the serving room. ”Yuki, have you met my friends?” Kel introduced the young men, who bowed in the proper Yamani manner. ”I think we agree, Roald and s.h.i.+nkokami have to start talking. Now, s.h.i.+nko - ”
”s.h.i.+nko?” Neal interrupted.
Kel smiled. ”It's her nickname - she gave me permission to use it when we were little. Anyway, she wants to hear about that bandit hunt I was on this summer. Lord Raoul is in the book room - he's really good at helping people to relax. If you lads - ”
”I am a man, I'll have you know,” Neal said loftily, putting a hand on his chest. ”Five years older - ”
Kel elbowed him, ruining his dignity. Yuki covered a giggle with her fan. ”Hasn't Lady Alanna taught you not to interrupt?” Kel asked. ”Pay attention. Can you two” - she looked from him to Cleon - ”get Roald interested? Otherwise he won't come - he'll think s.h.i.+nko will be bored. And she won't say anything to him. She's worried he'll believe she's unmaidenly for wanting to hear about it.” s.h.i.+nko had let a few interesting things slip during morning glaive practices. ”If we get them together with Lord Raoul, though, and maybe Commander Buri, they'll be so interesting that Roald and s.h.i.+nko might relax.”
”Why would he think she's unmaidenly?” protested Cleon. ”His own mother hunts bandits.”
”Prince Eitaro told my lady that men with unconventional mothers want conventional wives,” Yuki said, her round cheeks red with vexation. ”I don't think it's true - ”
”Me neither,” chorused Roald's three friends. They grinned at one another.
”This plan is good,” Yuki said, closing her fan with a decisive snap. She tapped Neal's chest with it. ”Signal me when you have Prince Roald's interest,” she ordered him, and bustled off.
”Bossy little thing,” Neal said to no one in particular. ”Let's go hook Roald, Cleon.”
Kel went to talk with Raoul. He was eager to help, if it didn't mean leaving the book room. Kel suspected he was also glad to have a good excuse if the king asked him where he'd been. She found Buri, who was more than happy to join them.
It was some time before Kel, Neal, and Cleon were finally able to join the book room gathering after the second s.h.i.+ft of squires arrived to take their tasks. The prince and princess were caught up, asking sharp questions of the two commanders and of Kel herself. Kel noted Roald's look of wonder and pleasure as s.h.i.+nko revealed a thorough grasp of strategy, supply problems, and tracking. Pressed by Raoul and Buri to tell what she knew, she described Yamani battles and tactics. From there talk ranged over other battles against immortals, bandit chasing in Tortall and the Yamani Islands, and the latest round of trouble with Scanra.
Others came and left: Lady Haname, Kel's parents, Sir Gareth and Lady Cythera, the queen. Roald's knight-master, Lord Imrah, stayed for some time. Everyone groaned when Imrah's lady dragged him away at last.
Slowly the group shrank to its original members. Neal and Yuki then left for a mages' party. The prince and princess left together, debating the advantages of crossbows over longbows.
Raoul, Buri, Kel, and Cleon watched them go. ”Who would have thought?” murmured Cleon. ”She looks like she'd break if you touched her too hard.”
Kel got to her feet. ”Come to the training yard the queen's ladies use some morning and see how fragile she is.” She covered a yawn. ”If you'll excuse me, I'm asleep on my feet.”
Cleon got up. ”G.o.ds, I've yet to finish wrapping gifts.”
Buri and Raoul waved to them and continued their conversation.
”So have you survived your first night of squire social duty?” asked Cleon as they wound their way through the last partygoers in the Crystal Room.
”It could've been worse,” Kel replied. ”I'm just sleepy.”
”You see Lord Raoul at parties and b.a.l.l.s, and he looks like a piece of wood,” Cleon said as they walked down the hall. ”But he isn't, is he?”
Kel shook her head. ”He's completely different with me and the men.” She smiled. ”Something he said once - I guess a lot of mothers with daughters to marry off come after him at these things.”
Cleon's smile was crooked. ”There are a lot of them, and they can be persistent.”
They had reached the place where their paths separated. Kel looked up at Cleon. ”I wouldn't know,” she teased. ”I don't have to worry about matchmaking mothers.”
Cleon leaned down and pressed his lips gently to hers. ”Midwinter luck, Kel,” he whispered. He turned crimson, and strode down the hall.
Kel stood there for some time, completely poleaxed.
The next evening Cleon had duty at a different party from Kel. That's a relief, she told herself as she offered sweetmeats to the heads of guilds and their wives. Of course it's a relief, not to see him so soon. I need time to decide what to say to him, or what to do, when I see him. Particularly what I'll do. Not that I plan to do anything.
Then they didn't serve together at any other Midwinter parties. Kel only glimpsed him once, at a distance. She told herself that she was not unhappy that he hadn't seen her.
She kept busy. She tended the griffin, who was quiet after his encounter with Daine. She practiced weapons with the queen, the Yamanis, and her mother, and rode Peachblossom and Hos.h.i.+. She wrapped and sent out her Midwinter gifts the day before the longest night of the year, and opened hers the next morning. Her unknown benefactor had not vanished with Raoul's taking her on - among her gifts was a splendid bra.s.s-mounted spygla.s.s, one that Raoul threatened to steal. Raoul himself had given Kel a beautifully made pair of armored gauntlets that were nearly as flexible as cloth gloves, and padded inside for warmth. Kel's gift to him was the best feathers shed by the griffin, each bright orange and perfect. Kel knew she could have sold them, but the look on Raoul's face when he thanked her was more valuable.