Chapter Two

Lady Kazia

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Neiphi's parents, Ardel and Lenna Gewalt, had done very well for themselves in Essyl Village. The main house was not quite the manor house where Kazia had grown up, but it was sizable enough to someday expand their family beyond Neiphi and her baby brother and boasted all of the modern comforts one could have, at least in the countryside.

Ardel had taken pains to make a beautiful home for his wife and designed the house with bay windows, small but graceful columns at the entrance, and a stone paved drive along the front with a small stable at one end housing a wagon and horses for the family's transportation.

The nobility of the Five Nations might find such a house quaint, perhaps even a bit pretentious, but Ardel and Lenna had clearly made a happy and comfortable life here.

Kazia and Neiphi arrived to find a grand carriage with six horses parked in the drive, and Neiphi's mother waiting anxiously in the doorway.

Lenna wore her best visiting dress of ruffled mauve linen, and her golden hair was arranged in a neat braid cascading over one shoulder. She had applied a very modest amount of rouge to her cheeks, just enough to blend the uneven pinkness that could often erupt on the very fair skin of Dericians.

Lenna had clearly dressed to impress the visiting envoy from the Capital, and Kazia was keenly aware of her own simple work attire. Her face was probably still dirty, and her hair unkempt.

Lenna gave her a look up and down, her desire to please the visitors palpable, and as Kazia and Neiphi drew nearer she burst into a flustered, managerial flurry.

"Neiphi," Lenna said, "hurry upstairs. Clean up and change into your visiting dress. Kazia..."

"I know," Kazia began defensively, "but I wanted to come straight away."

"It's fine," Lenna said with a wave of her hand. "Mistress Thanelin will forgive you anything. She is waiting in the drawing room. Please go through. Neiphi..."

At that moment the front door opened and Madame Brandra Giris, Mistress Amelys' secretary, emerged.

She was a matronly woman, dressed in a dark gray traveling suit of high quality, but quite rumpled, and with graying hair askew under a small bonnet that leaned as if it would tumble off at any moment.

Kazia almost laughed, given Lenna's feelings about propriety.

"Lady Kazia!" Madame Brandra cried out, coming to take Kazia's hands. "How lovely to see you, my dear!"

She took Kazia's face in her hands and began wiping at what Kazia guessed were traces of oil from the machines.

"It is lovely to see you too, Madame Brandra. But please," she said furtively, "It's only Miss Kazia here."

She peeked over Brandra's shoulder and saw Lenna and Neiphi staring, a bit wide-eyed. Catching her glance, Lenna shooed Neiphi into the house, but Neiphi continued to stare over her shoulder all the way in.

"Of course, dear, of course," said Brandra, smoothing Kazia's hair back and tucking the loose tendrils behind her ears. "And how is country life suiting you? You look well. Fit. Country food is good for putting some meat on your bones. Oh, but you young things can drop it right back off."

"I've been very well," Kazia answered. "I am quite at home here."

"Well, I do hope you'll consider... no, I don't want to get ahead of the Mistress, and I mustn't keep you. She wanted to speak with you alone, so I'm off to the square to collect our other companion. You get in there now, and I'll see you again soon."

Kazia waited as the liveried driver handed Brandra up into the carriage, then she turned to the house with a furrowed brow.

Madame Brandra had been in service of Mistress Amelys since Kazia was a child. Kazia had always known her to be a bit of an ingenuous optimist. She couldn't remember having ever felt anything adverse from her. The woman was all warmth, welcome, and love.

But there had been a distinct worry hanging over that exchange, a dreadful uncertainty. Anything that could turn Brandra to pessimism must be dire indeed. Mistress Amelys only visited occasionally since Kazia had come to Essyl, and given the air of gloom surrounding Madame Brandra, she knew this occasion couldn't be a pleasant one.

Her stomach churning nervously as she entered the house, Kazia paused in the vestibule to collect herself. She hung her apron and hat on a coat hook, then turned to the large mirror hanging over the entryway table.

There were two sheer smudges of grease on her cheek and jawline. Those would not come off without soap.

There was indeed a touch of sunburn on her olive-toned skin, but nothing that wouldn't fade within a day.

One section of the dark braid wrapped around her head had pulled loose and the loop stuck out awkwardly. She removed one hairpin and tried to tuck the loop under, but it split in two, one half refusing to submit to the pin. Although Brandra had neatened her loose tendrils, several single strands of hair were caught in the heavy lashes on her dark brown, deep-set eyes and she smoothed these back with the rest.

Kazia was alone in the front hall, but she could hear a maid setting the table in the formal dining room nearby, and could feel the woman's nervous frustration from here. Lenna must have insisted on giving a dinner for the travelers, unexpected though the company may be.

Kazia fished in her apron pocket for a small vial, a tincture called Seamist that Mistress Amelys had developed to mitigate the adverse effects that the emotions of others could have on her.

It was empty.

Nothing could be done about that now, though. Her own little cottage was on the village side of the farm, at least an hour there and back on foot.

She took a deep breath and approached the wide, open archway into the drawing room.

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Madame Brandra